Firstly, A huge shout out to idealskeptic. Without her, chapter 28 would probably never have been posted.

Thanks to all my reviewers. You amaze me with your dedication to this story.

Sorry because of technical problems I have suspended the hunt for my mad reviewer. This is a temporary move. She will be tracked down eventually.

Hope you enjoy this. I loved writing it...

Chapter 29

Jasper Hale

Alice and I got back to the house around 6.30am. Esme smiled knowingly at us. Alice had some shrubbery in her hair. Her clothes still immaculate, as always. Some of mine were torn. I didn't mind. We'd had a great night and hunted shortly before heading home.

"Just heading upstairs for a shower, mom." I called, chasing my pixie wife. We didn't need to be embarrassed around any of the family now. We were all grown ups after all.

Edward had taken Emmett and me aside a couple of days ago and asked us about the joys of sex. That poor boy. Almost 100 years old and still innocent. We teased him, of course. Only for a short time, though. Once he'd told us about his compromise with Bella, we had to take him seriously. After all, if he kept his side of the bargain, Bella was in serious danger. We tried to explain it all to him, without adding to his already heightened anxiety about the whole situation.

He was right, for once, to be worried. If he lost control in the throes of passion, he could easily kill Bella. I knew he'd never forgive himself for that. He'd made the decision to try though.

Fortunately Alice's visions of the future, even those after Edward's decision, still had Bella as one of our kind. I could only hope that this meant that she'd survive his attempt to make love to her.

Carlisle had gone to the hospital, leaving instructions for Edward to call Sam about the party. Bella would invite her father and Billy would ensure his attendance.

Once we'd showered and changed, Alice got straight to work. She checked out all of the local stores online, looking for all the equipment we'd need.

Rose, Emmett and Bree arrived back around 9 o'clock. They looked every bit the part of the perfect family unit.

The emotions of all of my family were of joy, happiness, worry (Edward of course) and excitement.

All in all, I'd take those emotions any day, rather than the anxious, nervous thoughts I'd been used to feeling recently.

Once Bree, Emmett and Rosalie showered and joined us, Alice started barking out orders. She was sticking to her original barbecue plan, having seen that the rain would stay off but there'd be enough cloud cover for us to be outside in the presence of Charlie.

Given that we didn't eat, we didn't have a grill or a pit for that matter. Emmett and I were instructed to go outside and dig out a pit for the grills (yes grills), she was planning to buy.

She'd chosen 2 of the largest grills, shown in the online catalogue of the Sunset do it Best hardware store in Port Angeles. The Texas Elite Grill. A smoker grill. Alice thought that these would be more authentic than gas burners. It had ovens attached and bun toasters.

She'd placed the order and arranged to have them picked up this afternoon. She'd also picked out all of the necessary accessories and some patio furniture. We had some already, but there was going to be far more people here tonight than we were used to. We'd need a whole lot more.

Once we'd finished digging the pit, we had to head to Port Angeles to pick everything up. The girls would do the meat and grocery shopping.

They'd pick up decorations too.

The second Edward arrived downstairs, he was ordered to help the boys. He knew as well as the rest of us, there'd be absolutely no point in arguing with Alice. What my wife wanted, she got.

Bella joined the girls.

"At last," My wife trilled at her. "I was beginning to think you'd never get up." she laughed.

"Morning, Alice. Bella said. "What do you need me to do?" She asked. Bella wasn't a party person but appreciated the fact that this particular party would be about the joining of our family with the wolves and was willing to do whatever was necessary to make this an evening to remember.

"Well, you know the tribe better than any of us." Alice said. "Can you try to work out how many of them will be brave or curious enough to come over tonight? Then we can work out how much we need to buy. Those guys eat like horses, so we'll be erring on the too much rather than risking too little."

"That's easy." Bella replied. "Leah won't come. Not unless Sam forces her and he wouldn't do that. Everyone else will, even the elders. Most will not just be curious about you and your home but also about Bree."

I was listening into their conversation from outside, but I instinctively knew Bella would be smiling at Bree whilst making that last comment.

"I think that we should look to catering for around 60 people." Bella guessed. "There aren't that many people, but when you factor in what the pack can consume, then you'd need to at least double what you'd normally buy.

"I don't think that will be enough." Esme pointed out. "I've seen what just one or two of the boys can eat. We'll definitely need more than that. Bella, what if we bought a hundred of everything? 100 steaks, 100 burgers etc? Do you think that'd be enough?

