Disclaimer: Yet again, I own nada save the idea, Mrs Hills and her diary, and Dr Strider. I forgot to mention her back in chapter five's disclaimer. She's one of my 'stock' characters who I roll out when I need someone in the background. No one special.


Haunted

Epilogue

Esme

Esme watched her children carry the dismembered body away. It was over. He was gone. The spectre that had haunted her entire adult life was gone. All the dormant fears that Carlisle's gentle love had never quite been able to free completely had lifted, and the sense of release was overwhelming. She buried her face into Carlisle's neck, breathing in his wonderfully familiar scent. Gingerly he lifted an arm and put it around her shoulders.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey yourself," she replied against his throat. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, nothing's broken, not any more at least." He paused. "I feel like a human who's been hit by a bus. I never really understood that phrase, but I think I've just learned. I ache all over, but I'll live. What about you?"

"Shoulder twinges a bit. Speaking of living... your car-crash victim?"

Carlisle sighed.

"You've just been through one of the most frightening experiences of your life, you've nearly been killed by your supposedly dead first husband, and your first thought is for some idiot who was going too fast on slick roads?"

"My second thought," Esme corrected. "My first thought was for you, of course."

"I know." Esme looked up to see that he was smiling. "And I also know that you will pester me until I tell you why I am here and not on the main Port Angeles road. I believe that he will be fine. I took Alice's advice and called Dr Strider. As it happened, she was on her way home from Port Angeles at the time and therefore a lot closer than I was. She agreed to take the case. I abandoned the car and ran home. On the way I caught your scent, and then..."

They both knew the rest. Esme would never forget the indescribable feeling that had surged through her on seeing him come through the trees to her rescue. He would do anything for her; he was prepared to kill for her. He was prepared to be killed for her. That was a scenario that Esme would never let come to pass. Love had conquered her fear, and whilst she had Carlisle at her side, Esme knew that she need never be scared in that way again.

"If you could possibly get my phone from where I dropped it over there, I may yet have an update."

Loathe as she was to leave his side, Esme got up and retrieved the small silver object, and she snuggled back in next to him before they listened to the two voicemail messages. The first was a frantic Edward, but Esme had already heard Alice reassuring him in the next clearing. The second was the less familiar tones of Dr Strider.

"Carlisle, it's me, Beth Strider. Just to let you know that the patient is going to be fine, his vitals are stable and he's going into theatre as soon as they reach the hospital. Hope Esme's ok, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"How did she know?" Esme gestured wildly to the phone.

"I think Dr Snow may have told the entire emergency department about your incident this afternoon," said Carlisle, and Esme could tell that he was suppressing a chuckle. "Bad news travels fast, and bad news about your strange neighbours travels faster."

"I daresay that the nurses will be cursing that you survived your ordeal." Esme looked up to see Edward and Bella entering the clearing. "There's nothing like offering a grieving widower a shoulder to cry on."

Esme laughed, but she knew her thoughts were betraying her.

I was the one closer to being widowed.

Edward's jaw set grimly, and Esme could tell that he was being mentally assaulted on all fronts with accounts of what had happened in the short time that he had been away.

"How are you both?" asked Bella, approaching them cautiously, almost as if she was she was afraid of hurting them further.

"Surviving." Carlisle grimaced as he shifted position to bring Esme closer to his side, trying to bridge the non-existent gap between their bodies. Bella stopped in front of them, fiddling with the printed page she held in her hands, battered from its trip through the forest.

"Esme, did you know a Mary Hills in your human life? I believe she was born Mary Carter."

Esme cast her mind into her fuzzy human memories.

"Mary Carter... yes, I did know her, we were at school together. Why?"

Bella held out the paper.

"I was looking up Charles online, trying to find evidence to suggest that he was a vampire. I came across her diary. This is the last entry I read, and I think you should see it."

Esme took the page and scanned over it quickly.

January 10th, 1965

I thought I saw Esme today. It wasn't her, obviously, she'd be as old as I am and this girl didn't look a day older than the day our Esme ran away. I still say that's the best decision she could ever have made. Anyway, this girl looked so happy, walking down the street in the twilight, hand in hand with a man who could've been that doctor we had in Columbus way back when we were just girls. What was his name? Cullen I think, or close to that. I'll have to find my old journals and look it up. This girl made me wonder about our Esme. I hope she found true happiness. In fact, I'm sure she did. Just like I'm sure she's still alive, out there somewhere. If the girl I saw was our Esme by some miracle, and I believe wholeheartedly in miracles, then she deserves every happiness that comes her way.

A lump came to Esme's throat. She had her family, she had her safety and above all she had her Dr Cullen. She had definitely found true happiness.

FIN


See, told you no cliffie! Fancy giving me a review for old time's sake? You know how happy they make me...