EPOV

"Ellen sweetie, blow out your candles and make a wish!" I whispered to my daughter. She looked up at me grinning, then turned and blew out all of her birthday candles with extreme enthusiasm. All of her friends clapped and cheered. I smiled to myself, turned the lights back on, and said, "Who wants to open presents now?" I was answered by the excited chattering of several five and six year olds. I led them to the main room and was practically vibrating with excitement. I waited until all of the girls had settled down and were seated in a circle around Ellen. I let the girls shout out whose present they wanted Ellen to open first, and eventually handed her a sparkly purple one.

I noticed something suddenly, and I told Ellen to hold on for a second. "But Daddy…." She whined.

"I'm not saying you can't open it, I just want to get your sister down here first." I assured her. "Winnie, get down here! Ellen is about to open Sophie's present!" I shouted up the stairs.

"Daaaaad! I'm talking to Evan! I'll come down later!" was the reply I got. I gritted my teeth.

"Now, Winona." I said. When I heard a frustrated groan and feet walking toward the stairs, I turned back to Ellen. "Just a second, sweetheart." I mouthed.

I walked up the stairs and met my oldest child halfway up. "Winnie, stay downstairs, okay? It's Ellen's birthday and you need to be here." I whispered.

"Why? I don't want to be down there with all those annoying girls."

"Because I said you have to."

"If Mom were here, she would have said I didn't have to if I didn't want to." She said, not even bothering to keep her voice down.

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Winona must have seen that she went too far, and mumbled something like an apology and darted downstairs. My hand tightened on the stair rail. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to calm myself. I don't know how long I would have stood like that if it weren't for Ellen's impatient whine. "Daddy! I wanna open my presents!"

I fixed a smile back on my face and walked downstairs. "What are you waiting for, Ellen? Open those presents!" Ellen's face split into a huge grin and she ripped into the paper. Her face lit up and she held up a Cabbage Patch Doll. I looked at it, mildly surprised. I didn't know they still sold those things.

The rest of the present-opening passed quickly for me. At the end of the party, all the girls ran out into the backyard, playing until their parents came to come get them. I sat on the couch with my head in my hands. Birthday parties were exhausting.

I heard quiet footsteps come near me. "Dad?" Winona asked quietly.

"Yes, sweetheart?"
"I'm sorry for saying that to you earlier."

I sighed. "It's all right. I just, um, could you help me pick up this mess?"

"Sure."

We cleaned in silence for a few minutes until the first parent came. "Annie! Your mom's here!" I called. A slightly tubby girl with short blonde hair ran up. "Mommy! I missed you!" She said in her child's voice. Her mother picked her up and held her. "Did you have fun, baby?" Annie giggled. "Yeah! I had lotsa fun! I want to have a birthday party everyday!" The mother laughed loudly and they walked to their car. I watched them walk hand in hand. I didn't notice that I was staring until Winona put her hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Dad." She said gently.

We had fettuccini alfredo for dinner, Ellen's favorite. Afterwards we were watching James and the Giant Peach on the couch. Ellen was snuggled up to my side, her long hair spread across my stomach. Winona sat on the other end texting.

(A/N: At this point, if you want to get the maximum effect of the rest of this story, put on the song 'No need to argue' by the Cranberries and just stick it on repeat.)

"Daddy, why was Mommy not at my party?" Ellen asked out of nowhere. I stiffened, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Winona do the same.

I fiddled with her hands. "Why do you ask, sweetie?"

Ellen looked up at me, and I saw Bella's eyes copied directly into her face. "Because I miss her. Where is she?"

I bit my lip to try and keep the tears back. "She's not here."

Ellen frowned. "Why not? Where did she go?"

"She went to heaven," I whispered.

She was silent for a moment. "Where is that?"

"Far, far, away." I choked. A tear rolled down my cheek and landed on Ellen's hand. She looked up at me, alarmed. "What's wrong, Daddy? What's wrong? Don't cry, don't cry!" she whimpered.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, just give me a second…" Her hand tightened on mine. The cushion next to me sunk, and I felt Winona's head on my shoulder and her arms around my waist.

