It's Murder/ Part 3/ With Or Without You

Chapter One/Prologue

BPOV

In theory, today is D Day, the day either my period should begin, or the first day that I start wondering if it is going to show at all for the next nine months.

I feel mixed emotions; in some ways I kind of hope it turns up and exonerates me from what I did behind Edward's back so to speak, but on the other hand, if it's a done deed, then too late. We just have to accept it; whether he buys that it was an accident or not is another story.

I feel like I should hold my hand up and admit I planned this; I wanted it to happen but I'd been too gutless to ask him.

I'm sure it won't cause any problem within our marriage because Edward is so besotted with Kristie that I know in my soul that however lukewarm he may be at the beginning, by delivery he will be the proudest man on Earth, again.

And he'd forgive me anything.

That's kind of sobering, knowing there's nothing I could do to make him lose faith in me and leave me.

I imagine at worst, his reaction might be that he wished I'd told him so he could have been aware he was creating the beginnings of a new life the many nights we made passionate love while I was determined to give this my best shot.

Just thinking about Edward's body...

Just remembering what he feels like inside me, filling me, bringing me to complete ecstasy instantly makes me damp.

Dammit, I should be at home, playing doctors and nurses with my husband, not driving from shop to shop here in Port Angeles looking for items of interest to dress up Dad's house so he can put it on the market and sell it.

It's become no longer required, now he and Sue are building their own home on the Res.

In a way, Charlie always belonged down there with his true friends. He was almost a Quileute in his soul. Billy Black is more of a brother to him than any blood sibling could ever be.

I have a feeling this might be the last favour he asks of me. Nowadays he sees me very much as Edward's wife and Kristie's Mom rather than as his daughter.

As if by growing up and becoming an adult has altered things in some way that probably happens to everyone, just you don't notice until it happens to you.

He's retired now, so why live in Forks itself and waste all that valuable fishing time travelling back and forth when he could be right where the action is?

I exit the car again and head for a little shop down a back alley where Jacob's wife Leah told me the shop owner has brought in a lot of her own knickknacks to sell seeing she is moving into a retirement housing complex and there won't be room for sentimental reminders in her new limited space.

This is what I need; not shiny new modern stuff. Charlie's house is no modern showhome; just a comfy middle aged cottage that never had it's own items of interest, seeing Mom never really lived there long enough to add any bits and pieces.

I open the door and walk in and immediately feel the presence of someone behind me, and my eyes are covered with a large hand as another hand pulls my back against his torso and I quake, ever aware that there are people out there who would love it if Edward and I, plus Rose and Riley, especially, just disappeared.

"Hey Bells,Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Jake says, releasing me instantly.

"Idiot," I growl, slapping him with my purse.

"Ouch. I said sorry. It was a joke, Bella."

"Yeah, and the stress we are under with the trial about to begin...," I splutter, realizing Jake knows very little about any of this.

"Oh, shit, I forgot. Sorry, Babe. Don't sic Edward onto me. I will behave. I'll do better than that; I'll spend the whole afternoon playing bodyguard and make sure nobody gets near you. What's Edward thinking, letting you out alone anyhow?"

"I'm not really in any danger. There's so little I can add to what Riley knows, it's almost irrelevant if I testify or not. I'm only a witness to the fact that Aro Volturi was in the business of selling humans, and compared to his nasty habit of killing them, it's kind of small fry. He'd go down just as well without me, so we aren't actually concerned about him wasting any of his henchmen on either of us.

Rose has a guard shadowing her, but she knows so much more about Aro's business than I do, it may be he'd be worried about her testimony. Anyway, Emmett's grounded her and is staying home from work until the trial is over."

"Any excuse to play with those boys of theirs. He probably wants to try out all their birthday toys himself, in reality."

"You could be right. Now, show me all this clutter Leah said would suit Charlie's house."

Leah was right, the ornaments and furnishings were just what Charlie's wife would have chosen to decorate with had she been anyone but Renee.

Mom had just had to serve her time until I was born before she ran off, so she was hardly going to spend her days prettying up the home she lived in so briefly.

I sorted through the hand embroidered tablecloths, and doilies, and added the prettiest ones to my basket.

Jake held up various vases and cute little animal ornaments, and I nodded agreement to a dozen or so and rejected the rest.

