30.
Edward was on his feet without conscious thought, reaching out to Alice, who looked as though she might pass out any moment.
She waved him off, though she leant against the doorjamb for support. He exchanged a worried glance with Bella, but it was Izzy who broke the silence that had settled on them.
"Hi, you must be Alice," she said, her voice entirely relaxed and unconcerned. "Do you like coffee or tea in the morning? Or are you one of those people who swears by cereal?"
Alice blinked as if confused, but answered automatically, "Coffee, but I like cereal too…"
"Did you know, Jake has like six different kinds of cereal at home?" Izzy asked, resting her chin on her hand and leaning forward a little. Edward suddenly realized that she was nervous, something about her posture reminding him of the girl he'd first met in LA. "We used to call him the cereal monster when we were kids."
"Uh, ok…" Alice looked completely nonplussed by the direction of the conversation, but Izzy carried on unbothered.
"Yeah, I know he's going to try and act cool with you, but I figured it's better to let you know what you're getting into." Izzy's smile slipped for a moment. "No one likes finding out they'd been living a lie."
Bella seemed to have caught onto the same vibe as Edward, because she stood and walked towards Alice, sending her sister a warning look over Seth's head. "Food before conversation," she insisted, laughing when Seth tried to lunge for Alice the moment they were close enough. "Easy, baby!"
"Hi," he said demurely, batting his eyelashes at Alice innocently once he was safely in her arms. "I eated eggs. You want eggs?"
The confusion and tension melted away from Alice's face as she returned a small but genuine smile. "That sounds great!" she agreed, letting Bella steer her to the empty chair next to Edward. "Have you been awake a long time?"
"Sooooo looong!" he sighed exaggeratedly. "I waked uncle Ed too. Mama sleeped so much!"
"I slept a lot too, you know," Alice pointed out. "I probably missed out on all the fun you've been having!"
Seth nodded importantly. "I maked all this," he pointed to the fruits, "with aunty Rose. Then aunty Izzy came. That's her, she looks like mama but she's not mama." When Alice nodded to show that she understood this important point, he continued, "Then I waked uncle Ed. His tummy is not very soft but it's ok."
"Thanks," Edward choked out, trying not to laugh.
Seth smiled back charmingly and continued his story. "Then mama came and we eated and aunty Rose gone to work."
"You've been busy!" Alice exclaimed, offering him a grape. "What else are you going to do today?"
Seth chewed on his grape for a bit. "Well, we… play?" he peeked up at her hopefully, before sneaking a look at his mother.
"Sure, we will play," agreed Bella with a laugh. She passed Alice the eggs and toast Izzy had just finished plating. "But what about that nice book aunt Izzy got for you? Wanna read that with me later?"
"Yeaaah!" Seth cheered, wriggling happily in Alice's lap. "Is a dinoso book," he confided to her, smiling dreamily. "Soooo many dinosos, so many!"
"Dinosaurs?" Alice asked, peeking up to where Bella and Izzy were now sitting together. She blinked at seeing the twins together, momentarily taken aback by the striking sight they made, both so similar, and yet not quite.
It wasn't something the others would have picked up on, but Edward recognized the moment Alice once again connected Izzy with Jasper, and every little hurt that she was currently trying to forget.
"Hey Seth," he immediately called out, "Did you know that I can draw dinosaurs?"
Seth looked at him in shocked delight. "No! Can you make allll of them? Even the big-big dinosos?"
"Sure!" Edward reached out for a high-5. "Hey Alice, why don't I take Seth for a bit while you eat? We have a lot to discuss about our favourite dinosaurs. And you should probably get ready soon, Jake said he'd be here by ten, didn't he?"
Alice nodded and once Seth was safely settled in Edward's lap, they continued to eat, chatting off and on.
"You know, he would love the Cabazon dinosaurs," Alice said, nodding towards Seth, who was now having a very involved discussion with Edward.
"I know, right!" Izzy giggled. "I went there once and I kept thinking of how much fun this little kiddo would have."
"It was a bit far from LA wasn't it?" Bella asked doubtfully.
