Renesmee meets Grandpa, and a little explanation on why he's Edward, and not Dad.
When I woke, Mama was gone. I missed her immediately, but Jacob was there, so I asked him where my parents were.
"They're enjoying alone time," he told me.
Emmett laughed loudly, interrupting his conversation with Rosalie and Esme. They had been talking about Dartmouth. I had gotten the impression that it was a place, somewhere far away - a place of learning. I would like to go there. I looked to Jacob, hoping he would join this conversation so I could learn more and maybe ask to go with them.
He seemed troubled. Puzzling on the reason, I figured it must be because Dartmouth was far away; his people were here. I touched him and formed a picture of him and I together while the world spun around us, all the places we'd already been together. There weren't many, and none were far, but making them blur would give the impression I wanted, I hoped, that we would stay together.
He became more troubled, rather than less, and held my tiny hand. "Yes, Nessie. We'll always be together," he told me. Then he gave me to Esme and walked away.
I asked her where and why he'd gone. He'd never left quite so abruptly before.
"I don't know, dear. Maybe he has pack business we don't know about." That could be it. Without Jacob to ask, it was impossible to know. I set the line of thought aside, looking for another.
I wanted to learn. I wanted to see new things. I wanted Mama.
I showed all these to Esme, as well. She replied that Mama and Edward were busy, so I pointed to closed doors around the kitchen, wanting to see what they hid.
Obliging my curiosity, she opened one of the higher doors. Inside were matching vessels, which Esme told me were China – teacups, saucers, plates, bowls, she named each for me. China was cold and hard, but brittle.
Esme clucked her tongue when I broke a cup in half with my grip. I felt terrible. The flowers and gold on the outside had been so pretty, and now they didn't line up quite right. I handed her the pieces sheepishly.
"It's all right. I have many more in the set." She put the pieces in the sink and opened another door. This one held shiny pots and pans. They were large, and didn't look nearly as breakable. I asked her to pull one out.
Even though the pot was large enough that I could almost sit in it, I was able to hold and turn it easily. When I flipped it over, I saw the pretty copper bottom, and it made a lovely sound when my hand smacked on it. My closed fist made an even better sound. I tossed the pot on the counter and leaned over to bang on it some more. The sound was different in the middle of the bottom compared to the edge; I liked that. I moved my hand from middle to side, middle to side.
I could make music with this! Were there others? I looked back to the open door and saw two more pots, smaller than this one. I reached for them, and Esme obliged me, placing the pots in a row from largest to smallest and sitting me on the counter top beside them. The different sizes made different tones! I rapped my knuckles on each in turn and started throwing in some side slaps. I didn't know I'd be able to make music. It was fun!
It was loud, though, and soon Emmett was laughing and holding his ears. "Go Ness! Rimshot!" He flicked the edge of the nearest pot, sending the far one flying off the counter to the floor.
I followed its descent with my eyes, leaning over the counter after it. Esme stretched her hands out to catch me, but I hadn't lost my balance. Instead, I turned back to Emmett with a sour expression. He'd made me lose one. I hit the farthest pot from him on the side and watched the one near him fly into his chest. He caught it and roared louder. It was interesting how hitting one on this side could make the one on the other side move. I had watched closely to see how it worked. The first pot tapped the second and stopped, then the second moved as though it had been the one hit. It was the essence of momentum.
Carlisle was the next to put a stop to my fun, tying it in a neat bow with his yellow tape. For the first time, measuring me didn't make his brow furrow. I hadn't had my blood yet this morning, but surely sleeping wasn't enough to slow my growing. Maybe I didn't have to do anything, after all.
"Good news?" Esme asked, straightening from putting away the pots.
"A deceleration in growth. If the trend continues, well, she'll still be aging very quickly for a while, but it will definitely slow before she reaches full human maturity."
Maturity? I asked Carlisle, repeating his voice in my mind.
"Adulthood. Ripeness. When most humans stop growing." All humans grew for a while, I just wouldn't grow for as long as they did. I nodded; my relief less than theirs as I hadn't been terribly concerned. "And I heard you percussing up a song down here!" he told me. "You definitely have your father's ear." Percussing. I guessed that meant playing, maybe banging. It meant what I'd done to the pots."I might ask you to find a slightly quieter instrument for your next composition." I smiled even more broadly and hoped I could. I would love to find new objects to make music with. Maybe the piano would play for me today.
