Sarah and Billy Black along with Sue and Harry Clearwater worked hard to help Charlie and Bella recover from Renee's desertion. Charlie and Renee's divorce came through nine months after she took off. As the years passed Charlie seemed to be returning to his former self and Bella was growing into a lovely young girl. Bella spent a lot of time with Sarah and Sue who became her surrogate mothers. They taught Bella how to cook because she wanted to be able to help take care of her Daddy. She had grown up much faster than she should have had to but she did not mind. She loved her father dearly and taking care of him made her happy.

Bella, Jacob, Embry, Quil, and Leah were as close as friends could be. Bella was quite disgruntled to find out that she would not be attending school on the reservation with her friends. She tried to overcome that injustice by spending every moment she could at La push. Summers were the most wonderful times for Bella. They were magical times filled with canoe trips, swimming, endless games and adventures, picnics, bonfires, and campouts with Jacob, Embry, Quil, and Leah. Seth tagged along sometimes but he was too young to go on their more adventurous excursions.

In the summer when she was ten, Bella received a surprise visitor. Renee decided to contact Charlie to arrange a visit with her daughter. The years since she had left Forks had not been kind to Renee. With only a high school education and no work experience Renee was unable to find a job that paid well. She struggled to pay her rent and her other bills with the money she made from her job as a waitress. She did not make a lot of tips since she was not very good at being a waitress. She started to think of solutions to her plight. She missed the luxury of not working and being taken care of. Maybe life as Charlie's wife wasn't so bad after all she thought. She began to think of ways that she could get him back. She thought that Bella was probably the key. If she could convince Bella that she needed her mother then Charlie would take her back. Charlie would do anything for his daughter. With an impassioned plea to Charlie about how much she had changed and how much she missed her daughter, she was able to convince Charlie to allow Bella to spend a week with her in Port Angeles. Bella was really nervous about spending a week with the mother she had not seen in five years but did not want to upset Charlie so she said she would go.

The first part of their visit seemed to go well. Renee fawned over her daughter and she spent the whole time with her. After three days of being together the novelty seemed to be wearing off and Renee felt herself becoming restless once more. After she put Bella down to bed for the night in the small hotel that they were staying in Renee headed out the door for the local bar. While at the bar she ran into a good looking man and accepted his invitation to move the party to a more private place.

When Bella woke up in the morning she looked around the hotel room and found that she was alone. She started feeling a little nervous and wandered if her Mom had decided to leave again. She pulled a book out of her bag and decided to read while she waited for her to come back. Bella finished the whole book and her empty stomach started to rumble. Renee still had not returned. Bella became more convinced that Renee had left her and decided to call her Dad to ask him to come pick her up from the hotel. Charlie was surprised by Bella's phone call. "Hello pumpkin," he said. "Were you calling because you miss your daddy?" Bella replied "I do miss you Daddy, but I was calling to see if you would come pick me up." Charlie asked "What's the matter pumpkin? Are you not enjoying your visit with your Mom?" He started to get a nauseated feeling in his stomach. He had been so unsure about allowing this visit with Renee. Bella replied "well it's been ok but I haven't seen her since I went to bed last night and I am getting hungry and a little bit scared. Do you think she left again Daddy?" Charlie was incensed. He said "you have not seen your mother at all today?" Bella replied "No." Charlie said "I'm on my way baby girl. You stay in the hotel room with the door locked until I get there."

Charlie's heart was racing. He couldn't believe that Renee would leave their daughter in a hotel room by herself. What was he saying? Of course he could believe it. She was the same woman who took off without any concern of how her departure would affect her family years ago. What in the hell had he been thinking in allowing his baby girl to stay with this woman? Apparently he wasn't thinking and now Bella was sitting all alone in a hotel room hungry and frightened. Charlie let his deputies know that he was taking off for the rest of the day because his daughter needed him and took off in a hurry cursing at himself on the way out the door.

When he arrived at the hotel room door, he could hear Renee chastising Bella for calling her father and bothering him. He knocked sharply on the door wanting to get his daughter out of that room and away from Renee as quickly as possible. Renee opened the door and acted surprised to see Charlie on the other side. "Whatever are you doing here Charlie?" she simpered. Charlie was not in the mood to play nice with his ex-wife. "Cut the crap Renee" he said cuttingly. He looked over to Bella who was trembling and had tears running down her cheeks. "Come here pumpkin," Charlie said in a gentle voice. Bella hurried over to her father and threw her arms around his waist. Charlie tenderly wiped the tears from Bella's face and said "I'm so sorry pumpkin." He told her to grab her bag and then he asked her to wait right outside the door. In an icy tone he said to Renee "You will never cause my baby girl to cry again. I will never give you the opportunity to hurt her again. You wanted to be away from us—consider yourself out of our lives permanently." With that he turned and walked out the door.

Renee was angry that Bella had screwed up her life once again. To top it off Renee had spent her rent money on this trip to Port Angeles and had no idea what she was going to do when it came time to pay. She took her anger out on the furnishings of the hotel room. When her fit of rage subsided she took out her map and tried to decide where to go next. She decided to head to Seattle to try her luck there.