And we're back! So sorry for the delay! It turns out moving is stressful - who knew right? Thanks so much for bearing with me, and to everyone who started reading while I was AWOL, thanks for trusting that I'd come back.
This chapter is kind of dull, and kind of short, but we get really into the meat of things next chapter. And it should *fingers crossed* be published on time!
In case it wasn't obvious in this chapter, I am very into historical clothing! If anyone is interested, go check out priorattire on youtube for some wholesome historical fun!
Thanks to my bf, my bff, and all you lovely lot x
"Darling Bella. I hope you don't think this rude of me, but I am confused about your breasts."
Bella peered down at her modest bust in her misshapen blue dress, "What about them?"
Tanya smiled a sheepish smile, "I know you are not wearing a corset, yet your breasts sit so high on your chest. Please forgive me if I am committing a grave error and your breasts are naturally shaped that way. I am just so curious!"
Bella really wanted to laugh, but Tanya looked so earnest that she desperately tried not to. "I'm wearing a 'bra'. It's like a corset but it only pushes the … breasts up, it doesn't restrict the stomach or anything."
Quick as lightning, Kate shot into the small stone clad room. "Oh! How does it work!? Can I see?!"
Tanya giggled, "Kate frequently loses herself and snaps the bones in her corsets. She often wishes for an alternative."
"It is so inconvenient!" Kate gasped, "Tell me, Darling. What kinds of skirts do they wear in your time? Can you run in them?"
Bella stared for a moment at the gorgeous seductresses gazing up at her. When she had first arrived she had been struck. Not by their long blonde hair and pouty lips, she was used to that. The Denali sisters had greeted her clad in gorgeous long dresses, with trains promenading long behind them. While their waists were cinched to a perfect V, their hips shot out so dramatically they were almost horizontal, their bustles extended their backsides so far they looked like shelves. It sounded almost comical, yet it looked right. They had their hair pinned to the back of their heads in cascades of ringlets and their necks ringed with strips of velvet that somehow oozed sexuality without showing a scrap of cleavage or a hint of leg. Bella could not help but feel self-conscious in her stolen gown that she clearly was not wearing right.
"In my time, women wear trousers." Bella said, promoting loud gasps from the sisters.
"Like men!" Tanya exclaimed.
"Finally!" Kate groaned.
Bella summoned up her courage, "How do you get your waists like that?" She asked, gesturing to the sisters' angular ones. "I know women tie their corsets really tight and restrict their lungs and things to get their waists small, but I assumed we wouldn't be able to? We're pretty …unsquishable?"
Kate burst out laughing, "Unsquishable?! Bella, where do you find these words?"
Tanya let out a ladylike giggle and clasped Bella's hands, "You're right, Darling. We cannot tight lace, but our clothes are all illusion! We pad our hips and busts and it simply makes our waists look smaller by comparison!"
"Oh! In my time you don't pad anything except your bra, either you have the perfect body shape or you don't."
"Trust us, Darling, the perfect body shape changes over the decades. No one can reach perfection all of the time."
"Speaking of perfection!" Irina swept into the room, holding a pile of soft fabric. "I have finished your new corset!"
"It's been twenty minutes!" Bella exclaimed, "How did you do it so quickly?"
"I'm a vampire, Darling." Irina swept around Bella, undoing the ties of her dress until it slipped right off her. Bella tried to squeeze her arms around her middle to protect her modesty, but Kate slapped them down.
"So this is a bra?" She asked, peering at it. "Can I try it on?"
"Sure," Bella shrugged. "You can keep it. I guess I won't be wearing one for a few decades anyway."
Kate squealed with glee as Bella took her bra off and handed it to her. She threw herself into a chair in the corner to inspect the garment with childlike joy.
Before Bella had time to feel self-conscious, Irina pulled a cotton shift dress over her head and clasped the corset closed over the top of it.
"I won't give you a full bustle!" She said, rolling long white stockings over Bella's knees. "There is no point in you getting used to the fashionable way of dressing when you are leaving society altogether in a few weeks. Who knows what will be in when you come back! I will give you a bum roll." She held up and crescent moon shaped pad attached to a ribbon and tied it just below her waist. "Your dresses will not fit correctly otherwise."
Next, she pulled two thick petticoats over her head and buttoned them at the waist. "See the slits in the legs?" Irina gestured to the cuts where Bella's calves poked through. "My own design, they will make it easier for you to run."
