"Do you think we should take any of these books with us?" Bella asked Rosalie as she was putting the books they had read back on the shelves.
Rosalie looked up from the books of legends she was reading through." If you want we can. I don't see what else we can learn about the white tiger that isn't in this book."
"Yeah I thought the same thing. There are a few things I want to bring back with us."
"Do we need to mail them?" At Bella's raised eyebrow Rosalie's rolled her eyes. "Of course not because you rented the private jet to take us back."
"You are my imprint. I want nothing but the best for you. Renting a jet is nothing. Heck if you wanted me to buy you a plane I would without even blinking an eye." Bella told her.
"Bella we don't need a plane. God I'm going to have to reel in your gift giving aren't I." Rosalie said exasperated.
"No you won't. At least not for gifts to other people. You however are going to have to get used to being spoiled."Bella kissed the frown off Rosalie's face.
"I don't need to be spoiled and I don't want you going overboard. You may be a billionaire but that doesn't mean you need to spend your money frivolously." Rosalie told her.
"Yes, dear." Bella chuckled at Rosalie's glare.
The sounds of an alarm followed by a flashing light caught their attention causing Rosalie to sigh."For fucks sake what have they gotten into now. I knew leaving them alone was a bad idea."
Bella laughed as she walked to the security room. Her laugh turned into a scowl as she looked at the monitor."I wish it were your family causing this disturbance but unfortunately it's mine."
"What do you mean?" Rosalie asked.
Bella pointed to a screen depicting the front gate where a middle aged women was standing. "My mother is here."
Rosalie looked as the woman was trying to punch numbers into the key pad becoming angrier each time she was declined." How would your mother even know you were here?"
"I suspect someone told her. We did rent a jet and a limo and not to sound full of myself but around here I'm kind of a big deal. She could have heard about it from a number of people." Bella explained.
"What are you going to do about it?" Rosalie asked following Bella towards the entrance of the bunker. She refused to refer to it as anything but a bunker no matter how Bella tried to dress it up. If it could withstand a nuclear attack then the damn thing was a bunker.
"Well I'm going to invite her in for tea. That's what I'm going to do." Bella said unlocking the doors to go out the same way she unlocked them going in. At Rosalie's questioning look she explained."In case of emergency it's better that one person have control over the exits than multiple people who could let in something you wanted to stay out.
Rosalie nodded in understanding. "So we are just going to invite your mother in for tea? Do you want the rest of the family with us?"
"No that's quite alright. We can handle her on our own. If she gets out of hand we'll call Gene." Bella told her walking into the servants entrance of the house going to the kitchen.
As she put a kettle of water on to boil Bella walked to a control panel and punched in some numbers.
"She is going to just walk up to the front door? I didn't see a car drive her up." Rosalie asked.
"Yes that is quite curious. She spent a lot of money on cars. It's weird that she didn't drive one." Bella said as she pulled out a tray and put a China tea pot with a matching tea set on it. Rosalie had never seen anything so fancy." Can you grab the Biscuits out of that cabinet.
Rosalie felt like she was in the twilight zone. Her shy unassuming mate had turned into a high class lady who served her mother tea on fine china. Looking at her clothes Rosalie suddenly felt underdressed.
"Should I change my clothes?" Rosalie asked.
Bella gave her a confused look. "Why would you need to change your clothes?"
"Well I'm meeting your mother for the first time. She is an heir to the Shurlong family." Rosalie explained.
"My mother is the heir to nothing. She gave up that right long ago and as for what you're wearing you look beautiful. Just wait until you see what she's wearing. I promise you'll feel overdressed in no time." Bella told her setting the tray on a table in what looked to be a sitting room.
Rosalie sat down on a on rose wood love seat upholstered with a dark blue velvet that was part of a matching set that included a chair, chaise lounge and couch. The walls were covered with dark green wallpaper with painted portraits of what she assumed were Bella's ancestors.
Above the fireplace was a painting of Bella and from the pictures she had seen Bella's grandparents. They had been dressed and posed formally and the painting would have come off as serious if it wasn't for the happy smiles that adorned all three faces. Looking around Rosalie couldn't find any pictures of Bella's mother. She would have to ask about that later.
Voices from the hallway caught her attention and when she looked up she saw Bella walking into the room followed by a woman who looked like she was made of plastic. With Rosalie enhanced sight she could make out the different textures in the woman's skin and wondered if Bella could see the same.
The woman stopped short staring at Rosalie with wide eyes. "Who is this?"
"Mother this is my girlfriend Rosalie. Her family is staying here for the weekend. Rosalie this is my mother Rene Shurlong." Bella said introducing them.
