Chapter 17: The Cullen Ranch
Stephenie's, not mine. Please, no sue.
This chapter is kind of a bridge between the one prior and the one following. There will be more action in the next chapter, so keep reading.
Review, please:D
Ben's pov
The plane touched down softly on the frosty tarmac, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Our toddlers had whined through almost the entire trip. Their doctor had warned us that the pressure in the cabin might do bad things to their ears. Some people even got ear infections after flying, and our kids were so little that they didn't do well with the changes in cabin pressure. They were too little to chew gum, so we'd given them about 50 suckers, but most of the suckers had ended up on the floor or in Ang's hair. Little goo had ended up inside the kids.
It was a shame they'd been upset, because otherwise the flight would have been fun. I'd flown once before, to visit my Dad's extended family in Florida, and I liked it, but we'd only flown business class. The Cullens had bought first class tickets for us, and we had bucket seats that reclined, and plenty of leg room. Had the kids settled down, we would have been able to enjoy the ride in comfort.
Ang, with her endless patience, was looking serenely out the window. She clapped and squealed excitedly to the boys when the plane coasted to a halt.
Getting off the plane in Toronto with two fussy, sticky toddlers and six suitcases, plus a diaper bag, was interesting, to say the least. We had put the boys on kiddie leashes so we could manage everything without losing them. They were so glad to walk, after 4 hours of sitting still, that they were cheerful, but they kept running to the end of their leashes and nearly pulling us over.
Providentially, there was a very understanding customs agent waiting at the line of counters. She opened a new wicket and beckoned us through. Some people in the lineups scowled because we jumped the line, but others looked relieved. They seemed to understand that it would not be pleasant to stand in line with two tired ankle biters for an extended period of time.
We hauled our belongings up the escalators, which was not fun with toddlers, let me tell you, and made our way to the reception area. The Pearson Airport was a hive of activity. Quite an attractive building, with restaurants and lots of shops and facilities.
Finally, there was Rosalie Cullen, gorgeous as ever, jiggling up and down and clapping her hands. She came over and kissed us both. Boy, Ang was right about her circulation. Rosalie's hands were freezing, even though she was wearing a buckskin parka. She bent down with shining eyes to greet the boys, who were thoroughly charmed. Usually, Theo and Evan were shy with people they didn't know well, but Rosalie had them eating out of her hands withing seconds. The teddy bears and small toy planes that she presented were probably what did the trick.
Rosalie stood back up and appraised us. "Wow, do you guys ever travel light!"
I couldn't believe she thought this truckload of unnecessary crap was light. Ang had even brought a suitcase that was full of gifts. Rosalie must live on a different planet from me.
"You must be tired. Let's go and get the boys changed, and you can tidy up. Then, I'm treating you to lunch. Ben, perhaps you can sit with the luggage while Ang and I change the boys, and then I'll sit with it while you take a turn, okay?"
"Sounds, great Rosalie. Thank you," I said wearily.
The ladies took the little guys in the bathroom, diaper bag and fresh clothing in hand, and I sat beside the mountain of luggage and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, Rosalie was gently tapping me on the shoulder.
"Come on, sleepyhead. You'll have plenty of time to nap on the car ride. It's nearly a two hour drive. Go and freshen up, and then we can get some food into everyone." I smiled appreciatively and got up on my tired feet.
Rosalie grabbed a few pieces of luggage, and asked the boys to grab onto the handles of the suitcases. Ang had removed the harnesses and leashes, I noticed. Rose led the way to a nice, bright sit-down restaurant not too far from the departure terminals. I ordered a burger and fries, Ang ordered a chicken Caesar wrap, and the boys split an order of mac and cheese. Rosalie said that she had already eaten, and only ordered a drink for herself.
We filled Rose in about our trip, and when the boys finished eating before the grown-ups, Rose introduced them to the joys of colouring. She kept a diligent eye on them, and only Theo managed to swallow a piece of one crayon. I wondered if his poop would be blue.
When our meal was finished, Rose got up and helped us to assemble the luggage. She had a warning for us.
"It's a fair walk to the Bat-mobile, sorry. Better get the kids into their snowsuits."
"The what?!" I said with confusion.
