A/N: Still Bella's point of view, as we hear from Edward.

Disclaimer: Are you kidding, Twilight owns me, ask my husband.

Chapter 6: Edward

BPOV

"I'll tell her," everyone turned around to see Edward standing in the doorway.

"Could everyone please let me talk to Bella and Elizabeth in private?" His velvety voice, the picture of calm.

A collective "Sure" rang out and everyone exited the house.

Elizabeth and I remained in our seats and Edward sat across from us. His scent is still intoxicating, Cinnamon, sunshine, leather, and musk. It is so much stronger to me now. I took a nonchalant deep breath just to bathe my senses in it.

"Bella, I can't believe you are not dead, and Elizabeth my daughter, I never believed it to be possible." We were quiet not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry for running out earlier, the damage I have done to this family is excruciating and at times it is better to leave, than make Jasper and everyone else suffer more than they already have." He looked lost in his own thoughts.

"Please be quiet until I get through this, it is hard for me too." He took a heavy breath.

"I need to tell you about a night in the forest." He threw my words back at me. "I lied to you that night I left you, I never stopped loving you, I never stopped wanting you." I gasped. "I had caused you so much pain, I could not put you at risk any longer. That night we made love, I was seconds from killing you, plus, what happened with Jasper. I felt the only way to protect you from me, from this damned life, was to leave you. I made my family leave and not look back. I asked Alice to stop looking in on you." He paused and took another heavy breath.

"I died that day Rose told me about your disappearance and funeral, Bella, I wanted nothing more than to end my own life, Alice and the rest of my family saved me time and time again. I know Rose told you all of this, so I won't go into any more detail." He was trying to form the words to continue.

"So, I guess Tanya became my distraction, my words defiantly came back to haunt me. I tried to be a good mate to her, but I knew I would never love her the way I loved you. She pushed me to marry her and I always refused. She felt left out being in a household full of mated married pairs, Rose and Alice never missed an opportunity to rub it in her face. Tanya knows deep down that we are never meant to be mates, she just couldn't let me go. To be honest I enjoyed her company, it was nice not to be the odd one out anymore. I just wanted to try to get back that sense of completeness I had with you, Bella, all those years ago. I was stupid and selfish to believe that I could ever replace what we shared. Believe me, I will never be able to replace you with anyone, for as long as I exist." I studied him, he is more beautiful than I remember.

"So I made huge mistakes with Tanya. I turned the other way when she sought comfort in another man's arms human or vampire alike. I felt guilty that I could not give her the love she desired. I may not love her, but I care about her well being. I never gave her the chance to be a good mate to me, I never let her in."

"About a month ago, Tanya sought out one of her many human male conquests. She has never told me exactly what happened, but somehow she killed him in the process. She disposed of the body and covered everything up. Well I guess she did not do a good enough job because they found him two days later, it was to late for us to do anything about it. Alice, did not see anything until they had already pulled him out of his shallow grave. So, if we would have tried to intervene it would have made things worse, every idea we came up with Alice shot down, sighting that it would just make it worse, we were in definite risk of being exposed."

"Of course, the autopsy concluded that he was drained of his blood, also about every bone in his body was broken. Not to mention that he had a crescent shaped mark on his neck. Alice is pretty confident that they do not suspect her or even suspect that a vampire took his life, because most of the humans still believe the myth that a vampire bite would only consist two puncture marks. So crisis averted, we didn't even have to move. He was buried and the police suspect a serial killer, because of the 'similarity' to other victims in Utah and Colorado. Then, Alice saw the Volturi coming. Irina told them of Tanya's indiscretion, so now they are coming to investigate. We called other coven's to stand with us so hopefully they will not pick a fight, because they want nothing more than to break up our coven. They perceive us as a threat. They just needed an excuse to 'check in on us.'

He looked right at Elizabeth.

"I know, sweetheart, Tanya made it very clear to me that Irina wanted to hurt me, by telling the Volturi." Elizabeth shot me a look, it was obvious to us that he could read her thoughts.

'I love you Edward, I love you Edward,' I chanted in my mind to see if he could read my thoughts now.

He didn't acknowledge me. Guess not.

"Wait, Edward, Kate said Carlisle heard rumors, at the hospital and someone actually saw her kill him. How could she have gotten the story so wrong?" I asked Edward, with a confused look on my face.

"This is a small community, just as Forks is, as you know there are many nosey gossiping people. The body was brought to the morgue at the hospital, and there was a lot of speculation. The people in the morgue were not good at keeping some of the brutal details of the autopsy quiet. Some guy claimed he saw this happen, but after the police interview, it was learned that he studied serial killers and remembered the similar cases in Utah and Colorado. It actually pointed the investigation in that direction. Carlisle came home and told us about the rumors, that some human might have seen her. Tanya was so distraught that she took off running, before Alice had the vision of the man helping the investigation. I know she spoke to Kate that night, I heard it in her thoughts, but the conversation Tanya was playing in her mind was of different subject matter." He looks dreamy, stop it Bella, "I would assume Tanya never called Kate with an update. Apparently, Irina told the Volturi before we found out that nobody really witnessed her mistake.

"I was the one who spoke to Garrett about the Volturi, I didn't give him any specifics." Edward continued.

He held his hands out to us, we obliged and placed one of our hands in his. The fire, the electricity, the longing, and the love I still have for him, burned in the connection of our hands. I realized he was speaking.

"Thank you for coming here. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me and my family for leaving both of you. I would like to be a part of your lives, no matter how small. Trust me when I say that this family will never let you two go again."

'Please, please stay here……' I realized that I was hearing Edward's thoughts.

We sat like that for what seemed like a long time, basking in the glow of our reunion. Edward continued to mentally beg us to stay here with him. He was picturing our wedding, a honeymoon to someplace called Isle Esme. I finally broke our connection. I wasn't ready for that. I believed for a really long that he didn't want or love me. I still feared rejection from him. It was too much too soon. If anything.

"I broke our connection Edward because I can hear your thoughts when I touch you. I can't make any promises, I'm not sure of where we go from here, but I think we can figure something out. I have forgiven you, Edward. I can't speak for Elizabeth, but I need time." He looked pained and dropped his head.

Elizabeth broke her connection too. "I can't believe I am sitting here with you, I have wanted to meet you for a long time now, I was just waiting for mom to be ready." Elizabeth said to Edward.

I shot her a look, she just continued to beam at Edward, great a daddy's girl. I chuckled softly to myself.

"It seems you have already dazzled your daughter, Mr. Cullen." I joked.

They laughed, continuing to beam at each other. They had an instant connection.

He winked at me.