AN: Happy Wednesday! Sorry for the late update! My internet was down for a few days, and what I write on, wouldn't let me continue writing without the internet… :( However, if you haven't read the updated chapters 2 & 3, you might should do that really quick… I've got it to where Renesmee's age is on the right track, I think. Chapter One, I didn't really change anything, just added like two sentences, haha. Please add me on Facebook- I have a page now, for things like when an update will be, or something like that… It's Em Twenty-Seventeen. Anyway, here's the new chapter. I do not own Twilight- and unless I have one of those REALLY freaky Friday moments- and switch bodies with Stephenie Meyer, I never will.
Chapter 4:Another Family (RPOV)
Out of the twenty-four cities/towns I'd lived in, Forks had to be the worst.
I'd been in this town of 3,120 people for a total of three seconds, and I already hated it. That had to be a new record.
I was in the back of Carla's white Honda Sonata, listening to the radio and looking out at the depressing sight through the window and rain. When Carla turned onto the little road that lead into the woods, I had to think about who exactly these people were. A doctor. Mother. Teenagers, who were married/engaged to each other!
Maybe I should jump out of this car, now…
I knew it wasn't safe jumping out of a moving vehicle, but it had to be safer than staying with a family of couples who lived in the woods, right?
Absolutely.
But I missed my chance. The house came into view after she turned again onto an unpaved road. I hadn't noticed because I was debating a suicidal mission.After a few miles, there was a thinning of the woods, and we were suddenly in a small meadow, or was it actually a lawn? The gleam of the forest didn't relent, though, for there were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protecting shadow right up to the walls of the house that rose among them, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped that wrapped around the first story.
I don't know what I'd expected, but it definitely wasn't this. The house was timeless,graceful, and probably a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white. It was three stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned. The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration. (AN: Sentences describing the house in italics are straight from the book! Again, I do not own anything!) The foster homes I'd always been in were trailers, or single family homes. I had seen houses this big, but never had I lived in one. But this house was different then most houses. It was beautiful. And I knew it from somewhere. I was getting a lot of these deja vu moments lately.
The family must've heard us coming up the drive because as soon as we pulled up to the house, two people were coming through the door- a man and a woman. The woman had rich caramel hair and a smile plastered on her face. The deep violet shirt she was wearing went freakishly well with her pale white skin. Her skirt was black, and she was wearing the same color heels that gave her at least another five inches. The man had blonde hair that was kind of swept to the side. He was smiling, just not as brightly as his wife. His pale blue shirt and khakis almost looked a little too casual for a doctor.
I was pretty good at being able to tell whenever a smile was genuine or not. And what I found in their smiles, shocked me. They were truly happy that I was here.
As I took in their appearances, I tried to argue with the part of my brain that told me I had seen them before.
"Ready?" Carla asked, turning off the car.
Since I didn't really have a choice in the matter, I shrugged, grabbed my backpack from the seat beside me, and got out of the car.
The two people on the front porch froze. Like… froze froze. As in… No breathing. But it was gone after two seconds, and they took in my appearance. I let Carla lead the way up the porch. I looked around until Carla started talking.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, this is Renesmee. Renesmee, this is Carlisle and Esme Cullen." she introduced.
Esme held out her hand, which I shook after some hesitation.
"Renesmee, it's such a pleasure to meet you!" she exclaimed.
I nodded. "You too." I muttered. My brows furrowed. My entire body was telling me that I knew these people. That I knew them so well, I should run over to this woman and just hug her and never let go. But I had never met this person before… Had I?
"Shall we go inside and get you settled?" Carlisle asked politely.
"Yes, yes, please! Come in!" Esme invited us. I followed behind them quietly.
"Can I offer you anything to drink?" Carlisle asked.
"No, thank you," I denied politely. Carla denied also.
"Esme, whose car is that in the drive-" the boy stopped when he saw me. "way… Umm… Hey." He waved his hand in a circle.
I gave a little wave back. This "boy" probably had more muscle than a NFL player. His dark curly hair bounced every time he took a step.
