Standard Disclaimer – I don't own Twilight or any of the characters from the story. All song selections have been provided by me amazing beta, NoWayWithWords. She is the greatest! She has set up a YouTube Playlist that includes the songs chosen for the chapters. If you would like to check it out, see my profile for the link.

The song for the chapter is "Love is Dead" by Kerli.

Chapter 24 – Moving Forward

The next day, at church, I prayed that everything would turn out for the best. I prayed that I wouldn't have any problem getting the house and fixing it up. I prayed that Colleen would let me adopt Lucia and take her back to Washington. I also prayed for my father's safety and my mother's happiness, like I usually do when I go to church. After the service, while everyone was standing outside talking, someone recognized me. Soon I had a slew of people gathered around asking me for pictures and telling me how much they liked my music. Lucia stayed right by my side the entire time. She didn't want to let me go.

I told Clarence and Millie that I was going to have to fly back home the following morning to close on a house, but I would be back on Wednesday night, so I could see Lucia from Thursday through the following Tuesday.

Clarence said he understood and would keep me informed if anything happened with Colleen while I was gone. Millie invited us to eat Sunday lunch with them, but we declined. We didn't want to impose and we both needed to pack and wanted to get some sleep before the early morning trip home.

Emmett must have said something to Rose about the benefits of riding first class on the way to Florida, because our return tickets were also in first class. Since our flight was so early in the morning, the airline was serving coffee, juice, milk, bagels, and pastries. I had a cinnamon roll and some milk. While I ate, I pulled a piece of scrap paper out of my purse and started making a list of the things I would need to buy for a new house: bedroom furniture, living room furniture, a dining table, dishes, towels, blankets, lamps, not to mention things that needed repairing or replacing, like all the windows, the toilets, and probably some of the carpet, sheetrock, and flooring. It rained a lot in Seattle and the surrounding areas. If they hadn't boarded up the broken windows quickly, or if they hadn't boarded up very well, there was a good possibility that water may have made it into the house. At the bottom of the list I made a note to find an inspector to check for any other problems before I started fixing anything.

On the other side of the paper I made a list of things I would need if I actually got to adopt Lucia. As I wrote her name at the top of the list, I realized that I had written "Lucy" instead of "Lucia." I started to think about names. She preferred to be called Lu, Lulu, or Lucy. Out of the three, Lucy was definitely a more feminine name. Her middle name was Maria and mine was Marie. I could change hers to be the same as mine and she probably wouldn't notice the difference.

I wrote the name "Lucy Marie Swan" at the top of the page then beside it wrote "Lucy Swan." I liked the sound of that. I could picture introducing her to people, "This is my daughter, Lucy Swan." Just imagining it made me smile.

I focused my attention on making the list of items she would need and put a star beside important ones: a car seat, stroller, bedroom furniture, blankets, a night light, clothes, sippy cups, and pull-ups. I listed other things I would like to get her, like a toy kitchen with plastic food, a big toy box, some more dolls, a tricycle, some stuffed animals, and some cars. She liked driving the cars around on the floor. I thought about things like finger paints, but decided I would wait until she got a little older for that.

I was lost in my lists when the pilot came on and said we would begin making our descent shortly, so I put my things away. Emmett had fallen asleep sometime during the flight, so I woke him up and then checked myself in the mirror to make sure I looked ok.

As I put my mirror back in my purse, I noticed a magazine shoved in the back of the empty seat beside me. I pulled it out and flipped through it. My heart skipped a beat as I stopped on a picture of Edward Cullen walking down a sidewalk leading a skinny bobble-headed blond, who I immediately recognized as Jane, by the hand. He wasn't looking at the camera, but she was. She had a huge smile on her face. He kind of looked like he was looking for something or someplace. The caption below the picture read, "Edward Cullen spends romantic weekend for two in Paris."

As soon as Emmett realized what I was looking at, he snatched the magazine out of my hand. "You don't need to look at this shit, Bella. You know they try to make something out of nothing."

I heard my voice crack as I pointed out, "They were holding hands, Emmett."

"We don't know that, Bella. It didn't look very romantic to me. He wasn't even looking at her. He looked like he was dragging her somewhere."

"He hasn't even tried to contact me since he left," I said softly, as I tried to choke back the tears that were threatening to spill down my cheeks. It felt like my chest was being squeezed tightly and I couldn't breathe.

"Maybe he has a good excuse."

"Like what, Emmett? He forgot my number? He forgot my email address? It seems to me that the more likely excuse would be that he forgot me. I wasn't really important to him. I was just a pretty face he brought along to help him pass the time. It was all a publicity stunt and he actually didn't mean any of it."

