"How are you feeling?" Rosalie asked as she looked over worriedly at Bella in the passenger side of the truck she was driving. Bella hadn't even put up a fight about her driving and had seemed a bit subdued. Her continued silence was making Rosalie nervous. It was also causing her insecurities to get the better of her and now she feared that Bella didn't want to be near her. She was about to offer to have Victoria drive when Bella spoke.
"I'm still feeling kind of out of it from yesterday. My head feels kind of foggy and I'm little tired." Bella told her.
"Are you upset about having to leave Forks and all your friends?" Rosalie was worried about that more than she cared to admit. Her biggest fear was that Bella would resent her and Victoria for having to give up her normal human life.
Bella thought about that for a minute. What was she really giving up? "I mean I like my friends just fine and I'm sure I'll miss them but let's be honest, most high schoolers lose touch with their friends when they graduate. So it's just speeding up the inevitable. As for Forks I'm assuming you mean my dad. I am not in anyway sad to leave him behind. He was just waiting for me to graduate to kick me out so his girlfriend could move in. So he will actually be ecstatic I'm gone."
"What about your mom? Do you miss her?" Rosalie didn't know much about Bella's personal life as Edward had gone out of his way to not speak about it in front of her. She knew it was because he knew she wanted to know more about her mate. Keeping information about Bella from her was another way for him to throw the fact he was with Rosalie's mate in her face.
"I haven't talked to my mother since I moved in with my dad. I have no plans to ever be in contact with that woman again." Seeing Rosalie's confused look Bella explained. "I was simply a pawn used to give my mother something to hurt my father with by keeping me away. I was also one of her main sources of income through child support and any other government assistance she could obtain from her having custody of me. Leaving her was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life. Well except meeting you and Victoria."
The last sentence Bella uttered was so soft that had Rosalie not been a vampire she wouldn't have heard it. It didn't lessen the impact it had on her though. Rosalie tried to hide the bright smile hearing the words caused but it was to hard to hold back. "For what it's worth meeting you was the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in both my vampire and human lives."
"What was your human life like?" Bella tried to remember what Edward had told her about Rosalie's life as a human but couldn't remember many details other than she was very vain.
Usually this question would be one Rosalie wouldn't want to answer but with her mate being the one asking Rosalie found herself wanting to tell Bella everything about her life. Even the parts Rosalie wasn't proud of. "I grew up in the 20's and 30's. My father was a banker whose job kept us from going bankrupt during the depression. He and my mother were obsessed with gaining a high social standing and were beyond excited when I turned out to look as I do now."
"If you were even half as beautiful then as you are now then I have no doubt that you had suitors lined up at the door." Bella said.
"Unfortunately that was very true." Seeing Bella's confused look Rosalie explained. "At first I loved all the attention from various men. I was constantly getting compliments and various gifts. My best friend Vera and I would compare the men based on what they gave me. The men who gave the least desirable gifts were quickly dismissed as any type of courting material. Looking back now I realized it was merely a game to me. I never understood how serious my parents were about marrying me off to the most eligible bachelor until I was introduced to Royce King."
Noticing Rosalie's discomfort Bella tried to reassure her. "Rosalie I didn't mean to bring up something traumatic. You don't have to tell me anything more."
Rosalie shook her head. "No it's important you know. My turning into a vampire was because of very horrific circumstances. I want you to know so you can understand me better."
"I will listen gladly if you feel like sharing anything you want about yourself." Bella reached out and took Rosalie's hand in her own.
Squeezing Bella's hand in thanks Rosalie continued. "At first I was happy to have Royce around. He gave me expensive gifts and took me to fancy parties. I was a naive girl back then. I didn't fully understand that I would have no choice in who I was going to marry. You see although I loved the attention I never was attracted to men. Looking back I see that I had a crush on my friend Vera. I never wanted to get married. I just wanted to live with Vera, the two of us traveling without a care in the world."
"So you've always been gay?" Bella asked. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like to be forced to marry someone she didn't love let alone choose.
"I didn't know exactly the word for it but I knew I didn't like men the way a woman was supposed to according to society.I always suspected my mother knew. She was always concerned with me being as feminine as possible. I wasn't allowed to do anything that was considered manly." Rosalie chuckled. "If she knew me now she would have a fit. My love of cars alone would give her heart palpitations."
Bella smiled. "Could you imagine what she would say if she found out that you were driving your female mate to Alaska to meet up with her second female mate. I don't think she would be very understanding of the fact you are in a romantic relationship with two other people."
"Are we in a relationship?" Rosalie asked in a shy voice. She didn't want to be presumptuous but it would be nice to have an official claim to Bella like Victoria did.
"I know I was the one who said we should wait and I still want to go slow but I realized it's silly to fight my feelings for you." Bella took a deep breath. "So this is me officially asking you Rosalie Hale if you would be open to being my girlfriend along with Victoria?"