"Does it make you sad she went there, Daddy?" Ellen asked. I nodded. She was quiet for a few seconds, and then her face lit up. "I have an idea!"

I sighed. "What is your idea, Elly?"

"If it makes you sad that she's there, we can just go get her!" she squealed. "I'll go get us ready!" she jumped off the couch, grabbed her backpack and ran upstairs. I could hear drawers being opened and closed, closet doors being flung open, and bedroom doors being slammed.

Winona's hand found mine and squeezed. "What are you going to tell her?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know…" I whispered. My heart was being crushed, and my shirt was getting soaked from our tears.

Winona looked up at me, her mascara running down her face. "You should tell her. Just straight out. I think it'd be best." I moaned quietly and buried my face in her orange hair.

Ellen's feet pounded down the stairs. She walked into the room carrying several bags. "See, I got us ready! We can go now! Come on, let's go! Let's go!" she came and started to pull on my hand. "We have to go get Mommy! She's lonely without us, we have to!"

I sat up and put my hands on her shoulders to keep her still. "Ellen, sit down." She looked up at me with wide, confused eyes. I sat her down on my lap, and wondered what I was going to say.

"Don't you want to go get her?" she asked. "Why aren't you getting up?" her eyes started to fill with tears that threatened to spill any second.

"Don't, Elly, please don't. I don't think I can take it right now. I can only say this once, and I don't even know if I'll be able to make it through this time." I said to her. I took a deep breath and began.

"Twenty two years ago, your mother was in a really bad car accident. It was so bad that it made her go to sleep for a long time, and it messed up her legs. I waited with her until she woke up, and when she did, we left and got married. She could walk sometimes, if she was feeling really strong. But whenever she did, it was almost like a little baby taking its first steps. A year later she had a baby girl, which is in fact little Winona here." Winona's hand squeezed mine gently, and I smiled softly at her. "Six years after she had Winnie, something went wrong with her body. She got really sick and it almost broke her. But we paid a lot of money to make sure she would get better again, and for a long time we thought it worked. A year after she had you, Elly, it came back. But your mom was a tough little girl, and she fought it as hard as she could. For you, for us. She fought it for so long, it broke my heart to watch her slowly stop working and I knew I couldn't do anything to help. Then, last year, it finally got her. Her body broke, and we couldn't fix it. So your mommy's body had to stay here, and then she went to Heaven."

I was really crying now, and so was Winona. Ellen was working up to it, trying to understand even my simplified version. Her lips trembled, and her hands were shaking. Winona was squeezing my waist tightly and sobbing into my chest.

Ellen's eyebrows pulled together, shadowing her eyes. "Mommy is dead?" she whimpered.

I drew in a shuddering breath. I tried talking, but when it failed I just contented myself with a nod.

Ellen let out a piercing wail, and flung herself onto me. We stayed like that until the light faded from outside.

When I started feeling Ellen's sobs gradually slow and become deep breaths, I knew she was asleep. I thought Winona was asleep too until she started talking to me.

"Dad, I think we should go to her grave tomorrow. I think it'd give Ellen some peace of mind. It'd sure give me some." She murmured. I bit my lip. "You know that you're going to have to eventually. We might as well do it while our conversation is still fresh in her mind. Oh, and we should take Mrs. Alice too. I know they were really good friends."

I nodded and stood up, carefully moving Ellen's head onto the couch. "Yeah, we'll go. I'm going to go call Alice. Could you move Ellen to her bed please? Thanks."

I walked into the kitchen and reached for the phone. I stood for a long time, just staring at the phone. Eventually I lifted a shaking hand and dialed Alice's number. It rang three times before she answered.

"Alice Dewitt speaking."

"Hello, Alice? It's Edward." I murmured.

She was silent for a second. "Ed, are you okay? You don't sound great."

I sighed. "I'm not. I just had a talk with Ellen and Winona."
"Ohhh. What about?"

"Could you come with us to Bella's grave tomorrow?" I asked.

Alice was quiet for a minute. "It's finally time, huh?"

"Yeah."

