Author's Note;
Thank you everyone for such kind words about my story. I can't wait to share the rest.
A special thank you to Carole Long, Frannie Walsh, and Jo Versify for the their edits, advice, and support.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. ~Please enjoy and review.
Alice and Bella drove off in comfortable silence. Well, on Alice's part, it was comfortable.
But Bella shifted in her seat over and over again like a ticking time bomb.
Shift-tick, shift, tick, shift, tick…
Alice waited for the part where she yelled and complained, saying what a bad sister she had been leaving her in this hell hole of a town. Alice waited for Bella to say she was through with her, and abandoning her had to have been the final straw.
"I think Mom's having an affair.", Bella blurted quickly, trying to rid her mouth of the words.
Alice wasn't sure if she had heard correctly. Now she was shocked—not at Renee's infidelity. No- she was shocked Bella suspected it.
Yet, Alice had decided to offer no further information on the subject. She had no idea what kind of trouble she would get into if she started gossiping about all the secrets she knew.
Silence was the safest option.
"I feel the need to confront her, but I don't know the whats or the whos." Bella had begun. "Do you think this is her way of spiteing Dad for the incident?" Bella added while biting the inside of her cheek. Conflict was never her strong suit , and this whole situation was making her uneasy.
Alice pondered the best way out of this conversation. For once, she was doing damage control on a mess that wasn't her own. " I guess you should make sure you have no doubts before having that conversation, Nancy Drew." Alice loathed the fact she just lied to Bella, but after all, it was only a lie by omission.
This is what made Alice's world go round. Her demons were built on lies—those by omission, and even her own …
They pulled into the parking lot of the small grocery store. Alice left the car to pick up a cooked chicken just in case Renee didn't have the decency to get takeout. As Alice entered the store, she said a silent prayer that she wouldn't run into anyone she knew.
In her haste, Alice forgets her purse and phone in the car. Bella makes a failed attempt at honking the horn to get her attention. Looking down at Alice's bag, she sees something sparkling at the bottom. She swore she didn't mean to snoop; at least, that was what she told herself. Maybe it's one of those healing crystals, Bella thought to herself. She grabbed the rock from the bag and examined it. Her eyes widened when she realized what this— ring was, an engagement ring. A very expensive engagement ring. "Alice is engaged?!" Bella pondered in shock at the empty car.
She then saw Alice walking back to the car. Bella threw the sparkly, princess-cut diamond back into Alice's purse along with her lighter, tampons, and pill bottle. Bella stole a glance at the name on the bottle but had to put it back in the bag before she was caught.
Alice opened the driver's side door and reached for her bag. Bella looked at her trying to gauge her reaction, hoping she didn't realize that her belongings were out of place.
"I'm such an idiot. I fucking made it to the checkout line without anybody seeing me, only to run into Rosalina fucking Hale-King. Then, of course, I look down and voila, no wallet, phone, or purse. So I leave the chicken with the cashier, who's like twelve, not without getting the dirtiest look from Rose. That bitch needs to get over high school", she ranted as Bella tried to wipe the shock off her face —after seeing the ring and pills at the bottom of Alice's bag, disregarded like a used gum wrapper.
"What's with the look?" Alice finally looked at Bella and saw her pale as if she had seen a ghost.
"No look—-I just still have no clue why Mrs. King hates you so much.",Bella recovered, that was one of the first lies she told her sister.
Bella didn't count ripping her skirt when she was thirteen and then proceeding to blame the washing machine. Fashion emergency, and it wasn't her fault as much as it was Jake's.
Alice hated talking about the Rose story, and now that she's Bella's Spanish teacher, she has to tread lightly, "Yeah, I have no clue. Sure, I was troubled in high school, but it's not like I kicked her ass".
That was not a lie by omission but a flat-out lie on Alice's part. She was fully aware of why Rose hated her so much. And now, Alice didn't blame her. But Alice keeps paying for the sins she incurred during that period of her life…
Alice did not want to discuss Rose for two main reasons; that would mean she'd have to remember certain details that were blocked in her mind, the second being she'd have to talk about Royce, she really didn't want to do that.
Instead, she tossed her purse back into the car. Bella looked at her questioningly. "Let's just get some fries from the drive-through. I don't feel like going back in.".
