CPOV
Edward's voice is a growl as he speaks, "We have a visitor. He followed you home from Port Angeles."
"Charles?" Esme gasps and I'm immediately at her side, pulling her into my arms.
"No" Edward says, his voice softening.
"Esme why don't you come upstairs and we'll give you another facial." Bella says coming into the room with Rosalie and Emmett hot on her heels.
"I don't want to go upstairs. I want to know what's going on."
"Please love" I beg her. "Go up with the girls. I'll take care of this, and come get you when I'm done. I promise to tell you everything, but right now I need to know you're safe or I can't think."
"You promise to tell me everything?" She asks framing my face in her hands.
"I promise." I turn my head to kiss her palm. "Now please go upstairs. Have them put some of that coconut stuff in your hair again. It made it feel like silk."
"Okay" she says, a little wary and follows Alice, Rosalie, and Bella upstairs.
The minute she's gone, I turn to Edward.
"What's going on?"
"He's a private investigator hired by Charles. Apparently you and Esme were spotted in a store in Port Angeles, and he's been waiting there to see you again. He followed you home tonight and right now he's using his camera to look in our windows. He's trying to see if Esme is here."
"Did he see her before she went upstairs?" Jasper asks.
"No, he was at the back of the house. He's making his way around to the front now. He's wishing he had a way to look in the second floor windows, but he thinks climbing a tree is too risky."
"So Charles knows she was in Port Angeles." I growl out.
"He also knows that she's with you." Emmett says. His tone is serious and I know he's in protector mode.
"He's right." Jasper says "He may not know your name but I bet he knows what you look like. These PI guys usually report to their boss when they have a lead."
"I'm betting that Charles isn't far. He's a manipulative abuser. If he knows she's somewhere, he's going to stay there until he finds her. To him, she's property and she ran away. He thinks she belongs to him, and he's not going to let her go or let anyone else have her." Edward says.
"That means you have to be careful, Carlisle." Emmett adds. "If Charles sees you, you could lead him right to her."
"I'll call the hospital tomorrow and tell them I need some time off."
"Okay, good. Now what do we do about this guy outside?" Emmett says and all of the boys put in their opinion.
"We can't just let him go. He could give our address up to Charles." There's Jasper strategist brain.
"Well we can't call the police, Charles will bail him out and the same thing will happen." And there's Edward's logical brain.
"I'm guessing killing him is out."
"Yes Emmett." I sigh, "We're not killing him."
"Why don't we just give him a false lead?" Jasper murmurs. "We could get Bella or Rosalie to pretend to be your wife and Edward, Emmett and I could be your sons. Leave the other girls upstairs with Esme. Tell him that you bought Esme a change of clothes, some food, and sent her on her way. We're just a normal American family."
"Make Bella your wife. There's no way two blondes had two brunette children, it will look suspicious." Edward says.
"You sure?" I know how protective Edward is. He waited a long time for Bella.
"I'm sure. Just watch those hands old man." He growls.
Bella comes down the stairs after hearing our conversation. She walks right to Edward and the two put their foreheads together and whisper too quietly for even us to hear.
After a few minutes, she breathes out a sigh and comes over to me.
"Ready?"
I nod at her.
"Let's do this."
We go to the front door and with a flick of a switch, the whole front of the house is lit up. When I open the front door, there's a man standing a few feet away from the front porch. He's nervous and I'm guessing it's because he knows he's been caught. He has long, dirty brown hair that is down to his shoulders and desperately needs washed and cut, his face is covered in pimples and his smile looks more like a sneer.
"Can I help you? This is private property." I call out to him.
"Hello! My name is Danny Tucker and I'm working with the police to investigate a missing persons case. We have reason to believe that you're involved" He comes up onto the porch and stands in front of me. He's obviously lying, but I won't let him know that I know.
Bella comes up beside me and takes my hand in hers. There's a quiet, low growl behind me and I apologize to Edward in my thoughts.
"What can we do to help?"
"Do you know this woman?" He holds up a photo of Esme and I have to hold in my growl. Next to her in the picture is Charles. He has his arm around her and his hand has a firm grip on her shoulder. The smile on his face is completely evil and hers looks pained. She has dark circles under her eyes and the normally vibrant green irises looks dull and lifeless.
"Honey isn't that the homeless woman we met in Port Angeles?" Bella gives me a look that tells me to calm down.
"I think it is. Why don't you come in and we can talk about it."
We lead him inside where the boys have taken up the whole couch. Bella and I make our way over to one chair where she perches on the arm instead of squeezing in with me, and I gesture for him to sit across from us. We'll have to burn that chair later.
