Chapter Twenty Seven

Peter

When we got back from our hunt the other two were waiting for us and it was good news,

"We'd like to join you back in Oregon when you go back, if that's OK?"

I looked at Char and winked,

"Well that depends"

"On what?"

"How long you're staying. I'm not moving the hay and feed stuff out of the bedroom if you're only staying a few weeks. Make the rats homeless... it's just not on"

She smiled and came over to give me a hug.

"Thanks Peter"

"You don't need to ask, The Major owns half the house anyway."

"I just wanted to be sure we'd be welcome after his last visit"

Peter snorted,

"Bella you are a massive improvement on Alice, trust me. It'll be nice having him back anyway, give me someone to ride with and back me up when Char starts"

"Don't forget you also get me to back Char"

"True...in that case...Oh hell, why not, I love a challenge. By the way did your Dad get home OK?"

"I don't know I haven't heard anything yet, Why? Was there a problem at the Airport?"

"No but Carlisle rang to check Charlie had left. Billy's getting tired of deflecting the heat from your Mum I think but no ones heard about picking him up at the Airport."

"That's odd, he was going to ring Billy before he flew out, I guess he forgot and his plane was landing in the middle of the night so maybe he thought he'd stay overnight and ring in the morning. Charlie doesn't like to rely on others too much, he's quite independent"

"Really? Now I know where a certain young lady gets it. Did you decide what to do about your Mum?"

"In a way. It would be too much bringing her into this world so were hoping with time she'll accept I'm missing for good and move on"

"Would you, if it were her?"

Bella

I hadn't really thought of it that way and I realized Charlie and I had been indulging in some wishful thinking, but I had no idea what to do about Renee. I still thought bringing her into the world of the Volturi would be too stressful for her but then so was having a Daughter who just disappeared never to be seen again. As soon as I could I'd have to speak to Charlie again, but for now we were together, the four of us and as we had done before Charlies visit we went down to the creek to swim, putting all our, well my, problems to the back of our minds for a while. I checked my cell phone when we returned but there was no message from Charlie neither was there a message on our answer phone and I started to worry.

"I'll contact the Airline make sure there hasn't been a problem, a delay or bad weather maybe"

"Thanks Peter."

Jasper and I showered while he tried the Airline and as usual one thing led to another and it was about two hours later we appeared respectable once more. I noticed Peter looked worried,

"What? What's happened? Oh God the plane hasn't crashed has it?"

He shook his head,

"No but it landed slightly late, about 3am US time so I'm hoping Billy or Carlisle will hear from him soon."

We waited tensely for news, if he didn't contact the others what had happened? Peter and Char saw him enter the airport so he must have caught his flight. If he'd been taken ill we would know. I watched the clocks hands move slowly round and waited for the phone to ring. And waited. After two hours I was beginning to get really concerned despite Peters assertion that Charlie had picked himself up a woman! Carlisle rang again to say that Jake was at the Airport and the plane had landed but there had been a delay in the arrivals, something about a suspect device so the passengers were being held on the plane for safety reasons. I felt relieved although why a possible bomb should be so much better than my nebulous fear of something darker, what I didn't know, I couldn't say.

Jasper

We sat waiting for more news when the phone rang and Bella grabbed it up,

"Dad?"

"No I'm sorry Bella its Billy. There's a problem"

"Dad? We heard about the bomb scare at the Airport"

"Charlie wasn't on the plane Bella"

"What? Oh God what's happened?"

"Bella please, I've heard from him. He was about to catch his plane when he heard from Phil. Renee has gone missing. He's flown down to Jacksonville to try to find her. She left a note saying she couldn't go on without you."

"She's killed herself?"

"We don't know any more but Charlie promised to ring again soon. He asked me to fill you in because he knew you'd be worried and he didn't want Phil to hear him on the phone with you."

I took the phone from Bella's hand and took hers in my own squeezing it to reassure her then spoke to Billy.

"Is that all he said?"

"Yes for now except he didn't want Bella flying to Jacksonville. There's nothing she can do there. He'll ring you direct as soon as he gets the opportunity."

"Thank you Billy."

Renee? My Mum, kill herself? It didn't sound right somehow, there was something wrong with that picture but I couldn't work out what. So we waited again, this time more nervously until Charlie finally rang.

"Hi Bells, no news I'm afraid but Phil is in with the Jacksonville PD at the moment so I don't have long. They are trying to link your disappearance to Renee's which isn't helping matters"

"What happened Dad?"

"Phil went training as usual and Renee was going shopping for Christmas presents. She was supposed to meet him at the Mall for lunch but she never showed and didn't answer her phone. When Phil got home there was a note saying she couldn't bear to be without you, to not know what had happened to you."

"Is it her writing?"

"Yes it is as far as I can remember and Phil agreed but there is something wrong and I don't like it"

"What Dad?"

"She addressed you as Bells"

"Mum never called me Bells, only ever Bella."

"It could have been because she was upset I guess"

My cell phone went then and I looked at the caller ID, it was Carlisle.

"Motioning to Char to stay with Bella I went outside to answer,

"Carlisle?"

"The Volturi have Bella's Mother Renee"

"What? How do you know?"

"A letter arrived here from Aro with an invitation for Bella to join the Guard as the guest of the Brothers and her Mother."

I closed my eyes frustrated, I should have known the Volturi wouldn't give Bella up without a fight. They were using Renee as a lever against Bella.

Now own up, how many of you thought it was Charlie the Volturi snatched? Jules x