"What about the furniture? Charlie's old chair hardly shows that sitting room off to it's best potential," Jake smirked.

"Laugh while you can. He's moved all his furniture out, and we are using some tasteful pieces from Esme's interior design shop to stage the place for sale. And guess what? Your wife agreed to let Dad store his furniture at your place until his new house is finished."

"Leah agreed to having all that butt ugly crap in our house?" he asked in horror.

"Well, in your shed, anyway," I replied.

"Okay, you got your revenge on me for scaring you before, Loca," he laughed, relieved now.

"Good. I think we have enough. Let's pay for this and go grab a coffee. No matter how high end Edward's coffee machine may be, he'll never find one that makes coffee as good as Angela does."

"Amen to that," Jake agreed.

Angela's face lit up with delight when we entered her shop, and she rushed over to hug us both and ask after Kristie.

"I wish you had brought her with you. It's not the same just seeing all her photos on Facebook. I want to hold the real thing."

"She's kind of past the liking to be held stage," I admitted. "Ever since she discovered she could walk, she pretty much won't let anyone but Edward pick her up."

"Hmm, I can understand why she made that exception," Angela grinned. I'm not the only woman in town who thinks Edward is definitely the best looking man Forks has ever seen.

"So, any progress with Eric?" I asked. If that man doesn't put a ring on it soon, he will miss the boat.

"Actually, do you remember Ben Cheney from High School? He's invited me out on a date."

"Good. Eric had his chance," I replied.

"Yeah, not a lot of guys get that many years to man up," Jake laughed. "Ditch him. If he hasn't proposed by now,he's not going to."

Angela shrugged.

"So, Bella, how do you feel about selling the family home? I love having my parents still living in the house we all grew up in. I hope they stay there forever. I'm looking forward to taking my own children there to visit. The idea my future daughter may sleep over in the bed I slept in all my childhood, and play in my playhouse...it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. One day Mom and Dad will sit out on the porch in their rocking chairs and all their grandchildren will gather around them, listening to their stories about what little terrors we kids were growing up.

I mean, someday that will be me and my husband, and our own grandkids, hopefully," Angie sighed.

"I'll miss the place in a way but it's time to move on," I told her. " You would barely recognise it inside now, It's all professionally painted in neutrals, and has window furnishings from this decade; and new carpets that match in every room. And my bedroom...it's so different it doesn't really conquer up images of when I was living in it as a kid."

"Really?How have you setup the bedrooms?" she asked. Angie had visited all through our school years and had always wanted us to work together and update my bedroom 'decor' but I'd been too lazy. She'd had to settle for giving me a new poster every birthday to help hide another section of Humpty and friends.

"Charlie's bedroom actually looks great. It's surprisingly large, once we moved out the four trophy display cabinets, and his desk, and those two freestanding wardrobes. Esme put in a modern bed,which just looked too weird to me at first, after the crappy old four poster that had always been in there. He bought that bed in hope Renee would love it and stay."

"Yeah,well that was never going to work. A woman who wouldn't stay for her husband or child was never going to be tempted to stay for furniture. What's the new bed like?"

"Kind of 'Hollywood'. Its like a fabric covered sleigh bed. The fabric is black but it sparkles. Somehow it looks good, with all the bits and pieces of black and chrome accessories. Then my old room has been furnished like a Nursery."

"Some things never change," Angie chuckled.

"Well, it has a toddler bed and a crib, and the walls are just pale blue with white trim. It's the linen that makes it cute and little boyish. You could easily put a baby boy and his toddler brother into it."

"Bella," said Angela in surprise. "Don't tell me. You are feeling ready to add on to your family, aren't you? And you want a boy this time."

"Who doesn't?"Jake murmured.

"Oh My God. Is Forks about to experience a population explosion? I love babies! Oh, I so want one. How soon can I ask Ben how he feels about having a family?"

"I'd definitely wait until after your first date," Jake growled.

"So, how have you done the guest room downstairs?" Angela asked, glaring at Jake.

"Esme is a genius. She's gutted that room and turned it into a teenager's retreat. Put in one of those beds that tips up inside a closet out of the way by day. Made the downstairs wet room accessible through a new door in that bedroom so it's en suited, but still can be used from the original door as well, from the utility room.

She's done it up just like any teenager would love. Old guitars her boys outgrew up on one wall. State of the art music system. Now, if there had been any way my old bedroom could have looked like that, I would have agreed to you doing that makeover you always wanted to do."

