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LadySharkey1 rocks my world by being the most amazing, kick-ass beta I could ever imagine.
Chapter 17
An unexpected ally.
"Are you sure you don't want to come, Mom?" Charlie looked rather worried about leaving me here all alone on a Saturday afternoon while she went off in the cruiser with my dad for a weekend of fishing, too many sweets, and lots of adventures.
"Perfectly sure," I assured her. "When else am I going to find the time to dance around the apartment buck naked and snoop through all of your secret hiding places?" Snickering at the look of absolute horror on her face, I patted her on the head; not that I was actually going to do either of these things, but she didn't need to know that. Just like she didn't need to know that in an hour or so, Liam would be picking me up for our second date. "Now, off you go; don't keep granddad waiting when he's still in cop mode."
"Will you call me before bed?" she asked, pouting as if there was any doubt in the fucking world that I would forget.
"Of course, sweetie, and Daddy is going to call you when he gets off his shift, too, remember?" Ever since their talk on Monday, things had been kind of awkward between the two of them. Edward had tried to spend as much time as he could with her to make up for what he'd done, but so far it was clear that Charlie hadn't yet accepted him back into her good graces.
And she'd point blank refused to go over to his place that weekend, requesting a stay with my parents instead.
It hurt to see them like that, even when I hated Edward as much for what he'd done as she did. My mother's heart, though…it was so conflicted. It wanted to see her happy, even if that meant allowing her to keep as much space between her and her dad as she needed. Deep down, though, I knew that in the end, she couldn't be as happy as she used to be as long as this situation lasted.
She needed her daddy back in her life; in a position where she could trust him and go over to his place without a care in the world.
In short: she needed her—Voldemary—out of his life.
The trouble was, for the time being, he didn't see that yet. I wasn't sure what exactly was going on in his mind (or if anything was actually going on in there these days), but apparently he still seemed to think he could keep the two of them apart while still having them both in his life.
Dumbass.
That was the problem: how was I ever going to make him see that the real issue behind his troubles with his daughter wasn't what Angela had said or done…it was Voldemary herself?
And furthermore: how was I going to get that through his thick skull without sounding like the vindictive, jealous ex that maybe, deep down I kinda was?
As I got ready for my date with Liam, I broke my brains over that little nugget of wisdom, but as I heard his car scrunch up the gravel driveway, I was still no closer to finding a solution than I had been when I'd first picked up my hairbrush.
I did have to say though, as I glanced into my mirror, I looked kinda awesome.
If anything, my recent foray into the world of dating had left me with a new appreciation for make-up and hairstyling products. Before then, I'd never really bothered with either of them, leaving my hair to dry naturally with his a little styling mousse in it and applying a thin strip of eyebrow pencil under my eye to make it pop out just a little bit more.
That was it.
The only thing I still hadn't succumbed to was lipstick and that was just because I hadn't found the color that didn't make it seem like a bee had stung both my lips.
The bell that sounded when I was putting the finishing touches to my hair wasn't the one I'd anticipated but the slightly more shrill sound of my phone, muffled by the purse I'd already shoved it into.
Frowning, I looked at the display before I answered. "Esme?"
"Hello, Bella," Her friendly voice answered me. "How are you, dear?"
"I've been better," I answered honestly, knowing that even through the phone there would be no fooling Esme. "With everything that's been going on lately, I sometimes don't know which way is up anymore. If you know what I mean?"
"I do, even though I've never been in the same kind of situation," Esme sympathized, "which is why I wanted to invite you over for dinner tomorrow. Carlisle's working, but Edward will be here and I thought it would be a great opportunity for the two of you to hash a few things out. I promise I'll be a very impartial mediator."
I smiled to myself. Of course Esme, who had been a very sought after family therapist back in the day, before Alice's rather complicated birth, had caused her to retire. She'd also been the one who had steered Edward and me through our separation and setting up the rules for our co-parenting. It was no surprise to see her stepping in again, since things had become so tense between the two of us.
"Okay," I agreed. I felt a little apprehensive, though the more rational side of me knew it had nothing to fear from Esme Cullen, even if she was Edward's mom.
"Thank you so much for trusting me." The warmth in Esme's voice made the tears spring back into my eyes. "I promise I will never do anything to betray your trust. I just need to find a way to smack some sense into that boy of mine before he loses himself and everything he once loved entirely."
It wasn't until we'd said our goodbyes that those words struck home with me. What was she saying? Was she as disappointed by the way Edward had been behaving of late as I was? And did it have something to do with Voldemary's presence?
