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The sky has darkened by the time they make it back to the cabin. Edward lands so softly that if Bella closed her eyes and ears, she wouldn't have felt the difference. Neither moves when Edward turns off the engine, and they see a light in the cabin through the edge of the forest. Gran's home.

"I don't understand," Bella says, taking off her headset and realizing she's yelling. It feels odd, not having to talk over the sound of an engine.

"What?"

"How you didn't know," she replies in a normal voice. "About Tyler. Didn't you notice I never talked about him? You could've just asked me."

Shrugging, he starts gathering their stuff. "It wasn't something I wanted to discuss."

"Why not?"

Somewhat embarrassed-looking, he stops piling stuff on his lap and looks at her, softly. He tucks a strand of hair beneath her woolen hat. "Would you like to listen to the radio tonight?"

"Ooh, luxurious offers," she replies. "How can I refuse?"

Both throw a handful of items in bags before Edward guides them to a longer path in the forest. Bella grabs his hand when wolves wail in the distance, and twenty minutes later, they arrive on a small clearing on top of a hill with two self-made wind turbines, a broken solar panel and a wood gasifier. She shows him the flash light as he explains what he's doing—something to do with manually disconnecting some wires and unwinding the power cable—but a lot goes over her head, so she just enjoys his excitement.

Bella's steps halt momentarily when she counts seven huskies in front of the stairs leading to the cabin. She lets Edward pass so that she could walk in his footsteps. He turns around, stops, and she nearly walks into him.

"I thought you weren't that afraid anymore," he says.

"Alice is one dog," she says, motioning at the cabin. "These are seven, seven—bite machines."

"Tell you what. I'll give you a piggyback ride to the door if you agree to properly meet them in the daylight."

"But your back is hurt," Bella replies. "I can't do that to you."

He grimaces but leans toward her. "Put your arms around my neck."

"I'm sorry?"

Her tone would amuse him if she didn't look as genuinely frightened, so he takes her bag and swipes her off her feet. "Bridal style it is."

Smiling, Bella hides her face in his scarf. She squeezes his neck when dogs come to lick and jump on Edward; a few bark, but most are ecstatic to see him.

"See? Not every dog is your father's Rottweiler."

A small, funny-sounding whimper escapes her when he shuts the door and drops her in the hallway. She crushes him in a hug. "Thank you."

He smiles. "They would've only licked you senseless."

She unpacks their stuff in the living room, piles her dirty clothes next to Edward's, and hangs their damp mittens to dry in front of the fireplace. Having turned around, she's faced with a half-skinned hare that gran is holding. Gran herself is leaning against the doorway, observing them in silence. Her hair is long, straight and dark, with a couple of grey strands (and beads) mixed in, her body seems lithe and strong, and she has tan-lines around her eyes from wearing sunglasses. The only thing that truly reveals her age is the skin on her hands.

Gran puts a hand on her hip, waiting until Edward has thrown his clothes in a pile to start talking.

"What is this rescue mission business you're involved in lately? I am perfectly capable of surviving in the wilderness with a naked body and broken neck."

"Gran—"

"Who do you think raised you?! You have become soft after your two years in Michigan. Soft, I say! I will have none of that bush flying to see if I'm alive, am I understood? If I die dog-sledding, then that's the way I want to go. Death is a part of life, don't you forget that. You are not allowed to fuss over me!"

"We were worried," Edward replies, not the slightest bit intimidated by her speech.

Huffing, gran stares at her grandson for half a minute before marching to Bella and smacking a kiss straight on her lips. Wide-eyed, Bella makes a face at Edward, who's laughing silently behind gran's back.

"It's a wonder to finally meet you. I was beginning to think Edward made you up." Gran smiles, voice surprisingly soft. "I do hope you gave Edward a piece of his mind for fussing over me."

"Of course," Bella replies. "I yelled at him for an hour for daring to worry about you. How rude of him."

Gran eyes her, looking strict, but then the corner of her mouth rises. "Come, Bella. You're right on time."

"For what?"

"Skinning hares. I have three."

"Gran, she doesn't have to do anything she's not comfortable with."

Her expression doesn't change as she makes a spectacle of eyeing Bella. "Are you opposed?"

A bit wary of the unusual but blunt approach to bonding, Bella, unwavering under gran's gaze, figures she's seen Edward skin enough animals through their journey, so she should be fine.

She nods.

"Great!" Gran walks in the kitchen. Edward bows majestically (but really just teasing her… a little) as Bella passes, so naturally, she sticks out her tongue. He laughs.

Two snowshoe hares are lined up on the table while gran finishes skinning the third one. She doesn't seem to have used a knife, but Bella gets one as gran shows how to cut a ring around each leg, above the leg joint, not too deep. Under her supervision, Bella cuts two slices from the ring cut to the backside and starts pulling away the hide. It comes off easily. Meanwhile, gran watches her, teaching and observing the young woman.

"Do you feel faint?" gran asks, helping her cut through the bone of the tail not to puncture the bladder.

"I've seen Edward skin them before," Bella replies, looking slightly pale. "I'm fine."

Gran takes the last hare and pushes the knee joint out until hide separates from the meat. She doesn't use a knife, and Bella feels gran's eyes on her as she tries hard not to show disgust. It's fairly revolting, skinning a hare, and she feels a bit light-headed, but damn it if she doesn't show gran she's not as fragile as she looks.

"Tell me about yourself."

Pushing hair back with her wrist, Bella asks, "How much has Edward told you?"

"Edward?" gran repeats, scoffing and smiling at the same time. "He'd rather pull his teeth out than talk about things close to his heart."

"I've noticed," Bella replies, a little intimidated by gran's straight-forwardness. "What would you like to know?"

"Just one moment—Edward! Would you be a darling and turn on the radio?"

