The Woman

"Look at her, Edward. Isn't she the most beautiful creature you've ever seen?"

Walking over to stand by my father, I glanced out of the window to where his attention had been fixed for the past hour. I sighed at exactly the same time as he did, but where his was a sigh of adoration, mine was one of resignation. Unwillingly, I studied the object of his attention.

The woman was planting flowers in the ground, kneeling in the garden with a trowel in one hand, as she patted the dirt around her latest addition. Her apron was covered in dirt, but her sundress was clean. Her face was hidden under a broad brimmed hat, but I could see her caramel-colored hair spilling over her shoulders, as well as the images in her mind of the garden in bloom. The sun was out, and I could see the unnatural rainbows on the ground and the plants around her from where the sun's rays broke against her skin.

I shrugged, uninterested and uncomfortable. "Sure, I guess." I looked up at the sky, hoping for any hint that we could leave soon, but there wasn't a cloud in sight. I sighed again, trying to tune out the amorous thoughts he was having. I looked back at her, wondering - for what felt like the millionth time - what her creation was going to mean to me. She'd finished digging another hole and stood to pick up the tree she was planting next. Easily lifting it with one hand, she dropped it into its new home and I felt the subtle vibration when it hit the ground.

"Oh, drat!" she muttered when she saw that yet another tool was mangled in her hands. I put my hand over my mouth, but couldn't stop the snicker from coming out. She was already surrounded by three broken shovels, a couple of twisted rakes, and had just squished her fifth trowel into a shapeless wad of metal.

"Be nice," he scolded me.

"Come on, Carlisle," I laughed. "At the rate she's going, she'll keep the local hardware store in business for the next century."

"She's only two months old," he said, shooting me a stern look.

I tried to school my expression into one of interest rather than amusement.

"I don't recall you being all that coordinated when you were that age."

I shrugged, my mouth twisting into a crooked grin.

"At least she's never ripped the front door off!" he defended her.

"That's because you open it for her every time she steps through," I pointed out.

His shoulders twitched defensively. "It's only polite."

"Mm-hmm. And it has nothing to do with the reason you've been standing here with your mouth hanging open, watching her for the past hour?"

He averted his face, and I thought if he was a human he'd have been blushing.

"Go talk to her, Carlisle." I rolled my eyes. Really, the man was three centuries old! I'd have thought him long past the types of school-age nerves I'd seen in my classmates when I'd been alive.

He didn't move, just continued to watch as she began to scoop out a new hole. She was using her hands this time and I bit back another laugh.

Is she… is she very angry with me? The sound of his thoughts held a tremble of fear, and I thought I could detect a combination of shame and anger in him. Hearing thoughts had been easy – far, far too easy – from the start. It was keeping those thoughts out that was the real problem. However, deciphering the other workings of the minds I could peer into was taking a little more practice.

"Angry with you?" I repeated. "Why would she be?"

He gestured toward her. For doing this to her.

"She was already dying, Carlisle," I hedged. "You didn't kill her."

"She's not dead!" he said, sharply, glaring at me. "And neither are you!"

I shrugged again, not wanting to debate with him at that moment. "Either way, you were just trying to help her."

Yes, but…

"Ugh, she's not angry with you, alright?"

"You say that like she is angry with someone, though." He raised an eyebrow, trying to understand my tone.

I grimaced and turned away.

"Edward, please," he whispered. "I don't want to invade her privacy, but… will you tell me what's bothering her?"

I crossed my arms and leaned against the windowsill with a sigh. "I don't think she likes me very much."

"You? Why wouldn't she?"

"I'm in the way," I muttered, finally voicing part of what had been bothering both of us.

"I don't understand." He shook his head, his forehead creased into a deep frown, his amber eyes wide with worry.

"You said you don't want to invade her privacy, and I respect that, but I can't help it. My very presence is an invasion of her privacy, and yours."

"Your gift isn't your fault."

"My gift, as you call it, means that I hear and see things that she doesn't want me to."

"Such as?"

"Ugh!" I repeated, throwing my hands into the air. "Go talk to her!"

He bit his lip nervously and shook his head. Tell me why you think you're in the way? You've done nothing but help her. I thought she seemed to like you… His mind flared with a strange warmth I hadn't seen in him before, and it took me a moment to recognize that it was jealousy.

I burst out laughing, not bothering to cover my mouth this time.

He crossed his arms, glaring at me. "What?" he asked, tensely.

"Carlisle." I rolled my eyes. "I could be her little brother, even counting my real age. Trust me, she's not interested in me any more than I am in her."