"In the meantime, maybe she'd just like something else shiny," Esme suggested, pulling out a wooden box. I recognized the material by its grain now. My eyes glittered as she opened the box. Inside were slender utensils; some were forks, such as I'd seen Jacob use, some knives, but not like the one he used on his meat, and others spoons, like the one Carlisle used to feed me yogurt. I was very interested, then thrilled when Esme set me on the floor in front of the window to investigate. Rosalie sat with me. She, too, complemented me on my song, and I held up a spoon as she bent her head to mine to see us both reflected in it, just like in the mirror. But these weren't glass. I was sure. The reflection wasn't as perfect as the mirror either. I could recognize that it was us, but Rosalie's forehead was too narrow, my smile too broad. I raised and lowered the spoon as she straightened. The different parts of the spoon did different things to the reflection. Was that because of the material? I set down the spoon and picked up a knife as the others returned to their discussion of Dartmouth. I listened carefully, but didn't watch.
"The college life would do her good, and it's obvious she enjoys learning," Carlisle was saying after hearing their plans.
The knife did not distort my reflection, so it was not the metal. What else was different? I ran my hand over it and felt the tiny teeth in the side. They didn't cut or hurt me, but I could feel their rasp. Aside from the teeth, the knife was flat.
"We can't all fit in the New Hampshire house, though. Who would most like a semester with Bella and Edward? Alice, I'm sure? That would mean Jasper." Esme was saying.
I looked back at the spoon. It had a bowl, a convex and concave side. I realized now I'd been looking at the side that pushed out. I tried looking at the side that bowed in. The distortions were reversed. So if I flattened the bowl, the image would correct. I wanted to try.
"I won't sit back and watch Ness leave. I'm going, too," Rosalie insisted.
Emmett regarded me closely as I pushed into the bottom of the bowl; the spoon bent nearly in half. He laughed. I chucked the spoon at him and grabbed another. This time I didn't hold the stem, just the sides, and pushed with my thumbs. I had more success. The bottom buckled, but now the image was worse, not better. I frowned and threw this one in a non-Emmett direction.
"Well, I suppose the six of you might fit. We could go on a trip of our own, Carlisle. You're due for another break from the hospital," Esme said.
I picked up a fork. The image in this was only slightly distorted, at the bottom, after the tines met to the base met the stem. I tried pulling the top, but my hand just slipped off. Emmett laughed again, and this time I attempted to stab his foot with it. The tines bent in all different directions. He didn't notice my attack, but did notice my "oooh," as I admired the new effect. I heard gasps from the others at my spiky fork, but I ignored them. Laying that fork down carefully, I grabbed another. This time, I pushed the tines, folding each one out from the center in a different direction to make a four-pointed star. Very nice. I stood the fork upright, balancing on its tines. Carlisle picked it up, and I smiled at him, glad he like it, too. I decided to try another spoon.
I had folded this one several ways, unable to flatten the bowl, when movement outside caught my eye. It was Mama! I tossed the spoon and pointed. Before anyone could answer my request, she ran to me and held me. It was perfect. Her eyes were still brilliant red and full of love, but this time the color made me think of something else. I hadn't had any blood or human food yet today. I let Mama know before remembering that wasn't wise. Her face crinkled, but no one took me from her. Maybe I didn't have to be so careful with my thirst. I saw Edward on his way to the fridge. I love you, Father. I love you, Mama.
"How long has she been awake?" Mama asked now.
"Just a few minutes. We would have called you soon," Rosalie told her. "She's been asking for you. Demanding might be a better description. Esme sacrificed her second best silver service to keep the little monster entertained." Mama was in a hurry to see me, too. The knowledge filled my heart with joy.
Not entertained, instructed, I thought irritably at Rosalie. I was learning the essence of reflection and the malleability of metal. Didn't she see that?
But she was smiling at Mama. "We didn't want to... ah... bother you." Mama and Edward had been busy - having alone time. Why would they need time away from me? Would I be in the way? Then I remembered Edward hugging Mama yesterday. I would be in the way in one of those, but surely they could hug around me. All these thoughts made my blood rise with pleasure - them hugging each other brought only slightly less happiness than the thought of them hugging me. Emmett was nearly laughing again. I frowned at him; it was happy, not humorous.