"Well, we wanted to call the minibus something, so the kids voted and that name emerged victorious. Inside joke, don't worry about it."
It was, indeed, a long walk to the Bat-mobile. There were a lot of elevated roads leading to and from the parking lots and the terminals. It was an engineering marvel, and the clover leaves looked like a giant bowl of fettuccine. There was a ton of traffic, both on the ground and in the air.
Finally, we reached the Bat-mobile It had a custom paint job, with pictures of contented-looking wolves walking through hushed timber. Inside, there were two rows of double seats, fancy high-backs like you find in a touring bus, and a TV and DVD player at the front. There were five rows of seats inside.
"Wow. Who painted this, Rosalie?" Ang asked.
"Alice and Esme sketched out the pictures, and Jacob airbrushed them on. It was part of his last art course. That's why he took art. He wants his own mechanic shop, with custom paint jobs. He and I refurbished the bus. We didn't want bench seating. Because the ranch is so remote, we take the young people on outings and good transport is essential."
Baggage stowed, Rosalie and I buckled Theo and Ethan into the waiting car seats, and Ang and I climbed into the pair of seats kitty-corner to Rose's driving chair. She pulled the doors shut and turned on the TV for the boys, who squealed delightedly when they discovered they could watch "Bob the Builder" on the car ride. Rosalie pulled onto Highway 400 East, heading for Barrie, Ontario. She drove expertly, as befitted a car enthusiast.
"So exactly where are we going, Rose?" I enquired.
"Well, we're not exactly easy to find on a map, Ben. The ranch is kind of at the centre of a bulls eye between Parry Sound, Port Carling and Huntsville. We follow this highway north as far as Bracebridge, then we turn north west toward Port Carling. After that, it's back roads all the way up to the ranch. Some of the roads aren't even paved. If you're lucky, you'll see some moose and deer today," she enthused.
"Wow. Doesn't it worry you, living out in the wilderness?"
"It's no wilder than Forks, really Ben. We used to come across mountain lions and grizzlies when we camped in the Olympic Rainforest."
The farther north we travelled, the more red, rocky outcroppings appeared alongside the road. Combined with the deep snow, it was very beautiful. It was saved from looking stark by the thousands of pine trees jutting up out of the landscape.
"We're into the Canadian Shield now," Rosalie informed us. You will see a lot more rock faces. They were carved by the glaciers. There are amethyst mines up around Parry Sound. We should take you to one before you go home. You can step out on the stones and pick up your own geode or amethyst right off the ground. It's really interesting."
As we drove on, the girls chattered cheerfully, and the boys nodded off to the chatter of the cartoons. Rose turned down the volume on the TV and put on some music for us. When we got north of Bracebridge, and started travelling up Highway 11, a line of opposing cars passed us, each flashing its lights. Rose waved at each vehicle.
"Wow, folks around here are sure friendly," I marvelled.
"You're right, but that's not why they're flashing us," Rose smiled. "Somewhere up ahead, there is a moose blocking the road. They can be quite aggressive. Trust me, hitting a moose would not be a good idea. People alert each other by flashing their lights." We moved along for a few minutes.
"Oh, look, there he is!" Rose pointed excitedly. "I wish Emmett were here. He just loves moose. Isn't that fellow funny-looking?" she laughed.
I turned my head to see where she was pointing. Right in the middle of the road stood a male moose as tall, or taller than, our vehicle. His antlers would easily have covered our entire windshield. I bet he weighed a thousand pounds. Traffic was stopped dead in both directions. The moose eyed the line of vehicles balefully. Ang got out our camera and snapped pictures of him. No way was that moose planning on moving. Somebody tried honking at him, and he just stood there with his nose in the air. Then, he dropped a big load of poop in the road, and condescended to move back into the woods. Traffic resumed.
Once we were past Port Carling, Rosalie turned off north. There were sections of farmland interspersed with sections of forest. It all looked the same. Rose made several turns until it was too complex for me to follow. Soon, the asphalt gave way to gravel. The ride became bumpier, but the shocks in the minibus must have been pretty good, because we weren't jounced around too badly. Theo and Evan snored on.