Emmett put his arm around me and gave me a hug. "I don't believe that one bit. I don't know why he hasn't contacted you. Maybe he's just scared. He could be really busy. We don't know how packed his schedule is right now. If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on him, but I wouldn't pass judgment and make accusations until I had a chance to talk to him about what happened."

"It just really hurts, Emmett," I said as I buried my face in his chest and cried.

"I know it does, Bella. You loved him and you're not sure how things are between you anymore. I'm sure it's hard, but you're going to be fine. Look at all the things you've accomplished. You are doing great with your music career, you may get a great house, and you just might end up with a great little girl. It looks to me like everything is starting to go your way, so you need to stay focused and keep your eye on your goals. Don't let something silly like that cowardly motherfucker get you down."

He was right. I needed to focus on what I wanted and ignore the rest. Unfortunately, one of the things I wanted was Edward Cullen. I decided that he would be fourth on my list. My first priority was getting this house, and then getting Lucy, although Lucy was more important than the house. I had to put the house first, because I had a very small window of opportunity to get this done. After I had those two things, I could work on my career and then I just might consider reestablishing connections with Edward Cullen.

By the time the plane landed, my makeup was fixed again and I looked happy and focused. There were some reporters in the airport, but I didn't stop to talk to them, I just smiled as I walked by. Once I found my car in the lot, Emmett called to let Rosalie know that we were heading to the house before coming to Port Angeles. She had already suspected it because she was sitting in a coffee shop in Seattle waiting for us with the key to the front door.

We stopped and picked her up, so we could all ride together. We took the bridge across to the little island and went straight to the house. From a distance, it was breathtaking. It was better than the pictures gave it credit for. As we drove closer, I noticed all the windows on the ground floor were boarded up. The upstairs windows were fine. The yard needed to be mowed, but it wasn't too overgrown.

When we went inside and got a look at all the spray paint all over the place, I was shocked. The wife had written, "Burn in hell you cock sucking whore!" across the living room wall. Every wall on the ground floor, as well as the hallways had something similar painted on them. The toilets had been shattered and water had gotten in the carpets near the bathroom. Apparently, someone called in a carpet cleaning company to suck up the water. They left the carpet stiff and crunchy with those distinctive lines that the machines make, and everything smelled like deodorizer.

As we walked around the house and looked into each room, I took pictures of everything that needed to be replaced, painted, or cleaned up. I also took pictures of the general layout of the place. There was a lot of work that needed to be done, but if I had to, I could move upstairs while the repairmen fixed everything.

I pulled out my Lucy list and wrote, "Baby gates and child proof locks." I would need a way to keep her upstairs while the construction was going on below us. Once we had all the information I could think of, without having a measuring tape handy, we made the three hour drive to Port Angeles. When we got to Emmett and Rosalie's house, we downloaded the house pictures from my camera and started talking about the repairs. That reminded me of my discussion with Esme.

I picked up my phone and called her. "Edward Cullen's phone. This is Esme speaking."

"Hey Esme, this is Bella."

"Oh, hi Bella. How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty well, actually. I am hoping to close on my house tomorrow."

"You found something?" She sounded excited.

"Yes. I'm getting it for a fantastic price. The only problem is that it needs a lot of work. Do you know anyone that does construction on Mercer Island?"

"You are buying a home on Mercer Island? I love that place. Carlisle and I used to rent a house there when we were younger. Hmmmm… I know a guy up there that had a really good crew. Let me see if I can reach him. What kind of damage are we talking about?"

"I am sending you a link to the pictures we took of the house." I sent her an email with the link to the website where I loaded the pictures. A couple minutes later I heard her receive the email. She opened the program and started clicking through the pictures.

"Oh, dear, someone has a potty mouth. I take it the good deal is due to a divorce?"

"Yes, it is."

"I knew someone that bought a Ferrari for $100 because of a divorce."

"Wow. I didn't realize they could be so brutal."

"Yes, they can be."

I could hear her scribbling notes as she asked me questions. I gave her the address to the house and in a few minutes, she was able to pull up the original floor plan. Apparently, her company had been hired to re-do the kitchen a few years ago. She asked if I would like her suggestions on interior decorating and possible design suggestions, at no cost. I had never had to decorate such a large place before. To be perfectly honest, I had never even had to decorate a small place. I didn't even know where to stat, so I told her I would love her help.

Esme said she would call her friend to get him to put together an estimate for the repairs and let me know. She also said she would email me some basic concept sketches so we could start narrowing things down. She told me how the process was going to work and warned me that she was going to start off a little bold. She said we could tame it down bit by bit until I was happy with the end results.

