20

Carlisle and I were shaken awake the next morning when the phone started ringing. Pressing his face against the side of my neck, he groaned as he reached for the phone, fumbling with the receiver before bringing it to his ear and mumbling, "Hello."

Suddenly, he sat up, a frown etched on his face. "No . . . no . . . because last night was bad enough, we don't need a repeat performance . . . Dad." Carlisle sighed and shifted his attention down to me. "Hang on."

Carlisle covered the bottom of the phone. "He wants to meet for breakfast."

I barely stifled the urge to laugh as I sat up, pulling the sheet up over my nude body. "Because dinner was so amazing, right?"

He smiled. "If you don't want to go, I'll tell him to fuck off, but he says he wants to explain about last night."

I shook my head, placing my elbow on my knee and bracing my forehead against my palm. "What do you think?"

"I won't ask you to put yourself out there again, if you don't want to, but I need to sit down with him. I know it's stupid, but after watching your mom . . ." Carlisle trailed off. "I've let my anger stop me from having a relationship with him for too long. And we're going to be living in the same city, and I want the boys to have a chance to know the father I grew up with, the one who wasn't an asshole."

Biting my bottom lip, I considered what he was saying. If I had another chance with Renee, would I take it? After the way she reacted to mine and Carlisle's relationship, I wasn't sure I would, but I couldn't say with upmost certainty that I wouldn't, either.

"Okay," I said. "We can meet him for breakfast before we head to the airport, but this is the last chance I'm giving him. You can keep trying, but I've had my fill of psycho parents for a lifetime."

With a frown, Carlisle nodded and told his father we'd meet him in the hotel restaurant in half an hour. Though I could tell it bothered him that I wasn't willing to be open-minded, I hoped that he would understand where I was coming from. After Renee, after dinner last night, I was feeling defensive over our decision to be together. We'd been attached from every side.

After Carlisle hung up, we climbed out of bed, took a shower, and packed our belongings. While I hated that we were leaving San Francisco, I was ready to see the boys. I'd missed them so much, so much more than I thought I would. Once we had everything packed into our suitcases, Carlisle and I made our way down to the lobby, leaving our luggage with one of the bellhops before we walked hand-in-hand to the restaurant.

As he had been the night before, Peter was already waiting for us. However, unlike the night before, he was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a dark-blue polo shirt. He appeared much more relaxed than the night before. Shifting his attention to us, he immediately stood up, fidgeting nervously.

"Hey," he said as we approached the table. "Thank you both for agreeing to meet me."

"You're welcome, I guess," I murmured.

Carlisle pulled my chair out so I sat down. He sat next to me while Peter took the chair across the table. Our waitress came over and took our order, returning a few minutes later with two cups of coffee for Carlisle and Peter and a glass of milk for myself. I almost laughed when they both added two packages of sugar, a dash of the cream and some honey to their drinks.

Clearing his throat, Peter shifted his attention to me. "Bella, I'd like to apologize about last night. I did not intend for the evening to turn out like that."

"I'm sure you didn't," I replied.

Peter placed his hands on the table. "Please, let me explain my actions."

As Carlisle reached over and took hold of my hand, I sighed. "Okay, we're listening."

"People look at us, at our family, and tend to only see the money," he began. "As a young man, girls would chase after me, trying to . . . stake their claim in me and my families' fortune. More times than I care to admit that I found myself falling for a girl just to find out that all she saw was the name Cullen." He shook his head as a smile tugged on his lips. "And then I met my wife. Siobhan was a like a breath of fresh air. She was carefree and so full of life. She greeted everyone like they were her best friend. I miss her so much," he mumbled, his eyes glassy as they filled with unfallen tears.

"She sounds like an amazing woman," I told him causing him to look up at me. "I wish I could have met her."

"Me, too," he mused. "She would have liked you."

"You think so?" I asked.

He nodded. "You remind me a lot of her."

"Then why don't you want me with your son?"

Peter sighed. "It's not that I don't want you and Carlisle together, Bella, because if you're who my son wants to spend his life with then I'm happy for you both."

"But last night —"

"Last night was a misunderstanding," Peter said, interrupting Carlisle. Sighing once more, he shifted his body so that he was addressing me. "After my wife passed, women came after me. I guess they were hoping that I'd need companionship so much that I'd let my guard down and, I don't know, just marry them. Of course I didn't, but that didn't stop them from trying."

