Sarah POV

Weeks passed. I watched as the search efforts for me slowly dissolved until they were nothing. They had given up on me. They knew I wasn't coming back. My parents still had hope, though. They never gave up. They kept looking for me, praying that I would come home. But to everyone else, I was a lost cause.

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I took one last look at the house and turned away. It had been five weeks since my disappearance, and the search efforts were called off and I was officially declared dead. The news was taken gladly with my new family, we were moving to a cabin nestled in the forests of northern Montana, far away from any human contact, so that I could learn to control my thirst.

"Sarah, come on!" Emmett called to me. I ran over to the family's two automobiles and climbed into the open door Edward was holding for me. Before he closed my door, he smiled at me.

"I've got a surprise for you, Sarah. But I can't tell you, you'll have to see for yourself." I wrinkled my forehead in concentration, but kept my gaze on the floor of the automobile. What could Edward possibly surprise me with?

"Can't tell. It would ruin the surprise." Edward said as he climbed into the front seat of the automobile. The automobile that Edward and I were riding in had all of our things in it. The rest of the family was riding in the other car. I liked it like that. It meant less chances of me freezing somebody. So far, I had been able to keep my powers from affecting anyone since my first day as a vampire, except once, and then I only accidentally froze Emmett.

Edward pulled out of the driveway and onto the road as I watched the house disappear into the forest. I noticed that we were driving towards town, not north like we should have been.

"Where are we going?" I asked Edward.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." He said with a smirk. I stared at the side of his face with confusion.

Then I noticed the street that we were driving down. My street. Well, my old one anyways. Then I knew what Edward's surprise was. He was going to let me see my family one last time.

"Exactly." He said.

I gasped when I saw them. My mother and father were working on the garden, preparing the plants for the winter frost. Surprisingly, they looked almost happy. With my incredible eyesight, I could see that the small bit of sadness that still remained from losing their daughter was almost covered up. They must have been doing it for my brother and sister, who were happily playing in the yard. I sighed. I knew everything would be okay now, that they could move on.

I watched as the house passed by and disappeared from view. I turn back to Edward. "Thank you. That is the best surprise anyone could ever give me." I paused, thinking over the scene, trying to cement it into my brain, so I would never lose it. "When will you bring them the money?" I asked. Ever since Edward had promised he would help my family, I wondered when exactly that would happen.

"I don't know yet. I know you want to deliver the money yourself, and if that is what happens, we'll have to wait a year or two for you to control your thirst." He was right; I did want to deliver the money myself. I wanted to be the one who saw my parent's reaction to the gift. But to do that would take time and patience. Lots of patience.

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We drove as far north as the roads would allow, then continued with our belongings on foot. We wove through the trees for about fifteen miles. I was so consumed by the beautiful mountains across the ridge from us that I didn't notice that we had stopped until the absence of footsteps suddenly hit me and I looked up to see that the rest of the family had stopped moving. I slowed to a stop behind Edward.

"Why did we stop?" I ask curiously.

"Because we're here." He says with a small laugh.

We're here? I don't see anything. I peer around Edward to see what's in front of us, and notice that over a small hill ahead of us that I can see the roof of a small wooden structure. We all continue over the hill, and I get the full impact of the beauty of the cabin.

The cabin is nestled in a small clearing in the immense forest. The cabin is two stories tall, with huge windows that surround the house. Even with the windows, the cabin looks natural, almost as if it grew out of the ground.

"We found the cabin about ten years ago on a hunting trip." Edward says to me. "Esme worked on it as a project and completely renovated it."

"It's beautiful." I say to Esme, who beams at me.

We walk on down to the cabin, and we push through the door into an open room that transcends both floors. Hanging from the roof is an elegantly designed crystal chandelier. There are also chairs and a couch in the room, and Rosalie and Esme are already taking the plastic protectors off of them.

I set the luggage that I am carrying down and walk around the room. I notice that the main room opens up to a small kitchen, which makes me wonder why we need it. My brow wrinkles in confusion.

Carlisle walks up behind me. He must notice my confused expression. "It was already here, so Esme went ahead and renovated it too." He smiles at his wife, and turns his attention back to me. "Come with me, please, I want to show you something."

I follow Carlisle up the stairs and around the opening into the room below. Carlisle leads me down a back hallway that ends in one of the huge windows that I saw from outside. Carlisle stops at the last door at the end of the hallway.

"When we renovated the cabin, there were only the three of us, so there were a lot more rooms than we needed. Esme decided to take up art and design, so we renovated this room into her studio. I told her how you always wanted to be active and do hands-on projects, and she told me to give you this room." He said with a loving smile.

"Wow," I say, stunned. I really did owe Esme something now. She deserved it from me. But I would have my very own art studio? It was one of the secret interests that I had never told anyone. I was too worried about my family to think about hobbies other than the ones that would help me provide for the rest of my family.

"Tell her I said thank you." Carlisle quietly said 'of course' and flitted of to another part of the house. I stood and looked at the door for a minute or two, the thought of my parents bringing back the events that had gotten me here.

I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts. I needed to stop thinking about the past. I couldn't focus on what had happened, it was already over.

I took a deep breath and quietly opened the door to my room. What didn't surprise me was that it was absolutely beautiful. I practically adored Esme now for her sense of style. The room was a pale blue color, with deep brown trees swirling their way up the walls. There were shelves built into the wall, each containing some kind of art material. Dozens of brushes paints, acrylics and oils, canvases of all shapes and sizes, and tons of other things lined up along the shelves. But one of my favorite things in the room was not the art supplies, but the beautifully carved window seat that looked out on the mountains I had been fascinated with earlier.

I smiled to myself, and thinking quietly that everything would finally be okay, took up a paintbrush and started to move on.