"We'll get your room set up right away," Mama was telling me. "You're going to like the cottage. It's full of magic." There was magic in her voice, too. They weren't going without me next time. My heart skipped with excitement. She thanked Esme for the cottage, but Emmett was roaring again.
"So it's still standing? I would have thought you two had knocked it to rubble by now. What were you doing last night? Discussing the national debt?" His words didn't make sense to me, but I got the feeling he was just teasing Mama, so I ignored the confusion and focused on her face. That brought me back to her eyes. Where was my breakfast? I followed her eyes to the trees. That was where Jacob had gone.
"Jacob took off this morning, pretty early. Seth followed him out," Rosalie told her. I hadn't noticed Seth before. Maybe he was already in the trees. Rosalie would have heard what I could not.
"What was he so upset about?" Edward asked.
Edward! Breakfast! I reached for the cup, but continued to listen, wanting to know why Jacob had left too. Mama gave me to Rosalie as I took the cup.
"I don't know or care. He was watching Renesmee sleep; his mouth hanging open like the moron he is. And then he jumped to his feet without any kind of trigger, not that I noticed, anyway, and stormed out. I was glad to be rid of him. The more time he spends here, the less chance there is that we'll ever get the smell out." Rosalie didn't mean that, did she? I didn't want Jacob to go away. And he smelled good. My frown was lost in my cup, though. "I suppose it doesn't matter. We won't be here that much longer."
"I still say we should go straight to New Hampshire and get things set up," Emmett continued her thought. "Bella's already registered at Dartmouth. Doesn't look like it will take her that long to be able to handle school. I'm sure you'll ace all your classes; apparently there's nothing interesting for you to do at night besides study." They didn't sleep. I had had ideas about that, but was just now coming to realize it. What would I give to be able to learn all night as well as all day? What would be more interesting? People were laughing and stifling giggles. Emmett was teasing Mama, again, and she was chanting, trying to keep her control. This time, Edward growled. Was Emmett teasing him too?
That wasn't it, though; Alice was upset, as well, and I knew Emmett wasn't teasing her. "What is he doing?" she complained. "What is that Dog doing that has erased my schedule for the entire day? I can't see anything! No!" Then she chided Mama on her clothes. I liked them. The jeans didn't mean anything to me, but the shirt was softer than the silk and satin Alice and Esme wore, warmer somehow. I would have to spend some time with Alice. She could teach me the names and uses for all these articles of clothing and the materials they were made from. She obviously paid them the most attention.
Edward's clenched words made it through my musings. "He talked to Charlie." Who was that? "He thinks Charlie is following, coming here, today." Well, I'd find out soon then. Was he family? Or maybe another wolf like Jacob?
"He told Charlie?" Mama seemed astonished and dismayed. I could hear the panic in her voice. "But, doesn't he understand? How could he do that?" Maybe he understood, but I didn't. My cup was empty and I threw it to the floor. No one seemed to notice, although Jasper's hand did flick out to catch it.
"Jacob's on his way in now," Edward told us.
Yay! Jacob and Mama! And there he was, wet. He shook his hair and I felt a little wet too. He smelled so good in the rain, almost like the moss in the forest. "Hey, guys!"
Seth was behind him with another person, a female. Leah, then. I hadn't seen her except as a wolf. She was pretty. Not beautiful like my family, but definitely pretty. I liked her short hair, even though I preferred my long curls.
"Rose?" Mama said to Rosalie, and I was being held by Mama again. It wasn't as good as before. It was almost like she was clutching me too hard, except she wasn't. What was going on?
"Charlie will be here soon," Jacob was telling us. Charlie? I wondered again. "Just a heads up. I assume Alice is getting you some sunglasses or something?"
"You assume way too much. What. Have. You. Done?" Each of Mama's words were distinct and clipped. She was clutching me with her mind. I was her control. I tried to send my thoughts to her. It will be okay, Mama. Please don't hurt Jacob. Edward's eyes flicked to me briefly before returning to Bella.
"Blondie and Emmett woke me up this morning, going on and on about you all moving cross-country. Like I could let you leave." Jacob wouldn't be coming with us? "Charlie was the biggest issue there, right? Well, problem solved." He seemed a little smug at his plan. What was it? To bring Charlie with us, too?
"Do you even realize what you've done? The danger you've put him in?" Mama asked him.