"Emmett, this is Renesmee. Renesmee, this is our oldest son, Emmett." Esme introduced us.
"Nice to meet you." Emmett said, breaking the awkward silence in the room.
"Same here." I replied, and the room settled back into awkward silence.
Nobody moved until Carla stood up. "Well… I better go. It was nice meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen."
Carlisle and Esme shared a smile and nodded. "Likewise, Carla," Carlisle replied.
I stood up to tell her bye. She pulled me into a big hug, pulling me into her cold body.
"If you need me, I've found a little house in the city. Call me whenever, for whatever, Ren. I doubt you'll need it, but if you do…"
"I know what to do. I got it, Carla." I finished with a smile- well, more like a grimace.
She took a deep breath, and released it slowly. "Okay. I'm leaving."
She was still there a minute later, hugging me. I noticed the Cullens look at each other and smile.
"Umm… Carla? You're still here." I told her with a smile.
She pulled back a little, but still kept hold of my shoulders as she studied me.
"You're going to be okay here," she said quietly, as if reminding herself.
"Carla, I'll be fine. If I need you, I'll call. I promise."
She nodded, content with that answer. "Okay. I'm going now."
She let go of my shoulders and walked out the door.
"Renesmee, if you want to take a seat, we can introduce you to the other kids?" Esme told me.
I nodded, and sat down. "Sure." I offered a small smile.
"Emmett, go get everyone else, please." Carlisle ordered politely. If that is even possible. I'd never heard a foster parent say: "please."
Emmett just nodded, and yelled: "Guys, get down here!"
Carlisle rolled his eyes, but smiled at his son, and Esme just laughed.
I was shocked. He just disobeyed them… That caused for some type of punishment, right? I mean… If I had yelled after being told to go, the punishment would've been unheard of. Maybe Carla was right, maybe this place is different than the rest.
No, they're not. Don't think like that Renesmee. You can't afford it.
I shook my head and sank back into the couch as the rest of the Cullens came down the steps.
There were three girls, and three boys. Though they weren't related, I could see similarities between the girls, Emmett, and two other men. The other man who came down with the rest of them, was the total opposite of the rest. Where they were pale, he was a bronze shade of tan. Where they're eyes were a bizarre gold, his were a dark brown. He was also tall. Like… Really tall. Taller than the others. I felt a weird pull to him, imparticular.
Out of all of them, one girl was blonde letting her hair fall into waves past her next had her short black hair cropped into a pixie cut, and the last girl had brown hair that fell past her waist. The other men and Emmett had similar hair- Emmett with dark brown, one with blonde- I was guessing that the blondes were the twins- and the last man had, creepily, the same shade of bronze as me.
I watched as they all separated off into "couples" and Carlisle and Esme relinquished their chair to make room. The blonde girl came and sat on Emmett's lap as he sat on the loveseat. The next couple consisted of the little pixie-cut and the blonde man, and they sat on the opposite side of the couch I was on. That only left the tan man, bronze haired guy, and the dark haired-chick. Bronze Hair Guy and the Dark Hair Chick were forced to sit by me, while Tan Man sat down on the floor next to the loveseat.
Esme and Carlisle now stood in the front of the room.
"Renesmee, this is the rest of the family. I know it's a lot to take in at one time, but, let them introduce themselves, and then we'll tell you about ourselves. Okay?" Carlisle asked.
I just nodded, waiting for someone to start.
"Rose, why don't you start first?" Esme asked gently.
I looked around the room, trying to figure out who "Rose" was.
Turns out it was the blonde lady.
"I'm Rosalie, but feel free to call me Rose, if you want. It's great to have you here." she said sincerely.
"Well, you already know me," Emmett laughed, and against my will, I chuckled, too.
"I'm Alice," the Pixie responded, and I nodded, trying hard to remember all the names being thrown at me.
"I'm Jasper, Rosalie's twin." the blonde guy told me. Ah-ha! My suspicions were confirmed!
I heard a low chuckle coming from beside me, but when I looked, neither of them were laughing.