"About an hour and a half maybe," Izzy said, glancing at Alice, who nodded in agreement. "Not that bad of a journey really."
"We should plan a trip!" Alice exclaimed, sitting up and clapping her hands in excitement. "When we're back in LA…"
Her eyes met Izzy's, and they both went still. Looking away, Alice cleared her throat.
"Anyway, it's a nice place."
"I'm sure they have stuff around Seattle," Izzy added.
"I'll look it up," Edward said, startling the girls a little. "Once he's recovered some more and is up for a trip, maybe. Jake mentioned a few places that he thought Seth would like as well."
"Nice to know I have a say in all this," Bella commented dryly.
Alice looked like she would start to apologize, but Izzy just rolled her eyes and nudged her sister. "We're the village raising the kid and you love it," she grinned cheekily.
"I'm a big kid!" Seth suddenly piped up, making everyone laugh.
"Anyway," Bella said a few minutes later, when Edward had taken Seth back to the living room to 'help' him fold the sheets and pack up the expandable couch he'd slept on. "Are you sure you want to spend the day with Jake, Alice? You could just stay here, we could show you the town, just have a slow day, you know?"
"Ah, no, that's fine," Alice said with a warm smile, musing inwardly that she genuinely liked her brother's fiancée. "After everything I learnt yesterday, I just… it'll help to think of something else, honestly. And Jake is fun, so…"
"That's cool, then. Just don't believe everything Jake tells you," Bella warned. "He loves messing around, and he's going to be so excited to have someone new to bug."
"Seriously," Izzy agreed, "When we were growing up, he was like the most annoying little brother ever!"
"It's so weird," Alice said, before pausing and biting her lip.
"What?" Bella asked, tilting her head.
"Just being here, like this, I guess," she said with a little laugh, reaching for her coffee cup, only to put it back when she realized it was empty. Izzy passed her a glass of water instead, which Alice clutched gratefully. "I've never even had a proper conversation with my brother's ex-girlfriends, yet here I am, so comfortable at his fiancée's house… and then the whole thing with you," she gestured helplessly at Izzy, who smiled back wryly. "And finding Jake after literal years, and it's all of it come together like this, in one place, and the way everything is connected is just blowing my mind a little, I guess."
"I have been told I'm amazing, but calling me mind blowing is also acceptable, of course," Jake said, sauntering into the kitchen with a big, cheesy grin on his face. Izzy and Bella groaned and pretended to gag. Ignoring them completely, Jake gave Alice his full attention. "I'm going to live up to the hype of course, and we're going to have so much fun today you'll wonder how you ever managed all these years without me."
Alice scoffed but couldn't hide her light blush. "You're all talk. And you're way too early."
"Didn't want you to miss me!" Jake protested.
"You can just sit here and wait while I go get ready," Alice declared haughtily, sweeping away from the table. "Don't blame me for having to wait!"
"I would never," Jake said softly, watching her walk up the stairs. Looking away with a sigh, he was not at all surprised to see the twins smirking at him. "Whatever, I don't even care if you make fun of me! Hey, did she say anything else about me?"
…
Edward frowned, twisting his phone restlessly between his fingers. It didn't make sense… maybe he should try again…
His restless thoughts were cut short by Bella, who was trying to juggle between Seth, a rather large bag full of snacks for the three of them, and the door that she was unsuccessfully trying to pull shut behind her. He dropped the phone in his pocket and quickly grabbed the snacks and Seth, who was now sporting a floppy hat and tiny yellow framed sunglasses, and clearly thought he was quite dashing.
"Did Uncle Jake get you those?" Edward asked, raising an eyebrow at the sunglasses.
Seth gasped theatrically. "Yeah! He telled you?"
"Nope, I guessed," Edward laughed. "And the hat too?"
"Nopes, Aunty Rose gave me it," he responded with a grin as sunny as his outfit. Edward grinned back, his stress melting away in a moment.
Bella came up, tucking away the keys in her cross-body sling bag. "Some days I wonder if it's even worth locking up," she said as they started walking. They'd decided to make the most of the weather by exploring yet another easy hike through the forest.