I was glad that we would be able to do most of this over the internet. She had a website that she used for playing with decorating concepts. She would set up a room and send me the link. I could reply and tell her what I liked and didn't like. She would make changes and send me the link again. Once I was happy with the results, she would start looking for the furniture. If she found the furniture and I agreed on the price, she would buy it and then tell the construction crew what color to paint the walls.

When I got off the phone with Esme, I called my dad. I told him that I was back in town, but I would be spending a couple of days with Rosalie and Emmett because I was trying to close on a house. I think his feelings were a little hurt that I didn't ask him to look at the house or get his opinion on it, but when I told him about the deal I was getting, he was thrilled.

"So, Bells, are you going to let me come fish in your lake? You know I've been looking at that boat down at Newton's place. I could buy it and keep it out at your place. You could use it whenever you want, as long as I can come up there and do some fishing. I could bring the guys. They would get a kick out of learning a new fishing hole."

"If I get it, you can come over whenever you want, Dad."

He paused for a minute, cleared his throat, and asked, "So, how's it coming with the other thing?"

"That 'thing' is a little girl. She is great. I've been spending a lot of time with her. We spent the entire day together last Saturday. I am thinking about naming her Lucy Marie Swan. What do you think?"

"Lucy Swan," he said, testing it out. "I like it. Can you do that? Rename a child, I mean?"

"Yes. People change names all the time. She doesn't really like her current name, which is Lucia. She prefers to be called Lucy, Lu, or Lulu."

Dad laughed. "I don't think I would be able to keep a straight face if I had to tell the guys down at the station that I had a granddaughter named Lu. They would give me hell about having a little girl named after Lou Ferrigno."

"Who?"

"The original Incredible Hulk. You know… the huge green guy from TV?"

I knew exactly who he was talking about, but I liked to make him squirm sometimes. He did the same thing to me when he thought I was telling a lie, so I figured it was fair.

He chuckled. "Never mind. It was before your time. Anyway, how are things going with Lucy?"

"I'm going back down there after I finish with the house. I went to the jail and talked to her mother about possibly letting me take custody of her. She is thinking about it. She is going to be locked up for at least a good ten years, and her health is fading pretty quickly. I honestly think the HIV will kill her before she gets out of jail."

"Does she have any family that might contest the adoption?"

"No, her family is dead. Lucy's dad was an illegal immigrant from Cuba. I don't know anything about his family. I'll have to bring that up next time I visit her mother. Thanks, Dad."

"Sure thing. If there is any way I can help, just let me know."

"I will, Dad. Thank you."

When I hung up after talking with Charlie, I noticed that I was alone in the living room. Emmett and Rose had snuck off to their bedroom for some alone time, so I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to help drown out the noise. I flipped through the channels and stopped on a classic movie channel. I was watching some movie with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. when my phone chimed, indicating I had a text message. I reached for my phone and opened the message. It was from an unknown number.

The message said, "Havingfun?"

I had no idea who it was from, so I ignored it. A few minutes later another message came through.

- R U ignoring me?

I hit reply.

- Who is this?

It took few minutes before I got a response.

- Good, U R there. Now, pay attention. Leave my family alone, BITCH! I don't ever want to hear from U again!

My heart started pounding in my chest. I replied again.

- Who is this?

I waited but got no response. The phone number didn't even display on my phone. It only showed as "Unknown" so I had no way to trace the number. I read back through the message and tried to determine who it could be. Whoever it was knew that I was a woman and thought I was bothering them and their family.

The only person I could think of that might want me to leave their family alone was Colleen. I had just about convinced myself that this was her rude way of telling me that she did not want me to adopt Lucy, but then I realized that this was a text sent from a cell phone. As far as I knew, they didn't have cell phones in prison. Clarence said that she called him collect. Surely she didn't have the ability to text people or she would text Clarence instead of making him pay for her calls.

I finally decided it had to be a prank. I had not been in contact with anyone's family members. I didn't know anyone that was related to Jasper, Alice, Emmett, or Rosalie. The only person I had been in contact with lately that I also knew their family members was Nate, but I had not spoken with his brother since Nate got the job with Jasper.

I checked the clock and decided I should get some sleep, so I shut everything off, made sure the door was locked, and headed to the guest room. Once I got settled, I set the alarm on my phone and climbed under the soft sheets. I was right on the edge of sleep when I suddenly realized that it could have been Edward.

