Charlie stayed at the house for the rest of the afternoon, although he never really moved from his chair beside Emmett and never really seemed to relax. He watched two football games absently but frequently darted his eyes from the screen to Bella and Renesmee...and to the rest of us, including Jacob. He couldn't seem to keep his mind from analyzing our appearance and our movements, the sound of our voices and the way we interacted. Each time he caught himself doing so, however, he would force his thoughts back to the game, actively refusing to wonder too much, and especially refusing to draw any conclusions.
He had always known there was something slightly odd about me and my family, and now he knew that Bella had somehow become like us. But he refused to know what it was that made us—and now his only child—so different.
When he couldn't focus on the game, he also distracted himself by pondering what was the same about us. Emmett enjoyed and knew as much about college football as any of Charlie's fishing buddies, bantering and joking amiably. Alice was as sweet and charming as any of Bella's girlfriends. Carlisle was every bit the family patriarch, and Esme every bit the caring mother, and now, grandmother. Rosalie was a doting aunt, occupying herself with Renesmee's every move and arguing lightly with Jacob as to whose turn it was to hold her or feed her or do something else for her. Bella and I were typical newlyweds, always in some kind of physical contact, usually whispering to each other and making each other smile.
We were almost the same as any other all-American family on a Saturday afternoon.
Except that we weren't. And he knew it.
Although he never quite relaxed, Charlie didn't appear to be in a hurry to get away from us, either. He wanted to see the environment in which his baby was now living, wanted to know if she was happy. Grudgingly, as he watched her interact with me and Renesmee and the rest of the family, he concluded that she was.
He didn't like whatever it was she had gone through in the past month or so, but he had to admit to himself that Bella was as content as he'd ever seen her. Moreover, he had to admit that she loved me. I knew she did, too, but it was strangely gratifying to have Charlie draw the same conclusion.
When it neared what humans would consider dinnertime, Charlie finally announced that he was going to have to leave. He and Billy Black were having dinner at Sue Clearwater's. I was amused to find that while he was anxious about the dinner now that Jacob had told him Billy knew "everything", he was looking forward to a home-cooked meal so much that that pretty much trumped all other considerations.
To give him and Bella a few moments alone while they said their goodbyes, I drifted over to the piano and started to play softly, absently testing out a few melodies that had been floating through my brain off and on ever since Renesmee was born. I could still hear them talking, of course, as could everyone else in the room.
"I don't know how much we should tell Renee about this," Charlie speculated as he paused in the doorway. While part of him theorized that she was just wacky enough to accept it without blinking, the other part theorized that she was just wacky enough it would send her right over the edge.
I could see Bella nod from the corner of my eye. "I know. I don't want to freak her out. Better to protect her. This stuff isn't for the fainthearted." She was far too used to having the role of parent with Renee.
"I would have tried to protect you, too, if I'd known how," Charlie replied. "But I guess you've never fit into the fainthearted category, have you?" No, Charlie, I thought with an wry smile. She certainly does not.
When Bella didn't reply, he patted his stomach absently. "I'll think of something. We've got time to discuss this, right?"
"Right."
There was a moment of silence as Charlie looked at Bella and Renesmee, asleep in her arms. He knew Seth was outside waiting for him for the trip to Sue's, but seemed reluctant to leave.
He was concerned we wouldn't be here tomorrow.
"Jake says you guys were going to take off on me," he said to Bella quietly.
She sighed. "I didn't want to do that if there was any way at all around it. That's why we're still here."
His mind raced through a number of scenarios, reasons why we felt we would have to leave. The answer was somewhat obvious just from the strangeness, the difference in Bella's appearance and the presence of Renesmee...but he again refused to add that up into an articulate reason why it would mean we would vacate Forks.
"He said you could stay for a while, but only if I'm tough enough and if I can keep my mouth shut."
"Yes...but I can't promise that we'll never leave, Dad. It's pretty complicated..."
Bella's tone was rueful and it made my dead heart clench. No matter how necessary it had been, no matter how much it was her choice, I knew that part of me would never forgive myself for taking her human life away from her, and all that meant in terms of her relationships with her own family.
"Need to know," Charlie muttered, apparently hoping she wasn't going to try and explain any more than that.
"Right."
"You'll visit, though, if you have to go?"
"I promise, Dad," she said firmly. "Now that you know just enough, I think this can work. I'll keep as close as you want."
Charlie hesitated for a moment and then extended his arms toward Bella cautiously, not sure he wanted to touch her but at the same time unable to resist. Ironically, I remembered experiencing a similar feeling not too long ago. But for very different reasons, of course.
