CHAPTER 25

Although she was looking forward to spending Christmas with Charlie and Sue, as Bella drove along the familiar stretch of motorway on the two hour journey towards her home town in Wiltshire, her thoughts kept returning to Edward.

Earlier in the day they had exchanged Christmas gifts, then spent most of the afternoon in bed together and Edward had been so sweet that several times Bella had almost cancelled her plans. As it was she had left much later than she'd intended and it had been really difficult to say goodbye.

After insisting on carrying her bags to the car, Edward had pulled her into his arms for one final lingering kiss then waited by the kerb while she got into the car, looking so stoically resigned that Bella almost didn't have the heart to turn her back on him. But just as she faltered, his phone rang and she was able to make her escape, although Edward broke off his call for a second to make her promise to drive safely.

As it turned out this promise was quite difficult to keep, because the flurries of light snow which had been falling all day but not sticking, were getting heavier and more frequent as she drove and conditions were actually becoming quite hazardous. When she arrived at Charlie's, Bella realised with a sinking feeling that the snow was really getting quite deep and as she was already missing Edward with an intensity she hadn't been prepared for, she desperately hoped she wouldn't end up getting stuck for several days.

Hiding her dismay from Charlie wasn't easy and Bella knew she'd failed when she saw the look of concern on his face as he greeted her at the door. Smiling to show it was nothing serious and making up her mind to share her news straight away, Bella turned to Sue, who swallowed her up in an affectionate hug, before leading her to a cosy seat in front of the fire.

As soon as she was settled and Sue had returned from fetching enough tea and snacks to feed an army, Bella lost no time in spilling the beans about her relationship with Edward. Sue's reaction was predictably over the top and included much hugging, squealing and kissing, followed by loud and repeated demands for more information, but it was Charlie's reaction Bella was anxiously waiting for. He surprised her by simply kissing her and wishing her well, but Bella could see from his thoughtful expression that he was turning a lot over in his mind.

While Bella attempted to answer all Sue's questions to her satisfaction, she kept a wary eye on Charlie, wondering if perhaps it would have been better to bring Edward with her after all. Now she was here his absence seemed odd, as if she was ashamed of either him or her family, or had misgivings about the relationship. She knew she would get a grilling from Charlie later, but at least Sue seemed very pleased with the news that she had a serious boyfriend and Bella tried to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening and do her best with the other main topic of interest which was her new job.

Charlie eventually caught her just as she was going to bed and drew her into the kitchen, on the pretext of handing over some premium bond certificates he had found. While he rummaged around in one of the dresser drawers, Bella closed her eyes and relaxed in the cosy atmosphere, breathing in the lingering smell of baking which Sue had been busy with for most of the day. Grabbing a mince pie from the rack where they were still cooling, Bella wondered what Edward was doing right now, preferring not to imagine him all alone in the flat and hoping he was out somewhere with Emmett.

After listening to Charlie's many reservations about her relationship with as much patience as she could muster and promising to bring Edward with her on her next visit, it appeared Charlie was finally mollified a little, so Bella gave him a kiss and a hug and made her way upstairs to bed.

Standing in the doorway of her bedroom, she felt as usual as if she was about to enter a time warp. Her old room was the one part of the house which had escaped Sue's enthusiastic remodelling, because Sue had recognised it was Bella's only remaining link to her childhood and therefore her mother and although it had been redecorated and rearranged several times since her mother died and currently represented a frozen moment in time just before Bella left for art college, in among her teenage possessions were small sentimental items and a host of memories which couldn't be stripped away.

Bella smiled as she looked around at the old posters, the painted furniture and the string of fairy lights above the bed, thinking of the day she'd left for London for the first time and remembering the almost overwhelming enthusiasm and excitement she had felt and the dreams she'd had. So much had happened in the last five years that she barely recognised the person she had been then, but for the first time she had no regrets. She no longer needed to cling to the past and she wasn't afraid of the future.

For the first time it also felt strange to be undressing and getting into bed on her own and Bella wondered again what Edward was doing. When she'd rung him earlier he'd seemed distracted and had ended the call abruptly. Assuming she'd called at the wrong time, Bella had hoped he'd ring back, but so far there had been no calls or texts from him and she'd had to bite back her disappointment. It seemed strange he was so involved with friends or work that he couldn't spare a thought for her on Christmas Eve.