"I didn't put him in any danger, except from you," Jacob informed her. I wanted to know this Charlie. Mama was worried about him being in danger; he was important to her. "But you've got some kind of supernatural self-control, right? Not as good as mind-reading, if you ask me. Much less exciting."
Edward stepped up to Jacob, and his anger made me fear for Jacob again. "That's just a theory, mongrel," he almost spit at Jacob. "Did you think about the physical pain you're putting Bella in, even if she can resist? Or the emotional pain if she doesn't?" But Mama wouldn't do anything for blood. If this Charlie was important to her, she wouldn't hurt him. "I suppose what happens to Bella no longer concerns you." That wasn't fair. Jacob loved Mama. Would this hurt Mama? I asked her. She didn't answer me, so I listened to Jacob and Edward instead.
"Bella will be in pain?" Jacob seemed uncertain of his plan now. He didn't want to hurt Mama.
"Like you shoved a white-hot branding iron down her throat." I didn't know what that meant, but I gathered it hurt.
"I didn't know that," Jacob said in his defense.
"Then perhaps you should have asked first." I understood Jacob's thought, though. He knew, like me, that Mama wouldn't hurt Charlie. He thought Charlie was the reason we were leaving. Why not give Mama time with someone she loved and keep us nearby? I thought even if he knew he probably would have done the same, just taken more time to consider his plan.
"You would have stopped me," Jacob accused, and I knew he was right.
"You should have been stopped."
Mama interrupted them. "This isn't about me." I didn't take my eyes off their exchange, wanting to be sure Edward's anger was as reined in as it seemed. Also, I knew what Mama was thinking. They had told me this about her and I had experienced it. Her pain wasn't important. Pain to those she loved was. "This is about Charlie, Jacob. How could you put him in danger this way? Do you realize it's death or vampire life for him now, too?" Vampire. Was that what my family was? The way she said too made it sound like she included herself.
"Relax, Bella. I didn't tell him anything you weren't planning to tell him." Jacob tried to console her. What he knew put him in danger? How was that?
"But he's coming here." Mama continued to panic.
"Yeah, that's the idea. Wasn't the whole 'let him make the wrong assumptions' thing your plan? I think I provided a very nice red herring, if I do say so myself." He was smug again.
I felt Bella both physically and mentally clutch me and her control again. "Say it straight, Jacob. I don't have the patience for this."
"I didn't tell him anything about you, Bella. Not really. I told him about me. Well, show is probably a better verb."
"He phased in front of Charlie," Edward spat.
"You what?" Mama whispered, shock in her voice.
"He's brave. Brave as you are," Jacob admired. "Didn't throw up or anything. I gotta say I was impressed. You should have seen his face when I started taking my clothes off though. Priceless." I took a moment to remember Jacob naked the moment before he phased. His skin was so perfect. But since I hadn't discovered why my family bothered with clothes, I didn't understand why this was noteworthy. I also didn't know why Edward growled.
"You absolute moron," Mama was shouting at him. "You could have given him a heart attack." What would have attacked his heart? Not Jacob.
"Charlie's fine. He's tough," Jacob assured Mama. "If you'd give this just a minute you'll see that I did you a favor here."
"You have half of that Jacob," Mama threatened him. "You have thirty seconds to tell me every single word, before I give Renesmee to Rosalie and rip your miserable head off." Somehow I knew she didn't really mean that. Like Alice had said yesterday, she might hurt him, but not beyond what he could heal.
I listened with interest as Jacob told his story. It was very short. He had told Charlie that things weren't what they seemed, that Bella had changed, but wasn't sick.
"He asked if you turned into an animal, too, and I said 'she wishes she was that cool.'" I knew I did. Being a bird would be especially nice, but I liked my wolf friends. I would like being a wolf with them.
Charlie was willing to not ask questions if that meant he could see us. In fact, he didn't want to know. I couldn't understand that. How could anyone not want to know everything? Since knowing was apparently dangerous, I was glad for him, but it was unbelievable to me.
"But he did ask if you were adopting her," Jacob continued his recount. "'Like a daughter? Like I'm sort of a grandfather?' were his exact words." It was only now that I learned Charlie was Bella's father. He was my grandfather just as Carlisle was. He was my family. More eager to meet him than ever, I wondered how long it would be until he arrived.
"But she's changing so fast," Bella worried. Not as fast, I thought, but I knew it was still too fast for humans.
