Chapter 37 – Alice's Birthday

"Wake up, it's my birthday!" Alice's little hands dig into my bicep as she tries to shake me awake. "Emmett, wake up!"

I groan and pull the blanket higher. "What? No…go watch tv."

"But it's my birthday!" Alice bounces on the bed. "You have to get up so we can have presents and waffles!"

"Okay…" I sit up and pounce, managing to wrap her up in the quilt like a sausage roll and pin her to the bed before she can wriggle free. "Happy birthday Monkey-face," I say, and blow raspberries into her neck like I used to do when she was a baby.

Alice is squirming in her blanket burrito, laughing hysterically. "Stop, stop!"

Grinning, I lift up the edge of the quilt and tip her out. "There you go."

"I'm six now!" Alice is beaming. "I need two hands," she adds, holding up six fingers. "That's how you know it's grown up."

"Absolutely. Now, what did you say about waffles? And presents for me?"

"Not for you," Alice scrambles off the bed. "For me. Carlisle is making waffles and he said when you get up I can have my presents and then we'll have breakfast. Come on!"

I follow her into the kitchen. Carlisle has the waffle maker going and is frying bacon and eggs as well, while Esme is slicing fruit. Edward, who is still wearing pyjamas and looks like he was dragged out of bed too, is sitting at the piano and when he sees Alice he grins and plays the happy birthday tune to her.

She runs over to him. "It's my birthday!"

"Happy birthday!" Edward says. "Come sit up here on the piano bench with me and I'll give you your first present – I wrote you a song."

"A real song?" Alice climbs up beside him.

"Just music, not words." Edward's fingers fly over the keys as he plays a tune, the same thing I've heard him playing over the last week. I'd thought all the stopping and starting had been because it was difficult…it turns out that it was just because he was composing the damn thing. The music itself is quick and bright and makes me smile, and even though I know nothing I know that it feels like Alice and that's perfect.

Alice is delighted. "Look Emmett, it really is my song…it has my name on it." She shows me the pencilled in sheet music with Alice's Song written across the top. She turns back to Edward. "Can you teach me to play that?"

"One day," Edward promises. He catches my eye and blushes a little. "What?"

"I don't know dude, you're like a savant or something. But seriously…that was awesome."

"It was amazing," Alice declares. "My very own piano song."

"Here, I bought you this too." Edward gives her a wrapped present and Alice rips open the paper to find a book.

"Thank you!" She wraps her skinny little arms around him and hugs him, and after a start of surprise he awkwardly hugs her back.

I didn't wrap my gift, which I feel kind of bad about when I see how much effort Edward has gone too. But Alice doesn't seem to notice as she eagerly dives into the bag and pulls up the plush unicorn I bought her, hugging it ecstatically. "It's so soft and beautiful!" she exclaims, and then laughs when I hand her the hand drawn card. "Monkeys!"

The card took hours, carefully drawing and colouring all the monkeys, but it's worth it when I see Alice poring over every detail and finding all the little things I've included for her like the baby monkey in the bonnet and the little monkey petting a one eared, half-tailed cat like Catkin.

"Emmett's that's fantastic," Carlisle says. "Alice, are you ready for a present from Esme and me?"

Alice nods and Esme goes into the garage and comes back wheeling a purple bike with a sparkly seat, a flower adorned basket and streamers on the handlebars. "Happy birthday sweetheart!"

"Oh!" Alice is hopping up and down in excitement. "I love it!" She climbs on the bike, the training wheels holding her upright, and somehow manages to ride it straight into the kitchen table. "Oops."

"I think bike riding is an outside activity," Esme says, hastily stepping in to reverse Alice away from the table and straighten the chairs.

"And one that needs a helmet," Carlisle adds, encasing Alice's head in a purple bike helmet. "We need to look after your brain!"

"I love my bike!" Alice hugs Esme and then jumps at Carlisle, wrapping her arms around his neck as he catches her and swings her up into his arms. "Can we go and ride outside right now?"

"We'll go out after breakfast," Carlisle promises her. "Let's eat first."

Breakfast is great and I gobble it down still in my pyjamas, before I go and have a quick shower. I'm keen to get outside with Alice and help her with her bike, but before I can do that I reluctantly pick up the phone and call Momma. It goes to voicemail, which doesn't surprise me – it's Sunday morning and it's early, it would be a genuine miracle to find her out of bed. But it's Alice's birthday and she deserves a happy birthday wish from her mother, so I'll be damned if I'm not going to keep calling Momma all day until I get a hold of her.

"Hey Momma, it's Emmett…it's Alice's birthday today and you need to call her. I'll try again later if I don't hear from you."

I call again an hour later, after watching Alice shriek as she rode her new bike into a fence, into a tree, into the mailbox and then into the gutter, before she finally managed to ride in a wobbly line down the pavement. "Look, look, look, I'm doing it!"