Peter hesitated and looked at Carlisle. "You don't know this, but after Tanya left you, she came to me."

"What?" he asked, sitting up straighter in his seat. "Why?"

"Why do you think?" he scoffed. "She found out that you're worth quite a bit. She knew that you'd never give her a dime, and I guess she thought I would. I told her to get lost, that she wasn't getting a cent from me. But then she threatened to take the boys from you and I couldn't take that chance, so I paid her off."

Carlisle's eyes closed and he released harsh breath. "How much did you give her?"

"Half a million," he replied. "And she signed a waver promising that she would never come after you or the boys again."

"Jesus fuck," Carlisle swore under his breath.

"Why didn't you tell him?" I asked, causing both men to look at me. "She threatened to take his children from him, yet you didn't tell him that she'd made such an outrageous threat? Do you have any idea how much he's suffered because of her?"

"I do," he admitted.

"Why?" Carlisle pushed. "Why can't you talk to me, Dad?"

"Because every time I try, I end up fucking things up," he grumbled before looking back at me. "I'm not a great father. I've made mistakes — mistakes that I can't take back. I know that, but my family — my sons and my grandsons — are everything to me, Bella."

"So important that you couldn't come see them at Christmas," Carlisle quipped.

Peter sighed. "I didn't want to ruin their holiday. You and I can't seem to be in the same room together without fighting, Carlisle. I didn't want Michael and Tyler to be caught in the middle of our difficulties."

"Don't you understand that by refusing to be a part of their lives, that's exactly what you're doing?" I asked, once again drawing his attention to me. My lips trembled and tears flooded my eyes as I spoke again. "Other than Carlisle and the boys, I don't have family. My grandparents died when I was baby, my parents were only children, and now they're both gone." I reached over and placed my hand on top of Carlisle. "He's all I have. Him, Michael, Tyler, they gave me a family, took me in when . . . when I found myself alone."

"I know, Bella, but they're my family, too, and I felt the need to . . . protect them," Peter argued. "I didn't mean to offend you by looking into your life the way I did. I was only trying to protect my son and his boys."

Nodding, I shifted my eyes to Carlisle, who was watching me. I turned back to Peter. "Then I'll sign a pre-nup."

"What?" Carlisle snarled. "No!"

I sighed and shifted my body toward him. "I love you, Carlisle, but if signing a piece of paper that will protect your interests if we were ever to break up means that your father doesn't see me as a gold-digging little whore, then I will gladly sign it."

"We're never breaking up," he argued at the same time that Peter said, "I don't think you're a gold-digging whore."

I snorted and looked at him. "Yes, you do, or you did at least. If you hadn't, you wouldn't have felt the need dig up information about me. And I get it, Peter, I do, because I can tell that you love your son. But so do I, and I love Michael and Tyler. If it will calm your fears, then I will sign whatever you want me to."

Peter leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming on the table. His eyes shifted from me to Carlisle before he turned toward me once again. "I don't think that will be necessary."

"Damn right it won't be," Carlisle groused, lifting my hand to his lips. "You should have told me about Tanya coming to you, Dad."

"I know, but you were already hurt because of her, and I didn't want to add to pain. I'd done that enough," he explained.

"You still should have told me," Carlisle argued. "And Bella's not like her."

"No, she's not," he agreed with a smile. "I'm sorry for not telling you about Tanya, and for not giving Bella the benefit of the doubt."

Carlisle shifted his attention to me as a heavy sigh slipped from between his lips. As he looked back at his father, I could see the war raging in his eyes. "I don't want to fight anymore. It's exhausting. I want my sons to know you, Dad. To know the man who spent every morning in the water surfing with us, who would let me, Marcus, and Garrett sit on your board while you took the big waves."

"I want to be that man, too," Peter insisted, his chin wobbling. "I miss you, Carlisle. I miss the boys. Please, all I'm asking for is a chance to be that man again."

Carlisle nodded. "I'd like that."

"Bella," Peter said, shifting his eyes to me. "Will you give me a second chance?"

I smiled. "On one condition."

"What's that?" he asked, nervously.