She buttoned a soft grey blouse over Bella's chest and tucked it into a thick wool skirt, then smoothed a silk waistcoat over the top.
"There!" Irina smiled, "Now you are a perfect lady."
Bella smiled back; it was nice to get to know Irina without the chasm of Laurent's death between them.
Tanya dragged over a small stool and stood on it to reach Bella's hair, which she pinned into a bun on the crown of her head. "Your hair will never stay up when you are running around in the south," she said. "But you will look a little strange in society with it down. Keep some pins in your bag, Darling."
The sisters turned Bella to look in the full-length mirror in the corner. She stifled a gasp. Sure enough, her waist looked just like the sisters', if a little wider as she was simply a bigger person. She looked like something she had only seen in pictures and films, maybe a little like Mary Poppins, and yet like herself. She did not feel constricted, despite the boned corset tight around her chest.
"Just don't bend over too suddenly," Kate whispered in her ear. "The boning is not made with us in mind. It can snap if we get over exuberant."
Bella giggled, "I'll keep that in mind."
Bella studied herself for a moment, this was an image she would have to get used to for a long time to come.
Irina wrapped an arm around her, "What is it, Darling?"
Bella let out a strange noise that was part laugh and part sob. "I feel so stupid, to be sad about clothes. I just realised that I'm not going to wear jeans and a tshirt again for what? Eighty years? I won't look like me for such a long time. Alice won't present me with random outfits to wear for decades... I won't see her for decades! I haven't chosen my own clothes since I was a human! Oh God I don't know what I'm doi-"
"Stop." Tanya squeezed Bella's face in her hands and looked her dead in the eye. "You are doing something incredible, Darling. You are in a world that is brand new to you, I am sure that it is terrifying and confusing. But you are doing so well. Look how quickly you found Carlisle! You can do this, but only if you keep your head. Okay?"
Bella nodded and tried to calm herself.
"Besides," smirked Kate. "If choosing your own clothes is a problem for you, we are happy to oblige!"
Irina squeezed Bella to her side. "I know you miss your family, Darling. But for now, you have us."
Bella smiled at the sisters in the mirror. They were no Esme, Rosalie or Alice; but they were her family in her own right. They were so trusting and kind to her and Carlisle. Despite Bella's story being absolutely insane, it only took Carlisle's word and a look at the polaroid she had brought to convince them.
As soon as they found out why Bella was dressed so strangely, they dragged her into their large dressing room that took up a huge proportion of their small farmhouse. The sisters had to be careful with how much wealth they displayed, Carlisle told her. Three young, rich women living alone and moving around often would draw a lot of attention.
"I am curious about how people look in your time, Bella." Kate said, "I just cannot picture what you have described. You showed us your photograph but you cannot really see much other than a very lovely blouse. Do you have others? And what are 'jeans and tshirts'?"
Bella did have another. The family portrait of them at Kate and Garrett's wedding. She knew she shouldn't really show anyone, the polaroid was necessary to convince people she was telling the truth. The other photo was for her, just for her. Yet she almost felt like her family was slipping away from her. She was becoming ingrained in this new old world where her family meant nothing to anyone but her. If she showed someone else exactly who her family was, what their names were and what they meant to her, it could keep them real and safe in her mind for long enough to find them in person.
"Yes, I do." She decided, "But Carlisle can't see it, it has future spoilers that I don't want him to know about yet."
Bella went to her bag and took out the glossy photograph. She handed it to the sisters and they absorbed it with wide eyes.
"It's beautiful…" Tanya whispered, running light fingertips over the shiny surface. "Is this your coven? There are so many of you!"
"Yeah," Bella joined them. "That's my coven."
She smiled lovingly as she described each member to them. Esme's kindness, Rosalie's strength, Emmett's laugh, and Alice's joy. Kate was particularly enthralled with the formal jumpsuit Alice was wearing. Bella pointed to Jasper, "He's the one I'm going to find in the south."
"Well he is delightful…" Irina grinned, "Tell me he is unattached, Darling. He is particularly handsome."
"Irina!" Tanya exclaimed. "He is covered in scars!"
Irina shrugged, "I like my men dangerous."
Yeah, she sure did. Bella summoned up a fuzzy memory of Laurent trying to kill her in a field. Very dangerous indeed.
"And who is this man, Bella?" Kate pointed at Edward. Bella's tongue became a thick lump in the back of her throat. He was so far away from her.
"He looks very close to you," Tanya prompted. "Just like your Alice."