The pair trekked back home, and Renee's car still wasn't in the driveway.
Wow. She doesn't even have to try to hide the fact that she doesn't want to be with her family. Alice was disgusted with her mother, and she hadn't even seen her yet.
Bella and Alice went ahead to set the table, while Charlie played on his phone, with golf on in the background on the mounted, flat screen.
A half an hour later, Renee burst through the door, carrying a bunch of takeout bags and her work bag.
"Sorry—I know I'm late. A heart transplant patient crashed after two blood transfusions. Carlisle needed me to wait for the blood work results, and of course, they were behind; it's not like it was life or death or anything.". Renee babbled on and on. She paused only long enough to hug her eldest daughter and welcome her back. "Glad to have you home, Allyson."
"Please don't call me Allyson," Alice said through gritted teeth, unloading the takeout containers onto plates. Renee rolled her eyes and continued her excuses, "Then there was a line out the door of the Well and Grille. You won't believe who I ran into, Bella —Jake!" She turned to Bella, who was leaning against the round kitchen table. "He was so kind, Bee. He was there picking up dinner for Royce and even helped me carry the food to the car."
Bella cringed and grew visibly uncomfortable. There was no hiding her disgust for what Renee was so blatantly doing. Not only was it disrespectful to Edward, but to her.
Jake Black. He was Bella's ex-boyfriend. They had been inseparable ever since Billy brought him and Leah home from Israel all those years ago. From their first kiss to their first time, they were as thick as thieves, until Jake messed it all up. Of course, the Leah situation didn't help his attempts at reconciling. And by that point, Bella had already fallen head over heels for Edward.
Jake working for Royce only further solidified Bella's decision to stay broken up. Any space Bella put between them was healthy, not to mention the fact that he was still hopelessly in love with her. But despite it all, they remained close. Bella wasn't about to abandon a friend, and Edward didn't seem bothered by the pair remaining friends.
"Oh, you know I've always had a soft spot for Jake, Bella. You guys were made for each other". Translation to Renee's bullshit would be, "His father has more money than God, and you are a fool for passing up that opportunity."
"Not to mention he's so supportive of your cheerleading."
"Yeah, Mom—actually about cheer…" Bella began.
"Alice– did you know that Bill bought the old Cope mansion! He renovated the whole place as if it wasn't opulent enough. Then again, when you have an entire pharmaceutical empire, you don't have to worry about money." Renee expressed wistfully, with a resentful glare in Charlie's direction.
Alice attempted to steer the conversation in a different direction. "How's Seth, Bee?" Babysitting him was an adventure if Alice remembered correctly.
Seth Black was Jake and Leah's half-brother by the wicked witch of the west, also known as Victoria Rousseau. Her name sounded elegant and classy, two words that were never associated with Victoria.
One of the wealthiest men on the west coast, Bill Black started his journey as a pharmaceutical tycoon at the mere age of eighteen. He chased the American dream as he graduated from the ranks of the door-to-door salesman to dazzling investors like Harry Clearwater. Upon passing, the older wealthier man, who had no family and willed his entire life's fortune to Bill. The latter invested every penny into Black & Stone, becoming one of Seattle's richest and most powerful men overnight.
Despite his success, Bill grew lonely especially after seeing all of his friends progress on a personal level; getting married and having children. Renee and Esme were constantly in his ear about settling down. They thought they had a right to interfere in his affairs since the gang had all been friends since high school.
On a business trip to Israel, Bill took a walk past an orphanage and wanted to use his money for good (and be able to have an heir to his legacy), so he started proceedings to adopt. Leah and Jake were the luckiest six-year-olds to have been adopted by Bill Black. The twins made quick friends with Bella and the rest of the crew. Bella and Leah were attached at the hip, and later on, she and Jake fell in love. It was all kumbaya. That was until Jake became the new and "improved" Jake, and then there was the fallout between Leah and Bella…
"Can we cut the shit with Bill! I'm going to lose my appetite. That rat bastard deserves to rot in hell. He gets a new young, hotwife and forgets his friends. Now he's sick and wants us all to feel sorry for him. Fuck the chair he's in. Maybe karma is working his ass. I heard from Sam down at the station that his business isn't all that straight and narrow anymore if you know what I mean. He's been outsourcing to some shady people. And Jake, he was a yahoo–from the second Bill picked those two brats up in Israel, or Romania, or wherever the fuck he traveled to. Trouble magnets!", Charlie so eloquently explained.