Carlisle and I applaud and holler after her, while Esme takes some photos and a short video that culminates in Alice forgetting to use her brakes and sailing off the pavement and into a bush. I can't stop laughing.

"Alice, you're a star!" I haul her and the bike out of the shrubbery. "You're doing so good!"

"I love my new bike! It is mine for real though, right? Even if we have to go back to our old house…I can keep it?" She looks up at me anxiously.

"Yeah, it's yours for real," I reassure her. "No one is going to take it away." I turn her around and face her back towards the house. "Off you go!"

Alice's party is going to be at the ice-skating rink, so early in the afternoon we pack up some party decorations and supplies and head off. Even strapped in to her carseat Alice can't sit still – birthday parties are a big deal in first grade.

"Calm down!" I tell her as I unclip her straps. "You'll break your neck on a pair of skates if you don't settle down."

I may as well have not said anything, and a completely hyperactive Alice manages to drop a bottle of soda and then skid in the spilled liquid and fall into the table while she's trying to help Esme set up. She bursts into tears and I leave the Cullens cleaning everything up and carry her off to the corner where she sits on my lap and sobs.

"I ruined my party!"

"No you didn't." I rub her back. "The party hasn't even started yet! They're cleaning it up and there's plenty more soda."

"I just want it to be good," Alice raises a tear stained face to mine. "I never had a party of my own before."

"I know, and it's going to be awesome! All your friends said they'd come and you're all going to have fun," I tell her. "See, Esme and Carlisle have cleaned up the spill, and your party table is all set up." Esme has covered the battered skating rink tables they've hired with purple cloths, and there are matching rainbow napkins and paper tableware and rainbow balloon arrangements floating above it. It looks beautiful.

Alice leans against me. "I love Carlisle and Esme so much for my party and my bike and everything. This is the best day ever."

I laugh and kiss her head. "I'm glad you're having a good day."

I don't mention Momma. I've called her five times and I'm still hoping that she'll pick up or call back and at least say happy birthday, but until she does I'm not going to bring it up to Alice if she doesn't say anything first.

"There's Rosalie," Alice says, sitting up.

"Well, you did invite her to your party," I say, grinning as Rosalie spots us and comes over.

"Happy birthday!" Rosalie smiles, handing Alice a present.

Alice carefully pulls off the fancy ribbons and unwraps the paper to find a jewellery box. Inside is a silver bracelet with little enamel charms hanging off it. "Oh, look!" Alice exclaims, showing me. "There's a rainbow, and a cupcake and a cat, and a pony, and an ice skate…just like my party! Thank you Rosalie!"

"Do you want to wear it? I'll help you do it up," Rosalie offers, and Alice eagerly holds out her wrist. As soon as Rosalie has hooked up the little clasp Alice jumps off my lap and runs over to show Esme.

"I hope that wasn't expensive," I say, fiddling with the velvet jeweller's box that definitely didn't come from a stand in the mall. "Because she'll break it, or lose it or…"

"Oh, stop it," Rosalie says impatiently. "What does it matter? It's pretty and I thought she'd like it."

I reach out for her with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I know I'm just supposed to say thank you…but you also know I have money issues and that kid's had a fortune spent on her today! Her bike, the party…"

"It's okay." Rosalie sits on my lap and faces me. "It's her birthday…she deserves a good day. And for what it's worth, the bracelet is very strong and the charms are not overly expensive, so don't worry about it!" She leans forward and kisses me. "I'm pretty sure Esme has had a fantastic time arranging all of Alice's birthday treats too, so let her spend her money and don't make her feel bad about it."

"You're right." I guide her face close enough to kiss. "And it's really awesome to see her so happy." I look across at where Alice is jumping up and down and waving ecstatically at the first of her guests to arrive.

"I've got these too." Rosalie reaches into her bag and brings out an envelope. "Esme called Mom about a scrapbook or something? Anyway, she did this before she left."

I peer into the envelope and see a stack of photographs from the photo shoot that Rosalie's mom did with Alice one day. It's just Alice against a plain background, like something you might get from the school photographer, except that somehow these pictures are absolutely alive with my sister's personality. "These look so good."

"Mom's really good at what she does," Rosalie says. "And of course Alice is adorable...the ones with you are pretty good too."

"Ugh, really?" Alice had loved posing for Lily, but I had steadfastly refused to get in front of her camera until Esme had guilted me into having a portrait done of Alice and I by saying that I could send it to Momma. I flip through the photographs until I find my face, and even though the whole experience had been incredibly embarrassing I have to admit that the resulting photos of Alice and I are great. "Okay…that's not bad. Esme was probably right about it being nice to have a photo of us, there aren't really any others for the last couple of years."

Rosalie giggles. "Mom was lamenting the fact that you wouldn't pose for her properly."

