The story deals with adult subject matter and occasional description of explicit sexual abuse. Not meant for underage readers. Read at your own peril. And oh, Twilight belongs to SM. This is just a fanfiction.

Beautiful Sorrow

End of Chapter 9:

When the door opened, he looked up and saw the woman whom he'd grown to despise since his father's death.

After months of speculation and morbid curiosity, he was face to face with Elizabeth Masen.

Chapter 10

Carlisle, age 18

Elizabeth Masen looked nothing like what Carlisle had expected. The grainy surveillance pictures he'd been given by his troop of private investigators held only a vague resemblance to the woman who'd answered the door.

In his mind, he had conjured up some tall and leggy vixen, oozing charm and deceit through her every pore. The woman standing before him, if she were whom he believed her to be, couldn't be farther from that image. She stood at 5'5" at most, and was dressed in a washed out pair of sweat pants and a loose shirt that had a large, yellowish stain on one shoulder. She had reddish-brown hair that framed a face that could be termed pleasant at best - and plain if one deemed to be less forgiving.

Her tired, green eyes appeared surprised as she looked up to meet his gaze.

My father fell for this?

He couldn't help but compare this woman to his mother's perfection, and it gave him a great deal of satisfaction to see that Elizabeth Masen couldn't hold a candle to her in any respect what so ever.

"Carlisle?" she asked in an astonished tone.

So, she knows me.

He expected nothing less. Chances were, she had researched him just as well as he'd investigated her.

He didn't say anything in response. He stood his ground with icy disdain in his eyes.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked, moving away from the doorway to make room for him to pass. She had a gentle and kind voice, Carlisle noted.

He considered his next actions carefully and then decided to accept the invitation. He nodded curtly and then walked past her to enter her apartment.

"Here, let me take your coat."

He wordlessly took off his winter jacket and handed it to her as she hung it up on a hook on the wall.

The entryway led into a mid-sized living space that was sparsely furnished and yet somewhat cluttered. It looked well lived-in.

"Please, take a seat," she said as she trailed behind him into the room.

He contemplated spitting out something along the lines of 'I'd rather stand', or some such words of defiance, but relented in favor of restraint. He sat down cautiously on the ancient looking sofa.

"Could I offer you something? Maybe some tea? It's rather cold outside…" she asked in the same gentle voice she'd invited him in with. He didn't like it.

He spoke for the first time since meeting her. "No, thank you."

She nodded her head in understanding and fidgeted a little nervously before sitting down across from him.

He continued to watch her face carefully to find answers only she could give. She looked uncomfortable and anxious. Eager to break the tension in the room, she decided to speak first, "You are here, so I suppose that means… you know."

She looked down to her lap as she spoke.

He decided not to acknowledge the obvious and remained quiet.

"I am so sorry that you lost your dad, Carlisle. I know how close you two were. And I know how much he loved you. I really wanted to call, or send you a note, but… I figured it wouldn't be appropriate… and might upset you more." She looked up at him as she spoke. Her eyes conveying a sincerity that he didn't want to believe.

"I know we went about it the wrong way, but he really was going to tell you about us. I don't know how you've found out about… this, and I can only imagine how cheated you must be feeling, but please believe me, Kyle's only concern was to protect you. He was so afraid that you'd be hurt, and that you wouldn't approve. You were everything to him. Hiding me – hiding us – from you was really difficult for him. He had plans to tell you after he came back from that trip, he told me so, but he never got the chance." She looked away as she alluded to the plane crash that killed Kyle Cullen. Her voice seemed strained with emotion.

He sat still without making any response to her disclosure. She hadn't yet told him anything that he didn't know or guessed already. Her appearance didn't scream 'gold digger', but that didn't mean her intentions were noble. Maybe he had caught her off guard.

After fidgeting some more and realizing that she wasn't going to get any response from Carlisle, she chose to volunteer more information about her past relationship with his father.

"I met him five years ago; the company I work for went through a merger and the new co-owners came to restructure the business and there he was; your dad." She smiled at the memory.

