Chapter 8: Turning Page
Edward PoV
Once we were all seated around the dining table, Alice made work of serving out the biscuits and making sure everyone had their share of jams and jellies. When the weather had first turned bad early in the winter, we had sent home our house-keeper Mrs. Cope, but none of us minded doing for ourselves, and we had wanted Mrs. Cope to be able to spend time with her family instead of being trapped away from them due to all the snow.
After we all had food on our plates there was nothing stopping Alice from launching into explaining all that we had been through since Jasper and Rosalie had turned in for the night.
"Jasper, Rose, I have something super important to tell you!" Alice said, bouncing with excitement in her chair.
We all turned our attention to Alice, though Carlisle and I already knew, we didn't want to be rude. I snatched a glance across the table at the rest of my family and saw that there was a sure curiosity dancing in their eyes, albeit still clouded by the shroud of sleep that had not been fully released from their faces.
"So, after you all went to bed last night Edward and I stayed and talked in front of the fire." Alice went on to tell them about how she went to bed and how she a door open toward the front of the house before she fell asleep. I had pretty much zoned out at that point having heard it all before and I found myself falling into thoughts about Marie, I wanted so badly for her to wake up so that I could learn all about her. I wanted so many things, to see what the color of her eyes could be, to hear her voice, to know her favorite color, and so many other details that I yearned to know. I continued to think in circles about the girl asleep in my bed until I felt a swift kick to my shin.
"Ow!" I said while directing my ire at Jasper.
"We have been trying to get your attention for three minutes, you brought this on yourself." He said with a smug look on his face.
"Ok, well you have it now, what do you want?" I grumbled.
"Well to start, what were you thinking trudging out into a blizzard in no more than your night clothes?" Rosalie exclaimed, she always liked to point out my stupidity, but I know it's because she cares about me as her brother.
"I wasn't Rosalie, but I can't say I regret it. Had I had sense to take the time to dress the girl might have been dead when I found her!" I said exasperatedly.
It was then that I realized I had messed up, as I heard a soft gasp behind Carlisle. In that moment everyone at the table turned to glance to the doorway where she stood, shocked, and confused.
Bella PoV
I awoke with a start before I could hit the ground, and I realized it had only been a dream. What a strange dream it had been, there was so much going on, but now as my mind became less clouded by sleep, I found that the details of my dream were escaping me. I sat up only to realize that I didn't recognize the bed in which I had slept. I tried to recall the events of the previous day and found that I was drawing a blank. So, I carefully made my way out of the bed, but when my feet met cold wood, I jumped back and fell into the bed once again.
Before attempting to step out of bed again, I glanced around the bedside hoping to find some slippers, or perhaps some thick stockings. I found what I was hoping for draped over the bottom corner of the bedside table with a note. The note was written in a dainty feminine script and stated that breakfast was being served in the dining room and to seek the smell of coffee and biscuits to find it. I was grateful, yet scared to know that I was not alone in this, where I am. I decided that breakfast could wait a moment and took some time to get my wits about me. I was hoping that something in the room I had awoken in would trigger some memories as to how I got there. This surely couldn't be my regular room as it had a distinctly masculine touch.
As I wandered around the room, I took a moment to glance out the window and was shocked to see just how much new snowfall there had been in the night. I didn't remember it snowing, come to think of it I was having an increasingly hard time remembering anything of yesterday, and the harder I thought the more I began to panic as I realized that it wasn't only yesterday that I couldn't remember. My realization had me genuinely scared, and without another thought I pulled open the door to seek out the dining room, as I was sure based on the note I had found, that I would find whoever had written it there enjoying breakfast. I hoped that whoever else was in this house would be able to tell me what had happened to make me lose my memories, and more importantly that they could tell me who I was.
As I wandered through the house, I took care to avoid opening any doors, as I didn't want to pry into anything that didn't concern me. As the note instructed, I followed the smell of fresh coffee, as well as the growing sound of voices. The closer I got the clearer the voices became; I could make out at least two distinct voices. One seemed to be of a young woman, and she seemed to be admonishing someone, a man, who's voice was as warm as honey and as smooth as silk. I found myself drawn to it and without permission my feet began to draw me closer to whoever the faceless man was. I didn't have time to process the fact that I was in a room with people who I had to assume knew me, nor did I have time to take in their faces to try and conjure up any of the memories I had lost. For just as I rounded a corner into what had to be the dining room based upon the fact that there was an entire host of people seated around it, I heard something which shocked me into stillness.
"I wasn't Rosalie, but I can't say I regret it. Had I had sense to take the time to dress the girl might have been dead when I found her!" The statement came from the warm honey voice which had drawn me to enter the room to begin with. It had been followed by a gasp.
Within seconds of his statement the entire table had turned in my direction, and I realized the gasp had been my own.
There was a total of five people seated at the large table, an older blonde man with hair cut short and neat and the brightest blue eyes. Seated to either side of him were two girls and two boys who all seemed to be around the same age, perhaps that was my age as well. The boy to the right of the man also had blonde hair, though it was longer and had a bit of a wave to it, and he had honey brown eyes. Next to him was a girl with blonde waist-length hair which had the softest of wave to it, and she had similar eyes to the boy. On the other side of the man was a boy with the most unique coppery disheveled hair and eyes of emerald, green, as well as a very slight girl who's raven hair fell even longer than that of the blonde girl.
I processed quickly that the two younger blondes both had looks of pure shock on their faces, which I was sure matched my own, while the other three had a different kind of shock as well as relief.
My face flamed with a blush under the scrutiny of so many eyes and I managed no more than a small wave.
Before anything could be said the raven-haired girl jumped up from her spot at the table and ran over to me. She grabbed my hand and had me seated next to the seat she had just vacated before I even blinked.
A/N: Well, Bella is finally awake! Part of me thinks that based on her condition when she was found she should still be asleep and recovering, but I wanted the shock of having her wander in on our favorite family and catching them unaware. Much more is to come, so fear not, this is only the beginning!
~Rylandra