Until then, Edward's parents had always been decidedly neutral in this whole shipwreck of a situation but after Esme's phone call, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe that was going to change. I hoped so, because with Edward being one of the most stubborn people I knew, I was going to need all of the help I could get if I was going to have him see reason.
The whole thing did make me feel a little distracted as Liam came to pick me up and drove me over to Port Angeles for another romantic dinner, this time overlooking the water. It was nice…being with a man who was as available and uncomplicated as Edward was difficult and out of reach. Being with him made me feel like a woman again—appreciated and wanted—for more than just my parenting skills. He made me smile, and opened worlds to me I hadn't seen since me and Edward broke up.
But the spark still wasn't there, no matter how hard I tried to find it.
Liam was a great friend, and a great kisser too, or so I rediscovered at the end of our date as he walked me to my door, pressed me up against it, and spend a solid twenty minutes making out with me as if we were a bunch of teenagers with a curfew. All in all, our relationship was, for ninety percent, everything I looked for in a relationship, but that elusive ten percent—that little bit of 'oomph' that made you heart speed up every time his name flashed up on your phone screen and that would, in time, turn lust into love—was still sorely lacking.
Not that I was giving up, though.
Nope, as I dragged my tired body up the stairs, rubbing my thoroughly kissed lips I was determined to go down with this ship even if it would kill me. If anyone would give up on this, it would have to be Liam because I wasn't going to let go of a good thing just because Edward had turned me into the Goldilocks of dating.
Nope.
Not going to happen.
My heart was hammering in my throat by the time I'd made it over to the Cullens' the next day. My mom and dad had been on my case about standing firm and not letting 'those Cullens' talk me into forgiving, forgetting or any of that shit when I dropped Charlie off earlier that day.
Not that their words had been needed since I was pretty determined to stand up for myself, but most of all my baby girl, but they gave me just that little bit of extra strength I needed to even make it out of my car and to the front door.
Right into the lion's den.
"Bella! I'm so glad you're here!" I was wrapped up in expensive fabric, Chanel No. 5, and motherly love as soon as the door opened, the relief and meaning behind every word and gesture lending more credit to my theory that maybe I wasn't the only member of Team Bella in this house. "Come on in!" she urged me, almost dragging me behind her towards the kitchen. "Edward's held up at the hospital for now, but I figured this was only a good thing since it gives us some time to catch up."
"Okay," I nodded wondering if there was really a 'hold up' or if this was just Esme's clever scheme to get me alone. "How are you and Carlisle doing? Alice giving you gray hair yet?"
"Don't talk to me about it!" Esme snickered. "She's having a sleepover at one of her friend's tonight, which pretty much means that I won't sleep a wink." With a meaningful look she added, "I'm not so old that I don't know what happens on those nights. Hell, I think I might even be able to teach those girls a thing or two."
"And I know about the consequences of being too careless," I snorted, digging up the memories of my few forays into secret parties, underage drinking and other experimenting before my belly had started to grow and all teenaged hijinks had come to an abrupt end. "I'm pretty much the walking, talking cautionary tale of every parent's nightmares."
"Don't put yourself down, Bella." Grabbing both my hands, her honest, caramel-brown eyes forced me to hear her words as she continued. "Sure, you and Edward may have taken the hard path towards parenthood, but at least you made something of your life. You're an amazing mom as well as a hardworking businesswoman, providing a positive role model to the girls of this town every day."
"Tell that to the old biddies!" I huffed. And to Voldemary. I don't think she's all too impressed with me, or my parenting, for that matter. "I swear, it's been ten years but they still give me the stink eye every time I come across one of them."
"Let them talk!" Esme insisted. "There's always going to be people who don't like you, either because they don't approve of the choices you've made or because they're jealous of the way you've turned a crappy situation into a complete success. If you let them dictate your life, you're never going to be able to live your life to the fullest."
"If anyone's ever able to do that in the first place…" I sighed, feeling the whole weight of the situation I was in drag by body down to the earth.
"It will get better, Bella." Esme's smile was pained, compassionate and everything else it needed to be to break my heart even more. "I know everything seems completely messed up right now, and I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling, but now that my son has finally come to his senses, I'm sure the worst of it is behind you."
If there was any confirmation to be had about which team Esme was on, this was it. But at that time, I was beyond rejoicing. "But at what cost, Esme? I mean…Edward and I used to be friends but now? Half the time I feel like I don't even know him anymore."