"Sometimes Rose drops in for lunch if it's not too hectic at the hospital during her shift. Sometimes, Jake drops in and raids our fridge when he's working on something in Forks. Sometimes, his sisters or our other friends from the Res turn up. I mean, it's great because there's always someone we can depend on in an emergency, or like just to babysit this guy," she reached out to tap the brim of Seth's hat. "But wow, it just hits me sometimes that I think we live a quiet life here in Forks, but it usually isn't that quiet at all!"
Edward laughed, but couldn't quite ignore the sharp pang of something that felt a lot like envy. "It's a happy house you have," he said. "If you wanted actual quiet, you know where to go… the only loud thing in my place is the ocean."
To his surprise, Bella reached out and linked their hands. "Weirdly enough, I wasn't unhappy at your place either. I mean, I didn't know you, the entire situation was so far from my comfort zone, and I was seriously questioning my sanity at having agreed to the whole fake fiancée, wrong sister deal," she waved her other hand illustratively, "But I don't know, Edward, it definitely had its own charm. Sometimes, I even miss how peaceful your place is!"
"Now you're just being nice," he accused playfully. "Hey, has this guy fallen asleep on me? Is that drool?"
"Wow, kids have the best lives," Bella muttered. "He literally woke up from a nap half an hour ago."
"You didn't say anything about the drool, don't think I didn't notice," Edward nudged her playfully.
Bella just grinned back cheekily, before pointing to the right fork in the path ahead. "Let's go this way," she said. "You won't believe the view from up there."
They didn't talk much the next ten minutes or so, as the path started climbing at a gentle gradient, becoming narrower and clearly less frequently used. Then, with a flourish, Bella was pushing aside a branch and ushering him through to a broad grassy plain that looked out to a breathtaking panorama of greens and hazy blues, the clouds scudding across the blue sky, casting dim shadows over the undulating hills and forest below. There were scattered trees through the flatland, and they chose to sit under a broad spruce that wasn't as tall as the ones at the edge of the forest. The air was fresh and fragrant, and Edward sighed happily as he lay back, Seth comfortably settled on his chest.
Bella had brought along a book, so he wheedled her to read it out. She huffed a bit, but ultimately gave in, and soon he felt himself drifting on a wave of contentment. A new story started had weaving its way through his imagination lately, and he welcomed all the discordant ideas that he knew would ultimately coalesce into cohesive narratives. He hoped they would be cohesive anyway. But first he had another book to finish; he had another couple of months before he needed to send in the next draft, but still…
He was startled out of his drifting thoughts by the buzzing of his phone. For a moment he couldn't comprehend what it was, or how something like a phone was even working in a place that seemed as removed from civilization as this place. Then he remembered who he had been trying to call before they left, and quickly tugged his phone out of his pocket.
It was his father, at last.
"Dad?" he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He probably didn't succeed, because Bella immediately reached out to move Seth to her lap, waving him off to talk freely.
"Dad, can you hear me?" he nodded gratefully at her, and walked a few steps away.
"Edward," Carlisle greeted, the familiar voice making him relax marginally. "How have you been, son?"
"Ah, I'm fine, doing really well actually. I was, uh…" he wondered how to put everything he wanted to ask his father into words. "I was worried about you, actually. It's been a while since we spoke."
Carlisle laughed. "What! That's a new one, kid! What on earth is there to worry about? I've been living it up in France you know, just got back to the States last night, actually. I might've stayed longer but Esme got caught up with something here."
"Oh? She came to visit me a couple weeks ago," Edward said, his tone as neutral as he could manage. "It was quite a surprise, and she didn't stay long. But I would've loved it if you'd come along, you know."
"Really?" Carlisle's confusion was obvious. "She never mentioned that. In fact, I didn't know she was that side of the country. She had some tax stuff to sort out in Chicago."
"Oh, is she back there now?" he replied, sidestepping the question entirely. "That's great, so much has happened since we last spoke, I suppose she must have filled you in on it then." He highly doubted it, but maybe she had tried to get to Carlisle first, put her own spin on things…
"No, I can't say that, actually," Carlisle said. "She isn't here right now, the house was shut when I arrived. But she did say she might go visit Alice, last time we spoke. I haven't actually had time to call her since I got back. My trip back was pretty last minute, in fact; I didn't even tell her I was coming back for sure."