I had called his cell phone multiple times and talked to his mother. Maybe he checked his incoming calls on his phone bill and found out about the calls. Maybe Esme complained to him about me bugging her. As soon as I thought that, I changed my mind. Esme wouldn't complain about talking to me. She was much too sweet. She may have told him that she spoke to me, though. She did say that he would be calling her periodically to check his messages.

This upset me. I read the text message again. Yes, Edward knew I was a woman. Yes, I had been talking to his mother. I would have never expected him to call me a bitch, though. He had ignored me for so long, why would he officially tell me that he never wanted to hear from me again over a text message? It seemed much too harsh coming from him. It just wasn't his style. I finally decided I would ask Esme about it next time I spoke to her. If she mentioned that she spoke to me and he sounded irritated, then maybe he did send the text, but if she didn't tell him, maybe it really was a prank.

I tossed and turned for a little while and finally fell asleep, but didn't get much rest. I had nightmares about Edward calling and screaming at me for talking to his mother. In my dream, Edward was calling from a club and was surrounded by beautiful half naked women who were kissing and rubbing on him while he was talking to me. I have no idea how I knew this in my dream, but my dreams don't usually make much sense anyway.

I didn't even hear my alarm go off in the morning. Rosalie had to come in my room and wake me up so I had time to shower and get dressed. She drove me to the bank in Port Angeles to finalize the loan amount. Once that was done, she and I headed for the title company in Seattle. By the time we got there, the home owner had already been there and signed all of his paperwork. I sat at a little table with my huge stack of papers and a pen. I had to sign my name so many times that it felt like an autograph signing.

When I was down to my last three sheets, the home owner came back. As he came into the room, I cringed. Something inside me was telling me that he had changed his mind and was going to keep the house or he wanted more money. I was shocked when he shook my hand and thanked me for accepting the house in its current condition. He handed me a keychain and told me which keys went to which doors. He wrote a safe combination on a spare piece of paper and told me that once I got the safe open the first time, I could have someone change the combination. I didn't even know there was a safe in the house. He said it was on the floor in the closet of the master bedroom and that I needed to lift the carpet in the back corner to see it.

When we were done, I thanked him and handed him the cashier's check for the amount that we had agreed upon. I also handed the title company lady a separate cashier's check for the closing costs. She thanked me and handed us each our copies of all of the paperwork and told us to call if either of us had any questions. That was it. I was now a home owner.

I followed the man outside and saw the relief on his face. He was glad this was over with. Before Rosalie and I climbed in her car, the man rolled down his window and asked, "Ms. Swan, do you have any children? That house seems really big for just one person."

I smiled and said, "I'm in the middle of trying to adopt a three year old girl."

The man smiled. "I'm glad that a family is going to be living there. The neighbors are great people. You're going to love them. They throw great fourth of July picnics."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

"No, thank you. This was my last step to freedom. Originally I was going to let my future ex-wife keep the house we shared together and I was going to take that house, but as soon as she found out that I wasn't planning on living alone, she broke in and caused all the damage. She has been intimidating my girlfriend over the phone and sending her threatening letters, so we decided we were going to move out of town to get away from the crazy bitch. The only thing I had to do before the divorce was final was to sell the house, show proof of the sale, deposit the money into our old joint account, and sign the divorce papers. That's where I'm going right now. I have an appointment with the judge in an hour." He smiled broadly.

"Well, good luck, I suppose. I don't think she is going to be very happy about the deal you gave me on the house."

"It's more than she deserves. My attorney suggested I sell it for five dollars or donate it to charity. At least this way, she gets a little."

"Do you think she will come after you and your girlfriend?"

"We've already found a new place out of state. I doubt she will find us. If she does, I'll file a restraining order and have her arrested."

He checked his watch, wished me luck again, and drove away. Part of me felt bad for the wife. She was the one that was getting the short end of the stick in this transaction, but the other part of me was excited.

I called my dad and told him that everything went well. I gave him my new address and made him write it down in the address book he kept by the phone at home. When I invited him to come see the house, he said that he had to work the night shift, but he could come in the morning. We discussed times and I gave him directions before we hung up.

My next call was to my mother. I had purposely left her out of the loop about the house and had not mentioned anything about being in Florida or about Lucy. I knew that she would insist on me spending time with her and Phil while I was in Florida, but I wanted to spend time with Lucy. If she knew about Lucy, she would invite herself along on all of the visits and be the overbearing woman that she always seemed to be when she thought she knew more than I did. Thankfully, she was busy when I called, so she didn't have much time to talk. We said the cursory "Hi. How have you been?" followed by her commentary about Phil's baseball career and a brief highlight on whatever hobby she was currently into.

