Chapter 51 - Bushes of Lilacs
BPOV continues...
Jen and Bella look out the front window of the car.
The front is fanned with bushes of lilacs, you can barely see the house.
"Is this it?" Bella asks.
Jen is sure.
They look around some. The small town is a nook right outside of the campsite, some twenty minutes away. That boggles Bella's mind. To think he was that close to home, to his family. He probably didn't know.
The scene outside their windshield is like a postcard. Small Mom 'n Pop shops, a diner, a market, and fields of hilly greens that connect to the North Pond woods.
"Wanna try?"
Bella shakes her head immediately. She promised she'd just stake it out for now. At least the first time until she conjures up the courage to knock. So they sit there for hours, it seems.
Finally, there's movement. A man in a plaid shirt, worn jeans, and a baseball cap comes through the gate between the lilacs. He crosses the street.
Bella's blood runs cold.
"What?" Jen.
Bella shakes her head, blinking. She feels faint. The way that man walks, the long arms and wide shoulders, identical to Edward. But it takes a second, and she sees the differences.
A brother?
He walks down the road far away and disappears inside a diner.
"Hungry?" Jen offers. Yes. This is the most action they've had since this morning. They park and nervously head into the diner, eyes wide and trying to seem casual.
Elliot is not being quiet. They sit in a booth, and he's making all the noises that make Bella cringe.
The Edward look-alike sits at the bar hunched over his coffee; short beard, mustache, rough around the edges. When Elliot wails, he turns his head a bit. Bella's spine goes cold.
"Bathroom. Go. You can take a peek at his face coming back," Jen offers. Great idea. Bella goes to the bathroom to breastfeed. Elliot falls asleep in no time. His little pout cherry-red like his father as he sleeps, spent. Bella sighs, relieved.
"No time for shenanigans, all right? Mommy's gotta stalk," she whispers to him. She rushes out, and with all the courage she can muster, eyes peeled, she looks up. The stranger's eyes seem to find hers immediately.
Bella blinks away.
Shit.
"Did you see him?" Jen asks desperately.
"Looked right at me. Urgh." Bella settles in the booth, then Elliot in his car seat.
"And? Any similarities?"
"He's younger than he seems. Same eyes. Definitely, his brother," Bella says. Jen nods, looking over.
"While you were gone, the waitress talked to him. She called him Emmett." Bella peeks at said waitress with 'Rose' pinned to her apron. She warmly smiles at him. Emmett stays blank.
"Like brother, like … brother," Bella murmurs.
Jen snorts, seeing the obviousness in the exchange, or lack thereof on his part. Rose is sweetened by his presence. Him? No signs of life. He pushes his coffee mug away an inch, and that is enough for her to know he needs a refill. She rushes over.
"Well, he's a jerk," Jen says. It comes off a bit too loud. Bella hushes her.
"Jesus, you're worse than Elliot."
Rose comes by, making them both shut their trap. The woman, in her late forties, smiles down at them.
"Adorable. Just gorgeous little fellow," she says about Elliot. "What's his name?"
Bella stammers, looking over to the bar. "Uh, Elliot."
"Well, you girls must be from out of town. I know everyone around here, and this is the first time I've seen you. I'd remember that angel face." Her crow's feet line her bright eyes as she smiles down at the sleeping baby.
"Yeah … uh—"
"We're looking for relatives," Jen says. Bella's stomach drops. "Haven't spotted them yet. The baby was hungry, we stopped in."
Rose coos and awes.
"Say," Jen continues. "We noticed the man up there was rude. You all right?" Bella kicks her under the table.
Rose is taken. "Oh, no … I mean." She laughs. "Yes. Mr. Cullen is really a charmer if you get to know him. He's a good man."
Mr. Cullen. Cullen.
Jen nods. "So, I assume he's a regular. You know him?"
"I know his entire family. Very good, quiet family. They've been here for generations. Right up the road where the lilacs are. His parents are old but still up there, barely see them nowadays. So is his sister. Poor thing so sick, and that one son who never comes to visit. All the rest of the brothers come and go, but it's a shame. His mother always hoping he'll come back after so many years and all. Rumors are he's not alive anymore." She lifts her notepad. "Anyway," she says, chuckling. "They say I talk ears off, so stop me if you're famished. What are we having today, ladies?"
Jen smirks. "I think we've got it all."
Bella is speechless. Jen managed to get all that information. They order quick meals and sit there quietly, staring at nothing in particular.
"How the hell did you manage that?" Bella asks. Jen shrugs.
"I research. I do it for work every day. We have to interview people. She looked like the type who would spill. Perfect target." Bella stares skeptically. "I'll give her a hefty tip. It'll be fine."
They eat as quickly as they can before the baby wakes and wails at them again. Bella notices the disrupted freedom she used to have is now timed by a small one. This time, she knows it's more; a potential relative to Elliot is only a few feet away.
What would she say when she finally finds the courage to walk up to him or the house?
Your son and brother, the one you haven't seen in years, is alive, or maybe he's alive. I'm not actually sure. But, I'm sure this is his son he doesn't know about.
She hands Elliot over.
Not likely viable.
Either way, their nephew and grandson wakes, and wails at last. Bella drops her fork, picks him up and over her shoulder to burp him.
Jen goes a bit pale as she looks over Bella's shoulder toward the bar. "Well, he's looking right at him," she says about Elliot. "Fuuuuck."
"Let's go. I can't do this now. Maybe never," Bella says. They pile him into the car seat and juggle all the baggage that comes with him.
The door chimes as they make an exit. Rose waving and saying her farewell and good luck behind them. Loudly.
They rush up the road to the car left by the house, no other parking available, and go about the many tasks of clicking Elliot in, who begins to keen once again.
Fuck. Here we go. Not a fan of this entrapment.
"Leave it. Just drive. We gotta get out of here," Bella says in a rush to Jen from the back seat.
Then they both join Elliot with a scream of fright.
Their lungs going … their mouths gaping. Eyes screwed up and shut after seeing a shadow. The tall shadow of a man by Bella's window.
He tapped the window with a knuckle.
Bella pants a little, trying to calm. Her hand over her heart. She looks out, and Emmett Cullen is standing there bent slightly at the waist to look inside.
He makes a gesture. It's not like Bella feels she has a choice. Or does she? She doesn't know. She looks to Jen. Jen looks back. Then shrugs.
Bella hits the automatic button. The window whirs. Slowly, it goes down.
Emmett leans in. The first thing he lays eyes on is Elliot, who is looking bright-eyed and quiet at the stranger—his uncle.
Emmett's eyes cut to Bella. "How do you know us?" he asks. Skeptical. A tinge of anger. Overprotector. No messing around in his blunt book. He shoots a single nod when he asks. His bright, ocean blue eyes so familiar. His overworked, sunburnt skin aging him more than he is. A tooth just askew slightly on his bottom grill.
Bella is frozen. Lips tightly shut. Eyes just as wide as her son beside her.
"Get out of the car," he orders. He jerks an arm with a slight, stiff, invite. It softens the cop-like ask.
Bella begins to tremble, feeling like she really is going to get the Miranda Rights recited. A right to remain silent. Innocent until proven guilty.
Well, she already is. About everything.
…