The woman who created Edward Cullen owns it all...I only own about two thousand pictures of him that inspire me.
CHAPTER THREE LOSING CHARLIE
They had been high school friends, but not sweethearts. The falling in love part had come later, after graduation, when they had met up again at their five-year reunion. They had laughed and danced and shared drinks and memories of high school days and old friends, and when Charlie asked her for her phone number, she found herself hoping that he would call her, and call her soon. He did call her soon, and he began romancing her with a passion bordering on obsession. He couldn't get enough of her, and she was flattered and giddy with his attentiveness and his expressed desire for her. He was her first and only lover, and she lost her virginity to him at twenty-two years old. Shortly afterward, they realized they had been careless, and a baby was on the way. He did the honorable thing by her and married her, and then he enlisted in the Army to give them good benefits. It was 1996, and there were no thoughts of terrorism, no real concerns of him actually going away to fight in a war. Charlie volunteered for a five-year enlistment with a two-year reservist rider attached, and they settled into their military lives. Charles Swan Jr. was born later that year in 1996, and their little family unit was complete. When Charlie was 27, and little CJ was 5, the country was shocked and stunned by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Charlie and Bella knew that everything had changed from that moment on. Charlie's enlistment was nearly complete, but his reservist rider was implemented, and shortly after, he was informed that his Army unit was being deployed to Afghanistan. Before he left, he brought Bella and CJ home a new puppy to keep their spirits up and to give CJ something from his father if the worst happened. They named the puppy Apache, after the attack helicopters that Charlie was a gunner on.
In 2002, Bella received the terrible news that all military wives dread. Her husband, the father of her young son, was killed in action. They were alone now, and she faced life as a single mother with a growing boy. He was six years old and had no father. She was twenty-eight years old and a widow, and more frightened and alone than she had ever been in her whole life. She had no idea how to imagine the rest of her life, so she didn't. She simply put one foot in front of the other day after day, and time went by and they survived.
A/N: So now we know why Bella doesn't have a husband and CJ doesn't have a dad. Enough looking back...time to move forward.