The Man She Never Knew

Here's Chapter five, I hope you all enjoy it, and I am starting on chapter six tonight so it will be posted tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter Five:

As I lay in bed, trying to sleep, my thoughts were on Bella, and the conversation she and I had had in the diner. I couldn't understand how the man I knew so well, and looked up to as a father figure could in some way treat his daughter the way that Bella made him out to be. How could Charlie show my family all the love in his heart, and yet show her nothing. The thought of that plagued me.

When I was finally able to get my mind to calm, I slept terribly. Finally after waking for the fourth time I rose out of bed and made my way to the sitting room where my piano sat. For some reason whenever I was having too many thoughts dancing around in my head, music seemed to be the only thing that would put the thoughts at ease and allow me some peace.

I sat there at the piano for a few minutes with my fingers touching the keys lightly. This was my favorite part; right before you actually began to play when the adrenalin hits and you start to pull yourself into your mind, and just let your fingers do the talking. I finally felt my fingers begin to play Mozart's Symphony #40 in G minor, and was swept away with the composition.

I had just finished playing and was about to start on a Chopin Composition, when I heard Alice call from the kitchen. "Could you play some Bach or Mendelssohn?"

I looked up then and saw Bella standing there. Her smile had an awkward feeling to it, as though she was the cat caught with the creamer. I couldn't help but smile back. "I didn't realize it was around the time you all were getting up." I said softly knowing that my playing may have been disturbing her.

She made her way over to me with a smile. "You play wonderfully." My smile grew slightly at the complement. "I enjoyed it very much."

"Do you play?" I had asked her. She had a look on her face that made me think it was a question that she didn't know how to answer, or if she really would answer.

"If you are talking the piano the answer would have to be no, I never learned." She said with a small smile. That piece of information made me realize that she did play something; I was willing to bet it was the flute or something.

"Do you play any instruments?" I added hoping she wouldn't become embarrassed and shy away.

"I do. I taught myself the guitar. I enjoy it very much."

Before I had a chance to comment back, Rosalie came busting down the stairs calling the girls towards the door. "Well I better go. I'll see you later today?" She had asked me.

"Yeah I'll be here later. Have fun shopping, say hello to Hades for me." I called as they began to walk out the door.

After I had heard Rosalie's car start and head down the driveway, I decided to try and get some more sleep. Emmet, mom, dad and I were supposed to be going to breakfast in a few hours, and if I didn't want to be cranky with them I needed just a little more sleep.

It was a little after eight in the morning when I woke up again. I quickly threw on some clothes and walked downstairs.

"It's about time you got up." Emmet said. "There are some starving people here you know."

"Emmet, I don't think you can really claim being a starving person." I said with a laugh. "So where are we going?"

Esme looked at me with a smile. "I thought we could go to the old diner, we haven't been there in a while. Your dad is going to meet us there." So we all left the house and got into my mother's car. I decided to jump in the front seat, just so I could hear Emmet complain about being too big for the back.

We were sitting there at our table eating dinner when Emmet decided to bring up the topic we all wanted to talk about but didn't know how to approach. "So Dad, what's up with this Bella girl? I mean, I know she's supposedly Uncle Charlie's daughter and everything, but what's her story, and why does she hate Uncle Charlie so much?"

I stared at Emmet for a few moments wondering what made him bring it up, and do it in a sort of nice way, when Carlisle spoke. "Uncle Charlie and Bella's relationship had been complicated since Renee left. I don't know if I should tell you much."

I looked to Carlisle. "Umm this woman is staying in our family home, and I have never met her before yesterday, I would sort of like to know why she's really here dad." I said to him. "I mean I think we have a right to know."

Esme sighed. "Edward you met Bella when you two were very little, too little to remember. Bella came down with Charlie for a week when things first started getting bad with Renee. She had never wanted children, but Charlie did, oh he wanted Bella so much that when he found out that Renee was planning to get an abortion he was adamant on it not happening. When Bella was born, Renee started cheating on Charlie, and he threw a blind eye to it.