"And I guess you must've only just woken up," Edward surmised.
"Yeah," Carlisle yawned. "Sorry. So, anyway, tell me all the news! What have I missed?"
"Ok, short version… I'm currently engaged." Edward had to stop the grin that spread over his face as he leaned against a tree and looked back to Bella and Seth. She looked up right then, clearly concerned, and he found himself walking closer. "I'm at my fiancée's these days, as a matter of fact. Alice is here with us too."
"Uh, hold on, engaged?" Carlisle sounded sceptical. "I don't remember you dating anyone. I'm pretty sure Esme commented on it the last time we met. And Alice is there? Wasn't she in Australia?"
"She's here," he confirmed, wondering if he should just tell Carlisle about Jasper, or let Alice do it. "She's been going through some stuff and needed a break. She'll probably call you up herself and tell you all about it. I know how long you two tend to chat."
"Well sure, but is she ok?" Carlisle sounded genuinely worried. "Is it a medical thing? Should I come down to… oh right, she isn't in LA right now, is she? Where exactly are you all?"
"She's fine, Dad, nothing like that," Edward said, distracted by the sight of a sleepy Seth who had just woken up and looked adorably grumpy. "And we are in a small town a couple hours from my place in Westport."
"Who you talkin' to Uncle Ed?" Seth piped up, evading his mother's hands to wriggle closer to Edward. "I wanna talk too!"
"Who is that?" Carlisle asked. "Is that a child? Are you out somewhere?"
"Just out for a walk, Dad, it's fine," Edward reached over to poke Seth's cheeks, making the kid laugh out in surprise. "It's my fiancee's son. Actually, I have an idea." He paused, meeting Bella's eyes. "Do you think you can come over for a few days? Maybe even a week or two? Alice could probably do with seeing you right now, and we can tell you more about everything that's been happening. It'll be a lot easier than trying to say it over the phone."
"And I can meet your mysterious fiancée, don't think I am going to miss out a chance like this!" Carlisle joked. "Sure, I think that's a great idea. Let me see if I can get a flight tomorrow morning, to Seattle, right? That'd be the closest airport? I'll just find out what Esme is up to, and book tickets."
"Don't… Dad, Esme doesn't know you're back in the States yet, right?" Edward interrupted. Bella quickly offered Seth a snack to keep his mouth and hands occupied, since he looked ready to interrupt Edward with more questions. "Can you do me a favor and… just don't tell her yet. She's probably still in the area, so maybe once you're here we can call her and surprise her, or something!"
"Alright," Carlisle stretched out the word, clearly unconvinced. "I don't really see what that's about, but I guess it won't hurt. I know you never warmed up to her, so you want me to meet your fiancée before Esme does, right? Alright, let's do it your way this once. I'll book my ticket for Seattle, and let you know."
"Thanks, Dad," Edward grinned at Bella, who looked back at him wide-eyed. "I can't wait to have you here!"
With a quick goodbye, he tossed his phone away to the side and collapsed onto his side, blinking up at Bella. "He's coming tomorrow."
For once, she seemed a little speechless. "Um, we should probably get him a room at the Lodge or something," she finally said. "I can't exactly offer your dad the pull-out sofa!"
"I know, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep adding people for you to take care of," he said apologetically. "I could just pick him up and go back to Westport for a few days, if you think that'd be better," he suggested. "Might be better to tell him everything we've found out about Esme in a more private setting, huh?"
She nodded her head slowly. "I mean, logically, that might make sense. But somehow… everything ties back to Forks, you know? And I don't trust Esme. She probably keeps tabs on your dad. Whether or not he does tell her about coming here, I'm not so sure she won't find out. And knowing her history with Forks… that might not be a bad thing."
"You think she might do something?" he guessed.
"She's spent years pretending she has nothing to do with this place," Bella shrugged. "Doesn't seem likely she will just let all of you come so close to a place that holds her secrets."
"Alright," Edward said. "I guess I'm bringing Dad to Forks then."
