Bella woke, stiff and freezing, to a room soaked in sunlight. She was almost certain she remembered the curtains all pulled shut when she'd lain down the night before. She tried to shake off her disquiet as she got up and headed to the bathroom, stopping on the way to nudge the temperature up a bit on the thermostat.

The towels were a little musty after sitting untouched in the old house for months, but they would do the job. She wanted a shower badly, both to warm up and wake up after the strange night of sleep she'd had. She pulled back the shower curtain and startled as a house spider ran across the inside of the tub.

"Oh, god. Oh, shit!"

She looked around for a tissue, then stopped herself. Bella hated spiders, but Charlie had never let anyone kill them in the house. "They do a lot more good in the world than you or I ever will," he would say, and then he'd catch the spider and take it outside.

Bella took a deep breath, trying to decide what to do. She certainly didn't feel up to catching a spider in a butter container this morning, but she couldn't kill one in Charlie's house, not even now. And she sure as hell wasn't going to share her shower with the little guy.

She glared at the spider, who'd paused near the tub drain and seemed to be looking back at her.

"You're really lucky I love my dad so much," she said. "Just stay put, okay?"

She ran downstairs to the kitchen, and went through the cupboards until she found what she was looking for, an ancient yellow Tupperware dish with a lid. When she returned to the bathroom, the spider hadn't moved.

"Okay, good," Bella said, steeling herself as she bent over the tub. "Come on, now." She quickly put the dish over the spider, then slid the lid underneath it, pressing down until it sealed in place. "Okay, okay good," she said again.

Holding the dish out away from her body, she hurried downstairs to the front door. She opened the door and walked out into the yard in her bare feet, getting a good fifty feet from the house before bending down and opening the dish.

"Go on, have a nice life. Eat bugs or whatever. Just remember, you live outside," she said to the spider as it ran off into the dewy grass. "Outside."

When she was sure the spider was heading away from her, she stood back up, stretched, and looked around. The day was going to be lovely by Forks standards. It was still chilly, a standard temperature for Washington in October, but the sun was making a good effort to get through the clouds and fog. It made her glad. It would make today a little easier.

Bella was about to head back inside and to the shower when she saw two people come around the corner and up the drive. When they got close enough for her to see their faces, she frowned.

"Bella," Sam Uley said as he came into the yard, his wife, Emily, beside him. "I heard you were in town."

Not from me, Bella thought. Because I sure as hell didn't call you.

"Yup," she said, unsmiling. "I needed to get started on taking care of the place."

"Is there anything we can help with?" Emily asked. Her smile was careful; she was clearly aware of Bella's displeasure at seeing them. She was holding a plastic covered container, not unlike the one Bella was still holding. It looked like Emily had food in hers, though. Muffins, or maybe cupcakes.

God, they're trying, Bella thought, but it didn't change her anger at seeing them here, as if they were just friendly neighbors bringing baked goods and a smile. For once, she wasn't even moved by the long, jagged scars across Emily's face, the remainders of a bicycle accident from a few years back, or so Bella had heard from Jacob.

"No, I can handle this," Bella said, and started to turn back toward the house.

"It's a big job," Sam called out to her. "You shouldn't have to do this alone. Let us give you a hand."

Bella turned toward him, no longer hiding her anger.

"Actually, yes. You can help me with one thing," she said, her voice trembling just a bit. She reached into the pocket of the jeans she'd been wearing since yesterday. She pulled out a crumpled envelope with a slip of paper inside. "You can give this back to Jacob, and tell him not to send me another one. I signed the papers months ago. I'm not his problem anymore, and I don't need his money. If he can't show his face to me anymore, or pick up the damn phone, that's on him, but he doesn't get to just write a check whenever he's feeling guilty." She shoved the envelope into Sam's hand, then turned and strode back to the house.

Upstairs in the shower, Bella turned the water up hot and scrubbed herself until her skin was pink. Angry adrenaline still pumped through her, but she felt a rising satisfaction as well. It had felt good to tell Sam Uley to go to hell. It was long overdue.

