Edward

We all went to sit down on the couches in the living room. I was glad the room was so spacious. Bella sat next to me on my right. Esme sat on my left and put her arm around my shoulder and onto Bella's. To my surprise, Jasper sat on the other side of Bella and he reached out and took her hand in his. Bella looked surprised too but not uncomfortable. I was glad that Jasper had been able to finally forgive himself. Bella's complete understanding and forgiveness of him had gone a long way in helping their relationship. Alice sat on the arm of the couch next to Jasper and everyone else seated themselves on the various other couches and armchairs.

Carlisle was the first to speak.

"So what are your plans now Edward?" he asked.

"Well, Bella has to be back for the beginning of the school year in three weeks. I plan on going back to finish out our senior year in Forks."

Bella leaned against my shoulder and took my hand in hers. I could feel the contentment radiating out of her. I knew Jasper felt it too.

You two are so full of happiness I am surprised you can contain it all, Jasper thought.

I grinned at him. I was full of happiness-happy to be with Bella, to be with my family, to finally have something to live for again.

I brought my Bella's hand to my lips. Ugh Edward, how cheesy can you be? Kiss her the right way already, Emmett thought. I rolled my eyes at him.

"That is excellent, son. I will call the hospital and let them know that I want to come back. I don't think it will be a problem." Carlisle said.

"I doubt it," Rosalie put in, speaking for the first time. "You are the best thing that ever happened to that dinky little town. If they didn't welcome you back with open arms I would have some serious doubts about their mental capacity."

Everyone laughed.

"I'm curious, Bella. How were you able to find Edward in a city as big as Rio?" Esme asked.

Bella blushed as twelve pairs of vampire eyes focused on her.

"It was just luck, really. I had a picture but I don't speak a lot of Spanish so getting people to understand what I wanted them to was kind of hard." Emmett laughed out loud and Bella smiled at him.

"I hope you didn't get too lost, little sister," Emmett teased.

Bella blushed again. "Well," she said sheepishly, "a couple of times." Emmett almost fell out of his chair laughing and Bella joined in with everyone else.

I didn't find it quite as funny and turned to glare at Alice. She knew what I was thinking.

I know, I know. But she was fine, really. I told her not to go out at night unless it was an absolute emergency. And I stayed in Rio for a few days to make sure she was okay, she just doesn't know that. I only left when I saw that her path was going to intersect yours. She was completely safe. I was mollified, for now.

Bella was speaking again. "I was lucky to find a woman who spoke English and who remembered seeing Edward. She told me where I was likely to find him and I waited for him. Then he showed up. That's all, really."

There was much, much more to it than that but neither Bella nor I wanted to reveal anymore about our reunion. Rio was our special place now and it was no one else's business.

Tanya spoke suddenly. I hadn't been focusing on her and her words took me by surprise. "Bella, I'm curious, what caused you to go find Edward in the first place? We have all heard the story of what happened between you and Edward and I am surprised that you would do something like that after the way you were treated. It couldn't have been easy to go after him when he rejected you like that."

She had a smug look on her face and I felt the maliciousness behind her question in her mind. She wanted to remind Bella how much I had hurt her. She still thought she might have a chance to change my mind. Unbelievable.

I felt Bella stiffen by my side and her hand clenched mine in reflex. I saw her cheeks burn cherry red and I knew she was embarrassed that strangers seemed to know all about what had happened between us. I growled softly at Tanya.

I saw Esme's head whip around in Tanya's direction. How dare she say something like that? How cruel!

Jaspers thoughts were running in the same direction. There is no reason to bring that up again! Especially when it is such a sore spot with all of us. How can she be such a bitch? Just because Edward prefers Bella to her. That's just cruel!

Carlisle broke the uncomfortable silence. "Tanya, there is no reason to get into that. What's done is done and Bella's reasons are her own. We are just so happy to have both of them back with us." I liked the way he emphasized both.

"Let's focus on the family being whole again and forget the rest." And stop trying to hurt my family. I heard him think angrily. We are just getting everything back together and you will not tear it apart! I was shocked by the vehemence in his thoughts. Carlisle was always so calm, even in his mind. To hear how angry he was inside at Tanya's machinations gave me a new respect for him.

"So, Bella," Alice said, "do you want to go shopping with me when we get back to Forks? You are going to need all kinds of new stuff to start the school year."

Bella groaned in dread at the thought. I knew that they very last thing that she wanted, other than being apart from me, was to go shopping with Alice.

"I have plenty of clothes, Alice." Bella sighed. "Or at least I did until you stole them all."

Everyone looked at Alice, who did not look chagrined in the least, and laughed.

"You stole her clothes?" Rosalie asked, shaking with laughter.

