Chapter 13: New Beginnings
Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. This is a tribute. Please don't sue.
August 20, 2010
Angela's pov
Ben and I returned from our honeymoon, relaxed and excited to start our new life together. We drove to our parents' houses and greeted them. Then, we set off for the cottage. We parked out of habit in front of the main house, leaving the keys in the ignition. Only afterward did we wonder at our habit. Emmett habitually put the Neon in the garage for us. We forgot he would not be there to do it.
We walked with our most important suitcases up to the cottage door. Then Ben unlocked it, and with a bit of difficulty, lifted me to carry me over the threshhold. He was so cute. He pushed through the door and something fell down on us with a deafening crash. We were both covered in confetti. Someone had set up a metal bucket of it, over the door, rigged to fall when we came in.
When the confetti settled, we looked about in shock. There were a wide variety of objects, some of which I recognized as sexual aids, dotted about the room. There were gaudy bows and inflated coloured condoms everywhere. Marvin Gaye's song, Sexual Healing, was playing on the stereo. A driftwood fire was burning in the grate, despite the warmth of the day. And there was a large tray of chocolate dipped strawberries with whipped cream and a bottle of chocolate sauce, sitting on the kitchen counter. Suddenly, we both realized that there was an obviously hard core video playing on Edward's plasma tv.
Ben and I gawped at each other. Edward and Bella would not have done this.
"Who?" we chorused in irritation.
"Emmett?" asked Ben.
"Alice?" asked I.
Suddenly, there were five people standing in the doorway, giggling madly. "Surprise!" they sang with beautiful voices. "Welcome home!"
"It's nice to see you again, Angela. We met at Bella's bachelorette party, remember? I'm Tanya. Please allow me to introduce the Denali Coven." Ben looked at Tanya like she had six heads.
I mouthed at her, making no noise, "Ixnay on the 'coven', he doesn't know." The vampires nodded at me, and then we were being warmly hugged by people we really didn't know. Tanya pointed as she named people: Kate, Garrett, Carmen and Eleazar. Each shook our hands and related their delight to make our acquaintance.
"It's so long since we lived in a town. We have been woefully deprived of human friendship. You can expect to see a lot of us. By the way, your toy drawer was woefully inadequate. We took the liberty of bringing you some welcome home gifts.
"Edward and Bella seem to have left you some gifts of their own. They have hooked up internet access to their fancy mobile phones, and they would like you to use this webcam to talk to them later today. We have read up on how to use it, if you need assistance. The Cullens seem to be pining for you. They are up at our lodge right now, outside Denali.
"Oh, how very ... kind you are," I said. "We are so pleased to meet you all. Edward and Bella have said so much about you, that I feel we know you already."
"Well, come up later to the house and eat dinner there. We would love to get to know you better. The Cullens love you. Anything we can do for you, we would be thrilled to do. Edward said you were to be well-taken-care of. He has left explicit instructions for us to follow. We will come on Fridays to clean your cottage and bring supplies and groceries. I think your main job is to babysit us and keep us out of trouble," the Denalis giggled good-naturedly. "Edward is so old-fashioned. We could not help teasing him, you know, and now he thinks we're much worse than we really are."
"Let's hope so," I murmured, eyeing an enormous phallic-shaped object warily.
The Denalis took their leave, and Ben and I gawped after them. Ben hurried to shut off the video. I picked up an oddly-shaped doohickey, turning it this way and that. I held it up to Ben and he shrugged. He had no idea what it was for, either.
We wandered through the cottage. There was a letter from Bella on the door of the walk-in closet, telling us to help ourselves to any clothes we wanted and donate the rest to Goodwill. I panicked. It would take us a month to sort through Alice's wardrobe. I pulled open the door quickly, and sighed in relief. All but one clothing rack was empty. My clothes and Bens's were sorted and hanging neatly on the racks. Our few boxes of possessions, and the wedding gifts, were sitting against the empty side of the closet.
I wondered what was left behind in Renesmee's room. I went and peeked inside. The room had been painted to look like denim. There were boyish pictures on the walls. There was a crib, and a toddler bed, made out of teak, with denim coverlets and pale blue sheets. There was a little white bassinet, and a baby jumper, and some toys. There were piles of baby clothes, all masculine. "Well, something tells me that Alice thinks we are going to have a boy someday." My eyebrows were raised. Ben was looking a little nervous. We exited the room and shut the door. I would have to put dust sheets down to protect everything. We walked back to the bedroom.
Somehow, we had missed it. On the bed, there sat a medium-sized brown leather scrapbook, sealed with a pretty blue ribbon. I sat on the bed and opened it, gently. Ben crawled up beside me and put his arm around me, and we turned the pages. Inside, were pictures of us with all the Cullens. Pictures from the Niagara Trip, including a group picture in the walled garden and one in front of the infamous minibus. Pictures from school. Pictures from casual visits and outings we'd been on. Portraits of the Cullens and Hales and Jacob. Renesmee's baby pictures, with her fake parents. Renesmee with Bella and Edward at various ages. Bella and Edward's wedding and engagement photos. Ticket stubs from the movie that got them into trouble with Charlie. Handwritten notes and poems and one of Edward's homemade CD's. Ben took the CD and put it on. Samples of my wedding dress' fabric and buttons, and pictures from the wedding shower Bella threw for me. All the stories of our life together, bound lovingly up in a testament. We sat there, looking at the sum of our various friendships.
I turned back to the beginning, to look through it again. Inside the front cover was a dedication in Edward's elegant hand: To my little angel and my best pal, don't forget how much you are loved. Forever, Edward. After his name, Bella, and each member of the Cullen Coven, plus Jacob and Seth, Leah, Embry and Quill and Jared, had signed for themselves.
"We'd better call them. I don't know what time it is in Denali." Ben said.
"I don't think it will be too much earlier there than it is here." We looked at the webcam instructions.
Soon, we were looking at our friends, trying to crowd into the frame on their end of the line. Everybody was grinning, and we thanked them and exchanged news and joked and laughed and told them about our adventure with the Denali cousins. Edward, Em and Jasper were howling over the surprise gifts. After an hour, there was less to say, and we obtained a promise from the Cullens to talk again soon. They thought they might be moving to Canada, but they were not sure. They would tell us when things were arranged.
After we rang off, we decided to go up to the main house and raid Tanya's fridge. Upon entering, we received a little shock.
The Cullens classy art collection had been replaced with modern nudes in loud colours. The paintings were gigantic, and some were extremely anatomically correct. It was like walking into a high-class brothel. They would have to tone it down if they didn't want Children's Rescue at their door.
I had to take Tanya aside and remind her that Carmen and Eleazar were supposed to act like parents, and they would be in charge of her, Kate and Garrett, and that the human authorities would expect them to raise children decently. They looked at each other like deer in headlights. Clueless. Well, we weren't the only ones who would have to adjust.
Oh, boy. This was going to be interesting. The Denalis had not had very much experience acting out a human charade. They would have to practise on Ben before school started and the three young-looking vamps had to interact with humans on a daily basis.