13. Travel
"Esme, let's go to the airport. I'll drop you off and you can take the first flight to Alaska. I can drive the kids up in the morning"
The fear began to overtake me. Esme on an airplane? Flying over buildings…
My breathing sped up as Esme turned to look at me.
I couldn't bare the thought of her on a plane. What if it crashed? What if she died? Grandpa being on a plane was different; if something happened to him we would be sad, but he wouldn't take the happiness away from us.
"No, no," Esme insisted. I got the impression she only refused because of my panic. "I can drive with you guys" I began to breathe normally again
"Should we leave tonight? Or in the morning?"
"I-" Esme's voice broke, "I can't ask you to drive that far for me in the middle of the night"
"You're not asking," Carlisle insisted, "I'm asking you if that's what you need"
Esme nodded, and embraced Carlisle.
"Okay. Let's get the suitcases"
For the next hour, Carlisle and Esme packed up all our stuff. I was surprised by how little we had, and I couldn't believe all our clothes and toys fit easily in the truck. Carlisle put our bikes on the bike rack that was attached to Esme's car, and we began driving.
It was silent as we drove out of New York City. We managed to complete most of things we wanted to, except for climbing the statue of liberty. I was not too upset by this.
"It should take us about 3 days, 4 if we decide to stop in Chicago…" Carlisle trailed off
"We should stop there" Esme sighed, "We should go to Edward and Alice's homes. Pick up some memories for them"
"I have the keys to their homes. Both of them technically own houses" Carlisle laughed, "They have more assets than I do. I don't think they will want to hang around the city…"
We stopped at a Starbucks, and then continued on the drive. Carlisle and Esme were silent, trying to get us to fall asleep.
I woke up as we approached Chicago. I could see Lake Michigan out my window and the bright lights waking up the city.
First we stopped at Alice's house. I took pictures of every room in her home. Esme found baby photos of her, and some pictures of her with her parents.
"Mini Mouse!" Alice said excitedly when she found her favourite doll, "Can I take her to Alaska with us? Please?"
"Yes, of course you can" Carlisle responded as he smiled.
As we finished at Alice's house, we drove to mine. My house was at least twice the size of Alice's, but it was well organized so it was easy to find everything we wanted. Esme packed all my mother's photos and I took pictures of all the rooms in the house.
I gasped when I saw the grand piano. I ran over to it and began to play Workin' on the railroad by Raffi. Carlisle and Esme both watched me, seeming a little surprised I knew how to play.
"We can bring it home with us, right?" I asked
"Well sweetie, the piano is too big for the car…" Esme trailed off
"But we can see if we can find one in Alaska" Carlisle promised, "And we can find you a piano teacher"
"Okay" I replied, "I've never had a piano teacher before"
"Who taught you to play then?" Esme asked
"My other mom taught me. She said that I was better than she was, and she promised that if I practiced I could get paid to play"
"You definitely could" Carlisle insisted, "You could go to Julliard in New York when you are done high school..."
"I think that would be good" I paused, "I like piano better than school"
They both laughed, "You have a long time to decide"
We only stayed in the city for a few hours, and Carlisle was impressed by our time. We entered into Canada that night, and we stayed at a hotel for the night. Carlisle insisted that we could keep driving, but Esme wanted to have a good night's sleep.
We woke up before sunrise, and we continued on our long journey.
Most of Saskatchewan and Alberta was flat. We did not pass through Jasper National Park or Banff, but Carlisle and Esme said we would go one day. We passed through the Rockies in BC, and we drove all the way to Whitehorse. We slept in another hotel, and we were woken up by the sun glaring into our windows at 4am.
"Why is it so sunny" Alice whined, "I thought it was always cold and sunless here"
"Not in the summer" Esme replied, "In the summer the sun shines for most of the day and it's only dark for a few hours. In the winter it's dark most of the time, and only sunny for a few hours a day"
We crossed into Alaska before noon, and Alice and I started to twitch in our carseats. We were so bored and all we wanted to do was get out of the car. Carlisle seemed just as impatient as us, but Esme seemed almost nervous.
"Sasha has five kids, one set of triplets and one set of twins. The triplets are about 10, and the twins can't be older than 8. My brother, Eleazar is already in Anchorage." Esme's voice quieted towards the end of her speech.
"I didn't know you had a brother" Carlisle asked, trying to prompted her to talk more
"He's a lot older than I, and I don't know him very well. I haven't seen him since I moved to New York, and I'm not sure how he will react to all the changes in my life"
"Do we have to call him Mr. Platt too?" Alice asked, trying to make light of Esme's mood.
