Chapter Three
"Family"

(Bella's POV)
- Saturday 24th March 2017 -

The rest of the week had gone rather smoothly and I was left feeling relatively de-stressed by the time the weekend rolled around. I'd had very little human contact each day, seen as Angela had gone away on a mid-term holiday with her family on Wednesday. Edward had strangely chosen to sit next to me again on Tuesday and then, like Angela, he also didn't show up to class the next day. Perhaps he was off on another camping trip with his family, something they're known to do. It wasn't that I'd have struck up a conversation with him anyway—I'd have trouble with incoherency if I tried—but he was about the only other person I'd recently interacted with. That left me with only my teachers to talk to for the rest of the week. How pathetic.

I was sitting at the kitchen table with a warm cup of hot chocolate in one hand and the local newspaper in the other. I was mentally preparing myself for reading this week's main story, after scanning the strange headline referring to a man buying meat that wasn't actually meat from Waylon's corner store. I wasn't surprised by the whacky story; the town truly was a magnet for abnormal occurrences.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Dad, why did you choose this particular town above all others to move to?"

"You saw the headline?" he asked, appearing in the doorway.

The skin around his eyes crinkled when he smiled at me. He had aged well, I'll give him that. I imagine raising two daughters alone isn't easy, and I'll always appreciate everything he'd sacrificed for us. My mom died just after my little sister was born. I was around thirteen at the time. He didn't want any of us growing up feeling lonely. He wanted Hollie and I to live in a close-knit community, hoping that Forks could offer us the family that we no longer had. He'd waited years to do it, mind you. We only arrived here in January. If I was him, I'd have made the move as soon as the dreaded funeral was over and done with almost four years ago. The intention behind the relocation was sweet but the reality was that I felt more isolated here than I ever had in Phoenix. I'd made one friend, which was as close as I was going to get to another family it seemed.

"Of course I saw the headline," I replied, still giggling. "I suppose it's not that much of a surprise. This little town will never change, will it?"

"Perhaps we'll get used to it one day."

"Perhaps not."

He laughed. "I think I'll head over to Mary's to pick the little one up."

"I'll get her. Just give me five minutes to get dr—"

"Relax," he demanded, gesturing for me to move back into my seat. "You don't stop to take a breath for the full week when I'm at the station. I think I can handle this."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you sure? She's a good kid but getting her to leave Mary's is like trying to tame a dinosaur."

"No, I'm not sure." He turned to grab his keys from the hook. "But I'm going anyway."

"Prepare for the tantrum!" I shouted enthusiastically, laughing at the thought of what he was about to face.

I decided to move myself from the kitchen to the living room, taking this small window of opportunity to start a bit of homework. What kind of sad excuse for a human being does anything school related on a Saturday?

I sighed, trying my hardest to focus on the fifteen questions Mr Banner set for us. I didn't want Hollie to come home to me sitting here stressing out. I was good at pretending things were okay, especially around her. I didn't want her little mind to deal with it all. Losing mom had changed me and I certainly didn't want it to change her.

Around half an hour later, the front door swung open and smacked loudly into the wall behind it. I would have been alarmed by this if it weren't for the fact I knew Hollie was due back with my dad. The kid really does know how to make an entrance.

"Bella! Bella! Bella!" she squealed excitedly, sprinting across the room towards me. She didn't even slow down which meant I barely had time to catch her in my arms. She managed to head-butt my chin but I didn't call out in pain. It was an accident; she really didn't need to know she had hurt me.

"Hey gorgeous!" I shouted, trying to match her enthusiasm. "Did you have fun at Mary's?"

"Yes! We baked bownies."

"You baked brownies?" I asked, subtly correcting her minor error. "Were they yummy?"

"I bringed one for you. Daddy has it in his bag," she said, playing absentmindedly with a lock of my hair. I didn't have it in me to correct her again. "You know, her best friend Darren lives with her all the time now."

"Oh, does he now?" I asked, throwing our dad a glance over my shoulder.

I'd always liked Mary Munroe. She was one of the first people we met here in Forks and she'd been more than welcoming. She doesn't yet have any kids of her own and her spending time with Hollie on the weekends is a fairly recent development. My little sister always seems to leave her house with a smile on her face so I don't see any reason why they shouldn't continue their adventures.

"He does," she confirmed, leaning further into me. "Can my best friend live with us?"

"You want Megan to live here," I said, more for my dad's benefit. He was too busy going through the mail to even notice what she'd said. "Doesn't she have her own house?"

"Well, yes, but it would be so fun."

"I'm sure it would be, honey," I agreed, her innocence melting my heart. "The thing is, Darren and Mary aren't just best friends."

"What do you mean?"

I could see why this might confuse a child, especially one who has grown up without two parents. If my mom were still here, Hollie would be able to understand the concept of two people being together in that way a little bit better.

"They're in love with each other," I said, pulling her gently up onto my knee.

"I love Megan."

"I know you do," I whispered, sweeping some strands of hair out of her face. "But being in love with someone is different."

"How?"

"Mommy always used to tell me that being in love with someone is when your heart sings only for them, and their heart sings only for you."

"That's really nice," she said, resting her head on my shoulder.

"It is," I agreed, smiling down at her. "Now, where did you say that brownie was?"

Hollie had been up later than planned, primarily because she threw a hellish tantrum when I tried to get her upstairs just after eight. Her bedtime is seven during the week but she's always allowed to stay up an extra hour at the weekend. I'd decided to go for a bath, leaving my dad to tend to Hollie. He made the mistake of putting on Frozen half an hour before she was supposed to be going to bed. He really should have known she would want to finish watching it. This meant I was going to have to deal with a very grumpy little girl in the morning.

I'd managed to convince her to go up and get her pyjamas on after she made sure Anna was going to be okay, even though she already knew Anna would be just fine seen as she'd watched the film about a thousand times. Whilst she was getting changed, I got to work on making her a hot water bottle. She'd seen me with one when I had stomach cramps one day and ever since, she has asked for one in bed with her.

"Bells?"

"Yeah, dad?"

"I just wanted to let you know about something," he said, strolling into the kitchen with a can of beer in one hand. He was pinging the tab nervously, almost as if he wasn't sure whether or not he should bring up whatever was in his thoughts.

"What's up?"

"It's about your mom," he muttered, giving me a wary glance. It was rare that my dad and I ever spoke about her, something we both preferred.

"Okay," I whispered, slowly screwing the cap back on the hot water bottle. "Go ahead."

"I wanted to wait until around this time to tell you because I know you're going to be thinking a lot about your future. I want you to know that college is an option for you, kiddo."

"It's not an option," I said, shaking my head. "We can't afford it."

"We can," he argued, leaning against the doorframe. "Thanks to your clever mother and her constant planning ahead."

I sighed, totally confused. "Dad, what are you talking about?"

"She was a saver, not a spender. When the doctors told her they would have to operate to try to solve all the complications after Hollie was born, they gave me a few minutes alone with her. She made me promise that if anything happened to her, I would make sure you two girls have and take every opportunity under the sun."

"You don't have to talk about—"

"There's money," he assured me, crushing his can. "Make sure you put it to good use."

He left it there, locking eyes with me for a split second, and then he headed back into the living room to watch whatever it is he was watching before he decided to have a brief heart-to-heart with me.

I rolled my shoulders, flicking out the light as I left.

I went upstairs to find Hollie sitting on the edge of her bed, legs swinging and pyjama shirt on backwards. I chuckled, telling her to slide up the bed so I could pull the covers back. When she was safely tucked up, Fluffles squashed into her neck, I bent down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you," I whispered. "Right around the world and back again."

"I love you right around the world and back again too."