Chapter 52
Panic washed over Esme and she begged Nicole for more detail.
"He is just holding him," she told her with sympathetic eyes, "He took him from someone else's arms."
"Who's?" she asked desperately, "Mine? Carlisle's?"
Nicole shook her head, "I don't know who he is."
The rest of the family rushed in from the living room to catch up on Nicole's latest vision. Esme was speechless. She looked at Caleb, who Leah held in her arms.
"When will this happen, Nicole?" Masen asked.
"I don't know which day. But it's going to be cloudy, and a little rainy. Like really dark rain clouds."
Leah looked up at Masen, who looked truly worried for the first time since the situation arose.
"I will not let him near Caleb," Esme said. She looked at her youngest son, moving around in Leah's arms as she struggled to keep him in her grasp.
Leah saw the motherly fear in her eyes and handed Caleb to Esme. She took him and hugged him close as he protested through a series of restless noises, trying to get his hands and feet back on the ground.
"I have to call Carlisle," she said, bringing Caleb into the living room so he could have more room to wander on the floor in between the couches, "Could one of you..." she pointed toward the stove.
"I will," Michael volunteered, heading toward where she pointed.
"Thank you," she said, then focused back on Caleb, "Okay, okay," she told him, as he managed to flip his body around in her arms. She placed him down near the toys he had been playing with a few minutes before. He quickly occupied himself and stopped fussing.
Esme took the phone from her pocket and muted the television. She found Carlisle's name in her contacts and dialed his number. When it went to his voicemail, she sighed, though left a message. "Carlisle, call me when you get a minute. I know you're busy, but Nicole had another vision of Aro holding Caleb. I'm worried. Please call me." She hung up and sent him a text message with the same information, typing frantically on the phone before placing the phone in front of where she sat on the small coffee table.
"Try to stay calm," Masen told her, sitting down next to her. He looked over at Cassie, Nicole and Leah on the opposite couch, who all wore the same worried expression.
Esme took a deep breath and looked at Nicole, "Thank you for telling me what you just saw."
She forced a smile, "I'm sorry."
"Honey, don't be sorry. There's nothing to apologize for." She took a deep breath and looked at her phone, "Masen, call your father."
"He'll call you back when he gets your message, Mom. It's only been thirty seconds."
She realized he was right and tried to relax. She looked at Caleb who was attempting to push himself up onto his feet, falling back down each time to the ground. Esme smiled at her child as his bright eyes locked onto the edge of the coffee table. He leaned and wobbled before letting his hands latch onto the edge and stood up on his own.
Masen looked over at his mother and Leah let a smile cross her face. Esme continued to adore his every move and clapped her hands together lightly, encouraging him to continue, "Good job Caleb." Her eyes stayed locked on him, though she spoke to her other son, "I almost called him Masen," she said with a laugh.
Masen and Leah both smiled wider as Esme continued to give Caleb encouragement, "Come on," she called to him, holding her arms out as far as they could reach, "Come to Mommy Caleb."
Caleb continued to wobble and removed one hand from the table.
"Come on," she urged, "Come on."
Caleb took one step, still holding the table before he cautiously let go and took two solid steps before reaching Esme's waiting hands. She smiled and scooped Caleb up in her arms, kissing him on the cheeks, "Good job, Caleb," she said with a maternal enthusiasm.
Caleb laughed as what she was doing tickling his face and neck before she placed him back down on the ground.
"Yay!" Cassandra clapped her hands to go along with what Esme was doing.
The phone went off on the table and she quickly answered it, holding the phone up to her ear, "Carlisle," she said just as frantically as before.
"What's going on?" he asked her, "I can be on my way home now. When is the vision going to happen? Is it now? Tonight?"
"No," Esme told him, looking out the window, "Nicole said it's going to be rainy and dark. Cloudy." She looked up as Nicole was nodding along to what she was saying.
"Give me all the details."
Esme filled him in on everything Nicole had told her. He was silent for a moment.
"Everything's going to be fine," he told her, trying to sound reassuring, "We won't let anyone get to Caleb. I won't let anyone hurt him, or you or the rest of the kids."
Esme tried to be strong, but quickly excused herself from the room.
"Esme?" Carlisle asked.
She took a second to respond as she lingered down the hall, "Yeah. Sorry. I, uh..."
"It's going to be okay," he said, "I'm coming home. I'm coming home right now."
"No, it's okay-"
"I'm coming," he said, cutting off her protest, "Give me an hour tops."
Esme closed her eyes, "Carlisle, nothing's going to happen tonight."
"It doesn't matter," he told her, "I'll see you soon. Try to relax. We'll figure this out together."
She didn't protest this time, "Okay."
"I love you."
Esme sighed, "I love you, too. Please be safe."
"I'm fine. I'll be home soon."
"Okay." She hung up after hearing the click on his end, then rejoined the rest of the in the living room.
...
Nicole explained everything she could see to Carlisle when he got home. She didn't leave out any details and he thanked her for her help. He then went ahead and called Alice, who still saw the attack occurring in Denali.
"So Aro does have something to do with this?" Alexandra asked, sitting next to her father.
"I don't know," he said, "He's not going to get his hands on Caleb."
Esme looked at their son who continued to explore the use of his legs on the ground, wanting badly to hold him, though knew it wasn't at all what he wanted so she let him be.
"What if he does some how?" she asked.
"I'll be there if he tries to hurt him," Masen said.
Esme's face saddened, thinking of someone having the capability of harming her precious child.
"I don't think he will," Nicole told them. She closed her eyes, "I'm trying to see the next move, but I guess Aro's thoughts aren't concrete."
Carlisle saw the worry that became increasingly clear on his wife's face. He placed his hand over hers and rubbed his thumb gently across her knuckles. They made eye contact briefly, before her eyes began to get teary. She looked away and refocused on Caleb.
"We'll all contribute," Leah said, "We'll never let anyone close enough to the two of you."
"Maybe it isn't anything malicious," Masen said with a shrug, "If the attack is still going on in Denali, then Aro's presence here might be a "just in case" type of scenario. He wants to make sure Lucy's safe, right? Maybe you just allow him to hold Caleb if everyone's together."
No one said anything, obviously feeling his ideas were more likely doubtful. He sighed and shrugged again, "I don't know. I'm just thinking of other options."
"Bring up the forecast on your phone," Carlisle told him, "See when the next rainy day is going to be."
"Probably all week," Masen said, then pulled his phone from his pocket and began searching. He turned the phone around so his father could read it.
"Tomorrow," Carlisle said, "And the next day." He looked over at Esme.
"It's going to be really, really dark. And no rain until it's gets dark, but not like night dark." Nicole told them, scrunching her face up, hoping what she said made sense.
Masen looked at his phone and checked the hourly for the following day. "Hold on," he said as Carlisle was reaching for the phone. He finally found what he was looking for and handed it to him. "No rain until somewhere between four and five."
Carlisle scanned the screen with his eyes and handed it back to Masen. "Find the next day."
"It doesn't go that far."
He scowled, but looked around at everyone, "Then we'll be on tomorrow. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best."
They continued to discuss strategy before trying to refocus on anything but what was in store for them. Carlisle pulled Esme back into the room as everyone else began to scatter.
"He almost walked on his own today," she said, looking at Caleb.
Carlisle smiled and put a hand on the side of her face, "I won't let anything happen to our children."
