I wish that I could use the real-life excuse, but I can't, not really. I was busy. From December - February, I had a debate tournament almost every weekend. But seeing as I haven't updated since October (?), there was loads of times I could have written, but didn't. So, please accept my humblest apologies, and let's carry on. Carlisle POV.
The atmosphere had, if possible, gotten more tense than it was before. Jasper avoided everyone except Alice, Rosalie and Emmett avoided each other, as they fell on different sides of the newly formed Jasper-Edward debacle. And, of course, everyone avoided Edward, and he avoided everyone.
Esme and Rosalie spent every possible second with Renesmee; I spent every possible second at work. Jasper and Alice hid out in their room most of the time.
And Edward was getting impatient, growing increasingly more agitated with every day that passed – four of them now, since that disastrous phone call.
I wished that I could speak with him as I once did, long ago, before Jasper and Alice and even Rosalie and Emmett had joined our family. We'd debate long into the night, both of us staunchly refusing to budge on our opinions, but with no real adversity between us. But as the house became more crowded, those days had disappeared. In time, it became Jasper who I had my long philosophical talks with, although those never stretched into the night as they had with Edward; Jasper couldn't stand not taking advantage of his few guaranteed alone hours with Alice.
I was glad Esme, at least, had a distraction in Renesmee. She was lovely, in her both her thoughts and actions. The only interaction I'd had with young children had been checkups or wellness exams during my days as a family practitioner, and, of course, delivering newborns, but Renesmee was so different that there really was no comparison.
She was beautiful, but too much so, I thought: she reminded me of the immortal children who'd wreaked so much havoc in the vampire world just a few years after my creation.
Her intelligence posed problems, as well. At a little more than three weeks old, she was speaking perfectly and the size of an eight-month old baby. From a medical as well as a pragmatic standpoint, this was troubling. If we were to relocate, enroll in high school again – how would we explain Renesmee, who would age years in the span of a school year? I'd been too curious not to do the calculations. Renesmee would be older than I was in little more than three years.
No, this specious baby carried many more complications than one would think.
On the fifth day after Jacob's phone call, Tanya called. I answered the phone, as I'd been in my study, doing work brought home from the hospital.
"Hello?"
"Carlisle?"
"Tanya!"
"What is wrong?" Tanya immediately asked, concerned, easily interpreting the weary grief even I heard in my voice. "I was calling because of Bella – "
"What did you hear? Did Alice call you?" I demanded.
"Nothing, nothing! Why? Is something wrong? We wanted to offer you – or at least Edward and Bella - a temporary home here if you need to make a…quick relocation during these next few years. Is that what has you so upset? Has she already slipped up?"
"Tanya, I –"
"She is changed by now, isn't she? Edward mentioned at the wedding her birthday was her deadline…"
"Tanya…Bella's dead."
There were no words on the other end.
"What?" she finally hissed.
"She…" I hesitated. Did I share the news of Renesmee with our cousins? Telling too many people would not be wise – the Volturi would catch wind of it, surely, and no one in our family wanted them anywhere near dear Renesmee, even if we could see no threat from them.
Similarly, what if this was the last straw for them? They were large in number, and any one of them, especially bitter Irina or her sisters, may have felt obligated to share this abnormality with them. As a shrewd calculation to get their family into the Volturi's good graces again, or just out of a sense of loyalty -- there were many motives why the news may be shared.
But Tanya and her sisters were family – we trusted them implicitly. But what other choice did we have? What other logical explanation could I give for Bella's untimely death? And what was a bigger transgression – lying to Tanya, or being the indirect cause of Renesmee's death?
"Edward…" I took a deep breath, deciding on a course of action. "Edward killed her during their honeymoon."
Tanya's shaky voice answered after a few moments of silence, "He must be distraught."
"He is."
Then I knew that, whether or not I told them about Renesmee, they deserved to know about Edward's impending death. They needed the opportunity to say goodbye, if they wished it. Edward would probably despise me for it, inviting them like he was dying of some terminal illness, but it was the least I could do for them.
But then, of course, they'd learn about Renesmee.
I considered the lesser of two evils. Risk exposing Renesmee, or keep them in the dark about Edward and let him die with no chance for them to make things right and clear the air, if there was any ill will between them.
This time, there really was no choice.
Roughly changing tracks, I began again. "You know the stories of the incubus."