When she asked about me, I simply told her, "I've been really busy. I just got back from a concert tour, so I'm working on some new music now. I bought a house on Mercer Island that needs to be fixed up, so I'm working with someone on that. I promised to do some radio interview in a couple of weeks, so I will have to wake up at a ridiculous hour of the morning for it. I may even start dropping in at music stores and doing autograph signings. I did one last week in Port Angeles that went extremely well. I don't get paid directly for it, but they sold out of every CD they had while I sat there."

"That's nice, Bella. How is your Dad doing?" This was her way of wrapping up the conversation.

"He's doing fine, Mom. He's still working, fishing, and watching sports. I don't think he'll ever change."

She sighed, "I know what you mean. Well, I guess I'd better let you go. I'm sure you're busy."

"I guess so. I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too."

I hung up the phone and put it away. I knew I needed to call Esme and tell her that I got the house, but I didn't want to do it while I was in the car with Rosalie. We headed to the house to make sure the keys worked and check the safe. As I stepped through the front door, the house felt different. Even though it had vulgar graffiti all over the walls, and didn't have any furniture, it still felt like home.

Rose followed me into the bedroom to check the safe. It worked fine, so I closed it back up and put the carpet back in place before following her out to the back porch.

"Emmett is coming and bringing some lawn chairs that have been collecting dust in the garage," she said as we looked out at the water. "He's driving your car. I hope you don't mind. He thought you would probably want to spend the night out here, so he's bringing a couple of air mattresses and some other dusty old camping stuff."

I laughed. "I never took you as the camping type, Rose."

"Believe me, I'm not. Emmett thought it would be romantic to take me camping out in the Olympic National Forest. I thought he was going to get us a nice little cabin with electricity and running water, but instead he bought a bunch of camping supplies, shoved it into a couple of overpriced backpacks and made me hike five miles into the middle of nowhere. There was nothing out there, no cabin, no bed, now shower, no toilet, no phone, and no lights. It was horrible. He set up the tent, strapped a very unattractive headband to my head that had a little flashlight on it, and filled up the air mattresses. I wasn't excited, but I could tell he was, so I bit my tongue. Sometime in the middle of the night, I had to go to the bathroom, so I stumbled out into the bushes to take care of it. Emmett says I went behind the one bush he told me to avoid. I don't remember him telling me to avoid anything, but somehow I ended up getting poison ivy."

I cringed. "Down there?"

"Yes, down there. As you can imagine, the hike back to civilization was miserable. We haven't gone camping since."

"I don't blame you."

"Anyway, Emmett is bringing the camping stuff so we can camp here with you tonight. I figured it would be ok. The house has lights, and showers. I don't know what we'll do about the bathrooms, though. Are all the toilets broken?"

We searched through the house and confirmed that every single toilet was indeed broken. We went through the garage, to the workshop, to see if anything was left behind and found that the workshop had its own little bathroom, equipped with small sink and a working toilet. Rosalie and I were jumping up and down, hugging each other when Emmett pulled up in the driveway.

"Am I too late to join in on the lovin'?" Emmett asked as he got out of my car and wrapped us both in his big arms. "Congratulations, Bella."

"Thanks, Emmett."

Rosalie pointed to the tiny bathroom excitedly, "Look, Em, a working toilet!"

Emmett opened the trunk of the car and reached inside, "Then I guess it's a good thing I thought to bring this." He held up a package of toilet paper. That earned him a huge kiss from Rosalie.

We helped him carry in the camping gear and decided we were all camping in the living room. While Emmett worked on the air mattresses, Rosalie and I went outside and started pulling weeds from the flower beds. While I was working, my mind started wandering back to the image of Edward holding hands with Jane. It made my stomach clench and my eyes start to water. I was determined not to let myself cry over him anymore.

He was right after all, we did have a good time on the tour. I was stupid enough to fool myself into believing that we were more than just fuck buddies. Demetri had warned me in the beginning not to get attached. He told me that Edward would move on as soon as we were apart, and he was right. He knew our relationship was over as soon as the US tour was done. It just hurt to accept it. It hurt that he didn't even talk to me about it. It hurt that he replaced me so quickly. It hurt even worse that he replaced me with Jane, of all people.

I tried to mask my sniffles and blink away the tears so Rosalie wouldn't notice my mood, but I was unsuccessful.

"Bella, why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying," I lied. "It must be my allergies."

"Bullshit. You don't have allergies. Now you need to tell me what's bothering you. You have Emmett worried to death."

"Why would Emmett be worried about me?"

