Chapter 5: Confessions and the Cullens

(Melinda POV)

I awoke what felt like minutes later feeling a lot better. As expected, Carlisle was lying next to me with his arms around my waist and his eyes on mine. The look in his eyes made me weak in the knees even though I wasn't standing—it was full of tenderness and love that I had never seen before. I was finally succumbing to his charms, wasn't I? At least I was feeling better now but I still looked like Frankenstein's wife.

Instinctively, I pulled away from his grasp but he tried to hold onto me. Since what happened in my past, I would pull away from men because I was afraid. I never let anyone know because my fear would sound stupid but it wasn't to me. I refused to get into relationships with men because I was afraid but I wasn't giving Carlisle the honor of hearing that. If he asked, I would just say because I wasn't ready for a relationship.

"Melinda," said Carlisle, looking into my eyes seriously, "why do you pull away from me? Tell me the truth because I will know if you're lying." If he was joking he was good at hiding it.

"It's nothing, Carlisle," I said, hysteria rising in my tone. "In fact, it's none of your business!" I gave him an irritated, disgusted look as I pulled out of reach from him; good, at least I could stand without falling or feeling dizzy.

"Did someone hurt you in the past?" asked Carlisle, losing the calmness in his tone. "Is that why you're so cautious? Who hurt you, Melinda?" He got up off my bed and took my hand in his cold one. "Just let me know and I'll help you."

"Okay, you want the truth?" I demanded, feeling frustrated and angry. "Here it is, I watched my parents fight and hurt each other for years and when I entered a relationship with a boy, which was junior year of high school, he assaulted me, okay? Is that the answer to your question?" I didn't mean to sound pissed but I just couldn't help it. No one ever understood why I took antidepressants or why I distanced myself but those were the two main reasons.

"Melinda," he whispered sympathetically, stroking my hand, "I'm so sorry; I didn't know." His hand rested on my shoulder and stroked down my arm gently but I pulled away from him again.

"Well, who cares anyway?" I demanded, glaring at him. "It's not like anyone cared about it!" I crossed my arms over my chest and walked out to my kitchen, pretending Carlisle wasn't there.

"I do," he said in a pleading tone, stopping my pace by touching my shoulder and turning me to face him. "Please, Melinda, you know I love you, right?"

"Yes, I do know," I said impertinently, giving him a tough look. "I want to love you too but I don't know if my heart is telling me that."

"What is your heart telling you to do?" he asked, sounding more and more like a doctor.

"This," I answered, standing up on my tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his lips.

(Carlisle POV)

I was taken aback when she kissed me because just a few minutes ago she told me she wasn't ready yet here she was kissing me. In response, I cradled her face in my hands and pressed my lips to hers to deepen the kiss. Despite her fear, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed herself up against me. I held her tightly and kissed her back with all I had. The love I felt for her was real and true and I expressed it in the kiss. This time Melinda didn't regret kissing me and I was happy that she wasn't feeling bad for being with me.

Once our lips disconnected, she discovered that I was holding her off the ground but she didn't seem to care. "I love you, darling," I whispered, kissing her cheek before embracing her again.

"I love you too, Carlisle Cullen," she whispered tenderly, burying her face in my shirt.

I was at a loss for words as I held her tightly to my chest, pressing my lips to her hair tenderly. There was only one thing that bothered me: I didn't tell her my family and I was vampires. A part of me told me to tell her because she told me about her secrets but another part told me to keep it hidden to keep her safe. If I told her I was a vampire, she'd be on the edge of danger constantly and I could harm her unintentionally.

"Carlisle," she whispered, bringing me back to the present, "are you all right? You blanked out there for a bit." Her big brown eyes looked reproachful and suspicious.

"I'm fine, love," I said, stroking her hair tenderly. "It's nothing, really. Now, I'm going to hold you."

"You already are," she said cheekily, smiling at me gently. "You already hold my heart, soul, and mind." She sounded so serious that I wanted to kiss her with reckless abandon but then I remembered she was human and I could break her.

I cupped her warm petite face in my hands gently and pressed my nose to hers tenderly so I could look her in the eyes. "Are you sure?" I asked huskily, knowing my tone sounded seductive to her.

"Yes," she whispered, pressing her lips to mine briefly before pulling back a bit. "I love you." She rested her head on my chest and I stroked her hair gently, inhaling her sweet scent.

"I love you too," he whispered in her ear genuinely, "always have, always will."

…

"Do I really have to meet your family like this?" she asked from the passenger seat in my car a half hour later. "What if they don't like me? I mean, I am the girl who fills their daddy's thoughts." She sounded nervous but it only made me chuckle lightly because she was being nervous for nothing. My family would accept her even if she was the Abominable Snowman.

"Melinda, they'll love you," I said reassuringly, touching her hair gently. "In fact, they've been waiting for me to bring you to them, especially Alice. She already loves you, she told me so."

Melinda sighed, relaxing visibly. "Okay," she said with a smile bright enough to light up the dark. "That makes me feel a lot better because I don't want to impose."

"You'd never impose," I said kindly, stroking her hair some more, relishing the softness of it. "They'll love you. Emmett is always telling me 'go, papa Cullen, score a hot one'." I let out a laugh as I recalled my reaction to that: shocked silence. Emmett was too bold to say something like that especially to his adopted father.

Melinda let out a giggle that sounded so beautiful and childish that I loved her even more if it were possible. I loved seeing her look so happy because it made me happy to see her smile and laugh cheerfully. The light and gentleness in her smile and giggle could disarm even the most bloodthirsty vampire (except for the Volturi, of course). I feared that if I told her I was a vampire she would never trust or smile again. Her smile saved my soul from the dark, I knew that, because it was the smile of an angel.