"Gosh, it sounds great. You sure you want to sell it?"

"Edward and I have our own house now, and that's 'home'.

I don't need Charlie to hang on to his house just for me to inherit one day in the far distant future. I'll never need it, and he could use the money to add some home comforts to his new house.

I know he's lusting over one of those really big flat screens that everyone has these days. They are so big it will like he is actually there in the middle of the game, playing along with the team rather than just watching."

"Poor Sue. If there's anything that drives me nuts it's men watching sports," Angela laughed.

"Yes, well, Edward has suggested to Sue that she allows him to pay for a proper man cave for Charlie in the basement of the new house. As our housewarming gift. He can hide down there and it will be like he doesn't even exist and Sue can have the whole house decorated to her taste upstairs, and have her sister's visit for tea parties. It'd be a gift to them both."

"Just like a woman, wanting the inconvenient husband out of sight," Jake growled.

"Sue will probably be grateful just not to have to have that chair of Charlie's in the real sitting room," Angela giggled.

"Oh, Jake has The Chair at the moment. Who knows, he might fall in love with it and not want to give it back," I teased.

"No chance, Bells. Leah and I have different taste in furniture. Kind of anything not dumpster chic."

"So, when can you bring Kristie in to visit her Auntie Angie? I have kid sized cookies and bubba chinos for the little ones. No caffeine involved."

"I will do that real soon," I promised. "Of course, today she is having one of her 'more active days', as Edward calls them. Anyone else would say 'hyped up on a rampage of destruction' but Edward thinks everything she does is cute."

"Aw, he's such a big softie. I always said you'd never settle for any of the boys from Forks High, now didn't I? I always knew you'd go out there into the world and marry some awesome guy and not get stuck living here in the sticks like the rest of us."

"Well, you got it half right. I did leave town to find my man but somehow look where we ended up. I am truly happy about that though, after experiencing life elsewhere. This feels like one of the last safe little towns where nothing ever happens but it's a good thing, you know?"

"I suppose your job showed you there were a lot of worse places and ways to live," Angela agreed. "Oh, did I tell you about Tyler and his latest girlfriend?"

"You are so lucky that you moved away and nobody here knows anything about the men you dated before Edward," Jake growled. "It's like living in a fishbowl here. Your entire romantic history documented for the whole town to judge and approve of, or not."

"That's right," Angela pondered. "As far as anyone here knows, you and Jake were together for High School, then...nothing. No details until you came back a respectable married woman with a hot husband."

"Believe me, there was nothing and no-one worth talking about in between," I assured her.

It was nice, just sitting around chatting and catching up with the news and gossip. Angela tended to hear about every event, scandal and happy occasion from several different points of view from her customers.

"Well, I think I can safely say my eyes won't close tonight , after three coffees. I should head back and 'dress' Charlie's house with this stuff we bought today, and head home. I'm on Kristie duty tonight. Edward's back working shifts again now she sleeps all night."

"Oh poor thing, fancy having to actually hold down a job again," Jake sarked. "I have never heard of any other man taking over a year off to be with his kid."

"Would you have liked that, Jake? To be home every day when your girls were babies?" Angela asked.

"Um, no, I guess I was kind of glad that I had to work," he admitted. "Babies are women's work."

"It's so cool, knowing you are such a modern father," Angie retorted. "My husband will help out 50/50 with our children when they are small."

"And she wonders why she isn't married," Jake laughed.

"Okay, for that remark I assume you are paying," I replied, "And you had better leave Angie a nice big tip or she won't let you back here again."

"Sorry Angela. I would marry you in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the small matter of my wife and kids."

"Like I'd marry you, Neanderthal Man," she answered.

Jake and I split up at the carpark and he got on his Harley and left first, while I ran into one last shop and grabbed a House Design magazine that featured the Retro look I was hoping to achieve.

I drove back at a leisurely pace, mentally picturing where various props would look best. I would definitely call around to the house every day while it was having it's Open House inspections, and pick fresh wildflowers to put in the two yellow jugs I'd bought. One in the sitting room on the new white coffee table, and the other in the kitchen, I decided. Or maybe sitting in the two front windows on their wide, old fashioned sills, so you could see them from the street.

xxxx

EPOV

This is the time I will always look back on with the fondest memories, I knew. Our daughter was just so fascinating at this age. Always discovering something new in her little world.