If ever asked by another person Rosalie would deny the girly squeal she let loose at hearing Bella's question. She couldn't believe she was actually getting to be with her mate after thinking she would never be allowed to. Pulling the truck over to the side of the road Rosalie slipped from the driver's side and straddled Bella's lap kissing her hard enough to bruise her lips. She gave Bella a confused look when Bella put a hand on her chest.
"So is that a yes?" Bella asked with a smile.
Rosalie laughed and started to pepper kisses all over Bella's face. "That is definitely a yes."
"I'm glad. Unfortunately we can't stay here and continue this because one Victoria is going to get worried and come looking for us and two we really need to get to Alaska." Bella told her. She was sad they couldn't stay in this spot for a while longer and just enjoy each other but they really did have to get moving.
Rosalie gave Bella one last kiss before she moved back to the driver's seat and started driving again. "It's a good thing you are as responsible as you are or I would have dragged you to the nearest hotel and not let you leave for a least a month."
"Why Miss. Hale I don't think we are far enough into our relationship to be talking about corrupting my virtue." Bella laughed out loud at the expression on Rosalie's face. She was sure if a vampire could Rosalie would be blushing.
"Oh no I mean not for anything like that. I just meant we could have uninterrupted alone time. Not that I don't want to, I mean I would if you wanted to. Do you want to?" Rosalie slapped her hand over her mouth to physically stop herself from rambling further.
Bella pulled Rosalie's hand away from her mouth and leaned over to kiss Rosalie on the cheek. "I more than want to but that would be going a little faster than I'm comfortable with right now."
"Right. I agree we should get to know each other better and that means I should finish my story." Rosalie felt a surge of confidence in telling Bella about her past now that she was officially in a relationship with her. It was important for Bella to know because she didn't want them to have any secrets between them.
"Only tell me if you want to. I don't want to force you to." Bella said.
Rosalie smiled. "No I want to. Where was I, Oh yes Royce King. He was the bank owner's son and his family was amongst the elite being the most wealthy family in the area. They were exactly who parents wanted to be. So when he took interest in me my parents were ecstatic. My mother had been sending me to the bank to bring my father his lunch hoping that I would catch his eye and eventually it work. When he made his interest known my parents turned away all other suitors and made me spend hours making myself look as beautiful as I could just on the off chance of seeing him around town. We dated briefly before he proposed."
"How did you feel when he asked you?" Bella asked as she tried to picture a human Rosalie spending hours getting ready. It was honestly harder than she thought it would be. Her Rosalie wasn't a vain bitchy vampire like Edward made her out to be. Bella was learning the more time she spent with Rosalie that she was actually incredible shy and very sweet.
"I wasn't happy about it at all." Rosalie sighed. "I had told my parents I didn't want to marry him but they were not going to let me turn him down. I tried to beg them to let me dump him. They didn't listen though. There was a huge engagement party held for the two us with everybody who was anybody attending. I was miserable the whole time as person after person approached me congratulating me and telling me how lucky I was to have found a man like Royce. I had thought I had played the part of doting fiancé but apparently Royce wasn't fooled. He had started drinking as soon as the party started and wasn't without a full glass as the night wore on."
Noticing the tension in Rosalie's posture Bella laced their hands together to hopefully give Rosalie the support she needed to get through the story because she was sure the next part wasn't about happy endings. "You really don't have to continue."
"If I don't finish it now I will probably never tell you." Rosalie took a deep breath and tried to keep the emotions away that always came with thoughts off that night." At the end of the night Royce asked my parents if he could walk me home. During that time period an unmarried couple was always supposed to have a chaperone. My parents of course could never deny Royce so they quickly agreed with his request. It was as we started walking that I noticed we weren't headed in the direction of my home. When I questioned him about it he told me we were going to be meeting up with a few of his friends first. When I started to complain and then physically tried to walk away Royce grabbed my arm and dragged me to a park. There were 5 men waiting for us there. I won't go into details but by the time they were done with me I had been glad I was so close to death. It was then Carlisle found me and changed me. I have been with him ever since."
Bella undid her seatbelt and laid against Rosalie's side holding her as tightly as she could. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. You in no way deserved that. I understood why you wanted to die and I feel beyond selfish that I'm glad you were changed. I hope you know that from this day forward I will do everything in my power to give you the happy life you always wanted."
"Thank you." Rosalie said softly. She put her arm around Bella's shoulder and sighed when Bella laid her head on her chest. She didn't know how Bella would react to her story but she was glad she told her. It was one less painful thing they would have to talk about. Rosalie knew that in the coming days while they were in Alaska with the Denalis lots of hard topics would need to be discussed. Looking down at the girl in her arms she knew that no matter what now that Bella had accepted her as one of her mates everything would work out in the end. She would fight tooth and nail to make it happen.