Part 4, Chapter 2. February 1922.
The week seemed exceptionally long, despite the preparations for the trip. The days and nights dragged on, and Carlisle wouldn't give me any more information, no matter how I pleaded or tried to coax it out of him. I guessed that he was taking me to see where he wanted to move, but he wouldn't tell me where that was. We still took our regular walks until he came home on Thursday night, which was our planned departure time.
Edward had helped me pack the car, and I pulled him into a long embrace, kissing him on the cheek. I had become accustomed to not speaking to him because I knew he didn't need me to. I wasn't sure at times whether I wished that I could read his thoughts as well. I had no comparison for how life was for Carlisle and Edward before I entered, but I often wondered if I was disrupting that somehow.
They never behaved that way. They only made me feel welcomed and wanted. I knew that for Carlisle I was filling a void he possibly hadn't been aware of before, and he filled me with incomparable joy—he was my dream come true. And Edward made us something of a family in a way we could never be without him. Edward was truly a brilliant, complex person who seemed to feel things very deeply and quietly. He had been a very young man when he had been turned and not so long ago, but there was something timeless and ageless behind his golden eyes.
I pressed my leather gloved hand to one of his cheeks when we said goodbye. I wasn't sure how to keep my thoughts from reaching him; I wasn't quite sure if he could accomplish blocking them or how or when he might be doing that or trying. I made an effort, hoping that he could hear my present thoughts, sincerely wishing that his recent demeanor had nothing to do with jealousy for snatching his only true friend's attention. I didn't believe Edward petty or childish in that manner, but perhaps it doesn't matter what we've gone through—there is something very human in us all at the foundation. I had learned quickly, for me at least, that my emotions were much more present, urgent, vivid, and almost palpable in ways they had never been in even the worst and best times in my human life.
Carlisle helped me into the car and he and Edward exchanged a few quiet words before he joined me. I turned and waved at Edward, smiling at him.
"Have a nice trip!" he called after us as we pulled away.
When he was out of sight, I turned in my seat and looked out over the road. As soon as we were outside of town, Carlisle pushed his new Mercer Series 5 to the limit. Driving at nearly ninety miles an hour on the open road would have seemed like an exceptional thrill, but fast travel was pretty much normal to me now.
"You are going to wear this motor car out in no time," I said to him, settling back in my seat, determined to enjoy the trip and not be too anxious about the destination. We were on our way now and that helped immensely somehow.
"I guess we'll just get a new one then," he said with a smile.
I just shook my head in reply. I briefly thought how nice it was to be alone with him until the moment with Edward before we left interrupted.
"I'm worried about Edward," I said after along pause, toying with the loose ends of my scarf.
"Why is that?" Carlisle asked, his eyes on me instead of the road for a moment.
"You don't think, I mean, I hope that I haven't. . ." I wasn't sure how to delicately phrase what I was trying to say. "He's not jealous is he?" I finally just blurted out.
"No," Carlisle said, shaking his head and looking back at the road. "He adores you. I think that we both needed you, we probably always have. I don't think it's that at all." He reached over with one hand, taking mine and interlocking our fingers.
"I certainly hope it isn't that he thinks I'm stealing all your attention," I said almost shyly.
"I felt this connection with Edward almost immediately," Carlisle began, his voice sounding almost distant. "It sounds rather pretentious, but I looked at him when he was human and thought that he was so much more than that. I suppose it's easy to think that everyone has potential. Watching anyone die is not easy. We are alike in a lot of fundamental ways, I believe, Edward and I. I think Edward is happy for us both, but I think he looks at me and thinks about how long this took. I think he thinks about it more than I do. For him, being around as long as I have, well, it just sounds baffling. But, for me, that is just, life, if you would call it that."
"You think he's afraid of being lonely?" I questioned.
"Something like that, yes," he replied.
"We would never leave him though, of course. I want him to know that," I said, turning in my seat sharply. "He does know that we want him with us, always, right?"
Carlisle nodded. "He does. Edward can be very pensive. He thinks constantly and deeply. I think he will be fine. He's still young, to me, in almost every way."
I nodded. "Do you think that about me?" I asked, worried for a moment.
"What?" he asked. "That you are young? In the vampire existence sense, yes. But you obviously aren't that girl on my examination table with a broken leg anymore. It was urgent with you, you know that? I recognized you instantly in the hospital and I, again, couldn't imagine letting someone like you just fade away. You were such a spirited, interesting child when I had met you. I think it was more than that though. I haven't figured that out yet," he admitted, smiling softly over at me.
"Oh," I said, unsure of how to respond. I, of course, had fallen in love with the idea of him based on our first meeting and spent way too much dreaming that he would appear one day and just save me from. . .everything. And when he did, the attachment was instantaneous.
"You are older than me in human years though," he pointed out. "So, that does make it interesting. In that sense, I am in love with an older woman. Even though I met you when you were a teenager a decade ago, and I was just short of a decade older in human age at the time. Now you've surpassed me, despite that I've been around for over two centuries."
I couldn't help but laugh at him. It sounded so unbelievable, but here we were regardless of how incredible it all seemed. What an exceptional love story we are making, I thought to myself.
Author's notes:
Thank you for reading my story! Reviews are always appreciated.
If you liked this part, be sure to read the accompanying stories, which are all part of a series I am writing about Carlisle and Esme. Part 1: The Fall about their first meeting. Part 2: The Kiss about their first kiss. Part 3: The Confession about their building intimacy. They can be read selectively and out of order.
