Charlie had arrived an hour ago and joined Carlisle and I for breakfast. We were just moving into the living room from the kitchen when I heard a car door close.
"That must be Alice and Jasper," Charlie said, glancing at his watch. "I asked them to pickup Bella, not thinking I'd stop by this morning."
I moved to the door, opening it just as Edward stepped on the porch with Bella in his arms. He looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes that told me that he hadn't slept.
"Later," he said in a low and rough whisper, answering the question in my eyes.
"I don't like this," I said, my gaze following Edward.
"Bella must have told him something that is troubling him," Charlie offered.
Common sense was telling me to wait for Edward or Bella to tell me, but the mother in me needed to take away the pain I saw in my son's eyes. Common sense won out—I would wait.
Edward came back in, rubbing his face. Ignoring my questioning gaze again, he addressed Jasper and Alice.
"I want to thank you both for being there when Bella needed you."
"Which time?" Jasper asked.
"Let's all sit, and I'll tell you what she told me."
Edward sighed and stared directly at me.
Oh boy, I thought. I remember seeing that very look in his eyes before. The glassy, vacant, and full of fear expression, it was the same look he gave me before telling me Bella broke up with him and had disappeared. It broke my heart to see it on his face again. Whatever he was going to say, I wasn't going to like.
Edward was just opening his mouth to speak when I heard someone come in from the kitchen. Turning, I saw Bella stuffing her hands in her jeans as she walked into the living room. She wasn't fast enough, and I saw the glint of a double sapphire ring on her finger. I was certain she didn't have on when she and Edward left the house the night before. I wisely held my tongue, I had so many questions—"Where had they gone?" and "What in the world had my son distraught when Bella was wearing his ring?" were at the top of my list.
Bella shared a quick look with me and then with Edward, saying in a rush, ""I-I'm just going to shower and change." She took in everyone that was gathered and quickly raced up the stairs before anyone could say anything.
"I wonder what that was about," I said. I had a feeling that everyone was wondering the same thing.
Edward sighed, shaking his head in response. "I know what it's about, Mom. She told me something and asked me to tell you and Dad. She didn't think she could relate the story again, and I'm not sure if I will be able to, either." He looked over at Charlie before going on. "Charlie, I'm glad you're here. Jasper, Alice, any help you can be—I can use it. Hopefully you all can help with the story."
"Which?" Charlie asked.
"Raoul," Edward said through clenched teeth.
"Who's Raoul?" I asked, looking between Edward and Charlie.
"Let me answer that," Alice said, turning to face me."We, Bella's team, were in our last year of the Academy. Rose and I convinced Bella to go to a dance club after a stressful day. She went up to the bar to order another round of drinks, and Raoul approached her. He was sweet and quite the charmer. She was immediately taken with him. After delivering Rose and me our drinks, she ditched us, spending the rest of the night on the dance floor with him. Of course, we were happy for her and didn't get on her the next day. As time went on, she started dating him, and after a few months things got bad."
"How bad?" Carlisle asked, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees.
"Well," Jasper started, looking over at Charlie.
Charlie motioned for him to answer.
"A slap here and there—he always apologized—and it was only when he had one drink too many. Then there was the fact that Bella would jump whenever he wanted anything. She wasn't Bella anymore—she was acting like a Stepford wife who lived to serve only him. I tried talking to her, and she threw me out of her apartment."
Edward frowned. "It was what you said that got you kicked out. Not that I wouldn't have said the same."
"What did you tell her?" I asked.
"All I said was that I was happy she found someone but thought she could do better. She took that pretty well. I made my first few mistakes when I pointed out how she acted around him and that he was after only one thing. I think you know where I am going there."
I nodded, and he went on.
"She told me he loved her and they were talking about getting married. My last mistake was placating her saying that was great—if he meant it. I don't regret the mistakes I made and would say the same things if anyone treated her the way he did."
"So, she kicked you out."
"Yes, ma'am, she did and wouldn't talk to me for several days."