"Yes," she said, sounding curious. "And what does that-"
"Have you ever heard of a child being conceived by a male vampire and a female human?" I asked carefully.
"No, that couldn't happen," she said, and I could almost hear her shaking her head.
"Why not?"
"Why would a male vampire have sperm? It would be unnecessary, just like all our other bodily fluids."
She'd never had sex with a male vampire? I'd always assumed her fondness for human men stemmed from a fondness for men in general, and that humans were simply more easily accessible. Either way: "Tanya, vampires have sperm."
"Why are you even asking me this? What do incubi have to do with anything?"
I took a deep breath. "Because – and I know this doesn't sound possible – Bella died in childbirth. Edward had perfect control – that was a lie. She conceived the child on her honeymoon with Edward."
Wearily, she finally said, "What?" like a fed-up girlfriend trying to get a straight answer out of her unfaithful lover. "You gave me a story, plausible though tragic, and then two seconds later you feed me some impossible crap about a vampire child? Carlisle, is Bella dead, or isn't she?"
"She is."
"Did Edward kill her?"
"No," I said fervently. "Although if you ask him, he'll certainly give you a different opinion on that."
"How did Bella die? Tell the truth. No more lies, now," she warned.
"She and Edward conceived a half-human, half-vampire child on their honeymoon. There were…complications, and she died during childbirth."
"And the baby?" Tanya questioned, and I was relieved she seemed to believe the impossible sounding story so easily.
"She is alive, and perfectly healthy. Bella asked she be named Renesmee – after her mother, Renee, and Esme," I offered in way of explanation for the odd name.
She was silent for so long I almost believed she'd hung up. I didn't even hear her breathe.
Irritated, she finally asked, "And when, exactly, where you planning on telling us about this? We'll leave right now and be down there by this time tomorrow."
The line disconnected. And for better or for worse, I've just led more people into the mess we've gotten ourselves into.
As promised, Carmen, Elezear, Tanya, Kate, and Irina arrive in twenty hours. I don't even what to think about how fast they've driven from Denali.
I meet them on the porch, and immediately Tanya folds me into a hug. "You look so sad, friend," she murmurs. "You look as though you've aged ten years."
She steps into the house, enveloping Esme, who's waiting just inside, into a heavy hug, murmuring comfort into her ear.
As usual, the family is scattered. Alice and Jasper are in their room together, but I'm not sure where Emmett and Rose are hiding out. Renesmee is with them.
Tanya suddenly gasped at something behind my shoulder that I cannot see; I spun around, guessing that Rose has come down the stairs, leading a toddling Renesmee by the hand, but instead it was Edward. I supposed that for someone who hasn't seen him gradually descend from the elated man she saw at his wedding to the agonized creature now before us, he would be shocking.
"Edward!" she whispered, and went to him, grabbing for his hand as he stumbled down the stairs like a drunk.
"Why did you come?" he asked quietly, cutting through the warm comfort Tanya exuberated. Accusation dripped from his voice and he looked past her to me, question in his eyes. I looked down uncomfortably. "If it's to convince--"
"I didn't come to convince you not to do this," Tanya snapped, before he could say more. "Although I think you're acting like a child. You have a family that loves you and a daughter that needs you." She saw him open his mouth to argue, but continued: "No, don't give me your crap about not understanding – I've lost more lovers than I can count. Some I've been with for just as long as you were with Bella. So I know what it's like, okay? You're pretending you're the hero of some fairytale version of Romeo and Juliet, but killing yourself won't give you a happy ending, Edward. All it will do is add more pain to those you're leaving behind." She punctuated her speech with a piercing glare.
There was dead silence.
"I thought you weren't here to change my mind," Edward said coldly.
"I'm not. I was going to say that although I think you're being an idiot, the reason I – we – came is to say goodbye to our cousin. And quite frankly, I'm wondering what would have happened if I waited even a day later to call you – would you already be dead? Were you going to kill yourself with no word to us? Even if you're getting away from the world in a few days, you're still here and you have responsibilities, not just to your family here, but to us."
For the first time in weeks, a spark of life came back into Edward's eyes.
