Interlude Part II
Opening quote
Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartz
Carlisle returned Renee's car to her street unobtrusively, leaving her key taped to the inside of the wheel casing. As he made his way home, his thoughts were in turmoil. He couldn't let it go on like this. He was putting Renee at too high a risk for comfort. She deserved stability and an environment without danger being an everyday occurrence.
When he walked into his house, Esme took his coat and gave him an inquiring look. „She has her doubts, like any human would, Carlisle. Don't blame her for it," she gently admonished him. He returned her look with surprise in it, „No, she doesn't have any doubts, little sister, but I do. Whatever I do, she'll face the risk. The risk of the Volturi finding out about her. The risk of Charlie finding out about us. The risk of losing her little girl. Bella is only 10, she doesn't deserve having her life ripped apart… What to do, what on earth am I to do without destroying everything for her. I've waited centuries to feel what I feel for her and now I can't act upon it. Did it have to be a human who managed to touch my heart?" Esme quietly embraced him, then sat down at the piano and played his favourite songs. She knew the calming effect her music could have on him if he let it.
Esme watched as he sat on the couch and closed his eyes. An hour later she let the music fade out. She knew he would be lost in thought for some time to come still and went upstairs to check on the others. Edward was in his room, lost in a composer's frenzy, playing scores time and again with a wireless headset hooked up to his keyboard that allowed the rest of the family to live in relative peace while he lived out his artistic talent. Esme watched him for a moment and smiled at her gifted nephew. In the next room, Alice's high voice had Jasper mesmerised. The two of them were discussing the next prom's topic and Alice was on the verge of convincing Jasper to help her do a casino theme. She quickly walked by without interrupting them, past Emmett and Rosalie's closed door. They had asked them all to leave them alone while they got used to being mates. Esme went on to her office and booted up her computer to finish some work for the Newton shop. The deadline was still weeks away and she wouldn't turn in her finished work until then, but she could do it now and have spare time until then. Otherwise she would face the same problem she had when she'd started working as a freelance accountant. She'd been too fast, had done her job too perfectly and people had started noticing. She'd had to make sure she appeared more clumsy and less perfect than she was. But she made sure that the IRS would have nothing on any of her customers. They appreciated it too and showed it by recommending her to others. It hadn't taken long until a human accountant would have been out of his depth. Sometimes it was a definite advantage not to have to sleep.
Renee finished pouring the canned tomatoes on top of the slightly burned ground beef and called Bella while she stirred the sauce. Bella's steps clattered down the stairs and Renee hoped she wouldn't miss a step again and have more bruises from falling down the stairs. Bella quickly went to the stove and asked, „Mom, did you add garlic?" and reached for the container in the fridge when Renee shook her head. She added oregano, basil and rosemary as well, tasted it and threw in a pinch of salt and pepper each. After she'd stirred it again, she tasted a spoonful, then passed the spoon to her mother who'd silently watched. „MUCH better, Bella. How did you come up with this?! Not like I could teach you to cook, and your father even less." „Mom, I have my sources. Jake's mom is a wiz in the kitchen. I tend to spend the time with her and Jake when Dad takes me „fishing". It bores me to tears, but I don't want to hurt him by not going so I chicken out of it there and we still have the drives back and forth for father/daughter times." Bella smiled at her astonished mother and started setting the table.