She was ripping flowers from Bella's least favourite garden bed, so I let her go at it, knowing my wife intended changing the plants next week anyway.

Bella was going to plant up a rose garden and was just waiting for the right time to bed the rose plants, so it wasn't as if these flowers had a long life expectancy.

"Oh, Dadda," Kristie said, suddenly halting, the flowers in her fat little fist forgotten as they fell to the ground and she moved in closer to examine something that had caught her eye.

She looked at whatever it was intently, then looked at me, baffled.

"Bufferfly, Dadda?"

I got up and went to see what she was looking at.

A small red ladybug was sitting on a daisy.

"Pider? Bug?" she asked.

"Bug," I agreed. "Lady bug. Isn't she pretty?"

"Pretty," she echoed, clapping her hands together.

"Leave it be. She will fly away home to her babies if you don't touch her."

"Don't touch," Kristie agreed, but the way her fingers were flexing excitedly spoke of her desire to catch the bug.

"Come over here and we'll pick some pretty flowers for Mommy and give them to her when she gets home."

"Momma."

Kristie's eyes lit up at the thought of Bella coming home to us and together we managed to salvage a decent enough bunch from the plants she had decimated.

She bent over and gently picked up individual blooms and handed them to me, and I snapped off their stems to a manageable length and added each to the bunch. It still amuses me that my wife, who could have dozens of red roses delivered daily, prefers bunches of random wildflowers.

She's so different in every way to the girls I dated when I did relationships. I laughed out loud at the idea of handing over this tatty bouquet to Rosalie, for instance. If they weren't two dozen long stem red roses neatly packed in a box, she didn't consider them flowers at all. As much as we'd enjoyed our short romance, I clearly recalled how high maintenance she had been and how expensive to please.

She was Emmett's Barbie now, and I didn't envy him at all, living in that stark all white mansion.

Who wanted to live in an ice cave? Even the carpets were stark white.

God knows they will need another housekeeper or two to keep everything 'just so' and spotless as their boys grow, and play outdoor sports, then run inside with their muddy shoes.

Scratch that. No doubt Rosalie will hire someone to strip the boys naked and hose them down on the front porch.

I smile at the possibility despite their problems, that they may end up with a houseful of children. I guess as long as Siobhan is willing, my brother will always want 'just one more', whereas Rose may well be satisfied if this next baby they are planning is a girl.

Naturally listening to all their plans makes me wonder if Bella will ever come around to the idea of us having another child.

I do want more children, and surely Carlisle can find some form of medication or therapy to prevent me melting down like last time. I can still see the horrors I was subjected to nightly in my brain.

And Bella had been right.

They had not been some dark prophecy; some warning of imminent doom.

The pregnancy had been perfect.

There hadn't even been any little manageable problems, like most women experienced. No nausea, no vomiting, no weight loss, no migraines from the hormones; no bleeding issues.

Every pregnancy she had could be just the same, just as ideal. And if they weren't, she had two doctors on hand 24/7, and all the latest medical technology known to man.

My father refused to leave any new instrument or machine unbought just because this was a small hospital in a tiny town.

"Why should the patients miss out on the latest technology just because they choose not to live in the city?" he would say to justify every new scanner or diagnostic tool that was delivered. He could equip an entire second hospital just with the barely out of date machines that cluttered the hospital basement.

He was constantly donating them to a charity that found hospitals so under equipped they'd be grateful for anything, but I'm sure they rubbed their hands with glee whenever Carlisle rang to say the basement needed emptying yet again. Everything he passed on was barely used,only discarded because a new model had superseded it.

Rather like Emmett and his Jeeps.

My brother could run a thriving second hand car dealership with his cast offs.

Maybe I should buy a new car. Something more family orientated, to see how my wife reacted. If she wanted more kids, she would approve. If she didn't, I'd get a lecture for buying yet another car when the ones we had were still in immaculate condition and who needed a six seater anyway?

It was rather stupid that the one conversation I was loathe to have with her was about one of the most important aspects of our life together, but I guess I just didn't want to hear her say again that we would never have another child. She'd been so definite, and sure that she couldn't handle me not handling another pregnancy.

I hoped in time, she may find a way to trust that we would cope, as a team,and get to the finish line unscathed again, like last time.

