Chapter 21: Renée's Visit

Rattle-rattle-squeak-THUD. Rattle-rattle-squeak-THUD. Rattle-rattle-squeak-THUD.

Renée sure knew how to pick a shopping cart. She had been unable to pull her first choice loose from the row of carts, and had moved on to the next row and managed to tug this one loose before I could help. We were getting curious glances from the other shoppers, and the loud rhythmic noise was slowly driving me insane. The wheels on the shopping cart were all turning, but there was some sort of gunk stuck on one of them, which was resulting in the thuds.

Renée seemed oblivious to the noise as we headed to the health and beauty aids section of the store. She had forgotten to pack toothbrushes, and her mouthwash had been confiscated by airport security because the container was too large, so she had asked us to stop at a Wal-mart just outside Boston. Edward and Phil had wisely chosen to wait for us out in the car.

After a couple minutes of deliberation, and some suggestions from me, she selected two toothbrushes, and we moved on to the mouthwash, where she made a selection more quickly.

I followed as she pushed the cart with its incessant thuds up another aisle, and was surprised when she stopped in front of the display of condoms.

"Mom?"

"Forgot to pack these too," she mumbled. "I hate buying these. It's so embarrassing when you check out. You don't have any we could borrow, do you? I mean, you wouldn't want them back, but - "

"Mom!"

She looked at me innocently.

"You're forty-seven years old. What are the chances you could still get pregnant?"

"The chances are low," she admitted, "but I'm not risking it. I'm too old to start over raising another baby. So, do you...?"

"No, we don't have any, and I'm not asking Jake or Nessie. Just buy what you need." I gestured to the display.

"So if you don't have any, does that mean you guys are finally trying to start a family?" Her eyes lit up. "Any chance I might be a grandma soon?"

It broke my heart that I couldn't tell her she already was. "No, Mom... This isn't really how I planned to tell you this, but - Edward and I can't have kids. I'm really sorry, but we won't be providing you with any grandchildren."

"You can't have kids?" Her surprised expression shifted to one of concern, and she threw her arms around me. "Oh, baby, I didn't know you were struggling with infertility! I have some friends who have been through that and I know it can be really tough." She was mistaking my sadness at not being able to tell her the truth about Renesmee for sadness of not being able to have children...at least I looked appropriately sad. "So what's the problem, exactly?" She released me and stepped back. "Is he shooting blanks?"

I wished I could just disappear. Was I really having this conversation with my mom, in front of a condom display in Wal-mart? "No, it's me, actually, I'm not ovulating." It was a common enough problem, and it was even true. I hoped she would let it go at that.

"There are treatments for that, you know. I have a friend who tried Clomid and she had twins! Have you tried any medications? What does your doctor say?"

"My doctor said he didn't think I could get pregnant. I'd really rather not talk about it right now, if you don't mind."

"What about in vitro?"

I shook my head. "No, we're not going to go to those extremes. We've accepted that it's just the two of us, and we're fine with it. It would be difficult to care for a baby with our line of work, anyway."

"Okay, I'll let it drop for now, but you can talk to me any time. You know that, right?"

"I know. Thanks, Mom."

"So can you help me with this?" Renée gestured to the display. "Phil usually takes care of this. I'm not sure which kind he normally buys. Any suggestions?"

"Don't look at me. I have no experience here. Why don't you call him and ask?" I offered her my cell phone, wondering if Edward would be able to suppress his laughter at the conversation he was about to hear. He was probably already listening to us, so at least he wouldn't be surprised.

"I'll just get this one." She randomly chose a box and added it to our defective shopping cart.

"Is that everything?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I think so. Wait - just let me look down this one aisle..."

By the time we made it to the check-out lane, she had added an exercise DVD, a package of socks, an umbrella, a bag of candy, some windshield wiper fluid, and a roll of duct tape to the cart. She had started to add a couple boxes of ice cream, but I reminded her it would be melted by the time we got home - we still had a two-hour drive ahead of us.

When we got back out to the car, Edward raised his eyebrows knowingly at me, a slight smile on his face.

"You were watching, weren't you?" I asked low enough Renée wouldn't hear. Phil was in the back seat listening to his iPod and opened his eyes only briefly as Mom and I got back into the car.

"Of course. Renée's mind is much more entertaining than watching people walking though the parking lot."