"Come back to Forks with us," I told him. His eyes widened. "For a few days, at least. You have two amazing grandsons that you don't know, and I think they should. They're scared about moving away from the only home they've known," I added, feeling Carlisle watching me. "I think if they knew they had you here, it would put them at ease."

"She's right," Carlisle said, shifting his attention from me to Peter. "Please come back with us."

"I can't," he said, shaking his head and I sighed as I leaned back in my chair. "I can't today. It'll take me a few days to get work settled and make sure my patients are covered. But I can fly out next week. Would that be okay?" I nodded causing him to grin. "Great, sounds like a plan."

—TB—

After a somewhat tense breakfast with Peter, we bid him goodbye and headed to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to depart in three hours. While we waited for our flight to board, Carlisle called Celia and put in an official offer on the beach house, telling her that we were in a hurry and willing to pay to close as soon as possible. I was still reeling over the fact that he could drop a couple million dollars like it was nothing, but I opted not to dwell over it. Carlisle didn't flaunt his money, making it clear that he wasn't one of those typical rich boys.

"Celia is going to email me a list of schools in our district. There are several public schools, as well as private schools for us to choose from, so we'll need to do some research. Find out which one will suit the boys better," he explained, sliding his phone into his pocket.

I nodded. "How soon will we know if we get the house or not?"

"Depends on the owners. If they accept our first offer, I would imagine it'll be a day, maybe two. If not, then maybe longer. I'm prepared to offer more, but not much."

I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't know anything about buying houses, and all of this was away over my head.

"I need coffee. You want anything?" Carlisle asked, standing up.

"No, thanks," I replied with a smile. "Don't be too long. Our flight will be boarding soon."

"I will. I promise." Throwing me a wink, he walked toward the closest coffee shop.

I dug my phone out of my bag, checking my email. Not that I had a lot. Mostly just spam, a porn site that Emmett forward to me, Alice, and Rose that had lesbian school girls and a note telling us that he thought we'd 'enjoy' it, and an email from an attorney in Port Angeles, who asked that I call him as soon as possible. I wasn't sure how he'd gotten my email address or why he needed to speak to me, but something in my gut told me I needed to call him.

I took a deep breath as I pressed the number and brought my phone to my ear. After three rings, I was prepared to hang up, but stopped when I heard a click, followed by a rushed, "Hello. Fuck," the man muttered. "Shit, sorry. Hello?"

"Um, is this Benjamin Amun?" I asked.

"Yes, who's this?" But before I could respond, I heard a loud bang, followed by Benjamin's loud, growl. "Holy Fuck, that's gonna leave a mark."

I laughed. "Um, are you okay?"

Through the phone, I heard him snort. "Yeah, just embarrassing myself." He laughed. "Sorry, darlin', I didn't get your name?"

Immediately, I was put on edge. Who the hell calls someone 'darlin''? Especially, someone they didn't know. "I didn't give it."

"Hmm, explains why I don't know who I am talking to," he snickered.

"My name is Bella Swan. I got an —"

However, before I could finish speaking, he interrupted. "Oh, yes, Miss Swan. I was hoping to hear from you. I've tried calling, but I think I have the wrong number. Well, I know I do because every time I call it I get Wong's Chinese Palace. Unless you work there, which I don't believe you do."

"Mr. Amun," I snapped.

"Huh?"

"You're rambling," I told him as Carlisle came over and sat next to me. He lifted an eyebrow, but I quickly shook my head, trying to tell him that I would explain. "Why did you need me to call?"

"Oh, right, sorry," he mumbled, and then cleared his throat. "Your mother, um, Renee, left some items in my possession before she passed. I would like to give them to you."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

A sigh came through the phone. "I'm sorry, I'm fucking this call up, aren't I?"

"Hmm," I hummed.

"My name is Benjamin Amun. I'm an attorney, or I will be once I pass the bar in a few months. Anyway, your mother came me a few days before she died and asked me to . . . hold some items for her. Anyway, when I heard that she'd passed away, I dug through the information she'd left me and, well, found you listed as her contact person, but as I said, when I called the number she gave me, it was wrong. She left your email address, so . . . yeah."

"What kind of items?" I asked.