After an hour spent trying to read one of her favourite novels while willing her phone to buzz, Bella gave up hoping Edward would contact her and tried to get to sleep. Clutching a spare pillow to her chest, she eventually fell into a restless sleep, blaming eating hot mince pies before bedtime for making her feel so out of sorts.

The next morning she woke up just before eight thirty, knowing that Charlie and Sue were early risers and would already be waiting for her to come down and open her presents. She shivered as the cold air hit her bare arms, suddenly becoming aware of the eerie silence outside and the bright light streaming into the room, which she immediately recognised as having the particular intensity of sunlight reflecting off snow.

When she opened the curtains it was worse than she thought. Although the sun was now rising in a cloudless blue sky, it must have been snowing for several hours during the night and everything was submerged under a thick carpet of snow, which looked several inches thick. Not at all impressed by the festive scene if it delayed her reunion with Edward, Bella craned her neck to try to see if the road was just as bad, wishing she'd paid more attention to the weather forecast before she left London.

Feeling very far away from her usual life, Bella picked up her phone hoping to see a message from Edward, but there was still nothing. She deliberated about whether it was too early to ring him or not, but in the end decided to just send a quick text wishing him a merry Christmas. If she'd still heard nothing from him in an hour or two, she'd definitely ring then. Perhaps he was still asleep, or somewhere where he couldn't get in touch at the moment. It wasn't entirely beyond the bounds of possibility that Rose had dragged him to an early church service for instance. But the silence was still puzzling and it was difficult not to dwell on it.

Making an effort to put on a cheerful face, Bella went downstairs in her dressing gown, drawn by more cooking smells and the sound of Christmas carols on the radio. After looking into the kitchen, where the smell of roasting turkey was already beginning to fill the air, Bella found Charlie and Sue cuddled up on the sofa in front of a mound of presents, which were spilling out from under the lavishly dressed Christmas tree that took up a large portion of the room.

Jumping apart and blushing like naughty schoolchildren when Bella appeared, Charlie and Sue lost no time in handing out the presents and they all set about the mammoth task of opening them. Buried among the piles of discarded wrapping paper and soothed by Sue's homely chatter, Charlie's dry humour, and the memories of previous Christmas mornings, it was impossible not to get into the Christmas spirit and Bella was finally able to relax for an hour and make the most of being home again. Once all the presents had been opened, exclaimed over and properly appreciated, Sue got up to get breakfast ready and Bella went upstairs to get dressed, leaving Charlie to watch the TV news in peace.

In no hurry to eat a large breakfast with the prospect of an even larger lunch to follow, Bella dawdled in the shower, still happily thinking about previous Christmases and appreciating just how much she owed to Charlie and Sue's quiet love and support over the years. She had therefore barely finished rinsing her hair when she realised Charlie was knocking on the bedroom door and shouting to her over the noise of the shower, to tell her Edward was on the phone downstairs.

Hastily grabbing a towel and wrapping it round herself, Bella scurried downstairs, relieved that Edward had finally made contact and anxious to hear his voice. But why was he ringing her on Charlie's landline and how had he got hold of the number? She was pretty sure she'd left in such a rush that she'd forgotten to give it to him.

Picking the phone up, she began to speak, but stopped when she realised how angry Edward sounded. For some reason he seemed to be absolutely furious with her and she almost burst into tears when he immediately began to berate her for not answering her mobile, without letting her get a word in edgeways to explain that she'd been in the shower. With no further attempt at conversation, he then brusquely announced he was coming to get her and disconnected the call.

Totally shocked, with her mouth open mid-sentence, and still clutching the phone, Bella looked enquiringly at Charlie hoping that, as he'd answered the phone in the first place, he would have an explanation for Edward's behaviour, but it was obvious he was just as much in the dark as she was. Still totally bemused, Bella made her way back upstairs and picked her phone up to find several missed calls from Edward, including one which had gone to voicemail but only recorded an exasperated harrumphing sound, and a text ordering her to ring back straight away.

While she quickly got dressed Bella tried ringing Edward again, but her calls all went to voicemail, so she had no choice but to be patient and wait for him to appear. Knowing it would take hours for him to drive all the way from London, especially given the weather conditions, the rest of Christmas Day would now be ruined, because she was going to spend most of it anxiously waiting for Edward to arrive. What an earth had made him so angry and was so important that he had to travel all this way in the snow?