~ Rocky Mountains, Colorado - October 1999 ~
We arrived at my favorite spot in the Rocky Mountains, the same spot Emmett and I met nine years prior. Right before our first hunt, I heard the thoughts of the other two Cullens that were not in attendance. Listening to them approach, I found out that Carlisle and Esme were waiting in Denver. Shortly after my siblings and I left the Nambé Reservoir, Alice had called Carlisle and Esme to let them know we were heading towards the Rocky Mountains. For the first time in over twelve years, the entire family was to be together.
"We're here to visit, Edward." Esme called out to me. "Since you never visited us at home, we came to you."
I watched from a rocky ledge as Carlisle and Esme approached. Upon seeing me, Esme darted past her mate and flung herself at me, wrapping me in hug.
"I missed you, Edward." Esme whispered.
"I missed you too." I whispered back.
Esme pulled away and looked me over. Nothing had changed, but she looked anyway.
Once Carlisle reached me, he pulled me into a half-hug. He scrunched his nose and pulled away.
"You smell, Edward." Carlisle paused and sniffed my shirt. "I smell human blood and vampire ash. What have you been doing?" Carlisle asked.
I looked around at my brothers and sisters with a sheepish look.
"This wasn't just a family hunting trip was it?" Esme asked sternly.
"Oh, it was a family hunting trip!" Emmett's voice boomed. "Most fun hunting I've had in years!" His statement was followed by a hard smack against the back of his head from Rose.
"Let's have a seat and I will explain everything," I said as I motioned to everyone to find a spot amongst the fallen trees and boulders near us.
An hour later, all of us had given Carlisle and Esme our own version of what happened. Carlisle and Esme looked at each other and sighed.
"I normally don't approve the taking of any life," Carlisle said softly, "but I can't in my heart find any remorse for the three vampires you destroyed. I don't doubt that James would've stopped at nothing to harm our Alice if he ever found her. The other two were collateral damage. I am proud of you all for protecting the innocent lives of Edward's singer and her mother, as well as ensuring the safety of our family. Let's just pray that your combined tactical efforts will not be required again any time soon."
I looked towards Esme to gauge her reaction. Her thoughts were a bit scattered. She kept thinking of all of the worst-case scenarios that could've happened. After a long moment she reached out and took Carlisle's hand before speaking.
"I agree with Carlisle. Destroying those vampires was the only way to keep everyone safe and out of harm's way." Esme paused as a sly grin crossed her face. "However, I will not tolerate you using foul language, Edward!" Esme teased. "I get enough of that from the others."
Everyone laughed, including myself, at Esme's brightening of our serious mood.
"I'm just happy everyone is all right. And I am happy to see you smile and laugh." Esme thought to me. "The Edward that left us wouldn't have been so carefree."
We spent the next couple of days hunting and reconnecting. No one asked me what my plans were going to be, but everyone correctly assumed I would not be joining them on the trip home. They were all just happy to live in the moment. I was too.
I sat on a rocky ledge enjoying the sun's warm rays when Rose approached.
"Can I join you?" she asked.
I patted the spot next to me. "Absolutely."
Rose sat down and leaned back mimicking my stance. "So is this what you've been doing in between improving urban crime statistics and brokering consulting deals with the vampire ruling class?"
With a chuckle I answered. "You forget to mention my work with the Alice Cullen vampire mating service."
"How could I forget Kate and Garrett? Recruiting you into her service is one of Alice's favorite stories." I laughed along with Rose.
"So are we good, Edward?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, we're good."
"Good." Rose sighed and closed her eyes, smiling as the sun bathed her face.
I smiled too.
"Does it feel odd for you to be happy and smile, Edward?" Rose asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah, it does. I'm not quite in the good place like you are, but I hope to get there. I like how it feels." I replied.
"I still catch myself slipping back to the old Rosalie. But I like this new me. The hate and anger just eats you up. Whenever I start to slip into the old me I think about little Bella…" Rose cut off her words and thoughts, but not before letting and image slip through that made me gasp.