"Esme," Bella said, a little concern in her voice. "This is gonna get expensive. Where would we get that kind of quantity of food anyway?"

"We have our sources," Esme assured her.

"Don't worry about the cost, Bella." Rosalie said. "You should know better by now. It's not an object. We'll spend very little on this in the grand scale of our wealth. It will just be pocket change."

Rosalie Hale

Bella had never seemed to be able to appreciate just how wealthy we were. Having lived for decades, at least, and having a mind reader and a psychic in the family made it simple for us to play the stocks and shares markets. We'd made sound investments over the years, and, although Carlisle tried to make us play fair, we'd accumulated great wealth. We had beautiful homes all over the world. Jeez, Esme even had her own island. Did Bella really not know that the piece of 'cut glass' hanging from her bracelet was, in fact, a perfectly cut diamond?

"Mom," my darling daughter interrupted my thoughts. She was tugging on my sleeve to get my attention.

Alice, knowing what was coming, was doubled over in laughter. Esme was smirking too. Bella just looked a little confused.

"Mom," Bree tugged again. "What did you mean, when you said the grand scale of our wealth? Are we rich?"

I'd forgotten that we hadn't told Bree anything about the Cullen's financial status.

"Eh, maybe we should have a little talk about that?" I suggested. "Would you mind if I spoke to Bree about this privately?" I asked, looking at the others.

"No, sweetheart." Esme replied. "You go ahead. Bella, maybe you should listen to what Rosalie has to say too? You are a member of this family and should know everything about us."

I knew Esme was encouraging me to be completely honest with both of our new family members. She was right, it was about time they knew. Edward would know that Bella would be uncomfortable with this information, so maybe I should tell her. She deserved to know.

"Bree, Bella, would you mind joining me upstairs?" I asked them both. "Alice, Edward might not like what I'm about to do. Can you try to keep him occupied?"

Alice giggled.

"You're right. He wont. But I do see that you get to tell them what they need to know. Leave Edward to me." she smiled.

Bella and Bree followed me upstairs and into the room I shared with Emmett. Bree had been given her own room. It used to be a guest room, just down the hall from ours. It still had to be decorated for her, but she was happy there.

"Okay," I stated. "You both obviously have questions for me."

"Are we rich mom?" Bree asked again.

"Does it matter to you?" I retorted.

"No, I mean, well... yes, I suppose?" she said honestly. "It makes no difference to me. I'd still want to stay with you and dad, even if we were as poor as church mice. I just want to know."

"I know the Cullen's have money." Bella added. "Any fool can see that. Look at this house, for example. You wouldn't own this if you weren't well off." She concluded.

"How do I explain this?" I asked, mainly to myself.

"You both know about the talents that Alice and Edward have. So just let's say, that they help us. Alice can see what stocks are going to bomb and what others are gonna go through the roof. We play the game well. I suppose it's a bit like cheating, but, you have to understand, Carlisle's salary is never spent on food or household expenses. We don't spend a lot on heating bills. He's been around for three hundred years and for at least two hundred of those, he's drawn a salary. It's all accumulated to quite a sum. We've used his capital which he's shared regularly with all of us, to play the markets. We will never worry about where the next cent is coming from." I finished.

Bree's eyes widened. She was finding it hard coming to terms with this new information. Bella didn't look as shocked. I guessed she'd just been told what she'd already thought.

"Rose?" Bella asked. "Just how much wealth have the Cullen's accumulated?" She spoke slowly.

"We'll never want for anything." I said.

"Rose?" Bella was getting annoyed.

"Mom?" Bree spoke up now. "Are we millionaires?"

"No sweetheart." I told her. "We're not millionaires."

"That's okay. Not millionaires, just very wealthy?" She asked.

Oh shit. I thought. Now was the moment of truth.

"Not exactly, sweetheart." I said. "The Cullen family are not millionaires, more like billionaires."

There was a moments silence. Bree broke it.

"No way." She said. "There's no such thing, not really."

"Darling," I replied. "There is. We probably have more money than you've ever imagined it possible to have. It doesn't matter though, it's not what defines us. Our love defines us. The money is just a small bonus.

"Small," Bella exclaimed. "How can you say that? How many people know that you're so rich? Now it's obvious why people think I'm marrying Edward for his money." She ranted. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"Bella, calm down." I told her. "Edward has told you, in his own way. He's told you that he doesn't drive a car that draws attention to him. We do try to stay inconspicuous."