Bella shifted Renesmee's weight to one arm and carefully reached out to hug Charlie with the other. Everyone else in the room froze imperceptibly, confident Bella could do it but at the same time braced for the worst. She'd been doing amazingly well all afternoon but I knew from the burning in my own throat that it was far from easy.
Charlie's mind raced at the coolness of Bella's skin and the hardness of her flesh, recognizing it from the times he had shaken hands with me or Carlisle or my brothers, but he continued to refuse to draw a conclusion as to what it meant.
He focused instead on the fact that this was still his Bella. "Keep real close, Bells," he murmured. "Real close."
"Love you, Dad," she whispered. We all exhaled at the same time when the quick embrace was over and both Bella and Charlie took a half step back from each other.
"Love you, too, kid. Whatever else has changed, that hasn't." He tentatively reached out a finger to touch Renesmee's soft cheek. He didn't miss the fact that she was warm, but again refused to speculate as to what that meant. "She sure looks a lot like you."
"More like Edward, I think," Bella replied, and I couldn't suppress a small smile at the idea. I knew that the resemblance between my daughter and me was actually quite striking, but it remained something I somehow struggled to wrap my head around. I had a biological child. Who looked like me. After ninety years of accepting that that would never happen, the fact that it had was going to take some getting used to.
It made me want to rush over and pull both her and Bella into my arms, but I resisted the urge.
"She has your curls," Bella added. Though she couldn't read his mind in even the limited way I could, Bella knew there was no point pretending Renesmee wasn't ours, even if she didn't say it directly to Charlie out loud.
Charlie let out a surprised noise. "Huh. Guess she does. Huh. Grandpa." I could see him shake his head in believing disbelief. "Do I ever get to hold her?"
Again, everyone in the room froze imperceptibly. Rosalie and Jacob both took several steps toward the front door, as quietly and subtly as they could...just in case.
Bella seemed to hesitate for only a few seconds. She glanced down at Renesmee, presumably reassuring herself that the child was still asleep. It was one thing to test her own limits, but to push Renesmee would be another matter altogether. I heard Rosalie suck in a quiet breath when Bella said, "Here," and made a move to hand Renesmee over.
Charlie made an awkward cradle with his arms but eagerly received the sleeping child. He was quiet for a brief moment. "She's...sturdy. Sturdy is good." When he rocked her back and forth a little and Renesmee remained asleep, we all relaxed for the second time. "Prettiest baby I ever saw, including you, kid. Sorry, but it's true."
"I know it is," Bella answered.
"Pretty baby," Charlie repeated, directing it this time at the tiny person in his arms. I was trying not to be obvious by looking up to observe the expression on his face, but Rosalie and Jacob were still watching him carefully. From their minds I could see that he wore a look of adoration...the look we all seemed to wear when we saw Renesmee.
"Can I come back tomorrow?" Charlie asked after a moment or two of gazing down at the little girl's face.
"Sure, Dad. Of course. We'll be here," Bella said.
"You'd better be," he grumbled, but his eyes were apparently still trained on Renesmee's face. "See you tomorrow, Nessie."
"Not you, too!" Bella snapped. Jacob chuckled and I suppressed the urge to slap him in the back of the head. He had been presumptuous in the extreme in doing what he had done with Charlie, but I couldn't dispute the fact that so far at least, it had turned out well. Bella was able to salvage her relationship with her father, at least for now. I couldn't dismiss how much that would mean to her.
"Huh?"
"Her name is Renesmee," Bella insisted. "Like Renee and Esme, put together. No variations." I heard her suck in an annoyed breath. "Do you want to hear her middle name?"
"Sure."
"Carlie. With a C. Like Carlisle and Charlie put together."
I was surprised by the burst of pure emotion that emanated from Charlie at hearing that bit of news. He broke into just about the widest smile I had ever seen on his face. "Thanks, Bells."
"Thank you, Dad. So much has changed so quickly. My head hasn't stopped spinning. If I didn't have you now, I don't know how I'd keep my grip on—on reality." Although I continued tinkering on the piano as if unphased, Bella's words shook me a little. Of course I knew that she'd been through an astonishing number of changes in the past month or so, and it wasn't surprising that she would have some difficulty adjusting. I supposed I had just hoped that it would be me who was able to ground her and help her through it. I felt like I had perhaps failed her a little, possibly by my own preoccupation with everything that had been happening?
I was resolved to change that immediately. She needed to know I was here for her, no matter what her fears were. I certainly owed her that for everything she had given up to be with me.