Kristie noticed the dirt streaks on her frock and started rubbing at them, but as her hands were just as grubby, she was making things worse. I worked hard not to let her see my OCD tendencies about clean clothing. It was natural and good for kids immune systems to be challenged by this relatively clean dirt. We had no pets, so no animal droppings. This dirt was as clean as dirt could be.

"Do you want Daddy to give you a bath,and put a clean dress on you?" I asked, leaving the decision up to her. It was probably late enough to get her into her pj's, actually, and make one less chore for Bella tonight. We'd had a great day together, my daughter and I,while Bella took the day off domestic duties to set up Charlie's house. I missed her, though. Anytime we were apart were minutes or hours we'd never get back.

"Bath," Kristie nodded, standing up again and reaching for my empty hand.

"We'll put the flowers in a vase first. It seems Mommy is running late. She has to make Grampy Charlie's house all nice so some family will want to live there, and buy it."

"Gampy Charlie" she echoed, smiling.

I scooped her up and we set the flowers on the kitchen table in a vase, and headed upstairs.

Once we dispatched the bubbles and got Kristie all dressed in her new pajamas, I glanced at the clock.

Bella should be here by now.

"Yoo hoo, Edward," a voice from downstairs called.

I carried the toddler to the staircase and looked down at my younger brother's wife.

"Hi Alice. Bella isn't here yet."

"I know. She had a flat and had to wait for Jake to go back and change her tyre, and that call used up the last of her cell phone battery. He called me when you didn't answer your cell. She is rushing to Charlie's house as we speak, so I'm here to sit with Kristie until she gets home. I know you have a shift soon."

"Cheers. We are cutting it a little fine. I'll bring your niece down to you and get changed."

I checked my phone when I went upstairs and it was indeed, dead, too. And the line to the house was out.

Strange, but these things happen.

I had no time to hunt down my charger; I was almost running late as it was, and who knows where I'd left it plugged in last time I used it.

Dad was depending on me turning up on shift tonight so he could take Mom out to dinner. It was an anniversary, though not of their wedding or anything so normal and I shuddered to think what 'first' the occasion celebrated. Probably best I didn't know.

I knew my parents enjoyed an active and somewhat imaginative sex life, going on the websites Dad had let open on his computer at times, but still, they were my parents and I didn't want to think about it.

Once in my teens when my father had been lecturing me about inappropriate situations where sex was not permitted, I'd grumbled that I had no intention of waiting until I was married before indulging. Mom had surprised me by saying:

"Of course not, Edward. That would be foolish. It's best to know you and your intended bride are compatible in every way before the wedding. Your father and I..."

I'd covered my ears at that point and left the room.

They may have only ever slept with one another but they hadn't waited until the shiny gold bands were in place before doing so.

They weren't 'perfect' after all.

All the same, I knew it was envy talking.

If only it was the same for us. If sleeping with Bella before the wedding had been my worst sin, I could have lived with that easily.

Too late, but I so wished there was a way to make Kristie understand when she was older that everything you did in your youth was there, forever, no matter how much you may wish it away.

I wanted her to only ever know sex within love, at least, and it bothered me that I had no idea how to convince her of that without revealing how I knew going the other path would leave her with sour memories.

I kissed my littlest petal and wished Bella was here to kiss Goodbye as well.

How little did I know that this would be a regret I'd live with for a long time.

xxxx

Carlisle Cullen gently pushed in his wife's chair and sat down opposite her across the table in Bella Italia restaurant in Port Angeles. He'd had something a little more upper class in mind, but Esme had a longing for spaghetti, so here they were.

Celebrating another year of bliss together.

They ordered their meals, Carlisle choosing the mushroom ravioli, and he filled his wife's glass, then his own, and raised it up.

"To the first night of bliss we experienced together, and the many, many more; too innumerable to count, that followed. I love you more with every passing year, my Love."

Esme blushed, but with pleasure, not embarrassment.

At the time she'd had no idea that first times were not usually as ...satisfying for most females, but she'd only found that out later, when her friends confided in her and expressed relief that 'finally, it is starting to feel okay,and who knows,one day I might even enjoy it.'

She'd enjoyed it from the first.

Maybe because Carlisle was a medical student at the time and no doubt, knew all about female anatomy. He'd certainly known how to make it good for her as well as for himself. She would never forget the look of amazement on his face when he'd realized he had brought about her first orgasm, before his own even.

