Chapter 7

I was stunned. They were vampires, and a werewolf, and a half-vampire-human whatever, and she thought they were normal? And she had avoided the question about my mom! I deserved to know what Bella-what all of them-knew of the mother I didn't remember. I needed to know!

"We will answer you," Edward reassured me. "Or, to be more accurate, Bella will tell you, as it was her group of friends we sat with at lunch then."

Bella rolled her eyes at Edward, and focused on me. I noticed that Rose, Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme were gone, and Jasper was hovering in the doorway.

"When I lived in Forks, there was a time when Edward-" she blanched "Edward left me, in out senior year of high school. During that time I was no more than a zombie- and much more dead than I theoretically am now. While I was in what my dad called a walking coma, Katie joined our group. I don't remember much about her-my human memories are very fuzzy and unclear, and I tend to forget them. I know she was smart, and I think she dated Eric for a bit. She went to college-the University of Alaska? But she rarely came back. I didn't see her for quite some time. Nowadays we only go back to Forks to check on Charlie-and Seth." Her expression changed suddenly, like she was sucking on a lemon-sour. "What accident?"

Tears welled up again, and I thought frantically about my mascara. I wiped my fingers carefully under my eyes-they came away black.

"She died," I sobbed out, the tears overflowing suddenly. "She was driving home from a meeting, and this guy, he'd been drinking, and the roads had ice, and he hit-and she-and I was only two-and-and-" My voice cut out. Bella's eyes were as large as Alice's hoops. Edward gave me a quick hug, and Nessie pulled me over to the couch, where I curled into a ball, my body shaking, racked with sobs tearing themselves from my chest. Alice and Nessie sat beside me as I cried, their arms holding me in iron grasps, feeling like fire and ice.

When I opened my salt encrusted eyes it was much later, the sun casting long shadows across the pale colored room. My first thought was for my father.

"Don't worry," Edward said from the piano bench, where he sat with Bella. "Esme called your father, and you have permission to stay the night."

Thanks, I thought. So you really can read my mind?

He nodded.

Crap! That's embarrassing.

Edward smiled crookedly. He turned, and began to play the piano. I stifled a gasp as his fingers blurred across the keys. The music was so beautiful, yet heartbreaking sad. I was glad I had no tears left. Even so, my eyes burned.

The music broke off suddenly. Edward had stopped, and the silence was deafening. Bella got up hesitantly, and walked cautiously towards me. She gently wiped a few stray tears from under my eyes, and pulled me into a feather light hug. I clung to her precariously, all my strength gone. Bella swung me into her arms, and slowly walked under the archway behind the piano. We crossed a large den with an enormous TV, and ascended a large spiral staircase. She carried me down a hallway, naming doors as we passed.

"Rose and Em's room, Alice and Jasper's, Carlisle's office, his and Esme's room." We reached another staircase, and Bella carried me higher. There were three doors.

"Edward and I," she nodded to one. "Jake is there, and this," she nudged open the third door. "Is Renesmee's room, where you will be." I was set down on a king sized princess bed, with a pink comforter. The walls were covered with pictures of all the Cullen's. All looked fairly recent. I noticed one in particular. It was small, and there was a slight crease in the middle. It showed Edward and Bella, on a couch, arms around each other. It wouldn't have caught my eye, except that I hadn't recognized Bella at first. Her skin was alabaster, not snow, and her face was less stunning, although still pretty. But her eyes-they were the same warm chocolate brown as Nessie's. I was studying the change when Nessie spoke.

"That's Mom and Dad, before she changed," she explained as I started. I hadn't heard her come in, or Bella exit. Alice laughed enchantingly.

"Knock, knock," she chuckled.

The three of us ended up in a circle on the bed. Alice and Nessie explained what they could, but I couldn't wrap my head around everything. It was mind-boggling. Nessie and I fell asleep around two in the morning, sprawled across the big pink bed.