Edward screwed up the piece of paper and turned to Jasper.

"When do we go?" He asked.

"Now,"

Everyone sprang into action, even if they didn't know what the plan was. Esme, the head of the household – regardless if Carlisle was there or not – phoned Billy. Emmett was on the phone to Charlie, while Rose and Alice went to the kitchen.

Jasper and Riley were whispering quietly in a corner while looking at their phones.

In the middle of all this chaos, Edward held Bella tight to his body, poor Eloise in the middle of them. Edward could feel Bella's body shaking, despite him trying to calm her down. He was silently swearing to himself to keep her safe.

"I don't want you to be scared, Bella. Being scared is when we make mistakes and don't think clearly. I need you to be okay because I won't lose you again. I refuse to live without you now that you're back in my life, the pair of you. Jasper and Riley are going to get us out of here, away from all of this, and then we'll be happy again," he whispered into her ear.

Bella was still shaking, but silent, when Carlisle came over to see her. Esme came over next and offered to hold Eloise, but as Bella held her tighter, Edward shook his head and his mother. Edward knew that with this note and the roses coming from Peter, Bella wouldn't let go of Eloise any time soon.

"Edward, Bella? I need you two to listen to what I have to say," Jasper finally said, pulling everyone's attention back on him. "In the cottage are bags for the three of you. You're going to go to the reservation. There, Billy, Charlie and Jake will take you Astoria by boat. It won't be a comfortable ride, but water is better than road if Peter is having you watched. They won't have a clue where you're headed. From there, my aunt will pick you up and take you to the safe house I arranged for you. You'll stay there the night then fly out the next day. All your tickets are ready, as well as all the other documentation that you'll need," he finished.

"How did you do all of this in so little time?" Alice asked, but Jasper shook his head.

"You don't need to know that much, Alice, trust me,"

"Hate is a powerful word to use, and I use it sparingly. Normally when I describe coffee or cleaning the house, but I also use it when talking about my brother and his son," Camille, Jasper's aunt, said as she sat down at the table and cupped her mug with both hands.

Bella was asleep on the couch, Eloise tucked into her side.

They had been travelling all day, and even though Edward was exhausted, he just couldn't switch off. He'd never seen Bella so upset than when she had to say goodbye to Charlie. They were both emotional, and it took Billy to have a quiet word with Charlie to get him to leave once they'd got to Astoria.

"There's a fine line between love and hate," Edward mused while the grey-haired lady gave a throaty chuckle.

"That there is, but I have no love for those two men. Jasper, now, he has his mother's heart, God rest her soul. Why she ever married that man, I will never know, but she did, and somehow, she loved him. She was one of my best friends, and he stripped her soul bare. He was a cruel and hard man, and his eldest son is just like him," she growled, disdain clear in her eyes.

"How can one son be like his father and one not?" Edward asked quietly.

"Sasha babied Jasper, it's as simple as that. Marcus had his first-born son, and that's all he needed. Jasper came along, and he looked to that boy as a spare part, not fit for much. Where Marcus ignored Jasper, Sasha did not, and she worshipped the ground the boy walked on. She loved both the boys, I'm not saying that she didn't, but you could see the pain in Jasper's eyes when his father just didn't care about him,"

"I don't know what I would do if Dad was like that with me. Christ, even my friends were treated the same as me," Edward said sadly, thinking about Emmett, Rose and Bella.

"That's true love, Edward. I see how you look at those two over there, and I see it, just how I saw my friend look at that man. Once Bella sees it, you don't let her go."

"You have my word that I will treat her and Eloise to the best of my ability."