Esme POV

"When did their plane land?"

I grinned as Carlisle chuckled beside me at the impatient question from Leila. She was sitting in the very top of a swaying tree watching the ocean intently for any sign of the rest of our family.

"They had to wait for the sun to go down to leave the airport," I told her for the fourth time. It was just sundown, light enough that you could see quite far but there was no direct sunlight.

Leila had gone from being reluctant to talk to an unstoppable chatterbox in the past two days. I now knew just about every minute detail of her childhood. I was more furious than she was at the way her mother had treated her for the first fifteen years of her life. How could a woman punish a child for her own sins? I couldn't understand taking the miracle of life for granted in such a way? I thought of Leila's response when I had voiced my anger.

"It's okay Esme. If she was as good a mother as you, I wouldn't be able to stay away from her. And then I wouldn't be able to have you as my mom." If possible, I would have cried at her words. When I looked at it that way, I was almost glad in a sense. In her eyes I was the better mother. Just that thought made me so incredibly proud. I would be the best mother on this earth to take care of her and make her feel loved.

She was fairly vibrating with anxious energy as she waited for the rest of our family arrive. Since she had woken up with "I miss Rosalie," on her lips, she had been fixated on seeing her new sister. Oddly enough, her declaration seemed to have influenced Carlisle as he was also looking forward to being reunited with our eldest daughter. Something weird was going on but I didn't know what. My mind was still blown to bits over everything Leila had told us about the Farzhaq and Zamim. I had a hard time reconciling it as truth, but Carlisle believed her and I trusted him more than my own judgment.
Leila's twelve hour sleep marathon had provided the two of us with ample time to talk and discuss everything and she had been chatty after waking, her torrential words interrupted only by her periodical whining about Rosalie getting here. She was such a happy sunny girl and I loved her wholeheartedly. I was so giddy with the knowledge that she was Carlisle's niece. I didn't care if she wasn't his actual daughter, she was still a part of him and she was mine now.

While I loved all of my children completely, there was something so new and exciting about having Leila. The others were grown adults in teenage bodies and they didn't really need me. They were all married, and in Edward and Bella's case, parents. But Leila was still so young in so many ways. I wondered if her special ancestry had made her a particularly naïve child as different things she had said and done had made me think of her as sweetly immature. It was almost as if she had been completely spared of the crude jadedness of today's youth. Bella had even commented that although she was clearly intelligent and very perceptive, she had the unpolluted mind of a girl much younger than her sixteen years.

Before falling asleep on the porch she had smiled at me with sleepy eyes. "You don't mind that I'm not as smart and self sufficient as the other ones do you?" she had asked. I smiled now as I thought of that. If only she knew how elated I was to have a dependent child. At my assurance that I did not mind at all, she had nodded and turned over on the lounge she was lying on.

"Good, cause I felt so scared and insecure when I was by myself. I don't think I'm old enough to live without parents. I feel all weird and frustrated having to figure out what I'm supposed to do. And you're such a good mom." With that she had closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep. I was still floating on a cloud of euphoric emotions from her words.

"Oh come on! How long does it take to get here?" The irritated explosion came from a distance and I looked around to see she had moved to higher ground. She was the very picture of impatience as she flitted from treetop to treetop looking for the boat. "Are they rowing over or something?" The exasperated question caused me to laugh outright.

"Honey, if they were rowing they could probably get here faster than a motor."

What ever she opened her mouth to say in reply was abruptly cut off as she spied the gleaming white and silver boat on the horizon. She let out an excited yelp and dove between the trees on her way to the water. She hit the sand running as Edward slid the boat neatly beside the dock. Emmett was the first off the boat and he turned to give his hand to Rosalie, who was stepping off after him. He barely had time to register what was happening as he was unceremoniously shoved to the side. He hit the water at the same moment that Leila grabbed Rosalie, laughing in delight as she hugged the living daylights out of her.

