Esme Platt

Reverting to the surname she was born with was on one hand depressing, on the other a relief for Edward's mother.

Attending the meeting with Harvey Hemple, who had always handled anything to do with the law for the family, was both distressing and also a relief. Asking him to prepare an application for divorce was shameful. Thanking him for agreeing to do it without charge was demeaning. Learning that the firm was distancing itself from her husband's business wasn't all that surprising.

She was grateful that Harvey was willing to represent her despite his close association with her soon to be ex husband, and that was reassuring. What she'd learned in that meeting had been distressing but not at all shocking, knowing her husband as she did.

Returning to the Whitlock residence after the meeting was comforting. Like her son, Esme could easily see the differences between her house and their home. Its occupants were on the other side of the world but Esme didn't feel alone in it at all. Their presence was everywhere inside it. And that made her feel hopeful that she could have a relationship inside this family, just as Edward had told her she could.

But Esme also knew that the respite from the pressure she felt was going to be short lived. She had no money of her own, no way to make any and the true owners of the house she was staying in were only going to be gone from it for two weeks, half of that had already passed.

But Esme hadn't been idle. Sure she'd spent the first day of her stay there wrapped in a cocoon of self deprecating misery but when there were no more tears she felt she could spare for Carlisle she did her best to shake off her self induced melancholy and tried to map out what she was going to do now.

It wasn't a long list and it wasn't a difficult one to make.

Sitting at the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee Esme had used the notepad by the phone – that still had Alice' hastily scribbled wedding plans on it – and wrote down just three simple dot points.

Apply for a divorce.

Find a way to support myself

Find a way to deserve a place in Edward's new family

Her meeting with Harvey had given her a start on marking off point one.

In their state she had to show cause as to why she was applying for divorce. There was no such thing as 'irreconcilable differences' in her state so she had to be able to convince a judge that she wanted out for a good reason. And that was a problem.

For Carlisle, ever the consummate liar, was on paper exactly what he purported to be. A loving husband and good provider. She couldn't prove his previous emotional abuse and she had no access to any other evidence that would help her prove to a judge that she wasn't safe or happy in her marriage. There had never been any extra marital affairs on either side and Carlisle could prove that he'd given her exactly what she needed through the long years of their marriage. Even prior household staff would attest to that.

Telling Harvey that Carlisle had struck her, bruising her eye and leaving her with a cut lip and a lose tooth, had seemed futile without any evidence to back the claim up. That was until Harvey provided her with the proof she needed.

Carlisle had sued a maid for stealing some ten years previous and Harvey had been the prosecuting lawyer on that case. It had been Harvey who had applied for the permit, on Carlisle's behalf, for a CCTV system to be installed in the house after the case had been won. Since then a backup copy of all the footage collected inside the Cullen residence had been held at the law firms offices.

When Harvey learned that her injuries had occurred in the living room of the residence he immediately sent a junior clerk to retrieve the footage from that day. Reliving it, albeit in black and white and in terrible focus had been difficult for Esme. But Harvey assured her that her divorce was almost guaranteed after that.

The division of assets and debt was going to be a tricky thing to navigate she'd been warned. Harvey insisted that Carlisle's misuse of her inheritance would go a long way to proving to a judge that she shouldn't be held responsible for a lot of Carlisle's current debt, but it was also a long shot. A judge could take pity on her but he or she could also just as easily decide she was equally responsible for Carlisle's situation as he was. Harvey assured her he'd do everything he could to limit her liability but also warned her to be prepared to leave the court with a divorce in hand but also a hefty amount of debt in her name.

Esme had to decide how far she was willing to go to help Harvey limit her financial liability.

So Esme spent the two days since that meeting trying to decide that very thing. She didn't want anything from Carlisle. Not money, not alimony, not the house or a share in the business. If it was possible she wanted to walk away a free woman who was near bankrupt but had no further obligation to ever be in the same vicinity as her sons father ever again. A pipe dream perhaps but it was still something she dreamed of.