Charlie picked up the story then. "She called me a few days later and told me about what Jasper had said. She was still ticked off and sounded hurt. What she didn't know was Jasper had already spoken with me, and I agreed with him, though I didn't let her know. It was then that I decided to head to Fort Baker for a visit."
Charlie looked at Edward before asking, "Are you sure Bella wants your mother to know?"
"Yes," Edward answered with anger in his voice, and I was sure he would direct it at the guy who hurt Bella if he could. "I don't know why."
"Someone just tell me."
"It was a good thing I decided to visit," Charlie continued sadly. "I tried calling her when I arrived so we could go out to dinner, but she never answered. I wasn't worried. Midterms were nearing, so I figured she was at the library or studying with a classmate." He paused, sighing and giving me an apologetic look. "As I approached her dorm, four security officers were arriving. They were heading to break up a loud party on the same floor Bells lived on. When we got off the elevator, we heard a scream—I don't know how with the music that was blaring. We took off at a run to the end of the hall where the scream had come from. I took in every detail while praying it wasn't Bella's room." He stopped wiping away a tear rolling down his face.
Oh my! Charlie rarely showed any emotions. I knew from what Bella had told me that she was raped. Was Charlie the one to find her?
It was a minute before he went on. "Everything just stopped as I pushed open the door. I couldn't move, and it was a good thing the security officers were still with me. The room was Bella's. I was seeing red. I rushed to her and yanked the assailant off her. I slammed him to the wall. One officer called for an emergency team while another retrieved a throw from a chair and covered her. All I saw was my little girl lying on the floor motionless. I slammed the bastard against the wall again, knocking him out."
"She was in a medically induced coma for a week, and it was yet another week before she woke. She was excused from classes and didn't return for three months. Carlie was conceived that night," Alice whispered through her own tears.
I don't know when, but Carlisle had moved to sit next to me and had wrapped his arms around me. I was sobbing in his shoulder. It was one thing when Bella told me, but quite another to learn that Charlie found her. I could only imagine what he went through. "I wish someone would've called me," I said when I settled some. "Charlie, you and Bella shouldn't have had to go through everything alone."
"She asked me to take her to her safe haven. Heck, I didn't know where that was, so I took her to Scotland, thinking that was where she meant. She did run off to her grandparent's place after high school. I saw disappointment when she stepped off the shuttle, but she quickly hid it. I never did find out where she had wanted to go," Charlie said. He looked defeated and scared even though Bella was alive and healing.
Edward whispered, but I couldn't make out what he said.
"What was that, son?" Carlisle asked.
"I said her safe haven is here, meaning Forks."
Charlie gasped as I did. "If she only had told me," he said.
"She told me she got sick shortly after arriving and that it wasn't wise for her to travel. Charlie, you know how she is. She didn't want to be a burden so she made due with where you took her."
"I have to know, Edward, what else did she tell you?" Charlie asked and I had to admit I was curious too.
"That when you found out she was pregnant, you arranged for him to sign away his parental rights."
Charlie smiled, chuckling to himself, and before I could ask, Edward spoke again.
"That you were shocked she wanted the father, or rather a father, listed on the birth certificate."
"That I was," Charlie said, still chuckling.
"What is it you two know that you're not sharing?"
"Edward," Charlie said.
"Oh no, you tell her," Edward responded, raising his hands.
"Hell, I'm not going there."
I looked to Alice and Jasper. "Do you two know?"
"No. This is the first that I'm hearing about it," Alice replied.
"I had the nurse put Edward down as the father," Bella said, causing everyone to turn and look at her.
"What?" I said confused.
"By the time Carlie was born, I was stationed just outside of Aberdeen. I knew I couldn't make it to the base and went to the local hospital. No one knew me or what had happened. So when it came time to fill out the birth certificate, I named Edward as her father," she said, sitting down next to my son.
After placing a bag on the floor, Bella wrapped an arm around Edward and his went around her. I again noticed the ring, and again said nothing.