"Tanya," he began coolly, "if you didn't have such a tendency to come butting into other people's business, looking at it only from your viewpoint, someone may have informed you of what was going on here. I think the real reason you came, no matter what you might protest, is to convince me – probably try and stop me – from doing this, because it would hurt you. You say that I have responsibilities to you, but what about those you have to me? Don't you have the obligation to give me up, if it's what's best for me? You don't understand the hell I've been living in, Tanya, no matter how many lovers you've lost. And how many of those have you even had? How many have you kept alive beyond a wild one night stand? To know that I was so close to keeping her alive, to keeping her with me for eternity – that's what kills me, almost more than anything else."
The room was absolutely quiet. Esme caught my eyes in quiet shock. Edward hadn't spoken that much, that passionately for weeks.
Tanya's eyes soften, and she put her hand on Edward's shoulder. "But I do understand that, Edward," she said, and then she was silent. I could only guess she was showing him a memory, and sure enough, Edward's brow furrowed and he leaned unconsciously towards her while he watched. She tried to remain stoic, but she bit her lip and stared at the floor – humanlike reactions not entirely gone from her.
"Esme," Carmen said softly, obviously trying to give Tanya some privacy while she relived that hard memory, "Where is Renesmee?"
Esme smiled, obviously glad to show off her grandchild.
"I believe she is with Rosalie," she said. "Come with me."
She led the group up the stairs, brushing past Edward and Tanya, still silently watching her memory together. As she passed, she touched Edward's hair comfortingly, but he made no acknowledgment. I followed behind them, bringing up the rear.
When we reached Rosalie and Emmett's room, I could hear Rosalie's voice from inside: "The laurel-hedged walk which curved round the secret garden and ended at a gate which opened into a wood, in the park. She thought she would slip round this walk and look into the wood and see if there were any rabbits hopping—" Esme's knock cut off Rosalie's voice and after a "come in!" from Rosalie, she pushed open the door.
Irina and Kate gasped in unison.
Rosalie sat on Emmett's lap, reading to Renesmee. She sat with rapt attention on the bad, facing us, eyes bright.
"How old did you say she was?" Elezear murmured to me, to quiet for a human to hear. It obviously caught him off guard when she answered his question.
"I'm twenty-three days today," she said proudly. "Who are you?"
Elezear laughed. Having lived with the Volturi, he had, like me, undoubtedly seen very strange things, even for vampires, and it had given him an open mind. "I am Elezear."
"And the rest of you?" she demanded, in that sweet, bossy way that children had.
"Renesmee," Esme said, "This is Kate, Irina, and Carmen. Tanya is downstairs, too. They are all very dear friends."
"Why are they here?"
"We came to see your father," Elezear answered, "But we also came to meet you. And you are a delight to meet, Renesmee."
She beamed, and her smile was so irresistible Irina and Kate crept closer from where they had retreated behind me in the hall.
Suddenly she sobered. "Daddy is very sad," she noted.
"Yes he is, but maybe we can make him feel better," Eleazar comforted her.
"I hope so."
Eleazar and Carmen were delighted by Renesmee already, I could see. Kate and Irina were definitely more hesitant, probably because of their past and Renesmee's uncanny resemblance to immortal children.
Esme and I left the Denalis alone with Renesmee, Emmett and Rose.
We walked back downstairs, and as we passed the stairs leading up to the third floor, I heard Edward's voice drifting down. It seemed he and Tanya had taken their conversation up there alone, but from the unmuffled quality of the sound they had probably very pointedly left the door open.
The rest of the night was uneventful; the fascination with Renesmee carried long into the night, and it wasn't until much later that night after Esme and I had spent a surprisingly peaceful evening in my study alone that we finally went scouting up the stairs and found the whole family crowded around the sleeping Renesmee. It was a wonder she could sleep with all the eyes on her.
Tanya and Edward never came down the stairs that night, either, and their conversation drifted through the house long into the night.
A few notes:
*The book Rosalie is reading is The Secret Garden.
*I realize the last line may be a bit misleading. This is not a Tanya/Edward love story. Their relationship is and will remain being strictly friends. Edward is devastated by Bella's death and will not recover.
*Renesmee is remaining Renesmee and not Nessie on purpose, for two reasons: 1) That was Jacob's idea, and he's not in this story; 2)I thought it was a weird variation of Renesmee in the first place.
*This story is drawing to a close! In a rough estimate, there are four chapters plus an epilogue left, maybe less.
Next update: I wish I could give you a definite time, but I can't. The one thing that I can almost guarantee is that it won't be this long again, because this was ridiculous. Thank you for reading (and sticking with me throughout the drought) and please let me know what you thought!