"Rose, why is there a memory of you and my singer floating around in your head?"
"Shit!" she thought in a panic. Rose sat up and placed her head in her hands. She focused her thoughts on anything but my singer.
"I'm sorry! You weren't supposed to know."
"Know what, Rose? I thought I asked Alice not to meddle?" I pinched the bridge of my nose out of habit, but I wasn't really angry or surprised. I should have expected that Alice would be…well, Alice.
"Alice didn't meddle in her life, I did. It was nothing bad, I promise." Rose steeled her thoughts against revealing any details.
"Her name is Bella?"
Rose nodded. "Isabella actually, but she likes to go by Bella."
"Rose, you know I am assuming the worst possible cases over here. Please just tell me how you met her."
"Okay," Rose sighed. "Alice had a vision that Bella was going to quit dancing. From what Alice saw in the vision, Bella would actually enjoy dance if she had a better teacher. I remember enjoying dancing when I was girl and how it helped me with my coordination and feeling of self worth. It's kind of hard to explain, but it makes you feel pretty and powerful to be able to dance well. As you know, I still enjoy dancing to this day. So, this was after my new outlook on our existence and I wanted to help. I wanted her to at least have a chance to experience what it could be like, so I made arrangements to have her study under a different teacher."
Rose's thoughts showed me what the arrangements entailed. She disabled the teacher's car one night and showed up at the dance studio as a substitute instructor. This was the night Bella was to quit, however Rose spoke with her and the mother afterwards and provided them with the name of a well-respected dance teacher in Scottsdale. Renee, Bella's mother, was worried she would not be able to afford the new school as it was one of the best in the region, but Rose assured them that if Bella signed up, Rose would make a few calls to see what could be done to lower the tuition. In the end, all of her tuition was covered under an endowment provided by the E.A Masen foundation.
"I never spoke to her after that night." Rose added. "She is still taking dance and is doing well, from what Alice can see. Are you angry? Please don't be angry at me."
I pinched my brow again and shook my head. "I'm not angry. It's just…you put the endowment in my human name? Why?"
"I can answer that." Esme replied. She walked toward us from an opening in the tree line. What I could see in her thoughts made me groan.
"Rosalie confided in me what her plan was. I thought it was a sweet gesture on Rosalie's behalf, so I agreed to help out. As you're well aware, we have in the past supported charitable foundations and causes, but always anonymously. In this case, and in a few others that we can discuss, Rosalie thought it was appropriate that you were somehow tied to her idea. So we created the E.A. Masen foundation."
"What other cases are you referring to?" I asked. I was almost afraid to know.
"Well, with regard to Bella," Esme answered. "The E.A. Masen foundation has donated a few thousand books to the Phoenix public library system, as well as provide funding for a bookmobile that happens to stop a block away from Bella's house every week. Alice told us she really enjoys reading, so we all felt that was another worthy cause."
"I have also been using that foundation to fund programs in other cities," Rose continued. "Scholarships for the arts. Library improvements. As well as crisis and support services for abused women. I know in the past I was the one who shied away from human interactions the most, well besides Jasper. But now I want to help others. Placing your name on the foundation is the least I could do given all of the terrible and mean things I have said and done to you in the past."
Given their willful interference in Bella's life, as well as the audacity of attaching my name to their causes, I did the only thing I could at that moment. I pulled both Rose and Esme into a hug and thanked them.
When it was time for the family to depart, Alice pulled me aside to have a few private words. She kept mentally reciting the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address backwards in Turkish to keep me from seeing her thoughts.
"Edward, I think it is time you went home."
"You know I'm not going to do that." I replied with a sigh. "I'm still not ready to rejoin the family."
"I don't mean to our home. I meant to your human home in Chicago."
"Really?" I asked. I hadn't considered going back, even though I technically still owned my family's old house.
"Yeah, really." Alice answered with a smirk. "Trust me on this."