"I told him she was more special than all of us put together." The adoration in his voice made my heart patter. I reached for him. "I told him, 'Trust me. You don't want to know about this. But if you can ignore all the strange parts, you're gonna be amazed. She's the most wonderful person in the whole world." Jac-ob, my heart thumped, Jac-ob, Jac-ob, Jac-ob, faster and faster.
"Then I told him that if he could deal with that, you all would stick around for a while and he would have a chance to get to know her, but that if it was too much for him, you would leave." I was still intrigued by a place for learning, like Dartmouth, but I wanted to meet Charlie, too. "He said that as long as no one forced too much information on him, he'd deal."
"I'm not going to say thank you," Mama told him after a few seconds. "You're still putting Charlie at a huge risk."
"I am sorry about it hurting you. I didn't know it was like that." Silly Jacob, Mama wasn't worried about that part. "Bella, things are different with us now, but you'll always be my best friend, and I'll always love you, but I'll love you the right way now." He'd loved her the wrong way before? I remembered being told about Bella's broken hand after Jacob had kissed her. He wasn't supposed to kiss Bella, but it was okay for him to kiss me? Physical relationships were completely incomprehensible. "There's finally a balance. We both have people we can't live without. Still friends?"
Mama shifted me so she could take Jacob's hand. It didn't make me feel as excited as when she and Edward touched, but it was important, too. "If I don't kill Charlie tonight, I'll consider forgiving you for this," she told him. I mentally scoffed her.
"Whenyou don't kill Charlie tonight, you'll owe me huge," Jacob replied. He was right, except on the owing her part. She would have gone to see Charlie on her own. I needed my father, Edward. Surely she needed hers, too.
"Can I?" he asked, reaching for me. I leaned a little toward him, but was happy being held by Mama, especially now that she wasn't as shocked and panicky.
"I'm actually holding her so I don't try to kill you, Jacob. Maybe later." Silly Mama. His face fell with disappointment. Silly Jacob.
Then Alice returned and relegated the wolves to the corner. Alice told Mama to give me to Jacob so she could see. That confused me. After all, if she knew Mama held me, she could see me, but she couldn't see? Something clicked in the conversations I'd listened to without understanding before. Alice saw us, the room around her, but she saw other things too - things that were coming. However, she couldn't see things that were coming to me and the wolves, she couldn't see us.
Oh well, I got to be with Jacob so I didn't care too much. Leah left in a bit of a huff. She was going to phase into a wolf again, I was sure. She was a pretty wolf, but a prettier woman. I hadn't had a chance to tell her that. I showed Jacob his smug smile from earlier and Mama's relaxing grip. His plan was going to work. He kissed my head again.
Edward was with Mama now, speaking soothingly, trying to give her confidence. I saw her putting something Alice gave her into her eyes. It looked painful, and I asked Jacob what they were and why. He explained quietly about it masking the color of her eyes. Even as he did, I saw her eyes darken to brown. They looked more like mine. Alice was saying they weren't as pretty as mine though. My family was giving her instructions on pretending to be human. I logged it but knew I did most of these things already, so I put my mind to something else.
I reached to Seth. I still had to thank him for yesterday. "Ow," he said instinctively at the memory, but he got my meaning. "I wouldn't let her hurt Jake, Nessie. You don't have to thank me for that."
A black object on the other side of the room lit up and pictures started moving on it. I hadn't seen this before and asked Jacob about it. "It's a television. It's a moving picture of what is, or was, happening somewhere else. That's a football game." I watched for a few seconds, until Mama called for me. It didn't make a lot of sense.
"Jacob, I need Renesmee."
"Bella, that doesn't help me see," Alice was complaining.
"But I need her. She keeps me calm." I had been right earlier. She was clutching me. I would help as much as I could.
Now Alice was giving Mama instructions on how to hold me. That was bizarre to me; she was 'the one who held me'. Edward sat next to us and hugged us both. It was a marvellous feeling. Then he told me, "Renesmee, someone special is coming to see you and your mother." He mustn't have been listening to my thoughts earlier because I already knew that. "But he's not like us, or even like Jacob. We have to be very careful with him." I could do that. I remembered the china cup this morning. "You shouldn't tell him things the way you tell us." I reached to touch his face although he knew my thoughts anyway. I showed me holding the cup gently in two hands. "Exactly. And he's going to make you thirsty, but you mustn't bite him. He won't heal like Jacob." I kept the image of the cup in my mind. If I wouldn't break that, I certainly wouldn't bite it. And I didn't bite Jacob anytime I was thirsty.