"Working on it!"

"Thank you!" Swiftly, gran finishes skinning her hare. She teaches Bella how to continue skinning as she washes and flavors her two hares before putting them in a stew pot with mace, capers, pickles, cayenne pepper and a dollop of mustard. "Edward tells me you're a doctor."

"No," Bella replies. "My grandfather was a paramedic when I moved in with him. I was—impressionable, I guess. I finished my bachelor's with the intention of going to medical school, but I… I changed my mind. I did my master's in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Michigan State University, worked at a pharmacy, that kind of thing. Edward's just teasing me about it because of how we met."

"You're not from Michigan?"

"No, not really. I was born in Charleston when my parents were on vacation, and I lived in Arkansas with them until I was fourteen."

"What happened to them?"

Bella leans back in her chair as the lamp turns on and the sound of Joni Mitchell fills the air. It's a surreal kind of moment, to find herself looking in Edward's grandmother's brown eyes. Gran, with the colorful beads in her hair, wearing a sweater she probably knitted herself; interested in her life in the middle of all the snow and mountains.

"Forgive me," gran says, humming and swinging gently to the radio. She reaches over the table and squeezes Bella's shoulder. "Mere curiosity."

There's something about that, the casual way gran dismisses her own question, so entirely content not to receive an answer, that speaks to Bella and allows her to understand Edward's reoccurring tendency not to answer. The refusal to be worried about, the casualness of dropping a subject, it was all gran. But it was Edward, too.

"I don't mind," she answers. "My parents are… different. They—when you look at the TV, and see someone who argues for everything they believe the Bible to stand for… literally. That's my parents. Homosexuality is a sin, abortion is a sin even if pregnancy results from rape, having sex before marriage is a sin, everything's a sin. Contraception, too. I don't agree with what they stand for, and I didn't back then, so I… I had a kind grandfather. Truly, so quiet and kind. So, I moved from Little Rock, from my parents with their little minds, to Gladstone in the Upper Peninsula. My grandfather loves the Hiawatha National Forest, and it's right next to Gladstone, so we went camping nearly every weekend for four years. I'd spent most of my life resenting the people around me, the people my parents wanted me to surround myself with… Moving in with my grandfather is the best choice I've ever made."

"But your parents are still alive?"

"Yes."

"What do they do?"

"My father is a U. S. Senator. Used to be Arkansas State Senator. My mom is… she organizes parties."

"Dwyer, are you? Your father must be Phil Dwyer. I think I've heard of him."

"Unfortunately."

"Don't say that," gran says. "There are people whose closed-mindedness creates more progress in the form of antipathy than the people who crave tolerance could ever achieve without them. Men like your father let us imagine what our future should never look like to make people who have a more open-minded opinion work that much harder."

Gran is focused on sharpening knives and doesn't appear to notice that Bella stops skinning to stare at her. She feels lighter, somehow, looking at her parents like gran described. For a few quiet moments, gran shows Bella how to finish skinning the hare in her hands, washes it and adds it in their stew.

"Can I ask you something?"

Gran nods.

"From the moment you understood your son was never going to take care of Edward, did you know that this lifestyle was what you wanted for him? Living in solitude, homeschooling, all of it?"

"I'd been a pilot for the Norwegian Air Lines for fourteen years by the time I'd decided to move back to Alaska. In '86, when I was here to spend my holiday, my son showed up with a package, and his name was Edward. I'd made the decision of staying here before he was in the picture, but I discussed it with my own father and neither of us wanted to find a permanent place in Anchorage or Dillingham at the time. So we homeschooled him."

"So you didn't want to keep him from the evil of the world?"

"No." Amused, gran makes eye contact. "No, I don't hate civilization. I just prefer to be a part of it as little as possible."

"Is that why you dog-sled?"

"That's a part of it. But I don't trust bush planes. I can fix one if needed, and I may fly one if a life needs saving, but I don't find it trust-worthy. Look at what happened to Ted Stephens."

"Bella," Edward says, and she jumps after hearing her name so close to her ear. She puts a hand on her heart, exhaling, while Edward smiles sheepishly and puts both arms on her shoulders. He leans over her so that she's looking at his face, upside-down. "Does the clothes washing offer still stand?"

"Of course." She smiles. She can feel his breath on her nose. "Um, ma'am, do you need any help? I don't have to…"

Gran flips them the bird, not looking up. Edward helps Bella up, but, unsure if she has upset gran, Bella looks back, making eye contact. "I can stay if you—"

Gran huffs, rolling her eyes as she flips her off again.

"I, uh, okay. I'll be with Edward if you need me."

Edward is laughing in silence as Bella gets dressed in the hallway, but Bella, who is slightly perturbed by gran, doesn't notice. "I upset her, didn't I?"

"There is a single thing you could do to upset her, and you were overwhelmingly sufficient in doing it right now."

"Shit." Bella pales. "I screwed up, didn't I? I didn't mean to. Is it okay if I go help her? I can totally go and—"

"Bella." Edward smiles, and brushes a coarse, cold finger over her cheek. "She doesn't want help. You're wounding her pride if you dare to suggest she might need help with anything." Smiling, and letting out a silly laugh at the face Bella makes, Edward pulls her into a hug. "She didn't make you skin that hare to get help. She did it so you would know how. So if you want to be on her good side, never offer to help. It's a pride thing."

"Kind of like someone else I know, huh?"

Not acknowledging her words, he lets go of her, turns her hat so that she could see better, opens the door, and puts her arms around his neck. Frowning, she holds on to him a fraction of a second before being swiped off her feet. "What are you—"

"The dogs," Edward replies, a little bashful. "I promised you could meet them properly in the daylight. I'm a man of my word."

His step falters when Bella flashes a grin and scratches his beard, but there's definitely a twinkle in his eyes.