Chapter Twenty Six: Mother
I was woken bright and early Sunday morning to the blaring of the phone as it rang. It woke not only myself, but Leah and Alex too. We had planned to sleep in after staying up late last night celebrating Leah's with both of our parents and Seth at the Clearwaters' and did not appreciate being woken up. Leah hurried to get Alex who had been startled awake and was screaming in his nursery while I rushed to answer the phone. The quicker I answered the phone and get rid of whoever it was, the quicker I could go back to sleep.
"Hello?" I answered annoyed, not even bothering to check the caller ID to see who it was that was calling. If I had checked, I might have been a little more ready for what I heard.
"Your mother's here." A bleak voice said on the other end of the line and I was immediately wide awake. I had known this was coming. The day I called to inform her of Alex's birth she had said she would come to collect Isabella and Alex. I knew she would come and I had prepared for this, everything was ready for me to fight her legally over Alex. She would not be taking my nephew to Florida with her.
"What do you mean my mother's here? She hadn't said anything the last time she talked to you." I said and took a glance at Leah as she walked into the room bouncing Alex in her arms as he calmed down.
"She called a couple of minutes ago from the airport in Seattle. Said she would be down in a couple of hours to collect her daughter and grandson and to start getting them ready before she hung up. You better hurry up before she gets here." Dad said and I quickly agreed before hanging up and rushing to get dressed.
"What's going on?" Leah asked as I rushed past her coming back down the stairs.
"Renee's in Seattle. I have to get to dad's to calm him down and be there before she gets there." I said and Leah pushed Alex into my arms.
"You get him his bottle while I get dressed and call Emily to see if she'll watch Alex while we deal with your mother." She said and ran upstairs to get dressed. Since we've had Emily watching Alex, Leah has gotten closer to her cousin again. They were by no means as close as they used to be, but it was better than the tense hatred that had come from Leah before and the extreme sadness and guilt from Emily every time they were near each other.
While she got dressed I started Alex's bottle, got him dressed and got his diaper bag packed to go. I had everything ready with the papers we needed to assert my guardianship of Alex waiting by the door. Leah came down and the two of us got everything in the tuck in record time to go to Emily and Sam's.
When we got there Emily rushed out and got Alex inside while I got the bags and brought them inside. She and Sam wished me luck as I left and I thanked them before rushing out the door to the truck. When we got to the dad's house he was in the kitchen pacing, running his hands through his already thinning hair and down his face. He nearly jumped out of his skin when we came through the door before letting out a relieved sigh.
"Do you have the papers? She's not going to take Alex and Bella is she?" Dad fired question after question as he grabbed me by my shoulders.
"I have the papers. She's not going to take Alex without going through all us first. But if Isabella agrees to go… there's nothing we can do. She's eighteen now and her decisions are her own." I said and dad took a shaky intake of air and nodded while removing his hands from my shoulders.
I could see the vein pulsing in dad's forehead and was worried about the stress this was putting on him. I got him a glass of water and a couple of aspirin and coaxed him into taking a seat at the table to relax a little. I had yet to see Isabella and assumed she hadn't woken yet or had submerged herself in her school work as she has taken to doing since she had returned to school. This was stressful for all parties involved and I hoped this didn't drag her further into that deep dark hole of her depression.
Leah rubbed my shoulders and whispered calming words in my ear as I took a seat across from dad. It was roughly an hour before Renee pulled up with her new husband Phil in tow. She slammed her fist on the door and walked in like she owned the place when dad answered the door. My mother's confidence in this town was staggering. She had left us all in her wake when she left and she sashayed back into town as if she never left. As if she didn't abandoned her son and take her daughter away from her father.
"Where's my daughter, Charles?" She demanded and dad pointed up the stairs. She stomped up the stairs with dad on her heels. Phil had the courtesy to hang back by the door and wait for me to motion him inside.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you and your family so early. Your mother demanded to come early to get Bella packed and be able to leave on the earliest plane tomorrow morning." Phil said and I nodded my understanding. Phil wasn't a half bad guy, it wasn't his fault Renee was the way she was.
