1
Bella wondered through the house, stopping outside the large, picture window. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a cup of hot coffee pressed against her chest. A scream pulled her attention to the stairs, but she didn't make an attempt to follow it. There wasn't any point. She knew who was screaming, why they were screaming. And there was nothing she could do to help — not anymore.
Sighing, Bella turned back to the cool glass and surveyed the area, almost expecting her demons to slip out of the shadows and pull her back into hell. A hell she deserved.
"Did she wake you again?"
Bella frowned and looked back at the man standing at the base of the stairs. He looked older than his sixty-five years, tired and worn down. His dark hair was wild and messy, and his face was red, as it usually was after trying to calm Alice down.
"No," she told Aro. "Couldn't sleep, so I made some coffee."
Aro nodded and shuffled into the kitchen, coming out a few minutes later with his own cup. He stood next to her, both hands wrapped around his cup. Bella saw scratches on the back of his hands, claw marks.
"Bad night," she murmured.
"Every night is a bad night for her," he said, sadly. "And you."
Bella couldn't deny the accusation. She rarely slept through the night, and often pushed herself to stay away for days at a time. Made it better, she told herself. Lies. Lies she told herself in order to get through every day. Another scream echoed from upstairs. Aro sighed as he turned and followed the sound of his granddaughter's torment. A year hadn't given her the healing that she so desperately needed.
—BR—
Bella was sitting at the kitchen table when Alice shuffled into the room with Aro right behind her. She was a quiet girl, barely spoke more than a few words to anyone other than her grandfather, and even he was lucky if she talked. Bella knew it would take time for Alice to recover from the abuse she endured at the hands of her capture — both physical and psychological. Maybe even emotionally. She was trying, though. Bella couldn't deny that Alice was trying. She'd taken a liking to visiting the barn and spending time with the horses. Especially the black beauty.
"I made muffins," Bella said, gesturing to the cloth covered basket in the middle of the table. "I've gotta run into town. You going to be okay?"
"Yeah," Alice whispered, gingerly sliding into one of the chairs and slowly reaching out for a muffin. By looking at her, one would never assume that she was two years older than Bella. Alice was fragile, almost sickly. Her dark hair hung imply around her face, her eyes hidden behind the fringes of overgrown bangs.
"I'm going by the bakery," Bella said. "Would you like me to pick up something special?"
A smile spread over Alice's lips, one they didn't get to see often. "Chocolate cupcake with red sprinkles."
"Sounds delicious," Aro laughed, sitting in the chair next to Alice, who automatically tensed for a moment before relaxing. "Bring me some of those scones I like."
"I will." Bella stood up and placed her coffee cup in the sink before leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen. She grabbed a jacket, her keys, cell phone, and wallet from next to the door and headed out to the driveway, where her black truck sat. She'd only had it a few weeks and had fallen in love with it. As she climbed in behind the wheel, she saw the beat-up Chevy that their ranch hand, Emmett, drove kicking up dirt on the drive.
Bella sent Aro a quick text, alerting him to Emmett's arrival so he could prepare Alice. Emmett was a good guy, sweet, kind, and gentle, but they'd learned pretty quick that Alice didn't take well to surprises. Bella rolled down the window as she drove toward Emmett, motioning for him to pull up next to her.
He smiled, a set of dimples sinking into his skin. Emmett was a big man, bulky from working with his hands all day. He had a head full of curly brown hair and a pair of blue eyes that almost seemed to see right through a person. He had no idea what Bella or Alice had been through year ago, and she wanted to keep it that way. It was bad enough they had to relive their nightmares, they didn't need pity from guys like Emmett.
"How's Rose?" Bella asked, talking about his wife of three years. Emmett and Rose were both thirty, but had been a thing since their freshman year in high school. She was a nurse at the local doctor's office, and Emmett was a man of all trades, but lately, he'd been spending more time out at Bella's than anywhere else, she noticed.
"Busy," he replied, draping his hand over the steering wheel. "Said lots of kids have been coming in with a stomach bug. Must be pretty nasty."
Bella frowned. "That sucks."
Emmett hummed his agreement.
"So, um, Alice will be coming down to the barn today, so be mindful of her, okay?"
The man nodded, his eyes shifting from her to the house. They may not have told him the details, but Bella suspected that Emmett knew more than she wanted. She would trust him, if she hadn't learned a long time ago not to trust anymore.
"Yeah, all right," he murmured. "Anything else?"
"Fence on the north side of the land fell down again."
"Once I get the supplies in, that won't happen anymore," Emmett said, tapping his fingers on the dash. "I'll patch it up again, but may need to light a fire under some asses, if you catch my meaning."
Bella nodded. "I'll stop by and have a chat with him."
"Be careful," Emmett told her before shifting into drive and pulling away from her truck.
"I'm always careful," she muttered to herself. "Always.
—BR—
Bella pulled up in front of Newton's Lumber Yard and Hardware store half an hour later. Placing both her hands on the steering wheel, Bella surveyed the area, like she always did when she drove through town. After leaving bodies in her wake, she knew she had to be extra careful, even though she'd tripled checked to make sure she couldn't be connected to Forks. At least, not legally. Legally, Isabella Swan died in a car accident just outside of Casper Wyoming after filling her tank with gas and driving it off the ledge of a mountain. Her body had been too charged to be seen, not that anyone cared. But as far as the State of Washington was concerned, she was dead, but Annabelle Masen was alive and well. Well, she was alive, anyway.