Charlie and Bill were best friends until seven years ago when Bill went on a business trip to Vegas. After the business portion of the trip concluded, Bill celebrated his new takeover at the strip club. He hooked up with a stripper after her set, and she alerted him a month later that she was pregnant. They married and had Seth–now Victoria is a permanent fixture in the Forks' community.
Bill abandoned his friendships and distanced himself from everyone because Victoria was very high maintenance. What did he expect from a twenty-year-old stripper?! Charlie's "incident" put the nail in the coffin of Bill and Charlie's already diminished friendship. Bill's board members warned him of associating with 'problematic' people, such as Charlie Swan.
"Young, hot wife, huh?" Renee quirked her eyebrow at Charlie. "Well that's a crock of shit, and you know it. She's a gold-digging whore, who conned Bill into marrying her slutty ass. I hope for Bill's sake he signed a prenup".
Renee and Charlie didn't agree on much these days, but hating on Bill's success and being jealous of his wealth was always a common denominator.
"If he doesn't, then he'll get what's coming to him. I would hate to see her get his fortune. She definitely wouldn't share it with Leah and Jake. Victoria can barely stand the fact that they live together. "An inconvenience is what Leah told Esme."
LtD~
Somewhere between bitterness and blackberry cobbler, the Swans finished their family dinner. As the girls were cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen, Charlie's phone rang and had alerted the girls how Sam had invited him for a card game on the reservation.
Some after Charlie had pulled out of the driveway, Bella was next to receive a phone call—from Victoria. She called Bella to babysit, saying she needed a night off. Bella obliged, excusing herself to facetime Edward to cancel their Netflix and Chill date.
This left Alice and Renee on their own for the first time in four long years. Never one for sentimental moments, Renee went to her bedroom to change out of her scrubs to her skinny jeans and cable knit sweater. Alice knew what was happening as she watched Renee apply her second coat of rouge red lipstick.
"You're going to meet him," Alice said with certainty. " Tonight? I can't believe you. I wanted to believe you stopped. You do know that Bella's starting to suspect something, don't you?! Don't you think about Bella? I know you don't think of Charlie. But about—".
"Allyson—enough!" Renee didn't have time for this. She was already late, and he didn't like to be kept waiting. Renee lowered her voice and looked to the stairs, "To answer your question, yes, I do know that Bella is starting to suspect that something is going on, so I ask you to please don't do this now. Especially not with her home.
"You're despicable, all this time I gave the benefit of the doubt, thinking you finally stopped the shit, but no! I hope the sex is worth all this trouble. You can control every aspect of my life for years, but you can still make inconceivable mistakes, thinking that your actions are justified. What now, I just turn the other cheek and lie for you? Seriously, how many times will it be enough?" Alice was close to saying fuck and letting everything out and not thinking about the ramifications.
"Alice, this isn't four years ago and it's certainly not eighteen years ago, so please stop bringing up old wounds. You're only hurting yourself.", Renee pleaded. The faster Alice dropped the subject, the faster she could leave.
Renee was one of the main causes of the "old wounds." Alice mentally added. "You're right, so why not open the wounds... Rip them all up, get out in the open, so we can all heal properly. I'm tired and I've played by your rules long enough. How long are you going to keep punishing me?"
This newfound conviction frightened Renee to her very core. If she wasn't careful, she could lose everything. Renee feigned indifference towards Alice's threats," Ally, there is enough is going on right now. Wrong—-".
"Wrong time, blah blah, bad timing. You're going to end up hurting yourself. How will you recover again? I would hate for all your progress to get thrown away at a failed attempt at redemption.". Alice mocked Renee even trying to mimic her valley girl tone. As Renee opened her mouth to speak, Alice held her hand up to indicate she wasn't done, "You're trying to protect me. I've heard it all before. This time is different; I'm different." Alice huffed, fighting her losing battle.
