A/N: HELLO BOYS & GIRLS! HERE'S ANOTHER CHAPP… SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING EARLIER BUT IT'S REALLY HARD TO KEEP UP WITH THREE LONG STORIES AND TRYING TO WRITE A REAL NON FANFICTION BOOK. ANYWAY, HERE YOU GO!
DISCLAIMER:I OWN NOTHING.
CHAPTER 2: UNRAVELING MY PAST.
APOV
I had been dreaming of my mom lately, I thought that maybe it was a sign, that she wanted to tell me something; but none of my previous dreams could compare to the one I was in. I was well aware that this wasn't real, more so because my mom was with me and I knew this dream by heart, since it wasn't a dream but a memory. We had been spending the summers with my grandparents in Europe and this was the first time that my mom had joined my sisters and me in it. We were walking on the streets of Milan, shopping in the best designer's stores we could find, when the dream suddenly changed. Inside of one of the store was the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen; he had dirty blond hair and the lightest blue eyes ever. He smiled at me and kissed my hand, telling me that he had been waiting for me for a long time. This, of course, confused me since I've never meet him and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to meet him; guys like him weren't real. As the dream continued I started to make out some noises in the background, which sounded like my sister Rose.
Breaking out of my dreams and out of those penetrating, deep blue eyes, I slowly started to fall back in reality. And the screams in fact belonged to my sister. Seeing that anyways I wasn't going to fall asleep again, I decided to go to see what had my sister so worked up this early in the morning. I got out of bed and opened the doors that lead to Bella's room, I realized that she wasn't there anymore; probably she's the one arguing with Rose. Those two could be really stubborn at times. I shrugged and crossed the bedroom and entered to Rose's room. The sight in there made just want to crawl back into bed and dream of those blue eyes; so I would never wake up again. But I knew that I had to face the music with them, since it was partially my fault.
"THERE YOU ARE" my father's voice was the one that woke me up, he was shouting to my sisters and as soon as he saw me, his anger also turned to me "TAKE A SEAT WITH YOUR SISTERS INMEDIATELY, ALICE" I did as I was told, and he started shouting again "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME… I ASKED YOU ONE THING, ONLY ONE THING AND YOU COULDN'T DO IT" he was pacing back and forth so insistently, that I thought that he was going to make a hole on the carpet "YOU JUST HAD TO ATEND TO DINNER… THAT WAS ALL! BUT NO, YOU LEFT THE QUEEN OF FRANCE IN THERE, JUST SO YOU COULD HAVE DINNER IN THE GARDEN, I'M SO DISAPPOINTED OF YOU"
"Dad, you are wrong, we were just recovering from the jetlag"
"STOP LYING TO ME LILIAN ROSALIE SWAN, I SAW YOU IN THE GARDEN, LAUGHING AND CHATTING ANIMATEDLY" oops! I think we are busted, not that it really mattered though, we are used to get what we want, and this time, we have the weapons to do so
"Well DADDY, we wouldn't have left the queen alone at dinner, if you had told us that we were engaged with her sons" my dad's mouth was almost to the floor, leave it to Bella to solve the problems, quickly "Not that it really matters, right girls?"
"Why doesn't it matter, Isabella?"
"Puh-lease, you really thought that we were going to agree to that? You should really get to know us, DAD" by now, my father's face was red because of anger and I had a feeling that we weren't going to get out of this one, that easily.
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU WANT TO MARRY OR NOT. YOUR WEDDINGS WILL BE AS SOON AS YOU TURN EIGHTEEN. AND I EXPECT YOU IN THIRTY MINUTES IN THE KITCHEN, UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW ME WHEN I'M REALLY ANGRY" my dad left the room without even giving us a chance to protest
"UGH! I HATE THIS. HE'S SO UNFAIR" Rose's outburst didn't surprise us in the least, on the other side; I am surprised that she could keep it on check while my dad was in the room
"Rose, sweetie calm down; remember the plan" Rose took a deep breath and visibly relaxed
"Alice is right, we must continue with the plan. Fase one was successfully achieved, but we still have to deal with Esme"
"I know Bella, but I can't do this; I mean, who in his right mind, promises to marry his daughters. We are not in the eighteen century anymore"
"Yeah Rosalie, but unless you want to marry in less than four years, I suggest you to change and be ready for breakfast in thirty minutes" Rose nodded and went to her bathroom, and Bella shot me a reassuring smile before leaving to her room; I quickly followed and went to mine.
