Bella

I watched my baby daughter spellbound, she was so beautiful with her wisps of blond hair and smile. She was perfect, her tiny hands grasped my finger as I stroked her cheek which was slightly cooler than usual for a human baby but it didn't matter to me. I struggled to choose a name wondering what Jasper would have chosen as a name for a little girl, his little girl, the little girl he may never see or know about. Charlotte was pushing me to name her and she had a point, baby wasn't the best one of all.

"I'm going to call her Grace which means effortless beauty or so I read somewhere and she is so very beautiful."

Tears started to fall and Grace touched a drop with her finger bringing it to her mouth and tasting it then she touched my cheek with the same hand and I felt a warmth, comfort from her touch and gasped.

"Charlotte I think she has Jasper's gift. She's an empath, she felt my sorrow and comforted me"

Char looked at me a little skeptically but I knew what I'd felt.

"Don't worry little one, I love you and I will look after you."

I picked up the old toy horse which had been washed and darned and held it in front of Grace who gurgled before taking its mane in her little fist and pulling it to her. I thought she would put it to her mouth as I'd seen friends babies do but she rested her head against it and closed her eyes.

"I think horse has a new owner now."

Char smiled but I knew she was thinking the same as me, would its original owner ever see it or Grace?

The next day it was sunny so I picked Grace up and took her onto the porch to watch the squirrels running across the meadow and jumping from tree to tree. As the sun touched her skin it began to glow very subtly, not the sparkle of a true vampire, a more ethereal sheen. I touched her skin and she smile at me touching mine in return.

"Well Grace, you have more of your daddy in you with every discovery I make. I'm sure he would be so proud of you. Jasper's little girl Grace."

She looked around still holding horse in her hand, he'd slept with her all night held tightly and she wouldn't let him go even when she had a bath so he got one too. Luckily I'd managed to steal him away for a few minutes while she had her bottle and put him in the range to dry. His hooves were still a little damp but she didn't care. Horse went with her everywhere and if he wasn't in sight she would look round for him opening and closing her hand but she didn't cry. She hadn't cried since the day she was born, just gurgled or blew bubbles, in fact she was a very placid baby, very thoughtful I decided, like her father. Her father Jasper, I wondered where he was and what had happened to him.

Grace seemed to grow every day, within a month she was sitting up and looking around her but she still always had horse with her. One day I put her down for her afternoon sleep while Char and I put the new photographs in the album. Peter had sent me a photo album with a pink cover and a digital camera as a congratulation on baby present and we took pictures of her all the time. I wanted a record of her development so Jasper could see it when we found him. Looking at the latest batch I noticed how aware and intelligent her eyes were.

"Shes going to be a real heart breaker Bella"

Charlotte was looking at my favorite photo, Grace sitting on the rug by the fire hugging horse, her blond hair just beginning to curl at the ends.

"Do you think Jasper would like her?"

Char looked at me and smiled,

"I think he will be bowled over when he finally meets her"

"He is going to meet her isn't he Charlotte? I'm scared, she's growing so quickly and he's missing it all."

"Peter will find him Bella I'm sure of that."

I nodded then we heard a noise from upstairs and I ran, Char being much faster beat me to the bedroom but she stood in the doorway a finger to her lips, looking around her I saw Grace on the floor surrounded by the photographs that usually sat on my bedside cabinet, the photographs of Jasper. She was picking them up one by one and showing them to horse, nattering away in her own brand of baby talk. A tear rolled down my cheek as I saw her pick up the one of him standing beside his horse and put it to her lips.

"She knows Charlotte, she recognizes him somehow."

Hearing me Grace turned and smiled holding out the photograph,

"Daddy"

Charlotte and I looked at each other in astonishment, had she been taking notice when I put her to bed each night and told her about her daddy. How he was away but he loved her and would be home as soon as he could.

Peter

Sitting here wasn't telling me much, I needed to get inside their house and the clinic, so the next time they all left I would chance a walk through of the house knowing it would alert them to a presence but there was nothing I could do about that. I'd have to check the clinic the same day and get the hell out. Then a week later I had a break, I heard a conversation between Carlisle and another doctor about his coming weekend break with the family to Alaska. So I had a window of opportunity to check out the clinic and house without being seen. I rang the girls to give them the good news, Char told me she missed me and to be careful before Bella came on the line.

"Peter, be careful but please find Jasper, I need him here, Grace needs to meet her daddy."

"I'm doing my best Bella. I'll get a good look round once they leave, I'm just hoping the "family" holiday means all of them otherwise it will be more difficult but I promise you I'll do my best. How is my little girl anyway?"

"Shes doing well, sitting up on her own and she said her first word"

"I hope it was horse"

"No that comes next I think. She looked at a photo of Jasper and said Daddy"

"Wow! You think she's psychic or something? Maybe it was a coincidence, shes heard you use that word and associated it with the first male she saw."

"We thought that so Char got an old photo out of you, Jasper, and two other friends, Nick and Alistair I think Char said. Grace picked Jasper out of the group."

"So she's as clever as Uncle Peter. I look forward to meeting this little genius. I have to go now but I'll be in touch soon."

I didn't want to point out that if they could go away for days at a time Jasper didn't need any looking after, so chances were he was either not here or dead as I'd first suspected.