Chapter 5: Secret
Edward's POV
Something big was about to happen today. I could see it in the way Alice was behaving. In her mind she was singing the national anthem in every language that she knew. Over and over and over. I didn't dare to confront her. She must have had her reasons for keeping me out. I would find out soon enough anyway.
I stepped outside and went to go hunting. I didn't think I could listen to another rendition of the song. I did find it mildly irritating that she wouldn't tell me whatever it was that she saw. She knew my deepest darkest secret after all. I had never intended for her to find out what I was hiding but with her psychic abilities she found out anyway.
This was something that I had kept from the entire family for ten years. Not even Bella knew what I kept locked away in my mind. I sighed as an image of my daughter crossed my mind. I would never know her but she was safe and happy with her family in Kentucky. Several years after she was kidnapped I decided to hire a private investigator to try to find her. My daughter had been wearing a bracelet that bore her name when she was kidnapped and I'd hoped that somehow by some miracle that she was still using that name. Which would make it easier for the private investigator to find her.
What happened after that came as a huge surprise. The investigator had found a girl by that name living in Kentucky. She was seven years old at the time. The exact age that my daughter would have been. She'd been found in Seattle and legally adopted. She was now living with her grandparents in Kentucky.
I didn't tell the family what I was doing when I flew down to Kentucky. My intention had been to bring Renesmee home and surprise Bella and the others. But my plans quickly changed when I got there. The memory of what happened was as clear as if it had happened yesterday.
I held a piece of paper in my hand. I looked at the address one more time even though I had already memorized it by now. I continued walking and stopped when I came to a large house on an even larger piece of land. I was about to knock on the door when I saw a young girl walking from around the back of the house.
I froze in shock. She was only about seven years old. The girl looked like a much younger human Bella. This was my daughter. She was right here. So close. The young girl looked around but I hid before she could see me. I decided to follow her and see where she was going.
I could smell and hear the animals before I saw them. There were horses here. A lot of horses. So this was a horse farm. Interesting. Nessie didn't notice me when I followed her. Nessie hesitated before stopping in front of one of the horse stalls. The horse inside was a chestnut red female. Pregnant by the sound of the double heartbeat. Nessie opened the door and led the animal outside.
The animal began to look agitated when Nessie led her outside. The horse neighed loudly and suddenly reared up. Nessie screamed. I reacted faster than I could think. I grabbed my daughter and yanked her out of the way just as the horse's hooves came down, landing on the ground where my daughter had been only a second earlier. Nessie looked at me once and screamed again.
I put her down and hid quickly as several people came running to see what the problem was. A panicked elderly looking man came out and grabbed Nessie while the other men were attempting to calm the animal down.
"Nessie what happened?!" The elderly man asked sounding as panicked as I felt.
"I wanted to play with her so I took her out and-"
"Nessie what have I told you about messing around with the horses?! What have I told you about being close to the horses without adult supervision?!"
"I'm sorry grandpa," she cried.
"You could have gotten hurt or worse! Young lady when your grandmother and I tell you to do or not do something we expect you to listen to us for your own safety! Don't you ever scare me like that again, do you understand?!"
She kept crying. She hated disappointing her grandfather. She loved him and he loved her. "I'm sorry grandpa,"
He took a deep breath before he hugged her and wiped her tears away. "Nessie your grandmother and I love you so much and we don't want anything to happen to you,"
"How can you care about me so much when I'm not your real granddaughter? I'm adopted,"
"Who told you that?" her grandfather was surprised she knew this. He hadn't told her anything before.
"My aunt told me that earlier. She said I'm not a real member of the family because I'm not a blood relative. Is that true?"
Her grandfather was really angry now but he was trying hard to keep it hidden from Nessie. "Yes your mom and dad adopted you when you were a baby. But understand this Nessie. They adopted you because they wanted you. They loved you. Your grandmother and I also love you so much. Blood isn't everything. Love is the most important thing. Love is what makes us a true family and don't you ever forget that,"
She hugged him. "I won't grandpa,"
He smiled at her. "Good. Now why don't you go inside. Your grandmother is making her famous chocolate chip cookies,"
Nessie ran happily into the house.
I continued to observe them for a few more hours. Even though Nessie saw me pull her out of the way she decided not to mention me because she wasn't sure if her grandmother would believe her. One thing was clear though. Her grandparents loved her and she loved them. That was when I made the hard and extremely painful decision to leave things as they were. I couldn't take Nessie away from them. I couldn't just rip her away from the family that she knew and loved.
I left that night and was surprised to see Alice waiting for me at the airport by herself. From her thoughts I could see that she knew about what happened and was furious.
"How could you do that to Bella? You found her daughter and you're not even going to tell her? Nessie belongs with her mother. She belongs with her real family,"
"Alice I can't-"
"You know what? I'm going to Bella, the whole family, about what happened,"
"No! Please don't!"
"Why not?"
"Because Nessie already has a family. It wouldn't be right to take her away from them. If we tell Bella she's not going to understand that. She's going to want to get Nessie back no matter what. We can't tell her,"
"They're not her family though,"
"Yes they are. They have raised her all her life and they love her just as much as we do. It would be wrong to tear them apart like that. Please Alice. I'm begging you not to tell anyone. This is for the better,"
It took awhile to convince her but eventually she agreed. We wouldn't tell Bella or anyone.
Ten years had passed since that day. Several times I wanted to go back and check on her but it was much too dangerous because of the southern vampire wars that continued to rage in the south. If not I would've gone back many times over the years to see her.
All of this was going through my head when I heard Alice coming. My head snapped up. "Edward I have to tell you something. I was going to wait but I realized it would be better to tell you first after all,"
She told me about the vision that she had. Nessie had traveled to Seattle with her son for reasons that not even Alice knew. Bella was going to find Nessie while she was there meeting J. Jenks. Bella was bringing them home. They'd be here in less than five minutes.
"Edward we won't be able to keep the secret much longer. As of right now I don't know what's going to happen when everyone finds out the truth about what we've been hiding,"
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