Taking a deep breath and pulling her sunglasses off the top of her head and over her eyes, she pushed open the truck door and climbed out. She used her hip to close the door and walked up to the front door of the lumber yard, pulling it open.
Mike Newton, owner and operator, looked up from his stool behind the counter, a grimace filling his features. "It's on backorder, Anna, I can't do nothing about that."
Ignoring his clever use of a double negative, Bella pushed her sunglasses on top of her shortly, cropped brown hair. "So you say. But my order has been on backorder for two months. Now, I've had patience with you, haven't I?"
"Yes, ma'am," he crooned.
"Don't call me ma'am, Mike!" Bella groaned, placing both her hands on the counter. "I need my wood."
The man's lips twitched and Bella struggled not to roll her eyes. Mike Newton was forty, going on fourteen. He found sexual innuendoes in everything. "Am I going to have to call them myself?"
The smirk fell of his face as he shook his head. "No, I'll call them."
Though he just stood there. Bella reached across the table, ignoring the way he flinched, and grabbed the phone, throwing it at him.
"Now?" he whined, but started punching in the number.
While Mike called and asked about her order, demanding that they do better than a hopeful two more weeks, Bella looked around the shop. She'd always liked the feel of wood beneath her fingers, the combination of smooth and rough edges. In another life, she could have been a carpenter or maybe an architect, or something instead of a nothing.
"Anna," Mike called, drawing her attention back to him. "They've given me a guarantee that your order will be here in eight days, or they will refund your costs, plus an additional twenty percent."
"Hmm, okay," Bella said. "Thanks, Mike."
"You're welcome."
After leaving the lumber yard, Bella headed to the farmers market and picked up as much as she could carry. Fresh corn, potatoes, carrots, and green beans, not to mention the fruit. It would be getting too cold soon for fresh foods. Once she'd paid for her selection, she stopped by the grocery store and picked up some milk, eggs, butter, the usual before heading down to the bakery.
Whitlock Bakery was owned and operated by a man named Jasper Whitlock. He was a handsome fellow with long blond hair that he wore in a ponytail. He was tall, at least six foot five, and had soulful blue eyes. Jasper was standing behind the counter, placing freshly made donuts in the glass case when Bella walked in. He looked over at her and smiled.
"Hey, I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me," he teased, placing his empty tray on top and limping to the cash register.
Bella didn't know why he had a limp, she never asked and he never told her. She and Alice had stumbled in here one morning after a particular bad night had them driving around the area, trying to out run their ghosts. Alice had become smitten with him, though she barely said two words to him.
"Where've you been hiding?" he asked.
"Not hiding," she said. "Just been . . . busy."
"Busy, huh?" he scoffed. "I see how you are. Too busy to come see me. Good thing my feelings don't get hurt easily."
"Yeah, good thing," Bella laughed.
Jasper smiled and looked away. "Where's Alice?"
"At the ranch," she told him, silently laughing at the way his ears pinked when he said her name. "She asked me to bring her one of your chocolate cupcakes, though."
"With red sprinkles," he murmured.
"Yep."
"Is that all you need?" he asked, scribbling her order.
"I need my usual haul," she said, leaning against the front counter. "Haven't seen anything unusual lately, have you?"
Jasper paused and looked up at her before shaking his head. "Not unless you count Mike Newton pissing in the alley behind Buck's as unusual."
"Ew," Bella grimaced, and turned so that she was looking out the front window.
"Yeah, it wasn't my favorite sight, either."
Bella hummed as she walked over to the front window just as a black, mustang zoomed past. An overwhelming urge to follow it surged through her, causing her to panic for a moment. Which she couldn't explain. It was just a car, right?
"Okay, Darlin, think I got everything," Jasper said, drawing her attention back to him. He frowned. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she lied, unsure if she was or not. "How much do I own you?"
Jasper gave her a hard look before he turned to the register and started ringing up her order. "Fifty two even."
Bella dug the cash out of her back pocket and slapped a fifty and a five on the counter. "Keep the change," she said, before tucking the box of desserts under her arm.
"You don't need to tip me," he argued, but she was already half-way out the door. "Anna!"
Bella ignored him as she climbed back into her truck and shoved the pastries onto the passenger's seat. She pulled her seatbelt on as she started the truck, shifted in reverse, and sped back out to the ranch, a feeling of foreboding resting on her shoulders.
—BR—
Twenty-five minutes later, and a couple of sharp turns, Bella parked her truck outside of the house, right behind the black mustang. Her heart clenched in her chest as she climbed out, grabbing the milk, butter, and eggs from the backseat, carrying them into the house. She expected to find Aro and Alice in the living room with their visitor, but nobody was inside the house. She stowed the groceries in the fridge before pushing open the back door and making her way to the barn.
She was five feet away when she heard a man's voice say, "When will Anna be back?"
A smile spread over her lips as Aro replied, "I don't know, but I can have her call you."
"No need," Bella said, stepping into the barn and pulling the attention of Emmett, Aro, Alice, who was hiding behind her grandfather, and Edward Masen to her. "Took you long enough."
He smirked before he turned and walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her body and pressing his lips against hers.
Thank you for reading. This is the sequel to Carlisle's Gift, so if you haven't read it, there may be things in here that you don't understand. Be warned that it's a . . . hard story to read. Now, this one won't be nearly as violent or brutal as the first. This is mostly going to be about their healing and a lot of unanswered questions will be answered. Like why Edward Masen is kissing our dear Bella.