"Bella, darling," an old man standing in the middle of about fifteen other people called to me. "Come, let me make introductions then you may tell us if your drive was pleasant." He shot James a look from the corner of his eye. "This," he said pointing to an equally old and incredibly frail looking woman "is Sara, my wife and your grandmother," he pointed next to an elegant woman in her mid thirties "your aunt Estelle," a girl my age was next, "your cousin Janice, your uncle Robert," snooty looking man. Another family consisting of three people was next, the rest of the people flanking my grandfather were servants. They were dismissed with a wave if his hand, leaving me with just the family. "How was your trip, darling? I trust it was good."

My temper suddenly flared to life, it seemed it was doing that a lot lately. "How was it?" I asked in a light tone. "Well, let's see; first I was forced into the back of a limo by two men I was to see my family. Second, they took my phone away, and third, the only time I was allowed to get out of the car in a three day trip cross country was to eat. Yeah, I had a wonderful trip! Not to mention the added bonus of not getting to see my mother and brother anymore!" I was nearing hysterics by the end of my small tirade. The adults looked stonily back at me, my cousins, Janice and Jacob, the son of my grandfathers other daughter, were glancing at me with pitty, but my grandfather looked almost mad.

"I will talk with you about all that later, right now I'm sure you want to freshen up after that long journey. Janice, take your cousin to her bedroom and find someting fit for her to wear. Once she is finished, bring her to my study Jacob, there's a good lad." He gave everyone a final look and turned to leave. All the adults left, not even glancing in my direction, only Janice and Jacob remained with in the big room with me.

"Your rooms are down this hall," Janice said to me, indicating with her hand. She started leading the way; my rooms were huge. A fluffy white carpet, a huge four-poster bed and even a balcony with a bay window. The rail of the balcony was the only thing separating it from thousands of beautiful flowers, there was a picnic table off to the side. By the looks of it, this was a butterfly garden. "The bathroom is through this door." It was just as big as the bedroom. A long marble counter, a huge vanity mirror extending the length of the wall and a shower stall right beside a humongous pedestal bathtub. "We hope you like your rooms." Was she kidding? They were wonderful!

"They're great!" My smile faded, my thoughts wandered back to my family half way across the country. My energy sapped, I sagged against the bathroom walll and slowly slid down.

"You miss your family, huh," it wasn't a question, Jacob was stating a fact. "What's it like? To have parents who care about what you do? To be able to go out and just have fun?"

I blinked. Why was it that he was asking me these questions? They seemed nice enough, I was put off by Jacob's questions. "What do you mean? Why do you ask that?"

"We'll talk later, right now you have to shower and then go see Granddad." Janice ushered Jacob out, assuring him she'd call him as soon as I was done. "You're going to need new clothes. Come over to my room and we'll find something." Out the door into the next room down the hall we went. This one was very much like my own, white carpeting's four-poster, balcony. "My clothes are in this wardrobe." The mahogany wood was smoothed and polished. Janice had a lot of clothes, everything from formal dresses to denim shorts. I went for a comfortable pair of blue jeans. A pale pink T-shirt was added to the jeans. "We share the bathroom. That door," she pointed, leads to it. Come out when you're done and I'll call Jake."

A half hour later I was headed off to the study. Jacob was really nice and talkative. He talked abot small subjects, nothing like what he said in the spotless bathroom. He quieted when we reached a grand door which I guessed lead to the study; Jacob knocked.

"Come in," I followed him in. "Thank you Jacob, go tell Janice to got ready to go shopping in about an hour. Your cousin Bella will need clothes." Jacob nodded then left. My grandfather turned to me. "Bella dear, I know you're probably not going to understand completely why I brought you here. Please try. I'm sure your mother has told you what happened when she was just a little older than you.You know she involved herself with your father and had your brother, Emmett." For a second, I thought he knew about Carlisle. "Sara and I were very upset with her and, I'm not going to lie to you, we disowned her. She left and we never heard from her again. For some time now, I've been thinking about those events and I lament doing what I did.