"He could hear you crying in your sleep while you were in Florida. He said you were calling Edward's name. Now, tell me what's going on with you or I'll have to get really bitchy. Believe me; you don't want to see me when I'm bitchy."

I cracked a smile. "I'm sure it's a sight to see."

"It is. Now, tell me what's going on. What did Edward do that has you so upset?"

I took a deep breath and said, "I saw a picture of him holding Jane's hand."

Rosalie gave me a look as if to say, "Go on."

I sat back on my heels and confided, "We were together on the tour."

"Together, as in… intimately?"

I nodded my head. "Yes, a lot. He made me feel special and loved. I thought that he was the one, you know. I let him into my heart and I thought he had done the same. He never said I love you, but he showed me in so many ways."

"So he swept you off your feet and the two of you fell in love."

"Well, I fell in love. I don't think he fell in love at all."

"Why do you say that?"

"We never talked about what was going to happen when he went to Europe and I stayed behind. I assumed that we would stay in touch. You know, talk on the phone and tell each other what we were doing. Maybe have some long distance phone sex. But it didn't happen that way. We made love in the hotel on the night before he left. I thought we would talk about things in the morning, but he left while I was sleeping. I just opened my eyes and found that he was gone. No talks, no goodbyes, just this horrible letter."

Rosalie's eyes narrowed. "What letter? What did it say?"

"Basically it said, 'It's been fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime.' It really hurt because it was so cold and insensitive. He didn't say 'I'll miss you, I'll call you,' or anything. When I tried to call him, his phone was turned off."

"Why was it off?"

"He was on the airplane already. I left him a few messages to let him know that my shows were going well, but he never responded. Eventually I got a call from his mother telling me that his phone was not working and he had to get a new one. She and I started talking about other things and I found that she is a really sweet lady. She is the one who is going to help me fix this house up. Anyway, I got this text message." I pulled up the text message and handed her the phone. "It doesn't say who it's from, but I think it was from Edward. He has never been hostile to me like that, so I don't know for sure that it's him, but he is the only one I think it could be."

Rosalie studied the message for a moment and said, "You don't know that, Bella. It could literally be anyone. It could be someone with the wrong number. You never know. You've had that same cell phone for a long time. If you keep getting anonymous messages like that, you might consider getting your phone number changed. As far as Edward goes, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe he was in a hurry and didn't know what to say. Maybe you were reading things into it that weren't there. Maybe he actually felt something too, but didn't think you did. Maybe he really is just an asshole. Who knows? Either way, what's important is that you are doing fine. You have a great house, friends who love you, and a lot of music and housework to focus on when you get back from Florida."

"That's true." I looked up at my beautiful house. I couldn't wait to be able to move in and start actually living in it. "You know I couldn't have done any of this without you, Rose. You are a true friend. Thank you."

She leaned over and gave me a hug. "You're welcome, honey. Now, let's get back to work before the sun goes down."

We focused our attention back on the flower beds. While we worked, a man in an old pickup pulled up. He said he was coming to measure the windows. I followed him around while he took measurements and wrote information on a pad of paper. He made a few phone calls, to check what he had in stock, and wrote up a quote for me.

While he was standing there, I called Esme. "Hi, Esme. I'm sorry to bother you. I'm standing here with Doug Shumaker. He just gave me a quote for the windows, and I thought you might want to know about it."

I read her what he quoted and how much it would cost. I could hear her scribbling something and then she said, "Hand him the phone, please."

He seemed a little shocked when I gave him the phone. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but he took the quote back from me and started marking it up. He went upstairs and checked some of the windows that were not broken and added them to the list. By the time he was done, his quote was completely covered in marks. He handed me the phone back and started re-writing a new quote.

Esme stayed on the line with me while he worked. When he handed the phone back to me, it said that he would replace all of the windows with double hung, double paned windows. He would remove the existing windows intact. For every window he could remove without breaking, I was going to get a discount. According to the estimate, with Esme's discount and the additional deductions for windows that he could reuse, I would end up paying almost the same price that he originally quoted.

I agreed to the price, at Esme's recommendation, and signed the work order for him to start later in the week. I told him where I would leave the house key because I was going to be out of town while he worked. He added the key location to his notes, so his crew would be able to find it, and thanked me for my business. As he drove away, I thanked Esme again and apologized for interrupting her evening.

"It's really no problem, dear. I heard you say you were going to be going out of town. Are you going anywhere interesting?"

"I'm headed back to Florida. I am visiting with a little girl in Orlando. If all goes well, you may be decorating a room here for her."

"Really? Will she be visiting for a while?"