I entered to my ginormous closet and grabbed a white sundress and my underwear and went to the bathroom to take a shower. The hot water did a lot to soothe my muscles and when I got out, I was ready to put our plan in motion. I finished dressing and combed my hair, letting it dry naturally. I applied some powder and lip gloss and went to Bella's room. She was dressed in a white skirt, a yellow one shoulder shirt and flip flops. She was just finishing her make up.
"Heyy Bella"
"Oh, hey Ali; ready to go?"
"Yup, let's go for Rose" she nodded and stood up, following me closely to Rose's room. As we entered, I spotted Rose stretched in the center of her bead, reading a magazine. She was dressed in a red waist skirt and a white shirt, she had the same amount of makeup as Bella and me, and her hair was in its natural curls.
"Took you long enough" she didn't even look up at us, she just kept reading her magazine.
"Heyy Rose, nice to see you too"
"Rosalie, what would the queen say if she saw you like this? Behave missy and come and join us for breakfast"
"I'm really sorry Princess Isabella, forgive my sin and let me join you for such a feast" my sisters' attempt of comedy was so poor that it actually made us laugh, successfully taking off of our minds the remaining stress over breakfast.
"Come on girls, let's get this show on the road" I skipped my way to the garden, where Esme was supposed to be waiting for us and my sisters followed closely behind. I think I heard Rose telling Bella something among the lines of 'How can she be so chirpy this early in the morning' but I wasn't sure, so shrugged it off and continued walking.
When I arrived to the double doors leading to the garden, I stopped. My sisters joined me in there and taking a deep breath, we opened the doors. The garden had been rearranged since last night and a huge table now took up the space facing the lake. The table was decorated simply, with a base of yellow and white roses and the sun was shinning brightly in the sky. In the head of the table was my dad, his anger dissipated and a smile gracing his face and by his side was a beautiful woman, not the kind you would expect the queen of France to be, at all. Her face was soft and kind and her green eyes had a motherly touch that just made you feel right. She was small and slender and had light brown hair flowing to the middle of her back; she was dressed in a pink and white summer sundress and heels. I was starting to think that maybe we made a mistake regarding the queen. I saw my dad stand up and say to Esme.
"Finally, here they are" Esme stood up too and he motioned for us to get closer; as soon as we reached the table he introduced us to our mother – in – law "Esme, this are my daughters; Isabella, Rosalie and Alice. Girls, this is Queen Esme of France" Esme smiled kindly at us and gave us a hug.
"It's so nice to finally meet you; I've heard a lot about the mysterious princesses of England"
"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cullen"
"Call me Esme, sweetheart" I smiled and my father spoke
"Esme, the girls are here to apologize for last night's events" what? Okay, my father is definitely insane. I mean, I knew that we were rude last night but come on; apologizing was not in our plans.
"Actually dad, we are here to have breakfast, not to apologize" my dad's gaze flickered to Rosalie and I could see the anger in his eyes.
"Excuse me Rosalie"
"Yeah daddy, you see, we don't do unnecessary apologies"
"Besides we are so not sorry, so I don't see why we have to say otherwise" my dad's gaze flickered from Rose, to Bella to me in matter of seconds before he finally had enough. He went to the kitchen muttering profanities and slammed the door on his way. We turned to look at Esme just to find her studying us intently.
"I knew since the moment I saw you in the garden, that you girls will be a difficult force to handle, but you definitely surprised me"
"Excuse me Esme, but I don't understand what you're talking about"
"Well Rosalie, why don't you girls take a seat and I'll explain" we took the chairs facing hers and she continued with her strange explanation "Okay… where to start?" she meant that as a rhetorical question but Bella took it as a chance to find out the answers we needed.
"Well, why don't you start by explaining us about our lovely engagements?" her voice was dripping with sarcasm and we were all losing our patience. Esme just chuckled and started her tale.
"Yeahh, I told you father that we had to tell you earlier. You didn't like the news, huh?" we shook our heads no but other than that, we remained silent "That's what I thought… Well, you see. Your family and mine had been friends for a long time. I met your mom in elementary school and you father met my husband in high school. We got married to them in the same month and year and your mom found out that she was pregnant a few moths later that I did; three months to be exact. Later I found out that I was going to have three boys and Charlie got an idea; he said that if they had daughters or at least one daughter, we should marry them or her to one of my boys" Esme had a faraway look, as if she was in that moment and place right now, and she had successfully trapped us in the story of our past "at the time it seemed at great idea. And everything just kept getting better, when your mom was five months long; she found out that she was going to have three daughters, much to Charlie's approval. Renee on the other side, wasn't as happy"
"Wait, my mom didn't want kids?"