I've spent quite some time searching for you, your brother, and your mother. I know your mother, Esme will be still very hurt. I brought you here to request your help. I need your help asking your mother's forgiveness. It's been so long now I just don't know how to say sorry. I picked you insted of your brother because I thought you would be less hurt than your brother to leave and help me. I see I was wrong, you both love Esme very much. I know you might not believe me but I'm an old man, what would I possibly get out of lying?"

Could I really trust him? Was he really sorry or was he just making my mom's life more miserable? I looked at my grandfather, saw how old, how tired he seemed. His eyes, his eyes were the same as my mom's, hazel and glittering with sincerity. Looking past that, I could see how vulnerable he was, it was plastered all over his eyes along with hurt. The same hurt my mom's eyes had contained for weeks. Eyes like those don't lie... And just like that, I realized I had accepted the truth, all of the truth, everything from my father to my grandfather. "I believe you." I said to him. "What about Sara? My mom's sisters? Have they put everything that happened with my mom behind them?"

My grandfather's face was filled with sadness, immediately giving me my answer. "I'm afraid not, they detest her." How could anyone detest their own sister? How could Sara detest her own daughter? "They don't matter, thought. Esme's sisters have always been more oriented around the family name and success than family. As for Sara, I believe it's because Esme was able to escape this life, something she never managed to do." My eyes eyebrows pulled together. "Our marriage was never happy, it was well off but never happy. Stay away from them, they will only be unpleasant to you if they talk to you at all."

"What about-"

"Janice and Jacob?" he cut me off. "They're wonderful, they're supporting everything I'm doing. They're so excited to leave for college, they want to get away from here, don't we all." He tried to smile but it was very weak. "They're the best cousins you could ever hope for, be nice to them, please, for me." His smile was strong but small this time.

"They seem nice," I said thoughtfully. "Can I ask you something?" he nodded. "What did you mean by 'don't we all'?"I was very curious about that part.

Now it was his dark eyebrows that drew together. "Everyone wants to go live a life different than this. That' why Janice and Jacob are so excited for college. That's why I can't wait either, they're the only reason why I stick around here." My heart sank, his only support was his grandchildren. His wife and kids don't care about him. "I imagine your mother and brother are worried sick about you." The sudden change surprised me a bit, his body was slightly slumped against his chair but his voice was different, clear and... sad. "You told me when you got here that the men who went for you 'shoved' you into the car. that means no one knows you are here."

"Not exactly," I told him. "When we were coming, my cell phone rang. This was before all of this, just shortly after I was in the car. It was my brother Emmett, I'm guessing he was looking for me but I answered frantically, asking for help, then one of the two men took my phone and told me you might give it back to me. By now my mom will know I'm missing." An image of her with red, puffy eyes sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee came to me. The only time when she drank coffee was when something was wrong. I remember when I was still a little girl and I came home from school one day and I found her at the table with her coffee, she sat Emmett and me down and told us about "what happened to daddy."

"Well there's quite a time difference between the East coast and the West. you could call them now if you wish. " Should I? The three hour difference meant that it would barely be nearing noon in Forks.

"Please." He stood up from where he sat and finished for something in a drawer in his desk. My phone! He handed the small device to me. "Thanks." I punched in the all too familiar number. One ring was all it took before a voice I would recognize anywhere floated down the line. "Emmett. How are you? Is Mom okay?" Nothing. Silence greeted me.

"Bella?" Emmett's voice sounded shocked and joyful at the same time. "Oh thank God! Are you okay?" he sounded so happy and relieved. I hoped they hadn't worried too much. "Where the hell are you?" By that I could safely assume they were out of their mind with worry. Sometimes I hated being the baby of the family. "What is it Emmett?" I heard the voice I was dying to hear ask. "It's Bella! I think she's okay." I heard a soft shriek and scrambling. "Bella, honey?" My mom! It was the first time I heard her voice in what seemed like eternity. It sounded like velvet honey.