"I know what most people would think: him being my employer and all, but it wasn't like that. He and I, we weren't… there wasn't anything between us. He only came to Boston a few times a year, and quite honestly, I don't think he even knew I was on his staff." She stopped for a moment to judge Carlisle's reaction, and then continued.

"But after a couple of years, I started noticing things about him; things that no one else seemed to care about. He was so sad all the time. It was practically etched on his face. I would see him sit through meeting after meeting and I could tell that his heart wasn't in it.

"And after a while, I guess he noticed that I noticed." She smiled at her play with words.

"I don't know if you'd care to know about any of this... maybe I should stop?" She looked at him questioningly.

"No, please continue." He broke his silence.

She nodded and smiled, and resumed her story.

"The first time we met outside of work, neither of us had any expectations beyond a nice dinner. In fact, it wasn't really even a date. I was leaving work and mentioned in passing that I was going home to leftovers for dinner. Kyle said something like how he couldn't even remember the last time he had leftovers, 'cause in order to have leftovers you need to make something first, and how he never cooked anymore. And just like that, I asked him to come over to share dinner with me. I didn't think he would accept, but he did.

"After that… after we sort of started seeing each other, we had to keep it a secret because of the company policy: the whole employer-employee, blurred boundaries and what kind of example it would set for the rest. Also, I didn't know where it all might lead, 'cause his life was in Seattle and once he left, I didn't know where it would leave us.

"But he came back for me. He always came back for me. Suddenly we were looking at a real possibility, a real chance at…"

She stopped and took a deep breath to exorcise the pain of broken dreams.

"Keeping it from the office wasn't the biggest problem really. I think he was ready to handle it. He could sell his shares of the business, or I could find work someplace else, if it really came down to it. But what really mattered to him was how you would take the news.

"He knew how much your mother means to you. He loved her very much too, you know. It took a really long time for him to give himself permission to be happy again. But he could never be happy if you were hurt in the process. And I understood that, I didn't want to pressure him. We both thought we'd have plenty of time to ease you into the idea. And even if you didn't approve at first, maybe with time you'd come to accept me…"

Carlisle sat silently, processing the bulk of information that he'd just been made privy to. She seemed honest and sincere, and therein lay danger. The danger of being manipulated into believing the sweet lies manufactured by a smooth con artist. This was exactly what Eleazar had warned him against. She obviously didn't win his father over with her sultry, seductive looks. Maybe it was her golden tongue that he had fallen prey to, since that seemed to be her forte.

But before he could voice his skepticism about her claim to selfless devotion to his father, a crackling noise broke out from a small, white device that sat on top of the coffee table that he had not noticed until now.

A baby monitor.

"Oh, that's Edward!" she said as she stood up to check on her infant.

"Please excuse me for a minute." She scurried off through one of the doors beyond the hallway, leaving Carlisle frozen in spot.

The baby.

He knew Elizabeth Masen had given birth to a boy soon after his father's death. The file told him that he was named Edward Anthony Masen. It was a source of much joy for Eleazar and his team of attorneys, because they saw it as documented evidence that the child had no claim to the Cullen legacy. Of course, in the event of a hostile dispute, DNA would have the final word, but they would much prefer a quiet understanding away from the public eye.

But now as he sat in a strange apartment with the said child crying in the next room, he was suddenly inundated with a fear that he had not encountered previously. What if he saw a resemblance to his father in the child? Would he be able to bury that piece of knowledge, and crush them as the imposters he believed them to be? He wasn't sure he was ready to face the predicament.

He needed to get away from this place, but he had to pass by the nursery to reach the door, and as soon as Elizabeth noticed him standing near the baby's room she beamed.

"Oh, please come in. You know about me, so I guess you know about him too." She smiled. "He just woke up from his nap and needed a change. But he's all good now."

She was holding her son in her arms, rocking him gently. She looked up at Carlisle with the brightest possible smile. Then looked down on her baby and prattled off meaningless 'baby-talk'.

Carlisle entered the room almost in a daze, refusing to look at the baby directly, but his eyes defied his command.