Renee nodded, "Is what you just said wrong? I am trying to protect you. I have been only trying to protect you, oftentimes from yourself. You have never made my job easy…you were six months old, and you were an abundance of work! Here I was, going to night school to get my nursing degree, and your father was never home. All I needed was for you to sleep through the night so I could study my finals. Instead, you stood up ALL. NIGHT." Alice opened her mouth to say something, but as usual, Renee trampled over her, "I get it, Al, I was a shitty mom. I worked a ton—hell, I still do. I didn't do girl talk, and when you started your rebellious shit, I couldn't deal. Then everything got worse, and it became like a rollercoaster I couldn't get off."
Alice nodded, thinking back to that time in her life was painful. Renee wasn't done with making her point, "Do you think it was ideal for me to find out I was pregnant with you on graduation night? My high school sweetheart had just broken up with me a few months prior and then went on to marry the skank. And where did I end up...pregnant by my rebound. The only reason I slept with Charlie was for his football star status, and I thought it would make him jealous.
Alice was surprised it took Renee this long to work the guilt trip into the conversation. What was Alice supposed to do? Go back in time and make sure they never had sex? She didn't understand; it wasn't her fault she was born.
"Yes, Renee, I ruined your fucking life, so you ruined mine right back for sport. Mother of the fucking year. What will it take to show you, I'm not that person anymore?"
"Allyson, you will always be that person; it's who you are. Sorry to break it to you, you can't fight who you are. The things you have done will impact this family for the rest of our lives".
"That's your fucking fault; I was a fucking child! I needed protecting". Alice pointed aggressively towards her chest, veins bulging in her neck.
She wasn't a particularly menacing figure because of her short stature and perfectly manicured outfit.
Bella made her way down the stairs, running to separate the two women she loved most in the world. "ENOUGH! Both of you!", Bella was sick of the fighting and it was only Alice's first day back.
"Mom, you promised not to relive the past. I really struggled without Alice here, and it would be nice to see her more often, maybe, even…", she looked at Alice pleadingly, "maybe even move back…".
"Bee." Alice was never one to say no to Bella, but she even had her limits.
"I guess we need to try harder. We will try harder." Renee would agree to anything to be able to get the fuck out of this house.
"Yes—we will make a more conscious effort to get along…for the remainder of my visit." Alice added quickly to ensure a loophole, leaning in to hug Bella.
Renee, never one for hugs or affection from her children excused herself with a quick and "goodbye" was out the door.
"My wild-child sister, whatever will we do with you?" Bella joked.
"Har har, my goodie two shoes sister, better get ready, or Seth will be watching himself."
Bella turns to finish getting ready but feels she should capitalize on Alice's goodwill. "Oh, one more thing, Ally…"
Alice looked at Bella questioningly, "When did you get engaged, and when were you going to tell me?!".
Alice's eyes widened as far as they could.
LtD~
January 5th
Detective Riley Biers paced the investigation room, there were so many things he could start with, but he needed to play his cards right.
"What can you tell me about your daughter?" He figured he would start with the simple questions, they would get to the hard stuff soon enough.
"Bella is the perfect girl. She never missed cheer or her volunteer work—". Renee rattled on and on.
"No—I meant your other daughter, Alice." Detective Biers correctly smugly.
"Oh Ally! She was a wild child from day one. You know,at eight months old, she jumped out of her crib, and then when I ran to pick her up thinking she was hurt and she laughed at me." That's Allyson. Also contrary to her belief, her legal name is Allyson Renee Swan." Renee added with an eye roll. "Ever since she was sixteen she decided that it was 'better" to be named Alice. I think it's ridiculous."
Riley waited for her to get to the point.
"Anyway Alice has always given me a hard time. She drank, partied, got hooked on drugs, and got involved with the worst people. My daughter has never been easy. She enjoys torturing me".
"Mrs. Swan, we've spoken with Alice, and she had shared with us quite a bit about her sordid past. Wouldn't you say you and your husband haven't been as much help as you lead us to believe?" Riley almost felt sorry for Renee. She led a pathetic life.
"Detective, I'll have you know Allyson is a master of charades. She's playing you, and your investigation will suffer as long as you listen to her." Renee was tired, tired of her pathetic life.
Riley knew when to keep his mouth shut, so he did exactly that. Let them make the case for him.