Chapter eighteen

Renesmee POV

I took a deep breath as my mind went in an overdrive. Edward was coming to Binghamton… My bastard father was coming here! What do I do? I only had spent one night with the rest of the family. I wasn't ready to meet him. As much as I longed for a parent in my life, I didn't want to see him. I hated him. If he hadn't left, maybe my mom would be alive and here with me. That was one thing I wished for above all other. But it was also the only thing I would never get. She was gone before I even got to know her.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts to address Alice: "Can't you do something to stop him?"

Alice slowly shook her head: "He is already on his way here. He will be in the evening. Besides what could I tell him to stop him from coming? I would have to tell him about you… do you want that?"

"No!" I exclaimed and then sighed, "You are right… I guess I will have to face him. I am just not ready…"

Alice looked me in the eyes and took my hand: "I know, sweetie. And don't worry. He won't hurt you. The whole family is on your side. But remember… he didn't know about you and I am sure he will be thrilled to meet you."

I ignored the end and just stared out the window. We had arrived at the parking lot. Here our charade would start. I would have to act like my aunts and uncles were my cousins… it seemed ridiculous to me. While I used to hide some things from the humans, I never flat out lied. I wasn't sure if I could pull this off. Still, I had to try.

We got out of the car and went by to Rosalie and Emmet, who were already here. I saw my friends looking across the parking lot, confusion written all over their faces. I could understand… after all, I confronted the Cullens yesterday and it didn't end how I liked it. And now here we are, arriving together, as a family.

I looked at Darrell, Sean and Iris and waved at them to come over. They did so but hesitantly.

"Hi, guys," I said as soon as they were closer. They quietly greeted me back but still looked confused.

Alice decided to take lead: "Hello Darrell, Sean, Iris," she looked at each in turn, "sorry for yesterday. We didn't know who Renesmee was and should have been nicer."

The rest of the Cullens followed her lead and also greeted my friends.

"Umm, what do you mean by who Renesmee is?" asked Iris.

I smiled and started to explain: "Remember yesterday, when you told me about the new students, I went all weird?" Iris nodded in return and I continued, "Well, it was because I recognized the surname Cullen. It's the same as my fathers. Still, I didn't know what it meant when we went over to their table yesterday. But my Grandpa explained to me at home. Of course, my father had family, but I knew nothing about them. So he told me that they were my cousins. He just hadn't thought we would ever meet as we are not close with my fathers side. Anyway… I went over, we talked, understood that we were indeed cousins with Alice and Emmet. Then we had a spontaneous sleepover, we spent all night talking and well… here we are. So… meet my family." I hoped it was good enough. That my explanation wouldn't raise too many questions.

Sean was first to respond: "So you just out of the blue found a part of your family?"

"Yeah, I don't know how it happened either," I laughed.

Iris suddenly hugged: "I am so happy for you Renesmee. I know how lonely you always felt with having only your grandfather."

She accepted us! Oh, I felt so grateful and happy. With the side of eye, I saw Jasper smiling at my emotions, feeling better himself.

"And so you decided to fit right in? You look just like them now!" Darrell let out a booming laugh and I couldn't help but laugh with him.

"Well yeah, Rosalie and Alice decided to play dress up," I looked at both of my aunts as I said that and they just shrugged.

"Well, now that we have resolved that, I would like to say, that any friends of Renesmee are also friends of ours," Alice said with a bright smile on her face. Wow, that was very generous of them. The Cullens usually weren't that welcoming to outsiders. But I guess, I understood where this was coming from. I had explained them how much my friends meant to me. With Grandpa being all I had, I had taken it upon myself to expand my circle. And my friends were really dear to me. The Cullens were doing all they could to make me feel welcome.

"Okay, as much as I love making new friends, we have classes to get to. Shall we go?" Iris asked.

I nodded and went with her, rest of our friends following only to split up when each of us headed to different classes.

After school

The rest of the school day went by quite normally. We ate lunch together, my friends got to talking with my family and I had an all around nice day. But now I had to face my grandfather Charlie. Alice and Jasper drove me to the house. Alice hoped, she would get a chance to say hi to Charlie. They had gotten along quite well all those years ago. Only then Charlie didn't know about anything supernatural.

Charlie came outside as we stopped in front of the house. We got out of car faster than humans could.

Charlie rushed towards me: "Renesmee, are you all right? I worried when you didn't come home for so long."

I sighed… it wasn't easy to be angry at him. He only wanted to protect me and he got scared when it came to the Cullens, because he couldn't protect me from them as they were stronger than him.

"I am good. Sorry for disappearing. I just needed time to calm down and I wanted to spend the night with my family before we had to go to school," I explained. He deserved an apology after how I had acted.

He shook his head: "It's okay, sweetie. I didn't mean the things I said. You know I love you and would never think of you badly?" I nodded in answer and he continued, "Just don't do that again. I was so worried."

"Okay, Grandpa. I promise. But there are people I would like you to meet. Remember Alice and Jasper?" I gestured to them standing behind me.

Charlie chuckled: "Of course I do. Come here, Alice!" he called her to him. Charlie hugged Alice and she returned the gesture.

"How have you been, Charlie? I see you took good care of Renesmee. I am only sorry we weren't here to help. I wish we had known," Alice said sincerely.

Grandpa shrugged: "I am okay. Well, we managed and I loved raising Renesmee. But remember, she is still young and I am still her guardian. I won't let any harm come to her," at the end his tone changed to a threatening one.

"Hey! I can take care of myself. And I am all grown up, for you knowledge," I protested but they paid no mind to me.

"Don't worry, Charlie. We know. The last thing we would want to do is hurt her. Already, the whole family loves her and would protect her with their lives," Jasper reassured Grandpa and I believed him. He knew what others felt so he would be the best judge on how the rest of the Cullens felt about me.

Grandpa shot a look at me: "What about him? Does he know? Did you meet him?"

I tried to speak carefully: "No, Grandpa. He wasn't there and he doesn't know. But he is coming this evening to visit…"

I saw his face going red and got scared for a moment. I looked at Jasper for help and he nodded. I felt calm all around us.

"Why is he coming? And what do you plan on doing?" Charlie asked and I saw that Jasper was having an effect on him.

My bottom lip trembled: "I don't know, Grandpa. I don't know what to do! I hate him for what he did to mom…" I confessed and Grandpa hugged me. I was thankful he was next to me. I relied on him the most. I knew he would support me.

"Is there any way we can avoid him? At least for the time being?" Charlie asked while looking at Alice.

She shook her head: "I am sorry but no. He can read our minds. And while we could try to hide our thoughts, it wouldn't last long and he would find out. All of us are too excited and surprised by Renesmee to put her out of our minds."

Grandpa sighed and stroked my hair slowly: "Well, I guess you have to face him, pumpkin," he said as he looked into my eyes to analyze how I felt about it and then continued: "I can come with you, if you wish. I won't let him hurt you anymore than he already has."

I nodded in agreement: "I would like you to come. I can't do this by myself." Already, meeting the Cullens had been much for me to handle… I knew there was nothing really Grandpa could do against vampires but I needed, at least, his emotional support.

"Don't worry. I will make sure to show my brother his place. He won't say or do a thing that could hurt Renesmee," Alice reassured me and Jasper joined her.

A/N: So… the time has come for Renesmee to meet her father. Hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am.

Please review!