"Can she understand you?" Mama asked. Of course I could. He wasn't using any of the large medical terms that I couldn't follow; all these concepts were easy.
"She understands. You'll be careful, won't you, Renesmee? You'll help us?"
I nodded very slightly, but a thought occurred to me. Was it wrong to bite Jacob? Again, unnecessarily, I touched Edward to show him nicking Jacob's thumb. "No, I don't care if you bite Jacob. That's fine." I was glad. Jacob's blood tasted good, and he was nearby at times when nothing else was.
I heard Jacob laugh. "Maybe you should leave, Jacob," Edward was saying now. I didn't want Jacob to go.
"I told Charlie I'd be here. He needs the moral support."
"Moral support," Edward said with sarcasm. "As far as Charlie knows, you're the most repulsive monster of us all."
"Repulsive?" Jacob echoed my thought aloud. Of course, in my head I also said, Monster? but he didn't voice that part. He was beautiful as a wolf, and I had never seen him do anything monstrous. Then he laughed again.
I felt Mama tense and inhale quickly. Charlie must be close. "You're sure?" Mama asked Edward.
"Positive. You can do anything." I agreed with Edward and watched as he touched his lips to Mama's over my head. It was the most amazing thing I'd seen. It looked different than when people kissed my head, like there was more of an exchange. As before, I derived pleasure from this contact. Something about their expressions of love made me feel warm, safe, and loved, too.
Jasper interrupted them, though. "Er... Edward? You might not want to distract her like that right now. She needs to be able to focus."
I watched a small space open between them and heard Edward say, "Ooops." This made Mama laugh, though I didn't know why.
I turned my attention to the door as I heard the engine outside. Then I listened to his footfalls on the stairs and porch and his knock on the door. Suddenly, I was shy. What if he didn't like me? I hid in Mama's hair as Carlisle opened the door.
"Carlisle." I heard Charlie's voice for the first time and noticed it was more like Jacob's than my other family. It was different, though, gruffer. "Where's Bella?"
"Over here, Dad," Mama said. Why was she talking like that? She sounded silly. Dad. That obviously meant father. I didn't think it said enough to describe Edward. It might fit Charlie.
I watched his expression change several times. I'd seen a few of those on the faces of my family, but never so many so quickly. His face told me so much. He was angry, relieved, and sad all at the same time. The heaviest one at any moment was what showed on his face. How did my family keep from doing that? I wished I wasn't intimidated by him so I could move out of Mama's hair and see him better.
"Is that you, Bella?" he asked.
"Yep." She still sounded silly, but she wasn't distorting her voice as much. "Hi, Dad."
Jacob greeted him then, but Charlie didn't seem to like that. Instead, he approached us. I could smell him now. He did smell tasty, but he didn't make me as thirsty as I'd expected. He smelled... too much like me. Somehow I knew that his blood was the same as my own. It would feed me, but it would be wrong. I could see him better now. He wasn't beautiful, but he was pretty, like Leah. He was attractive. I already liked him and I didn't even know him yet.
"Bella?" He asked.
"It's really me." Her voice was lower but not distorted. "I'm sorry, Dad."
"Are you okay?" he asked now, and I could see the concern in his eyes. They were full of love, too.
"Really and truly great. Healthy as a horse." A horse? I let the question go to inhale more of Charlie.
"Jake told me this was necessary, that you were dying." Why would Jacob tell him that? Just to bring him here?
"Jacob was telling you the truth," Mama told him. What?
"That makes one of you." He was angry. I peeked to see better.
Then he looked at me. His eyes were the same as mine, just as his blood was. I could see parts of Mama in him. I could see the love in his eyes. "Oh, this is her, the orphan Jacob said you were adopting."
"My niece," Edward said. It wasn't a word they'd used often, but I knew that would mean Edward was my uncle. That wasn't right.
"I thought you lost your family." Charlie's eyes met Edward's now and I could tell he was having as much trouble understanding as I was.
"I lost my parents. My older brother was adopted, like me. I never saw him after that, but the courts located me after he and his wife died in a car accident, leaving their only child without any other family." Brother? His brothers were here. I never took my eyes from Charlie through the odd story. Mama's dad. He smelled so good.
