"Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what." – Unknown
Isabella found out who the Denali's were in exactly the time that Alice had said - she was good. Five of them walked through the door. There were four women and one man.
'Who's this?' a woman with strawberry blonde hair questioned at the same time the only male, who like the woman standing at his side, had an olive tint to his skin and dark brown hair and Isabella assumed him to be Eleazar, said 'hmm, that girl's a shield, Carlisle.'
Her father blanched but seemed unsurprised at this announcement as he answered the one questions, 'Eleazar, Carmen, Tanya, Kate, Irina, this is my daughter, Isabella. Isa, my darling, this is the Denali Clan; we consider them our extended family.'
The woman who stood at Eleazar's side stepped forward and hugged her.
'Hola, Isabel,' she grinned kissing both Isabella's cheeks. 'I'm Carmen.'
'Hi,' Isabella grinned awkwardly.
'You look so much like your father,' she laughed glancing between the two in question.
'Uncanny,' the tallest blonde said. She had straight hair that was the colour of corn silk, a darker shade of blonde than Isabella's own hair.
Isabella smiled taking their comments as a compliment and turned to look at her father, 'what's a shield?'
'It's a defensive talent,' he told her, resting his hand on her blonde head.
'It's why I can't hear your thoughts,' Edward called from where he was now seated near the large grand piano on a raised platform. Isabella took this to mean he was a mind-reader - she was starting to get irritated that she had to keep inferring things.
'She's a strong one, too,' Eleazar said, coming closer. 'I can't get a hold on her nor find a way around it and from the look on her face she's doing it without meaning to-'
'She is right here!' Isabella interrupted causing some of the assembled people to laugh.
'Sorry,' Eleazar chuckled, leaning forward to kiss her cheek the way her uncle used to, 'it's nice to meet you, Isabella.'
'Just Izzy,' Isabella corrected him and her father glanced at her curiously as did her step-mother. 'Isabella's too formal; nobody's called me it for years. My husband started it.'
Isabella shook her head at herself wondering why she wasn't able to keep her mouth shut. Her father's eyes widened.
'Hello, Izzy, I'm Tanya,' the first who spoke said before speaking to everyone in the room. 'I know we just got here but I think it might be best for us to go back to Denali, you have a lot to catch up on.'
'Tanya, you're-' Esme began but Tanya smiled and shook her head.
'We'll clear out your way.'
There was a round of goodbyes, and a few hello's for Isabella, and the Denali clan were gone. As soon as they were, her father turned to Isabella with a face that clearly wanted her to explain.
'Papa, you can't be that surprised,' she began but stopped because he clearly was. That surprised her because she was still wearing her wedding rings, something she thought her father of all peoplewould have noticed. 'I don't want to talk about it.'
And she hadn't, it had been over 200 years and she still didn't want to talk about Alec, she had only done it once for Logan and that was really skirting over the basics. She hadn't said Alec's name since she had been telling Callen off - "Callen Alec Bailey Carmichael, what are you doing?". She knew it would be too painful more painful than it had been speaking about her life.
'Okay,' her father said and she looked up at him gratefully as he brushed a strand away from her face. 'You're killing Jasper so I going to assume it's too painful,'
Her eyelids fluttered like they did when she tried to hold back tears when she was human and she smiled up at him.
'It's not bad, Papa,' she said to him, knowing she could tell him this much thought something was tugging at her heart. 'It's was good, that's why it's painful. I married for love and nothing else'
Her father's face had broken into a smile and he picked her up and spun her. Isabella laughed though she wasn't sure what had gotten into her father. She heard Esme laugh slightly and as soon as Isabella's feet touched the ground again, she spoke.
'What was that about, my love?' her step-mother asked her father.
'What?' he asked a proud smile on his face. 'No one married for love back then, if they did it was extraordinarily rare.'
Isabella debated telling her father about the twins but thought he had had enough surprises for one day.