Chapter Forty Five

Megan

It was fun playing hide and go seek with mommy, especially hiding from Uncle Peter who tried everything to trip me up. He would call my name, offer me ice cream or a new toy, even offer to let me stay up late if I allowed him to find us but I never did. Mommy soon learned how to help me so it was easier to hide us and Darius.

I knew mommy and Auntie Charlotte were worried that Uncle Peter would get upset when he couldn't find us but he never did, not with me anyway. Even when I jumped out on him from behind a stack of hay bales in the stable and made him fall over backwards into the water trough. He glared at mommy who couldn't stop laughing but he just smiled at me and patted the top of my head.

I know that he likes me a lot which is nice and he doesn't really want to be cross. He just gets frustrated when things don't go right, the way he thinks they should.

When daddy first told me that I had a family I was scared. My own family hadn't wanted me and I was afraid this new family wouldn't either, but I was wrong.

Peter and Charlotte had been really nice to me and mommy and they felt more like a big brother and sister, especially Peter.

Nanna and Grandpa were nice too, but I couldn't help remembering that they hadn't wanted me before I was born. They even tried to persuade mommy to get rid of me. I know they like me now, but I wouldn't be here if they'd had their way.

I still had to meet my other aunties and uncles, my real father's family and daddy's too which was a bit confusing, but then I was special and so were they, so we didn't have to be like other normal families.

Darius wasn't an uncle or a brother but he was just as special as the others. He was one of daddy's best friends and he had helped us a lot when I first met mommy. I just wished he wasn't so sad all the time. Hopefully, Aro would help me make him smile again. I couldn't bring back Sara but I could help to make sure that the bad man who had killed her paid for doing that.

I missed him. Daddy had said he would find a way to keep in touch but I hadn't heard anything from him yet and it had been ages. Mommy said it had only been two weeks but that seemed like a really long time to me. I hadn't even had a chance to show him my new dress, the one that he said reminded him of Sara. I wish he had a photograph of her to show me but they didn't have cameras back then and only really important people had their likeness painted, important and rich.

Once the grown-ups were sure that mommy and I were keeping Darius hidden, Aro had sent a message through Grandpa Carlisle, to tell us so, mommy and daddy told me we were going to see our new home for the first time.

I was really excited to see it even though it meant leaving Peter and Charlotte behind. Peter had to go into town to meet a man who wanted to buy one of his young stallions and Charlotte had things to do.

It seemed strange, just the three of us. We hadn't been on our own since Christmas and I wondered if I would ever get used to it being so quiet again. Daddy and I had spent two years on our own and I hadn't missed other people being around but it was nice to have another family, sometimes.

I'd been really quiet in the car thinking about things and daddy had to speak to me twice before I heard him.

"What's up, Meg? You're very quiet today."

Mommy pushed my hair back from my face and smiled,

"Are you tired sweetheart?"

"No. I'm OK."

I answered quickly because I knew mommy was worried that keeping Darius hidden was too much for me, even with her help, and I didn't want her to tell me I couldn't do it any more. It would only be for a little bit longer, daddy had told us that Aro was going to help and soon the bad Caius would be leaving Volterra.

"I was just thinking about family."

"Oh. What about the family?"

I tried to think about how to explain to mommy and daddy what I had been thinking about without upsetting them. I know they thought it was good for me to have family and I liked it. I was just nervous about the Cullen family. If we were going to move into our new house real soon then they would be coming to visit. I'd enjoyed visiting grandpa and nanna, but I was scared of the idea of them staying with us and bringing even more people. Would they look at daddy and think that my real father should be there instead? That would be really unfair because daddy had always been there for me, he had saved my life when I just born.

"I'm scared of moving into a new place."

Mommy frowned and put an arm around me, "Scared? Why sweetheart? Don't you want a home of your own?"

"Yes, but when we get a home of our own won't other people come to visit?"

"Well, yes, but I thought you liked having people around."

"I do, I love Peter and Charlotte and Darius. I mean other people."

"You mean grandpa and nanna Cullen and your other aunties and uncles?"

I nodded.

"Why are you scared of them coming to visit?"

I chewed my lip as I thought about the right words.

"Grandpa and Nanna were really nice to me, just like Aro and Sulpicia but what if they change their minds? What if they decide they'd rather have their son back. What if they blame me for his death? And what about my other aunties and uncles? There's nowhere to hide if they come to visit us and don't like me."

Daddy pulled into a diner parking lot and turned to look at me.

"You listen to me, Meg. It wasn't your fault, what happened to Edward. That was all his fault and Carlisle and Esme both know that. No one is blaming you for anything. Whatever they thought before you were born they know different now and neither of them would ever want to hurt you. Besides, mommy and I wouldn't let them. I promised you once that no one will ever hurt you and that still stands. So there's nothing to worry about and once we get settled in I'll find you a place to hide if you ever feel that you need space to yourself. OK?"

I nodded, feeling much better. A place I could hide away sounded really good because sometimes I just wanted to be away from everyone except mommy and daddy. At Peter's it hadn't mattered because grandpa and Nanna would never visit there, they didn't get along.

