Chapter Thirteen
EPOV
We're all stiff during the meal.
Or maybe it's just me.
Charlie speaks to me freely, asking if I've found a job yet, listening in rapt attention to every word I speak, every word my parents speak. They talk about the difference between Illinois and Kentucky. They talk about jobs. They talk about business and finances, how the economy is in the shitter. They talk about everything other than the giant elephant sitting in the room.
And as they talk, I'm on the edge of my seat. Stabbing my fork deep into a loaded, baked potato, I'm halfway focused on the conversation around me, distracted by my own thoughts and by the whining voice of the kid sitting beside me.
"Your food sucks," he says, picking up a roll and chunking it at Bella. It smacks her in the chest and lands in her lap. Mouth agape, she stares at the kid for a couple of beats, her face reddening, his laughter reaching a crescendo.
Mary Alice says nothing. She butters her own roll and picks it apart with her blood-red fingernails between glances at her cell phone. Jasper is still absent, yet no one seems to care. Renee gushes on and on about him, telling us all how he's working his way up the ladder to becoming a detective. Mary Alice rolls her eyes and wipes her buttery hands on the linen napkin.
"Control your child, Mary Alice," Renee mutters. She pats her linen napkin to her lips. "Honestly, you'd never know Mary Alice's father is a famous musician. That goes to show that a good family name doesn't necessarily mean decorum, but I'm sure you're well-aware of that, aren't you, Esme?"
Renee turns to her meal as though she not only insulted Mary Alice's family, but mine as well. Placing my fork on my plate, I lean forward and plant my elbows on the table. Renee glances at the improper posture of my body, but says nothing. Scraping and scratching her knife against the plate, she cuts off a piece of meat and pops it in her mouth.
"What makes you say that?" Esme asks, raising her right eyebrow. My eyes widen and I shoot Bella an 'it's on' look across the table. Bella's face pales and she stands, her hands shaking. She gathers the plates around the table, stacking them high in her hands. The table is silent other than the clatter of dishes as she walks away, only to quickly return with an apple pie.
"Who's ready for dessert?" she asks.
"I'd love a slice of pie," Esme says. She stands and takes the pie from Bella, murmuring for her to sit and allow her to serve it. Renee tenses as Esme towers over her. She never raises her head, not even when she turns down the slice my mother offers her.
"Oh, come on, Renee," Esme says, plopping a piece in front of her. "You daughter is an excellent cook. You should try a slice."
"Bella? An excellent cook?" Renee laughs, shoving the plate away. "You have my daughter mixed up with someone else. Bella doesn't even know how to make toast."
"Probably because you never taught me how to cook, Mother," Bella mutters, taking her place at the table.
"Oh, get over yourself." Renee rolls her eyes, raising her chin. "My mother never taught me how to cook or do anything, really. She was always too busy. You should thank me for giving you room to learn on your own, to be so independent. And that strength came in handy, didn't it, sweetie? If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had the strength to make it through the tragedy you experienced not so long ago."
Bella's cheeks redden and her face crumbles. She fixates on a slice of pie in front of her. My mother's fingers drum against the table.
"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" I say, unable to bite my tongue. "Sugarcoating an insult with your pathetic excuse of a compliment."
"Edward," Carlisle warns.
"Renee says things when she's upset." Charlie's stare is on his wife. Firm, unrelenting. "Things she shouldn't. When she hurts, she strikes out at others."
"No offense, Mr. Swan, but I've done nothing to hurt your wife. I'm assuming she's angry because she's still under the illusion that I somehow caused the wreck-"
"Do not speak of the wreck in front of me," Renee says, picking up the napkin and dabbing her dry eyes. "How dare you speak so freely of my son-in-law and grandchild's death."
"Jesus Christ," Mary Alice mutters below her breath. "Quit acting like the family martyr. How about telling everyone the real reason why Eric was in such a rush the morning of the accident."
The room goes brutally silent, all eyes on Mary Alice. Her demon child claws into his slice of pie, shoving handfuls of the dessert into his sticky mouth.
"Like they don't already know," Mary Alice says, scrolling through her phone, "about you and Eric."
"Son of a bitch," I whisper.
"Oh, he said a dirty word," Eli says, grinning and pointing at my stunned face. "He said a dirty word, he said a dirty word. Bitch. Bitch, bitch, bitch."
Charlie sighs and shoves his chair from the table. Shoulder slumped, he tosses the napkin from his lap and disappears into the den. Glass clinks together. Liquid sloshes in a glass. A door opens and the song of crickets fills the air, only to be cut off by the click of a closed door.
Carlisle reaches out and grasps my mother's hand. "Esme, Edward, maybe we should give Renee and Bella some alone time to-"
"Is it true?" Bella's voice is low, lethal. Gone is the timid, broken girl. Eyes narrowed, she shoves the chair back and rests her palms flat on the table, leaning toward her mother. "Is what Mary Alice said true? Were you fucking my husband?"
