The Man She Never Knew

AN: Here is Chapter Twelve, I'm sorry it took so long, but I re-wrote it like ten times before I liked it. Please review and let me know what you think!

Chapter Twelve:

That was the question. What did I want to know about my father. I already knew that he hated me. I knew that I wasn't what he had wanted, and I knew that no matter what I wouldn't have ever been what he would have wanted, all because I didn't have a dick between my legs. Huh, it was funny how things like a person's anatomy decided if you could love the person or not.

Looking at Edward for a few minutes, I couldn't help but wonder if this was actually a good idea, I mean this was diving into his private thoughts about a man that he was close to and loved dearly. Was it fair to make him think ill of Charlie? Even if he was a rotten father to me, that didn't mean he was that way with Edward, Emmet, or Alice. It just didn't seen completely fair to push him into talking about him. "Are you sure you want to talk about him with me?" I asked him.

He said nothing for a moment then sighed. "Bella, you have a right to know who your father was, even if he didn't treat you the way that you were entitled to be treated. If you are wondering if this is going to hurt me to talk about it, the answer is yes, but not for the reason that you are thinking. I don't want to hurt you Bella. That's why this is going to hurt me. I want to keep you from the pain, but I realize that you've already dealt with enough pain for this lifetime, and that you need to know the man that he was here in order to understand the man he was there. So go ahead and ask me anything that you want."

I looked him in the eyes and sighed. "Does it always have to be this hard?" I said softly to myself knowing that he had heard me.

"It's only as hard as you make it." He said softly.

"Okay." I said back with a soft smile on my face. There were so many questions I had for him, and though I wanted to know all the answers I wanted the harder ones asked first. "Edward, my father never talked to me about anything but grades, never told me he was proud of me, and never, not once ever told me he loved me after my mother left. What was your relationship like with him?"

I sat there wondering if he was going to answer me. Everyone said that he was closest with Charlie, but part of me didn't want to believe it. I could honestly see why Charlie favored him if I were to be honest with myself, but why couldn't this whole ordeal be as simple as it should have been?

I continued to stare at him, wishing that I knew what it was that he was thinking, and yet knowing that part of me stumbled into a part of him that was his and his alone. He had loved my father like a son should have, just as I had loved him until it just hurt too much to try?

"My relationship with your dad was different than most relationships between an uncle and nephew. I loved him Bella, I mean I looked up to him and went to him for advice. He was very wise, and I say this because he gave me a few life lessons that then I didn't realize were. He taught me through his personal experiences, and he didn't want me to ever make the same mistakes that he himself had made.

"Charlie told me something the last fishing trip that we took together that I have never forgotten, and I want to share it with you. I think this one memory of him with me let me see just how broken he really was. We were talking about love and I was basically blowing what he was saying off like it really didn't matter, but it did, and he made sure that I heard him. He said. 'Edward, shut up and take some words of wisdom. Don't be like me. When you find love, you need to hold on to it with a fierceness. Don't do what I did with Renee, and let it go. You can never take back words, remember that. True love never comes when you expect it. It could land on your door step with the most unknown attentions and if you turn it away, you're a fool.

"Love is a once in a lifetime experience, what you may think is love now isn't love. Love is known the moment that you lay your eyes upon the other person. It is the breath you take when you see their smile or the racing of your heart when their eyes meet yours. They become your air, your being, they become your life!

"Don't be like me Edward, don't regret decisions you made and cannot change. Don't say things in anger, because no matter how much you wish you can take them back you never can. Don't do something that you will be ashamed of when you're thirty, because if you think you'll be ashamed of it later, odds are so will your wife. Don't think that just because your day was stressful at the job; that your wife running around with your two year old daughter didn't have just as much of a stressful day. Remember to help each other in every way that you can, and remember why you are with each other. Never forget that it's a partnership and not one of you can do it alone. Don't be like me Edward.' He said this to me, and Bella, I truly think that he believed it. He loved you Bella, I know that he did. Maybe you weren't the boy that he had always wanted, and maybe you weren't the sports nut that he craved either, but you are who you are, and who you are is a beautiful, talented woman that any father would be proud of."

The tears were already steaming down my face. Just by Edward sharing that one lesson with me I already understood that there was more to him than I realized. He brought me up to Edward, he said his two year old daughter. I guess I really did remind him of my mother. "You know," I whispered. "Charlie, did give me one piece of advice throughout the years that I didn't understand, and I remember it because as I've said before he and I didn't talk. But Six years ago he pulled me aside as I was heading out the door to work, looked me dead in the eyes, and said. 'Isabella, I know that sometimes life is hard for you, sometimes things don't go the way that you think that they should, and that it kills you, but you remember one thing, every person looks at their problems one way or another, there is no right way to handle it or a wrong way. Sometimes in order to figure out what you yourself need is not without hurting someone that you love. There is no way around it sometimes. Just know that it's never the other persons attention to hurt, they just don't know how to fix themselves. You remember that. Now get out of here and go to work.' I couldn't believe that he had spoken to me, let alone all of that." I said softly.

Edward stood up and walked over to me, kneeing down to look me in the eye. "I think in a way your dad was trying to tell you that he was sorry that your relationship sucked. He knew that it was his fault, but he also believed that it was too late to fix it."

I looked at Edward, bringing my hand to his cheek, gently caressing his jaw with my thumb. "I'm so glad I came here." I whispered to him softly.

His brilliant green eyes gazed into mine and a soft smile tugged at his lips. "So am I." he whispered back. He stood then and smiled extending his hand to me. "Dance with me, Bella."

I stared at him for a moment and then decided. Who was I to tell him no. I took his hand and allowed him to lead me to the living room. Soft music was playing and I couldn't help but smile as he took me into his arms and began twirling me around the floor. Even with my tears for my father, this man before me had turned a night that I was dreading into the single most romantic night of my life, how was I ever going to say goodbye to him after Christmas?