Chapter Fourteen

The Link

We travelled at lightning speed back to the house. Edward told me all about Bella and his struggles with his relationship with her, how he had put her in danger every time he saw her. I could well imagine how it would have been nigh on impossible for him. It was a monument to how much he loved her that he was able to be with her so intimately without hurting her. He told me about the incident when she had cut her finger opening a birthday present and poor Jasper had not been able to control himself. How he had made the decision that it was too dangerous for her to remain in his company and had gone away, for her safety. He spoke this part of the story with such sorrow; I could tell it really hurt him to remember it. He had hoped she would get over him, but she hadn't. And he never forgot her either, never stopped loving her. During his absence she had formed a strong relationship with Jacob Black, which helped her fill her days, but she had really wanted Edward. She loved Jacob, but not in the same way.

"What made you come back then?" I asked him.

He took a deep breath, "I thought she was dead. She had gone cliff-jumping. Alice had a vision of Bella being dead. I decided that my life wasn't worth living so I went to the Volturi and asked them to end it for me."

"But she wasn't dead, obviously," I tried to bring him out of the pain he was so obviously feeling by reminding him that she was very much alive.

"No, she wasn't," and there was a vague hint of a smile now from him, "Jacob got to her just in time and pulled her out of the water. He saved her life. I will always owe him for that." He paused for a while, reflecting, and then continued, "Alice hot-tailed it back to Forks and found her alive, but then, not long after she arrived, she saw a vision of me, at the hands of the Volturi, so she and Bella came to Italy, to rescue me, to let me know Bella was still alive. From that moment on, I knew I would never be able to leave her again, that we were destined to be with each other."

We were back at the house now. The mood had changed. I was silent; there wasn't much I could say really. I felt his pain, and also the intensity of his love for Bella. I hoped I would find a soul-mate one day, but I didn't want this pain. Was it avoidable?

"Yes, it is avoidable. Don't fall in love with a human," he told me, patting me on the back as we headed into the house after we had returned the Aston to its rightful place in the corner of the garage. He put on a smile as we entered the house. Bella wasn't back yet, nor were the shoppers, so it was just, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie. Carlisle had returned but had gone up to his study.

"What do you think of the Aston then?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," I replied with a grin, nodding.

Rosalie had discarded the computer oton the table beside her so I assumed she had given up on her quest. She appeared to be in a good mood though looking pleased with herself and smiling at me still so maybe she had found something interesting. I would ask her later. Right now Alice and Esme had pulled up the driveway so I had to brace myself for the onslaught of several bags of shopping that they appeared to be taking out of Alice's bright yellow Porsche. How did they fit so much shopping in such a small car?

"Let's give them a hand," I suggested.

Edward and I went outside to take the eight heavy bags Alice had propped up by the front door. "Thank you both," Esme said warmly. Alice was putting her car away in the garage.

She danced into the room a few seconds later apologising for being gone so long and explaining to me that not all of the eight bags were for me.

That was a relief. "These are yours," she declared excitedly as she pointed to four of the bags that she had separated from the rest. The other four she scooped up in her hand and went to take them upstairs.

"I hope you will like them," Esme said, "Alice gets a bit carried away."

"Of course he will," Alice called over her shoulder from the top of the stairs. "I have seen him wearing them." She let out a shrill laugh before disappearing into her room to put her new clothes in her oversized wardrobe.

"Such confidence!" Jasper sighed and he got up to follow her. "Well, you never know, she may have got something for me?" He explained as he shrugged his shoulders and headed up the stairs.

I was keen to learn if Rosalie had uncovered anything, but I knew I would be in trouble if I didn't look at my parcels.

"Take them upstairs," Esme told me, "You don't want an audience, do you? You can have a look in private." She gave me a reassuring smile.

I was grateful for this, just in case they weren't to my liking. I wouldn't want to cause offence by showing disappointment.

I headed upstairs and began to unpack. I noticed that the clothes I had placed on the couch earlier had gone. Well, they were either in a laundry room somewhere or they had thrown them away, but who would have done it? Never mind, if they didn't reappear in a few days I would assume they had been thrown away.

I had plenty more now anyway, and of course they were ok, I had been right to trust Alice. There was a suit, half a dozen pairs of trousers, ten shirts; some formal and some casual, four polo shirts and a couple of jumpers. In the final bag were two pairs of shoes and some socks. How much had this lot cost? They all had the feel of quality about them. I wasn't really conscious of designer labels, but I didn't need a label to tell me they were expensive. What would I need a suit for? Oh well, never mind. I had only ever possessed one suit and that had been when I had to go to a wedding when I was about fifteen and my parents had insisted on it.

I began to put my new clothes away in the wardrobe when there was a knock on the door. "Mind if I come in?" Alice's cheerful voice sang from the other side of the door.

"Not at all, come on in," I replied.

"All ok?" she asked as she poked her head around the door.

"Yes thanks, lovely," I told her, "I really appreciate this Alice, it's very kind of you."

"You're welcome, I enjoy it, you may have noticed!" and then she was gone again.

I finished putting my new clothes away and headed downstairs, passing Esme on the way. I thanked her for her part in the shopping trip.

Esme smiled and assured me that it had been a pleasure.

I noticed happily that Rosalie was on her own now so I sat down beside her on the large sofa and nodding towards the computer I asked her if she had found anything.

"I have indeed," she crooned. Her face was so exquisitely beautiful when she smiled. It was breathtaking.