"Mom?" I felt tears welling beneath my eyelashes.

"Sweetheart where are you?" She sounded desperate.

"My heart clenched. "I'm at... I'm in Portland." I was a coward. I couldn't bring myself to say it.

Once again, there was silence on the phone. Nothing but static. "With..." she cleared her throat, "your grandparents?"

"No, I'm with Grandfather and Janice and Jacob." I wasn't lying; I just wasn't telling the entire truth.

"W-Are you okay?" She changed her question halfway through.

"Yeah," My voice sounded sort of strained. A tear escaped out of the corner of my eye. I wiped it away silently.

"Be strong." I could imagine her pinching the bridge of her nose, fighting to keep control. "Come home soon."

I nodded for a moment before I realized she couldn't see me. "I'll try." Whether I was answering her first or second question I didn't know. "I love you Mom."

"I love you too, baby." More commotion in the background covered my mothers shaky breath. "Wait Bells," Emmett cried. "When are you coming home?" I could no longer see the dark walls in front of me. "You are comming home, right?"

"I don't know." My voice broke on teh last syllable. Once again I didn't know which question I was answering.

"Jingle Bells, jingle Bells, jingle all the way." I let a small laugh bubble to the surface. Our old childhood joke. Count on Emmett to bring it up now, years after we'd stopped.

"On a wide, horse open sleigh." We hung up.

Wiping my tears away, I turned to where my grandfather was.

"I'm sorry." What was he sorry for? "I never should have brought you here. My original plan was to get you to convince Emmett to come here and then to get your mother to forgive me but know I know I was wrong yet again." I shook my head. He looked as if he were about to say something but he didn't. "Are you ready? to go shopping with your cousins?" He had puzzled me once more. "You need clothing. You don't expect to wear the same clothes everyday, do you?" I had completely forgotten. I managed a shaky smile. He read my uncertainty. "Go have some fun.We'll talk more about everything tomorrow afternoon. They're waiting, go down the corridor and turn left." I nodded. "Bella?" I faced him again. "Would it be too much if I asked you to call me Grandfather?" I thought about it; I already considered him as it so why not?

I smiled at him. "Grandfather."

"How may shoes do you girls need? You get two, one for dresses and another for casual attire. You don't need all these shoes, just put one pair on and go." No matter where, boys will be boys. Jacob would say the same thing every time Janice dragged me into another shoe store. She was just like Alice in that sense, she loved to shop and didn't care how expensive it was. But Janice was also really into studying. She was graduating top of her class and planned on getting a degree in history. Add that to being insanely beautiful, some people got all teh luck.

"Janice," I said after the fourth store and the sixth pair of shes. "Don't you think this is enough? I already have tennis shoes, high heels, wedges, flip flops, sandals, and even slippers, "I think Jacob is right on this one, these," I said gesturing to the bags, "are more than I need."

"Bella, a girl needs more than two pair of shoes."

"I think I have enough shoes," I finalized. "Let's look for some jeans. "Off we went, Jacob got the load of bags, Janice had named him our bag boy. He was up to 15 bags now and I had a feeling he wished he was back in the mansion. "Jacob, you could go someplace and look for what you wanted. Janice and I could take these bags."

"It's okay," Jacob said. "I like watching you girls in your natural habitat." Janice made a face at him.

"We're not one of your science experiments."

"I don't even like science." Jacob retaliated Janice. "I'm just saying, you girls let down your guard somewhat. In private it's completely gone but you girls are something." Janice smiled and gave Jacob a kiss on the cheak.

"You totally need to get these shorts Bella. They would look great with your long legs and those brown sandals. Or," she rushed on, not letting me get a word in, "what about this skirt? Pair it up with your wedges, we have jawdropping boys." My heart felt as if it had ran into a brick wall. Memories of the perfection of Edward flooded me. "What do you think?" she held both articles in her hands.

"Yeah, whatever, sure." I was still with my memories.

"Whoa, whoa," Jacob grabbed the clothes. "Both of these are way to short for Bella to wear in public." How sweet was he?

