A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list.
Chapter 3-
I gaped at the man open-mouthed, my brain refusing to acknowledge the message received. It was citing obliviousness, but the trick was hardly working.
There was not much to misunderstand when someone claimed to be getting married!
It was…pretty…straightforward…
Yet, it was not wise to jump to conclusions….
Maybe…
Maybe what?
What was left to not understand in the first-go here?
"Bella…please say something..."
I nodded my head briefly, my brain searching for words. "Er…when did you meet…"
"It's been a while." He sighed. "Almost a year that I have known that I want to marry her."
Okay.
"Do I…um…know…"
"No." he winced. "I have kept her a close-guarded secret for all this while."
"Why?" I demanded, slightly miffed.
If he loved her, why keep her a secret from the world?
"She is…different."
"How?"
"She has Xeroderma pigmentosum. Basically, she needs to avoid the sun completely. The only time we get to spend together is at night."
Okay.
"But I still don't understand, why not tell anyone?"
Why not tell me?
I was his daughter, for Christ's sake!
I deserved to know.
"Um, about that…"
Surprisingly, he seemed even more nervous than what he had been while telling me the 'big' news. Which was strange.
"She is…uh…she is young…"
"How old, Charlie?" I stared at the man.
Please tell me she is not eighteen or twenty or anything below forty.
That would be…well…gross.
"Thirty."
"What?" I growled out in disbelief. "I am twenty-eight; she is freaking two years older than me?" The words rambled out. "Charlie, you turned fifty-one last month! A twenty-one-year age gap!"
"Now," he let out a grunt. "Jake too, is younger than you. Let's not be a hypocrite here."
"Two years, dad." I rolled my eyes in response, taking my head in my hands.
Edward was older than me, and see how that went!
Generational gap was a serious thing!
"She is very mature for her age." He continued. "She has seen a lot in her life; raised by her eldest sister after her parents passed away in a road accident. She can hardly get a decent job owing to her medical condition. She hardly has any friends…."
"Okay, dad." I stated. "Let's cool down on the sympathy card. I understand, she is mature for her age."
Still, it was weird.
I now knew that.
"Yes." He agreed. "Also, she has several health restrictions…."
"Like what?" I frowned in confusion.
He let out a grunt. "She is lactose-intolerant, and has a few other allergies limiting her food options…"
Okay…
"What does she eat, then?"
"Soup." He grunted. "She always carries a flask of weird smelling tomato soup with her."
Okay…
This was a lot to digest in one go.
Can't go out in the sun, doesn't eat normal food, carries a flask of weird smelling tomato soup…
A terrifyingly loud alarm was ringing in my head, but I chose not to concentrate on it for the time- being.
"Is she from Forks?"
I didn't personally know anyone with the above specifications…but I didn't know everyone who lived here.
It could as easily be a resident.
"No." he gulped. "She lives in Alaska. Lived there her entire life. Her parents moved there owing to her condition."
"How did you meet?" I gaped in confusion.
Charlie had never visited Alaska, as far as I knew.
"Um," he looked apologetic. "About that. Bella, I have a confession to make."
"Go on." I whispered the words out.
"Well, after that Edwin boy left you…"
"His name was Edward, and you know that."
"Irrespective," he waved a hand in air, "after he left you in…that manner, I was livid."
What did you do, Charlie?
"I tracked him down to Alaska. I wanted to confront him."
"You went there?"
No.
No.
This was bad.
"Yes." A nod of the head. "He was staying with extended family. He apologized for his actions."
"He did?"
"Yes. He was very mature about it and took full responsibility."
"Okay." I frowned, my head a scattered mess of thoughts. "It has been a decade, Charlie; I don't get how this is important."
So, he may have apologized and all, but I was way past that phase of being heartbroken.
It had been ten years since we broke up. I had moved on.
His memories were nothing more than a childhood crush to me.
"Well," he shied away from meeting my eyes. "I met Kate while I was there. She is his cousin. There was an instant spark, and we kept in touch for all these years."
Oh.
No. No. No.
"She is his cousin?"
She was a vampire.
Charlie was dating a vampire.
Charlie was about to get married to a vampire!
And seems like, he didn't know!
"Yes." Charlie admitted, hastily continuing, "but it isn't as bad. Like I said, she is far mature than her age and…"
I did not hear the rest, blackness covering my eyelids as my body fought to remain conscious, losing the battle mercilessly.