I DREAM OF RAINBOWS
Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.
The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.
All Charlie could do was stay seated in his recliner in shock. Never had Bella spoken to him or threatened him in such a manner. Finally, he got up and moved to head upstairs to his room, moving as if suddenly turning into a really old man.
CHAPTER 40: GETTING ON THE SAME PAGE
As the day came to a close, no one had a night free of stress or worry. Esme and Carlisle worried about how they could help Edward but had been concerned about what Emmett and Jasper had told them about what the conclusions of Ms. Swan's cousins were. 'Was it possible that Edward had been responsible for putting that young lady into the hospital during her visit?' Esme had the question on a continuing loop in her mind.
"Esme, I know that your worrying about all that we've been told today about Edward. Even, about Edward possibly being responsible for the accident that had put Ms. Swan in the hospital." Carlisle told his wife and then continued speaking after seeing a look of surprise cross her features. "I know you well, sweetheart, after all of the years that we've been married. I can read you like reading a book."
"Carlisle, do you think Edward could have been so uncaring about that young lady? Do you think he could have been responsible for what had happened to her and then just dumped her into that hotel room without a second thought to summon help for her?" Esme couldn't help asking her husband. "I just can't believe that that boy forgot all that we had taught all three of our sons about the proper way to treat women."
"Esme, you're forgetting something that we've been told, yourself." Carlisle reprimanded his wife.
"And just what might that be?" She asked with some anger being visible in her tone of voice.
"You're forgetting that Rosalie and Alice only told the boys that it was suspected that Edward had something to do with the accident, however, that there wasn't any proof that they could find. You have to remember that a person is innocent until proven otherwise." Carlisle reminded Esme as gently as he could without sounding weak. Then he continued once more by asking, "Do you really believe in your heart of hearts that Edward would be so cavalier as to do something like that and then not tell us about it, especially, when there might possibly be some blowback from such behavior?"
Esme remained silent after Carlisle's last question while she took the time to consider all that he had said.
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Rosalie and Alice discussed with Emmett and Jasper all that each had revealed about what they knew or thought they knew about the situation that Edward found himself involved in.
"The biggest question that we keep coming back to is who in the hell brought the charges against Edward." Rosalie stated as she looked at her cousin and the two men.
"The one thing that I do know is that Bella didn't have anything to do with all of this mess. But I have no idea who could have done it." Alice contributed her two-cents worth to the conversation. "Bella has a habit of not confiding in anyone; she keeps things to herself and maintains silence about most anything upsetting that might be going on in her life. That is until we all have a chance to talk with each other. It's at that point that she'll update us as to all of the happenings that she had encountered since last we spoke with one another."
"How can either of you be so sure? It is possible that she did, but just didn't want to tell you about it." Emmett remarked only to be popped in the back of his head by his brother after Jasper motioned for his brother to see the look of disbelief and disgust that appeared on the faces of both Rosalie and Alice.
"Damn, Jasper, that hurt!"
"Well, pay attention to what you're saying and how it's affecting other people before making a total ass of yourself." Jasper told his brother as he indicated with a nod of his head once again for Emmett to take a look at Rosalie and Alice. "They told us that they didn't believe that Bella would have done anything of this sort. Listen to them since you said the same thing yourself earlier."
Emmett did take a look as Jasper had advised him to do then quickly apologized after seeing how upset his comments had been to the two ladies. After that everyone moved on to talking about other topics, skirting around the subject that had all of them puzzled.
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Edward was having a hard time getting his head around what the detectives had told him. He was finding it hard to believe that Isabella Swan had nothing to do with the charges that had been leveled against him, but according to the detectives she wasn't the one. So, if she wasn't the one, then who the hell was it? What could he have done to someone that would have them bringing such action against him?
Then at the same time, he remembered that the charges had originated in Seattle. Who could he have pissed off in Seattle that would go this far for revenge? So, that thought caused Edward to pause and consider who all had been with him during the time he had made the trip to Seattle to discuss the contract with Isabella Swan. He tried to remember everyone that he had met and how those meetings had ended.
The thought did come to mind that he now needed to call his family since they were aware of where he was at the moment. He had genuinely believed that he would be able to resolve this problem all on his own without his family ever having to know about it.
As that thought crossed his mind, Edward wondered what else his family knew. Had they or anyone else found out about the incident at the hotel when he had accidently knocked Ms. Swan into the damn wall rendering her unconscious? That would be the last thing that he needed to come to light in his current predicament. He would never hear the end of it from any member of his family, especially his mother. She would carry on about how all of her sons had been taught to treat women. And she'd never let him forget his mistake.
The only person besides himself that knew what had happened was Isabella Swan. She had remembered everything while she had been in the hospital. Then wasted no time letting him know about what she remembered.
Shit was about to hit him in the face. He knew he should have called everyone when all of this had first taken place, but pride goth before a fall as the saying goes.
It wasn't only his parents he had to be concerned about their reaction, but his brothers as well. They will never let up on all of the teasing about all of this nonsense.