"She's... she's a... well, she's a beauty." Charlie stammered. I think he liked me. "Kind of a big responsibility though. You two are just getting started."
"What else could we do?" Edward answered him. He stroked my face then, and I kissed his finger as it went by. I knew what he was telling me, and he was silly to worry. "Would you have refused her?"
"Hmph." I started a little at the odd sound. It was relief and disgruntlement in one. I liked it. "Jake says you call her Nessie?"
Yes! I thought. I like Ness!
"No we don't." Mama's voice was stern. I frowned a little. "Her name is Renesmee."
"How do you feel about all this?" Charlie was asking Mama now. "Maybe Carlisle and Esme could..."
"She's mine," Mama insisted. "I want her." I wanted Mama, too, and her declaration made me feel bound to her.
"You gonna make me a grandpa so young?" Charlie seemed to tease. Edward tried to appease him by pointing out that Carlisle was also my grandfather, but that was the difference. Carlisle was Grandfather, and Edward was Father. Charlie was Grandpa. He looked at me, and I almost hid behind Mama's hair again, but his breath reached me, and I instinctively reached toward it. I emerged from hiding and saw questions in his eyes. Jacob also tried to make Charlie feel better about being a grandpa, but I saw that this time Charlie had to deal with being a grandpa in truth, not in Edward's story.
"I don't want to know everything, but I'm done with the lies." Charlie told Edward.
"I'm sorry, but you need know the public story more than you need to know the truth," Edward explained. I suddenly understood that I would have to fill my role in that story, as well. "If you're going to be a part of this secret, the public story is the one that counts. It's to protect Bella and Renesmee, as well as the rest of us. Can you go along with the lies for them?" I hoped he would. I wanted a chance to know him.
"You might have given me some warning, kid," he said to Mama.
"Would it really have made this any easier?" she retorted.
Suddenly he was on my level, and I saw myself in him. I reached for him this time, and Mama held me back. I reached up to her, not stretching further, to tell her that he smelled like me, he looked like me, and I wanted to know him. I kept my eyes on Charlie though, and smiled.
"Whoa," Charlie gasped now, "How old is she?"
"Three months," was Edward's reply, but I wasn't listening anymore. I needed to connect to him somehow. So I tried waving instead.
"Told you she was special, didn't I?" Jacob told Charlie. I got a warm flutter from Jacob's admiration. He was still talking to Charlie, but I was too busy learning all the lines of his face. I thought Jacob was going to explain imprinting, but it never got that far.
Emmett hollered suddenly. Something about the game. Mama tensed, and I guessed Emmett was teasing her again. Then Charlie settled into a chair to watch. Locked in place, I decided to try to learn the game. It apparently revolved around an oddly shaped ball that was thrown, kicked, or carried at various times. After a while, I discovered I knew all the basic rules - downs, touchdowns, punts - and quickly became bored with it. Charlie was at a bad angle for me to see clearly. I looked up at Mama and then pressed my hand to her throat. I showed her I was thirsty and that her eyes were looking more red than brown.
She excused herself and passed me to Rosalie for feeding while she 'freshened up.' I was most curious when Charlie and Jacob used the bathroom though. I wished I could see what they did in there. I contented myself with my cup in the kitchen. Carlisle took the opportunity to weigh and measure me again. He didn't frown this time, so it seemed the deceleration was continuing. I was glad.
When Mama took me back to sit with Edward and watch more of the game with Charlie, I decided that it was the perfect time for a nap. Of course, this was the first time I had chosen to go to sleep. Somehow it didn't seem as easy as I expected. I looked to Edward hoping he had heard my desire and could give me some tips. He slowly stretched out his fingers on one hand and then the other, like he was counting something. Counting, I could try that. I settled into Mama's arms a little more comfortably and closed my eyes. I started counting. When I reached ten tens of ten, I decided that wasn't enough. The sounds from the television - and Emmett teasing Mama - kept bringing me back to the room. I tried counting music instead, matching my breath to the rhythm. 1-2-3-4 breath 1-2-3-4 breath...
I woke in Mama's arms. The news was playing and I turned to watch a little while still curled up in her hold. I liked news. They were telling some local stories which let me see maps and gave me a lot of new information to digest. I kept very still as I watched. I remembered what Jasper had said; if I pretended to sleep, no one would come for me. I closed my eyes and listened instead.