It was only a few minutes after I invited Phil and we had sat down at the table that we heard screaming and items being thrown upstairs. Phil ran up the stairs first while I made sure Leah stayed down stairs where it was safe before following him. When I got to the door way Isabella was standing in front of her dresser with the middle drawer pulled open. Renee stood in the middle of the room with a stack of shirts in her hands and a shocked expression on her face as she stared at her daughter. This reaction was definitely not what she had been expecting when she had flown out here to bring Isabella to Florida.
For the first time in two months I saw emotion on my sister's face. The emotion that had finally broken through her stone mask was anger. There was a fire burning in her eyes as she glared at our mother. The set of her jaw showing stubbornness while her fists clenched tight causing her knuckled to turn a ghostly white as if the bone were threatening to break through the skin. Though her expression and body language held anger she looked as though she could be blown over by the slightest wind.
"I'm not going to Florida! I'm staying here!" She screamed causing Renee to take a step back.
"Honey, don't you want to come and live with Phil and I? We can get you help, some new friends, a change of scenery…" Renee pleaded.
"No! I'm staying here! He promised me and I'm not leaving! He'll be back!" She yelled. Phil and dad looked on shocked while I leaned back against the wall. Renee's expression changed from shocked and concerned to rage as she threw the pile of shirts she had taken from the dresser onto the bed before storming out of the room and into Phil's arms.
I went down stairs to Leah while Renee was being consoled by Phil upstairs in the hallway. Dad followed me down the stairs and flopped into a chair in relief that Isabella wasn't leaving with Renee and Phil. Granted it was after she had thrown a teenage tantrum and because she hoped her vampire boyfriend came back to sweep her off her feet, but she wasn't up and leaving like we had expected for so long.
I got up and figured that I would make something for breakfast seeing as we had left the house too quick to eat. I started getting some toast in the toaster and cracked a couple of eggs into the pan. Leah joined me and started cooking hash browns, bacon, and French toast for all of us. We had most of the food cooked when Renee and Phil finally made their way down the stairs and I could tell that my mother was still not happy about the way things had gone with my sister and had something else on her agenda.
"Charles? Where's my grandson?" She asked as she stood in the kitchen door staring hard at dad. Dad looked over to me expecting an answer.
"Why don't you ask Eli? He has guardianship of Eli not me." Dad said causing Renee's jaw tick as she slowly turned to look at me.
"Well, Elijah?" She asked as I had my back turned to her while I worked on the stove making the eggs.
"What's that?" I asked turning to look at her. I knew she would hate to have to address me twice.
"Where's my grandson, Elijah?" Renee forced out between her teeth. Phil looked at her surprised but stayed quiet by her side.
"At the sitter's." I said and turned back to the stove.
"And why isn't he here?" She asked as her grimace started to slip into the familiar glare.
"Because as his guardian I felt that it would be better if he was not here." I said with a shrug as I continued to cook.
"Why are you keeping him from Isabella and me?" She asked as she seethed in the doorway. I turned around and looked her straight in the eye, startling her.
"I have never kept Isabella from her son. Even when she was in the same building with him she never went to see him. If she doesn't want to see him or help raise him then I'm not going to force him on her because it will only hurt him. She has a vehicle she can drive to the house. She could pick up the phone and ask Leah or I to bring him over for her, but she never does! So don't you ever accuse me of keeping Isabella from her son." I said as I glared at her before turning back to the stove and removing the eggs from the pan and placing them on a plate. I took a deep breath before turning back around to her.
"Are you sure that you're just here to take Isabella to Florida? Or was this just a power trip to make dad hurt more than he already has? Like when you left with Isabella eighteen years ago. Do you even really care? Do you even know what your grandson'sname? Have you cared enough to ask or listen when someone told you?" I accused as I stood across the kitchen staring at my mother as a fire ignited in her eyes.
"How dare you speak to me like that, I'm your mother, you will treat and speak to me with respect!" She shouted before turning to dad.