Eventually, Rose slowed, "We're here," she said brightly, turning off into a long driveway. She hopped out of the vehicle and opened a farm gate. There was a sign beside the driveway that said, 'Welcome to the Cullen Ranch, Retreat of the Olympic Quileutes'. Rose climbed back into her seat, drove through the gate, and got back out to close it. She drove on. Within 10 feet of the gate, an enormous, frightening, carved wooden figure leered over the road.
"Hey, isn't that Apotampkin?" I asked.
"That's right. He's here to warn off those who mean to harm our loved ones," Rosalie explained.
"He doesn't quite seem to fit in with the Cullen ideals," Angela mused.
"No, but he was a gift from the Wolf People. We couldn't refuse him. It's become sort of a joke."
The Bat-mobile crawled along the icy road. Once we turned the curve, our jaws dropped in amazement.
A huge patch of cleared land, presently buried in snow, appeared. It was dwarfed by a massive, three storey log house. In front of the lodge were several carved totem poles. Behind it, to one side, was a children's play yard, completely fenced in, with a wooden climber half-buried in snow. To the left, sat a huge garage. In front of it was a pick-up truck with a snowplow blade on the front. A mountain of ploughed snow sat nearby. The tracks of toboggans were visible upon it. To the right of the house stood a big barn. Behind the barn, a gigantic white windmill turned in the cold wind. Solar panels decorated the roof of the lodge and the outbuildings. The massive patch of land was edged by coniferous forest on all sides, and uprooted stumps of trees created a fence line around the cleared area.
"Holy cow! How much did this cost?!" I demanded rudely. Rosalie chuckled.
"Not much, to be honest. We have a lot of strong young people here. We built the house ourselves to Esme's specifications. The hardest part was clearing the land and digging the foundation. We are off the grid, as far as power goes. The cost of the solar panels and the windmill will be recouped within a couple of years."
"How many people do you have here?" Ang asked curiously.
"Well, there's our family of twelve, plus the Quileutes who run with Jacob. Jacob is family, so they decided to follow him here. We're really all family now, I guess. The number of Quileutes fluctuates. Some of them only come here for a couple of months a year, and then they go back home to La Push. Let's see. Right now we have Sam, Emily, Claire and Alex, and Kim, Jared and Nelda, and Quill, Embry and Leah. So how many is that? Ten Quileutes, and twelve of us. Twenty four. Billy, Seth, Sue and Charlie are joining us when Seth goes on Spring Break. Sam's family goes home to La Push next week. So there is usually around the same number of people here, give or take a few."
"How do you take care of all those people?" I wondered.
"Everybody pitches in with the work. We grow our own crops in the summer. There's good growing soil under the snow in front of the house, and three more fields out back. We have 18 acres here. There were three abandoned farms that we snapped up. We have a small orchard out back as well, just enough to feed a variety of fruit to everyone. We have to buy certain things that we can't grow, like grapes and strawberries, but we grow almost everything else. We trade our goods with the locals for things like milk and cheese, flour and sugar. It's like being a Pioneer.
"Jacob and I maintain the vehicles and the farm equipment. Quill is going to train to be a tree specialist, and Embry is interested in studying farming. We sent some of our family to work at Sainte Marie Among the Hurons last year, and they learned how to tan hides. Since the Quileutes qualify as native peoples in Canada, they are allowed special hunting and fishing rights. We are careful not to take more than we need, and since the young people now tan hides, we don't waste much from the animals we eat. Alice has taught us to make some of our clothing and we make things to sell.
"In the nice weather, we farm, hunt, tan hides and build things. In the winter, we sew. Esme home schools Claire when she's here, and we all take turns babysitting the infants. Esme is also in charge of the kitchen. Carlisle lectures the young people on European history, Jasper teaches them American History and Edward tutors them in science and music. Emmett has a wood shop out back. He trains anyone who wants to learn to make furniture and toys. We sometimes bring in an elder to teach about local native cultures and woodcarving. Everything works together very well, and every person here serves a fulfilling purpose."
"Sounds Utopian," Ang commented.
Rose snickered, "Hardly. You haven't seen how we bicker. And it can get quite noisy at times. Getting privacy is a challenge. It's hard to find a quiet place to be alone, and everybody knows everybody else's business. But, overall, it's fun and we're hoping to make the place self-sustaining in case we ever have to leave the Quileutes alone here."