"Well, everything she packed was so unstylish and boring. I knew she would want to knock Edward's socks off when he saw her again." Bella's cheeks reddened. "And it obviously worked because here he is."

I shook my head and laughed. There were a few outfits that I had been glad Alice had slipped into Bella's luggage-those blue pajamas especially-but I would gladly burn to a pile of ash before I ever, ever told Alice that.

"Thanks a lot, Alice. Good to know how boring my clothes are. What did you do with them anyway, after you snuck them out of my suitcase?"

Alice looked sheepish now. I read what she was thinking and barked out a laugh before throwing my hand over my mouth. My hand tightened on Bella's; she was not going to like this.

"Well, really Bella, everything you had was so two years ago, and I knew that you could look so amazing in some of the newer fashions. I will help you pick out plenty of new stuff and you will never miss the old ones."

"Miss them? Alice, what did you DO?" Bella was yelling now. Emmett was laughing so hard he could not take a breath.

"Well…I kind of…well… gave them to charity." Alice cringed.

"WHAT?? ALICE!! HOW COULD YOU?" Bella was screeching now. I was trying to whisper calming words in her ear and Jasper was sending wave after wave of calm in her direction. It didn't seem to be helping. She was shaking with anger and her fists were clenched tightly, including the one holding mine.

"I will buy you brand new ones, Bella, I promise." Alice exclaimed. "You will never miss your old ones, really." She was pleading now.

Bella was seething next to me and I could see she was doing everything possible to calm down. I nodded at Jasper and he sent another flood of peaceful feelings her way. It seemed to work better this time but I could see she was not able to speak yet. There were angry tears in her eyes.

Esme was reproachful. "You should not have done that, Alice. Bella has a right to wear whatever she feels comfortable in. Giving away all her clothes was inexcusable."

Alice hung her head. She did feel bad, though more about Bella's reaction than about giving away her clothes. She was excited about shopping for new ones for her. I knew that to Bella, shopping with Alice was like descending into the seventh circle of hell.

I rubbed my hand up and down Bella's back and she looked up at me. She was very unhappy about this but she was trying to be calm. She didn't want to continue to make a scene. I knew from her face though that Alice was going to be in big trouble when Bella finally got her alone.

"So…Did you enjoy Rio, Bella?" Carlisle asked. He was trying to get the conversation back to more mundane topics.

Bella took a deep breath before speaking. "Actually I did, once I found Edward that is." She smiled up at me. "He gave me a tour of the city and there was just so much." Her voice was more enthusiastic now. "We went to an open air market and there were so many things to see. There was even a monkey I thought about bringing home to you Emmett; you two seemed so similar I thought the two of you might get along." She grinned and Emmett guffawed loudly. Suddenly he jumped up to stand in front of Bella. Before anyone knew what he was doing he had lifted her up and was swinging her around in a circle.

"Good to have you back with us, little bit," he said, laughing loudly. Bella was laughing so hard she shook in Emmett's arms.

Rosalie pushed herself out of her chair and came to stand next to them. "Put her down and stop being such a jackass Emmett, if you can that is." She was smiling slightly as she said it and I could hear in her mind that she was happy to see Emmett so happy again. My leaving had taken some of the joy out of him and it was starting to resurface now and she was grateful.

Emmett lowered Bella gently to the ground and turned in a lightning quick move and picked Rosalie up. She got the same treatment Bella had but her laughter was a little more contained. "Put me down you big ox! Sheesh, if I didn't know better I would think you were twelve years old." There was amusement in her voice.

Carlisle came to stand next to Esme and she stood and wrapped her arms around him. I could hear that they were both overjoyed to have their family back together. Seeing the playfulness that had been absent for too long made them very happy. I looked over at Alice and Jasper. They were holding hands and grinning at Emmett's antics. Bella sat down on the couch next to me again and took my hand. Once again Jasper took her other one and I could hear how grateful he was to her for causing this change in our family.

Emmett put Rosalie down and they walked hand in hand back to the couch. Tanya's family was looking at us all in wonder and I could hear how shocked they were in the change that had come over us all. We were happy and carefree again. They looked at Bella with a new respect that delighted me. Seeing everyone in such high spirits had me ecstatic. I was more thankful than ever that Bella'd had the courage to come find me. I leaned over and kissed her forehead and she turned to smile at me. Esme's joy emanated from her in waves.

Suddenly Bella's stomach grumbled and the whole room heard it. Everyone turned to look at Bella. Her cheeks burned brighter than I had ever seen before and I was alarmed that she might actually faint from embarrassment.

"Sorry," I said. "I keep forgetting to make sure you eat." She looked up at me, mortified.

Esme spoke up. "Come on, Bella. We have plenty of food in the kitchen." She stood up and reached for Bella's hand. Bella took it gratefully. She seemed relieved as Esme led her from the room.