Chapter One: I'm Adopted

I woke up this morning very at ease. The past couple of weeks, my feelings have changed for Edward. I still love him, but I am not in love with him. A few days after I realized my feelings, he admitted that he has been feeling the same way. We ended things on very good terms. On top of that, I graduated from high school yesterday.

"Bells, you awake?" I heard Charlie's voice on the other side of the door. There was something off about his tone.

"Yes. You can come in." I covered myself up with my blankets a little bit more as he walked in. His eyes were red, and his cheeks were tear-stained. "You okay, Dad?"

He sighed and rubbed his face. "Can I sit down?" I nodded as he took a seat. "I have to tell you something that I have been wanting to tell you, but I promised your mom that I would wait until you graduated high school."

At this point, he really got my attention. "You can tell me, Dad."

He took a deep breath. "You are adopted."

"Oh, that is not so ba.." I stopped and shook my head. "Wait. What?"

Dad sighed. "Mom and I were honeymooning in New Orleans. We walking through the woods when a priest was carrying a screaming baby in his arms. We couldn't turn you away. Mom can't have kids. You were our saving Grace."

I sat there in silence for a few moments. "What about my birth parents?"

"We don't know. The Priest told us to take care of you. The morning that we were getting ready to leave, a huge trunk was delivered to us."

I gasped. "The trunk downstairs that we use as the living room table." Dad nodded. "The key that you lost to open it?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. "Here you go, Bells." Dad and I just sat there in silence for a little bit. "I'm going to let you have some alone time to look through everything. I, uh, I am going to head to Billy's to watch the game."

Dad stood up and started to leave. "Is my biological name Isabella?"

He nodded his head. "He told us that your name was Isabella. We kept that the same because that is all we knew." Dad left the room.

I waited for him to leave the house before I got out of bed.

What is going on with my life?

I sighed and got out of bed. I decided to procrastinate, so I got ready for my day. I did my usual morning routine and put on some comfy lounge clothes. When I went downstairs, I saw that Dad removed the tablecloth off of the trunk. I sat down on the floor and opened it up.

Here goes nothing.

The first thing that I saw was a baby blanket. It was crotched and white. I guess keeping it in the trunk helped keep it from tearing up. I wiped away the tears that were falling from my eyes as I pulled out a white baby dress that had red stains all over it.

Tears were flowing heavily down my face at this point.

The first piece of paper that I pulled out was a note.

Our Dearest Isabella,

By the time you read this letter, Papa and I are gone. I hope that your new family is treating you well. You must be confused as to what is going on right now. Let us explain this.

You, our darling Isabella, are part of the crescent moon pack in New Orleans. The birthmark on your back, the crescent moon, is what other wolves can identify what pack you belong in. We will not sugar coat this for you, our darling girl. You will not turn into a wolf unless you killed someone. Transforming into a wolf or into a human is very painful. Your bones break and snap no matter how much you will it to stop. You can't.

We love you with our heart,
Mama and Papa.

"Oh. Okay." I let out a huge sigh. "I need to know more."

The next thing I pulled out was a picture. It was a picture of me and another little girl who looked to be around the same age as me. The back of the picture said, Isabella and Andrea.

Who is Andrea? Is she my sister? My cousin? Who?

I just set the picture aside and kept on digging through the box. I found a bunch of old pictures. I stopped when I came across a small box with my name engraved on the top. It has birthday cards in it. From my first birthday all the way to my eighteenth birthday. All of the cards were basic birthday cards, except my eighteenth birthday card.

Our Darling Girl,

You are a woman now. Now it's time for you to know the truth about what happened. Papa was sick with cancer. You were a little baby about 10 months old. I couldn't handle it on my own. I asked one of the most powerful witches in the French quarter, Agnes, for help. She healed Papa, but it came with a price. She ended up casting a spell on you before Papa and I could realize what was going on. She warned us that you were going to be hunted. Papa and I knew that we had to get you away, so we gave you to a couple who looked happy in love.

In all reality, Papa and I died a day or two after we gave you away.

They knew that they were going to die? Did they know that they were going to die all along?

As in one of our other letters, we mentioned that you are a wolf. It is important that you don't tell anyone about what you are unless you see another person with the same crescent moon birthmark. If you feel the need to discover your wolf, Papa and I have a house in New Orleans for you. Papa has a family in the French Quarter that has been passed down from generation to generation. When we found out that we were having a girl, we immediately put the house in your name for those rebel teenage years. We wanted you to have a safe place to be when you decided to run away.

Well, we hoped that would be the case.

When Papa and I found out that we were pregnant with you, we were so overwhelmed with happiness. Papa always said that he wanted you to be a Daddy's girl. If you can imagine, Papa was on his knees thanking God that you were a girl. Since that day, Papa and you had a special bond. You would never kick when anyone would put their hand on my stomach. You only kicked for Papa. Papa would be the only one to settle you when you were restless in my stomach. You guys had your special bond, and it was beautiful.

Our Darling girl, we wish that we were an actual family. We know that you have a bunch of questions. Everything that you need is in New Orleans in the house that we left for you.

We love you,
Maia and Henry Labonair

Maia and Henry Labonair.

My parents.