"She thinks of you as a little brother?" he asked, incredulous.

"Close enough."

"Then why do you think she doesn't like you?"

I took a deep breath and held it, trying to think of how to say what needed to be said without hurting him. "Do you remember when you were telling me about the vampires you'd met in Europe?"

He nodded. Of course.

"Most of the covens are two, not three." I hesitated before repeating, "I'm in the way. She can't… with me here… and you…" I trailed off, embarrassed. "Ugh!" I exclaimed again, flinging my arms out in disgust. I pushed away from the windowsill and stormed off.

It was ridiculous! I was seventeen! How was I supposed to be giving relationship advice to my father when I'd never been in one myself? I heard him considering my words while I paced in my room, wishing I could go hunting.

The woman's thirst was growing and so was my own, which didn't help my mood at all. I was frustrated with Carlisle for bringing her here. We'd been perfectly happy, just the two of us, for the past three years. I'd gotten my newborn thirst under control without killing a single human – something I was quite proud of, and something that she hadn't accomplished. Now she was out there planting flowers of all things. In the sunlight! I rolled my eyes and growled. It didn't matter that the sun couldn't hurt us; she could still be seen. I ignored the fact that I'd hear anyone's mind long before they got close enough to see her. It was still reckless.

Carlisle's thoughts toward the woman were driving me crazy. What was worse was having to watch him through her eyes. It was bad enough seeing her through his! I didn't dare leave, though. What if another human came? The one time I'd left to hunt alone, trying to give them the privacy to finally talk to each other, had been a disaster. I'd come home, happily full of the blood of a family of black bears I'd been lucky enough to catch, only to find her weeping in the living room. Carlisle had been frantically trying to decide how to dispose of the body of the human she'd killed, unsure of how to comfort the woman he'd just turned into a murderer. Our home at the time had been too close to the city for a newborn vampire, but we'd thought that we could keep her safe.

We'd been wrong.

Of course, we hadn't factored in having a newborn when we'd chosen the house, nor the fact that Carlisle would try to take her on a walk, trying – finally! – to get to know her. Distracted by his attempts to draw her out, he hadn't paid as close attention as he should have to the sounds and scents around them. The human had come too close, and she'd caught his scent. He'd been dead before Carlisle had caught up to her.

That had led to our move here. I hated it here; it was far too bright, but Carlisle had wanted us to move quickly, and as far as possible from the place where she'd killed. Moving here had been difficult; I'd had to keep my mind open for humans the whole way, and we'd come too close on more than one occasion. All it had taken was one moment of carelessness on my part, and she'd been off, running toward a scent that she couldn't resist. It was a good thing I was so fast, but tackling the newborn woman – especially with her past – had been unpleasant for both of us. Of course, it had been worse the times when I hadn't managed to catch her. Still growling, I kicked out, forgetting for the moment about my excessive strength.

"Damn it," I muttered, seeing the hole I'd just made in the wall.

Carlisle was at my door, instantly. "Edward?"

"Come in," I invited, sourly. He opened the door, warily, seeing me shaking the dust off of my foot.

He sighed, walking over to sit on my couch. "This isn't working, is it?"

"What gave you that impression?" I muttered.

"We'll just have to move."

"Again?" I gaped at him. "What good would that do?" Though I hated it here, it hadn't even been a month, and I was shocked that he was considering it so soon. He was always so steadfast, so sure. Until she had come into his life, at any rate. Getting here had been hard enough; now he wanted to go through it all again already?

"I was thinking, we could go somewhere more remote, someplace where you wouldn't feel the need to be on guard all the time. I know it's wearing on you; I can see it in your eyes."

I glanced up, meeting his amber gaze and seeing in his mind the near black color of my own.

"We'll all go out hunting tonight, and leave tomorrow, or the day after," he decided.

"To go where?" I tasted my venom flowing the second he mentioned hunting. My jaw dropped, seeing the plan in his mind before he spoke his next word.

"South," he said, firmly.

"Are you mad? You want to take a newborn south? Toward the southern wars? No. Absolutely not." I was shaking my head in horror, able to picture far too vividly the vampire armies that he had described to me. We were too close as it was!

"Not toward," he corrected me. "Past. We'll go around them; we'll avoid any areas of human habitation – that's where the armies should be, anyway – and that will keep Esme away from temptation. There are huge rainforests in South America. I know how much you love lions. Well, there are leopards and jaguars there, and I think you'll find the herd animals distinctly different from the deer we have here."

