This chapter covers up to and including Edwards 18th birthday.
Normal disclaimers apply.
I felt numb.
The last words he said before hanging up played on a loop in my mind.
We're not coming back...We're not coming back...We're not coming back...
Light illuminated the driveway as Carlisle came home from work. The engine of his Mercedes breaking the night time silence.
"Everything okay Edward?" He asked, emerging from his vehicle.
I didn't answer and every step closer he took worry became more evident on his face. He crouched down in front of me. "What's wrong son?"
I met his gaze. It was filled with compassion and kindness.
When everything else failed he was always here for me. Picking up the pieces of my fractured life. The only father figure I had ever known.
I threw my arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. "He's not coming back, dad. He's never coming back."
His arms wrapped around me, holding me tight. "You're freezing! How long have you been sitting out here in just a t-shirt?"
"S-since the p-post arrived." I hiccupped.
"Let's get you inside and warmed up." He tugged me to my feet and helped me indoors.
Emmett looked up from his spot on the couch. "Dad? Oh god, what's he done now?" He jumped up and helped Carlisle bring me to the couch.
"I found him like this out on the porch. How long has he been outside?" He tucked several thick blankets around me and continued to talk to Emmett about me as if I couldn't hear them. "He mentioned something about the post. Did he receive some mail?"
"Shit. Yeah, his moms ashes were posted to him. He didn't freak out though. Just walked away. Mom put them away for now, until he's ready to deal with them."
"Is that all?"
"Well he got a phone call. From the sound of it, it was Jasper. I just assumed he came back and Edward went round there."
I flinched at the sound of his name.
We're not coming back...We're not coming back...
My chest ached and my heart cracked with the pain. Would I ever see him again? Did I ever mean as much to him as he means to me? Would I ever find out where it all went wrong?
000
I threw myself into my studies, taking extra classes to fill my time. I excelled on the track team and even beat my own PB several times.
I continued to work out with Emmett on the weekends, becoming almost as muscly as him, and spent quality time with my family.
On the outside I appeared to be a model student and a perfect son, but on the inside I was dead. Hollow and blackened, like the husk of a burned out ruin.
I didn't date again, afraid of the same thing happening. How could I open up my heart to another person, when the one person it did want threw it away?
On my seventeenth birthday Carlisle and Esme presented me with adoption papers. I had been living with them for over a year at that point and they wanted to make it permanent.
"Okay." I agreed. "But I want to keep my original surname, if that's alright?"
"Of course it is sweetheart." Esme said, wrapping me in one of her motherly hugs.
"Thanks mom, dad. This is the best gift I could have received.
They are the best kind of people. Not a single bad bone in their bodies and they wanted me for me.
They had done the same for Emmett and Alice. Emmett - like me - wanted to keep his original surname but tagged theirs on the end, becoming Emmett McCarty-Cullen, and Alice jumped in fully, requesting she be known as a Cullen straight away.
None of us may be connected by blood, but we were a family nonetheless.
June 2002
On my eighteenth birthday, I received a formal looking document in the mail from a Seattle based law firm.
I opened it up and pulled out information for an account set up in my name containing seven point three million dollars.
Holy shit!
"Language Edward." Esme said, setting a plate of bacon down on the table.
"Sorry mom. I didn't realise I said that out loud."
"That's alright. Now, what are you exclaiming about so passionately any way?" I handed her the papers and her mouth fell open in shock. "Holy shit!" She said, repeating my earlier sentiment.
"Precisely."
"What is this?" She passed the papers to dad so he could read.
"My combined trust fund and monetary amount left to me in my fathers will."
"Goodness me. That is quite a significant sum. We'll head down to the bank this afternoon and get it transferred to a more secure account for you." Carlisle said, helping himself to some eggs.
"Thanks dad. Will you be my co-guarantor?"
"Of course. I might even let you drive us down there." He smirked.
"Oh ha ha, old man!" I had finally passed my driving test - on the fourth attempt - a few weeks ago, having failed it three times already. "It's not my fault. Chief Swan is scary."
"Hey! Less of the old. I'm not even forty yet!" He scoffed, sipping on his coffee.
"Yeah, but you're only two years away from it. Time's ticking." I teased.
"I've got years left in me yet." He slapped his chest.
"Hmm, I dunno. Alice is going to be thirteen soon. She'll knock a few years off."
His face paled slightly. "Nope. I refuse to believe that my little girl is going to be thirteen this year."
"At least you'll have me out of your hair. With this, I can get into any college I want and not worry about student fees or loans." I put the papers back into the envelope and set it on the side.
000
"Thank you Mister Masen, Mister Cullen. You won't be disappointed banking with us."
Carlisle and I exited B of A and headed back to his car.
"Um, dad, do you mind of we visit some car dealerships this weekend?"
"Sorry Edward, I'm on call this weekend. How about asking Emmett? He should be home from college by then."
"Oh. Okay." He rarely turned down our requests for his time, but I couldn't help the little pang of rejection that bubbled up inside of me.
I hadn't had that feeling in quite some time, not since him. It all came to head when the Hale's sold their home, getting a company to go in and pack away all of their belongings and ship it off to where ever they lived now. I didn't know. The removal men refused to tell me anything, saying it was against company policy to disclose that information.
A new family moved in. They have a little three year old and another one on the way. I struggled with it for so long, but with the love and support of my family, I finally started to heal. The blackened husk slowly started coming back to life.
We pulled up in the driveway and the first thing that caught my eye was Emmett standing on the porch. I failed to notice that the family cars were all out on the driveway. I climbed out of the car and ran up to him, enveloping him in a hug. He lifted me off my feet. "Hey bro!"
"When did you get back?" I asked, when he set me back down.
"About twenty minutes ago. Just in time to do this." He motioned to the drive.
I looked behind me and noticed there was an extra car amongst the rest. "Oh did you get another car?" I asked, spotting a silver Volvo that I had never seen before.
"I didn't."
"You did." Esme said, stepping out of the front door, a set of car keys hanging off of her index finger. "Happy birthday Edward."
I was speechless. I couldn't believe they had bought me a car for my birthday. I remember adamantly telling them two years ago that I didn't want them to spend that much money on me, but then again I had only been with them for two months at the time. Little did I know back then, I would be staying and become part of the family.
"It's from all three of us. You deserve something big and this is all we could think of. You've worked so hard these past two years. We've seen you go from a lonely, scared teenager and transform into this confident, brilliant young man. We couldn't be more proud of you." Carlisle said, joining us on the porch.
Tears welled in my eyes at his words. These three people have been my biggest supporters from the very first day I met them. I'm privileged to call them my family.
"I-I don't know what to say. This is too much. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. I love you guys." I wrapped my arms around Esme and Carlisle, hugging them tightly.
Emmett came up behind me and wrapped his arms around us. "Group hug!" He yelled. "Alice, get in here." She stepped over from where she was standing in the doorway and squeezed herself between me and Carlisle.
"Mom, I withdraw my statement from last years birthday. This is the best birthday ever."
I know it kind of skimmed over the 17 months from when Edward last heard from Jasper, but I didn't want to dwell on his departure and this way it's prepped
for when Edward goes to college.
Let me know what you think.
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