The last time Bella had seen Sam was the day after her father's funeral. He'd shown up with a couple of other guys from the rez with a pickup truck and empty cardboard boxes. They'd come for Jacob's things; Jacob hadn't been with them.

Jacob's leaving was a shock to her, but maybe it shouldn't have been. Jacob hadn't been himself since David had died; neither he nor Bella had. But, as the weeks and months passed, Bella had felt normalcy start to trickle back in for her. Everything still hurt, everything was still a joke, but she was slowly getting better at working around the twisted new form the world had taken. Jacob, though, had seemed to be getting worse at it as time passed. He was increasingly irritable and restless. He'd disappear for hours, wandering god knows where. When he'd return, he'd just tell Bella that he had been out for a walk. And, weirdly, he seemed to be telling the truth. Bella knew that she should suspect another woman, maybe a drug problem, but it just didn't seem to add up. He hadn't been lying to her; he'd just been… off.

The day of Charlie's funeral, Jacob had seemed particularly distracted. He had done okay during the service, keeping a warm arm around Bella and accepting condolences for both of them when Bella could only nod vaguely at the procession of well-meaning mourners. In the car on the way back to the city, though, he'd shifted in his seat, sweating and swearing under his breath. He'd let Renée drive, which was unheard of; she was terrifying behind the wheel. He hardly seemed to notice that night, though. When Bella had asked him what was wrong, he'd just said that he wasn't feeling well and needed to get home to lie down.

He hadn't lain down at home, though. Moments after they got in the door, he'd mumbled about going for a walk before bed, and had disappeared out the door. Bella had stared after him in shock, and Renée, who adored Jacob most of the time, had glared at him while rustling in her purse for more pills for Bella. The last thought Bella'd had as she swallowed the medicine and lay down to sleep was that maybe she was wrong, and it actually was drugs keeping him out on the street and away from her.

Jacob hadn't come home that night, and he didn't call Bella on the phone, or even send her an email. Instead, he sent Sam the next morning with empty boxes and a simple message: that Jacob couldn't be with her anymore.

Their divorce had become final a few months later. Papers had shown up one day, and Bella had signed without hesitation. She hated it; it seemed like the worst kind of waste, to throw away someone you loved who was still alive. But she was angry, and she just wasn't up to fighting anymore. As time passed, she'd come to think that it might have been for the best. She and Jacob had been together since they were seventeen years old, and with every passing year, they'd become more different from the kids they'd been at the beginning of their relationship, and they'd become more different from each other. Their relationship had been strained before David had been born; losing him was just more than their marriage could weather.

But, how Jacob had left… Bella wasn't sure she'd ever forgive him for that.

Once she was dressed in clean clothes, Bella grabbed her purse and a zippered leather portfolio and headed out the door. She was hungry, and the house was completely bare of food. She also needed to gather her thoughts, make a plan.

She knew as she sat down in the scratched Formica booth that she'd never be able to walk into this diner without feeling Charlie here. He was a great dad, but a lousy cook, and they'd taken a lot of meals here. The waitress came around, and Bella ordered eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast, and coffee. While she was waiting for her food, she opened up the portfolio.

Everything she had regarding Charlie's property was here. It wasn't much, just notes Bella had written herself about the property, and a few bills that Sue Clearwater had forwarded to her over the last few months. Charlie's attorney had only recently gotten his estate sorted out, and Bella hadn't gone over it with him yet. She pulled a notepad out of the back of the portfolio and wrote down: Meet with lawyer.

Thinking about the house, she added a few more items: Real estate agent, Yard work, Gutters, siding, other repairs?

Bella tapped her pen against the table top, thinking for a moment before writing more: Cars, House contents – Goodwill

She set the pen down. That was more than enough to start with. She opened her phone and dialed the number on the card that had come with the attorney's letter a few weeks after the funeral. She expected she would need to leave a message, but he answered after the second ring.

"Jasper Hale."

"Hi, Mr. Hale?" Bella began. "This is Isabella Black, well, Swan now. I got a letter a while back saying that you were handling my father's estate."