I went through the box a little more, and I found a few pictures of the three of us. My parents are gorgeous. My mother had brown wavy hair with brown eyes, and my father had brown hair with blue eyes. I was in the middle of them with a huge smile on my face. I put this aside and made a mental note to get a picture frame for it.

I found another note.

My Isabella,

You are the daughter that I have always wanted. Like mentioned in another letter that Mama wrote, I thanked God every day that you are a girl. Mama let me name you.

Isabella Alba Labonair.

I chose the name Isabella because that was my mother's name before she lost her battle with cancer. I chose Alba because it means dawn or sunrise. When Mama found out that she was pregnant with you, you became my sunrise every day.

I hope that you still think of the father that raised you, your father. He deserved it. I just hope that you recognize that Mama and I are also your parents.

Let me give you a little background about the pack. When Mama and I were alive, Robert Dumas was our pack leader. He wanted the Hollow, which was an evil witch. My baby brother, your Uncle, found a piece of the Hollow and hid it from Robert. Robert didn't like that, and he murdered my brother and his wife. A vampire, Marcel, saved your cousin, Andrea, before anything could happen to her. Marcel handed her over to Father Kieran, and he placed her in a good home. Well, from what we know of. A month later, we have to give you away before you were hunted. We gave you to Marcel for help. We don't know what happened then. Mama and I knew that we would not be around much longer after we lost you, so we made you this trunk that this letter was in for the future.

I love you, my sunrise.
Papa

I sat there on the floor and sobbed for a few minutes. I mourned the loss of my biological parents. I mourned for the childhood that I had lost. After a few moments, I calmed down and continued going through the trunk. I found an envelope that had about 500 dollars and a set of keys that had an address on it.

My phone started to ring pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked at it to see that Edward was calling me. I quickly pulled myself together before I answered it. "Hey, Edward. What's up?"

"Come outside, Love." He hung up the phone. I got up opened up the door to see him leaning up against his Volvo. His face dropped when he saw my face. "Why are you crying?" He wiped the tears from my eyes and gave me a hug. "Talk to me."

I shook my head. "I don't know how to talk to anyone about this." I paused and took a deep breath. "Why are you here?" I paused. "That sounded really rude. I'm sorry."

He gave me another hug. "Alice saw that you were driving to New Orleans in the truck. Right after that, she got a vision of you crying on the side road in Texas. I don't want you stranded at all. Rosalie just checked everything out, so everything is okay. Take my Volvo."

I gasped. "Your car? Your precious car?" I smirked at him. "You would let me drive your baby."

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. "Don't push it." I gave him a hug. "Why do you have to go to New Orleans?"

I pulled away and sighed. "Charlie told me that I am adopted. I'm from New Orleans. I need answers and that is the place to do it. I am just going to go for two weeks." I doubt that will be enough time, but I plan on going to Washington University to become a published author.

He nodded. "Come say goodbye before you leave." I nodded my head as he walked to the edge of the forest. "Don't forget to stop by."

Tears started to form in my head, and I nodded. He ran into the wood. "Why did this feel like goodbye?" I asked myself. I walked back inside to put everything back into the trunk. I sobbed for my family as I packed a huge suitcase full of stuff and loaded it up into the Volvo with the heavy trunk. I quickly sent a text to my Dad.

Bella: Hey, Dad. I need to go to New Orleans to get answers. I will only be gone for two weeks. I will be back soon.

I put my phone down and drove to the Cullens. When I pulled up, I saw that all seven of them were sitting outside. Edward, Emmett, and Jasper were passing a football around. Alice was painting her toenails. Rosalie was reading a fashion magazine. Esme was tending to her flowers while Carlisle was reading a medical book. When I got out, Alice immediately smiled sadly at me. I sat down with her and Rosalie. "Why does this feel like goodbye?" Alice asked me.

I shook my head as tears fell. "It's not. I will be back."

"Edward mentioned that you are adopted. That is not so bad," Emmett said.

I nodded. "I know, but there is so much that you don't know." I paused. "There is so much that I don't know."

"When will you be back?" Esme asked.

I shrugged. "No more than a month." All of the Cullens sighed. "If anything changes. You all will be one of the first ones to know."

Carlisle gave me a big hug. "You let us know when you get where you are going. We love you, Bells."

"I love you guys, too." I gave Esme a hug before I moved on to Alice and Jasper. "I will miss you guys." I gave them a big hug.

Alice dry sobbed. "I know you are coming back, but you are my sister."

I sighed. "Don't make me cry anymore. I can't handle it. I still have to say goodbye to Edward." I moved to Emmett and Rosalie. "Bye, guys."

Rosalie gave me a hug. "You don't need another bitchy blonde in your life. You have me."

I laughed. "Okay, Rose." Emmett picked me up and gave me a big hug. "Oh, geez."

"Let me know if anyone messes with you. I will come down and show them a thing or two," he said. I just shook my head. "What?"

I moved to Edward, who looked like he was going to cry. "I'll miss you, Love." I opened my mouth to say something. "I know that you will be back soon, but you are my person."

I nodded. "You are my person too. Bye, Edward." I kissed his cheek.

"Bye, Bella." He let me go. I got into the car and headed to the highway for my long drive to New Orleans.