Chapter Sixty Four
Peter
I looked at the pair of them and had to smile, I'd never seen a more perfect combination and I turned to Charlotte,
"So my love, you're back?"
"Yes I'm back if that's OK?
"I love you Charlotte. Of course its OK. What about Cullen?"
"I was never going to Cullen. I just felt so guilty, having to be near made it all come back and I just couldn't cope any longer. Why do you still feel the way you do about me Peter?"
"Hey, it was a long fucking time ago. Shit happens, but he's really pissed me off this time. Em and Rose would have helped us, instead he sends the Volturi after us, knowing about Bella. What is going on in his head Char? Do you know?"
She shook her head,
"No but I'd like a few minutes alone with him"
"Oh yeah?"
"Not like that fool. I think he needs telling a few home truths. The saintly Dr Cullen isn't a God, he's a man and he isn't always right. Esme might see him in a different light."
"Do you think he's done it since?"
"I have no idea, possibly, who knows."
Jasper
I wasn't really listening to the conversation until Peter mentioned Carlisle telling the Volturi about where we were. Had he put Bella at risk? How dare he knowing what he did. I moved slightly to face him without waking Bella,
"Speak"
"Sorry Jasper you weren't supposed to hear that. I rang Carlisle to ask for help getting you out, I only wanted to get Em and Rose involved. Instead I got a text message from him telling me help was coming from Italy. So Char and I had to act fast, we had no idea if any Volturi guard were already in the country. Hence the smoke and mirrors, still it worked."
"Carlisle told Aro where we were?"
"Afraid so Major"
I turned to Char,
"I'm sorry Char but I heard the conversation and I have to ask, what happened with Carlisle? If you don't want to tell me I'll understand."
Charlotte
I always knew the day would come when I would have to tell him but I had hoped it was still a long way down the road.
"OK Jasper but please try not to judge me too harshly."
"How can I when Peter obviously forgave you whatever it was."
"Soon after we escaped from Maria Peter and I had a difference of opinion, about you."
I hesitated but decided what the hell it was good to be getting it out in the open,
"Peter wanted to go back for you. He was scared Maria might take it out on you for letting us escape."
He nodded wryly,
"Well she wasn't best pleased, still...go on"
"I was jealous".
"Jealous? Of me?"
"Yes but if you don't shut up I can't tell you the story"
"OK, Sorry."
"I was jealous of your relationship with Peter. He talked about you constantly, worrying about you, trying to persuade me to go back and get you. I refused and Peter went back on his own so I headed North, away from everything. Eventually I heard about The Cullens. A vampire Coven who were different. It was a chance to see if I could live differently and away from you and Peter so I got in contact with Carlisle at the hospital where he worked, I was too scared to turn up at the house. Dr Cullen was very understanding, he offered to help me and found an empty storage place at the hospital where I could stay until I could get cleaned up and respectable, I was still pretty mixed up and angry so I understood his concerns regarding his wife. Anyway, I stayed at the hospital for some weeks learning how to control my anger and my thirst, that was the hardest to do as you know. I told him all about Peter but I never mentioned you by name. I just told him I was jealous because my partner, we weren't quite mates then, was so close to another vampire. He was so understanding, so kind and one thing led to another, we became lovers for a while and I tried to forget about Peter. Then Carlisle told me he had friends who could help me in Italy if I wanted to travel. It was tempting and I almost agreed when I overheard a conversation he was having with Esme who I knew was his wife. She had her suspicions but he diverted her, telling her a tale about a desperate vampire who was crazy with jealousy but would be a good find for the Volturi because she was a fighter. Well I'd heard about the Volturi so I got scared. When he came to talk to me next I explained I'd overheard his conversation and I wasn't going to Italy. He got quite insistent and I was scared so I ran, back South to Peter. Hoping I'd never see Carlisle Cullen again, and I didn't for many years until..."
"I called you to Forks to look after Bella"
"Yes. I don't think he even recognised me at first but when he did he threatened that if I told anyone about him and the work he used to do for the Volturi he would tell Peter I'd been unfaithful and you that I was jealous of your relationship with Peter and ruin everything. If I'd have been thinking instead of just reacting I would have said the hell with it but I didn't and in the end I ran again."
"And are you? Still jealous of our relationship, Peter and I?"
"Sometimes. Sometimes I feel like an outsider looking in with her nose pressed against the window but its my problem not yours in all fairness, and now you have Bella its so much better. I don't feel like I'm sharing my mate all the time."
"I'm sorry I ever made you feel that way Char. I never meant to and in that case, knowing how you felt I should thank you for putting up with me at your house so many times. It must have been very difficult."
"It was at times but something changed radically a few days ago"
"Oh what? Is it to do with Bella?"
"Kind of, but not really. I rang Peter and he told me what had happened. When I put the phone down my first action was to get to Mexico as fast as possible. Not because Peter was going to be there or because he asked me but because you are my friend too and I realized I would never leave you in danger, with or without Peter, Bella too of course, but that's an entirely different thing. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you too Major, me in my own right, nothing to do with Peter. I have my own loyalty to you and I know if the circumstances had been reversed that you would have come for me."
"I would. You two and Bella are all I have. My family."