A major project at work has kept me from being able to post. Thankfully the project is completed. I will be posting another chapter this evening. Thank you all for your patience.

By the time that Charlie found the house in Seattle that Renee and Bella had been living in, they were long gone. He and some detectives from one of the precincts in Seattle went over the entire house looking for possible leads to their new destination. All they found was the letter that Renee had left for Charlie to find. Charlie thanked the detectives who had come out to help him and left Seattle with the unopened letter and a heavy heart. He had really hoped that he would be returning to Forks with Bella.

As he drove back to Forks he battled with himself over whether or not he should even bother to read the letter. Charlie's first instinct was to rip the letter up. He did not want to give Renee the satisfaction of reading what she had to say. He was sure that the letter was probably her way of gloating that he had failed in his attempt to get Bella back and knew that her venomous words would only serve the purpose of hurting him further. Nevertheless the slim hope that there might be a clue in the letter that would help him to find Bella made him decide to open it. As soon as he pulled up to the front of his house he turned off the car and opened the letter with trembling fingers. As he read her malicious letter he wondered if he had ever really known her at all. The letter said:

Charlie,

You have left me no choice but to tell you this. You really need to stop chasing after Bella. You have no right to her since she does not belong to you. You see Charlie; you are not Bella's father. Bella's father is a man by the name of Josh Uley. He is Quileute. When I met him in La Push I had no idea that he was already married. So when I found out that I was pregnant with Bella I panicked. Then I saw you in La Push and the solution to my problem was found. You should consider the years that you got to spend with Bella as my thank you gift for helping me out. I am sorry to be if you fell that taking back what is mine is cruel but I have let you borrow Bella long enough. She needs to be with her family now and that just does not include you. Renee

Charlie sat in his car in a stupor. The words "You are not Bella's father" kept running through his mind. It was like he was trapped in an episode on the Maury Povich show. He wanted to simply dismiss Renee's claims because he knew she was not the type of person to be trusted. She was a manipulator and a liar. But as he thought back to their whirlwind courtship he had a sick feeling in his gut that she could be telling the truth this time. Charlie shook himself out of his daze and forced himself to become focused. Renee was a fool if she thought that he would give up on finding Bella so easily. He knew who Bella's real family was. He did not need a DNA test to tell him that. He would move heaven and hell to get Bella back home to where she belonged. He decided to head over to La Push to let Billy and Harry know how the trip to Seattle went and to find out if they knew anything about what Renee had written about in her letter.

Strangely enough, back in La Push, the tribal elders were already dealing with another paternity question. Sam Uley, the alpha of the Quileute wolf pack, asked Billy to call a council meeting to discuss the newest wolf who phased. Embry Call just became the 4th boy in La Push to phase into a wolf which was surprising to Sam because Embry was Makah and it was believed that only the Quileute's were shape shifters. Everyone knew who Embry's mother was so that only left the question as to who his dad was. Sam asked Billy if the council knew who Embry's father was. Billy looked over to Harry and Quil Sr. The men communicated with only their eyes and a barely perceptible nod of their heads. After an uncomfortable silence, Billy addressed Sam's question. "I hate that you have to find out this way Sam but Embry is your half-brother."

Of all the things that Sam expected to hear this was not one of them. He laughed bitterly to himself. He had no idea why he should be surprised. He knew what kind of man his father was. He probably had countless brothers and sisters out there that he did not know about. Still the fact that Embry was his brother and no one had told him about it did surprise him. Sam asked Billy "Why didn't anyone bother to let me know before this that I had a brother?" Sam had grown up as an only child and had always longed for a bigger family. It was the one part about being a wolf that Sam had welcomed. He loved the brotherhood—the family that being part of the pack offered. When his mother had died 2 years ago he had been left feeling so alone in this world. The wolf pack and his beloved Emily had helped to heal that ache in his heart. He was a little angry about the years that he had lost where he could have gotten to know his brother. His increasing anger caused him to start to shake.

Billy noticed that the alpha was dangerously close to phasing inside the house and made an effort to calm him down. He used his most authoritative voice as the chief of the tribe and said "Sam you need to get it together now before you accidentally hurt someone." This was enough to help Sam regain his focus and to look into the eyes of the elders in front of him and ask his question again. "Why wasn't I told that I had a brother?"