When Harvey called and invited her to lunch to discuss her decision she accepted. She'd buried her head in the sand and tolerated her situation long enough. So when Harvey asked for her decision she didn't hesitate to tell him what she wanted.

Her first priority was the divorce. She was willing to negotiate on everything else as long as Carlisle didn't contest the divorce. She was willing to sign over her share of everything that had her name on it, including the family home. She wouldn't press for alimony as long as any legal connection she had to the business was removed.

Harvey listened intently and took copious notes over lunch that day and at the end of their meeting he once again assured her that a judge would grant her divorce on the grounds of spousal abuse and that he himself would do his best to disassociate her from everything Cullen Enterprises. He couldn't give her odds on whether that was going to be possible, so rather he encouraged her to do what she felt was right for her. She was sure so he left the meeting with a clear picture of how to proceed on her behalf.

Next on her short list was a means of income. She'd bought a minimum of groceries using Edward's money but had been frugal in the extreme. With just over one week left until his return she was determined to have a plan if not in place then very close to it by the time his honeymoon was over.

There were very few options available to her she realised as she made a check list of possible ways to support herself. She had no skills that would make applying for an office job logical. She could cook and clean even though she'd had a household staff for decades. She could sew too. She could sing a little and play the piano a little too but she left those things off her list of attributes that might make her employable. They seemed frivolous.

The local newspaper had an employment section and she quickly became aware that the only jobs she was qualified to do were menial, minimum wage jobs that were designed to be done by college students part time. Not above getting her hands dirty she called every single job advertised and was told, by every single employer, that they wanted someone younger, more experienced, more educated.

And then she found an ad for an employment service agency. Within minutes of reading their blurb she had an appointment for the following day. She slept fitfully that night, her brain wouldn't let her switch off. It kept pulling up ideas and thoughts she'd long since shoved aside and it all swirled around in her head leaving her feeling tired and cranky in the morning.

So she wasn't in the best of moods when she arrived for her appointment with the employment agency. She'd dressed in what she considered business casual, a plain grey pencil skirt and a white linen blouse with flat shoes on her feet. She was nervous and scared when she was handed a clipboard with a long form to fill out after announcing her name to the receptionist.

She took a seat in one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room and looked around. Beige walls, beige carpet, a tall fake palm in a pot by the door and a single modernist print in a dusty frame on one wall. There were two other women there, both with clipboards on their laps and both writing away frantically with the little stubby pencils they'd been given.

Sighing Esme settled down to fill out her form.

The first page was easy. Just her personal details. Name, age and social security number. Some general information about the service itself and a place for her to sign saying she understood that by signing on with the service they were under no legal obligation to provide her with regular employment. She signed with another long, slow sigh.

The second page was more involved. They wanted detailed information about her education and employment history as well as dates and references so those details could be confirmed. Her heart was beating at a frantic pace as she filled in the name and date she'd completed high school and wrote 'nil' in every single space after that.

By page three she realised how futile the whole experience was. Three long rows of check boxes wanted her to mark off which skills she possessed. The header said it was so that the service could find the best employment match to go with the skills she already had but Esme knew there was no point continuing. She had not a single one of the skills listed in her repertoire so she knew there'd be no job the service could match her to.

She handed the clipboard back to the receptionist and told her she was sorry for having wasted her time. "Mrs Cullen?" she heard as she reached the door of the waiting room. Turning she saw a tall strawberry blonde with a furrowed brow staring back at her from behind the reception desk.

"Yes?" Esme replied automatically at the sound of her name being called.

"Won't you come on through?" the blonde asked, waving her hand to the side of the desk and motioning towards a closed office door down a small hall.

"There's no point, dear," Esme mumbled.

"Humour me?" the blonde asked.

Nodding just once Esme figured she had nothing to lose and followed the woman into the office. She settled into the chair offered and folded her shaking hands into her lap.

"You don't recognise me, do you Esme?" the blonde asks with a grin.