She laughed, "No, no. You can call him Eleazar, and his wife Carmen. Carmen is very nice and would love to play with you two. She can't have babies, and she has always wanted them. I don't know if my parents have said anything to them about any of you though, so they might be very surprised to see you"
It only took us two hours to drive into Anchorage. Alice and I were excited, but Esme seemed off. Carlisle rubbed soothing circles with his thumb on the back of her hand.
Esme's breathing increased as we turned onto a side street. She parked the car, and then came to help us get out of the carseats.
She took a deep breath as she knocked on the door.
A man with pale skin and dark hair answered the door.
"Hey Es-" he stopped talking as soon as he saw the four of us. His eyes switched between Alice and I quickly, and then he looked at Esme in confusion.
"Hey Eleazar," She talked much faster than usual as she spat out all the necessary information. "This is Carlisle, my… fiance. I got a divorse from Charles in the winter. These are Carlisle's children, Alice and Edward"
It took Eleazar a few seconds to collect himself, "Hey. Um… this is a surprise. Mom and dad mentioned you left Charles, but did not mention anything else…"
Mrs. Platt appeared at the doorway, "They are not really his children, darling, they are two savages whose parents died"
"Mom!" Eleazar exclaimed. He looked perplexed and ashamed.
"Actually," Carlisle interjected himself, "I adopted both of them in February, and Esme wants to adopt them as well after we get married"
Eleazar looked like he didn't exactly know what to say. He led us inside and took our jackets. Mrs. Platt looked every unhappy that we were staying in the same house as her.
Five pairs of curious eyes looked down at us. There were three girls who were clearly older than then the fourth girl and boy.
"This is Irina, Tanya, Kate, Rosalie, and Jasper" Esme explained, gesturing to each individual as she said their name "This is Edward and Alice"
They looked so similar, yet different. They all had blonde hair, and their skin was so pale they looked sick. They looked like cookie cutters; each one looking perfect, but their faces didn't have any personality to them.
The boy, Jasper, was the first to speak, "Who are they, Aunty Esme?"
"They are my fiance's children"
"Where is their mom?" Irina spat out. She looked disgusted by us, but I did not know why, or how, she could hate us.
"Their parent's died in nine eleven. Carlisle adopted them"
Rosalie started at Alice, and Alice automatically hid behind Esme.
"Rose, be nice" Esme snarled, "They are nervous"
"Why?" she hissed, "What are they to me?"
"They will be your cousins one day" Esme replied, trying to reason with Rosalie.
She rolled her eyes and stormed upstairs. Jasper followed her, but he gave Esme an apologetic look as he left
"Don't worry about Rose; she'll come around" Esme smiled, but her tone did not seem as genuine as usual.
"Alice, Edward" A woman with a thick Spanish accent smiled like we were royalty as she came down the stairs. Her long hair was almost as dark as Alice, and her caramel skin was almost the same shade as Esme's hair.
"I'm your Aunt Carmen. I am so happy you came into Esme's life"
She cried as she embraced us, and pinched both of our cheeks. I saw Eleazar smile from across the room.
"I'm sorry for not properly introducing myself. You can call me Uncle Eleazar if you would like, or just Eleazar" His smile was warm and inviting now that the shock had worn off.
Aunty Carmen made us sandwiches for lunch, and then she took us to the park. Esme was not surprised by her complete acceptance of us, but Carlsile seemed nervous about leaving us with her until Esme reassured him. We didn't see Rosalie or Jasper for the rest of the day and Tanya, Kate, & Irina acted like we did not exist.
Carlisle formed a fast relationship with Uncle Eleazar. When we came back they were joking like they were old friends, and they were cooking dinner together.
We had vegetable soup and bread for dinner. Uncle Eleazar tried to joke with Mr. Platt that Alice and I would be easier to feed than any of his other grandchildren. He seemed insulted when Uncle Eleazar referred to us as his grandchildren. I tried to ignore his glaring eyes on Alice and myself.
Mrs. Platt wouldn't even come down for dinner. She took food upstairs for Rosalie and Jasper and ate with them. Esme was upset at this, but there wasn't anything she could do.
Carlisle laid with us on the futon as we tried to sleep.
"Don't worry about them; they are very sad that Sasha passed away, and they are dealing with it by being mean to you two"
"But it's not fair!" Alice's eyes narrowed as she talked, "It's not our fault that they are sad. Aunty Carmen already likes us; Why can't they like you too?"
"It's hard for Mr. & Mrs. Platt. They are also upset that Esme left Charles. They wanted her to have biological children with him"
"That's wrong" I deducted, "He was mean to her. And just because we don't look like you and Esme doesn't mean that you are not our real parents"
"I know," Carlisle's voice was suddenly kind. It sounded like he wanted to defend them, but he didn't know how.