"Well, she'll just have to live with the sorrow," I say, slipping the photos back into the envelope. "A picture with Alice is one thing, but I'll leave modelling to the pretty people like you."

Rosalie makes a duckface at me and laughs. "Because I love modelling so much," she says dryly. "Anyway, Mom left this morning and who knows when she'll be back, so you're safe for now." She leans her forehead against mine. "Do you still want to give your mom one of the photos?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I've called her like five times already today and she hasn't got back to me. How can you give birth to a whole other person and then not bother to say happy birthday to them?"

"Is Alice upset about that?" Rosalie asks.

"I hope not. She hasn't said anything anyway." Over by the table Alice is unwrapping gifts from her school friends and absolutely beaming. "Honestly, between her bike and presents and the party and all the attention this is probably the best day of her life…she's pretty happy."

Rosalie kisses me again and then jumps up. "We'd better go over there. I'm sure Esme and Carlisle can do with a couple of extra hands when it comes to serving out food and getting skates on a bunch of first graders."

Rosalie's right. Alice was allowed to invite her whole class, and that's a lot of kids. They all run around screaming while Alice greets everyone as they arrive and unwraps piles of gifts, and then we herd them all over to the tables and they annihilate the food in about five minutes flat. After that I'm kept busy jamming little feet into skates and tying laces and even carrying kids the six feet to the gate of the rink because they can't walk on the blades. Edward and Esme are doing the same thing, while Carlisle and Rosalie both put on skates themselves and go out onto the ice to help get the kids started. It's hilarious watching the little ones stagger and slip and slide around.

Once all the kids are sorted I put skates on and go out onto the rink too. Any ideas I had about skating with Rosalie are pretty soon quashed, as I wind up with Alice and several of her buddies hanging off my hands and my jeans and begging me to help them go fast. I don't mind, dragging them around the ice after me to give them a thrill and just hoping I don't break anyone's bones in the process.

Just before the party finishes we get everyone off the ice and back in to shoes instead of skates, and sit down for cake. Esme has created a beautiful cake decorated with cats and rainbows, and my heart catches to see Alice so happy as she blows out her candles. As all the kids take pieces of cake I check my phone one more time, and then go over and give her a hug, reaching over her for a slice.

"Happy birthday Monkey-face," I say.

Alice kisses my cheek with crumbs all over her mouth. "This is the best birthday ever."

I laugh and wipe my face, grabbing a second slice of cake and carrying it over to Rosalie, who is standing with Carlisle and Esme.

"Thanks," she says. "Alice looks like she's had a great party."

"Best birthday ever apparently," I say cheerfully eating cake. "Big call when you've had six of them." I look at Carlisle and Esme. "Thank you so much."

Before he can say anything Carlisle's phone rings and he scoops it out of his pocket. "Mara, hi," he answers. "What's up? No, I'm at the skating rink for Alice's party…are you sure? No, not right now…shit."

"What is it?" I demand, sudden anxiety making my voice rough. Carlisle swearing? I've never heard him say anything worse than a very mild 'damn' on occasion…whatever Mara is calling about it's not just to wish Alice a happy birthday.

Carlisle doesn't even look at me as he shoulders past me and out the front door, listening intently. Esme looks after him worriedly and then pushes a cardboard box of party favour bags into my arms.

"I'm sure it's nothing serious, but I'll just go and check," she says distractedly. "Perhaps you can start handing these out to the children..." She follows him out.

As soon as the kids see that I'm handing out party favours I'm inundated by grabbing hands and the next few minutes are a jumble of sharing them out and helping kids find coats. Carlisle and Esme come back in as parents start arriving, but even as they greet them and smile and joke and make sure the kids have outerwear and party favours and that Alice says goodbye and thank you, I can see that something has them deeply shaken up.

"Something's wrong," I say to Rosalie, my stomach already in knots. Is it just my imagination or are they deliberately avoiding my eye? "Mara wouldn't have called on a Sunday afternoon if it wasn't important."

Rosalie wraps her arms around me. "It's probably nothing serious. Carlisle and Esme just want to get the party all finished up." She kisses me lightly. "I was going to head off home now, but do you want me to stay?"

I shake my head and try and smile at her. "No, you're right, it's probably nothing…thanks for coming today."

"I had a good time!" Rosalie laughs. "Six year old parties are fun- an activity and cake, and I get to go home with a party favour." She jiggles her little party bag and grins at me.

I smile watching her leave, but I can't shake the heavy, sick feeling of apprehension. Especially when I see Esme's face, and Carlisle leaning close and talking to her in low, urgent tones.

"What is it?" I ask. "What did Mara want?"

Carlisle shakes his head. "We'll talk about it at home."

"But..."

"At home, Emmett," he says firmly. "Let's pack away the rest of this party and go home, and we'll talk then."

And I turn away and silently clear the table and wonder just what else has gone wrong now.