She was still fuming.

"What's this then?" she asked pointing at the trinket on her bracelet.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was cut glass?" I asked.

"If you told me it was, I'd believe you. Is that what you're telling me?" She asked.

"No." I wasn't going to lie. "It's an exquisitely cut diamond. Bella," I continued. "Do you have any idea how much my brother loves you? That diamond is nothing to him in comparison. Please believe me."

"I do," Bella said. "Rosalie, what does this mean for us?"

"Nothing." I replied truthfully. "It makes no difference to you or us at all. Whilst you are still human, Edward has taken certain precautions to keep you safe. Your new car will be here soon. Once you've changed, you, like Bree, will have bank accounts set up in your name. You will have platinum credit cards with no limits."

"What bank accounts, what credit cards?" Bree interrupted.

"Sorry sweetheart." I said. "Your dad and I haven't had time to explain all of this to you. We would have though, very soon. We've set up a bank account for you. You can access it and use it for any of your financial needs. It has $250,000 in it. We'll top it up each month. You can use it for anything you need, clothes, school fees etc. We'd like you to manage you're own account, unless you'd prefer us to do that kind of thing for you. We understand that, although we see you as our little girl, you're a young lady. We don't want you to feel patronized in any way."

I walked to my bedside cabinet and took out the envelope containing Bree's credit card and bank account details.

"Here you go sweetheart." I said, handing Bree the envelope.

"No mom," she said. "I can't take this. The fact that you're both looking after me is enough for now. I don't want anything else from you. I'll only accept anything else when I've done something to earn it."

"You don't need to earn anything." I told her. "If you won't take this right now, then I'll keep it for you until you want it."

"I don't think I'll ever be comfortable asking you for it." Bree said.

I understood. I found it hard to accept when Carlisle gave me my first money. There were no credit cards in those days.

"I will leave it for you, in your room." I told her. "You'll never need to ask for it."

"Has Edward made similar arrangements for me?" Bella asked.

"I believe so, but you, being you, he's not entirely sure when the best time to tell you about it. He's probably afraid to bring it up."

"Are there limitations as to how we use the money?" Bella asked.

I must admit, I was slightly confused by her question. I had expected Bella to refuse to use any money given to her. I definitely didn't expect her to ask about the ways she was allowed to spend it.

"Bella," I answered honestly. "The only limitation is that you don't draw attention to us by suddenly spending a fortune on something completely un-necessary."

"So, If I wanted to, I could pay off Charlie's mortgage and donate some to charity?" She asked.

"That wouldn't draw attention to us, as long as it was done in the right way, so yes, you could do that." I said.

"What, exactly, is the right way?" Bella asked.

"Well, for example, I'm guessing that you take after Charlie. He wouldn't accept his debts suddenly being paid off by the Cullens."

"Point taken." Bella conceded.

"However, if you told him that you'd had a win on the lottery and he was just sharing your good fortune? That might be different. Of course, you'd tell him that you didn't want any publicity or anything."

"I see." Bella replied, smiling.

"And," I continued. "If you wanted to make any charitable donations, then as long as they were within reason, there would be no problem with that either."

"Could I do the same, mom?" Bree asked. "You know, like use my money to help other people?"

"Of course, darling." I told her. "You can use your money however you see fit, as long as it's spent inconspicuously." I added.

"I can't believe this." Bree announced. "Less than a year ago, I was destitute. Living on the streets, begging for money to buy food, I had no family, no food, nothing. Then I met Riley. After that everything was just chaotic, then suddenly I met you. Now I've got everything. I've hit the jackpot. I have friends, family and more money than I'd ever know what to do with. It's all so amazing."

"I'm going to have to speak to Edward about this." Bella said.

Okay, I'd told them. They seemed to understand. I just hoped that Edward would forgive me. I understood why he didn't want Bella to know about the Cullen fortune until after they were married and she had been changed. But I truly believed he had underestimated his bride to be. Bella needed to have all of the facts available to her. Only then could she make the correct choice. Going by the conversation we'd just had, everything would be just fine.

Okay, consider this another bonus chapter. I started it and it just kept going. I haven't covered anything that I'd originally planned to. Still another 2 chappies to go. That could change though.

Please review. Tell me if the bonus chapters are rubbish. I will respond to every signed review. I always do. Hope you're all looking forward to the end, then the sequel... Go hit the button.