So, with a heavy sigh and a resolved shake of his head, Edward got up and moved to the community phone to place the call that he had refused to make up until this point.
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Charlie laid in his bed unable to sleep. Bella's reaction to what he had done on her behalf had caught him off-guard. Well, not the reaction really, but the extreme of her reaction. He never envisioned that she would be that upset with him doing his duty by her and for the public.
It was her reactions that has him wondering if he had overreacted in his need to protect his daughter and to doing his duty as an officer of the law. Was this Cullen guy as much of a danger to the female population as he had assumed or was it just his need to show this young man that his daughter can't be treated as a plaything?
Charlie wasn't sure, but he made the decision that he would do further checking before asking for any charges to be dropped. He needed to know more about this Edward Cullen to make a decision about what to do.
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Bella wasn't getting much sleep either. She was too upset with the way things had happened with her father to be able to sleep. The answers Charlie had given weren't the ones that she had expected, but deep down she knew that what he had told her was the truth. Charlie would always want to protect her in any way that he could. However, he did take doing his duty very serious as well.
If he felt that someone was going to be a threat to the public in general or directly to an individual, he would make sure that person was taken off of the streets and locked away.
Bella realized that for once Charlie found himself caught between a rock and a hard place by what she had confided to him while they had been on their trip. She honestly believed that her dad hadn't taken the steps he did without a great deal of thought and then came to the conclusion that he had to protect her and the public in one big step.
On one hand Bella knew Charlie realized that she was able to take care of herself in most situations, but on the other hand, it was like Charlie couldn't let go of taking care of 'daddy's little girl'. She had always been able to talk to him about anything under the sun and he wouldn't react except to give her some advice on how to handle the problem. This time his reaction was totally out of the norm.
Bella knew that if she had let the situation stand without letting Charlie know that he had overstepped then chances were that he would do it again without notice. No, her dad had to learn that she had boundaries and expected those boundaries to be respected. It didn't make any difference if he agreed or not, that was just the way it was. Daddy's little girl could take care of herself since daddy was the one that had taught her how to do so and he had to trust in her ability to do so.
She was determined that Charlie was going to drop the charges and leave her alone to handle her own business unless she requested for his help. But she would be damn that she was going to let him butt into something that had nothing to do with him.
And, as Bella reached this point in her thought, she fell asleep only to dream about an irate Edward Cullen yelling threats at her.
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The phone rang, but Esme wasn't quick enough in answering before it stopped. She hoped that whoever it was would call back since she didn't recognize the number that was showing on caller ID.
Carlisle asked who had called and Esme explained that she hadn't reached the phone fast enough before the ringing had stopped. "But I don't recognize the number. Maybe whoever it was will call back if it's important enough?"
So, with that said both husband and wife returned to their prior discussion of what they can possibly do for Edward. And, after a bit, Carlisle rose to get a drink from the nearby bar when the phone began to ring once more. This time he answered on the second ring.
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Edward couldn't believe what had just happened. He had called home and no one answered. How could that be? Mom and Dad were usually home by this time getting ready to settle down for the evening or getting ready to attend some planned function.
Shaking his head over his sense of disappointment, Edward decided to try again in hope of getting an answer this time. So, he dialed the number once again and listened to the ringing, hoping that someone would answer this time.
He was so intent with his thoughts that it took the third hello before Edward realized that his call had been answered. However, he was almost too late in responding since the person that had answered was saying they were going to hang up when Edward stuttered, "Da…Da..D..D..uh.. Dad, please don't hang up?"
"Edward? Edward, is that you, son?"
"Yeah, Dad, and I seem to have a very big problem."
"You don't have to tell us that since the police have already been out here to question both your brothers and us. They have explained what is going on and we are trying to figure out a way to help you as much as we can.
"Edward, do you have any idea who could be responsible for filing these charges against you? The one thing we do know is that Isabella Swan isn't the person that brought the charges against you.
"We've also learnt that her cousins, Rosalie Hale and Alice Brandon, did some checking into Ms. Swan's accident at the hotel since they felt that you might have been responsible for that incident. Of course, they weren't able to verify anything, but they do suspect and mentioned it to your brothers who told us about it.
"Your mother and I aren't going to ask you about that right now, but we are going to want some answers from you as soon as we can find a way to get you out of jail."
"Dad, the detectives came and talked with me, that's how I found out that you and Mom knew about my situation. I thought that I could handle everything on my own, but it seems that I'm going to be held here until I'm taken to Seattle." Edward explained to Carlisle.
"Very well, that at least tells us what we need to do to help you. We'll get an attorney in Seattle to begin handling the matter. Maybe then we will get to the bottom of everything."
"Thanks, Dad. Love you and Mom. Let her know that I'm okay thus far."
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In the early hours of the morning Charlie was finally able to fall asleep. He came to a decision that he would put into action immediately after getting to the office later in the morning.
A/N: It seems that everyone involved is aware of Edward's problem. Each person has expressed their opinion and Edward has finally come to his senses after talking with the detectives. The biggest question is what is it that Charlie has decided to do? Any ideas?
Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you.