A short chapter - still warming up :)

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Letting Go

On our way back to the cottage I was still struggling with the patience thing. I was never one for surprises let alone suspense. Edward didn´t say a word on the way back, he only looked at me twice. This had to be bad.

When we reached the door I stopped. "Is this something I want to know?" I asked. I wasn´t really sure that I was ready for bad news or any difficult discussions. "You really have me worried."

"Let´s go inside, Bella," he answered.

Oh my God, the suspense was killing me, even though it had only been 15 minutes or so since he told me we needed to talk. I wasn´t the most patient of persons and my curiosity sure wasn´t helping that fact. The face he put up just made me wonder if in this case, I would consider that being in the dark was a good thing.

We went inside and sat down. Edward took my hand in his and took a deep breath.

"Bella," he said and then hesitated. Why was he doing this to me?

"Edward?" he looked like he was frozen. "Just tell me what it is you think we need to talk about. I´m sure I can handle it." I really wasn´t sure. And he knew it.

"This isn´t easy for me, love," he said. "But Carlisle has reminded me that we need to start discussing Nessie´s future. Next year she´ll be ready to start high school and he thinks that we should let her go."

Come again? What? I tried to put some words of coherency together in my head. I must have looked really stupid.

"And we have to decide on which school we think would be the best." Edward placed his right hand under my chin and lifted my head so that he could see my eyes. "Bella?"

"I… We… She…," I was rambling. "NO!" That would be coherent. That was the sum of all my thoughts anyway.

"Bella we have to think about Nessie in this case. We can´t keep her here locked up forever. Though I sure wish we could."

"Why can´t you and Carlisle just teach her like you´ve always done. She doesn´t need a diploma from some fancy high school or college for that matter when she has you." My God I sounded like a spoiled brat trying to get her way. This was really stupid. Deep down I knew I had to let her go at some point. But why now? Why so soon?

"You know she deserves a little glimpse of a normal life. And you know we can´t give it to her in any other way. We want her to be sure about her choices in life, but how can she if she only sees one possibility." He sounded like he had practiced this little speech a million times.

Of course I knew he was right. I just wanted to stay selfish just a decade or nine longer. Was that really too much to ask? I couldn´t let my baby go. I wouldn´t.

"I feel the same way you do," Edward said. "But she won't be as happy as we want her to be if she doesn´t make her own choices. She needs us to let her go. She´s almost ready." Edward sighed and lowered his head.

I could only imagine the pain he felt. His only daughter was almost grown up, ready for the world. It´s probably any fathers nightmare to let a teenage daughter out of the house and into the world of lusting boys. Edward knew their thought and would kill them all in a heartbeat for thinking such things about Nessie.

I stood up and walked to Nessie´s room. I opened the door and just looked inside. I couldn´t help but laugh out just a little. Edward was behind me instantly.

"What´s so funny?" he asked puzzled. I could see why he had a hard time finding anything funny in our previous conversation.

"Our daughter takes after you in almost every way, you know," I said with a smile on my face. "But in the matter of housekeeping she sure takes after me." I shook my head with amusement and went in the room to pick some stuff up from the floor.

Edward laughed and joined me in the room.

Suddenly I remembered something. I turned around to face Edward.

"What did Alice mean when she said `Don´t say I didn´t warn you´?" I asked.

"Alice had a vision of our conversation and let´s just say that you didn´t handle it all that well," Edward said with a smile. "I knew that this conversation is not one either of us wants to have, but it was necessary though."

"I know. It just pains me that we always seem to be short of time," I sighed. I was glad that Nessie had wanted to spend the rest of the day with Jacob. We needed time to deal with the issue of letting her go. Not that we would be finished today though.

"I don´t think that we can send her to Forks high school," I said in a whisper. Reality was creeping in and I hated every bit of it.

"I know," Edward answered.

"What should we do about Jacob?" I asked. "And Charlie?"

"We can always visit Charlie and you know he is welcome to visit us any time he wishes," Edward sighed. "What Jacob decides to do we´ll just have to wait and see. He knew this day was coming as well."

I shuddered at the thought of telling him that we would be leaving Forks in the near future. He would feel obligated to go with us, but he was still the Alpha of his pack. He had obligations here too. From my knowledge on imprinting I knew it wouldn´t work out for Jacob to be apart from Nessie. It would kill him.

"So we talk to Carlisle about our options and then we handle Jake and Nessie?" I asked as much as I stated it.

Edward nodded. Enough of this talk for now. I needed to be distracted so that I wouldn´t spend the day wallowing in self pity. I walked to my husband and placed my arms around his neck. I looked into his deep golden eyes and smiled. I never was any good at seduction, but that didn´t stop me from trying. I leaned in and started kissing his neck.

"You know Mrs. Cullen, I do believe you have an ulterior motive," Edward said with a grin.

"Mhmm," I managed to breath against his cold skin.

That sealed the deal. Edward scooped me from the floor and within the second I was cradled in his arms. He turned around and was headed for our bedroom.

We spend a couple of hours enjoying our distraction. We could spend eternity being distracted. The only reason we got up was because Nessie was going to be home soon.

When we got out of our bathroom we hugged each other and went for that last kiss. Not thinking of anything but the passion we once again longed to give in to.

"Seriously, EAUU! Mom, dad. The sun is still up. Gross you guys."

We both turned around and met the disgusted look on our daughters face.

"Back to reality, love," Edward chuckled in my ear.

I smiled at him. "Welcome home, sweetheart," I said as I walked towards Nessie to hug her. "Did you and Jake have fun?"

Nessie´s eyes wandered the room, clearly she was glad she didn´t step in just 15 minutes earlier.

Edward let out a little laugh, clearly Nessie´s thoughts of her parents was grossing her out.

"Yes we did," she said trying to focus. We went to the beach with Quil and Claire. It was really nice being outside."

That was one of the things we owed Jacob for; he was able to take Nessie outside even in the sun.

"Your mother and I were just talking about you starting high school next year," Edward said out of the blue.

"Seriously? For real?" Nessie started jumping up and down. "Can I really go?"

How could we possibly resist that?

"Yes you can go, dear," I answered. "But we need to speak to grandpa Carlisle about the options before we make any decisions."

"Options?" she looked confused.

"We can´t stay in Forks much longer, Ness," Edward explained. "People will start getting suspicious about the whole not aging thing very soon."

"Oh…" She didn´t want to leave that was for sure. Forks had always been her home. We had traveled a lot when she was growing up, but this had always been home.

"We will talk with grandpa Carlisle when he and grandma Esme returns from Alaska," I said trying to soothe her.

Everything was changing so fast. It felt like we were on a rollercoaster not able to get off. Would there ever be a dull moment in the Cullen family?