Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
10. Final breath
Alice POV
The drive to Fargo was the most horrible experience of my life. I was in the car with Edward, Bella, Nessie and Jasper while the others went in another car. Jasper was sat in the back beside me and was furiously typing away on his laptop while Rosalie typed on hers in the other car. They were trying to find out who had taken Elizabeth in. They had found the names of the three midwives that worked in the hospital near us- Hannah Cartwright, Maria Stoner and Daisy Lawson. One of them had taken in my Elizabeth. So Jasper and Rose were looking into them.
"Rose?" Jasper asked as he grabbed the ringing phone by his side.
"Hannah Cartwright!" Rose yelled from her end.
"Oh My God!" I cried as wrapped my arms around Jasper.
"She had a young daughter who was being trained as a midwife and was also there at the birth- Anna. Hannah's husband died a year before Elizabeth was born. Ok we need to find now we have a name- Elizabeth Cartwright, so lets look for a marriage certificate and see what we find." They disconnected the call before starting typing again with new ferocity.
"We'll find them Alice, you'll see." He whispered. A few minutes of intense typing later and suddenly it was Jasper who was reaching for the phone and spinning the laptop round to show me.
"Jazz?"
"She married Edward Silverstone in 1947, in Biloxi." I grinned, she was happy with a husband, she probably had several children and Grandchildren who cam round everyday and had a big family get together at Christmas.
"Between then and 1953 thy moved to Fargo where they had a son called Dominic who died when h was six months old." Rose almost whispered over the phone. I felt like I had been slapped- my Grandson had died. Poor Elizabeth. "They had a second child in 1958 who was born stillborn called Hannah. Then in 1962 they had their only living child- Kerry."
"Are you Ok?" Bella whispered as she turned round.
"I've killed their only living child. James went after them because of me and now she's dead."
"It's ok, Alice. Everything will be ok. Rose you need to see if she has any children so start checking the archives while I find out about Kerry."
"On it." Came Rose's subdued answer over the phone. With one arm Jasper comforted me and with the other he typed furiously into the archives he'd managed to crack into.
"Oh wow." Jasper whispered as he found something interesting on the computer. "I think Kerry's estranged from her parents. She'd certainly had a colourful history- she's been in prison or arrested about a dozen times on various drugs charges. The first few times her parents bailed her out but after that various other people bailed her out."
"Poor Elizabeth." I whispered as I thought how bad it must have got to have to wash your hands of your only child.
"OH MY GOD!" Rose yelled. "I found her children and you have to see this!"
"See what?" Edward asked from the driver's seat.
"I've sent you pictures from their school file."
"Alice, honey look!" He turned the computer around to show me two images side by side. There was a teenage boy of about eighteen with dark hair and piercing blue eyes but it was the girl that really caught my eye simply because she looked exactly like me. She had the same facial features, black hair although hers was long like mine had been before I was committed. I flicked through the documents that Rose had found in her research. Her name was Molly; she was sixteen, five foot, her medical record showed that she'd broken her leg when she was ten and had been born prematurely and addicted to heroin. I gasped as I read the last part, suddenly I understood how they could wash their hands of Kerry.
"Did you find their address?" I asked as I went back to the pictures of Molly and her brother, my heart ached for them and I was suddenly acutely aware of why we were making this trek- they were in danger and after seeing the photo's of them my maternal instinct had kicked in.
"Yes- they live in a suburb on the south side of the city. We'll be there in about three and a half hours." Edward replied, he had seen everything in my mind and understood all my thoughts and feelings. It felt good that someone understood what I was going through.
It was dark by the time we got into the suburb where my family lived. It took about half an hour to work out with the help of the sat nav where Jameson Street was.
"Finally!" I yelled as we pulled up beside a small, white house with a well kept garden- Edward must be a keen gardener. It was then I smelt it- vampire.
"James." I choked angrily as I raced from the car, towards the house.
I was too late.
James was stood over Elizabeth as she struggled desperately to get away from him. Edward's body lay collapsed in on itself by the opposite wall with a baseball bat in his hands. He'd obviously tried to protect his family not knowing what he was up against. I paused momentarily, dumbstruck by the horror of the scene. Luckily the others lunged at James and dragged him towards the garden. I fell down next to my daughter who was struggling to breath.
"Elizabeth." I whispered as I looked around for Carlisle, maybe we could save her.
"Molly?" She looked at me in confusion.
"No my name's Alice. Well, Mary Alice Brandon." Her eyes flicked with recognition at the name. "Your mother."
"What? How?" I wasn't sure what to say to her but luckily she saved me. "You know what; if Molly can see the future I guess my mother can be immortal."
"I can save you, it will hurt but I can save you. I can make you immortal." I looked around desperately for Carlisle but I guess he was in the garden helping with James.
"No, as much as I would love to stay alive with you, Molly and Dom I don't think I could. Not without my Edward. Do you know how that feels?"
"Yeah, I couldn't live without Jasper but I don't want to live without you either, I just found you again."
"I know. Will you do one thing for me?"
"Anything."
"Look after Molly and Dom. keep them safe no matter what you have to do." I could tell that she was giving me permission to make them immortal too.
"I promise I will. I wish I hadn't given you away. I love you."
"I love you too." She agreed. "Tell my babies I love them too." I nodded because I didn't trust myself to speak. I kissed her forehead and held her as she took her final breath.