Even over the sound of the piano I heard Charlie's stomach growl for at least the second time.
"Go eat, Dad," Bella said with a short chuckle. "We will be here."
I saw Charlie nod and then hand Renesmee back to Bella carefully. The child was so used to sleeping in someone's arms, she barely stirred at the movement. In doing so, he cast another long look back into the living room, where our family was spread out and occupying themselves with various pursuits. We weren't still and what each of us was doing wasn't unusual in itself—Carlisle reading a book, Esme sketching designs in a notebook, Alice and Jasper lounging on the stairs, Rosalie and Emmett working on some kind of house of cards—but Charlie nevertheless seemed to find something odd about the scene before him. He couldn't put his finger on it—and perhaps didn't really want to—but it occurred to him once again that we were just different.
And now his only daughter was very much a part of that 'otherness'.
Although I was only barely getting used to the role, as a father myself now, I could appreciate how that might be difficult to accept.
After a few seconds, Charlie sighed. "See you tomorrow, Bella. I mean, it's not like you don't look...good." I nearly growled at the gross understatement. "I'll get used to it."
"Thanks, Dad."
As he finally turned and walked away, Bella stood in the doorway, watching him get into his car and steer down the driveway. "Wow," she whispered to herself, and I practically launched myself off the piano bench to make my way to her side. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder, squeezing her against me. It felt like it had been far, far too long since I had last held her.
"You took the word right out of my mouth," I murmured in her ear, placing a soft kiss on her earlobe.
"Edward, I did it!" she said happily, looking up at me with a wide smile.
"You did. You were unbelievable. All that worrying over being a newborn, and then you skip it altogether." I chuckled to myself quietly as I kissed her neck this time. I was starting to wonder if my amazing Bella would ever cease to amaze me.
"I'm not even sure she's really a vampire, let alone a newborn," Emmett teased from his spot on the floor next to Rosalie. "She's too tame." Bella snarled in response, getting a laugh from Emmett. "Oooo, scary." In true Emmett fashion, he'd been dropping innuendo-laden comments all afternoon, not caring in the least that Bella's father was present, even when the comments were overtly sexual, filled with speculation about the state of the cottage and its furniture, marvelling at the success of our honeymoon as evidenced by the appearance of Renesmee, and so forth. He was trying to provoke us both, but I was far more used to ignoring him than Bella was.
Bella hissed and Renesmee started to stir in her arms. The little girl blinked a few times, casting her sleepy, chocolate brown eyes around the room to see who was doing what. At the sight of those eyes, I thanked fate and the powers that be once again that they had been preserved for me, and in such an incredible way. I grinned at her but she was distracted, searching for the tasty-smelling stranger. She put a palm against Bella's cheek inquisitively.
"Charlie will be back tomorrow," Bella assured her, ignoring Emmett for the moment.
He, however, was too stupid not to poke the sleeping lioness with a large stick. "Excellent." He laughed at the potential for more opportunities to embarrass Bella in front of her father.
"Not brilliant, Emmett," I shook my head, reaching at the same time to take Renesmee from Bella. I had suddenly had an idea as to how she could get revenge on Emmett for his earlier comments. She seemed confused for a moment that I wanted to remove our daughter from her arms, so I gave her a little wink.
"What do you mean?" Emmett demanded.
"It's a little dense, don't you think, to antagonize the strongest vampire in the house?"
Emmett threw his head back and let out a loud, snorting laugh. "Please!" I knew that would get his attention.
"Bella," I murmured, knowing Emmett could hear everything I was saying. "Do you remember a few months ago, I asked you to do me a favour once you were immortal?"
She stared back at me, still confused. I could almost hear the gears turning in her mind as she tried to remember what I was talking about. It was clear from her face when she suddenly figured it out. "Oh!"
Alice started to laugh, knowing exactly what was coming—and how it would turn out.
Exactly how I expected it to.
"What?" Emmett growled.
Bella looked at me uncertainly. "Really?"
"Trust me," I told her. Renesmee now had her palm to my cheek, asking what was going on.
Bella took in a deep breath. "Emmett, how do you feel about a little bet?"
Predictably, he was on his feet immediately. "Awesome. Bring it." He didn't even know what the bet was going to be yet, but didn't care. Don't know what you've put her up to, Edward, but you know I can take it, he thought smugly. Apparently he hadn't clued in to Alice's laughter.
This was going to be great.
A flicker of uncertainty crossed Bella's features, and Emmett did not miss it. "Unless you're too afraid...?"
