[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer

[A/N] Welcome to a brand new update, my lovely readers. I hope you are having as much fun reading this little fic as I'm having while I write it for you.

FAQ's

Resha's name is a mixture of her two grandmothers names; Renee and Kadesha. It's kind of the same like Bella made up Renesmee's name in BD. The name Resha though really exists. It means rope in Arabian.

The chapter below is dedicated to sydneyw3 for providing me with such a great visual role model for dear old Lucy.

**23**

Esme Cullen was usually a woman who was a very happy person. She successfully managed to arrange her time between her full-time job at the hospital, her little adopted daughter and the weekly visits to her younger brother in jail. The copper-haired nurse liked keeping herself busy. It helped her avoiding thoughts of self-pity and loneliness. It was pathetic in her eyes, how even after over five years, she still couldn't manage to sleep on the right side of her bed at night because that was his place.

"Is something wrong, Momma?" Senna asked, cradling her doll tightly against her chest. "Are you sad?"

"Everything is fine, sweetie." Esme told her daughter, trying to make her voice sound cheerful even when she felt more like crying. "Do you want us to go over to the swings before we go home again?"

Senna nodded her head. "Later. I want to feed the ducks first. Do we have some more bread?"

Esme pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to her daughter. "You stay close where Momma can see you, okay?"

Senna walked off, dropping down on the ground next to the lake in the middle of the park. The little girl loved animals more than anything.

A deep sigh left Esme's mouth. She was so terribly stupid. She shouldn't be taking the news she had found out about earlier so hard. Carlisle and she were divorced. It was to be expected that they moved on; moving on irrevocably included new partners.

Still, when Marcus's youngest daughter Jane had told her about uncle Carlisle's upcoming wedding, it had hurt Esme deeply. He was going to get married again. A girl that was almost young enough to be their daughter. Crap, was this some case of early midlife crisis? Did he have to marry a younger woman to feel like he was still a glamour boy?

It's none of your business anymore, Esme tried to remind herself. The dull pain inside her though, it wouldn't go away.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" A nasal voice asked her overly politely. "It's a lovely Sunday afternoon today. Isn't it?"

Esme forced her mouth into a joyful smile for the nice stranger. "Indeed it is."

"I'm a bit of a hobby photographer. There's nothing better than taking some pictures of trees in the sunlight."

He held the display of his camera up to Esme to show her a few of his works, leaning a bit closer to her. "Do you think they turned out alright?"

"Very nice," Esme mumbled before taking a look over to where Senna was feeding the ducks while she prattled on to them nonstop. I wish she would talk that much to people, Esme thought. It was worrying her a bit that Senna was so shy all the time.

"Are you babysitting?" the guy asked, playing around on his camera. Then he lifted it up again and took a few quick shots of the little girl at the lake. This was much better than taking pictures of stupid trees. He could barely manage to hide his inner excitement.

"I'm not babysitting. Senna is my daughter." Esme told him. "I adopted her from Somalia."

"Really? That's so selfless to decide taking care of a stranger's child. I can only admire you and your husband."

Esme waved her left hand at him with a sad expression on her heart-shaped face. "No husband. It's just Senna and me."

The thinly moustache above the man's mouth twitched. "Well, that's sad. Sometimes relationships just don't work out."

"Yes, that's true." Esme sighed, rubbing her hands together. It was starting to get cold. Maybe she should better take Senna home before the girl would catch another cold again.

"My name is Royce." the man introduced himself, holding his hand up to Esme. "Royce King."

"Nice to meet you Royce," Esme responded, her lips curling up into a warm-hearted smile. If Carlisle had moved on, so would she…

xxxx

Meanwhile at the other side of the park, Rosalie and Bella were having a hard time keeping their hands off each other. No, they couldn't make out when Resha was around. They needed to explain their new relationship to her first. But how do you explain to a child that her mother is in love with one of her female friends now?

"My mother is never going to talk to me again." Rosalie stated. "She hates me."

"Lucy is going to survive. Maybe Jazz and his new girlfriend are going to get married soon."

"Yes, maybe they will. It would make Mom happy."

Bella took a quick look over to the swings where Resha was sitting. Then she placed her hand on Rosalie's to caress the back of her lover's hand with her fingertips. "I want to kiss you so badly right now."

"Come here." Rosalie whispered cupping Bella's cheek in her free hand. "Before the little princess sees us."

Bella sighed when she felt the velvety soft touch of Rosalie's lips against her mouth a split second later. If only she could stay a couple of days longer in Seattle with Rose. Bella knew it was impossible. Resha had school and she needed to be at the police station tomorrow morning. "We'll see each other next weekend. Won't we?"

Rosalie nodded before she moved closer to Bella on the bench and leaned her head against Bella's shoulder. "You could move back to Seattle, you know? My apartment is big enough for all three of us."

"My job is in Forks." Bella sighed.

"Seattle is full of criminals that are only waiting for you to arrest them. I bet the police department would take you back in a heartbeat."

"Well, maybe they would. But I don't want to make Resha switch school again."

Rosalie circled her fingertips over Bella's wrist. "I'm sure she'll manage to make friends again here soon."

Bella kissed Rosalie fully on her lips again. "You are pretty persistent when you want something."