Rosalie stood and held out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Shurlong.
Rene scoffed and ignored the hand."No need to call me that. I'm not that old. Call me Rene."
"Ok Rene it is then." Rosalie agreed giving the woman a once over. She looked nothing like Bella. Bella's looks definitely came from her father and her grandfather. Although she had some of Charlie's facial features looking at the painting of the two together you would think that Bella was almost a clone of her grandfather.
Bella's mother however looked like neither of her parents. If Bella wasn't so obviously a Shurlong Rosalie would have assumed Rene was adopted. Even with the Botox and obvious face lift you could tell she never looked like her parents. From the roots showing in her fake blond hair it seemed that Rene did have the same color brown hair as her mother. That was the only similarity though.
As she gave the woman a once over Rosalie was glad she didn't insist on changing. Her jeans paired with one of Bella's over sized shirts looked absolutely chic compared to Rene's short shorts and tight tank top that left little to the imagination. She looked like she would be more comfortable hanging around a dive bar than having tea at a billionaire's estate.
"Well this is a surprise. It's so nice of you to visit mother. Would you like some tea?" Bella said breaking the silence that had descended on the room.
Rene should her head no to the tea." When I heard my only daughter was here I had to come see for myself."
"Of course. How are you doing?" Bella asked.
"Oh you know. I'm surviving. I miss you though. Are you coming back to live here now? I know Charlie wouldn't ever make enough to provide you a lifestyle such as ours so if he needs me to take over custody you know I would always be there for you." Rene said in a tone that was so insincere in it's sincerity that Rosalie had to stop herself from punching the woman.
"That won't be necessary mother. I enjoy living with Charlie. We are simply here to enjoy the estate for the weekend. I'll be flying back on Sunday night."
"Yes I heard. You flew in on a private jet and now you have your girlfriend and her family at the estate. Seems like you are just throwing money around." Rene snidely commented.
Rosalie grabbed Bella's hand and gave it a squeeze. She wasn't sure if she was trying to give Bella comfort or seek it out for herself but she could tell that this conversation would try her patience. Seeing as her emotions were running high being newly mated she somewhat feared for Rene's safety.
"Well it wasn't much in the scheme of things. Gene was happy to let me use some of the allowance I SAVED over the years on something important to me." Rene scowled at the way Bella had emphasized the word saved.
"I myself could have saved also if I wasn't raising a child. You have no idea how expensive it was to take care of you." Rene said causing Rosalie to squeeze Bella's hand so hard Bella grunted.
"Sorry." Rosalie whispered receiving a small smile from Bella.
"Yes I do know how expensive it was to take care of me. Seeing as I'm the one who bankrolled my own expenses. Maybe we should discuss how expensive it was to take care of you. That is why you're here right?You need money." Bella asked.
"You have no right to keep me from what is mine." Rene yelled dropping the caring mother act. "I don't know how you did it but you somehow tricked my parents into giving you everything."
"She was ten when they died. How could she have tricked them?" Rosalie asked.
Rene stood and pointed a finger at Rosalie. "You stay the fuck out of this. I know a gold digger when I see one and you dying your hair and wearing contacts to match Bella is just pathetic."
Bella jumped to her feet and stepped right up to Rene causing the woman to crane her neck to look up at her. "I think it's time for you to leave. If you have problems with how the estate was distributed please contact Gene's office. I'm sure he will refer you to one of my many lawyers."
Rene took a step back and spit on Bella's feet." This isn't over. I gave you a chance to come back but don't think I will wait around for you. You tell Charlie that he will be hearing from my lawyer soon. You are my daughter and you will live with me."
Bella wrapped an arm around Rosalie's middle holding her back from advancing on Rene. "You even go near her again and I'll kill you."
"Are you threatening me?Bella you better control that little girlfriend of yours if you know what's good for you. Get your hands off me." Rene screamed as Bella grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the front door.
"Do you think you can walk to the gate yourself or do you need an escort?" Bella asked Rene as she pushed her out the front door.
"I need to take one of my father's cars. Mine is in the shop." Rene told her in an unbelievably calm voice.
"Are you serious right now? You just came in here threatened me and spit on my feet and now you think I'm going to let you take one of grandfather's cars." At Rene's nod Bella asked. "Are you crazy or are you seriously this deluded?"
"I'm not crazy. I need a car and there happen to be plenty here. My father would have happily given me one had he not been tricked into changing his will." Rene said defensively.