Wrong move. He was such an abject fool sometimes.
His reaction had Bella straightening her shoulders in challenge. "You. Me. Arm-wrestling. Dining room table. Now."
Emmett grinned in anticipation.
Alice had a sudden vision of the dining room table being shattered into splinters. "Er, Bella...I think Esme is fairly fond of that table. It's an antique."
"Thanks," Esme mouthed gratefully, although she was still amused at what was unfolding.
"No problem," Emmett announced, his grin widening. "Right this way, Bella."
We all followed him outside, toward the garage. He was headed for a large boulder near the river, set on using that instead of Esme's table.
Without hesitation, he sidled up to the rock and placed his right elbow on it, waving Bella over.
Bella seemed anxious again as she looked at him, but I wasn't concerned in the least. Emmett ought to have known that if I was encouraging her to do this, I must have been rather convinced of the result. However, his natural cockiness, especially where his strength was concerned, didn't allow him to even consider the possibility of defeat.
Regardless of whatever doubts she had, Bella approached the rock and settled herself across from him, placing her own elbow down and positioning her arm at the ready.
"Okay, Emmett. I win, and you cannot say one more word about my sex life to anyone, not even Rose. No allusions, no innuendos—no nothing."
I smiled to myself. A bet my foolish brother definitely could not resist.
"Deal," he said, without hesitation. "I win, and it's going to get a lot worse." He was already plotting his words for the next time Charlie was around. If I had been capable, I might have blushed myself...except that I was actually a little turned on by the particular act he was thinking of.
I pushed that thought out of my head immediately. Not appropriate for family time, Edward...
Emmett sensed Bella's anxiety at his words and grinned deviously. "You gonna back down so easy, little sister? Not much wild about you, is there? I bet that cottage doesn't have a scratch." He laughed, taunting. "Did Edward tell you how many houses Rose and I smashed?"
I saw her nostrils flare slightly, then she grabbed his hand, her delicate fingers immersed completely in his big, meaty paw. My breath caught in my throat for a moment. It was so counter-intuitive to stand by while my Bella engaged in a physical confrontation of any kind.
"One, two—" she started.
"Three," Emmett finished with a grunt and started pushing his hand against hers.
The surprise in his mind when the battle wasn't over—and in his favour—in an instant was so comical I couldn't help laughing out loud. Renesmee glanced up at my face curiously, unsure what was so funny. I pointed toward her mother and uncle. "Watch, sweetheart. Mommy's going to make Uncle Emmett look silly."
Bella and Emmett appeared not to notice, each focused on the task at hand. Emmett increased the force he was using, but Bella met it with no obvious difficulty. A string of profanities rolled through my brother's mind as he continued to increase his effort. He grunted with the exertion and his forehead creased in concentration. His body had gone rigid, the strain in his muscles clear.
Bella, by contrast, looked quite calm and collected. If anything, her facial expression suggested that she was enjoying the opportunity to test her strength.
After a few moments where neither hand moved, Bella flicked her wrist slightly. Emmett lost ground, his hand an inch closer to his side of the rock. She laughed and he snarled in response through gritted teeth.
At this point, he was using every ounce of strength he could muster, and he was astonished that Bella barely blinked at the force he must have been exerting against her.
"Just keep your mouth shut," she said finally, and with another flick of her wrist, she smashed his hand down into the boulder. With an ear-shattering crack, the granite shuddered and then split, a sizeable piece separating from the rest and falling to the ground—right on top of Emmett's foot. Bella snickered, but both Jacob and I laughed out loud. The rest of the family was trying to suppress their laughter, while Renesmee was simply delighted by the amusing scene unfolding in front of her. She enjoyed the sight of her mother causing the huge rock to break, and the look of exasperation on her uncle's face as he kicked the piece of rock off his foot and across the river. The force of the kick caused the rock to split through a young maple before slamming into the base of a large fir—which itself shuddered, then fell over into another tree.
"Rematch. Tomorrow," Emmett grumbled.
"It's not going to wear off that fast," Bella retorted. "Maybe you ought to give it a month."
Emmett growled. "Tomorrow."
"Hey, whatever makes you happy, big brother."
Emmett turned to stomp away, but not before he punched the huge boulder, kicking up a spray of rock fragments and dust. Bella watched the fragments settle for a moment, then placed her palm against the boulder's surface, spreading her fingers wide. She seemed fascinated as her fingers easily dug into the stone, crushing it to gravel in her grasp. "Cool," she murmured.
