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Belmont Island, Maine

Sunday, March 18, 1951

7 PM

"Edward!" Bella breathed, crying tears of joy and relief as she fell into his arms.

"It's okay, my love," Edward muttered into her hair, her warm scent chasing some of the horrors he'd encountered away. "It's going to be okay."

"But…you're bleeding," Bella, who only then noticed the bloodstains on his clothes, stammered. "You're hurt!"

Edward merely shook his head, his eyes full of sorrow as he tried to speak, but the words wouldn't pass his lips. His throat was too thick with grief over the innocent young woman who'd bled out beside him.

"That bitch killed Angela," Jasper spoke, unhindered by the very sentiments that had rendered his friend speechless. "It was a trap set up to divide us and kill us off one at a time."

Bella gasped, her frightened eyes finding Edward's sad ones.

"Well, we can't say she didn't try," Rose muttered, checking for the third time that the door was back to its secured state. "In fact, the two of you just missed her."

"She was here?" Pushing back a little, Edward's eyes searched Bella's for the truth. When she nodded, he went on, "What did she do?"

"She tried to get in through the door. When she found out it wouldn't budge, she tried to goad us to open it." Bella shivered as the memories of that cold, evil voice drifted back into her mind. "She's really crazy…disturbed. I think if the two of you wouldn't have showed up when you did, she would have made another attempt to get around our defenses."

Edward nodded, his control slowly returning with the realization that the 'game' wasn't over yet. "We had a little chat with her ourselves. It seems she's somehow connected to Mike Newton."

"So what do you guys think she is?" Rose chimed in. "A sister?"

"Too old, I think." Jasper spoke, dismissing her suggestion. "Maybe an aunt or a family friend or something similar. His parents both died, didn't they?"

"I think so," Rose pondered, her attention going back to Esme, whom Rose had devoted herself to care for.

"Yes," Bella confirmed. Out of the entire cast and crew that had staged the production back in the day, she had been the only one to bother getting to know the shy, out of place boy. "They both died in a car crash when he was young. He didn't have any other relatives…he had no one."

"He must have had some sort of connection to her," Jasper insisted. "It's not like someone reads about his death in a newspaper and then just decides to go on a killing spree on his behalf. She knew things…"

"You mean she knew how you and Emmett tormented him to the brink of insanity?" Bella snapped. "Or have you forgotten what drove Mike to his drastic act?"

"I was only trying to build his character," Jasper defended himself, his tone of voice leaving no doubt that he actually believed his own words. "I know now that what I did was wrong and…and looking back on it, I can only be ashamed of what I was doing, but…"

"But?" Bella demanded, stepping out of Edward's hold as she challenged her former cast mate like she knew she should have done ten years earlier.

"Look, Bella, as stupid as it may seem, I thought I was doing a good thing." Jasper paused, running his hand through his longish hair before he continued, "Anyone could have seen from a mile away that Mike didn't belong on Broadway. He was a great actor with bags of potential. I mean, he could crawl into a fictional person's skin better than any one of us could but, when it came to his personality, he was too feeble and shy to hold his own against the cutthroat world of the stage. I thought…" Jasper sighed, looking Bella straight in the eye with a look that combined remorse with conviction. "I thought the sooner he realized that, the happier it would make him in the end."

"Only it didn't," Rose added, sighing as she took a moment to ponder her own share in what happened to poor Mike. "We were all young and stupid back then—not that it's any excuse for what we did."

Bella smiled sadly as she thought back on the few moments she'd spent with young Mike. "We all failed him."

"Yeah, that's all fine and dandy but who the hell is after us now?" Jasper spoke up, his remorse obviously short-lived. "If it's not a parent or a sister, then how did she know him?"

"You could always ask her," Rose sneered sarcastically. "When she left us just now, she pretty much promised to be back, and Bella and I can testify to the fact that she has no problem whatsoever answering questions. In fact, she's a regular chatterbox."

"How's Esme doing?" Taking his eyes off Bella for the first time since he'd stepped into the room, Edward diverted his attention to the suffering woman.

"She's a little better," Rose answered, her hand brushing over Esme's clammy forehead as the woman herself groaned faintly. "A little calmer, though I fear she's still in pain. I wish there was more we could do for her."

"We can get her through this," Edward offered. "We take care of her for as long as it takes and then get her the care she should have had from the beginning, had it not been for that vile woman!"

"Amen!" Rose muttered, her attention back on Esme as she pressed a wet cloth to her forehead. Deep down inside, Rose doubted whether or not she would ever see another morning again. Sure, they were safe inside the room they were in, but for how long? Being a longstanding servant at Belmont, Mrs. Cope probably knew every single nook and cranny of the house and Rose would have bet she had a set of keys, as well.