She hadn't seen him that proud again until she walked towards him down the aisle, and then each time a son had been born.

Everyone assumed she had hoped for a daughter amongst the boys, but she admitted to herself that being the Queen and never having to give up that title to a Princess had suited her just fine.

Not that she wasn't happy now having Bree as a daughter of a kind.

She even missed having her about the house this past week, since Marcus had insisted the girl needed a short vacation abroad, in protective custody, just until the trial.

There had been no threats or hints of violence of any sort, but Marcus was uneasy about how easily Aro Volturi had accepted his Fate and Bree was a living witness to the brutality of the man.

Even as she noticed the man himself walk towards their table, she naively assumed he was merely here with news of how Bree was enjoying her unexpected cruise.

Instead, Marcus walked straight to Carlisle, ignoring her words of greeting.

"Where are Edward and Bella? I need to contact them immediately."

"What's happened?" Carlisle asked in alarm.

"Riley Biers bar was blown up tonight. I am probably overreacting. It may have been a gas leak or something, but I'd prefer to take it as an act of warning, and get everyone involved out of harms way."

"Was Riley..hurt?"

"Sure, he's dead," Marcus replied, but Carlisle understood immediately. Riley had been long gone, hidden away, but if news got out that he was dead, so much the better.

"Edward's on shift at Forks Hospital and Bella's decorating her father's house," Carlisle replied.

"Their phones are not answering. I suggest you go and collect Edward and the baby and take them somewhere safe, and I'll collect Bella. We can meet up someplace out of town and decide where to go. Carlisle, I have a bad feeling about this.

I've had Rose and Emmett and their kids taken to a safe house, but for safety's sake, get every member of your family out of town tonight. As soon as possible."

Carlisle took his wife's arm and hurried her to the car. Esme was talking warningly on her cell to Alice, telling her to get Kristie out of Edward and Bella's house and they'd meet her on the path in the forest, and she was to call Jas and have him get their children outside and into the relative safety of the woods as well until they got there.

Carlisle drove like a man possessed, and caught up with his middle son in the hospital car park.

"Get in the car. We have to disappear for a while," he called across the distance that separated them.

Edward ran towards his father's car.

"Dad? What's happened?"

Edward climbed into the car as he asked, sensing the urgency.

He'd barely shut the door when an explosion rocked the vehicle, and Edward's Volvo erupted in flames.

"Fuck. Where are we going? We have to get Bella. I'm not going anywhere without Bella," he screamed at his father.

"Marcus will have her by now. We have to get Alice and Kristie. They are waiting in the forest. Edward, Bella will be fine. Marcus will have taken Bella somewhere out of town."

"God, Dad, I'm begging you. Please check. Just drive past Charlie's house. That route's no longer than the other. We'll be home just as fast."

They'd only just entered the street when they heard yet another explosion and Carlisle reversed the car and took the alternate road to their family compound.

Edward watched helplessly as wood and debris filled the road they were leaving, and Charlie's house was nothing but a fireball.

"Marcus' car wasn't there, he must have gotten her out already," Carlisle said firmly. Because anything else was unthinkable.

"Give me your phone, I have to contact Marcus," Edward yelled.

xxxx

Marcus edged along the narrow road and glanced at the house numbers. The white clapboard house to the right must be it.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he caught sight of Bella inside, fiddling with a floral arrangement on the window sill between the front curtains. Thank God.

Quickly parking his car a few house lengths away, he ran for the front door, only to be knocked off his feet as the blast erupted.

He lay there, dazed and almost deafened, feeling the blood return to his limbs as they felt the coldness of the damp grass.

His phone lit up and vibrated as it shrilled and he answered, not able to hear a single word the caller said but knowing it was Carlisle by the name on the screen.

"Oh God, I was too late. Bella was in the house! I couldn't save her, Carlisle. I saw her, standing there, fixing some flowers in a jug, and then... Don't tell Edward. Don't tell him until we get him away somewhere safe. I'll call when my hearing returns. I'm so sorry, Carlisle. More than I can say. I'm just so sorry..."

He wasn't even sure if the man was still listening, so he closed his phone and stood on shaky legs and backed away from the inferno.

He didn't even realise his cell had fallen from his grasp as he stood still in shock at the sight before him.