Seeing the images of the jungle cats in his mind, I felt my lips spreading into a smile of anticipation. I deliberately ignored his casual use of her name.

I was glad Carlisle had started me out on deer. Although I had thought their taste was delicious at the time, the flavor of deer couldn't compare to that of the animals that preyed upon them. If he'd started me out on the stronger creatures, I might never have been willing to drink the more timid herd animals. I found it amazing that she was even willing to drink deer at all after her first taste of human blood. Just the memory of the taste that I could catch from her mind was more powerful than any lion I'd ever caught. Still, it was far better than becoming a killer.

"That sounds good," I allowed. "Where did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking somewhere outside of Rio de Janeiro."

I frowned. "Isn't Rio just as sunny? And rather heavily populated? And didn't you tell me there's a coven there already?"

He laughed. "Rafael is a friend, and I think you'll like him, despite his… appetites." Carlisle grimaced over the last word. I had little doubt that he'd tried to sell the Rio vampire on our way of life, but being a vampire and not drinking human blood wasn't the easiest lifestyle - as the woman had proven. "His isn't the only coven in the area, either. There is a coven of Amazon women you might enjoy meeting."

As if I had any chance of convincing any vampire to follow our way of life when he had failed to do so for centuries! I rolled my eyes, seeing through his motives. Despite being a pastor's son – or perhaps because of it – he'd already had a girlfriend by the time he was my age. Although his teasing was good-natured, his amusement over my lack of experience was irritating. And he still had the audacity to ask me for advice! I crossed my arms and growled at him.

He laughed and held his hands up. "Ok, maybe not, but the fact remains: the jungles would be a nice change and we wouldn't have to live near any humans."

"So you want to, what? Live in seclusion for the next year? In the middle of a jungle? We could just go build ourselves a house in the canopy I suppose? Or, if there were no humans to bother keeping up pretenses for, live like bloodsucking monkeys in the trees?"

"Nice." He pressed his lips together, not approving of my sarcasm.

"Well, what was your plan, then?"

"I was thinking of something more private than just living in the jungle. There are many tribes there, after all, and I don't want Esme to kill any of them any more than I do the humans here." His mouth twisted down, and I knew that he blamed himself for the humans' deaths, as well as for the guilt that she felt over the matter.

I sighed, feeling bad for adding to his distress. "They were accidents, Carlisle. You know she wants to live like us."

"Does she? She doesn't… resent my restrictions?" His eyes were worried now, and I detected within him an odd combination of feelings toward her. The murders she'd committed – and the fact that there had been more than one – had him concerned that she would choose to leave us. He was her father as much as he was mine, but that wasn't what he wanted to be where she was concerned. I tried to rein in my resentment of her inclusion into our coven, reminding myself that he hadn't exactly had time to ask me, even if he would have listened. And if he had asked, what could I have said? Let her die?

"Yes," I said, firmly. "And no, she doesn't resent you."

"There you go with that again! What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing," I lied. "What did you mean more private than the jungle?"

"It's not nothing," he persisted. "Are you telling me she resents you?"

I crossed my arms, refusing to answer him.

"Why?" Your lack of an answer is as much of an answer as I need. I can't allow there to be strife between any members of this coven. You need to tell me what's going on between you two.

"It was easier for me. I could hear their minds long before I could smell them. She's struggling, and can't bear the thought of more failures."

"That's neither her fault nor yours."

I shrugged and looked away.

"There's more to it than that," he deduced. "Tell me."

Unwillingly, I spoke. "It's like I said before, like you told me; there's a reason that most covens are two. Three's a crowd."

Why should she care? You were already here, he thought, not seeing my point.

"Exactly!" I bit my lip. I hadn't meant to say that.

His eyes finally showed his understanding, seeing through me as he always had. "You resent her!"

I couldn't deny it.

"Edward." He shook his head, stood from my couch, and walked over to grasp my shoulder. "I chose you. For nearly three hundred years I was without any true companion. You're more than just a member of my coven, more even than my best friend. You're my son. At least, that's how I think of you. But surely you know that."

I smiled, pleased. Though I'd come to think of him as my father, we'd never really discussed the matter before. "I'm honored to be your son. Really. But she isn't my sister, regardless of how she thinks of me."

"Her name is Esme," he said sternly.

"I know what her name is," I muttered. "I hear it in your thoughts all the time."

"Do you know why most covens are small? It has nothing to do with a third getting in the way of the other two. It's about territoriality. Occasionally, there will be a true mated pair bonding, and those rarely include a third, it's true. But that's because of the nature of vampires, and their possessiveness. Which… I'm thinking is your problem here. Isn't it?"