"Um, there are some pictures, and a couple of books. A package that's been wrapped in paper, so I don't know what is in there."

"Oh." I wasn't sure what else I to say. "Um, can you just mail them to me?"

"No. I'm sorry, but I need to you sign for them. I have to cover my ass here."

"I see." I murmured, shifting my attention to Carlisle. "Well, it'll be tomorrow before I can come in."

"Do you know what time?" he asked. "Just so that I can make sure I'm here and everything."

"Around two or so, I guess."

"And you have my address, right? It was in my email?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Great, I'll see you then, Miss Swan." And with that, Benjamin hung up.

Placing my phone in my lap, I shifted my eyes to Carlisle. "Apparently, Renee left some stuff with a lawyer in Port Angeles. I have to go tomorrow and pick it up."

"You mean, we have to pick it up," he said.

I nodded.

"What's his name?" Carlisle asked, pulling out his phone. "I'll ask Garrett to run a check on him."

"You don't have to do that," I mumbled.

"I know I don't, but I'd feel better about us meeting him if I had an idea what type of person this guy is."

After meeting his father and learning more about Carlisle's family, I understood. "Benjamin Amun."

Carlisle made a quick call to Garrett, who assured us that he would get back to us as soon as he had anything. By the time their call ended, our flight was ready to be boarded, so we gathered our bags, gave our tickets to the flight attendant, and walked onto the plane. Since they'd lost our luggage and still hadn't found them, Carlisle and I refused to check in our luggage this time, choosing to check them plane side. We weren't going to take any chances.

Our flight landed in Seattle two-and-a-half-hours later. Rather than pay for the connecting flight to Port Angeles, Carlisle and I had opted to leave from Seattle. At the time, it made sense, but I was dreading the three hour car ride.

Just after seven o'clock, Carlisle parked in the driveway of our house in Forks. We'd barely climbed out of the car when the front door was thrown open and Michael and Tyler came rushing out with Alice, Esme, Edward, and Jasper following them. Tyler leapt into my arms, wrapping his body around mine and burying his face into the crook of my neck.

"I missed you, Bella!" he cried, and I felt his tears seeping down my skin.

"Oh, sweetheart," I murmured, rubbing his back. "I missed you, too." Looking over his shoulder, I saw Carlisle holding Michael, both of whom were watching me and Tyler. I shifted the boy to the side and wrapped my other arm around Michael, giving him a hug, too. "I swear, you two have grown three feet since we've been gone!"

Michael and Tyler laughed.

"Nah," Michael scoffed.

"Yeah, even though Edward said if we ate spinach that we'd grow strong like Pop-eye, whoever that is."

I bit my lip to stop from laughing as I looked over at Edward. "Really? That's how you get them to get veggies?"

"It worked when my mom did it with me," he grumbled, shrugging his shoulders.

Jasper snickered as he leaned over and kissed Edward's cheek. "Babe, nobody knows who Pop-eye is anymore."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Edward scoffed.

Carlisle and I carried the boys into the house, stopping in the living room when we found our luggage sitting in the corner.

"The airline dropped those off this morning," Alice explained as she, Esme, Edward, and Jasper followed us back into the house.

I snorted. "How kind of them. They were supposed to put it on the plane when we left Seattle, not return them here."

"No kidding," Carlisle scoffed sitting on the couch with Michael on his lap. I shifted Tyler so that he was sitting on my lap as I sat next to them. "So, how was the weekend? Did they behave?"

"Yes!" Michael and Tyler exclaimed.

"For the most part," Esme snickered, laughing even harder when Michael and Tyler glared at her. "There was an incident involving a tantrum over being told someone couldn't have ice cream, though."

"Oh, yeah?" Carlisle shifted his attention to Michael. "Care to explain?"

"It wasn't me!" he insisted, pointing at Tyler. "He wanted ice cream for breakfast, but Alice and Esme said no. He started crying and then sat on the kitchen floor, pouting."

"Did not," Tyler mumbled, but the red in his cheeks gave him away.

"Dude, really?" Alice asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Tyler sighed. "Okay, whatever."

"Did you apologize?" I asked, and when he looked at me, I knew he hadn't. "Ty."

Rolling his eyes, he looked over at Alice and Esme. "Sorry."

