Thanks for being patient through these little delays. Blakely is the cutest little baby, but of course, babies demand a lot of attention. Especially now in the first couple of weeks. But thank you so much for all the kind words and support you've sent my way. It means a lot to me, truly. This story doesn't have much left to it, but I still don't really know when you can expect it to be finished. But it shouldn't take too much longer now, I'm working on. Please review, and let me know what you think of the chapter. This is the one where you get to see what's up with Esme.

And once you're done with this chapter, you should go and check out my story 'Toujours' if you have the time. It's completed with only three chapters, and it's sad and deals with cancer and I've been told it's a major, major tearjerker. Again, if you've got a little more time to kill on the site, go and check that story out and make sure to leave a review telling me what you think.

…

BPOV

Other than Esme, I was the only one up the next morning at seven o'clock. We were both in the kitchen, but neither of us spoke to each other. Esme was banging around with pots and pans- getting breakfast ready for everyone, well I sat at the kitchen table feeling nauseous and nursing a glass of water. I could feel her eyes on me every once and a while, but I just ignored it, sipping on my water and trying to just relax. The reunion was over. Nothing in our lives had changed. It was all going to be okay.

"Are you nauseous?" Esme's words startled me, and I whipped my head around to look at her, blinking stupidly.

"Um, yeah." I managed.

Esme took a step closer to me, wiping her hands on the apron that she was wearing. "I know what will help. Just a moment." With that, she held up her perfectly manicured index finger and turned back towards the kitchen cupboards, sifting through the spices. "Here." She said, holding up…ginger. I winched slightly; I hated the taste and smell of ginger. "Don't turn your nose up at it." Esme scolded, reaching into one of the kitchen drawers and producing a teaspoon. "Take a half a teaspoon of this and it should help." She informed me, shoving the teaspoon, half filled with the pungent ginger, in my hand.

I accepted it awkwardly, swallowing it down quickly. "Thank you, Esme." I said, coughing loudly and taking a big sip of my water to try and get rid of the awful taste of ginger lingering in my mouth.

She nodded and turned back to whatever she had cooking on the stove, not speaking to me anymore. Several minutes passed, and as I wondered how she knew about the use of ginger to cure nauseas caused by chemo, Edward padded into the kitchen. "Morning." He said sleepily, kissing Esme's cheek before sitting down next to me at the table and kissing me softly on the lips.

"Now at you're up…I wanted to talk to the two of you alone." Esme said brusquely, immediately sitting down across from me at the kitchen table.

"Okay…?" Edward said hesitantly, obviously taken aback as well. He gently placed his hand on my thigh, squeezing reassuringly.

Esme nodded, and folded her hands on top of the table. She looked cool and calm and collected as always, but I saw that her hands were shaking slightly. "Edward, I never told you this…but seeing as Bella is now going through the same thing…I thought I could give you both some advice." Esme cleared her throat and looked me in the eye before continuing. "The summer before Edward started fifth grade, I found out that I had breast cancer. Not wanting to worry Edward or Jasper, Carlisle and I decided to send them to spend the summer with my sister. We did that, and I got a double mastectomy and then implants by the time they returned home to start the school year. I know what you're going through, and I know that you two are a hell of a lot stronger and braver than I am. You'll be just fine."

With that, she took another deep breath, and then fell silent. Edward stared at her, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide with disbelief. "You had cancer?" He asked incredulously. "Why…why the hell didn't you tell me? I understand not telling Jasper and I right when it happened…but why not later? Why wait until now?"

"I know that a lot of the time, I come off as a mean, heartless person." Esme said, staring right into my eyes. I blushed slightly, looking at Edward instead of at her. "But I want what is best, no matter what it takes to get there. So every single time I've ever been hard on you, on anyone, it's because I want them to be better. And Edward, look how wonderfully you turned out. And you, Bella. Over the years I watched you become a lot stronger and confident, and I hope some of that is a result of how I've treated you."

I gaped at her, shaking my head slightly. "You were terrible to me to try and make me a better person?" I asked in pure confusion.

Esme nodded easily, looking down at her manicure. "Well, don't you think it's worked? While you still kind of let me push you around…you stopped taking crap from me, and it's pretty obvious that you want to prove yourself to me when I've seen the real you for a long time. I've known that you're vivacious and strong for a long time, but it took you until now to prove it to me."

…..

So that's it for Esme's explanation. Some of you guessed it, but only a few of you got it right. A lot of you were way off. I'm sorry for the length of this chapter, but I just finished feeding Blakely and now that she's asleep, Jensen and I are going to try and catch a little sleep as well. Goodnight, and please be sure to leave me a review telling me what you thought of the chapter and the story in general!

Xoxo- Melodyella aka Mellie