I scowled and looked away, again.

"Do you know how long I've known her?"

I shook my head. I'd seen her younger face in his mind many times over the past three years, but I'd never met the girl he'd thought of, and had had no idea that she was still alive, until the day when he'd brought her to our home, nearly dead.

"Ten years. I… always hoped that she was happy, but… I know that she didn't fall from that cliff." He raised his eyebrow at me and I shook my head slowly, not wanting to tell him about what I'd seen in her mind.

"When they brought her into the morgue, I couldn't just let her die. Not when – " He broke off, startled by what he'd been about to say.

I said it for him, "Not when you loved her."

He nodded once, slowly. "Perhaps not yet, but I knew that I could."

"Which is why I'm in the way," I explained. "No couple wants a girl's little brother hanging about. Especially when he can read their minds." My mouth twisted.

"Well, what if you weren't her little brother, then?" His thoughts were suddenly whirling too fast for me to follow.

"What do you mean?"

"You're my son; what if you were hers, too?"

"I had a mother," I snarled.

"You had a father, too," he pointed out.

"Yes, but… Carlisle, I'm helping you raise her. You're asking me to go from being a co-parent of sorts, to her brother, to her son? No."

He leaned against my wall, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I'll admit the family dynamic isn't usual, but I think that's what I'm getting at here. We could be a family. I need you to know that you still belong, to feel like you still belong. I don't want you to feel that I've replaced you with another vampire or that you need to compete with her for a place in the coven."

I scowled, knowing that the feeling of being replaced was exactly my problem.

"Edward, I'm concerned that if you two can't find a place in each other's lives, one of you will feel the need to leave. And I don't want either one of you to go."

I stared into his ancient eyes, saw in them the hurt he felt at the thought of losing either of us. "I don't want to go," I admitted after a long moment.

"Then will you consider it? If I tell her how I feel, and if she were willing, would you be, not just my son, but hers too?"

I shoved my hands into my pockets and turned to stare out of the small window, seeing the woman – Esme – cleaning up the tools she'd broken. All of her plants were in the ground, and she would soon be looking for Carlisle. I had no doubt that she was willing to be his mate. She'd remembered their meeting and had found him as fascinating as he had found her. To live with a mated pair as a third, unwelcome creature who could not just hear every word spoken between them, but also every thought, had been an unpleasant prospect. To be a family, on the other hand, was an interesting idea.

I'd seen her grieving over her lost child, though, and wasn't sure she would want that infant replaced with a seventeen-year old. However, I knew that she did long to be a mother, and as a vampire there really was no way for it to happen other than to adopt someone who was old enough not to be an illegal creation, yet young enough to still need or even want a mother.

I still missed my mother. Elizabeth's face was one of the few memories of my human life that was truly clear. Edward Masen, Sr. had been nothing like Carlisle, and I had never felt disloyal to him in considering Carlisle as my father in this new… life. If I had a new father, why not a new mother, too? Mom was dead, and had asked Carlisle to do this to me, after all.

"What did you mean by someplace more private than the jungle?" I eventually asked.

"There are many islands off the coasts. We could easily find an uninhabited one, stock it with prey, or make forays into the nearby jungles, and live there for a time until she can trust herself around humans again. We wouldn't be restricted by the sun, and you would be free to explore Rio without worrying all the time."

Depending on how I looked at it, I was seventeen, or twenty, or three. While I still craved the security of the protection and guidance that Carlisle provided, I was old enough to also crave independence, and the image of myself exploring the exotic city on my own was exciting. I smiled, liking the idea. "An island, huh? What, just sail over to one and claim it in the name of the Cullens?"

He shrugged. "Land just about anywhere can be bought for the right price."

"You want to buy an island?" I gaped at him. "Seriously?"

"Why not? Real estate is a good investment, and besides, it would give us a place where we could go any time we needed an escape from the clouds and the humans. Wouldn't you like to be able to enjoy the sun again?"

Thinking of the way she'd seemed to crave the sun, I laughed softly. "I know she would."

He nodded fervently, his eyes shining, and his mouth curving into a smile. "It's settled, then."

"What's settled?" Esme asked, peeking around the corner.

I saw the look on his face the instant his eyes met hers, and I knew that it was time for me to make my exit. "We're going on vacation," I explained with a grin. "How'd you like to live on a tropical island, Esme?"

In his thoughts, I heard my words resonating with a sense of rightness. Isle Esme…