I wondered why the Cullens would move the Quileutes so far from home, and then leave them. Why did they leave Forks, anyway? I guessed it was none of my business, but they were Americans, weren't they? Why would they move to Canada?
"I expect you're wondering why we moved here. Well, Esme got asked to restore some historical houses in Huntsville, and Carlisle was asked to run a hospital in Bracebridge. When they visited the area, it appealed to them to spend a few years here. Since all their kids have their own families now, they didn't feel guilty doing it. But somehow, we're all still tied to our parents, and we decided to move here, too. Then Jacob included himself, and then his pack didn't want to be left behind, and we thought we'd best figure out a way to live as a group. This property was ideal, even though it means a bit of a commute for everyone's work."
Jacob's pack? What an odd way to refer to somebody's friends.
I was distracted from these thoughts by a young girl, who came running out the door as Rosalie stopped the Bat-mobile in front of the house. This was a little girl of approximately ten years of age. She ran out in her suede coat and slippers, and skidded to a stop beside the bus, jumping up and down and clapping her hands with glee. By the time we had the side door open, our friends were heading out to greet us and my attention was caught by Edward and Bella. The child pulled on my arm, to get my attention.
"Hi, I'm Claire. Where are Theo and Evan? I want to play with them. At last, some kids who aren't babies. It's hard with no kids here sometimes, you know, even if everyone does love me. I want to go home to La Push. We're going next week. But until then, can I play with your kids?" Claire fluttered gorgeous, long eyelashes at me.
"Of course you can play with them, Claire. When they wake up, okay?"
By this time, the Cullens had reached Ang and kissed her 'hello'. Edward reached to pat me on the shoulder. He looked down and addressed Claire.
"Sweetie, let Ben breathe. Please go and tell Grandma Esme and Grandad Carlisle that our friends have arrived." Claire scooted into the house, her long black hair trailing behind her, bellowing for the senior members of the clan. Edward chuckled, and then looked at me quietly through his strange amber eyes. "She never stops talking," he confided with a crooked grin.
"You don't look a day older, Edward. Life must be good," I marvelled.
"Life is better than I ever dreamed, Ben. We are very blessed. Let's get you all inside. It's freezing out here." Edward turned and called into the house, "Emmett? Jasper? Would you kindly come and help with the luggage?" Then, his brothers barrelled out the door to shake hands with us enthusiastically. Emmett swung Angela around in a circle with a woo-hoo. Nothing changed, there.
Bella had wrangled Evan out of his car seat, and he was still out like a light with his face tucked into her shoulder. Rosalie took Theo from Ang, claiming Mommy needed her hands free to say hello. Theo regarded Rosalie cautiously, content to be held so long as she did not step too far away from Mom. Edward ushered us into his home.
Ang and I stopped dead inside the doorway. The building was nothing like we expected. We stepped into a main room, rather like a hotel lobby. There were several doors leading to other rooms, around the walls. One had a sign over it that said it was 'Esme's Kitchen'.
There was a sort of a dais beside the main entrance, with an upright piano on it, and a podium. The cross that was used in Edward and Bella's wedding stood to one side of the dais In the right corner of the room, there was a friendly-looking totem.
At the far end of the room was a huge, stone, wood-burning fireplace in which a merry fire was roaring. A floor-to-ceiling window flanked the fireplace on each side. The long wall to our right was lined with hundreds of books, and a huge LCD TV hung in the middle of the wall.
There were four staircases running up the corners of the space. On the second and third floors, there were doors facing into the main space. A railing made of logs ran around the second and third floors. A vaulted ceiling rose up to the rafters. Three big antler-covered chandeliers dangled down from the middle of the roof, and there were matching sconces on the walls. Everything was made of honey-coloured, highly polished wood. The building seemed huge.
Alice Hale came dancing down the stairs, squealing with excitement. She kissed both of my cheeks, then moved on to kiss Ang. "Ooh, look at the boys! They're not babies anymore. Let's get them out of those snowsuits, shall we? We'll have to play out in the snow with them later. Toddlers in snowsuits are so funny. If they fall over, they can't get up," she grinned. You'd think she'd never been around babies before.
