Chapter 54

The following day, everyone made it a point to linger around Alice, waiting to see if she would have a vision.

Carlisle was about to go up to her, but he could tell she was overwhelmed by the way she was carrying herself. He sensed she felt like she was letting down the rest of the family by not knowing anything. The last thing he wanted to to do was make her feel worse, and so he decided to give her some comforting words.

"Alice," he started, "Don't feel like you're letting anybody down by not knowing if something is going to happen," he turned and looked at the clock, which read only 9 a.m. "And it's only nine o'clock."

"Esme knew right away the next morning," Alice told him, "Remember?"

"It's still very early," he assured her, "Don't beat yourself up."

Rosalie and Emmett both sat next to each other on the couch. Neither of them had been badgering Alice. They both sat mostly silent pretending to watch the television.

"Esme did know pretty early," Rosalie finally said in a monotone voice.

"The time frames could have been different," Carlisle told her.

"Do you know the exact times?" Alice asked.

"Well I dropped off Nessy close to eleven that night I think," Jacob chimed in, "Remember, she came home from the bonfire when I told the stories about the eclipse."

"Okay, that helps," Alice said sincerely, she turned her focus back to Carlisle, "So, before or after Jacob came? I'm guessing before?"

Emmett snickered for the first time since the whole ordeal had begun. Jacob laughed briefly, too.

Carlisle's gaze dropped to the floor and Esme just nodded subtly.

"When did we go hunting?" Edward asked Bella.

She shrugged, "I really don't know for sure. Maybe around nine? Nine-thirty?"

"So nine thirty," Alice said, sounding a little bit like a lawyer trying to defuse evidence, "And I had my vision around six thirty the next morning. Not long after that, Esme felt something move."

"So there was about a nine hour span from A to B?" Jasper asked.

"It's been more than twelve hours this time," Rosalie said, still in a tone that did not give away her emotional state.

"Well, every human birth is different," Carlisle pointed out, " Some people give birth after eight and a half months. Some after nine. Some sooner, some later."

"There's no exact science," Edward said in a comforting tone, "Rosalie, you know that."

She sighed, " I promised I would react as calmly as possible, and to be honest, I have thought a lot about both possibilities," she looked at Emmett, "If this doesn't happen this time, we've been on this earth for how many years? I'm sure we'll get the opportunity again and again until we get it right."

Everyone was extremely shocked by Rosalie's words. They thought for sure by now she would be in a fit over the situation, which still was yet to be determined.

"I'm serious," she went on, "I'm just happy that this is a real possibility. I know that sometimes women wait months, or even years until they're able to get pregnant," she sighed again, unable to hide some disappointment in her face, "I do want this more than anything, and I suppose it could still be possible that I am, but if not then we'll go for it again."

Alice went up and hugged her sister tightly, "I'm sorry I haven't seen anything yet."

Rosalie managed a slight smile, "It's not your fault, Alice. You see what's going to happen, and if this isn't going to happen yet, then there's not much else anyone can do."

Bella felt bad for Rosalie and she could tell Edward did, too. They all took turns comforting her in their own ways.

" It's still not out of the question," Carlisle told her.

Rosalie nodded, " I know."

Emmett decided to pull her away from the rest of them to let her vent about the situation. He wanted to try to convince her that it was too soon to know for sure, but he decided to keep his mouth shut and let her do all the talking. Rosalie was a realist and the last thing cage wanted was people feeding her was, what she believed to be, false hope.

Edward sensed Rosalie's appreciation as Emmett motioned for her to join him. The two of them left the house, making it free for everyone else to talk and share their thoughts.

"I think we should make it a point to not talk about it much," Carlisle told everyone, "Because this kind of thing has only happened once to our knowledge, we really don't know the in's and out's of it yet. There's plenty of reason to believe that Rosalie may have a slightly different experience than Esme did. It's only been a half of day."

"I just haven't seen anything," Alice told him, "Nothing down the road. I've seen Masen older, but no new siblings."

"Still," he went on, "Let's let time tell what's going to happen. And the last thing Rosalie will want is all of us treating her with an over abundance of sympathy. It'll make her feel worse. Be kind, be yourselves and subtly make sure she's doing okay."

Everyone was in agreeance to what Carlisle had asked of them. Esme grabbed the car keys and asked him to go for a drive with her.

Edward was one step ahead and volunteered to keep an eye on Masen.

"They have to," Esme said when they pulled out of the driveway. Out of routine, she buckled herself up in the passenger seat.

"I hope it works out," Carlisle told her, making his way down the winding road, "But we talked to them about the different possibilities."

Esme shook her head and looked out the window, "But Aro..." She continued shaking her head.

He pulled her hand toward him and kissed the back of his gently, "Things will fall into place, Esme. They always do."

She continued to drift with her thoughts, staring at the trees as they whizzed by.

"Esme," Carlisle said.

She turned to him.

"It'll be okay. They'll have time. There's no cut off date like there is for humans. Besides," he went on, "There have been plenty of couples who I've seen over the years that all said they'd been trying to have a child for years and it finally happened for them."

Esme nodded, "I know, Carlisle. I just thought it was a fool proof plan. I know it's stupid to think that, but that's how it felt."

"It's not stupid," he told her, "You wanted it for them. You love them. It's only natural." He took his eye off the road momentarily to stare at her, and let his hand slide lightly over her cheekbone and jawline.

She smiled for the first time in the last day or so.

"Things will be okay," he reassured her.