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.

"However, don't worry, I won't let you down once you arrive." And, with that promise the two men said goodbye. Edward was escorted back to his cell and Charlie left to go to LAX for the trip back to Seattle.

CHAPTER 44: TIME FOR THE TRUTH

Try as she might, Bella just couldn't get her attention to stay with her writing. She worried about what Charlie was doing and then she worried about what he wasn't going to do. The not knowing kept running around in her mind about what he was going to do to resolve the problem about Edward Cullen.

Then as she got to that point in her thoughts, Bella got pissed off again as to why her father took off suddenly like he did. What the hell were his intentions?

After several tries to get into her writing, Bella decided to give up for the day, and to get out for a while, thinking that might help clear her mind enough to be able to work.

Bella had no idea about the drama that was taking place in L. A. with the Cullen family, her two cousins, Charlie and Edward Cullen. If she did know she probably would have been on the phone or the first plane heading to L. A. as fast as the plane could fly her there.

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All the way back to his cell block, Edward felt a sense of relief that he couldn't explain, even to himself. He had felt an immediate trust toward Mr. Winston and knew, somehow, that things were going to work out in the best way possible.

Once he was back in his cell block, Edward saw that the public phone for inmates was unoccupied, so he knew that he needed to call his dad to let him know of the latest information that he had just been given.

But while Edward was excited to update his family about what Mr. Winston had told him, he was unaware of what Alice and Rosalie were revealing to his family. However, if he did know then the chances were that he would be very hesitate about being excited about what tomorrow might bring him.

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After time had passed with only trivial conversational subjects being tossed back and forth, Carlisle slowly became silent as he got lost deeply within his own thoughts about all that he has heard over the last few days and the worrying that he and Esme had been through not knowing what had happened to Edward.

He was confused by all of the things that had been said about Edward. How could his son behave in such a manner? The family knew that he was a bit of a playboy, but he had never been accused, as far as to the family's knowledge, of being anything less than a gentleman. "Where did we go wrong?" Carlisle couldn't help thinking to himself. "How could we have missed this trait in Edward's character? Could all that we're being told really be true?"

Question after question and thought after thought kept running through Carlisle's mind. But no matter how many questions he thought of, he was unable to answer a single one of them.

It was the act of Esme reaching out to grab her husband's hand that had managed to snap Carlisle's attention back to the present. She had observed his far away look, as had everyone else in the room, and knew that her husband was battling an internal war with himself simply by the passing expressions appearing on his face.

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Charlie got off the plane and made his way out of the airport to the long-term parking area to get his car. His next stop was going to be Bella's; he needed to talk with her so they could get everything said, out in the open and hopefully, begin to regain footing of reestablishing their relationship and trust that had existed for so long between parent and child.

Poor man had so many thoughts and hopes screaming for control in his mind that Charlie didn't allow himself to fear any sort of failure. He knew that he was on the right path of correcting everything and at the same time teaching Edward Cullen the necessary lesson that was needed to be learnt.

The problem Charlie faced was how to explain everything to Bella; how to explain everything to where she would give him the benefit of doubt and a chance to make things right again between them.

He had also given his word to help Edward Cullen now that he had a better understanding of the young man. And Charlie did feel that he understood Edward Cullen better than the young man might even understand himself.

Leaving the airport, Charlie headed in the direction of Bella's home, but once he got there, he knew that he needed to call Mike to let him know that he was back in Seattle. Maybe Mike could give him an idea of what was being planned to bring Edward Cullen here and when that would be happening. Mostly, he wanted to know if Mike was still including Charlie to be one of the escorts that was going to be deployed to bring Edward to Seattle from Los Angeles.

If that was going to be the case, then Charlie was going to have to recuse himself from such a task. It just wouldn't be proper for him to be included in that mission after what he had taken upon himself to do in regards to approaching Edward Cullen.

So many different details that had to be dealt with that Charlie knew he wouldn't be able to do anything if he couldn't get all of the information that he needed. Also, he wondered if Mike would be relieved with Charlie suggesting that he withdraw from the escort detail now that he had already come in contact with the prisoner without authorization.

As Charlie's thoughts reached that final thought or rather question in his mind, he arrived at Bella's. It was his plan to spend a day or two with his daughter while he started with the necessary action that he needed to do to be able to keep his promise to Edward and to be able to make things right with Bella.

As he gets out of his car, he notices for the first time that Bella's car isn't in the driveway. That caused him to pause beside his car for a moment as he considered that maybe Bella was still in Forks and if that was the case what he should do next. Of course, it was possible, but he didn't think that she had stayed and was still waiting for him to come home from wherever she thought he might have gone. He felt in his heart of hearts that she would have been upset enough to return home once she found out that he had left for a day or so without saying anything else.