Edward ushered me through the door to my left. Just outside the door was a huge message board, decorated with memos and personal greetings and some humourous graffiti. Through the door was a walk-in closet, with varying sections labelled for all the people who lived there. Boot trays lined the floor under the closet rods, and on top of the rod shelves were baskets for mittens and hats, each labelled with a name. Edward pointed out the section where my family's outerwear was to be kept. Wow. We even had little wooden plaques with our names on. The Cullens sure knew how to go over the top to make you feel welcome.
"Here," said Edward, handing me a pair of new moccasins, "Leave your boots on the tray, and then come through to the main room." I did as I was bid, and walked back out into the main space. I enjoyed the cushy feeling of the slippers, wriggling my tired toes into the fleecy insoles.
Emmett and Jasper competed to be the first to get our large suitcases up to the third storey. Between them, they carried all six at once. They bantered back and forth about who would get to the room first. Jasper won by a hair. We heard his muffled crow, and Emmett's curse.
"Careful boys! Don't break anything," called Bella, shaking her head and rolling her golden eyes. Hey, didn't they used to be brown? Oh, part of her husband's condition, that she now shared. Brave Bella. Of course she loved him, and that was all that mattered to her, not her health.
I looked around me, taking in the details. The doors were painted forest green. There were several couches and a game table scattered about the room. The couches were of a natural-coloured leather. The leather was all the same, but the style of each couch was different. I wondered if the Cullens had taken old pieces and reupholstered them. I bet they had.
On the walls were photographs and paintings that I itched to have a good look at. A lot of them seemed to be of wolves. Others were pictures of the family. My family stood and rubbernecked.
"Oh, Bella. This is a wonderful place. Perfect for all of you. Now I understand why you moved here," Ang gushed.
"It's been a lot of work, but we're pretty happy with it now," said Bella.
Claire ran down one of the back staircases and bee-lined across the main room toward us. She slid across the floor in her moccasins, and pirouetted gracefully to a halt in front of the boys, bending over to look them in the eye. Evan and Theo clung to their new teddy bears shyly, and buried their faces against Ang's jean-clad legs.
"Look, here!" said Claire brightly. "I have a game. I made these beanbags all by myself. Uncle Em made me a board with a hole in it to throw them through. See, you can throw these. They're all squashy. Come on, Theo, come on, Evan. You can play with me." The boys looked at each other, and looked at their mother and me.
"Go on," Ang encouraged them. The boys toddled after Claire in their tiny new slippers. She was still chattering at them about her games.
Jasper came flitting down the stairs at the speed of light. Emmett grabbed onto the second storey railing and vaulted over it, swinging himself down to land in a graceful crouch on the floor of the main room. He straightened up with a gloating look. Jasper said, "Aww," and hung his head in disappointment. Emmett had beaten him back downstairs.
"Hey! Guys? Gear it down, would you please?" Bella begged with a meaningful look. Her brothers in law nodded and went to occupy themselves with a PlayStation.
"So it seems kind of quiet, Edward. Where is everybody?" I asked.
"You'll have to excuse them, Ben. Carlisle and Esme are at work. Embry, Quill, Jared and Leah are at school. Jacob is watching over Renesmee. She's been having a hard time since the babies were born, but Carlisle expects her to be better in a couple of days. Kim is watching Alex, Nelda, Lottie and Tina. The rest of us are around somewhere. Pretty soon, Bella, Rose and Alice will be starting dinner. It's their day to cook. We take shifts for cooking, cleaning, laundry and childcare. Except we don't let Emmett cook. He tried to burn down the house in Forks once."
"Yeah, I heard about that," I smirked.
"I'll bet you did. I'll show you around, and you'll meet people as you see the place. It's nicer than having everybody maul you at once. We don't get many new visitors, and you will be getting a lot of attention, whether you want it or not."
A/N: Ang and Ben have been interrupting Bella and Edward's wedding so much that I posted this chapter to shut them up. And they're still complaining that they are neglected. Theo and Evan are aging, and Nessie is not. Review and tell me what adventures you're anticipating at the Cullen Ranch.
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