I heard her sigh. "Of course I will. What time will we be going?"

"Uhhmmm." I rubbed my face with my hands. "I don't know. Eleven, I guess."

"I'll be there."
I was about to hang up, but I heard her saying something. I put the phone back to my ear. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I said that you should have the girls each bring something, and we can leave it next to the flowers."
"Oh, um, all right. I'll tell them."

"Goodnight, Ed."
"'Night, Alice."

In the morning, I went into Ellen's room and gazed at her sleeping figure. She looked troubled, even in her sleep. I walked over to her bed and sat next to her. I sighed and shook her shoulder. "Wake up, E-bear. We're going somewhere today."

Ellen's eyes opened slowly. "I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay here." She said, her voice hoarse from crying so much.

"We're going to go visit Mommy."

Ellen sat up so fast I thought she was going to get whiplash. "We're visiting Mommy?!" she shrieked.

I nodded, and I actually felt a little afraid at her reaction.

She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. "You said Mommy wasn't here! Why did you lie? Why did you lie to me on my birthday? It's not funny! It's not funny!" she screamed at me. I held her arms to her sides and explained what we were doing. She calmed down slowly.

"So I need you to bring something important to you, something to give to Mommy." I told her.

Ellen cocked her head. "Can it be a picture?" she asked.

"Sure it can." I said. "Now come on, we're gonna leave in an hour."
"Okay, Daddy."

I went into Winona's room and told her the same thing. I couldn't help but scowl at the picture of her and Evan kissing that was sitting on her bedside table. I knew they were serious about each other, but I couldn't help but get irritated.

I walked into my room. I winced as I realized that I had begun to think of it as my room, and not our room. Picking up a picture of us, I realized that this is what I was going to give Bella.

We all got into the car, and picked up Alice on the way. Winona and Alice talked the whole way. They were really good friends. It was almost as if neither of them minded the thirty-ish year time gap in age.

Ellen sat in her seat staring out the window the whole way. I did the same, thinking about Bella the whole way. My favorite memory of us was on our wedding day. She was so beautiful in her dress, her lovely hair down to the middle of her back.

"Edward! You just missed the turn!" Alice's voice jarred me out of my reverie.

"Sorry," I mumbled and turned the car back around. I pulled up into the parking lot and we all got out.

"Okay, no one forget to bring your special something." I announced. I got a chorus of okay's from my little family.

I led them down rows upon rows of tombstones. Ellen was holding Winona's hand, and staring at them all with wide eyes. "Winnie, do all of these mean that somebody's dead?" She asked.

Winona nodded. Ellen's eyes widened. "Am I going to have one?"

Winona bit her lip and looked down at her. She kneeled and looked at Ellen directly in the eyes. "Not for a long time," she promised.

I stopped in front of a particular tombstone. Alice and the others came up and gazed at it thoughtfully. Only Ellen looked at it impatiently. "What does it say? Is it Mommy's?"

Winona spoke up. "It says, 'Isabella Marie Cullen, beloved wife, mother, and friend. 1968-2009." She finished with a sob. Ellen gasped, and reached forward to touch it. "Can I?" she asked me. I nodded, and she ran her fingers along the letters engraved into the stone.

I had forgotten everything else, I didn't see anything else except the tombstone. 'Beloved wife, mother, and friend.' I turned away and sobbed heavily. "Shh, shh, it's okay, Edward. It's okay," Alice murmured in my ear. She wrapped her arms around my waist and let a few tears past her barrier. Winona was sitting with Ellen in her lap, embracing each other tightly and sniffling.

Alice pulled away after a long time and wiped her eyes. "Let's leave the gifts, and then we should leave. I don't know how much longer I can take this." She pulled something out and held it out to us. "Put all of your stuff in here." We all did, and she left it in front of the tombstone, next to the roses.

We stood staring at it for a while, and then Alice said, "Let's go." And we turned and left.

The gifts we had left would remain there for many years. The Alice doll Bella had given to Winona as a baby, a drawing of our family Ellen had drawn, a photo of Bella and I on our wedding day. They all sat in a cherry wood box with a golden leaf clasp.