Renée chattered away throughout the rest of our drive home, excitedly telling us all about the latest cakes she decorated, the fun she had traveling with Phil during the season which had just come to a close, and the endless antics of the kindergartners in her current class. Phil eventually tried to join the conversation, but only managed to interject a few comments here and there. Edward and I mostly just listened.

Neither Renée nor Phil seemed to notice that Edward was driving considerably faster than the legal limit. He was not driving nearly as fast as he would have been had they not been in the car with us, but it was enough that they might have expressed alarm if they had been paying enough attention. The extra speed made up for the time lost in the stop at Wal-mart, and we made it home shortly after 6pm.

As we walked in, Renée oohed and aahed over the house, and I explained again the Alice and Esme had decorated it for us.

We led Renée and Phil into the kitchen, where Renesmee was proudly setting food on the table. I had done most of the prep work for the food this morning before leaving for the airport, so she only had to follow simple instructions to finish everything up. She normally regarded cooking with about the same amount of enthusiasm with which she esteemed eating - it was not high on her list of things to do - but she seemed to take pride in presenting the meal for her grandmother. Unfortunately, Edward and I did not have a plausible excuse not to eat, so we joined the others at the table. We managed to smuggle most of our food into our napkins, but were unable to avoid taking a few bites when we noticed Renée or Phil looking at us. Renesmee was able to sneak most of hers onto Jacob's plate, and I envied her that she would only have to endure the food she ate going in one direction, whereas I would get to experience it twice. I tried to recall how pleasant and appetizing the food was to me as a human, but it didn't help at all - the taste, the smell, and the texture were all just as repulsive no matter how hard I tried to focus on my fading memories. I wondered briefly if Eli could make me remember the taste of human food more clearly - would it be more appetizing if my memories were more vivid?

Nessie glanced at me as if there was something she needed to say, but she never spoke up. Her amber eyes startled me a little every time I caught her gaze - she looked so different with those contacts in. I remembered what an annoyance it was to wear contacts - how much they interfered with my vision. At least she didn't have to worry about putting new ones in every few hours, since she had no venom to cause them to disintegrate.

I noticed that Nessie and Jake kept looking at one another, in some sort of silent communication. Something was up, but they obviously didn't want to discuss it at the dinner table, so I didn't say anything about it during the meal.

As we pretended to eat, we conversed with Renée and Phil, slipping in reminders of our cover story with them - Edward was here to attend medical school, having grown bored with work in the computer field, and I was just taking some night classes to fill time - I already had a degree from the University of Alaska and had never started a career other than my government job. Renesmee and Jacob, whom they only met three years ago, were here working on an undergraduate degree, having just finished high school a year ago.

When everyone was finished eating, I began clearing the table, and Nessie and Renée both tried to help. After some coaxing, I persuaded Renée to go on up and get things settled in her room. Jake picked up on the hint and carried Renée's and Phil's luggage upstairs and showed them to their room.

"What's going on?" I asked Renesmee once we were alone. "I saw the looks you and Jake were giving one another - is there something you need to tell us?"

"Where's Dad? I should tell you both together." She continued scraping the remnants of the meal into the trash.

"I'm right here." Edward stepped back into the room. "What's up?" He was as clueless as me, since I had been shielding Jake and Nessie, as usual, since the time we returned home.

"I know this is a bad time, with Grandma Renée here, but I promised to tell you immediately if we received any more communications from the Volturi..."

I felt panic wash through me. Not now. Not with Renée and Phil here. What if there were members of the guard already here in Hanover? I hated that Alice couldn't see anything related to my daughter. "What is it?" I demanded. "What did it say?"

"Let's see it," Edward echoed.

"We should probably call the rest of the family and have them meet us later tonight so we can all discuss it - Jake and I don't think there's an immediate threat, at least not this weekend. "

"We'll do that," Edward assured her, "but I want to see what they sent you. Now."

Nessie pulled a folded envelope from the back pocket of her jeans. "We're not quite sure what to make of it. It seems really odd." She pulled the paper from the envelope and handed it to Edward. He held it where I could see as well, and we read it at the same time.

