A/N

For those of you in the United States, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is a little one-shot I wrote based on a prompt from the fic Lab a few months ago.

I am posting it as a mea culpa for the long wait for an update on Finding the Light. The final chapter for Finding the Light is with my Beta and should be posted soon. Thanks for sticking with me!

My father passed away recently, and I couldn't spend as much time as I would have liked on my writing.

A few of you have sent me PM's and I'm not sure if my responses went through. FFnet kept giving me a message indicating the messages were going to your spam. Who knows?! But rest assured, the last chapter is coming, and then that story will be marked complete. (Happy, yet sad about that)

S. Meyer owns all things, Twilight.

Thanks for reading

Ferris Wheel

"Bella!" My father called with impatience. "We need your help over here with the Zoltar machine. The mouth won't open again!"

I let out an exaggerated huff and slammed my book shut, a frown firmly in place as I sat upright on the cot. I had just gotten comfortable and was ready to immerse myself in the latest thriller I'd picked up.

So much for that.

I put the book on the small table next to the cot and looked around the trailer at the remnants of breakfast no one had bothered to clean up. I guess I was everyone's maid this morning too. Shoving my feet into my muck boots, I pushed the door open and stomped down the stairs of the trailer.

There was activity everywhere, and I raised my hand to shield my eyes against the sun's glare. The flatbeds carrying the various rides had rolled in about an hour ago, and I waved to the guys as they set up, but I immediately regretted it.

"Hey, Bella!" Greg called out.

Shit

I cringed inwardly but put on a smile and waved back to him. "Hi, Greg," I hollered while moving swiftly toward my father and brother. Greg had a crush on me … always had. He wasn't a bad guy, but I wasn't interested.

I walked past a few more trailers and finally saw my father and Emmett, arguing over the machine. "I already checked that!" I heard Emmett growl. My father's face was red as he tinkered with the mechanics behind the machine, and sweat dripped from his brow.

He needed to retire.

Emmett and I kept on him about it, but he wouldn't listen. He'd been doing this his entire life and fought me every time I brought it up.

"What the hell am I going to do if I don't do this, Bells? Huh? Sit around and play solitaire? I don't think so."

"Wordle, dad," Emmett chimed in.

"It's wordle now. No one plays solitaire anymore. It's good for your brain too."

My dad huffed and went to the refrigerator to get a beer while Emmett shrugged, knowing it was no use arguing with him.

We're a carny family, at heart, anyway. My dad and mom worked at carnivals when they were teenagers and had their first date on the Ferris Wheel. My mother told me that story a thousand times, and it never got old.

" … I was sitting in the bucket, all by myself …humiliated when my date stood me up. And then, that jerk of an attendant started with the call signs. You know, 'Lonely ride in bucket five!' that kind of thing. I was so embarrassed. And then your father strolled up. He was so handsome. He came up and pushed right past that asshole …."

She'd always pause and snicker when she got to that part.

"Your dad sat next to me, and we rode to the top of that Ferris wheel, and I fell in love with him under the stars that night. We were up so high it seemed we could almost touch them."

I always loved that story and thought it was so romantic, hoping I would meet someone like that when I got older and fell in love.

Once they had Emmett and me, mom stayed home to raise us, and dad went off for three months during the summers with the carnival. He said it was in his blood. As Emmett and I got older, we'd go with him occasionally, and sometimes mom would too … at least until she got sick. When she died last year, it was a blow to all of us, but dad took it the hardest and still hasn't been able to move on.

Emmett eventually married and moved a few towns away, and I work doing freelance photography. After mom's death last winter, Emmett and I decided to take this summer and help dad like we used to when we were kids. And although I was doing it to support my father in his grief, I knew there was another reason I was doing it. As much as I grumbled about it, this lifestyle was also an integral part of my life. Some of my most fantastic childhood memories involved these people who were like extended family.

I gently nudged my dad out of the way and stuck my head into the back of the machine. Holding my hand out behind me without turning around, I soon felt the cool weight of the wrench as he placed it in my hand. After a few quick turns and a shot of WD-40, all was in working order, and I plastered a sweet smile on my face before turning to my parent and sibling.

"Now, gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do." I kissed my dad and made my way back to the trailer. Once inside, I settled onto the bed, making myself comfortable and picking up my book. But it was no use; my mind was alert now and running through the mental checklist of things I needed to accomplish today. Sighing, I flung the book onto the floor and headed back outside, picking up my camera. Wandering the grounds, I took a few candids of the crew as they set up, enjoying catching everyone in action. These would all work nicely with the array of photographs I was compiling to make into a feature article about the carny lifestyle.

Stopping briefly, I chatted with Angela, who ran the cotton candy booth, and snapped a few shots of her spinning the sugary goodness. I thanked her for handing me a sample and plucked at the fluff before taking pictures of Paul and the boys setting up the gaming booths. They halted their efforts immediately and began flexing their muscles and putting on a show while I laughed and clicked through my roll of film.

"One of those needs to be the cover shot for the feature, Bella!" Paul called out. I gave them a backward wave over my shoulder and moved on.

Yeah, this was in my blood.