"It's okay. No harm, no foul," Esme replied, winking at him and then shifting her attention to me. "How was your weekend? Did fall in love with the city?"

"Pretty much," I admitted. "It was . . . amazing."

"Except for losing our luggage," Carlisle added, causing me to laugh.

"True, but other than that."

"Did you find a house? Check out the schools? Talk to any medical co-ops looking for doctors?" Edward asked, causing all of us to look at him. "I'll take that as a yes."

"You know about the co-op?" Carlisle questioned.

Nodding, Edward leaned back on the couch he and Jasper were sitting on and placed his arm on the back. "Phil offered me a job, too."

Carlisle smiled. "Are you going to take it?"

"I think so," he said. "It's a great opportunity, and the money is good. You?"

"Still thinking it over," Carlisle said. "But leaning toward it. Not sure I like the way Phil went about getting information on me, but can't say I blame him, either."

"Yeah, I meant to call, but things kind of got insane here," Edward said, and there was a crypticness to his words that had me on edge.

"Um, Tyler, Michael, will you do me a favor?" I asked, causing them to look back at me.

"If this involves getting chairs from the garage, then no," Michael grumbled.

I smiled. "Dad and I left our bags in the backseat of the car. Would you go get them for us? Please?"

"Depends," Michael stated. "Did you buy us a present?"

"Michael!" Carlisle exclaimed, causing the boy to look at him. "That's not polite."

Michael shrugged his shoulders. "Did you?"

Sighing, Carlisle shook his head. "You won't know if you don't go get the bags."

Michael and Tyler scrambled to their feet and rushed out of the house. Alice laughed as she stood up. "I've already heard about this, so I'll keep them busy for a few minutes. Just my two cents, but thank fucking God we're all getting the hell out of this shithole town."

As Alice turned and walked out of the house, I shifted my attention back to Edward and Jasper, both of whom were frowning. "So? What's going on?"

"We've been evicted from our house. Effectively immediately," Jasper said.

"What?" I gasped. "Why?"

"You want the truth or the lame excuse our landlord gave?" He asked.

"What do you think?"

He shook his head. "Our landlord is saying that we haven't paid our rent in six months, and after several warnings, he filed an official notice of eviction. Jacob Black and Sam Uley came by yesterday morning and delivered the notice. They allowed us to pack a couple of suitcases worth of clothes, but everything else we own has been padlocked inside the house."

"That's bullshit!" I argued.

"Yeah, it is," Edward agreed. "We've paid our rent every month on the first, but because the banks were closed all weekend, we can't get a statement showing that the checks were cashed by him. And until we do, we can't fight the claim. Not only that, but we've been getting some nasty phone calls, too."

"What type of calls?" Carlisle inquired, scooting over and wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Threatening calls. Lots of profanity and name calling. We're documenting them all, but the phone company can't seem to trace the call and they're coming from a blocked number. I just . . ." Jasper trailed off, shaking his head. "I know that homosexuality is still hot topic and everything, but I thought we lived in a time where people weren't such assholes. What makes someone think it's okay to call and threaten to kill another person because they love a man and not a woman?"

"I don't know," I said. "So I guess you really do have a reason to leave Forks, huh?"

"Yeah," Edward murmured. "The hospital board has already informed me that they will not be renewing my contract, and has offered me early release. I no longer work there. I just. . . I don't know, I wasn't prepared for all of this."

"I'm assuming that you've been staying here?" Carlisle asked, and when Jasper and Edward nodded, sheepishly, he added, "Good." They looked over at him. "After everything you've done for me and Isabella, I would be offended if you didn't let us help in some way."

"Thanks," Edward murmured. "We're gonna start looking for an apartment or something in San Francisco, but we don't know how long that is going to take."

"Awhile. At least for a decent apartment in a good area," Esme said as Alice, Michael, and Tyler came barging into the house. Mine and Carlisle's bags were draped over their shoulders and looks of aggravation on their faces.

"What's in these?" Michael whined, dropping them on the floor in front of us.

"Oh, you know, our clothes and stuff," I said, opening mine and pulling out two gift-wrapped boxes. "Hmm, I wonder who these belong to."

"Us!" Tyler cheered, jumping up and down.

We all laughed.