"I'm sorry," Esme mumbles. "I don't, no."

"That's okay," the blonde laughs lightly. "It was a long time ago. I'm Tanya Denali, Eleazar's daughter. Ring any bells?"

Esme smiles then, making the connection immediately. Eleazar and Carmen Denali have been friends of Carlisle's forever. Probably longer than Esme herself has known the man. "Of course," she replies fondly. "And of course I remember you now. But you're right; it's been a very long time since I've seen you. You couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen the last time."

"Probably," Tanya chuckles. "A Winter Ball I think it was. Mom still had me wearing braids I think," she laughed.

"Moms can be cruel," Esme says softly, thinking back on all the times she'd made Edward attend those awful functions in a suit he hated.

Seeing the distress on the other woman's face Tanya's softens markedly. "Why are you here Esme? Why did you tell Jen there was no point completing your application?"

Esme took the mention of Jen to be the receptionist and felt hot tears of shame and embarrassment prick at the corners of her eyes. "I'm in the wrong place," Esme whispered.

"Maybe," Tanya agreed. "But maybe not. Why don't you tell me what you hoped to find here and I'll see if I can help?"

Esme stared at the young woman for a long moment, distraught at having to admit she needed a job to the daughter of someone so highly regarded as Eleazar Denali. But, knowing she had nothing to lose she decided to raise her head and tell Tanya that she needed a job.

She kept the details brief and concise, only saying that she had recently separated from Carlisle and that she was house sitting temporarily for her sons in laws. Biting her cheek painfully she admitted that the form on the clipboard had been torturous because she had no skills that she thought could be used to match her to a job of any kind.

Tanya excused herself to collect the form from Jen and then read over it quickly before picking up a pen and asking Esme to recount for her what she'd spent the last five years doing. Not what she'd been doing at a previous job, but what she'd been doing on a daily basis now that he son was a grown man.

Half an hour later Tanya smiled over her desk at a forlorn Esme. "Sometimes people have skills that don't match what's offered on forms," she smiled. "These forms are generic; almost akin to stereotyping so don't feel bad that you couldn't check a lot of boxes. That's why we interview clients here, so that we can get a clear picture of a person's background and where we think they'll fit the best in the job market.

"Without an interview its true there wouldn't be much we could offer you from looking at your application. But after hearing what you've just outlined for me I think I do have something that will suit you. Unless you're looking for something in an office that is?" she asked.

"I don't mind," Esme said softly, stunned that there might be something she could do. "I really don't care what sort of job it is, I'll do it."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Tanya chuckled. She wiggled the mouse on her desk a few times, clicked a few times and then turned the screen to face Esme. "April eleventh is the eighth annual Open Heart Magic Tricks are for Kids benefit," she said, pointing to the information on the screen. "Open Heart is an organisation that sends clowns and magicians into hospitals to entertain terminally ill children. Every year they have a gala, sort of a ball really, to raise money to keep the service going for the following year. They're looking for an event coordinator and I think that might just be you," she said confidently.

The third meeting with Harvey brought Esme good news but made her feel impossibly worse.

On her behalf an application to the court had been made to end her marriage, and while Esme desperately wanted that she felt a failure at the same time.

The application for the Dissolution of the Marriage clearly stated that spousal abuse was the reason for her application and as such she was warned to prepare herself to have to defend that claim vigorously.

Harvey explained that Carlisle would be served a notice that her application had been filed the very next morning and he implored her to make sure that she remained in a safe place with good security, preferably not somewhere where she was likely to be alone.

Of course she was totally alone at the Whitlock's but she promised to call Edward as soon as she could and double check that she was operating the security system at the house correctly. Apart from that there was nothing she could do about being alone.

She was to begin her new job as an event coordinator the next day and that news appeased Harvey somewhat. That she'd be busy and Carlisle wouldn't know about the job or where it was made him happier about her safety.