So, with that in mind he decided to wait for her to return home from wherever she might be at that moment.

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Bella was casually strolling through Pike's Place Market looking at the many different stalls that displayed fresh vegetables and other products. She also took the time to enter some of the different stores to look at what products could be found within. No thought was given as each item was passed to making a purchase.

All Bella had wanted to do was to get out and have a mental break from all of the upsetting thoughts that seemed to be chasing each other around and around in her mind. Thoughts or questions, at times, that demanded more attention and that wanted to interfere with her writing.

Of course, the new book was being based on her, what she herself was experiencing at the present time. Telling the story of all the behind the scenes of the chaos that existed when a book is being turned into a movie.

All the things that have gone on with getting the contract signed has really helped Bella to be able to give a few somewhat exciting scenes in the book, in her opinion, that involves the sexual demands of a playboy producer toward a budding young author. The whole story, thus far, does seem to be something that only happens in the imagination instead of real life; however, Bella can attest that the whole experience is truly a real life happening.

From time to time, Bella did wonder what her dad was doing and where he had gone. As she thought of those two things, she felt herself starting to get upset all over again, so, she would deliberately push those thoughts away as quickly as she could. She didn't want to spend any more time with that situation since she had no answers or control over what was going on.

Bella had taken the time so she could try to get her mental state settled down so she could get back to work instead of letting her thoughts chase around in circles in her mind like a dog chasing its tail. There was no point in concentrating on something that would keep her distracted since she had no control over what the possible outcome might be.

After spending a few hours just wandering around the market, Bella decided that it was time to go home. As she turned on her street, she noticed a car parked curbside in front of her home. It took a moment before she recognized it as being her dad's vehicle. The thought swiftly in her mind, "Well, at least, he finally has decided to show up." So, as she pulled into the driveway, she saw Charlie sitting on the front steps waiting for her.

She got out of her car and slowly walked up to come face to face with her dad. Neither person said a word to each other at first, so Bella stepped around Charlie and moved up to the front door and unlocked it. Once the door was open, she motioned for him to come in.

Both knew that it was time for a seriously, long overdue talk. One where an understanding was needed once and for all time.

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Carlisle heard the phone ringing and went to rise to go answer it, but Esme stayed his movements by grabbing a hold of his hand. "I'll get it, just stay put." She told him.

So, Esme answered the phone, but her tone of voice was so low that no one was able to overhear what she was saying to the person on the other end of the call.

It wasn't long before she returned and assumed the place she had originally occupied. Everyone looked at her with questioning glances, so she answered their looks by saying, "It was Edward calling. I asked him if he had been responsible for Bella Swan's accident that resulted in her staying in the hospital.

"At first, he wasn't going to answer, and I told him that he either confirm or deny the truth of it if he wanted any further help from us. So, he finally admitted that he had caused the accident.

"Then he tried to tell me why he called, and I told him that at this particular moment we weren't interested. That he would have to call back later. That's when I hung up."

"But, Sweetheart, why did you tell him that?" Carlisle asked only to have Emmett and Jasper ask her the same the thing, "Yeah, Mom, why did you do him that way?"

"I think that it's about time that Edward starts being reminded of the lessons that your father and I taught all three of you boys about how to treat other people. How to be respectful of their age, feelings and beliefs. Of how, just because you come from a family of influence and money, doesn't mean that you are better than the next person or are entitled to be treated any differently than they are.

"All three of you have been taught as well that you needed to earn your own way in this world. That not everything was going to be handed to you just because of who you are and because of the family that you come from. That's why we invested the money in the production company that you three were wanting to have since that was the work that each of you had chosen to do in life.

"So, as I said, Edward needs to be reminded of those lessons and this might also serve to remind you two at the same time. Don't let your egos overcome your commonsense." She finished as she looked around the room at each of her sons that were seated there.

Jasper couldn't resist asking, "Dad, do you agree with Mom and what she said and did to Edward?"

"Yes, Son, I do. Be assured that this doesn't mean that we are turning our backs on Edward because we aren't. We will continue to find an attorney to help him with his problems in Seattle if he must go there. But he doesn't need to know that right now."

So, with that said, the conversation turned to other topics once more.

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Edward returned to his assigned cell not quite understanding his mom's attitude. She just hung up on him after asking about that ridiculous accident that involved Isabella Swan. He kept wondering how the hell she had found out about that incident.

All he had wanted to do was to tell his family that he was going to have to go to Seattle to get all of this mess straightened out, but not to worry because he had Mr. Winston that was going to be helping him once he got there.

A/N: Charlie and Bella are about to have their discussion concerning Charlie's actions. Hopefully that will go well? What do you think? The secrets that Edward was trying to keep hidden have been revealed. What do you think of Esme's treatment and her reasoning for what she did?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you.