And even if they somehow managed to keep that madwoman out of the room, there was still the pesky little matter of having to get to the dock the next morning before Mrs. Cope managed to slaughter all of them and the boatman, too.

And just when her life was finally looking up…

Part of Rose knew she should probably have felt more grief at the loss of her husband—the man who still lay upstairs in his bedroom with a knife sticking out of his chest. Still, the years during which she had been tied to him offered her no good memories at all to feed her mourning. Instead, his constant cruelty and the humiliation at having to endure his mistresses walking in and out of her house as if she didn't even live there made her feel like the chains that had tied her to a prison of unhappiness had finally been broken.

She was free.

Free to pursue a life she had been dreaming of for so long.

Free to fall in love with a man who inspired and cherished her.

Free to live her own life and be her own source of happiness.

But would she ever get to live that life?

Would she even outlive her hated husband for more than a day?

Sighing to herself, Rose got back to the task she had put upon herself. At least in focusing on another human being, she had managed to keep the blind panic at bay.

"So what do we do now?" Jasper asked, his eyes scanning the room for weaknesses in their defenses. He had to admit that the women had done an outstanding job in barricading the doors and windows. The night would prove whether or not their defenses would hold up.

"We wait out the storm, I guess," Edward offered, sitting down next to Bella. "And I suppose we should try to come up with some sort of plan for tomorrow."

Jasper nodded as he fell into a plush looking armchair that was pushed up against the door as a barricade. He needed to think; get his head around everything that had happened and everything that was probably going to happen. But the long and strenuous hours awake had taken a toll on his brain and his mind was spinning. "I think we'd do better to try and get some rest before we make any attempts at coming up with a plan. We need our wits about us. Can you take the first watch while I get some shut-eye?" When Edward nodded, his eyes fell shut as he felt himself being pulled under. "Wake me in a couple of hours?" he managed to get out before dropping into a deep, black sleep.

Meanwhile, Edward and Bella had settled in on the sofa; their whispers hushed as the lamp-lit room around them became quieter and quieter. "What are you going to do when you get home?" Edward asked, keeping his mind active as a way of keeping sleep at bay.

Bella smiled, knowing the double purpose his words served. "The first thing I'm going to do is hug my son. Then, I'll take a long, hot bath to wash the stink of this island away."

"Sounds great," Edward muttered, his eyes faraway as he stared off into an invisible distance.

"What about you?" Bella wanted to know, toeing off her shoes as she pulled her legs underneath her body.

Shrugging, Edward let out a deep sigh. "A bath sounds nice…"

"You don't have anyone to go home to?" Bella wondered. She knew that he didn't have a significant other waiting for him but she did hope there was someone.

Edward shrugged, his loneliness so common to him that he didn't feel the same sentiments that tore at Bella's heart. "Not unless you count my money-hungry agent or the woman who comes to clean my house three times a week."

"You should come with me!" Bella had blurted it out before she could check herself, though after she'd recovered from the shock of spontaneously opening her home to a man she should have been much more wary of, she realized it actually felt right. Still, she blushed as she hurried to tone down the offer a little, even if just for propriety's sake. "It's not as scandalous an offer as it sounds. I mean, not to brag or anything, but my home is big enough to get lost in, and with all the staff running around we'd hardly ever be alone. Not to mention my former mother in law…" Inwardly, Bella cringed at the thought of what that mighty dragon was going to say if Bella showed up with a man in tow. Then again, Bella had never been able to put a single foot right in the eyes of the magnificent Mrs. Black no matter how hard she tried. It was about time she gave the old battle axe something to really sink her teeth in.

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" Edward asked, both humbled and honored by her kind offer. "I don't want to put you out and…and your son?"

Bella sighed, choosing her words carefully as she opened her heart along with her home. "Yesterday evening, you made me a promise. If you truly meant what you said, it's inevitable that at some point you're going to meet my son…my Jake. I just hope…" She let out a huge breath, averting her eyes towards some distant point beyond the room. "If there is any doubt in your mind about me or about a long-term future plan, then don't come with me. Because if you hurt my son in any way, I'll never forgive you."

"I'm sure." Grabbing her hand, Edward forced her eyes back on his. "I won't let you down. If you're really sure about give us another try, letting me prove I've loved you all along, even when my despicable actions spoke otherwise. I'm not saying I won't mess up along the way, though. I mean, I've never been in a serious relationship or even been around kids for a longer period of time. But I am saying that I'll try my best."

Pulling her into a hug, he let the warmth of his touch tell her what he was lacking the words to express to her: how grateful he was to be given another chance.

How determined he was to prove himself as a lover…a person.

What he could do then, however, was make her a promise, even if he had no clue as to how he was going to keep it. "I'll get us out of here, love. As long as there's a breath in my body, I'll make sure we get off this island alive."

Little did he know just how soon his words would be put to the test.

Who's ready for the big finale?