With a smile, she straightened up and then brought the side of her hand down against the stone in a karate-chop motion. It shrieked in protest, then split in two. She started giggling, apparently fascinated by what her body was now capable of. The rest of us chuckled in amusement at the sight of her punching and kicking the two pieces into smaller and smaller fragments. We each remembered the horror of waking up as vampires, but we also had memories of doing exactly this: testing our new bodies and our new limits, taking perverse delight in what we could now do—despite the fact that it so strongly signified the end of our humanity.
I delighted along with her as we watched, but of course I wouldn't have been me if I didn't also find it at least slightly disturbing. She was my physical equal now, and that meant nothing but good things for me, personally, and our future.
But it also meant that the Bella Swan I had fallen in love with was gone. Forever.
The thought made me a little melancholy, but the feeling quickly dissipated when the child in my arms giggled, a light, lilting, innocent giggle at the sight of her mother playing without restraint.
It was hard to be sad when everything Bella—and I—had been through had resulted in this incredible new life.
Bella turned toward us in astonishment. "Did she just laugh?"
Everyone had frozen at the same time, all staring at Renesmee in shock. It was the first time any of us had heard her laugh. The pride swelled in my chest as I cuddled her closer to me. "Yes."
"Who wasn't laughing?" Jacob muttered, rolling his eyes. He was teasing Bella about her antics, so I decided not to be irritated by him.
"Tell me you didn't let go a bit on your first run, dog," I challenged.
"That's different." To my surprise, he made as if to punch me on the shoulder, the way Emmett did when he was joking around. It was an oddly fraternal, familiar and light-hearted gesture for him to display toward me. "Bella's supposed to be a grown-up. Married and a mom and all that. Shouldn't there be more dignity?"
Renesmee's palm was suddenly against my cheek again. She wanted to know why all the fun had suddenly stopped.
"What does she want?" Bella asked.
"Less dignity," I grinned, and couldn't resist squeezing my little girl against me again. "She was having almost as much fun watching you enjoy yourself as I was." My little girl.
Bella darted forward with a smile, wanting to sweep Renesmee into her arms. "Am I funny?" she asked, holding out a shard of rock. "You want to try?"
Renesmee gave a dazzling smile and took the stone in both chubby little hands. She squeezed, the lines of concentration in her forehead quite hilarious. She managed to grind off a little dust and frowned at it, handing it back to Bella.
"I'll get it," Bella smiled, and easily crushed the fragment to dust in one hand. Renesmee clapped and laughed again at the sight, the loveliness of the sound making all of us laugh in turn.
As we stood on the lawn, the sun suddenly broke through the drifting, fluffy clouds, casting long beams of light over us. It was the first time I'd seen Bella in the sunlight since she had changed, and the sight of her skin sparkling, diamond-like, stunned me silent. Had I appeared that way to her the first time, otherworldly, ethereally beautiful?
Renesmee glanced around, immediately noting that everyone sparkled except her and Jacob. She stretched her arm out next to Bella's, and saw that where Bella gleamed, her own skin simply reflected the light with a faint, pretty luminosity. She wasn't happy that she didn't sparkle, too.
Bella smiled down at her. "You're the prettiest."
I was still captivated by the sight of my beautiful Bella, shiny, dazzling. "I'm not sure I can agree to that," I murmured, giving her a crooked smile when she turned to face me.
Jacob lifted his hand to his eyes as if shielding himself from the glare. "Freaky Bella."
"What an amazing creature she is," I said, unable in that moment to take even his joke as anything less than a compliment. Anything but a compliment directed toward the sight before us was unthinkable.
It was hard to imagine, especially since I continued to mourn the loss of Bella's humanity and assumed that I always would in some way, but in this moment, seeing her in the sunlight, our perfect daughter in her perfect arms...I couldn't help but speculate that maybe, just maybe...she had been meant for this.
She had been meant for this, and meant for me.
I was suddenly ready to take her and Renesmee back to our cottage for an evening to ourselves.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N: Hello, all. Apologies to any who have been waiting for an update from me. I've been back in trial, and I got distracted as well for a couple of weeks working on a bit of a one-shot, which I've posted on Fan Fiction (for those reading this on Twilighted, it's under my Scooterstale pen name). It's a retelling of Chapter 20 of Eclipse, the proposal scene...and it comes with a warning – I took some liberties in the retelling, telling it the way I would have liked it to have appeared in the original...and with a liberal dose of citrus! The faint of heart may want to avoid it...but it's there for anyone who's interested!
I'll be on vacation overseas now until early June. See you then!