A ghost emerged from the bushes.

It had to be a ghost; nobody could have survived that blast.

He saw her mouth moving, but heard no words.

"Marcus," the apparition screamed, stumbling towards him, a broken yellow jug handle in her fist. "I just walked outside to pick a few more flowers in the woods, and..."

She faltered and fell and he rushed to her side.

Just then a car pulled up and Marcus yelled to his partner, Cass.

"She's alive. I think she's just in shock. I can't hear anything you say so just listen. No ambulance. We have to get her out of here. Call and have the helicopter meet us on the clearing in the woods. I don't want anyone associating it with this explosion. Grab her feet and be gentle, for God's sake. We need everyone here to assume Bella was killed in the fire. I'll call Edward myself."

xxxx

Edward almost dropped the cellphone and his mother turned to look at him.

"Edward? What? Tell me."

His mouth opened but no sound emerged.

"Is Bella okay,son?" his father barked, bringing him back to reality. A reality he could not yet get a hold on.

"Bella's dead. Marcus saw her get blown apart in front of his eyes," Edward said flatly, as though the words came from someone else's mouth. He tightened his hand around the cell and stared at it, as if he wasn't sure what it was.

"Right. We'll have to talk about this later, Edward. I'm sorry, son, but you still have a daughter we need to save. Give me the phone."

Esme climbed clumsily into the back seat and took the cell from his hand, handing it to her husband before wrapping her arms around her child.

Her husband was barking orders to Emmett, telling him no matter what, he was to meet them at the jetty as soon as possible, no matter what they had to do to elude the men who had taken them away, and she realised he was making plans to get them all away instantly, tonight himself.

"Marcus said to meet him...somewhere...he'll call," the disembodied voice of Edward continued.

"Like I'm trusting him with any other members of my family," Carlisle growled, tossing the phone out of the window into the undergrowth of the forest as he drove."The Cullen family look after their own."

"There's Alice and the baby," Esme cried in relief.

Her daughter in law handed Kristie to Edward, who grasped the child like the only lifeline he had left, and Jasper pulled up beside them.

"Jasper,you come with me. I have something we need to do. Esme, stay here until we return. Everyone just sit tight. We'll be back shortly. We'll be going to the jetty later, and heading to the island. Nobody knows that place exists outside of family, not even the tax man."

"Where to, Carlisle?" Jasper asked as Alice lifted their children from their car and his father sat shotgun.

"Pick up Emmett, then go to the Hospital morgue. Back entrance. Hopefully everyone will be too distracted by Edward's burning car to notice we are making some withdrawals."

"We are stealing dead bodies? Don't you keep some kind of records?"

"Sure, but seeing we have the largest hospital in the area, over the past few years all the unclaimed bodies for the surrounding towns have ended up in our freezers. I'll simply fill in the forms to show the ones we take had been sent for cremation at various times in the past. Nobody will notice, the paperwork will tally. I've always been in charge of that sad room myself.

Time for those unfortunate souls to do one last good deed for the living."

xxxx

It all went to plan, perfectly.

There were no unclaimed children's bodies, but Carlisle didn't think he could have borne to use them like this anyway. He strapped the long departed into their seatbelts and stood back.

He refused to let anyone take anything from their cars except their coats and the twin's bedtime 'blankies' and baby essentials. All other possessions, including their phones, were left inside.

Emmett inserted long braided fabric rag wicks into each tank opening and watched the petrol rise up and soak the material, before pushing the cars with their grisly passengers one by one to the edge, and igniting the wick. The tanks exploded halfway down the cliff face then the burning wrecks hit the water.

Edward barely noticed the explosions at all.

He sat there in a shocked daze, still clutching his child, kissing the top of her head repeatedly as his father and siblings 'killed off' the Cullen family.

He alone had refused to hand over his wedding ring.

Everyone else could cope with replacements, some time in the future, but Edward's ring had been placed on his finger by Bella, and she wasn't here any more.

There was no way he was surrendering her most meaningful gift, other than the baby.

He had Kristie, and he thanked God that Bella had not taken the child to visit Angela with her.

If not for Kristie, Carlisle could have stolen one less unclaimed male adult body, because Edward would have wanted to remain in one of those cars himself.

Carlisle took Esme's hand, and led the others through the dark on their long walk to the jetty.