"Bella said a dirty word, Bella said a dirty wor-"
"Get that spoiled-ass kid out of my house right now, you self-entitled bitch," Bella says, pointing an unwavering finger in Mary Alice's face.
Mary Alice glances up for what seems like the first time since we've all sit down together. Mouth slightly ajar, she begins stuttering, protesting and spewing profanities as her son laughs and mocks her. Standing, I leave the room long enough to call a cab, returning as the room erupts in a fury of voices.
Renee rolls her eyes and tosses her hair. "You can't believe anything Mary Alice says. She's a drunk."
"A drunk just like your son." Mary Alice chuckles. "But I guess I can't blame him. I'd turn to the bottle too if my own mother, the woman who gave birth to me, asked me to cover up her indiscretions. Jasper's job was a little too convenient, wasn't it, Renee? Too bad you couldn't bribe the chief of police into ruling the death as Edward's fault, although you did try. What happened? He didn't find you attractive enough to fuck?"
"Mama said fuck, Mama said fuck," Eli chants. A flash of light behind the curtains casts a momentary glow in the room.
"Cab's here. Time for you to go," I say, helping Mary Alice from her chair.
"Come on, Eli," she slurs, dropping her phone. Sighing I pick it up and place it in her hand, only to pick it up two more times.
"Eli can stay with me tonight," a deep voice says from the doorway of the dining room. Charlie leans in the doorway, his eyes fixated on his wife. "Me and me alone."
"This is ridiculous," Renee says, sputtering. "Completely insane. You can't believe this- this- drunkard."
"Over the years," Charlie says, finishing off his whiskey, "I've come to find that a drunker a person is, the more likely they are to tell you the truth." He raises his empty glass. "Liquid courage, liquid honesty."
"You were sleeping with you daughter's husband?" Esme says, her voice rising to a trill. Mary Alice and I stumble past Charlie and I drop my head, unable to look him in the eye. Resolve masks his features, but I see the hurt below his carefully placed disguise, recognize the pain I've come to know so well.
"Guess I ruined your party," Mary Alice mumbles as I open the cab door. She stumbles, crawling inside. Curling her knees up to her chest, she wraps her arms around her leg and peers up at me from beneath dark, shadowed eyelids.
"Get some help," I say. "If not for you, do it for your kid, okay?"
Mary Alice smiles and it's true. There's no flirtation, no hidden agenda in the way she looks at me. "You're a nice guy. I'm glad Bella finally found someone like you."
She pulls the door shut and disappears behind the darkened glass. I stand stunned in the driveway, watching the taillights of the cab fade away in the distance. Hands in my hair, my throat tightens as her words repeat on a loop inside my mind, the first true complement I've received from a Swan woman.
Swan woman.
Panic build inside my chest. I dart up the driveway and into the house, uncaring about the smack of the front door against the wall. Voices rise and fall, my mother's louder than all other. Entering the dining room, I walk in just in time to watch my mother struggle out of my father's arms and slap Renee square across her jaw.
"God, it's worth jail time," Esme says, smirking. Carlisle uselessly wrangles her away. Renee clasps her hand on her cheek and moves away from the table, easing toward the den. "That'll teach you to talk about my son again."
"There'll be no charges filed, will there, Renee?" Charlie places a hand on his grandson's shoulder. Eli glances up at him from the PS3 in his hands. "Carlisle, Esme, I think my grandchild has seen enough for one night. I'm gonna take him home and try to teach him some manners. Renee, get in the car."
Renee drops her hand from her face and holds up her head, struggling to maintain some sort of dignity, I presume, although it's impossible to find her dignified with my mother's red hand print glowing on her face. "Yes, I believe it's time we go home."
"No, I said get in the car," Charlie says. "I said nothing about you going home. I said Eli and I are going home. You've got about five minutes to figure out where you're staying tonight."
Renee presses her lips into a fine line and shoves the curls from her forehead. "Just tonight?"
"Tonight and every night thereafter," Charlie replies. "And give Bella her house key back. My God, she's a grown woman for Christ's sake."
Renee grabs her purse and digs around inside, removing a set of keys. She unclasps two keys from the ring and tosses them on the counter, pausing as she brushes past me.
"One was for the pool house," she mutters, never meeting my eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Think about it." She saunters away, stumbling once on her heels. The door slams behind her and it's a sound of closure. I know deep inside that I'll never see the evil woman ever again.
"Edward, Carlisle, Esme, I have a feeling I'll be seeing y'all again soon." Charlie smiles, having no problem meeting my eyes. "And after that, I'm sure we'll only see each other on special occasions. Take care of my baby girl, Edward. Take care of my girl."
Reviews make Edward take care of Charlie's baby girl.