CHAPTER 11
Carlisle's POV
It took us almost two weeks to find any trace of Edward. It would have been a lot easier if Alice had been with us but they were in Paris and quite unreachable. Rosalie tried calling on and off for days and threatened to fly there to find her. We finally heard from our contacts in Rio that he had taken the boat out and we figured he could be at Isle Esme.
We had to rent a boat on the mainland to get there and as we pulled up to the dock I thought we were going to be disappointed again as our boat wasn't there. Just as we got off on to the dock I saw him. He looked bad.
"Edward, " I called
He looked at me as if seeing nothing and then put his hands back over his face.
"I hurt her Carlisle. She must hate me." he said
Esme dropped to her knees in front of him. "Edward she doesn't hate you. She loves you Sweetheart. She was so concerned when you were gone."
"Son, the bruises are superficial. They'll heal." Carlisle said, "I examined her myself. She will be fine."
"How can you say she loves me when I did that? How can you all not see what a monster I am?" he groaned.
"Son none of us are perfect. We do our best. All of us, including Bella, know you never meant to hurt her." Carlisle said.
"You being gone is what hurts her, " Rose piped up. "I can only imagine what she must be thinking."
"What do you mean Rose?" Edward asked angrily.
"Seriously you are so dumb! She was just with you for the first time EVER and wakes up to find you gone. Not a word only a cryptic little note!" she seethed, "Honestly what were you thinking Edward?"
"I can't hurt her again!" Edward yelled, "Just being near her puts her in danger! I can't!!!"
"Seriously Man. The girl is a danger magnet! Has nothing to do with you. I can only imagine what kind of danger she is in with you gone." Emmett said.
Edward growled. He looked me in the eyes and bowed his head again.
"I don't know what to do Dad." he said quietly.
He didn't call me dad often and I knew how broken and conflicted he must be. The others wandered off and I sat next to him on the sand.
"What do you want to do?" I asked him
"I don't know." he said quietly.
"Edward i think you do know," I said, "I think you're just scared."
"Yeah I'm scared. I want to love her. I want to be with her. But I can't hurt her. I can't change her. I can't steal her soul." he cried, pain filling every word.
"You know my feelings about the soul Edward and I know yours, no need to beat a dead horse on that issue. What does she want Edward? What has she said?" I asked him.
"She wants to be one of us. At least she thinks she does," he answered
"And you know better?" I asked
"Of course I do. I know what it's like. The constant temptation, the constant thirst. Always on the outside. Never really belonging." he said
"You do belong Son. You belong to Bella. You belong with Bella. It is your choice to be on the outside. You have chosen to push everyone away, including the person who loves you more than her own life. If you could only open yourself up and let people in you would be happier." I told him, "You deserve happiness Son. Whatever form that happiness comes in."
As I walked away he looked up at the night sky. I would pray tonight for my son. He deserved happiness so did Bella. They were made for each other.