~!~

Later that night, I left the trailer to wander the grounds. We would only be here for two nights before packing up and heading upstate to the next town. Feeling the pulse of the music through my feet, I walked through the throng of laughing and smiling people enjoying time with their families and friends. Shrieks could be heard in the distance as ride-goers were spun and shaken, all in pursuit of the thrill and adrenaline rush.

Yes, this was home; the sights, sounds, and feel of it were my childhood wrapped up in sparkling lights and funnel cake, and sudden memories of my mother assaulted me, leaving wistfulness and pain in their wake. Staring at the Ferris wheel, I missed her terribly, and quickly wiped at a stray tear before feeling something slam into my legs. Startled, I stepped back and reached down to steady my assailant, a little girl no more than five years old. Her face was tear-stained, and she looked at me with wide eyes.

"I'm sowwry," she sniffled, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands as she looked around wildly. I crouched down to her level and smoothed the hair from her face.

"It's okay, honey," I said, looking past her shoulders into the crowd, searching for anyone looking for a child.

"Are you by yourself?"

"I'm not … I'm not a-supposed to talk to stwangers," she whispered in a small voice as her lowered lip trembled.

"But I'm lost-ed and I can't find a police officer. My mom said if I'm ever lost-ed, I need to find a police officer. My uncle is lost-ed too. We were going to ride the Ferris Wheel, and I can't find him!"

She broke down into more tears, and I pulled her to me.

"It's okay, honey, we'll find him. Come on; I know everybody here. We'll find him. Everything is going to be all right. My name is Bella. What's yours?"

She rubbed her face again.

"Alice," she whispered. "I'm Mary Alice Bran-"

"ALICE!" a panicked male voice shouted over the crowd.

"Jesus Christ, Alice!"

A man emerged and sprinted toward us before quickly snatching Alice into his arms and squeezing her. With his eyes closed in what I can only describe as sheer relief, he cradled her to him in a death grip.

After a few minutes, when his terror seemed to ebb, he opened his eyes and set Alice back on her feet.

"What did I tell you?" he questioned firmly. He wasn't yelling, but his scare hadn't left him entirely.

"Not to let go of your hand," Alice replied quietly while looking at the ground before popping her head up suddenly and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm sowwry Uncle Ed; I'm sowwry. I saw the Ferris Wheel and wanted to ride it so badly. I didn't even know I wasn't holding your hand anymore until I bumped into Bella."

The man's head shot up, and the look on his face indicated he had no idea that someone else was standing with them until Alice reached out and took my hand.

"Bella was helping me. She was going to help me find you, Uncle Ed."

I looked at 'Uncle Ed,' a handsome man of about thirty, who had the most piercing green eyes I'd ever seen and an almost visible aura around him; I don't know any other way to describe it. It was as if he shone as bright as the sun, even though it was the darkest of night all around us. It rolled off him in waves, and I was immediately drawn to it … to him.

Uncle Ed ran his hand through his hair in what looked like a nervous gesture before reaching out to shake mine. Lifting the one that wasn't holding Alice's, I reached out and felt his warmth engulf my fingers and linger slightly.

"Bella, I uh … I don't know how to thank you. Thank you so much." He gazed back down at Alice, who was looking between her uncle and me; her neck craned at an angle to facilitate her complete viewing pleasure.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the sound of his rich, masculine voice, and my body definitely took notice.

"I didn't do anything," I replied, squeezing Alice's hand.

"Alice knew she needed to find a police officer, and she knew not to talk to strangers. She's very smart. Aren't you?"

Alice's tears had dried, and she smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"I am; Very smart, Uncle Ed. Bella said so."

Uncle Ed chuckled, the relieved sound of a man realizing he wouldn't have to tell his sister, brother, or whomever this child's parents were that he lost her at the carnival. He seemed to relax, and I couldn't help but notice him staring at me.

"How can we repay you?" he asked, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Funnel cake? Cotton Candy? Can I knock down a few bottles and win you a stuffed bear?"

I laughed nervously, wondering if he was flirting with me or just being polite because I found his niece. My dating life was dismal, to say the least, and my "game" regarding men was sorely lacking lately.

Alice had no qualms about taking it upon herself to nudge the situation along, however. Grasping my hand in hers and Uncle Ed's in the other, she swung her arms between us.

"I already know what we're going to do, Uncle Ed!" She exclaimed.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "And what is that?"

"We're all going to ride the Ferris Wheel together!"

Uncle Ed chuckled and looked at me sheepishly.

"Is that okay?" he asked.

"You're not afraid of heights, are you, Bella?"

I looked up to the top of the Ferris Wheel, feeling my mother's presence so strongly I could almost smell her perfume and knew the pull I felt to this man was unlike anything I'd ever felt. I was meant to be in this exact place at this exact time.

Winking at Alice, I looked into Uncle Ed's forest-green eyes and tried not to get lost in their depths.

"Not at all," I answered with a soft smile.

"The Ferris Wheel is my favorite ride."

Uncle Ed smiled back, and his eyes never left mine as the three of us approached the ride attendant, settled into the car, and lifted into the night sky. And as we climbed, I swear I could have touched the stars if my hands hadn't held Alice's and Uncle Ed's firmly in mine.