Rather than pulling away or reacting in her typical fashion as I had expected, to my absolute surprise, Rosalie was smiling and hugging her back. I watched with an expression I knew mirrored the rest of my family's, as she finally pulled back, but it wasn't away from Leila as I thought. With the absolutely sweetest laugh I had ever heard her give, Rosalie held Leila's face and to my utter shock kissed her. No one moved or said anything as we all watched this foreign display of happiness and affection from Rosalie.

Seeming to not notice or care, she did nothing to resist, but rather seemed to welcome it when Leila hugged her again. "Oh my goodness, I missed you!" was the exclamation from the younger blonde girl. Rosalie touched her face again, "I missed you too!"

Jasper POV

The plane ride to Rio was unbearably tense for me and I tried my hardest to block the influx of unwelcome emotions bombarding me. Renesmee was sad over leaving Jacob behind but bouncing with excitement at the prospect of seeing her grandparents and Leila again. Rosalie was still steeped in melancholy. It was a weird, deep sadness and I was selfishly irritated for having to share it with her. The oddest thing though, as we near Rio, some of her angst lessened as she became more excited. Good. Maybe she just needed a vacation to cure her of her bad feelings.

As we boarded the boat for Isle Esme, she had actually given Nessie a little smile as the child chattered on and on. As we raced across the open water, her excitement grew in palpable increments. Isle Esme came into view and within seconds I saw a light figure flying down through the trees towards the water. Leila. At that precise moment, Rosalie's eager anticipation reached new heights and when I looked at her, I saw her eyes fixated on the golden figure hurtling towards us. Leila's feet hit the dock as Emmett stepped off of the boat and reached out to take Rosalie's hand. Without warning he was flying through the air and landed in the water.

Leila wrapped Rosalie in a hug so tight I thought she might hurt her. She was laughing, emanating the happiest emotional wave I had ever felt from a single being. Every emotion Rosalie had felt in the past week exploded the moment Leila touched her, being replaced by the most incredible joy and unadulterated love. She hugged the young girl back with such fervor and it shocked me when she pulled back and kissed her face. All of us standing around looked at them and at each other, no one seeming to know what to make of this completely unexpected behavior from Rosalie.

Emmett was standing in the water dripping wet, any words he may have spoken being stifled by the complete bemusement he was feeling. Alice just smiled with her hands clasped in front of her, a rapturous look on her face. Of course she wasn't surprised. Edward looked as if he had been expecting it, though the level of intensity was clearly a surprise.

"Oh my goodness, I missed you!" Leila said as she squeezed Rosalie again. Rosalie laughed lightly and touched her face again. "I missed you too!"

"I have something to show you!" Leila bounced with excitement. She began to tow Rosalie by the hand towards the house, skipping backwards with a silly grin. Carlisle and Esme had made their way towards us in the meantime and we had all moved despite watching the scene that had unfolded before us. When Leila reached where Carlisle and Esme stood, she stopped and looked to them.

"She's here!" she told them with eyes that literally sparkled. Carlisle radiated evasiveness, contentment and affection, while Esme was filled with possessive maternal love as they both looked at her. Edward was intently concentrating on them trying to decipher whatever was happening right now. There was definitely something odd going on. Carlisle smiled warmly at Rosalie and instead of the guarded way she usually responded to him, she smiled back, true happiness coming from her. She had never been able to fully get over her anger at Carlisle for changing her, but now there was not a single shred of the resentment that always accompanied her looking at him. When he reached out to hug her, she didn't stiffen or pull away. She seemed to actually relax and hugged him back. "I missed you too," Carlisle said softly.

Emmett elbowed Edward in the ribs. "Dude, what the hell is going on with my wife?" he said in a furious whisper. Edward never took his eyes off of our parents or the girls. Alice still had her hands in front of her, but she had the faraway look in her eyes, that told me she was scanning the future. All of the sudden she gasped and Edward's head whipped around to stare at her incredulously. She shook her head and then looked at him with round eyes.

"It's not that dramatic!" Leila said to the two of them.