A/N: As promised, here's another chapter. Thank you to all of my reviewers!

SPOV

"You're what?" Bella croaked, an astonished look on her face.

"We're your biological parents," I said again. She could only stare at me in stunned disbelief. She turned to Charlie.

"Is that true?" she demanded. He swallowed hard and nodded, unable to look at her. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" She looked wildly at Renee. "And you! Why didn't either of you ever mention I was adopted! You even have a picture from the hospital!"

"Bella, they didn't tell you because we begged them not to. Your life would have been in danger if anyone had ever found out who you are. It was better that everyone, including yourself, believed you to be Charlie and Renee's true daughter. It broke our hearts to never know you, but we believed it best at the time. They wanted to tell you for the longest time, but they respected our wish and held off until your 18th birthday. At the time, circumstances did not allow that, but they never intended to keep this a secret forever," Dane said softly.

"Why would my life be threatened if I knew I was adopted?" she asked. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears.

"You are the daughter of the two most powerful beings in the physical world. Anyone who wants to get at us only has to go through you. You could have been killed, kidnapped, or tortured to get us to give in to any demands made on us. You are old enough now to make your own decisions and you have a right to know your heritage before your powers start to show," I told her. She sighed and looked at Charlie and Renee.

"Well, I have something I suppose I'd better tell everyone too," she said. I already knew what it was, but it was hers to tell.

"Edward asked me to marry him and I've accepted," she said softly.

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" Charlie and Dane both roared, coming to their feet. I grinned at the sight. Renee sat there, stunned and silent.

"I'LL DO AS I PLEASE! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU HAVE EXACTLY BEEN HONEST WITH ME!" Bella yelled in return.

"Dane, my love, sit down. Charlie, hear Bella out before you get so upset," I reasoned.

"There's no way I'm allowing her to marry that delinquent," Charlie grumbled, sitting down. Renee's face was pale as she stared at her young daughter.

"Edward's not a delinquent, Dad! You won't give him a chance!" Bella snapped back.

"I gave him a chance the first time around and he broke your heart!" Charlie said, unable to believe that Bella was going to get married to Edward.

"Calm down, both of you," Renee finally spoke up. "Charlie, explain to everyone why you dislike Edward so much."

"The boy broke Bella's heart when he left, telling her he didn't love her anymore. Then he comes back six months later, after no contact at all and asks her to take him back. I threw a fit then, and she took him back anyway, even though she had a much better option with Jacob Black. I allowed this, but with some restrictions. The boy doesn't have any boundaries! He thinks he can get away with whatever he wants!" Charlie explained. His thoughts rang true. He truly believed what he was saying.

"Now, Bella, you tell your side of the story," Renee said. "Why do you think Edward deserves a second chance from your father?"

"I never told either of you the real reason Edward left. At my 18th birthday party, when I was opening gifts, I got a paper cut. I was in a house full of vampires, and Jasper wasn't as…used to the Cullen's diet as the rest of them were. He lunged at me and Edward knocked me backwards into a pile of glass plates. They wrestled Jasper out of the house and Carlisle stitched me up. Jasper felt really bad about it, but it wasn't his fault. However, that got Edward to thinking about my mortality and how he and his family are always in constant danger of killing me if they get out of control. So he decided they needed to leave—to give me a chance at a normal life. He knew I would fight him on it if I thought even for a minute that he still loved me. He knew he couldn't go through with it if I believed it at all. So he made me believe he didn't love me anymore. He thought I would heal and move on. He didn't do any better than I did—worse in fact. He didn't even try to pretend that he was doing okay. Alice said he would lie curled in a ball most of the time, only moving when the thirst got too great. He was about to give in and come back when Alice told him about my cliff diving experience. He went to the Volturi in Italy to convince them to kill him, but we got there before he could and we came back here. He told me he loved me and explained it all to me and I forgave him. I can't live without him, and I know he'll never leave me again, no matter what." Bella wouldn't look at any of us as she said this last part. Charlie and Renee were both shocked, but Dane and I knew the dangers of humans being around our kinds too much to be much surprised at anything she said.

"What do you mean…the Cullen's diet?" Renee asked.

"They hunt animals instead of people. Carlisle is around 360 years old and was the first of them. Next was Edward, and he is about 104. Esme was after him, then Rosalie, then Emmett. Jasper and Alice joined their family sometime after that. No one knows how old Alice is—she doesn't remember her human life—and Jasper was a Major in the Civil War," Bella explained.

"Tell me more about your run-in with the Volturi. How did you get to Edward quickly enough to prevent them from killing him?" I asked her. She looked up at me.

"Well, after Alice told me that Edward had decided to go to Italy, I knew what she was talking about because he had told me about the Volturi before. We got on a plane to Italy and drove into Volterra, where Edward had asked the Volturi to kill him. They refused because Aro was curious about Edward's mind-reading power and wanted him to join them. Edward decided to force their hand and made the decision to walk into the plaza at noon and let his skin show in the sunlight. I managed to get to him before he was able to do it, then the guards took us to see Aro, Marcus, and Caius. Aro was surprised when he couldn't read my mind so he called Jane in to see if her power worked on me. It didn't and he was even more surprised. Edward convinced them to let us go with the promise that I would be turned into a vampire."

"HE WHAT!" I roared, leaping to my feet. Bella shrank back a little, looking quite nervous. I calmed down with the touch of my husband's hand on mine.

"He didn't have a choice. Aro wasn't going to let me leave as a human."

"I didn't mean Edward. Aro allowed Jane to use her power on you?"

"She tried. It didn't work. Edward got in front of me and she used it on him instead, but it wouldn't work on me."

"I see." I was pissed at my underlings… I've never liked Jane anyway. "Hang on one moment." I pulled out a small black cell phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Let me speak to Aro," I barked into it. "I don't care if he's unavailable; I need to speak to him now! Tell him it's Saraiya and he'll take it." As I waited for Aro to come on the line, I looked over at Bella, who was very surprised.

"Hello, Saraiya. How are you?" Aro asked.

"I'm fine, Aro. Do you remember Edward and Alice Cullen and the human girl they had with them?" I demanded.

"Yes, of course. She was a delightful girl. I believe her name is Isabella Swan," Aro replied.

"It is. Did you give the order for her to be turned into a vampire?"

"Yes…why?"

"She is under the protection of my husband and me. I don't want you or your brothers to interfere in her life any more. Am I understood?" I said.

"Yes, of course. May I ask why she is under your protection?" he asked.

"No, you may not." I hung up the phone and looked back at the rest of them. For some reason, Bella looked a little sad.

"What's wrong?" Dane asked.

"Edward only agreed to change me in the first place because of the Volturi. I want to be with him forever, but what if he changes his mind?"

"Bella, you are part vampire, and part werewolf. You have to make the choice which you would rather be, and either Dane or I will make that happen for you. We understand you have another suitor as well. Tell me about him," I said.

"Jacob Black is a werewolf who refuses to understand that I love him, but not in the same way I love Edward. He helped me when Edward left, but I can't be happy with him, and he won't be happy with me. I hate hurting him like that, but I really wish he could move on," she said.

"Is that so?" a frosty voice came from the doorway. We all turned to see the young werewolf Jacob Black standing there.

A/N: Yeah, so I have no idea where I'm going with this new development yet…so I suppose I'll find out right along with the rest of you!