Wow! Almost 200 reviews! You guys make me all bubbly inside ;) !!! Chapter 20 in Esme POV is now up so go and read it if you want! Thanks again to everybody who reads my story- you are all fantastic! Oh and sorry for those who wanted Charlie/ Marc to die a horrible death…

Chapter 26

Edward POV

After Carlisle left to help a patient; we continued to talk about a little bit of everything. It wasn't long after my father's departure that I heard him anxiously calling me in his mind.
Edward, we need to have a family meeting now. I am not sure if Bella should hear this straight away… Send the family my way and stay with Bella. You can monitor the conversation through our thoughts. After this, he blocked his mind from me.
"Guys, Carlisle wants to speak with you." They looked arm on in confusion but nodded and left the room. Bella looked at me quizzically.
"How did you-" I cut her off by simply tapping my temple.
"Oh." She breathed.
"How are you feeling?" I asked and she grimaced.
"Fine really." But she winced slightly.
"Liar."
"Well nothing can be done, so there is no point in complaining." She replied stubbornly. She was adorable when she pouted. However, I did not want her in pain.
"You could get some painkillers."
"And go back to sleep? No way." She said afraid and I remembered her nightmares.
"Its okay, I'm here." She relaxed slightly as I held her hand once again. It seemed to belong to me now.

I sighed sadly when I thought of my love for her. She was so broken and was in no condition to want a boyfriend. I wouldn't mind. I would fix her, but what would she want? Bella lifted our hands to brush hers against my cheek. I froze.
"What's wrong?" She asked concerned.

"Nothing for you to worry about." She didn't argue which worried me- she always argued. Was she in that much pain?
"When do I get this stupid cast off?" She interrupted my worries, slightly irritated.
"A few weeks." She groaned.
"It itches!" I suppressed a laugh; she always thought about the wrong things.

Edward, we are about to start. Carlisle warned. I squeezed Bella's hand and she looked at me questionably again. I forced a smile but she must have seen it was off. I would have to pull myself together to keep a calm façade for Bella.
"I am not sure what this is about, and I know you mean well, but whatever you need to say, I think Bella deserves to hear it first hand." Jasper stated.
"It might ruin her." Carlisle groaned while dropping his head in his hands.
"Darling, I think Jasper is right." Esme said gently.
"Be prepared to console her then." Carlisle agreed gravely.
Edward, we are coming your way.
They were at the doorway in the matter of seconds and all filed in. I knew my family wanted to hold Bella's hand because she was getting much better with contact. I sighed; it would be much easier if her left arm wasn't in a cast, then at least two of us could hold her hands. I sighed once more and rose. Bella looked at me panicking and I gave her a small smile.
"Emmett thinks I'm hogging you." I explained while I went to sit on the chair on the left hand side of her bed. Esme took my previous seat, now holding Bella's hand. Bella smiled softly.

"Bella, I know this might be hard, but you need to know. I want you to breathe slowly, okay?" Carlisle said warily. I could read in his mind that added stress could cause her heart to fail again and I watched Bella's face intently. As if on cue, Bella's heart rate picked up but she nodded.
"No. You need to keep your heart rate down. Come on, slow your breathing." She struggled but eventually succeeded.
"Tell me." She whispered. Carlisle quickly shot us a glance to remind us to control ourselves.
"Today at 10.40 am, your father was admitted to the hospital under the name of Marc Owen Barker with a gun-shot wound to the head. We tried to save him, but I am sorry to say that he died at 11.34 am. The wound was self-inflicted and it is believed that he was mentally unstable. I am so sorry Bella." Carlisle had remained detached; in doctor mode. The family were all shocked. None of us were sad that he died, but we wanted him to suffer more than a hit to the head.

I looked at Bella warily. I had no idea how she would react. After all, her father had admitted to killing Bella's biological mother and abused her on daily basis. Bella's expression was calm during the news, but suddenly, her face twisted in horror and grief. Tears began to once again, stain her beautiful cheeks.
"Oh G-god! I-I… H-how?" She stuttered. Esme clutched her hand and murmured comforting words, but Bella just continued to sob.
"H-heartless! L-like h-him! " She said frantically.
" I am completely heartless! I am just like my father!" She cried a bit more coherently. My head snapped up at her words.
"Bella, what are you talking about?!" I asked angrily.
"I'm h-happy he's d-dead! I'm relieved! I am such a terrible person. Who could be happy? Like father, like daughter." She sobbed brokenly.
"Bella, don't you ever say that!" Rose snapped which broke Bella out of her hysterics. Alice skipped to Bella's side and looked into her eyes.
"It's okay to be happy Bella. That man ruined your life. It's okay to feel relieved; it makes you human. It's natural. We would all be lying if we said we were sad about Charlie's death. We are only worried about you." Bella slowly calmed and I could see that Alice had had a vision of what Bella needed to hear. I smiled appreciatively in her direction and she nodded.
"How can you be sure?" Bella asked.
"Well, do you go around killing people?" Emmett asked bluntly and Bella winced. I growled at him.
"My point exactly!" Emmett retaliated and I stood to confront him.
"No! It's okay." Bella said hurriedly. "He was trying to help." Then she turned toward Emmett.
"Work on your tact." She mumbled. Jasper and I chuckled; we both knew that Emmett and tact was a lost cause.
"So he committed suicide." Bella said mostly to herself.
"Yes, the paramedics found him after the neighbours called. He was hiding in La Push." Carlisle explained, still making sure Bella was stable. She nodded thoughtfully.
"He was mentally unstable?" Bella asked, picking up on what Carlisle had said earlier.
"We think so. The neighbours said he was shouting to himself before they heard the gun-shot." He gauged Bella's reaction before continuing. "We think he may have lost his mind a while ago." Bella frowned slightly.
"So he wasn't responsible for his actions?" I growled.
"I wouldn't go that far. He was stable enough to keep up a normal appearance in life." Carlisle clarified. Bella looked deep in thought.
"Then my real father died long ago." She concluded. We stayed silent. Charlie knew fully well what he was doing, his morals were just twisted. He knew what was right or wrong, but believed that he was an exception to that rule. We didn't want to upset Bella further. Maybe believing that her father didn't purposely hurt her, maybe that will help her. However, I felt uncomfortable with the half-truths.

There was a minute of awkward silence before my love whispered,
"Alice, that's why." We stared at her confused.
"Okay, am I the only one who never understands?" Emmett asked slightly irritated.
"That's why you got your visions back. The reason why my future was tied up with the werewolves was because of Charlie. Now, he's dead." She stated. How my angel could have so much intuition at the worst of times, was beyond me. However, it was just one of the many qualities that made her unique.
"You really do have a strange mind." Emmett said incredulously and I gave a pointed look to Rosalie who then proceeded to smack Emmett on the head. Bella giggled shakily.
"Thanks Emmett." She said sarcastically.

"Bella, there is another matter we must discuss." Carlisle said and immediately, Bella's good mood dropped. I glared at Carlisle.
Sorry son.
"Well, when your father died, child serviced automatically did some research. Is it correct that you have no other living relative?" She nodded slowly.
"Well, I know this might seem abrupt, but I was wondering," My mood soared as I heard what Carlisle was about to say next.

"What would you think of us adopting you?"

Ahh, another chapter… Hope you enjoyed it =) Just to remind you that if you even want me to translate any chapter into a different POV, let me know! And thanks for reading!