"A long while, I hope. I'm trying to adopt her. She is three years old." I told her about why Lucy ended up in foster care and about my visit with her mother. I also told her about how adorable Lucy was and promised to email her a picture as soon as I was able. She seemed genuinely excited for me and told me that she was going to keep her fingers crossed for me. In the meantime, she was going to start working on ideas for a little girl's room, just in case. I told her I would let her know as soon as I knew something for sure.

I was just getting ready to get off the phone when I hesitated. Esme must have heard something that made her stop, because she said, "Bella, is everything alright? My mother's intuition is telling me that there is something else going on."

"Umm... Well, yes, I guess there is. Have you spoken to Edward lately?"

"Yes, we just spoke yesterday evening, why?"

"Did you talk about me?"

"Yes, I told him that you were buying a house on Mercer Island and that I was going to help you decorate it. Why do you ask?"

I took a deep breath before answering. "I'm not trying to cause trouble, or anything, but I got this really rude text message last night that I thought might have come from Edward. Was he upset when you told him you were helping me?"

"No, not at all. He asked me if I had heard how you were doing. That's when I told him about your house. I told him that your tour had gone really well. He was glad to hear it, but he did seem a little off. He wasn't angry, just distant. I figured he was just getting homesick. They are really running him ragged over there. He is on his way to Germany now. The bus that they are in doesn't have any bunks for sleeping, but the seats do recline a little. Since there are no bunks, they can fit everyone on one bus, but they are all sleeping out in the open, side by side. He said that it's not comfortable at all and some of the roadies snore like chainsaws."

"So, do they stop in hotels a lot, then?" I could feel my throat tightening as I waited for her response. I could just picture Edward and Jane staying in a fancy hotel together.

"No, their concert dates are too close together. They have to sleep on the bus pretty much every night. He did say that they were going to get a two day break when they got to Amsterdam. He is looking forward to sleeping by himself, in a real bed."

"I can imagine. How much longer will he be on tour?"

"Four more months, I'm afraid."

"I bet he wishes he hadn't packed so many cities into one tour."

"Yes he does. I tried to tell him to spread them out and do less of them, but he kept adding more and more. He has plenty of money, so it's not that he is trying to fatten his bank accounts. He had contractual obligations that he dad to fulfill, but once he booked some of the larger locations, he could have canceled some of the smaller town. He thought about it, but ended up keeping them on the schedule. I think that he just doesn't want anyone to feel left out. Speaking of careers, what are you working on next?"

"I'm only going to be in Florida for five days. After that, I promised Jasper that I would come do some studio work. I just signed a contract to do another CD."

"That's wonderful!" Esme exclaimed. "When will it be released?"

"Not for a while. I'm just now working with my friend, Nate, to write the music. We don't have near enough material for an entire CD, so we have quite a bit of work to do."

"Well, don't rush it, dear. Creativity comes in waves of inspiration. It can't be forced."

"That sounds like great advice. I think I am going to write that one down," I said as I searched for a pen and a pad of paper from my purse.

We talked for a few more minutes and finally got off the phone. I felt better after talking to her. At least I knew that Edward wasn't banging Jane on the bus every night. For some reason, that made me smile a little. I would much rather he be uncomfortable, and perform with an aching back, than be well rested and comfortably snuggled up with a flaming bitch, like Jane.

EPOV

I had been on the phone with my mother checking my messages and making sure everything was taken care of when I finally got up the courage to ask about Bella. "Hey mom, before I forget, did you have a chance to check on the opening bands for me?"

Mom sighed, "Oh Edward, when are you going to learn to just speak up and say what you want instead of trying to skirt around the subject? I know you don't really care what's happening with Mike and the guys from Isaac's Prodigy. You can come right out and ask me if I've heard from Bella, you know."

That woman knew exactly how to cut to the chase. "Ok…"

"Bella's doing really good. She left several messages on your phone before you sent it to me. She was just letting you know how her tour was going. It seems like she had a good time. When I talked to her initially, she said that she was feeling at a little bit of a loss now that she's back home again. I told her to stick with her music rather than go back to waitressing."

"That's good. She's a great musician. I expect that her career is going to continue to skyrocket."

"I do too. Anyway, she found a great deal on a house out on Mercer Island, right outside of Seattle. You probably don't remember Mercer Island. Your dad and I used to rent a summer house up there when you were a baby. We had a great time. You used to play out in the yard even if it was raining. It was a full time job keeping you out of the water."

"No, I don't really remember it," I admitted.

"You probably would if you saw the pictures. Anyway, she got a great deal on a nice sized house right on the water. It had a lot of damage due to vandalism, but it should be pretty easy to fix up."