Sure enough, when Mama rose to say goodbye to Charlie I was still with her. They were talking about Renee. I wondered who she was. They wanted to protect her, too. More family, I guessed. "We've got time to discuss this, right?" he was asking her now.
"Right," she assured him. That meant we weren't leaving. I still wanted to go to Dartmouth one day. I tried to keep my breathing even and hoped Edward wouldn't give me away.
Seth interrupted then. "You gonna stand Billy and my Mom up, Charlie?" I absently wondered who Billy. Jacob had mentioned him before. "Bella and Nessie'll be here tomorrow. Let's get some grub, eh?" Food. I needed some of that, but I didn't want to miss this time with my Grandpa.
"Jake says you guys were going to take off on me," he told Mama.
"I didn't want to do that if there was any way at all around it. That's why we're still here," she told him.
"He said you could stay for a while, but only if I'm tough enough and if I can keep my mouth shut." Please do, Grandpa.
"Yes. But I can't promise that we'll never leave, Dad. It's pretty complicated," she told him.
"Need to know," he half-muttered to stop Mama from continuing. He was going to try. I was thrilled. It was becoming difficult to stay still so close to him.
"Right."
"You'll visit though, if you have to go?" he pleaded.
"I promise, Dad. Now that you know, just enough, I think this can work. I'll keep as close as you want." I liked that. Then I was unable to think as I was closer to Charlie than ever before. His warmth and scent surrounded me as he hugged Mama and me.
"Keep close, Bells. Real close," he whispered with fervor. Now his love rolled over me with everything else. Real close, I thought to myself as I touched his shoulder with my own.
"Love you, Dad," Mama whispered back. Then I felt a small shudder from him and the hug ended. I was a little sad.
"Love you too, kid. Whatever else has changed, that hasn't." Then he touched me. His touch was warm, cooler than me, but warmer than the rest of my family. "She sure looks a lot like you."
"More like Edward, I think," she argued. "She has your curls."
"Huh, I guess she does. Huh, Grandpa," he muttered. Yes, my Grandpa. "Do I ever get to hold her?" he asked, and my heart raced, but I held very still. I could sense Mama didn't trust me not to bite Charlie if I was awake. I hoped she believed my act.
She must have because I was being laid in Grandpa's arms. "Here," she said as she let go of me. I rolled a little to put my face in his chest. This way I could open my eyes a crack without Mama seeing. Also, I could smell him better.
"She's sturdy," he said. "Sturdy is good." His compliment made me half-smile. "She'll need to be tough, surrounded by all this craziness." Things didn't seem crazy to me, but I could be tough for Grandpa. Then he rocked me a little, and I sighed very quietly. "Prettiest baby I ever saw, including you, kid," I blushed a little. "I'm sorry, but it's true."
"I know it is," Mama agreed.
"Pretty baby," he lulled to me. I love you Grandpa, I thought with all my might and hoped he could hear.
"Can I come back tomorrow?" he asked. Please? I thought.
"Sure, Dad. Of course. We'll be here," Mama assured him.
"You better be," he threatened. "See you tomorrow, Nessie." I did smile this time, but wiped it from my face quickly, hoping no one had noticed. I was supposed to be asleep, after all.
"Not you, too," Mama groaned. "Her name is Renesmee, like Renee and Esme put together. No variations." Renee again. "Do you want to hear her middle name?"
"Sure," Grandpa answered quickly.
"Carlie. With a C. Like Carlisle and Charlie put together." Carlisle and Charlie were my grandfathers. That most likely made Renee my grandmother like Esme, then.
"Thanks, Bells!" Grandpa enthused. I could see his smile even through my lashes.
"Thank you, Dad. So much has changed so quickly. My head hasn't stopped spinning. If I didn't have you, I don't know how I'd keep my grip on... on reality. Go eat, Dad," Mama told him after his stomach rumbled under me. "We'll be here."
Grandpa gave me back to Mama, but hesitated another moment in the doorway. I could hear Edward playing the piano. It was something new, the way he kept trying different phrases.
"See you tomorrow, Bella," Grandpa finally said his goodbye. "I mean, it's not like you don't look... good. I'll get used to it." And then I heard him walk down the wooden porch to his car.
Thank you to my two betas Rhii and Jenniemae.