"Are we almost there?" she asked, looking out the window to stare at the woods that passed us by. "More importantly, are we still in America?"

Her question made me laugh but I didn't answer her because it was a surprise.

…

(Normal POV)

"Is she even Italian?" asked Rosalie in a wound up tone, holding a pot full of spaghetti.

"Her name's Melinda," said Emmett, stirring some noodles in another pot. "Carlisle said she was pretty hot too but didn't say those exact words because you know how proper he is."

Rosalie aimed a kick at Emmett's shin and scored. She didn't like it when Emmett made comments on how another girl looked but she always kicked him or pushed him in response.

"Ow," said Emmett, bending down to touch his shin. "Babe, why did you kick me?"

Rosalie wasn't the only one who rolled her eyes. Everyone in the kitchen snorted and rolled their eyes in response. Alice called Emmett an idiot and Jasper said what he did was not cool. Edward said nothing but shook his head and Bella just pushed him to a wall before going to help her husband make garlic bread. Renesemme rolled her eyes at her uncle before going over to see how the garlic bread was coming.

"Whew," said Rosalie when the front door opened, "get a whiff of that. Here comes the human."

Bella looked extremely excited when Carlisle entered the room with his girl so she walked up to them and smiled. Alice went up and hugged the girl tightly, which caused everyone to gape at her in response.

"Melinda," said Alice, holding the girl's hands, "we made Italian for you. We're so excited to meet you. I'm Alice." She gave the girl a huge smile and hugged her again.

"Alice," said Carlisle in warning but Alice brushed it off.

"Don't worry, Carlisle," said Alice, staring at the girl. "Melinda and I will be great friends."

"Carlisle," Melinda stage-whispered to her lover, "you said you had children." She looked shocked and afraid that she was too young to be their father's girlfriend.

"I did say that," said Carlisle lightly, pulling her into a tight embrace, "but I didn't say they were biological, did I?" He gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek and smiled at his family.

"Wow," said Emmett, approaching them with Rosalie, "I thought Carlisle was exaggerating when he said you were gorgeous. You're hot."

That got rewarded with another kick from Rosalie but it didn't faze Emmett; in fact, he looked entertained.

"Thank you," said Melinda, hugging Carlisle around the neck. "I didn't know Carlisle told you all about me. It's very nice to meet all of you."

Rosalie gave Melinda a glare like she was a bug needed to be squashed and it frightened Melinda because no one had ever given her such a lethal glare before. "Carlisle, don't you know this is dangerous?" she demanded to her visibly shaken adoptive father. "She's only a few years older than me and you expect her to be our adoptive mother!"

"Rosalie," said Carlisle gently, trying to pacify her, "she's very important to me."

"To you," shouted Rosalie, stomping her foot like the girls on TV, "but to me she's just a girl who's imposing on our lives! When did we agree she could come over anyway!?"

Silence filled the kitchen, save for the sizzling food and the shaky breaths of Melinda. She felt so hurt that someone said things like that in her face and it made her want to cry but she kept her dignified persona but inside she was breaking. As she swallowed back the tears, she noticed Carlisle's face was full of shock but said nothing because of that. She felt all of the Cullens' eyes on her so she just walked out of the room to find the nearest bathroom so she could lock herself in and cry.

(Carlisle POV)

When Melinda walked out of the room, I recovered from my shock and said to Rosalie in a calm, quiet tone, "Rosalie, don't ever say those things about my Melinda ever again. She may not mean much to you but she means the world to me."

"So she means more than us and the fact that we're vampires!" demanded Rosalie, glaring at me lethally.

"We'll talk about this later," I interrupted warningly when Melinda stepped back in.

Her appearance looked different; her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were red. It looked like she was crying but her smile was as cheerful as ever. It seemed that she wanted to hold it in but I could tell her smile was more fixed than before. I wanted to hold her but she brushed me off and sat down at the table near the kitchen.

"Well," said Alice, saving us from the awkward silence, "I hope you like our food because we made it especially for you."

"Um, I hate to be…" said Melinda nervously but I broke her off to save her from embarrassment.

"She already ate, Alice," I interrupted gently. "She didn't know we were having dinner so I got her something before we came here. Sorry, it was my fault, not hers."

"Oh, that's okay," said Alice lightly, skipping up to Jasper and throwing her arms around his neck in an embrace. "We'll save it for tomorrow. You'll come visit us tomorrow, right, Melinda?" She gave Melinda the look that resembled a cocker spaniel that wet on the rug that Melinda could refuse, unless Jasper used his pathogenic gift to make her cave.

"Sure, I guess," said Melinda, pulling at her hair awkwardly. "I don't see why not."

"Oh!" squealed Alice, hopping up and down like a little school girl. "Good! I can't wait!" She gave Melinda a huge smile that seemed to stretch her whole face but it made her look like an innocent doll.

"Me neither," she replied with a smile in return.

Here I felt like it was the right time to tell Melinda what my family and I were because if she came over and didn't see us eat what would she think? I decided to tell her once after I left to return her home but now was the time to chat and relax with one another. Honestly, I was glad Jasper was comfortable around since he was the newest vegetarian and it was still hard for him to control his urges but even more when I saw Melinda chatting happily with Bella and Alice. It seemed she would fit in with my family and unlike most relationships she would never have to be introduced to another family had she to date another. I knew from the moment I saw her, she would be my mate.

I pushed my worries out of my mind and went to go sit with my family and lover to join them in a happy conversation that would last for a lifetime to come.

A/N: Whew! I've been busy with school recently, preparing for winter finals and such, but I'll always have time to crank out a chapter. I hope you all enjoy this one. Read and review please! PS thanks for the ones adding this to their favorites (you know who you are)!