"Oh no Alice, she loved you guys since she found out she was pregnant. Renee wasn't happy because she didn't agree with your father in the engagements. She had been forced to marry him without love and she wanted a different life for you… that's why she left. After I had my boys, she helped me to take care of them, but on the third night after she had you, she vanished. Your dad sent searching parties after her, but he never found her. He made up some story about the queen being kidnapped along with his newborn daughters, but he stopped the search. He knew the truth, she never loved him and she left with the man she always loved, Phil. He was a guard in the castle and your mother's high school sweetheart. Fours months later, the first letter arrived to France, it was Renee; she asked me not to tell anyone. But she had escaped to the United States and she was living happily with Phil; month after month the letter arrived and I sent her some after she gave me her address. We started sending pictures with the letters but we stopped them when you turned five, you looked too much like you mother and we didn't want to raise suspicions, however the letters kept flowing. For the first time in years she was really happy" The tears were threatening to fall but Esme had to stop her story when the maids came outside with our breakfast, though we weren't hungry anymore. Hearing about our mother made us really sad. As soon as they left, we asked her to continue with the story.
"Esme, can you tell us more about our past?" she shot me a sad smile and noticed that we weren't eating
"Of course Alice, you eat and I talk, deal?"
"Deal"
"Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Tell us about my mom, please"
"Okay Rose. I met your mom in elementary school and we quickly became friends, we grew up together. She was really beautiful and she looked a lot like you when she had your age. She was Rose's height, but she had Alice's personality; however she looked exactly like Bella. And by the looks of it, she had also her bad temper. When we entered to high school, she met Phil and the love between them was palpable, he was the one who introduced me to my husband, Carlisle and to your father. Your mom knew that her relationship with Phil was forbidden because he wasn't royalty; but she never cared. On our senior year, we found out that we had been engaged since before we were born. I was engaged to Carlisle, who in that time was my boyfriend; but your mom didn't have my luck. She was engaged to Charlie and she had to break up with Phil. It broke her, especially when he and Carlisle were asked to be one of the best men for her wedding. I really thought she wasn't going to marry. But she surprised me the day of her wedding; we were finishing getting ready and I told her that she could still be happy, that she just had to say it and I was going to stop it. But she was really stubborn and she said that she had to put duty before heart; so she married your dad. It is really a sad story" the tears had been falling for a long time now but I didn't even bother to wipe them anymore, Bella was rubbing mine and Rose's hand, but she wasn't crying like we were. She had always been the strongest one. I don't think I have seen her cry once since mom died.
"Yeah a heartbreak story, but at least she got her happily ever after"
"Yeah, Rose, she did. She managed to escape from your dad and be happy. The only thing that I wish would be different is your future"
"I don't understand Esme, what do you mean with our future?" this was the first time that Bella had spoken since the story started, she was the most attached to my mother and her death took a toll on her.
"Well, you see Bella, your mom left so you girls could live your life and marry whoever you wanted but well, you are here and still engaged"
"If you don't want us to marry your sons, why don't you help us break off the engagement?"
"I know that my sons are good boys and that they will do everything to make you happy; and of course, I would love to have you as daughters – in – law, but if you girls aren't in love, there's no point in making you suffer. The problem is that women aren't allowed to break promises like that one, only your father, my sons and my husband can break it. And they have to agree all. Your father will never agree to that; I tried to convince him yesterday, but he refused. I can't help you anymore, I'm really sorry"
"It's okay Esme, we understand" the tears had dried and we remained silent for a while but we heard the house doors opening and my dad's footsteps as he made his way to the table. He took a seat and turned to look at Esme
"Esme, I just talked to Carlisle and he said, that he and the boys are arriving in two days, for the party"
"What party, dad?"
"Your debutant party, I have to introduce my daughters to society and your party is in a week" his voice left no room for complaints, so I just stayed shut and finished eating. He continued talking to Esme about the party and her sons' arrival but I didn't even bother to pay attention to them. Bella squeezed my hand reassuringly and the three of us stood up.