Billy responded "It was my decision not to say anything. By the time I found out about your connection to Embry, your mother was quite ill. She had already suffered so much in the time she was married to your father and I did not want to add to her suffering. I believe it was the right decision to keep the secret while she was still alive but I should have told you after she died. I made a mistake. Please forgive me Sam."

Sam looked into Billy's eyes. He could see the sincerity in the old man's remorse. He would let the anger go and move on and get to know his brother. Sam asked Billy "Does Embry know that we are brothers?"

Billy responded "No. I do not believe that his mother has told him anything about his father." Sam looked at the members of the council and avowed "I am going to let him know that we are brothers. I am not asking for your permission. He has a right to know." Any response that Billy would have given to Sam was interrupted by a sharp rap on the front door. Charlie did not wait for a member of the Black household to open the door to let him in. He was a man on a mission—he needed answers—so he let himself in. He was so caught up in his own drama that Charlie failed to notice the other guests in Billy's living room. He had no idea that he was interrupting a meeting of the tribal elders. He vaguely noticed that Harry was present but other than that Billy was the only person he could see. Charlie simply blurted out "Billy I need your help with something."

Billy could see how agitated Charlie was and did not have the heart to ask him to come back later. Billy asked "How can I help you Charlie? Did you have any luck in Seattle with finding Bella?"

Charlie shook his head sadly and replied "They were already gone by the time we got there. Rene did leave me a letter though and that is why I am here. Her letter makes a claim that I don't want to believe…." Charlie temporarily found himself lost in the stupor again and did not finish his statement.

Billy asked "What did Renee claim Charlie?"

Charlie could not look at his friend because he was afraid what he might see in Billy's face if he did. He looked at a spot on the floor in front of him and said "Renee says that I am not Bella's father. She says that Bella's father is a Quileute named Josh Uley." A sharp intake of breath followed by the expletive "Fuck!" drew Charlie's attention to the young man on the other side of the room. He was visibly shaking. The young man said to Billy "I'm sorry but I have to go." The young man took off without waiting for a response from Billy.

Charlie looked around the room sheepishly. He could not believe that he had just blurted out something so personal in front of a room filled with people. How did he not notice that Billy had company? His gaze returned to Billy. He was somewhat relieved to see that Billy looked as surprised by his news as he was. He said to Billy "Billy I am so sorry. I did not realize that you had company and that I was intruding. I am so sorry for upsetting that young man. Who is he? I will go find him and apologize to him and I will talk to you later about this."

Billy replied "That was Sam Uley. Josh is his father."

Charlie dropped to the couch and put his head in his hands. Quil Sr. and the other council members quietly got up and left. For all intent and purposes their council meeting was over. Charlie muttered to himself "What have I done? I didn't mean to upset him. I don't even know if it is true." Harry moved over to sit next to Charlie and put his hand on Charlie's shoulder. He spoke gently to his friend. "Charlie, Sam had already received some news tonight that upset him. Please do not blame yourself for the state that he was in when he left."

In a quiet voice Charlie asked "Do you think it is true? Do you think this Josh Uley could be Bella's father?"

Harry replied "I don't know Charlie. The only thing that I do know is that Renee was being truthful when she told you that she had been with Josh Uley. I had seen them together here at beach before you and Renee had gotten together. I am pretty sure that sex was involved in that encounter based on what I observed and Josh had told us afterwards. It never occurred to me that anyone other than you could be Bella's dad though. You and Renee seemed so much in love. I put that entire episode with her and Josh out of my mind until now." The truth was Harry was a little uneasy back when Charlie first got together with Renee. She had always seemed like a bit of a tramp and Harry thought that Charlie could do so much better than Renee. But Charlie was like a brother to him and if Charlie loved Renee then he was going to do his best to get along with her for him. He wonders now if he had been honest with Charlie about his misgivings with Renee back then if he could have saved his friend from this heartache.

Billy came to sit on the other side of Charlie. He said to Charlie "In every way that counts you are Bella's father. That little girl loves you and nothing will ever change that."

"And nothing will ever change the way I love Bella either, "Charlie declared. "Does Renee honestly believe that all the love that I have for Bella will just disappear if I find out that we do not share DNA? Renee will be sadly disappointed because I will never stop looking for my daughter until my dying breath." Billy said a silent prayer that Bella would be back with them much sooner than that.