When daddy suggested I might like some lunch at the diner I smiled. I loved eating out. It reminded me of the few times daddy and I had eaten in a restaurant when we stayed in Boston.

"I'll fill up the car and be waiting when you come out."

I pouted, I wanted daddy to come too but I think he wanted to make some phone calls so I went off with mummy into the diner.

I had pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream and a soda while mommy pretended to drink her coffee just like daddy did when he took me, except daddy usually ordered something to eat too so I got to try his as well as mine.

Afterwards we drove the rest of the way to the house and daddy made me close my eyes as he pulled into the driveway so it would be a surprise.

"OK You can open them now."

I peeked between my fingers then dropped my hands. The house was great, it was like the one daddy and I had been living in when mommy first came home with us only bigger. There was a big yard for me to play in and an orchard with chickens.

Inside, I ran upstairs to look at my bedroom but when I walked in I realized I wasn't alone. A man stood over by the window but not looking out and for a minute I didn't recognize him but then I did and ran over squealing his name, "Darius."

He smiled and lifted me up into his arms giving me a hug before standing me back on my feet.

"I swear you've grown at least two inches since I last saw you. What do you think of the house?"

"I love it, but daddy never told me you'd be here."

"That's because he didn't know. I didn't tell anyone. I'm in hiding remember?"

I nodded giggling, "Of course I do. I'm hiding you with mommy's help. Is the bad man coming soon?"

He knelt down with a sigh and took my hands in his.

"Yes, Megan. Very soon, so I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? When will I see you again? Will you be away long?"

"I don't know if we'll ever meet again munchkin. Once I avenge Sara I don't know what will happen but I promise I'll never forget what you've done for me."

I felt a lump in my throat, never see Darius again? No, I couldn't.

"But you have to come back. You just have to."

"No. You have your family now and you don't need my help."

"No. You are family. You have to come back. Promise me you will. You have to promise me, Darius."

I threw my arms around his neck and held on tight, unable to stop myself from crying. It wasn't fair, he couldn't just go away and not come back.

Darius

I had deliberated over whether to see Megan again, but I had given her my word and I wouldn't break it. The strange thing was that the closer I got to killing Caius the less important it seemed. There was nothing but darkness beyond that, a darkness I had craved for centuries but now almost feared. What if Sara was not there waiting for me? What if all there was to look forward to was cold lonely darkness. I had spent centuries living in that already. and I wasn't sure I could bear more of it.

Since meeting Megan my life had altered subtly. I felt more alive, a warmth in my chest that has been absent for so very long.

Crouching here with her now, her little arms clasped tightly around my neck it was almost as if Sara were here too. She would have loved Megan and I know Megan would have felt the same way about her. Maybe if things had been different, if we had met as humans Sara and I would have had a family, a little angel like Megan. I broke off that thought as the pain threatened to return and then pulled back from her.

"Hey now. No tears. You have made me very happy, Megan. I can finish what I have waited for so long. I want you to be a good girl for your parents, grow up to be a good person and help anyone you can, just like you helped me. I can't promise we'll meet again but I'll always be here with you in your heart and in your memories. Now, you asked me what Sara looked like. Remember?"

She nodded sniffing and wiping her tears away with the back of her hand, "And you told me you didn't have cameras in those days and only rich people had their likeness painted or sculpted."

"Well, I haven't been sitting around doing nothing while I waited. I did this for you. I'm not a professional painter but it's not a bad likeness."

I handed her the painting I had done ready framed and waited for her reaction.

I had tried hard not to think too deeply about Sara over the centuries because it hurt so much but now I knew the end was in sight I let my imagination go. I rekindled all the images of Sara in my memory that I had locked away and worked hard to do her beauty justice.

"Oh, Darius. She was so beautiful. Her hair is almost the same color as mine."

"Yes, you could be her as a child. When I saw that photograph of you in the outfit Sulpicia bought you I saw Sara standing there."

Megan put a hand on my cheek holding the painting carefully in the other.

"Don't be sad, Darius. Like you told me, she's always with you in here."

She moved her hand to my chest and I felt the warmth soaking through my shirt and into my chest.

"You're right, munchkin. Now, I should go. It's not safe for me to stay here."

She grasped my hand staring up at me with her huge dark eyes,

"You won't go without saying goodbye, will you? Call me, please?"

"I will. Now, go see the rest of your house and aak daddy to hang your painting up in your room for you."

I pushed her gently towards the door and waited until she disappeared down the stairs before leaping from the window and making my way back to the small car I had lifted in Boulder earlier in the day. I didn't want a paper trail for anyone to trace and I'd abandoned my own truck with the keys in it in the city knowing it would be stolen and probably burned out in days, if not hours. Other than the truck I had nothing to concern me. All my property had been registered through a dummy corporation and now belonged to Megan to be held in trust until she reached 18.

I hadn't told her or the Major, I didn't want anyone trying to change my decision. Once Caius was dead I would join Sara. I would finally be at peace, my life over, my final duty to my beloved fulfilled.