"Dad, we are going to our rooms to continue unpacking. It was a pleasure to meet you Esme, we'll se you later" we hugged her and left to our rooms, we got to Bella's and she motioned for us to go in. We collapsed in the bed and thought for a while. I pondered on Esme's words and on my mom's love story. How she left everything because she loved us and Phil; and how happy she had been while she was alive. She was truly a wonderful person and I wished that she could be with us right now. We needed her more that ever, and she left us alone. I felt Rose's hand on my cheek and I realized that I had been crying. I looked up to see her puffy red eyes and she hugged me, she too, had been crying. Bella joined the embrace and whispered soothing words to us, she was strong and her voice never faltered. Bella rarely cried and I knew she had bowed no to cry anymore. She was really like my mother, strong and determined; and she reminded me of her a lot; her presence was soothing. She told us stories about my mom, how she used to take care of us and all the crazy things she used to do. We spent all the day in there; the maids told us that Esme had ordered them to bring us lunch and dinner, so we wouldn't have to be forced into leaving at any time. We feel asleep together in Bella's room and in that day's clothes.
RPOV
I awoke to the harsh glare of the sun. I yawned and stretched, rolling over to a more comfortable side. I smacked my lips together and snuggled deeper into the covers, hoping to get more sleep. I realized that trying to go back to sleep was going to be fruitlessly so it was better to start with the day. I got out of bed and saw that Bella wasn't there anymore and that Alice was sleeping peacefully curled up in there. Yesterday took a toll on us, we weren't expecting to have so many revelations in one day; and of course, hearing about my mom's life made us really sad. I made my way to my bedroom and into my bathroom, turning the shower on my way, I undressed and got inside, letting the hot water soothe me. I washed my hair and body and got out, once in my closet I grabbed my underwear and quickly put it on. I decided on white shorts and green shirt, and didn't even bother on make up; I combed my hair and arranged it in a loose ponytail before going to the kitchen. I found Esme in there having breakfast.
"Good Morning Esme"
"Good morning Rosalie, how are you"
"Better now… thanks" I knew that she wasn't talking about my night and I hope that she understood my answer meant for all the things she did yesterday for us
"You're welcome sweetie" a maid handed me a plate with fruit and we ate in silence until I couldn't take it anymore
"Umm, Esme, do you happen to know where Bella is?"
"No Rose, I thought she was still asleep"
"No, she wasn't there when I woke up"
"Oh, don't worry about her so much, I'm sure she just needed some space"
"Yeah, your probably right" I still felt uneasy for not knowing where my sister was but I placed it on the back of my mind and continued chatting with Esme. A couple of hours later, Alice came bouncing to the kitchen dressed in a blue skirt and a white tank top, being her usual chirpy self. She had breakfast and joined us in our discussion about the benefits of high heels. My dad came a bit later, he said that there had been a change of plans and we were not to meet the boys until Saturday at the party; and left after he had breakfast. Bella still didn't show up; I was getting worried. We were supposed to start with our etiquette classes today and she just seemed to vanish. At four o'clock, she finally appeared; she greeted us and entered to the ball room, just in time to start the lesson.
The lesson was about etiquette at dinner, how to eat a 3 course meal and a 5 course meal. It took us four hours to get them to be perfect but I was sure as hell that tomorrow I wasn't going to remember any of this. When it was over, Bella immediately left to her room and we had to run to catch up with her; Alice shot me a worried glance and opened the door to Bella's bedroom. She was standing next to the window, looking at the stars reflected on the lake before us. She seemed deep in thought and her expression was pained.
"Bella?" I knew she had heard us but she didn't even make a move to acknowledge us, so we tried again.
"Bella, sis, are you okay?" she didn't answer us and Alice's expression was full of concern, and I could bet it mirrored my own.
"Guys, I'm going to the lake, wanna come?" something was on her mind, that much I was sure of, but I know that she'll tell us when she's ready.
"Sure Bella, we'll go swimming with you" she smiled at us and we all changed and headed to the lake. We spend the rest of the night in there, at eleven o'clock we went upstairs again and to our rooms. I got on my pajamas and climbed on my bed. The rest of the week went smoothly, Bella told us that her actions a few days ago were because she was thinking about our mom and not having her in our fifteenth birthday party on Saturday – yep, my dad arranged the debutant party for our birthday. We went shopping with Esme and bought everything for that day, now that I thought about it, the week seemed to pass in a daze and tomorrow was Saturday. While I was laying on my bed trying to sleep a thought made its way to my mind and it shook me to the core; Tomorrow we're going to meet our future.
A/N: HIT OR MISS? I REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE IT... THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE THE MEETING, SO PLEASE REVIEW AND SEE YA'
XOXO *A & V*