"Danny, I am Carlisle Cullen and this is my wife Bella. These are our sons Emmett, Edward, and Jasper. Bella and I met the woman in that photo almost two weeks ago in Port Angeles. She was homeless and needed help. We bought her a change of clothes and some food. We tried to convince her to go to a homeless shelter, but she refused. She said she had to keep moving. Last we saw her, she was buying a train ticket to San Francisco."
"She was at the train station in Port Angeles?" He asks while writing in his small notebook that he produced out of his dirty jacket pocket.
"Yes. She seemed afraid to stay in one place for too long." Bella says.
"We have reason to believe that she's been taken against her will. Her husband is very worried about her. If you think of anything else, please call me." He hands me a business card that says his name and phone number on it, no business name or title.
"We will do that." I stand up, a signal for him to do the same, which he does.
"Thank you so much for your help, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen."
We lead him to the door and open it for him; that's the extent of my manners right now.
"We're glad to help," Bella says sweetly "and don't worry, if we think of anything else, we'll notify the police." With that she shuts the door in his face.
Edward is in the living room chuckling at his wife's attitude as I speed past them to get to my angel. I can't even bring myself to knock on Esme's door before going in. She's laying on her bed with Alice's laptop and I frown that Alice left her alone.
"I was watching the whole time. She was never in danger. She wanted to be alone." Alice says to me from her bedroom, knowing I can hear her a floor away.
Esme doesn't say anything or look up when I enter or when I close the door softly behind me. I slowly move to sit next to her and peek at the laptop screen.
"That's beautiful." I whisper because I just fell in love with the beautifully crafted, white crib on the screen.
"I think so too," She says softly "but I want to wait to decorate the nursery until we know the baby's gender."
"Okay love." I lean over and kiss her temple. She shuts the laptop and turns to look at me.
"What's going on Carlisle?"
"There was a private investigator here. Edward read his thoughts and he had followed me home from Port Angeles. Apparently someone spotted you with me when we went clothes shopping. He was hoping to find you here. but we got you upstairs before he saw you. Bella and I confronted him and led him to believe you were headed for San Francisco."
"But that doesn't make sense…why would you lie to the police? And why would the police hire a private investigator?"
With another sigh, I kiss her temple again.
"The police didn't hire him…Charles did."
Her whole body goes stiff and her breathing increases.
"He found me?" She whispers. She starts rocking back and forth with her knees pulled to her chest.
"No, love. We led him away from you. You're safe."
"He found me and he found you." She's on the road to a panic attack and I'm trying to comfort her the best I can.
"No he didn't. He hired some sleezeball PI who happened to recognize me. He'll never know you're here. We told him you left Port Angeles on a train to San Francisco. He has no reason to come back here."
I pull her into my arms and try to hold her, but she shoves me off; I let her because I refuse to force her to do anything. She jumps up and starts pacing.
"He found us." Her hands are on her belly and I know she's worried about peanut. When I see the first tear on her face, I'm on my feet. I stand in front of her and frame her face with my hands.
"Esme please." I don't break eye contact as I continue. "Angel you have to calm down. This isn't good for peanut. Charles will not hurt you, I won't allow it, and as a vampire, I always get what I want. Take some deep breaths for me."
She drops her forehead to my chest and deliberately slows her breathing.
"There you go. You're doing so well sweetheart. Keep concentrating on your breathing."
When she falls against me, I don't hesitate in picking her up and laying down in bed with her.
"You don't understand, Carlisle." She whispers into my chest. "If he knows I was in Port Angeles, he'll be there too. He won't leave until he's sure I left. He won't stop until he finds me."
"He will never hurt you again, I swear it. If he finds us, its 6 vampires against one human. He'll never get near you."
When she looks up at me with tear-filled eyes, my heart melts. "You promise he can't hurt you?"
I almost want to laugh at the thought of Charles hurting me. If we ever meet, it's not going to be me who's hurting.
"I promise. It's not even a competition, sweetheart."
"And the kids too?"
"Yes, the kids too. They all want to hurt him almost as badly as I do. We all love you and we want to kill him for what he did to you."
She yawns against my chest before cuddling closer and closing her eyes, panic attacks take a lot out of a person. I reach up and switch the lamp off before pulling the blankets over us.
"Carlisle" she mumbles sleepily.
"Yes?"
"You love me?"
"Yeah baby, I do."
"I love you, too."
I don't know if she's asleep or awake but either way, she loves me and I'm the happiest I've been in 400 years.