"How dare you let him speak to me that way! You always preached about treating your elders with respect, yet you accomplished raising him with no respect, Charles!" She scolded making my blood boil with rage.
"Don't you dare scold him for the way he raised me! Especially after leaving us and running away you flighty bitch! You had no part in raising me and you did no better raising Isabella. She may be able to cook and clean and be able to get good grades in school but she's a selfish girl, thinks the world revolves around her, just like you. She has no respect for others and throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way, but I guess she learned from the best." I said and Renee's face turned bright red as she lunged for me only to barely be caught and held back by Phil.
"How dare you! I wish I had never had you! You are nothing to me. One day you'll realize you need me! You'll need me and I won't come! You're on your own you ungrateful no son of mine!" She yelled and I didn't react in the least. I had known how she felt about me since I was thirteen and learned to accept it.
"I think we will leave and be out of your hair for today." Phil said and started only to be cut off by Leah.
"Excuse me?!" Leah shouted.
"Eli is the respectful, loyal and kindest man I have ever met and you are trying to paint him as if he isn't worth the dirt under your shoes! If I remember correctly Eli has been the one who has been here through everything! He was here when you ran off with your daughter! He was here when she came back and watched over her as orders from you! He was here when she almost got hit by a van in the school parking lot! He ran down to Arizona when she got hurt running away from a stupid boyfriend! He was he to help her heal after coming home. He was there when she got left by said boyfriend. He was here through her pregnancy. He was here for the delivery. He's been here through the depression. Where the hell where you? In Florida? Living as a newly wed with nothing about except what you were going to order for dinner? The only time Eli hasn't been a constant was when he was in a comafor almost a month.What's your excuse? How do you justify not being here when your kids need you? How do you live with yourself after all you have put him through because of your selfishness? If Alex turns a quarter of the men that Charlie and Eli are than he will be a great man who any girl would be lucky to have. If you think that you traipsing in here like the queen you think you are and demand something so large as the little person that everyone here loves. You have another thing coming thing coming. You will succeed with your agenda over my dead body and you can bet that everyone that loves that little boy will fight till their last breath for him. I say you head back to Florida with your tail between your legs and think about your priorities. I know one thing for sure about you. That you treated Eli like trash throughout his whole life for who his father is. You will never get custody of your grandson because having an absent parent is bad enough for someone when they live crossed the country, but it's completely different to have an absent grandmother that you live under the roof with and ruins your life at every chance. That little boy deserves so much more than the money you would be able to provide. He deserves to have a family that loves him above anything else and we all know you can't provide that even with all the money in the world. So you go back to Florida and don't bother us again." Leah finished and we were all stunned at her speech on my behalf. The love I had for her double as I watched her and I was proud of her for standing up against my mother for Alex.
Leah had inched her way closer till she had been nose to nose with Renee during her speech. They stood there glaring at each other. Renee huffed as she glared at Leah and pulled her hand up to slap her, but was stopped when Phil grabbed her wrist. His face looked as if it had been set in stone. His eyes were hard as he looked down at his wife. He brought her hand down to his side before turning to look at us.
"We have caused enough trouble here. We'll leave. We will be at a hotel in Port Angeles tonight and will be going back to Florida in the morning. If by the odd chance Bella changes her mind you know how to get a hold of us." He said. Dad and I nodded sharply as I wrapped my arms protectively around Leah's shoulders as she still stood glaring at my mother. He nodded before dragging a protesting Renee out of the house to their rental car. I kissed Leah's cheek when I saw them drive away.
"I love you and I'm the luckiest man in the world to have gotten you." I said in her ear. I felt some of the tension leave her shoulders as she leaned a little into me.
"Let's go home." She said and I nodded.
Hopefully it would be a long while before we ever had to deal with my mother again and I had no problem with that.
A/N: The poll is in a tie for my next story to be a Sam/oc or Paul/oc. Make sure to review or vote in the poll for the one you want.
~Miss. E. Thompson