Edward's POV

"Nessie. Wake up. Em has been down here waiting for an hour." I barely whispered the words, but I knew that my daughter would hear them loud and clear.

"That's it, I'm going up there," Emmett growled. He flew up the stairs at an inhuman pace. Which made sense. Because, you know, the whole not-a-human-thing.

Milliseconds later, I heard Renesmee shriek, and then be consumed by a fit of giggles. "Fine, fine! I'll be down in a sec!" she said, still laughing. I heard a light bump as Emmett jumped out the window.

Renesmee came running down the stairs. "Hey, dad," she said, grabbing an egg right off the pan and gobbling it down. Unlike the rest of us, Renesmee had no problems with human food.

I smiled. "Good morning, Renesmee," I said, lightly ruffling her curly bronze hair.

"Morning," she said. "Hey dad… what was your mom's name?" I looked up, surprised. "Why would you want to know that?"

"I don't know, I was just… interested." She hesitated. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Oh! Of course I'll tell you. I was just… surprised, that's all. You've never asked about my human life before." I smiled. "Her name was Elizabeth."

"Oh," she said. I started to suspect she was leading up to something.

"Do you ever miss her? You know, for a while, you don't, then all of the sudden, bam! You do?" She was definitely leading up to something.

"What do you want, Renesmee?" She took a big breath.

"!"

I stared at her. "Honestly, I didn't catch a word of that." She sighed. "I want to see Bella."

I drew back in shock. "Your… mother?" I choked out. But I saw the look of defeat of her face and regained my posture. "Well, honey, I think it would be fine if you went to see… Isabella. But, I'm not sure how she would feel about it." I paused, waiting to see if she would interrupt me. She didn't.

"You see, when your mother and I separated, we made an agreement. We thought that it would be safer if you stayed with us, a coven of fully grown vampires. If something dangerous were to happen, we would be able to protect you. She was very upset, though. She wanted you. So, she swore that she would never have any contact with this family again. That was many years ago… but remember, Isabella is a vampire, and she recalls things well." Renesmee's hopeful look returned, though.

"So maybe she wants to see me?"

"Yes…" I said. "But maybe she doesn't. And we just don't know which one. Do you really want to take the chance?"

Her eyes lit up. "Well, let's find out!" She held up her finger before I could argue. "You could go ask her! Oh please, please, please, dad! You can just go to her house, ask her, and if she says yes, I can see my mom! Easy peasy!"

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen, I can't just-"But seeing her innocent hope, I faltered.

"She needs a mother," I admitted to myself. Alice had been to preoccupied with other things, like me, recently that she had not been fully filling that job. Although I wished she had, so we would not have to be in this situation.

"Fine. I'll go see your mother today."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you daddy!" She flung her arms around my neck and gave me a big kiss before skipping out the door.

I sighed. You can do this, I told myself. So I pulled out my phone, and dialed the number I hadn't dialed in 15 years.

…..

Bella's POV

Ring! Ring!

Dear God, I thought. Who calls at this hour? I looked at the clock. It was 11:00. Well, whatever. Even if I was a vampire, I still liked to close my eyes for a couple hours.

I picked up the phone, fully expecting to silence it. Then I saw the ID.

I jumped up and automatically flipped it open. "H-hello? Who is this?" Like I didn't already know.

"Hello, Isabella. This is… Edward. Edward Cullen."

Even though I already knew this, to have it confirmed was dizzying.

"Um, hi, Edward. Nice to…um… talk to you again."

"You also. I was wondering… would it be okay if I- well, this sounds abrupt, but I need to speak with you. Would it be okay if I met you somewhere… or came over to your home… and spoke with you for a few minutes?"

I nearly passed out. "S-sure. You can c-come over. I mean, if you want to. You don't have to. I don't want to force you or anyth-"

"That would be great, B-. Isabella."

"Okay. I'll see you in… 5?"

"Definitely. Thank you." He sounded like he wanted to say something else, but decided he shouldn't. Or maybe I was just imagining things. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Great. Bye, Edward." He hung up.

Surprisingly, I didn't spend any time lying dumbfounded on the bed. Instead, I quickly put on my most… helpful bra, a pair of form-fitting jeans, and my favorite halter top, then ran downstairs on a mission.

I found my husband sitting lazily at the table, drinking coffee, and reading the sports section.

"Jake!" I said, hurrying over to pull him out of his chair. "Morning, honey! Don't you have work? I think you have work. Don't you have that meeting about the thing that screws into the other thing today?"

I pushed him towards the door, even though he was struggling. Ah, the advantages of being a vampire.

"Whoa, Bells!"

"What?"

"I'm not leaving yet. I don't have to be at work for an hour. Why do you want me out of the house so fast?'

"Oh, I don't. I just…" I thought up a plausible (and also tempting) excuse.

"Your boss, what's-his-name, called. Something about a pro-"

"Promotion? Yes! I knew this would be my year. Gotta go, Bells!" He ran out of the door so quickly even I couldn't see him. Well, that was easy.

Once he was gone, I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Now I could see Edward in peace.

I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach as I tried to put the some flowers in a vase, but then decided against it because my hand was shaking too much.

Then the doorbell rang.

I jumped out of my seat and flew towards the door. I could feel the nervous electricity dancing through my body.

I took a deep breath, then opened the door.

"Edward."