Usual disclaimer applies.

March, 2012

~74~

I gasp quietly, a wave of ice spreading through me.

Mom?

He's found Mom?

The woman who I've had to push from my mind for the last two years? The woman who I've had to force myself to forget, force myself to only remember the bad things about, so that it wouldn't hurt so damn much?

"What…How…?" I can barely speak.

"I had to get really creative, I admit. Renee must have been listening really carefully over the years, you know, to my stories, to police talk. She literally perfected how to disappear. No credit card use. Switching license plates. Using a friend's ID. She's done it all."

"Where is she?" My voice sounds completely foreign, and I think I only caught a few words from what Dad just said. It's like I'm underwater, like I'm frozen.

He blows out a breath. "In Texas. Staying with an old college friend. She…drinks. Well, Elizabeth said it's worse. Worse than when she lived here."

"And Elizabeth is her…?"

"Friend." Dad nods.

So Mom drinks. It really shouldn't surprise me. A day never went by without her needing wine, or beer, or hard liquor, in the evening. When her and Dad were in their twenties, their friends would be so impressed by how little Renee could drink them under the table. After Renee had me, the drinking became more of a private matter. And I can't say I noticed much. I was just a kid. It was a part of Renee, part of crazy, scatterbrained Renee.

And with Dad having a beer most evenings too, it really hadn't been such a big deal.

But now...

Despite my whirring thoughts, the shock of knowing my mom is no longer missing, I wonder just how bad it has become. I worry.

No.

I can't go there. Renee has been found solely for the purpose of our case. To help us fight Esme Cullen. She stopped being my mother when she ran off without confessing to Dad, without doing something to protect me. Because despite Renee's apparent wishful thoughts, her leaving definitely helped me in no way when Esme decided to break up Edward and I.

So I turn to face Dad, my face hard and resolute.

"Is she going to come? For the trial? To help you get Esme arrested?"

Dad's face turns mournful when he sees the direction I have taken the news.

All business.

"Bella. Your mother has missed y—"

"No, Dad. I really don't want to hear it. Is she going to come for the trial?"

And Dad surprises me more than ever. He lays his head down on his arm, and speaks almost silently. "I will never forgive her. For hurting you. For leaving her only daughter behind. The other stuff, the cheating, the lies, it just pales when I think about what she has done to you. I am so sorry, Bella."

And I can't help but soften, just a bit. Warmth begins to spread through my limbs, pushing out the ice cold that was residing.

Thank God for my dad.

"Dad, if I didn't have you, it could have been so much worse. Don't-don't apologize. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't."

And the emotions and the tension in the kitchen is way too much to handle. Spinning on my heel, I escape, making my way up to my bedroom, to something that doesn't change, that doesn't knock me flat.

I fall face down on my bed, burying my face into my pillow. A second later, my phone vibrates. A text message.

Bella. She will be coming for the trial – Dad.

A/N: Hi everyone! I just received VERY exciting news. This story has been nominated for an Emerging Swan Award for the category of Best Adventure/Mystery/Crime/Western/Historical. I will put the link to the website on my profile. If you are enjoying this little story, I would LOVE if you could go and vote! Voting begins on the 12th and goes until the 21st. Thank you so so much! :)