She left the meeting worried about Carlisle's reaction to the petition but not altogether worried that he would fight terribly hard when it came to the actual divorce. He was going to be mighty angry about the terms under which she'd applied, but she didn't think he'd be too bothered about the actual termination of their marriage.

He didn't love her. She knew that for a fact. So ending their marriage would hardly register on his radar.

The day before her new family arrived home from their trip Esme finished work early and set to cleaning the Whitlock house. She dusted and tidied, washed floors and stripped and remade all of the beds so the linens would be fresh for their arrival. The kitchen was sparkling and the bathrooms looked newer than those in show-houses.

In the early evening she ironed and folded all of the clothing she'd brought with her and repacked her suitcase. She had one weeks salary tucked into her purse – of which she was immensely proud – but still nowhere to live.

She had a tentative booking at a hotel close to the ballroom where the Open Heart event was being held and if she was careful with her money she could make it stretch just far enough to cover a week's stay and enough food to get her through. What she'd do once the event was over she had no idea, but for now she had a job and a plan and that had to be enough.

She slept fitfully that night. She tossed and turned as her brain threw up all the different ways her life had changed over the past few months. And even though she was relieved not to have to live under Carlisle's thumb any longer she found that she was lonely and very much looking forward to the foursome arriving home.

She'd offered to drive to the airport and collect them but she'd been turned down. The five of them would fit easily into the SUV of Alice', but their luggage wouldn't. So the two couples would be taking separate taxis for the short trip.

The next morning she filled the hours waiting for them with chores and she found herself humming happily as she did them. She had the beginnings of a roast in the oven and dessert was cooling on the counter. There were cookies and cakes in tins and containers in the pantry and the house was spotless.

When the crunch of gravel announced that the first of the two taxis had arrived Esme ran to the door, half aching to see her son and his wife and half dreading having to leave. Her suitcase seemed to sneer at her from its place by the front door as she went by it and out into the driveway.

"It's so good to see you, mom," her beautiful boy told her as he swept her up in his arms in the driveway.

All Esme could do was breathe him in as he hugged her and hope he didn't see her tears when she buried her face in his shoulder.

When he let her go she was folded into another hug by Bella, then another by a beaming Alice and then a gentler, more hesitant one by Jasper.

For a group of people who had just travelled across the globe they were in fantastic spirits and didn't seem at all tired or jetlagged and that made Esme happy. Their laughter and happiness oozed from them as they traipsed into the house and then it wasn't lonely there anymore.

Coffee was made, her cakes and cookies inhaled and praised and after they were all settled on the terrace they began to tell her all about their travels. What they'd seen, who they'd met, and of course Alice and Jasper's happy news.

Esme told them all about her new job, how she'd gotten it and how her first week had gone and then accepted another round of praise before Edward became sombre and took her hand over the table.

"Mom," he began softly, "I'll take care of you. I promise. Don't think that you have nowhere to live and no money because you do. Wherever I am is your home too."

Something about the way he said it, and the look he gave his wife across the table, made Esme's stomach clench but she thanked him for the offer all the same. But she knew that as a newlywed he wasn't going to want his mother hanging around.

When she told those gathered that she'd applied for a divorce Edward was on his feet and pulling her up with him so fast her head spun. He hugged her tight, told her how proud he was of her and told her again, more firmly, that he'd take care of her from now on.

Esme, always a quick study, looked at Bella's face as he made the offer and she knew, right away, that something was going unsaid.

"I understand," Esme told Bella as soon as she'd retaken her seat.

"What's that?" Bella asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"You don't want your mother in law living with you," Esme said kindly. "I understand."

Bella's smile was hesitant but thoughtful, Esme thought. "You might not want to live with us," she giggled adorably. "Not where we're going anyway."

Esme turned to her son, who was looking decidedly uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Mom," he began slowly, reaching for her hand again. "There's this warehouse, on the mountain..."

A/N: Thank you for reading.

Next will be a big one (that may end up having to be two separate epilogue's it's gotten so out of hand lol) for Alice, Jasper, Bella and Edward.

Please review.