9. Healing

Time began to move in fast forward.

Mrs. Everson moved in with us, and she drove us all to school in the mornings. She told the class to call her Ms. Platt, and Alice and I were supposed to call her Esme when we were not in school.

Esme had to go back to her old home to get her things, and she took all the money out of her bank account that she shared with her husband. Carlisle got to quit his job and focus on studying. She filed for a divorce, and now gets alamoney…. Or something like that.

I began to talk to the other kids in kindergarten, and they played tag with me on the playground. Esme helped me learn letters after school, and she showed me how to write my name. When Alice and I were good, we got to watch nature documentaries with animals.

Snow began to fall in early December, and Carlisle was almost done his semester. He took Alice and I to find a present for Esme. Carlisle got her a necklace with a snowflake on it, and Alice and I got her a book about the alphabet called "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" because she sang it all the time at school, so that must be her favourite song. We got Carlisle a vegan cookbook, and Esme got him a watch.

Esme and Carlisle took us to Central Park during the school break. We got to go ice skating and play in the tall trees. We built a snowman and made snow angels. Carlisle said that in the summer, we were going to move to a new place that had a lot of snow in the winter.

In February Carlisle was going to have an important meeting. He said that he was going to adopt us so we could stay with him forever. Esme said she would adopt us too when she could, but she had to wait for Carlisle to give her a ring. I asked Carlisle why he didn't give her the special adoption ring now and he laughed at me and said he had to wait until at least the summer, because apparently it was too early to give her an adoption ring.

I only had about one nightmare a week after I started talking again. Carlisle said I have them because of something called PDST, and he said that's why I sometimes get scared and feel like the accident is happening again. At school I had to talk to Dr. Clearwater every week, and Carlisle thought that was making me feel better

On Christmas Eve we decorated a Christmas tree. Alice got to put the star on the top, and I got to put the tree shirt on it. We put our stocking on the breakfast bar, and Carlisle promised Santa would still be able to come inside even though we didn't have a fireplace. We made him cookies and left carrots for the reindeer.

We tried to stay awake all night waiting for Santa, but we fell asleep. One second I was watching the closing credits of Prancer, and the next I was woken up by Alice jumping on top of me.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Santa came!"

We both ran to Carlisle and Esme's room. They were not as enthusiastic that Santa came as we were

"It's not even 5:00 kiddos. Can't we wait a few hours?" Esme said

"Nooooooo" Alice and I said

Santa got us vegan candies and books, and bike helmets. We were both confused about the bike helmets until we opened up the bikes that Carlisle and Esme got us. They said they would teach us how to ride them before we moved.

When Esme opened her necklace she started to cry, but she stopped when she saw it was a necklace.

"See Carlisle, we told you she wanted an adoption ring" Alice murmured to Carlisle when Esme went to the bathroom

He rolled his eyes, "I would have got her one, but I don't think she wants one yet. People are suppose to live together for a long time until they get married"

"But you love her" Alice sighed, "And that means you can give one to her earlier"

We ate blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and we made veggie burgers for dinner. Carlisle and Esme both started to eat vegan in November because it was easier to cook one meal than two. Esme let Alice pick what we ate for dinner, and she let me pick breakfast.

After dinner Carlisle skyped with his dad. Mr. Cullen talked to him for a long time while Esme took us sledding. When we got back they were still talking.

"... I don't like what you are doing" I heard Mr. Cullen say

"You don't have to. But if you want to be apart of my life, you need to accepted it" Carlisle responded coldly

"What are they like?"

"Do you want to meet them? They just walked inside"

"Fine" Mr. Cullen spat out

Carlisle waved us over. Alice looked at me with confusion.

Why? Alice mouthed to me. I shrugged.

We walked over to him hesitantly. Carlisle put up on his lap.

"Dad, this is Alice and Edward"

"Wow… They are adorable" Mr. Cullen said as he looked at us

"How old are you?" He asked

"Alice will be 5 on January 1st, Edward will be 4 on December 31st" Carlisle said. He sounded almost nervous

Mr. Cullen smiled, "And you're both already in kindergarten? Wow. You two must be smart"

Alice and I glanced up at Carlisle. He seemed to relax.

Esme stood across from us and smiled. She wasn't in view of the webcam.

"They are, and they have also been awake since 4:30."

Mr. Cullen laughed, "You used to wake up early on Christmas too"

Carlisle kissed the top of our heads and put us back on the ground. We walked over to Esme, who led us into our room. I could still hear Carlisle talking to Mr. Cullen.

The three of us sat on my bed. Esme read us her new book, and then tucked us in our beds.

"Goodnight Edward" she said as she kissed my forehead

"'Night Esme" I sighed, closing my eyes

She climbed on the latter to tuck Alice in

"Goodnight Alice"

"Goodnight Mom" She responded

Esme stood on the latter for a few extra seconds before she climbed down. She turned out the lights, and I could hear her excitement when she talked to Carlisle in the living room.

"Alice?" I said in the darkness

"Yeah?"

"Why did you call Esme Mom?"

Alice sigh, "because she is our mom"

"No she's not! Our moms are dead"

"We can have more than one mom Edward. Our moms would have wanted us to be happy without them and find another mom and dad"

'But won't they think we are forgetting about them?"

Alice was silent for a moment, "I don't think so. I think they know that we love them and Carlisle and Esme at the same time"

I thought about that until the darkness pulled me into sleep.

That was the first night I dreamt of Carlisle and Esme.