Chapter 27

The dessert night was cold, and though the Cullens couldn't feel the air in the same way humans could, they could still sense the difference.

Twelve hours had passed since they'd arrived. There was not a soul in sight, though the constant thud of the bass from speakers blaring music far away in the distance could faintly be heard. Masen and Leah had been contacted and reverted their course, meeting up with the family briefly to look after Marshall and Charlie, at the family's request. Neither argued, though Masen expressed his want to stay with the rest of them for added protection. Upon Carlisle and Esme's logical words, he parted with Leah and the two of them headed back north.

"They shouldn't be long," Alice assured everyone, referring to Salvatore and Benjamin. "They'll be here before sunup."

"I hope so. It's freezing." Emmett half-smiled and attempted to lighten the mood with little success. He glanced down at Rosalie who sat under his arm and tightened his grip on her shoulders just slightly.

Caleb approached his mother, looking around the miles and miles of emptiness. "I'm sorry," he told her, glancing down toward the dusty landscape beneath his shoes.

"For what?" Esme asked him in disbelief, "You've done nothing." She pulled him to her in a hug, "You've done nothing wrong, honey."

"I was a part of that club at school-"

"Aro doesn't care about that," she told him, "He took you because he has other intentions. We're just happy you're okay Caleb."

"I had a gut feeling that..."

"That what?" Esme wanted to hear what he was going to say. She knew what he was going to say, and also why he stopped mid-sentence.

"I thought I was going to die." He raised his eyebrows with an unusually calm demeanor for the topic at hand. "I mean... I did." Caleb sighed and laughed almost nervously. "I was content though."

Esme didn't know what to say. She just stared at him and Caleb eventually smiled.

"Mom, it's okay," he told her, "I'm fine... I'm just kind of being honest, I guess... too honest."

She hugged him, "There's no such thing as too honest." Her hand traveled up and down his back and she sighed.

"Sorry," he repeated.

"Shh." She quickly silenced him and continued to hug him for an extra couple of seconds.

Caleb smiled as they each pulled back. "Mind if I take a stroll with Delilah?"

"To where?"

"Not far..."

Esme made eye contact with Alice, who sat next to Jasper.

"It's okay," Alice assured her, "One-hundred percent."

Caleb and Esme looked back at one another and Esme nodded.

He smirked shyly and glanced at Delilah who stood a few feet away talking to Nicole and Mackenzie.

Esme watched as her son whispered into her ear before the two of them linked hands and strolled a little bit away from the group.

A gust of wind swept over the dessert of Southern California and Emmett pulled up the hood on his sweatshirt. Rosalie tugged on the front of his shirt and nodded. "Why don't we walk a little?"

He nodded and motioned in the direction of the thumping speakers.

"Music might be a good distraction for now," she agreed.

The two of them looked over their shoulders at the people in the immediate area before the two of them walked slowly away.

Carlisle made eye contact with Esme as he wrapped up a conversation with Edward and Bella.

Edward was about to urge him on to go talk to her, but Carlisle politely excused himself from the conversation to be with his wife.

She couldn't hide the fact that she was hurting from Caleb's encounter in Italy, and more recently his claims that he felt as if he was going to die while in the presence of Aro and the rest of the Volturi. The fact that he felt content with it all made her even more emotional.

Carlisle walked up and put his arms around Esme without initially saying a word.

She sighed and closed her eyes, engulfing herself in his scent as her face laid against the fabric of shirt.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes." She said. Esme toyed with one of the buttons near the top of his shirt and then looked up to meet his waiting stare. "Caleb said... he said he was okay with the thought that he thought he was going to die."

Carlisle kept his eyes locked with hers, squinting lightly and breathing in once through his nose.

Esme looked up at him and shook her head. "I don't like that he was so okay with it. I think he's been through too much and he's accepted that it's almost happened so many times that..." she searched for the right words, "...that it's bound to happen."

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pulled her gray, zip-up jacket so it was more snug around her upper body. He then kissed her on the forehead, not having the appropriate response to make her feel at ease.

Another wind whipped through the dessert, sending sand in all directions.

"When is he coming Mom?" Nicole asked Alice from somewhere close by in the darkness.

"Soon Nic," Alice responded.

Carlisle looked down at Esme before she could comment on their conversation and he planted a kiss on her lips. He then proceeded to repeat the action several times before making the sensual gesture last an extra couple of seconds the final time.

"I love you," he said quietly. "I should be telling you that every single day."

Esme sighed and swallowed hard as she continued to look up at him.

Carlisle went on, "I love you; I love our family and every day I want eternity more than the day before. I need us... I need you, I need the kids, I need our whole family."

"Me too." Esme nodded and let a single tear drop, attempting to wipe it away discreetly.

He traced his thumb along the side of her face under her eye and then leaned in to kiss her again. Esme kissed him back for a moment before the two of them hugged.

Carlisle placed a soothing hand on the back of her head and kept her against him.

"I think there's been a change of plans," Alice's voice spoke aloud.

Nicole's frantic voice came next. "What? Why? What is it?"

"Salvatore is still coming," she said, "Benjamin changed his mind..."

Carlisle looked down at Esme, and the two of them stood together and simply listened as Alice's claims progressed.

"Are we safe?" Jasper asked.

"We can relocate," Edward added, and then quickly changed his tune. "Wait... he's going back to Volterra?"

"It was his choice," Alice explained. "He'd decided against it but he worked up the courage to go back."

"For what?" Bella asked.

Esme's hand tightened around Carlisle's collar and his chest heaved up and down once.

Alice concluded her vision. "He's going to finish what he started," she explained, "And he's not doing it alone."