You guys are THE BEST.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me and reading and reviewing. I'm so happy with the response to this story and I can't tell you how much it means to me.

This chapter is a bit longer than the others, but a lot happen, so I hope you enjoy it!

One Year Later
July
Seattle

I love watching planes.

When I was little and we would go to Seattle for whatever reason, I would always beg to drive by the airport and watch the planes take off. I always wanted to fly, and I was so envious of anyone that could, so I loved watching and imagining that I was on the plane.

Even today, as I sit next to my best friend who is bouncing his leg at a fast tempo, I find myself fixated on the plane taking off out the window.

"The plane is late. Why is the plane late?" Jasper mutters as he looks at his watch for the fifteenth time in sixty seconds.

"Jasper, it's a minute late, will you calm down?" I say, pushing his arm with my shoulder. "And stop bouncing your leg. You're making me seasick."

The bouncing immediately stops and he chuckles. "Sorry. I didn't realize I was doing it."

I laugh. "Why are you so nervous? It's not like she's going to say no."

"You don't know that!" he exclaims, standing up. "What if she thinks I'm moving too fast? We're only going into our sophomore year of college. And what if the reason she's flying here is because she wants to break up with me?"

"I highly doubt she would fly all this way to do that," I mumble. "And are we talking about the same Alice? I'm pretty sure she told me she was going to marry you back in high school. And just because you're asking her to marry you doesn't mean you have to get married tomorrow. You can wait until you both graduate college."

He takes a deep breath. "I know, I know."

A new wave of people start to pour out of the exit, and Jasper and I stand up, looking for that spikey black hair we both miss so much.

Before we can find her, I hear a loud "JAZZ!" break through the cacophony of voices.

I stand back and smile while I watch Alice drop her carry on bag and jump into Jasper's open arms. I look away when they start to kiss, but I'm still smiling.

I only saw Alice once or twice after graduation. I decided to forgo college for a little while and spend sometime on me. Heidi and I talked about it for a long time and decided that was the best route for me to take. I visited a few of the places I'd always wanted to. I flew to New York City with Jasper and saw "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway (and I sobbed for a good twenty minutes straight at the end). I drove to Las Vegas with a girl named Leah, my dad's best friends daughter, and went to my first casino. I went to Atlanta (by myself, which was admittedly terrifying) and went on "The Walking Dead" tour.

I learned how to enjoy life again and to not constantly have a bitter outlook.

It was amazing.

Alice looked behind Jasper and saw me and started to cry as she let him go and folded me into a hug.

"I'm so happy you're here," she says.

"It's good to see you, Alice," I reply, hugging her back tightly. "Unfortunately, I have to make my own flight."

She pulls back. "Where are you going this time?" she asks.

"Santa Monica," I say with a shrug.

"What's in Santa Monica?"

I give her a half smile. "I don't know. That's what I'm going to find out."

~O~

The flight isn't long, which I'm thankful for. I think sitting in one small-enclosed space for hours while I'm this nervous would cause me to have a meltdown. As soon as we touch down, I say a quick prayer, asking God to help me remember everything I learned in therapy.

I push my way through all the happy couples and friends greeting each other and head towards baggage claim and my bag appears mercifully quick. I head to the rent a car desk and am extremely happy that I decided to get a car in advance so all I had to do was sign a few forms and get the keys. I asked for a car with a built in GPS, and am extremely surprised to find that it is really easy to work. I type in the address I was given and nervously pull out of the parking lot.

I couldn't believe this was happening.

I get caught in a few bad traffic jams, but after an hour, I finally make it to my destination.

The house is small, especially compared to some of the huge ones I passed on my way here. Even though the house is still technically in Santa Monica, it's on the very outskirts. It's a ranch style home painted a light red color. There's a little garden outside filled with little pink and white flowers. Cobblestones lead up to the light brown door. It's almost too picturesque. Without realizing it, I imagined I would be coming to a nasty box of a house that looked like it should house rats instead of anything else.

The person who stepped out the door wasn't anything like I imagined either.

Renee looked good, a complete 180 from the last time I saw her. She put on a few pounds and had a nice tan. Her hair was back to the way I remember it, long and brown and healthy. She was wearing a short sleeve shirt and my eyes were immediately drawn to the bandage wrapped around her elbow. My stomach turned at the memory and my first reaction was to panic, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Bella," she says in greeting as she walks up to the car. "It's good to see you."

I smile at her, making sure my eyes stay on hers and not on the bandage on her arm. "It's good to see you, too. The house is beautiful."

She shrugs. "It's nothing too extravagant, but I like it."

I grab my bags out of the back and we walk towards the house in silence, but it's not awkward. Not like last time.

After I sent my letter, I received another one in response a few weeks later. This one, however, had a different return address. She sent it from a rehab facility in Santa Monica. She told me that this time, it was going to be different. She said was going to stay in therapy until she could walk out of the door confidently.

