Chapter Nine
"So...as you already know, Billy and I were friends since childhood. Growing up, I think, for both of us, there was always something more there, but we ignored it as best we could.
"The first time we stopped ignoring it was when we all went out for my twenty-first birthday to celebrate.
"I remember Quil and Harry both went home early that night, they had to be up at the crack of dawn the next morning to go fishing. Oh, that was Quil IV, I should specify since there's one for every generation.
"Anyway, Billy helped me get home that night because I was pretty hammered. So hammered that when he helped me inside and up the stairs and got me to my room...I kissed him." Charlie smiles, his hand instinctively going to his lips at the recollection. "You wanna tell this part, Babe?" He offers.
Billy nods and takes over the story. "Needless to say, I was shocked. But I kissed him back. It was instinctive. Like breathing. I had never felt anything like it in my life. Anyway, we didn't stop to think about anything else that night. We just wanted to be together.
"The next day, when we were sober, our minds got to thinking about all the possible repercussions. Judgment from our peers condemnation from society the fact that being together would mean never having children... it was all too much. So we vowed to never speak of it again.
"We stayed friends and we stayed close. Those feelings never went away, in fact, I think the more we tried to ignore them the stronger they grew. But the human heart has a limitless capacity for love.
"And so, I met Sarah. And we fell in love too and we got married. Then Chuck met Renée and they had a whirlwind courtship and got married too. And Sarah and I had the twins. And then your dad had you, Bella. But then Renée left. Chuck was a wreck.
"I remember we went drinking one night. Back to that same bar where it all began. And he was so broken. And I was so weak with love for this man. I'm not proud of it, but I was unfaithful to my wife that night.
"The shame the next morning was crippling. I distanced myself from him for a while out of fear that it would happen again. I loved Sarah and I didn't want to leave her. But I knew I couldn't stay away from him forever.
"So I went back to my wife And I was honest with her. I remember, she asked me if I still love her and I assured her that I did and it was true I was very much in love with your mother, Jacob. But I was also very much in love with your father, Bella.
"And so we worked out an arrangement. as long as I was willing to keep what Chuck and I had confined to our fishing trips...then she was willing to look the other way. On the condition that no one would ever know.
"It worked really well for a while. And then Jacob was born. That was when I started to worry about how the wolf curse might eventually affect my son.
"I had this huge thing that was going on in my head with worrying about that, and I couldn't tell Chuck because it was against the treaty to talk to anyone outside of the tribe about vampires.
"He could sense that something was wrong and wouldn't be placated when I would brush it off as nothing. You want to tell this part?" Billy smiles, handing the story off to my dad again.
"Yeah." Charlie laughs. "I was behaving like a jealous girlfriend. Billy had never kept secrets from me before, that I knew of. So when I knew there was something but didn't know what it was... I assumed it was another man.
"I confronted him and he told me I was being ridiculous. So I begged him to tell me the truth but he wouldn't. It created a rift between us. We never officially ended things but let's just say it was a long time after that before we ever booked another fishing trip.
Charlie pauses and glances apologetically at Jake before he tells us the next chapter in their story. "And then, there was the accident. And Jake you lost your mom. And she was a good woman and the world was a little worse off without her in it.
"And Billy was distraught. At the bar drinking every night, trying to drown himself in nothingness. I knew I had to step in. I knew I couldn't just let him fall away like that. Even though we'd grown distant I was still head over heels for this man.
"And so, one night, I met him at the bar. That very same bar. And I took him by the hands and I put him in my car and I took him to my house. I took him to a place where the memories were only pleasant, and the walls weren't adorned with pictures of Sarah, and every nook and cranny didn't cry with want of her.
"And I healed him. I brought my Billy back from the abyss of his grief by giving him something else to live for. I still wasn't entirely convinced he hadn't cheated on me all those years ago but I decided it didn't matter.
"I knew that no matter what, he still loved me. And I sure as hell still loved him. The years melted away for us that night and we were young again.
"It was 1985 all over again and Paul Young, Everytime You Go Away, was playing on the radio and I was dancing in my bedroom in my lover's arms…" Charlie Trails off consumed by the memory. Billy takes over again.
"That was back when I could still dance." Billy chuckles.
"I was so grateful for Chuck that night. I really had been drowning in my grief. I didn't think there was any way back from it. But somehow by a miracle, he pulled me out of it, and somehow I got better.
"We went back to having fishing trips but we still kept our relationship quiet. Partly out of respect for Sarah. But also, Quil had passed by that time and Harry had lost his best friend. He leaned on us a lot after that.
"And we'd both heard Harry say homophobic things often enough that we convinced ourselves we would lose that friendship entirely if we ever came out. So we didn't.
"And then the Cullens came to town and unbeknownst to me, Billy was back in that place of dealing with fear for his son. And he hated them for it, sorry, Edward. And I couldn't understand how such a loving man could take such a hateful stance about a family he didn't even know.
"And of course, again, he couldn't tell me why. So again it caused a rift between us. It wasn't until just before you moved back to Forks, Bells, that I reached out to Billy to repair our relationship.
"I knew I was going to need his love and support if I was going to take on something as big as being a full-time father all of a sudden.
"Things were still a little rocky between us though until Harry passed away. That was when Billy finally decided that treaty be damned he was gonna tell me the truth.
"It all got much easier for us after that. Partly because Billy wasn't keeping secrets anymore. But also, as much as we miss Harry, it was a huge relief to not have to worry about getting caught and losing a friend. Losing him to a heart attack was bad enough, but at least we were on good terms when he passed.
"And we knew you kids would find out eventually, but we weren't as worried about that because your generation handles the stuff a lot different than ours did. We would have told you sooner, but decades of hiding is a hard habit to break." My dad shrugs.
I remain silent for a few minutes thinking about all of the things they told us. What a long, rich history they have that we knew nothing about. It makes me feel like I don't know my dad at all.
Of course, I don't blame him for that, or myself. I tend to be very observant and if Renée had let me spend more time here over the years, I probably would have figured it out much sooner.
"I'm glad we know now. I hope you don't feel like you have to hide anymore. The world still has a long way to go but it's becoming a more accepting place," I assure them.
"I do have one question though…was it all in my imagination to think that my dad had a crush on Sue? Because honestly, that was the thing that surprised me most in finding out about all this.
"Like, I was so convinced of that eventuality, that I had started mentally preparing myself to one day be related to Leah," I tell them, suppressing a grin.
They pause and exchange a look. Billy nods and speaks. "You're not wrong, Bella. Sue is a topic your dad and I have been discussing an awful lot lately. And it isn't just Chuck, I'll admit to having a little crush there myself.
"It's entirely possible that if we play our cards right we might one day end up having something that looks a little bit akin to what you three have," Billy admits.
"Wait...so you're saying that I might one day have to be related to Leah too? Aww, I have to put up with her enough in the pack, don't make her my sister, too!" Jake pouts.
I decide against pointing out the fact that if those three got married he and I would be step-siblings too since I don't want him getting weirded out about marrying me.
So instead I decide to change the subject.
"That reminds me, speaking of weddings..."