Bella felt venom swell in her eyes. "Yes, he was close to me. He was my mate… is my mate. He is still my mate, right?"
The sisters looked at each other for a moment, clearly debating the right answer.
"He is your mate for as long as you feel he is." Tanya declared. "But, Darling… No one would condemn you if you developed feelings for someone else. I am sure he would not either."
"I know," said Bella. "But I don't think I'm capable of loving someone else like that. I'm happy to wait for him."
The sisters traded guilty looks. "But what if something goes wrong?" Kate asked, "What if, God forbid, fate does not bring you together again? Will you condemn yourself to a life as a nun?"
"Well hey, if I get to wear a wimple and sing with my sisters all day!" Bella joked pathetically. She would really rather not think about that possibility.
"Ah… wimples." Irina sighed, "It was much easier to walk about in the sun when we had to be that covered. They had a particular charm about them too."
Bella was about to ask about it, interested as she was in the sisters' incredible history, but Carlisle sped into the room.
"I'm back!" He announced, a large grin spread on his face and his hair windswept back.
"We can see that!" Tanya giggled, "Where on Earth did you go? We took Bella to get dressed and you disappeared!"
"A few years ago, an old friend of mine told me he was travelling to an area quite north of here to 'play with the polar bears'. I went to see if I could track him down and ask him for his help."
"Did you manage it? Which friend?" Bella asked in a frenzy. Any ally was a good ally.
"Yes, I found him," Carlisle grinned. "I thought I might ask you which friend. If you recognise him without having met him, it may go some way to convince him of your story. He is waiting outside."
Bella let herself be ushered back through the farmhouse and out to the front courtyard, desperately hoping that she had in fact met this friend.
A figure stood at the gate from the road; tall and lanky, with long dark blonde hair tied back from his face, a long brown coat and big leather boots.
"Oh," said Bella. "Garrett!"
Garrett studied her with his strange ruby eyes. "You know me, do you?"
Bella decided to try her best to prove it. "You were turned during the American Revolution, you pride yourself on being on the right side of every American war-"
"Carlisle could have told you that," he smirked at her.
"- And you were 'this' close to biting Custer." Bella gestured with her hand, directly quoting the nomad from when she first met him.
Garrett stared at her for a moment.
She panicked, "He is dead now, right?"
"Yes, about ten years ago," Carlisle chimed in.
Garrett stepped back, "And this is all the Volturi's doing?"
"Yes."
"…And Carlisle believes you?"
"I do." Carlisle said from behind her.
Garrett's face split into a giant grin, "Well then that's good enough for me, little time traveller! You say you have met me? How many times? Are we good friends?"
"I hate that you're giving up your home," Bella lamented as the sisters' packed their trunks onto a wagon. "You really don't need to, I'll be okay!"
"Bella," Tanya turned. "You insist on us not joining you in the South, which we accept for the sake of your plan. But you cannot ask us to sit tight in Canada and wait to find out if you are still alive. Your task could take years!"
"I don't see the difference between you waiting in Canada and you waiting in Kansas."
"The difference is a full day of travel time should something go wrong." Tanya took Bella's hands and squeezed them, "What if you get found out, my sweet? Are you going to make chase all the way to Canada? At least with us as close as we can safely be, you have a chance of getting to us for help. And with Garrett kindly roaming around the area and reporting back to us, we may be able to somewhat keep in touch with you."
Bella bit her lip and studied the floor, it was difficult to accept the people she loved making such huge sacrifices for her.
"Indulge us, Darling." Tanya flashed a dazzling grin. "You know that if you don't give us this compromise, Carlisle will find a nice tall tree outside the camp to live in for the foreseeable future. This is really the safest option for everyone."
Carlisle absolutely would and Bella was very aware of it. Over the past two months, Bella had spent large amounts of time practicing fighting with Kate and Garrett. Carlisle had hovered on the side lines, ready to jump in, the entire time.
"Now," said Tanya, sensing Bella's resignation. "You know the plan. Irina and I will drive the wagon to the new house. You and the others will run down ahead and secure the territory. Okay?"
With a heavy heart and heavy feet, Bella left the farmhouse she had called home for these few months. The first home of her journey. Carlisle, Kate, and Garrett waited for her behind the house and kept in step with her as they set off. Her mind wasn't on this trip to Kansas, not really. All she could think of was in two weeks time. On the first of January 1886, she would go to Oklahoma; to join the Southern Wars.
Thanks so much for reading x