"Yep," I handed them the boxes. "Here you go."

The boys held the boxes like they were made of pure gold as they sat on the floor and began to peel the paper off. Prying the lids off, they looked up at us, their eyes wide as they lifted the white shells out.

"Dad and I found these on the beach and I thought of you," I explained. "If you put them up to your ears, you'll be able to hear the ocean."

Carefully, they brought the shells to their ears, smiles spreading on their faces.

"I can hear it!" Michael cheered, bouncing up on his knees.

"Me, too!" Tyler exclaimed.

"Pretty cool, huh?" I said, smiling.

The boys nodded before scrambling to their feet and rushing upstairs to their rooms. I laughed and turned back to Alice and Esme, but before I could say anything, someone knocked on the front door. Excusing myself, I stood up and walked over and opened it, finding Jacob and Sam standing there.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"We need to talk to you," Sam said, looking over my shoulder at Jasper. "All of you."

"What about?" Carlisle voiced, and when I looked back at him, I saw him standing up.

Jacob seemed to hesitate before he said, "Gabriel Varner."

My heart began to race as I turned and reached for Carlisle, needing to touch him. In an instant he was by my side, his arm wrapped around my waist and his other hand cupping my face.

"Come in," Carlisle said, scooting us backward and letting them into the house. The sound of the door shutting echoed throughout the silent room. "Have a seat."

Though I could tell Jacob and Sam were uncomfortable being around all of us, they walked over and sat on the couch. Edward and Jasper were glaring at them, clearly not forgiving for the role they had in their eviction from their home. I wasn't either. Every time those two assholes came near me, something horrible happened, and I had a feeling that this instance would be no different.

"We're sorry for just showing up, but when we saw your car, we figured you'd be back from your . . . trip," Jacob groused.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Sam shook his head. "The district attorney has decided not to pursue the assault charges against Gabriel Varner due to . . . Well, a lack of evidence."

"A lack of evidence?" I snarled. "The photos of the bruises on my arms weren't enough? The witness statement by Jasper wasn't enough? What else does he need? Fucking DNA from a rape kit!"

"The district attorney feels that the situation was made a bigger deal than it actually was, that . . ." Jacob trailed off.

"What?"

He sighed. "He feels that you're not credible. That your history," he said, gesturing to Carlisle, "suggests that you've got a history of leading older men on."

I was flabbergasted. "He's calling me a whore."

"Not in those words, but . . . basically, yeah," Sam admitted.

I closed my eyes, and I struggled to contain my emotions. "So, Gabriel Varner just goes free and I'm crucified for falling in love with a man who just happens to be older than me?"

"Unless additional evidence is found that can prove to the D.A. that you're telling the truth, then he's a free man," Jacob stated.

Shaking my head, I stood up and walked over to the door, pulling it open. "Leave."

"Bella," Jacob started.

"Fucking leave!" I screamed. Carlisle was immediately on his feet and at my side, his arm wrapping around my waist. "I've had it with this fucking town, with you two and your judgments, and everyone else who can't look past their own prejudices. I am done with all of it."

"Look, if we could make the D.A. press charges, we would, but we can't," Sam argued.

"Bullshit," I spat. "You've made your disgust with my choices clear, Sam. You've known me for years, yet you still look at me like I'm some naïve girl, being lured into the arms of a child molester, but it doesn't matter because I'm done."

"We never meant to hurt you, Bella," Jacob said.

"Doesn't matter whether you meant to or not," I whimpered, leaving the door open as I turned and walked past all of them. "You did."

Leaving them standing there, I walked upstairs to mine and Carlisle's bedroom, straight to the bathroom. Stripping off my clothes, I turned on the water in the shower and climbed in without waiting for it to warm up. The water had barely touched my skin when I felt my knees buckle, and I dropped to the bottom of the tub, wrapping my arms around my torso, and began to sob.

"Isabella," Carlisle called from our bedroom, but I couldn't seem to respond. A moment later, he pulled back the shower curtain and looked down at me. "Baby."

Without taking off his clothes, he climbed in behind me, his arms cradling me against his chest. "It's okay; I've got you."

And holding onto him as tightly as I could, I prayed that he'd never let me go.

Thank you for all the reviews! Three chapters left! But there will be a sequel!