"Calm down Jacob," Janice snatched them back. "They both reach just above mid thigh. She'll be perfectly fine." With some grumbling, he let it go. "Oh, Bella, look at this!" Janice exclaimed the next store. "This shirt would look so good on you. It compliments your skin. Go try it on." The thing was almost see through, a soft fabric covering my chest and everything around my waist was lace, you could see my stomach.

"Janice, where on earth would I wear this?" she just rolled her eyes. "Check the weather Bella, it's nice now but it will get hot."

"Jacob, can I get a second vote here?" I hoped he'd agree with me.

"It is a little sheer but it goes get hot. You'll thank her later."

What happened to the guy who didn't want me to wear some shorts and a skirt?" I was grasping at straws here. He just shrugged.

"Now that that's settled, are you ready to go? It's getting late and we have to get there in time for dinner." Janice lookd tired out. A moment ago she was all bounce and sunshine.

In the car I asked her about that. "I'm a very introverted person. After a while of being with a group of people, my energy is gone," Wow, she was a unique crossover.

"Where's Grandmother?" Jacob asked the grand pine table. I was now convinced that everything in this house was huge. Everyone was here except Sara. One end of the table was empty, I guessed she sat there.

"Your grandmother felt ill, she is taking her supper in her rooms." Ill meaning sick, I remembered this morning when I got here. She did look a little sick. "Did you get all you needed?

My grandfather was talking to me. "Yeah. I didn't really need much, just the necessities." Jacob raised his eyebrows. "The rest was Janice's idea, she's just like Alice." The blank look on his face reminded me he didn't know who Alice was. "Never mind."

Dinner passed by quickly, the adults talked amongst themselves while Janice, Jacob, my grandfather and I discussed where I was going to be dragged off to next. So far it was more shopping, school and parties requiring formal wear. It was really easy to get along with them. It was natural, they'd just start talking about one thing that would lead to another. It reminded me of my conversations with Emmett. We could keep a conversation going for so long, our mom would have to end it a lot of the times. I could imagine the amusement mixed with the irritation in her sparkling eyes.

"...Bella. Isabella." I was broken from my thoughts my my grandfather's voice. "Are you okay dear?" I nodded and jumped back into the conversation that had taken place while I'd been wandering.

After dinner, the three of them took me into a room with an enormous (no surprise there) television and the greater part of a wall covered with movies on shelves. I felt my jaw slacken a bit but I remembered not to let it drop. "Anything in particular you want to watch, Bella" I shook my head at Janice. "Well since granddad is here with us today, I vote we see a slightly old movie." There were no objections. "Good. Let me see," Janice scanned the shelves for the right movie. "Perfect." Apparently, she'd found what she'd been looking for.

The movie was black and white. It was about the World War II and the Dutch resistance of the Nazis. For an old film, it was pretty interesting and contained a lot of actual truth of the second World War. Not surprisingly enough, there was an immense amount of shooting and blowing up. Back when, it must have been a big-budget production. When it was over, Jacob stood from where he'd spralled himself, Janice sat up from where seh had been leaning on our grandfather's shoulder. and I put my legs down, I had been hugging my legs just above my shins. Grandfather sent us off to bed as if we were seven as soon as we had everything put away.

As I crawled into bed it occurred to me that he wasn't a "Grandfather," not to me anyway. No, to me he as more a "Gramps." I could hardly believe it had been merely a day since I arrived here. It felt as if I'd grown up with them. As for the location, it felt as if I'd been away from home for years. I couldn't wait 'till Gramps finally apologized to my mom for what happened long ago. That meant I got to go home and I would have even more family with me. My family has lately been full of surprises, at least where family as involved.

Here you guys go, the next chapter. Pics of Janice and the butterfly gardens are on my profile.
I know a lot of you guys are worying about whether Edward and Bell will actually be related but I must tell you guys, I gave you the answer before all this started. So now my next question will be: have you guessed if they're going to be related?