Dear Mrs. Black,

You are hereby cordially invited to attend the upcoming Antiquities Symposium following the November installment of the Dartmouth Anthropology Lecture Series. Enclosed you will find four tickets for the event - please bring three guests of your choosing. I look forward to meeting you again, Dear One, and it is my hope that we may begin repairing the strained relations between our families. As a show of good faith, I will be accompanied by only Renata and Felix. Please convey my greetings to your parents and to my dear friend Carlisle.

Kindest Regards,

A.R.O.

Enclosed, along with the four tickets, were a copy of the flyer Renesmee had seen around campus announcing the lecture series, and a second flyer advertising the symposium. From the information on the second flyer, I gathered that symposium was to be a fundraiser which aimed to raise funds for the anthropology department of the university, and it appeared it would feature food, music, dancing, and an opportunity to ask questions of that night's lecturers.

"Aro's coming for a campus fundraiser?" I was beyond confused. That was the last thing I would have expected to find in a communication from the Volturi.

"I should have seen this coming!" Edward berated himself. "Dr. Antonio R. Ogianesi. A.R.O. Aro! How did I not see this earlier? Carlisle even told me that Ogianesi isn't a real Italian surname - he'd never heard of it before. It's contrived. He apparently took a surname and added or dropped a letter to make the initials fit."

"But why would he come to a fundraiser? Why is he pretending to work for a museum? That's not Aro. He doesn't mingle with humans like that." It still didn't make any sense to me. "And why would he even bother to come up with a name like that?"

"I don't know." Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's got something up his sleeve. We need to talk to the others. We'll tell Renée we have a meeting with some other agents and will be away overnight."

"What do we tell Phil?" I asked. He didn't know about the secret agent story - he just thought we had a lot of plastic surgery and that our whole family was kind of odd.

Mom returned to the kitchen before either of them could respond.

"Where's Phil?" I asked, when I realized he wasn't following behind her.

"He's upstairs. He wanted to lie down for a while. I think he just ate too much. Nessie, you're a great cook! I'm going to have to get your recipe for that broccoli casserole. Bella, do you remember the time I tried to make a broccoli casserole and we ended up feeding it to the neighbor's dog?" Renée laughed.

I didn't remember, but I laughed with her as if I did. "Yeah, Mom, that was pretty bad. I'll make sure we get you the recipe, this one is really pretty simple."

"Renée, we had something unexpected come up," Edward began, "and we're going to need your help covering with Phil. We need to meet with some other agents tonight to plan our next covert operation, and we may be gone most of the night. Can you cover for us with Phil if he notices we're gone?"

"Sure. Of course." Renée's eyes were wide. "I'll be glad to help. What do I tell him?"

"We'll be leaving around 10pm tonight. If he's awake when we leave, we'll tell him we need to make an appearance at a social function for school. If we're not back when he wakes up in the morning, just act like you don't know where we are, and we'll come up with something when we get back."

"Okay, I can do that." She seemed excited to be helping our "mission" in this small way.

Edward excused himself to his office to call Carlisle, while Renée, Nessie, and I finished cleaning up the kitchen.

We then all met back in the family room, except for Phil, who was still resting upstairs in the guest room.

"What are all those clothes in the guest room closet?" Renée asked. "Has someone been staying here with you?"

"Oh, those are Eli's," I told her. "He hasn't been staying here; he's just using our closet for storage. He's another agent who's been working with us lately. He's also in my chemistry class at Dartmouth." I turned to Edward. "Did you tell him about our meeting tonight?"

"I just sent him a text. He'll meet us there." Edward slipped his phone back into his pocket.

It was going to be hard to sit here making small talk with Renée for the next couple hours. My mind kept reviewing the wording of the invitation and trying to decipher what Aro might be up to...if it was even really from Aro. It just didn't seem like something he would do.

"Bella, you know how you asked me to bring all the pictures from when you were growing up? I brought the all the ones I could find. I never even realized I took so many pictures!" Renée laughed. "Anyway, Jake put them in your office. You're planning to make copies, right?"

I forced myself to focus on what she was saying so I could make an appropriate response. "Yes, I'll scan the ones we want copies of and I'll get all the originals back to you. Did you bring the home videos too?"

"Yeah, we didn't have as many of those. I think they're still in my suitcase but I'll be sure to leave them for you. I was actually thinking we might could all watch them together. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"I love old videos!" Renesmee exclaimed. "So these are when Bella was a little girl?"

