Chapter Four

Charlie

Deciding there was nothing I could do about this mystery I set it aside and my life ran smoothly for a while after that. Forks was a quiet town really without any major crime and that's just the way I liked it. I knew just about everyone and they knew me, knew I was fair but also that I didn't put up with any messing around. All I needed to make my life complete was a girl but when I met Renee and took her home my mother disapproved. She wasn't a local girl and she was a runaway, two strikes against her straight away but I loved her and asked her to marry me. I was a lowly cop then and I knew everyone was looking for me to step into my fathers shoes in the future and I guessed I expected it too, I had ambition. Forks was home and now I had a wife and a house my life seemed just about perfect with just one little niggle. My mother still disliked Renee and made no attempt to hide it.

"She's cheap Charlie, you could do so much better."

Renee to her credit did all she could to improve the relationship and I think when mum found out Renee was pregnant they actually did improve, for a while at least. Until that is my mother made it quite plain that she felt she was better equipped to plan things for the baby's arrival than we were and while I didn't care if she chose the colour for the nursery or the mobile for the crib Renee did and the old animosity reared its ugly head once more.

When Bella was born my mother was over the moon and tried insisting we called her May-belle, an old family name which went down about as well with Renee as a dose of the flu.

"It sounds like a cow for Gods sake"

When mum found out we had named our baby Isabella she was horrified,

"Isabella? That's Italian. What's wrong with a good American name?"

"Like Jane as in Calamity or Bonnie as in Parker?"

I groaned and closed my eyes waiting for the verbal sparring to intensify but my mother just left shutting the door rather loudly on her way out.

"Renee was that really necessary?"

"Whose side are you on Charlie? You should be standing up for our choice not letting that old witch try getting the better of me"

I'd had this argument before and I knew there was no way I could win so I slunk down to the basement and made myself scarce for a couple of hours. When I finally ventured up again they were gone and there was a note on the table,

"See you later. Isabella and I have gone looking for fairies."

I knew Renee was mad, she only looked for fairies when she was angry, she said it calmed her down and I fervently hoped she saw a few today. When she got back Bella was fast asleep in her buggy but I couldn't resist taking her out to cuddle her delicate warm little body against mine. I loved my daughter so much and I would make sure nothing ever hurt her. She opened her eyes and gurgled clutching at my finger with her own chubby ones and guiding it to her mouth to suckle. Renee went out to warm some formula and I fed her, this was my favourite time of the day, when there were just the three of us, the beginnings of the next Swan family.

But of course my contentment was short-lived, my mother continued to bitch about Renee and the way she was handling Bella, feeding Bella, holding Bella... until in the end there was an enormous row with both women becoming heated. I took Bella upstairs so she wouldn't be upset by the raised voices and coward that I was stayed there with her asleep in my arms. I heard a door bang a little while later and looking out the window I saw my mother get into her car and rev it violently before driving off. Leaving it a little while I put Bella in her crib and went slowly downstairs to find a white-faced Renee making coffee. She banged a mug down on the table for me and took her own into the lounge so I followed.

"You OK?"

She glared at me,

"Where were you Charlie while your mother was calling me names and telling me I was hopeless as a mother? I didn't see you defending me, do you agree with her?"

"Of course not. I just didn't want Bella upset by the noise."

"Oh, but it was fine for me to be upset? Great"

I felt as if I were stuck firmly in the middle of all this when my promotion came through, Deputy Chief of Police. It meant more money but more responsibility and that in turn meant spending more time away from home leaving Renee to deal with my mother alone. While I was thrilled at my new position I was worried about the situation at home but then I received a letter from the family solicitor that drove it from my mind. The cover note said he'd been asked by my father to keep the enclosed envelope until or unless I was in a position of power in the Forks Police Department when it was to be forwarded on to me. I recognised my father's hand writing on the envelope and wondered what the hell this was all about. My father had never been into dramatic gestures so why a letter now? I put it in my pocket and didn't it until I was in my office alone. I didn't know was in this envelope but I had the feeling I wanted to read it alone.

Dear Son,

You'll probably think I should have told you this before, a long time ago, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Over the years I've been tempted but its been so quiet in Forks with no more visits by THEM, no more deaths attributable to them. Please read the enclosed pages from my journal before continuing with this letter.

I read the missing pages from his journal feeling I was dropping into an alternate universe as I did so. He had seen something the day his father died, he'd seen the killers and their deaths in turn. It wasn't that fact that confused me but the nature of the killers. Was I supposed to believe that my grandfather and his friends had been murdered by vampires? And that these vampires had been killed in turn by were wolves? If I hadn't known what a level-headed man my father was I would have thought this merely a tactless joke or the ramblings of a sick mind. But I couldn't deny that it had been written by the young boy in his journal the day after he witnessed his father's death.

Now you know what I saw. I'm going to tell you next what I was told. The Quileute wolf pack was only there by accident because I was with my friends from the reservation. It was those friends the wolves were seeking to protect, not me or the other humans. The Quileutes are not to be trusted, not with your life anyway. I hope you understand now why I cannot bear to be friends with them. Jeremiah's father was the one who told me this when I confronted him. Knowledge of the vampires is as deadly as the creatures themselves. The only way to avoid death is to firstly tell no one about this letter and secondly if you should find yourself under attack by such creatures and you are close enough to the reservation attempt to cross the boundaries. If the wolves are close by they will kill any vampires for fear they will attack the tribe and that may coincidentally save your life. If not then close your eyes and pray Charlie because they will kill you. I tell you all this now because I am no longer there to keep my family safe and you have taken on a role as protector of our town. If ever the animal attacks start again then may God help you because no one else who can will. I love you son and ask your forgiveness for keeping this from you.

Your loving father,

Samuel Swan.

I sat there the papers falling from numb fingers as I struggled to understand all that he had told me in the letter. I didn't know what to do but I had a family to protect and provide for now plus there was the trouble with my mother which wasn't helping matters. All I could do was pray the animal attacks never started again.