"How about this? I will ask my friend Emmett to walk you to the gate where a taxi will be waiting for you." Bella looked to Rosalie who already had her phone to her ear. Within seconds Emmett walked through the front hall.
"Hey Bella I heard you need some muscle to escort an intruder off the premises." Emmett said eyeing Rene suspiciously.
"Thank you Emmett. My mother was just leaving but it seems like she doesn't remember the way to the gate. It is rather dark out and she is getting older." Bella told him.
"I am not that old and I don't need this monkey to walk me to the gate." Rene screamed as Emmett grabbed her arm and walked her down the driveway.
"It's not dark out." Rosalie told Bella as they watched Emmett half drag a struggling Rene towards the gate. "And you or I could have easily taken her to the gate. You didn't need to call Emmett."
"It's overcast so it is kind of dark for Arizona and if you or I escorted Rene to the gate we would have severely injured her. The last thing I need is for her to sue me for assaulting her." Bella chuckled as she watched Rene banging on the gate.
"Do you want me to call a taxi for her?" Rosalie asked.
"Nah she can figure it out on her own." Bella said as Emmett made his way back up to the house.
"Man your mom's a piece of work. If I were human I would be bruised all over." Emmett said looking over his shoulder at a screeching Rene." Is she going to hurt herself on the gate?"
"Thank you for your help Emmett. I didn't trust myself or Rosalie to safely deal with her." Bella told him with a pat on his back.
"No problem." Emmett said with a smile. "So that's your mom huh?"
"Yes, the woman wasn't even here five minutes before she turned into that." Rosalie said pointing to the gate where Rene had now taken to kicking it.
"Jeeze that's rough man. What the hell went wrong with her?"
Bella shrugged in reply to Emmett's question. "I don't know. I don't spend much time thinking about it. She did however bring up a topic I almost forgot about. I believe I owe Rosalie the chance to drive one of my many cars."
Rosalie gave Bella a huge smile." I forgot to with everything else going on. Can we go now?"
"Of course. Do want to come with us Emmett?" Bella asked him.
"Hell yeah I do. I've been asking Rosalie about what cars you had all week. She said she didn't have a clue." Emmett said a big smile on his face as they followed Bella towards the side of the house.
"Does your family hide everything valuable in the trees?" Rosalie asked as they started walking down a driveway that went through the forest around the house." And how are there so many trees here anyway?I'm sure some of these aren't native to this region."
"They were planted here. The groundskeeper takes care of the watering and basic care of the trees. Once in a while we actually have people come out to study the growth and effects it's had on the soil and stuff like that." Bella explained stopping when they reached a clearing with a huge warehouse type building.
"Is this it?" Bella nodded leading them to a side door. This one just had a key pad and thumb scanner.
"Holy shit." Rosalie exclaimed in awe as they entered the building. There were rows upon rows of different cars. All different make, models and years. It was a car collector's dream. Rosalie almost pinched herself to make sure this was real.
"The cars are organized by make, model and then years. This is the first car my family ever owned. "Bella led them to the area with many antiques cars.
"Is that a Ford Quadricycle?" Rosalie asked reaching her hand out to touch it.
"Yes it was a gift from Henry Ford himself. The car is all original as it was hardly used. There weren't many places out here that you could drive to so it was kept in storage and eventually moved into this building." Bella explained.
"Holy Shit Rosalie your girlfriend has a James Bond car." Emmett yelled from somewhere in the building.
"You have a James Bond car?" Rosalie asked as she reluctantly walked away from the Quadricycle.
"Well they're not from the actual movies but I do own a collection of Aston Martins" Bella told her leading her to where Emmett was standing in front of a silver 1968 Aston Martin DB5.
"Can I drive this? I totally need to get changed into a tuxedo first though. We should take this back to Forks with us."
Rosalie smacked Emmett on the back of the head to stop his rambling. "No,you are not driving this car and no we are not taking any back to Forks with us."
"Well if you wanted to take any back then I will gladly have them shipped. Or you could drive them back if you wanted."
Before Emmett could accept Bella's offer Rosalie said." Bella I'm not taking any of your cars out of this place. It's literally a car museum. Driving one would ruin it's condition."
"My grandfather always believed in enjoying all the material things we owned. He took me for rides in many of these cars and I know it would make him happy that my imprint was driving one." Bella told Rosalie.
"We'll see. I'm not saying a definite no but I highly doubt I will say yes." Emmett thrust his fist in the air causing Rosalie to add." It will not be the James Bond car."
Emmett pouted."Come on what could be cooler than the James Bond car."
"I'm sure we will find something." Bella promised following Rosalie as she went to look through the cars.