"I'm Bella. It's a pleasure to meet you." Dark Hair Chick said quietly, almost as if she were struggling.
"And I'm Edward. I'm sure you'll make a great addition to the family." Bronze Hair smiled at me.
"And I'm Jacob- but you can call me Jake." the Tan Man said with a smile.
I nodded slowly. "Okay… I think I've got this… You're Rosalie- aka Rose." I nodded my head towards her and she smiled, nodding that I was right. "Emmett, I know you." He grinned and chuckled went through the room. "Uhhh… Alice, Jasper… Bella, Edward… And Jacob- or Jake. Right?"
Everybody was smiling. It was weird.
Edward cleared his throat and answered me. "Y- yes. That's right."
"Mind if I ask a question?" Alice asked me.
I shook my head. "No, go ahead. Ask away. I may or may no answer."
They all laughed.
"What kind of name is 'Renesmee'?" she asked.
I just shrugged, at least it was an easy question . "Don't know. A couple years ago I was found in Chicago, but I couldn't remember anything. Not my name, where I was from… Nothing. I guess you could say my name is really just a guess… I don't know it for sure. The reason it's a guess is because I had a ring on at the time that had 'Renesmee' in it, so everybody just assumed that that was my name."
"'Jacob and Renesmee Forever'?" Jacob asked suddenly.
I nodded. "Yeah… How do you know?"
I guess it hadn't really struck me at that point that he shared the name with the person with the name in the ring- the name right above my own.
He quickly shrugged it off. "Just a lucky guess."
***EdwardPOV***
I never, in a million years, would've thought that she'd still have that ring! Jacob's thought after he found out that my daughter still had the ring he'd given her for her fourth birthday- the last birthday we'd spent with her until now.
It was shocking how much she looked like me, now. Sure, she had my Bella's beautiful chocolate eyes, but you could tell we were related. Her bronze hair hung in ringlets past her shoulders, just a little shorter than Rosalie's. Her body was shrunken back into the baggy clothes she had on- a gray jacket, a black t-shirt, some dark skinny jeans, and some black converse. All the black was shocking- in Renesmee's four years, she hardly ever wore black. She, being a "Mini- Alice," always wore bright pink. Bella didn't have a taste for it, but I could tell from her face that she'd almost rather the vibrant pink instead of the dead color of black.
That's weird… I… It can't be… same… Just sharing… Name…
Another thing that was weird, was that I couldn't get a clear read of her thoughts, which was really weird. I'd always been able to read her thoughts, always. Even when Bella was pregnant with her. But now, it was almost as though she had acquired some of Bella's shield. I'd have to speak with Carlisle about that later.
"Renesmee, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?" Esme pried gently. Us asking questions was our way of getting to know her all over again. Renesmee was always an open book, so now that she wasn't volunteering any information herself kind of worried us all.
"There's no much to tell, really… And what little there is, probably isn't very interesting." she said. Noth… good...way…
I sighed heavily. Not being able to get a clear read, was getting annoying. It was almost like listening to a radio, and the station kept going in and out- you never fully understood what was being said. With Renesmee, though, you could see how low she thought of herself; you could easily guess what she was thinking.
Bella looked at me, silently asking me what was wrong. I just barely shook my head- hopefully Nessie wasn't as observant as she used to be.
"How old are you? You know… If you don't mind me asking." Jacob asked. He was feeling better than he had in years- all because his imprint was literally across the room from him. The constant ache in his chest that even his thoughts registered, wasn't there, and hadn't been since she walked through the door. He hadn't seen her then, but his mind knew that she was near.
"Umm… Not really sure about that either. Seventeen is only a guess." ...wouldn't give… eighteen… Wouldn't… go… this again.
Jake nodded, then looked at me. We're not gonna get any answers about who took her if she doesn't even remember how old she is.
I nodded slightly. That's what I was afraid of.
AN: So? What do ya think?
My favorite line in this is: " I knew it wasn't safe jumping out of a moving vehicle, but it had to be safer than staying with a family of couples who lived in the woods, right?"
Thanks again for reading, & please review!
~Em