"Why would she want to live in an area that has a problem with vandalism?"

Mom laughed, "Oh honey, the area is perfect. It was a scorned wife lashing out that caused the problems. The couple was apparently going through a nasty divorce. Anyway, I'm going to help her fix it up and decorate it, so I might have to use your garage to store her furniture while you are gone. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I don't mind at all. You can move some of the cars out into the driveway if you need to."

"Thank you, dear. She should be closing on the house tomorrow, I think. If all goes smoothly, we might be able to start the construction pretty soon."

"Mom, if you get a chance, will you try to call in some favors? She can use all of the help she can get. I know how expensive it is to fix up a house."

"You know I will, honey. She's a really sweet girl. I like her a lot."

I felt my heart sink in my chest as I admitted, "I do too, mom."

Mom always had a way of knowing when something was wrong, because she said, "Edward, what's the matter? You seem a little distant."

How could I tell her that I missed Bella so much that it hurt to breathe? How could I tell her that I was miserable on this tour and really wanted to come back, just so I could see her again? How could I tell her that my moping was driving everyone crazy? How could I tell her that I threatened to kick Caius off of the bus simply because I was jealous that Demetri got to bring his boyfriend on the trip and I couldn't bring Bella? Instead I just settled for, "I'm fine, mom."

"You know I love you, Edward. Don't let all of the traveling get you down. I'll continue managing everything here. You just work on making the fans happy and getting home safely." She paused for a second and said, "After I get off of the phone, I'm going to text you Bella's phone number. I'm sure she would love to hear from you."

"Thanks mom. I've been trying to find it. It was stored in the phone that I sent to you. I didn't have it memorized and her number is apparently not listed. I even tried looking up her dad, but his number is not listed either."

"Back in my days, we actually had to memorize phone numbers. You see how technology has spoiled you? If you had to dial her number, you might have remembered it when your phone went dead." I could picture her shaking her head. "It's a shame that people don't use their brains anymore."

"I know mom. Well, I have to get going. The opening band is almost finished with their set and I have to get on stage. Tell dad I love him."

"I will, honey. Call when you can."

When I got off of the phone, I plugged my phone into the charger and got off of the bus, to head inside the theater. Peter was waiting outside the bus for me to come out. "So, did you ask about Bella?"

"Yes. Her tour was good. She's buying a house."

Peter stopped me before I opened the door to the theater. "Edward, you need to call Bella. You've been miserable every since you left her. I'm getting worried about you. You haven't been eating well and you barely sleep. I know that you are working your ass off, but I think it's more than that. You need to hear her voice."

I hung my head and said, "I know, but I can't do it right now. I have to be on stage in two minutes. Mom said she would text me her number. I'll try to call her before the next show."

I definitely didn't want to call her while we were all crammed up on that bus. I didn't know how the call would go and I definitely didn't want a bus full of people hearing my private conversation. I needed to wait until I had a little privacy.

After the show, I took a quick shower in the dressing room back stage and then climbed on the bus with everyone else. I checked my phone and saw that there were no text messages from my mom. Maybe she forgot to send the number? That's not like her at all. She would normally send the number as soon as she hung up.

I figured I would call her the next day and try to get the number, but as soon as we got into Germany, the phone I was using stopped working. Apparently, the cheep cell phones only have service in France. I looked around at all of the phones that I had bought for everyone else and wondered if they were dead too. I picked each one up and confirmed that they were dead. Shit!

I only bought them because Peter and I had such hell trying to track everyone down after the afternoon show in Paris. Everyone had scattered to do some shopping and sightseeing after the show and I ended up having to literally drag some of them back to the bus. It was irritating as hell, so I stopped and picked up disposable phones for myself, Demetri and Caius, Aro and Gianna, Marcus and Heidi, and one for Jane. That way I could just call them and tell them to get their asses back to the bus. Of course, I didn't realize they would only be good in France. I also didn't consider that we would rarely have another opportunity to get far enough away from each other that we would have to use the phones.

I made the decision that the next phone I bought was going to be one of those super expensive satellite phones that worked even if you were on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. Hell, if I could find it, I would even buy one that worked underwater! I was also going to buy a real phone book, with paper pages that I could write people's contact information on. Do they even make those anymore?

A/N: So, we know Edward didn't send the text. Who do you think it was?

I'm hoping all of you are enjoying the story so far. We still have a ways to go. As I said before, I promise, this story is going to have a happy ending. It is just going to take a little time to get there. If there were no obstacles in life, the good times wouldn't seem so good. Now, I have to get some sleep. Good night everyone.