Renée nodded. "Mostly birthdays and Christmases, but there were a few other occasions I got the camera out. I wish I had done it more." She turned to me and smiled. "You grew up so fast. It's like I blinked and you were getting married."

I knew exactly how she felt, but I couldn't say so. "Maybe we could watch them tomorrow," I told her . I had the feeling I should be embarrassed about letting everyone see these, but I honestly couldn't remember what was in the videos and was genuinely interested in seeing them. I knew there would be the one James used to lure me to the ballet studio, which might bring up some unpleasant memories for Edward as well as for me, but it should mostly be birthdays and Christmases, like Renée said. Those shouldn't be too embarrassing, right? I wondered if she had any video of when I used to take ballet lessons. I didn't ask, since it was something I should probably already know the answer to. I would just wait and watch with everyone else.

Jacob stood up. "Ness and I are going to go check out the meeting site, and, um, survey the surrounding area."

"Call me immediately if you find anything," Edward instructed him.

"I thought you weren't part of the government program." Renée looked at Jake, confused.

"I'm not. I'm, um..." He looked over at Edward for help digging himself out of his mistake.

"He's in a different sort of program," Edward explained. "We don't normally work together except under special circumstances." True enough, the wolf program didn't historically cooperate with the vampire program - it had indeed been special circumstances that drew them together.

"Yeah, and that's more than I was supposed to reveal," Jake added, looking uncomfortable.

"My lips are sealed." Renée smiled, happy to be in on a slightly more of the family secret.

Jake and Nessie left, and Renée started talking some more about Phil's last season, but I only heard about half of what she said because I kept thinking the letter from Aro and wondering if Jake and Nessie would find anything - would they find the trail of any "visitors" in the woods behind our house? Were they safe? Maybe we shouldn't have let them go alone...

"How many more years do you think he'll play?" Edward asked at the end of one of Renée's stories. "He's forty-one now, right?"

"Yes, he's forty-one." Renée seemed a bit sad. "I think this was his last year - he passed his peak a few years ago and it looks like he's retiring now."

"What are you going to do?" I asked. She had nearly my full attention now. I knew they depended on his small income to supplement her teacher's salary. Would they still be able to afford their house payments? They just bought a new house five years ago - would they be able to keep it?

"Well, honey, we'll manage. You and I lived on my income for years before Phil came along. We'll just have to do without some of the extras we've gotten used to."

"But when it was just you and me, Dad was sending child support. And you guys just bought a new house! Are you going to be able to make the payments?"

"We'll manage. You don't need to worry about us. Something will work out." Renée smiled, trying to reassure me, and probably herself as well. "I think we'll be able to keep the house, but worst case, Phil's parents said we could move in with them if we need to. They moved to St. Augustine a couple years ago, so I'd still be able to drive to work." Her voice changed to a whisper. "I hope we don't have to move in with them though - I'm not sure I could take seeing that woman every single day." She rolled her eyes.

"Mom, if you need anything - financially - you know you can come to us. We get paid ridiculously well, and we're able to help with whatever you need."

"That's sweet of you, honey, but you know we could never accept your money. We'll be fine. I was dreading telling you because I knew you'd worry like this."

"Just remember we're here if you need us," Edward told her.

Renée smiled and nodded. "I appreciate your concern, both of you, but it won't be necessary. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention anything to Phil about his retirement - he's not really very happy about it. I think the word 'retirement' makes him feel old, and he's really going to miss playing."

"Understood," Edward assured her.

"I won't say anything," I agreed.

She asked about school, and we told her a little about our classes. She was impressed that Edward was in medical school, and she laughed with me about me taking a computer class.

Around nine o'clock, Phil ambled down the stairs and sat down by Renée, putting his arm around her.

"Sorry I disappeared for a while there," he apologized. "I thought I'd lie down for a few minutes after I unpacked, and I ended up falling asleep."

"That's okay," I assured him. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, much better now, thanks."

Edward turned on the TV and flipped through channels until he found a football game. "Do you follow college football, Phil?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "I was just thinking of asking if you'd mind checking the score on that game." He continued staring at the television, and I doubted he was going to be participating in any further conversation tonight.

Edward pretended to be absorbed in the game as well. He was actually watching it, but, unlike Phil, his mind had the capability to focus on more than one thing at a time, so I knew he was still listening to Renée and me as well - he was just giving her the illusion of some mother-daughter time.