His gaze fell on the baby's face and he exhaled a breath of deep relief. The infant had green eyes and the red-brown hair of his mother. He looked nothing like Kyle Cullen. Perhaps, that explained why Elizabeth Masen hadn't pursued a legal recourse. But then, all babies looked the same, he'd heard. Looking at him now, could he be sure how this child would turn out as an adult? After all, he himself looked nearly nothing like his father.

Elizabeth came over to where he was standing and leaned in to give him a better look at her son.

"This is Edward." She proudly presented her baby to him.

"Look who's come to see you, sweetie! This is Carlisle, that's right, you have a visitor!" she cooed to Edward.

The moment of maternal bonding was interrupted by a buzzing sound that rang through the apartment.

"Oh, that's the house phone. It must be the super calling about fixing the buzzer. Could you please hold him for a second, I'll be right back. He will start crying if I put him down. Here."

With lightening speed, she deposited Edward into Carlisle's surprised hands and ran out of the room to speak with her building super.

In his eighteen years of life, Carlisle had seen very few infants and actually touched none. The squirming bundle in his arms threw him off his game completely. Was he holding him right? Was he squeezing him too tight? How could she leave her baby with him? What if he dropped the damn thing?

Once the initial bout of sheer terror passed, he stole another glimpse at Edward.

Edward.

Why did she give him such an old man's name? Fairy

He looked like – a baby. Much like every other baby he'd ever seen, whether on TV or real life. He didn't have any distinguishing features. Though the more he looked, the more he had to admit that Edward indeed had the most vibrant shade of green eyes that he'd ever seen on anyone. The red-brown hair that looked so unremarkable on his mother added a nearly mythical intrigue to his form.

But in the end, Edward was just a baby who belonged to a stranger. He was nothing to him.

Then the unexceptional baby did something quite remarkable. He lifted his small arm to reach for Carlisle and his lone-toothed mouth cracked into guileless laughter. It was the most magical thing he had ever witnessed. The rational part of his mind tried to reason that probably all babies laughed and waved their limbs from time to time, and that he was clearly giving this infant way more credit than due. But in the face of an overwhelming flood of emotions, his lucid brain conceded defeat and stood aside.

Carlisle wasn't aware that he had returned Edward's smile with one of his own, nor did he notice that all the tension he'd been carrying on his shoulders for the last six months had quietly drained away in a rather anticlimactic manner.

In that one moment, unbeknown to Carlisle, the average looking baby called Edward etched an indelible spot in his heart.

AN1: Thank you everyone for voting at the Eternity Awards. The Shimmer Awards is next in line! Some amazing people have been nominated over there. I tried to look at their list of nominees but it gave me a headache; way too many stories and categories for my brain to work through. From what I could discern, I humbly request you to vote for my friends:

BellaScotia (Secrets and Lies)

Mehek18 (Best Banner)

Bronzehyperion (Bring on the Wonder)

BelleDean (Crash)

Jackson's Cupcake/LadyTazz7 (Control and Ladies & Liquor)

lt90 ( Uptown Realty)

Tkegl (Beyond Time)

I have been nominated too in a few categories (The Underdog Award, Cliffhanger Award, and Newbie Award). I would be immensely grateful if you considered voting for me in the Underdog Award. I saw the list of stories listed under the other two categories. Just being included with some of them is reward enough. I honestly can't ask you to vote for me there!

Voting ought to be starting any minute. Here's the link to their blog:

http : / shimmerawards . blogspot . com/ (remove the space)

AN2: Story rec-A Matter of Life and DeathbyDerdriu oFaolain and WhatsMyNomDePlume .

Summary:Forget being scared to death, Bella Swan isn't even scared of death, something that both greatly annoys and—even if he won't admit it—entices Edward Cullen. If only she weren't trying to destroy him.

The intelligence and heart of the humor is priceless. The uniqueness of the characters is mind blowing. Please give it a chance.

AN3: Thank you lulabelle98, for making all this readable. I couldn't do it without you. Please read her story The Long Walk Home.

Thanks to BellaScotia, Dinx219 and lulabelle98 for WCs. You ladies rock! They are all esteemed authors. Please check out their stories.

I am thankful to all those who read, review, alert and fav-d my story. Kindly review and let me know what you think. It kinda helps...