Chapter Eleven

As the Pack dispersed back to tribal lands with Jacob's body, Bella turned and buried her head into Edward's chest. While she didn't regret and disagree with Jacob's death, she knew that his father, Billy would mourn the loss keenly and that he had no one to assist him fully. Both his other children lived more than three hours away, one in Oregon and the other in Hawaii. He also lost his one link to keeping the family traditions and name alive. She herself mourned the loss of the friend she had known in childhood and briefly knew when had moved back a year and a half earlier. But she would not mourn the possessive and obsessive monster he had become. That monster was not the caring kid she had seen take great care of his father.

"Love?" she looked up at the sound of Edward's voice. "Are you alright?"

Bella took a breath and wiped her eyes. "As well as can be; I don't regret what happened, Jacob brought this on himself. While I can't mourn the man he became, I can mourn the boy he had been and was up until after you left," she told him. "I am sorry that Billy lost one of his last links to his wife. But he wouldn't have stopped until one of us was dead. It was best to prevent an all-out war between us and the wolves."

Edward, after hearing Bella's thoughts, agreed with them. He wouldn't have expected any less from a woman who had as huge a heart as she had. "I would expect nothing less from you my love. You could never be black hearted," he said as he placed a gentle kiss to her lips. "Let's get you home and we can talk with Charlie. You know that Billy will have called your father by now."

With a nod Bella wrapped an arm around Edward's neck as he lifted her into his arms and began to run towards the Cullen family home. She kept her eyes shut as she knew the visual of the speed would cause her motion sickness.

As they ran, Bella let her thoughts drift thinking back on anything that would have shown just the kind of monster Jacob was going to be and she couldn't recall anything. Maybe it was just well hidden and didn't come out until he had become a shifter. Maybe it was because he was a shifter. Either way he had known what he did was wrong. And if Edward was right, he not only didn't regret it. He had in part planned what was going to happen that day. With those thoughts in mind, Bella made the decision that she would no longer worry about Jacob or what his family thought. He made his bed and now he is lying in it for eternity.

While Bella was with the Cullens and planning her wedding to Edward, Charlie was sitting in his easy chair at home thinking about everything that had happened to and with Bella since she had moved back. It was now painfully obvious to him that he did not truly know his daughter as he thought he had. Yes, they were similar in their shyness and the quiet strength. Bella was also a homebody, but not to the effect of himself. She wanted to go out into the world and make something of herself.

Had she done what he had up until recently wanted her to do and chose Jacob she could have become exactly like her mother; maybe even worse. What Jacob had done was show his true colors. He could have not only broken his baby girl physically but mentally and emotionally as well. He had noticed that Bella never really paid attention to any of the young men who had come sniffing about her; first Cullen, then Jacob, not to mention Tyler, and the Newton and Yorkie boys. But Cullen was the only who she showed interest in.

She had low self-esteem though he wasn't sure why that would be. He knew that neither he nor Renee had made Bella feel bad about herself; at least not intentionally. It's not that they were negligent, or abusive. But neither he nor Renee had truly been able to care for themselves. God knows Renee had not been good with finances or and neither of them were really good with cooking and cleaning. He knew that Bella had cleaned the house and cooked for him while she lived in the house. She also did the grocery shopping.

He took another sip of his beer and let the silent tears fall from his eyes. He had not realized just how much he had failed his baby until the issue with Jacob had come to a head. He was not going to fail her again.

Picking up his phone he dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" the voice answered.

"Hello Renee," he said by way of greeting.

"Charlie? What's wrong? Is Bella all right?" Renee's voice took on a panicked edge.

Charlie sighed into the phone. "Everything is better now. But there's been some changes since Bella's graduation."

"What changes Charlie? What's going on with my baby?" Renee asked hurriedly.

Over the next half an hour Charlie explained to Renee what he knew had happened to Bella and also told her about the engagement. To his surprise Renee was not upset in the least about the wedding. When asked about why she commented, "I was expecting it since they visited in April. You can't tell me you don't see how they are around each other. One moves then the other. They are two halves of a whole. Why do you think they were so upset when Edward moved in September?"

When she had been told about Bella's rape and the death of Jacob Renee snorted and told him how she knew that kid was no good for Bella. She knew it since Bella had been talking about their times together and how he would always disparage Edward and her choices.

"Why wouldn't she tell me about all that?" Charlie asked. Renee knew Bella better than he did and wanted to know.

"Because," Renee began, "you made her feel guilty about not helping Jacob; you made it a condition when you let her off of grounding. She took it and could have moved out. She is eighteen and I know the Cullens would have welcomed her with open arms. But she loves you and didn't want to hurt you nor your relationship with Billy."

At Renee's most apt assessment he had to agree. After saying their goodbyes Charlie decided to call Bella. There were things he wanted… no needed to say and he was going to before Bella left for college. Somehow he knew that he was not going to be seeing her after this summer passed and he wanted to at least make sure amends were made.

Please check out my poll on whether you believe Charlie should have the chance to learn about vampires and wolves and stay in Bella's life.