Renée slipped away from Phil and moved over to sit down by me instead. Edward, who was on the other side of me, leaned forward as if he were intent on what was happening in the game.

Renée took this as an opportunity to ask about my "fertility problems" again. She wanted to know how long we had been trying, what medications we had tried, how long I'd been charting, if I'd done any research online, how many doctors I had seen, if Edward had been tested too - her questions were endless. I had no idea she was so well versed in the field of infertility. Suddenly I wondered if she and Phil had tried to have kids - maybe she was speaking from personal experience?

"Mom?" I interrupted her.

"What, baby?"

"You seem know an awful lot about this. Did you have fertility problems too? Is that why you and Phil never had kids? You were only thirty-four when you married him..."

Renée looked sad. "We tried for about three years when we first married, but I decided I was getting too old - pregnancies after age thirty-five are considered higher-risk... and then you got married and I kind of assumed I might be having grandchildren soon..." She looked at me guiltily.

"I'm sorry, Mom." I wished I could just tell her. She was a grandmother. She had the smartest, most wonderful, most beautiful granddaughter in the world - but there was no way I could explain that Edward's little sister who looked eighteen was really our daughter, and there was no way I was telling her what we really were. Especially now - I couldn't give the Volturi any additional excuses to exterminate us, especially any that would involve Renée. Aro was apparently visiting us soon, and if he managed to take Edward's thoughts again... No, Renée couldn't know the truth. It was much safer for her to remain in blissful ignorance. I was glad she lived a good physical distance from us as well - she would be nowhere near us when Aro comes to town next month.

Renée picked up on my sadness again and pulled me into a hug. I felt Edward's hand gently rubbing my back in a comforting gesture, though he continued to pretend his entire focus was on the game. Phil seemed oblivious to our little mother-daughter moment.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize you were going through that, Mom. How come you never talked to me about it?"

"You were a teenager, Bella, and I didn't want to burden you with my problems."

"So why were you so concerned with getting protection yesterday, if you can't get pregnant?"

"Do you know how many of my friends got pregnant after they stopped trying? I had two different friends who had twins through in vitro, and then got pregnant again without trying when their twins were still babies. And there were some more who got pregnant after they gave up and stopped fertility treatments. I wouldn't want to get pregnant now - like I said, I'm too old to start over, and there's a greater risk of birth defects." She pulled back from me and smiled. "You're only twenty-eight. You never know, it might still happen for you. Don't give up hope, sweetheart."

I shook my head but forced a smile. "Thanks, Mom." I looked up at the clock. "We're going to have to go to our meeting soon. If Phil asks about Jake and Nessie, they went to bed early," I added in a whisper.

"Okay," Renée nodded.

Phil, who had been on the edge of his seat, stretched a bit and relaxed back onto the sofa. I noticed a commercial had come on.

Edward stood up and stretched as well. "I hate to be rude and leave you two here," Edward said, looking at Phil, "but Bella and I have a social obligation with the university. One of my professors is hosting this thing and we need to go make an appearance. Jake and Nessie went to bed early. You probably won't see them before tomorrow unless Jake comes down to raid the refrigerator."

"Oh, no problem," Phil replied. "I just want to catch the end of the game and then we'll be going to bed anyway. You guys have fun."

"Can I get you anything before we go? Something to drink? A snack? Maybe some popcorn?" Edward was so considerate. I should have thought of asking them that, but human food was the last thing on my mind at the moment. I was fairly certain his mind had been elsewhere as well, but he had probably heard something in their thoughts.

"Popcorn would be great," Phil answered.

"I am kind of thirsty," Renée answered. "But I can get it. You two go on."

I followed Renée into the kitchen and got down some glasses for her and found the box of microwave popcorn.

"I can take it from here. Go to your meeting." She shooed us away.

We grabbed our jackets and went out through the garage. Edward opened the passenger door of my car and I got in.

I wondered what Carlisle and Jasper and the others would have to say about the bizarre Volturi letter.

A/N: Did anyone pick up on Antonio R. Ogianesi's initials back in chapter 15? I was expecting questions/comments on that when I posted that chapter but no one has mentioned it at all. Was the clue more subtle than I thought, or did anyone notice and just not bother to comment?