"Sometimes I wonder if he even knows himself or if he just obediently awaits instructions from Angela." Esme sighed wistfully. "I know I'm not in a position to ask anything of you but please…I think right now we just need to remind him of how great things used to be before she showed up and started to drive a wedge between him and his whole family."
"His whole family?" I asked, frowning as my eyes found Esme's. "What do you mean?"
"You don't think that conniving little bitch would be satisfied if she merely drove you and Edward further apart, did you?" Esme spoke, her voice sharper than I'd ever encountered it. And I had to admit I was a bit scared when she picked up a knife to start peeling some potatoes. "No, I had her number as soon as she stepped inside my house. She wanted Edward all to herself, and with all the whispering she did, there was nothing either of us could say or do to stop her." A small, evil chuckle escaped from her throat as her eyes sought mine. "It seems fitting, doesn't it, how she managed to start digging her own grave the minute she started to mess with Charlie?"
I nodded wryly, only mildly surprised at polished Esme Cullen's use of a curse word. "You won't find me mourning the demise of the bitch girlfriend, but what I'm not exactly cheering about is that it happened at the cost of Charlie's happiness.
"I feel I owe you an apology, Bella." Putting down the knife, Esme sighed, her eyes full of regret as they looked out of the window. "I should have stepped in before everything spiraled out of control, not after. If I hadn't been so determined to believe that my son at least had the brains to see through her, I could have stopped this before my granddaughter ended up getting hurt."
As much as I wanted to find a guilty party and beat the ever loving crap out of them, I knew beyond a doubt that Esme wasn't it. "How were we supposed to know he'd react like this?" I shook my head. If there was anything about this that had disappointed me the most, it was the way Edward had let his head be ruled by his dick. "At times it felt like I never even knew him at all!"
"Do you know that she had him all but put in an offer on our house?" Esme snorted; her bitter laughter deepening as she saw my surprise. Everyone who knew them knew how much both Carlisle and Esme loved this place. "That was the point when I'd had enough of all of this."
Shaking her head, she peeked into her pans to see how dinner was coming along before pouring both of us a glass of wine before she went on. "It seems like Angela had taken a shine to this place and wanted to live here when they got married. She thought it would be a nice idea to have us move to some warm, tropical place after Carlisle retired and live a sunny, carefree live off the money we'd earn on the sale. I swear, if I hadn't seen how embarrassed he looked even bringing the matter up, I would have disowned him on the spot!"
"If he was so embarrassed, then why suggest it in the first place?" I cried, wondering, as I'd done so often over the course of the past couple of months, how a man so determined and strong could have ended up being so spineless. "He knows you'd never go along with that!"
Esme shrugged. "How does a dictator manage to turn a whole nation into his willing followers? Angela's smart and knows what she's doing." Sighing again, she took a sip from her wine, her eyes avoiding mine as she went on. "If there's anything my job has taught me it is how fragile human minds can be at times, and Edward…was craving love—a love he thought he was never going to find again, after the two of you broke up. Looking back on it now and piecing together what they'd told me about how they ended up together, I think her manipulating began even as far back as the days when they were still just friends."
I could see it now; the magnitude of the whole scheme, as well of the execution made me almost amazed at how cunning and calculating a person could be.
First she'd worked her way into his circle of friends, then his bed, and then his heart. Finally, she'd wormed her way into his head, nestling in there like a cancerous tumor and took over the whole shop. If that woman would have gained power and had control over an army?
Grabbing my hands, she sat down beside me. "Right now, he's at a crossroads, Bella. If we want our Edward back, we're going to have to help him along…help him navigate a safe way back home. But we'll have to be careful about it because the other thing I learned studying the human mind is that men definitely don't like women telling them they're wrong and what they have to do."
"Then won't we be doing exactly what she did?" I asked; my enthusiasm to win Edward back considerably tarnished by the events of the past couple of months.
"We'll simply be reversing the damage she's done," Esme brushed away my worries. "What do you say, Bella. Are you in?"
I sighed. Am I?
Right then, Edward's car pulled up in front of the house, the man easing out of the driver's seat resembled the man I'd once loved and had a baby with only in the slightest way. This man…he was broken, miserable and weak and, no matter how much I hated him for it, I knew there would always be a part of me that would endeavor to save him.
Looking at Esme, I nodded, taking a huge gulp of my wine to give me some good ole Dutch courage before I confirmed. "I'm in."
Thoughts?