"No more relapses, no more bullshit excuses," she had said. "I'm going to get better."

Her newfound intensity proved to be helpful. She made it through the program and, after seven and a half months, checked out with all of her doctors supporting her. She knew the battle wasn't over by any means, but she was determined to make it this time. She still attended therapy sessions twice a week, once by herself and once with a group.

When she finally found a permanent job and settled into a house, I told her I would come visit her. I wanted to see if she was making a genuine effort this time. Some part of me would always remember and be angry about my past with Renee. But I wanted a relationship with my mother, so I was willing to try.

She's right about the house; it isn't extravagant. But it was homey. It smelled like the perfume my mom used to wear and instead of making me bitter and angry, I found it comforting.

She led me into the living room and gestured to the couch, which had a few blankets and a pillow stacked neatly on the end.

"I'm sorry that you have to sleep on the couch," she says. "It's a small house, and there's only one bedroom."

I wave it off. "The couch is fine."

She beams at me. "Have a seat. I'll go grab some drinks. What sounds good, iced tea, soda, water?"

"Uhm, iced tea is fine," I say.

She nods and breezes out of the room. I look around the living room and it makes me sad; the walls are all pretty much bare. There's a few generic pictures of flowers and one or two of landscapes, but nothing personal.

She comes back into the room with a bottle of water, a glass of iced tea and a bowl of pretzels.

"I figure you must be hungry from the flight," she explains as she sets them down on the small coffee table in front of me. "If you're up for it later, we can actually go out to get some food or we can order in."

"That sounds nice," I say, knowing that the small talk was coming to an end.

"So how are you?" she questions as she opens her water. "Your letters were a real joy while I was in rehab. They were always so entertaining."

Nice segue, I think.

"I'm glad," I say out loud. "I thought about you a lot on my trips."

She smiles. "That makes me happy. I'm glad you got to go out and explore a little bit. I wish I would have done that."

"That was actually one of the things Heidi and I talked about," I reply.

"Who's Heidi?"

I blush. "Oh, she's my therapist," I explain. "We talked a lot about whether going to college would be the right route, or if I wanted to go out and explore and find a life outside of Forks. We talked about how that might have helped you."

I say everything tentatively. I don't want to upset her, but when I look up at her, she's not mad. She's nodding.

"That probably would have," she admits. "It would have saved everyone a lot of heart ache. But can I tell you what I talked about with my therapist?"

"Sure."

"We talked about everything I had done and all of my regrets," she says. "And he taught me how to see things I regretted as lessons. Marrying Charlie wasn't the best idea I've ever had. But it brought me you. That's a positive. I might not have gotten to see the world, but I got to have you. I got to love you. And even though it may not have seemed like it, I've always loved you."

I don't know what to say. It was one thing having hard conversations through letters; it's another thing completely doing it in person.

"Thank you," I say. "That means a lot to me. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for the way I acted last time."

"Don't be." She waves me off. "That gave me the kick I needed. If that day hadn't happened the way it did, I don't know where I would be today."

I finally ask the question that's been bugging me since we were outside. "What's the deal with the bandage?" I ask, gesturing to her arm.

She looks down as if she forgot the bandage were there. "Oh! I should have explained that earlier," she says with an embarrassed smile. "It's a reminder. I keep it there so that I always remember what I was and what I did." She lifts the bandage up and shows me her lightly scared elbow.

"I'm proud of you," I say. And I mean it.

She smiles at me, and for the first time in a long time, I have my mom back.

~O~

After much deliberation, we decided on Chinese food for dinner and had it delivered. I am, honestly, exhausted from the day's activities and really have no interest in going out on the town.

We sit on opposite ends of the couch, me with my sweet and sour chicken and Renee with her chicken friend rice and noodles. She clicks on the television and starts flipping channels.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" she asks. "Or find a TV show? I think "Friends" is on…"

"Uhm it doesn't matter to me," I mutter, watching the channels flick by. "Whatever you-"

I stop and am paralyzed for a moment before I yell. "Go back a channel! Please!"

Renee gives me a funny look but clicks a button, and my breath catches in my throat and my heart thunders loudly in my chest.

The woman on the television stands smiling, her microphone poised in front of her.

"After months and months of wondering what happened to the Hollywood heartthrob, Edward Cullen is finally sitting down to talk about his absence and what he's been up to." She smiles widely. "And only E! has the exclusive interview."

And standing next to her stands the man I'd been simultaneously dreading and hoping to see for months, smiling at the camera with his green eyes glowing.

"Stay tuned."

Like I said, a lot happens.

Now, I want to clarify before a bunch of people yell at me: Bella and her mother are not going to be picking out "Mother-Daughter" bracelets anytime soon. They are on the road to a relationship, but with all the pain Bella has been through because of the situation, it isn't going to be perfect.

I'll have the next chapter up hopefully by tomorrow! :)

Lots of love,

Emilia Elliot