"But," she continued, "If you call me Auntie Rosalie I might have to kill you!"

"Really?" I asked, "We are related then?"

"Yes, I'll show you." And she opened the laptop and her fingers began to whiz over the keys. She pulled up a screen that looked like a family tree.

"Here," she pointed. "This is me." Her elegant finger moved across the screen. "I had a younger brother, well two actually, but this one, and she pointed at the name Albert John Hale born 15th March 1920 on the screen, had three sons. The eldest of them was also called Albert. He was your grandfather." Her finger was moving down the screen now, showing the relationship between my grandfather and me. I froze as I looked at the name on the screen Albert William Hale born 27th August 1942. Without a doubt, that was my grandfather.

"Yes, my grandfather is called Albert, well, everyone calls him Bert," I told her, slowly remembering my grandfather who I had only seen a few times. Our family had lost touch with its New York contingent when we had moved to Texas, my father never really bothering to keep the connection alive with him being away at sea such a lot. He had not really bothered rekindling it after we had moved to Boston. Not having been a close family it hadn't seemed important. There had been the occasional visit but it had all been a little bit stiff and formal, usually restricted to special occasions; weddings and funerals and the like. My grandfather had been at my graduation though. That was probably the last time I saw him.

"He's alive?" Rosalie asked.

"Yes, well, I assume so. At least he was the last time..." I trailed off as I tried to remember more about him, and with sadness, remembering the last time I had been with my family as a human. It occurred to me that I wouldn't know if he had died.

"So that makes me your Great-Great Aunt, I think," she was saying. "What a coincidence! Can you believe that?" And she leaned over and hugged me.

I was speechless with emotion. There was the sorrow I felt at remembering my real family, and yet the elation at the realisation that I had more reason to be here now other than just a desire to improve myself, I had family, real family! I was related, in the human world, to Rosalie. I had broken through her cool facade and she was hugging me, like the long-lost relative that I actually was.

"Amazing!" I exclaimed. "Wow!"

She pulled back now and glared at me, mockingly, "Don't even think about it, I'm warning you, if you call me Great Aunt Rose, I will, I'll do you some serious damage." But she was laughing.

The others had come back into the room now, presumably to see what the excitement was all about. I imagined it was unusual to haer Rosalie laughing so freely.

Emmett and Jasper were grinning. I guessed they already knew, having been at home earlier while Rosalie was doing her research. Edward would know too, wherever he was. I hadn't seen him since we came back, but he would know. Alice probably knew too, but it depended how pre-occupied she had been with her shopping and her new clothes; whether or she had given up a spare part of her thoughts to pick up on the general excitement in the household. She came dancing down the stairs now anyway, followed by Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle now stood closely behind his wife, his arms on her shoulders, on the bottom step.

Esme was looking expectantly at me for an announcement. "Well?" she asked, in her usual kind voice.

"We are related!"I announced, "Really, we are!"

Everyone seemed happy for us. They all gave us a hug before resuming their own business, attending to whatever they had been doing before the announcement. Emmett too warned me about a pain worse than death if I ever referred to him as Great Uncle Emmett.

Rosalie asked a barrage of questions about my Grandfather, had I ever met his father, what was he like? I told her that sadly I had never met him; he had died shortly before I was born. His wife had survived for a while after, but she died a few years ago. Rosalie wanted to know more about her. This would have been her sister-in-law had she not been made immortal at the age of nineteen. I couldn't help her much, but I tried to remember whatever I could. I had only met her a couple of times though. She was called Elizabeth, but was known as Bessie. We chatted for hours, well into the night.

I remembered another name from the past. It came to me suddenly, out of the blue "Rosalie? Was your other brother called George?" I asked her

"Yes, he was. My younger brother. Why?"

"Because I remember a few years ago, there was a family wedding, some distant cousin I had never met. Anyway, I remember an elderly man who was introduced to me as Uncle George, but no-one really explained the relationship and I didn't bother to question it either. I think I was about fifteen so I wasn't particularly interested in family, or old men who may, or not be, my uncle. I was more interested in one of the bridesmaids!"

I looked at Rosalie who was processing this information. "That was your brother then? Damn it! I wish I had paid him more attention now, but how was I to know this was going to happen?"

"It seems like it may have been," She was thoughtful now. Her eyes were darting from side to side like Alice's did when she was having a vision. Rosalie wasn't having a vision of the future though. She was remembering the past. "Is he still alive now?" She asked me.

I shook my head slowly, "Sorry Rosalie, I have no idea."

Edward reappeared briefly before going back to the cottage where Bella and Renesmee were waiting for him. After we had returned earlier he had run over to Charlie's house to meet up with Bella, telling Charlie that Alice had dropped him off. He couldn't bear to be away from Bella for too long. Jasper, Esme and Carlisle went out hunting. We were still talking when they returned. The others flitted in and out of the room, sometimes listening to our conversation, sometimes getting bored with it, flicking through the television channels before leaving the room again. I told her all about my immediate family in Galveston, Texas. She wanted to know everything, every little detail. Then she started to tell me about her family, her brothers mainly, but also her mother and father. They were our common relations, after all. The link between Rosalie and myself, sat side by side on one of the Cullen's large sofas, the same human age but yet separated by three generations. It was surreal.

When we seemed to have exhausted every avenue, she hugged me again and said "Thank you, thank you so much! You have made me so happy!"

We had no idea of the hours that had passed. Quite suddenly it was daylight again.