"Not something." Rosalie laughed. "Someone, right now that someone is you, Bella."

Bella let her hand move over Rosalie's knee for a few minutes before she rested it on the blonde's slim thigh again. "I want to tell Charlie about us. That would be okay. Wouldn't it?"

"Of course, it's okay." Rose told Bella. "You won't be angry at me if I won't tell my mother any time soon."

Bella shook her head. "We'll cross that bridge when the right time comes. I don't mind being your secret for a while."

"You're not my secret. You are my girlfriend." Rosalie said, planting another quick kiss on Bella's mouth.

"Say it again." Bella asked. "This is was the first time you called me that."

"My girlfriend," Rosalie repeated in a soft voice. "My beautiful, strong, thick-headed, sexy—"

"MOMMY!" Resha's loud scream interrupted the couple's tender moment. "Mommy, this girl here pushed me!"

"Don't start fighting." Bella called, jumping up from the bench. "Rose, I'll be right back."

Bella rushed towards the swings and kneeled down in front of her daughter. "Are you hurt, sweetie?"

"No, but she pushed me from the swing." Resha told her mother, pointing reproachfully to the smaller girl who was sitting on the swing next to them.

"Senna, you are going to apologize to that girl right now." A petite red-head snapped at the girl, sounding embarrassed. "Ma'am, I'm sorry. My daughter knows better."

"But she was on that swing forever!" Senna called out, trying to defend herself. Her older cousin Jane had told her that you needed to fight for it if you wanted something. Now her mother was angry at her for it. How unfair was that?

"Senna, I mean it. Apologize or we are not going to come back to the park anytime soon."

"I'm sorry." Senna mumbled, hopping down from the swing again. "I really wanted to get on the swing. It's my favorite."

"It's my favorite too." Resha stated, pulling the strings of the swing back. "Do you want me to push you like really high? That's fun."

"Yes," Senna squeaked, sitting down again quickly.

"I don't think we're needed here any longer." Bella whispered to the other girl's mother. "I'm glad though there were no tears involved."

"Senna only cries when I do her hair." The woman stated. She wiped some grass from her hand and offered it to Bella. "Hi, I'm Esme. Do you and your family live nearby?"

"No, we're from Forks." But maybe I'll move back here to Seattle very soon, she added in her head. The thought made the young woman smile big. She could picture herself living together with Rosalie. It was going to be amazing.

"That's too bad you're not from here." Esme said. "Senna doesn't make friends easily and she seems to be fond of your daughter."

"Resha is a dear girl. I'm very proud of her."

"I can understand that."

"Yes, but I feel like I'm being too strict with her sometimes. Everyone tells me that."

"Everyone's not her mother. You are the one raising her. Sometimes being a mom is difficult."

"You are so right about that. It's especially tough when you're trying to do it on your own."

"Nobody knows that better than me." Esme sighed, closing her hand around the tiny card in the pocket of her jacket. Royce's cheeks had been covered in a faint blush when he had handed it to her earlier. Maybe it really was time for her to start moving on. She needed to move on, whether she was ready for it or not.

"I'm sorry. My friend is waiting for me over there." Bella told Esme. "It was nice talking to you. Your daughter is a pretty little thing."

When she walked over to Rosalie again, the tall Blonde pulled her towards her.

"What were you talking there to Carlisle's ex?"

"That's Carlisle's ex-wife?" Bella asked in disbelief. "Wow, she's nice. I wonder why he left her."

Rosalie sat down on the wooden bench again, not letting go of Bella's hand. She wanted to hold it for the entire time until Bella would have to leave for her drive back to Forks tonight.

"Esme left him, not the other way round." Rose explained. "He told me that she was pretty furious at him for helping bringing her brother behind bars."

"I can imagine that."

"He still has feelings for her. Well, I think that he still has feelings for her." Rosalie told Bella. "You should have seen the look on his face when he told me about her."

Bella wrapped her arms around Rosalie's waist, snuggling against her from behind. "I'm glad to see you don't have any feelings for him. You don't have any. Right?"

"I like Carlisle a great deal. But I'm not in love with him." Rosalie assured Bella leaning back against Bella's tight embrace. "The only person I'm in love with is you."

"I love you too, Beautiful." Bella whispered. "I don't think I have ever been as happy as this in my whole life."

"Same here," Rosalie responded. She let her fingers move down Bella's forearm to draw an invisible heart on the skin there. "God, I really wish you could stay one more night."

"I can't. But I promise to call you every day until we see each other again."

"That sounds like a good plan to me." Rose said, pushing Bella's hair over her shoulder so that she could quickly plant a kiss on the brunette's shoulder. "You will think about my suggestion to move in with me. Will you?"

"Yes, of course, I will." Bella said. "Look, if this was just about me. I would say yes in a heartbeat. But I have to think about what's best for Resha too."

Rosalie gave Bella's hand a light squeeze. "I know that. Am I being too selfish? Because I could also move to Forks for you, if you really want to stay there."

"What about your job at that Uley place? You like working there."

"I can fix cars anywhere." Rosalie said. "The guys at my work are a bunch of sexist douchebags that surely wouldn't miss me too much if I quit."