"The nurse asked where Edward was during the birth. I told her he was out of the country and trying to get home. I knew you, Carlisle, and Edward would love her and accept her as a part of your family. When I took her home, I tried calling. But I didn't know what to say, or how to ask for forgiveness."
"I understand," I said, looking at her. "Your back now and hopefully you will visit after this case is done. Now, Charlie must have picture of Carlie in your wallet."
"I do," he started to reached for his wallet.
"Don't bother," Bella said, picking up the bag. "I want you to have this, Esme." She passed me the bag—a gift bag.
I quickly looked inside to find a book and took it out. The cover read Grammy's and Grampy's Angel. I gave Bella a questioning look.
She shrugged, not answering me right away. "I had planned a trip to Seattle to visit Edward and then a week here in Forks, only Carlie got sick before it could happen. She had wanted to meet the composer of her favorite song—the lullaby Edward wrote for me. I was ready for you to meet her but we never made it." She sighed. "As part of my therapy, I made a memory book—well, three. This is one of them. Each book has the same pictures. The only additions to mine and Dad's are pictures of her with each of us."
I looked back down at the cover, and I couldn't hold back my tears as I looked at the little girl, my granddaughter, on the cover for a moment before opening it. I was about half way through when felt I could speak, "She looked so much like you. I would've loved her."
"I know," was all Bella said before Charlie's phone rang.
"Okay, thanks, Mike. I hate to break up this emotional party," he started, "but Bella, Alice, Jasper, and I are needed at the station. Jacob arrived early this morning and has been going over the map. He thinks he has something."
"We better go. We'll talk more tonight, Esme," Bella said, giving me a hug before kissing Edward on the cheek as she rushed out the door.
EPOVI stood, stretching. I was exhausted and in need of sleep, but my mind was still reeling. There was no way I would be able to relax enough to let the world of dreams claim me.
"You took that better than I thought, Mom," I said, looking over her shoulder as she started looking through the memory book again. "You're right. Carlie looked a lot like Bella."
"I didn't like hearing any of the bad stuff, but I am glad she wanted me to know. Now, when did you give Bella the ring back?"
My head fell. "You saw it. Bella was hiding it well."
"Yes," she answered as Dad chuckled.
"You can't hide anything from your mother and neither can Bella," Dad remarked.
I shook my head. "When she and I were at the elementary school last night, I asked her to take it back. She wouldn't even consider taking it until after she told me everything. Though there was one bit of information I didn't want to tell you around the others though. It's something she told me before we went to visit Carlie's grave," I said, running a hand through my hair.
"I take it I'm not going to like it," Mom said.
I sighed, coming back around the couch and sitting on the coffee table. "I don't know how you are going to take it, so I'll just say it. Do you remember calling me saying that you and Dad had to make a stop in Aberdeen so he could consult on a case?"
"Of course, I do," Dad answered. "I don't travel to give a second opinion that often. The resident had the house number and told me he was terrified of what the patient's grandfather would do if I didn't come. Something told me not question how he got the number. I agreed to come, but when we were more than half way there, he called again saying I was no longer needed as the patient had died. Why do you ask?"
"Had he called sooner, you would've met Carlie and may have been able to save her life," I said.
Mom gasped.
"Bella or Charlie must have given him the number—most likely Charlie. He threatened to remove her from the hospital against medical advice and bring her to Forks. Anyway, Bella told me she took a handful of sleeping pills after Carlie's funeral. She just wanted to sleep and for the pain to go away for a few hours."
"She tried to kill herself!" Mom and Dad yelled at the same time.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "That wasn't her intention. She was just so tired and didn't read the label. Jacob was the one who found her. When she came around in the hospital he didn't say anything to her and just left."
"Oh dear. No wonder she doesn't want Jacob involved on the case. He was always a good friend to the both of you. That must have hurt her deeply, him walking out, I mean."
"I think it did. She hasn't seen him since."
We fell silent, all of us wrapped up in our own thoughts. I could only imagine what Jacob would do or say when Bella arrived at the station.