"Charlie used to be a devoted father, and in a lot of ways was still a devoted father after Renee left, but he withdrew himself from her life because she reminded him too much of Renee, and he didn't want to taint her with his touch. He was worried that he would raise her the way that Renee was, and it was something that he didn't want. That was why he came here every summer. He didn't have to worry about rubbing wrong on you guys, you were boys and had both your parents, so he was able to shower the love he couldn't on Bella to you.

"I'm not saying he was right, in fact I had told him on a number of occasions that he needed to step up and be a father to his own child, but the thing with Charlie is that he's going to do things his way and no other way. Bella grew up without a father, that is true, but she is still our family, and we love her. We don't know a lot about her, but she is still family. She's all we have left of Charlie. Would you turn her away, or try to keep her?"

I stared at my mother seeing what it was that she was trying to say. "You know she and I talked a little about Charlie yesterday. She hates him, and she is resentful for the way he was with her. I can't blame her."

Carlisle sighed. "Edward Charlie did what he thought was best."

I didn't let my father continue. "What he thought was best? Well have you not taken a look at his daughter?! What he thought was best scarred her for life! How can you say he did what was best? How can I believe everything that he told me, when he couldn't even treat his own daughter with the love and respect that she deserved! I don't understand how someone could be like that to anyone let alone her." To say that I was angry about the relationship that Bella and Charlie would have been a horrible understatement. Bella was a good person and I didn't like the fact that Charlie, the man I looked at like a father could be that way with her. I rose from my seat, kissed my mother and told her I was taking a cab back to the house. I needed some time alone to think, and I knew that I wasn't going to find it here.

Luckily there was a cab sitting on the corner when I walked out so I wasn't going to have to hail one. Making it home about fifteen minutes later, I walked out into the sitting room and sat at my piano. I didn't feel like playing, instead I decided to just sit there and think about Charlie and our conversations that we had had while fishing over the summers when he would visit.

~ Nine years ago ~

We had sat there on the boat for a good hour in comfortable silence. They had already caught two fish and Edward was bringing in the next one when Charlie finally spoke. "So Edward, how's your love life? Any special girl taking over your thoughts yet?"

I couldn't help but laugh as Uncle Charlie. "No Uncle Charlie, I'm a love them and leave them type of guy." I laughed harder at his wording.

Charlie sighed. "You know something Edward?" he asked me.

"I know a lot of things Uncle Charlie." I smiled.

"Don't be a smart ass." He sighed. "Edward being young like you are is okay to be a love them then leave them type of guy, but you need to know something. When you are older, this" he said waving his hand around the lake. "isn't going to be the biggest place you have ever been. These visits to the lake in the summers aren't going to mean so much to you one day. You'll always have the words of wisdom from an old fart like me, but someday you're going to realize that your Uncle Charlie tried to teach you from his mistakes, and when that time comes I want you to remember one thing. Love, and I am talking about real love, the type of love that you would do anything for, go against your family, stand on a line that you know you shouldn't cross, makes you question everything you know to be true, and yet all of that means nothing compared to knowing that at the end of the day she'll be there for you to take the stress of the day away with a single smile or loving look. Don't you settle for anything less than that."

I couldn't help but feel as though he had just given me the most important piece of information that I would ever receive from him. "Okay Uncle Charlie, now can we quit being all serious before you scare all the fish away?"

~ Present time ~

Thinking about that day with Charlie made me angry. The man had told me that true love was the most important thing in the world, and yet the man couldn't even tell his own daughter that he loved her. I slammed my hands against the keys. "How could you do this to her…" I said to myself thinking of Charlie. "How could you stand there for twenty-two years and never tell that girl you loved her; that she actually meant so much to you."

I couldn't take thinking about it anymore and just went up to my room to sleep this whole day away. Bella deserved to be happy, not depressed and angry at his family for seeing the side of Charlie that the arrogant bastard couldn't show her himself. But even in this horrible turn of events where Bella opened his eyes and ruined his hero, even he could possibly see a silver lining. He had promised Bella an all out war in the kitchen and damn it, it would happen and he would win. He could harbor bad feeling towards Charlie, but Bella needed to know the man that was her father.