"Right, Charles Swan. It's good to hear from you, Ms. Swan," he said.

"Thank you. I'm sorry it took so long. But I'm back in town, and I was hoping we could meet to discuss the estate."

"Yes, of course," he said. "You have good timing. My office is in Olympia, but I'm actually in Forks now myself visiting my family. We could meet sometime this evening, say, around seven, if that's agreeable to you—" His voice broke off, and Bella could faintly hearing him argue with a female voice in the background. He was saying, "Mary Alice, I really do not think he would appreciate…" Bella couldn't make out the rest.

A moment later, Jasper Hale came back on the phone.

"Ms. Swan, would you come to dinner at my family home tonight? We can discuss your father's estate afterward. I have all the papers here."

"Uh, sure," Bella said, caught off-guard. "That sounds fine. What's the address?" She scribbled on the notepad as he told her.

Her breakfast arrived just as she hung up. Her appetite hadn't gone anywhere, and she ate most of what was on the table as she mentally planned out her day. She should start on Charlie's things, separate out what she wanted to keep from what would go to Goodwill. Should she have an estate sale? She considered it briefly, but dismissed the idea. Charlie's things weren't valuable, and she'd just as soon not have every busybody in Forks rummaging through his house for the sake of a few dollars.

One thing was for sure: this was going to take more than a day or two. Bella figured she would need to plan to be in Forks for at least a week or two. She couldn't eat at the diner all the time; she would need to pick up some groceries. She added that item to her to-do list.

As she drove away from the parking lot, rather than steering toward town and the grocery store, Bella found herself driving out of town limits, toward La Push. She slowed down after a bit, looking for that side road… There it was. She turned down the dirt track that took her through a thick stand of trees. The road grew steadily rougher and more narrow until Bella had to stop the car, get out, and walk. She walked through the trees, listening for the sound of the water against the cliffs. A few minutes later, she came out of the trees to an open expanse. A hundred yards ahead, the land fell away. Bella could hear the waves smashing against the rocks below. Between Bella and the cliff's edge, about a dozen yards from the drop-off, was a stone pillar, about four feet high. Bella went to it.

The sides of the pillar were rough and unfinished, but the angled top was smooth. Bella ran her fingers over the words etched deeply there:

In celebration of
David William Black
November 2 – November 10, 2012
Forever loved

She put both hands on the monument, then bent forward and laid her cheek against the cold, damp stone. She closed her eyes and didn't try to stop the tears that began to fall. She quieted her mind and held still, just breathing.

For the thousandth time, Bella felt awful regret that they had chosen to scatter David's ashes here. Not that the place was bad – it was beautiful, eternal – but she would never have them back. They were all that was left of her baby, and she had let them go. It had seemed right at the time, but she'd quickly become sorry for it. She wanted him back. Any part of him. She wanted that little urn to hold against her heart at night when sleep was nowhere, washed away in the excruciating absence of him.

She'd thought that scattering the ashes here, into the ocean so close to David's monument, would let her feel him here. But she never did. Not even today, as she clung to the pillar and wept silently. He was gone. She had thought that this would be a place she would be able to go to feel close to her baby, but it only ever reminded her that he was truly and finally gone.

There was a sudden rustling behind her. Bella turned. For a moment, she was unable to accept what she saw. It was a wolf, but it couldn't be a wolf. It was much too large, taller than she was. It had shaggy rust-colored fur and huge eyes that seemed unnaturally aware. It was standing still, staring at her. Her knees turned to water, and she slumped down to the ground, holding onto David's monument.

I'm going to die here, she thought. I let my baby go and now I'm going to die for it.

As she waited for the wolf to attack, another thought crept in that surprised her completely.

I don't want to die.

The wolf crept closer to where she was frozen in place. As he bent his head toward her, she shut her eyes. She felt the rough brush of its fur against her cheek as the wolf nuzzled against her and against the monument. It gave a low whine, then turned and walked away, disappearing into the trees, leaving behind only the sounds of rustling brush and breaking waves.