"One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family."
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
3
I hoped that Rose knew how grateful I was for anything that she sacrificed over those years. I never got the impression that she resented me for being somewhat dependent at the time I was left without a mother, but it still worried me. They told me later that while Renee was not always terribly present when she did things with them growing up, at least she was there. She may have been late and forgetful and a little crazy, but she was still technically around for ballet recitals and high school stressors. They knew that it would be harder for me, with the complete absence of that in my life. Sure, I had missed out on some things, but to my mind, what my sisters gave me was so much more. It was not a duty; it was never asked of them. They helped me find my independence and an ability to stand on my own two feet with confidence. I didn't need a mom to hold my hand at every twist and turn, but I still had two sisters to go home to who would give me a hug when things went wrong, and then say now, be a big girl and get over it.
After my parents' separation, the divorce meant that we had to sell and move from the family home in Forks, Washington. Renee had largely lived off Charlie's income, and now she wanted half of everything to get herself established with her new boy toy. Our life as we knew it got split in two. While Charlie was fairly passive in the whole mess, they still couldn't settle on buying out the other's share, so basically everything got sold.
Once the homesickness abated, I saw that some good did come out of the move to Seattle. Charlie got a fantastic job with the Seattle Police due to his successful role as chief of police in Forks. It paid amazingly well, allowing him to get re-established comfortably after the divorce. In the year before the move, Rose had made the wise decision to attempt to progress her life and had finally moved colleges to the University of Washington. She was much happier knowing we would now be in the same town as her, coming to live at our new house with us to help her in saving for her own place. It only took six weeks before her boyfriend of seven months had moved in too. Emmett instantly clicked as if part of the furniture, and Alice and I could have sworn we'd always had a big brother.
Ten years later, Rose had her own place with Emmett a block away from Charlie's and had become Mrs. McCarty. When I finished high school, Alice had moved in with a handsome, charming Southern man who lived across the street from us. Every morning for six months she had shared a smile with Jasper Hale at the corner store, buying coffee or a newspaper or a fresh loaf of bread. One morning he was sitting at the table by the entrance with her coffee of choice and her favorite indulgence, a fresh pastry, on the table there in front of him. From that day on, they walked together in the mornings, discovering they had been through college at the same time, taken two of the same classes, and that Alice had done the interior design of the bar and restaurant that Jasper now co-owned. He proposed within nine months.
I finished my studies in literature and film at the University of Washington and had managed to land myself a sort of internship with an Oscar-winning screenwriter as prize for coming top in my screenwriting class with an A+ screenplay. I had found a talent, and good fortune was bestowed on me once again. As a result of a successful relationship with my advisor, he recommended me to a studio, and I was asked to work collaboratively on my first film. The author of the book in question was impressed and appreciative of the depth of knowledge I displayed for her writing. I was one of the youngest people to be given such a role when it was not their own story that was being developed. I had no idea where it would take me, but the initial experience was priceless.
I had just turned in the first version to the studio when the exciting path ahead of me seemed to crumble at my feet.