Okay guys, the chapter you have been waiting for - meeting the Cullens again. No Edward, unfortunately, but we do get some answers you have been waiting for! Now without further ado...
We made small talk on the journey to the Cullen's house, neither of us asking any important questions or mentioning Edward again. I thought it best to wait until all the family were there, before discussing anything.
I quickly sent Leah a text message letting her know I had actually found Carlisle and that I would ring her as soon as I got a chance. Her reply came through instantly, consisting of a lot of swear words and exclamation marks, which made me chuckle.
We turned down a long winding driveway that reminded me of their house in Forks and after a while a large house appeared. I could see a tiny Alice bouncing up and down on the porch as she barely waited for the car to stop, before opening my door and pulling me swiftly into her arms.
"The human needs to breathe, Alice," I chuckled, as she squeezed me so hard I worried about my ribs. I could feel a tiny part of my heart begin to heal, just at seeing my best friend again. I'd had Leah, of course, and nothing would change our friendship, she had gotten me through the worst time of my life, but Alice had been my best friend before and I hadn't realised just how much I had missed her, the pain of that being overshadowed by the pain of losing Edward.
"Sorry, Bella," she squealed, "I'm just so happy to see you! I've missed you so much!"
"Bella?" a booming voice called from behind Alice. I looked up to see Emmett coming out of the house followed by Rosalie, Jasper and Esme.
I was passed to Emmett, who swung me around while wrapping me in a giant bear hug, and then to Esme for a warm, motherly embrace before we all headed into the living room of the large house. It was fairly similar to their house in Forks. The far wall was made mainly of glass and the room was decorated in light colours with modern furniture.
We all sat down, Alice taking a seat on one side of me and Esme on the other.
"It's so good to see you, Bella," Esme said, "What brings you to Rochester?"
"You guys," I told her, "I've been searching for you. I've been in Rochester for about 3 weeks trying to find you all."
"How did you know we were here?" Jasper asked from the far side of the room, clearly trying to stay as far away from me as possible.
"Well, Edward sent me some letters," I explained, "The postmark was from here, so I guessed you guys were here somewhere."
"Actually, Edward didn't send them," Rosalie spoke up, "I did."
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to look at her, disbelief on every face, even Alice's, which surprised me, though not as much as hearing Rosalie say that she was the one who'd sent the letters.
"You did?" I exclaimed, "Why?"
"He's been miserable since we left," she shrugged, "Everyone's been miserable since we left. I thought maybe if you knew how he really felt, then maybe he'd come home and we could all get back to normal."
"But... you hate me," I stuttered.
"I don't hate you," she said, "I never hated you. I envy you." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at the absurdity of that statement.
"You have everything I want," she continued, "You have your humanity, but you were so willing to give it all up. I thought he'd get over you. That it couldn't have been real because you were only human, but then I saw what it did to him to leave you. He didn't do anything. He lay in his bed, day and night. We had to physically drag him out to hunt and even then, we had to bring the animals to him. He had no life left in him. I couldn't bear to see him like that. It affected us all. My family was being broken apart, both from how Edward was acting and from missing you."
I looked around the room at the other vampires, their expressions indicating that Rosalie's description was only scratching the surface of what they had experienced in the last nine months.
"Then he left," Rosalie went on, "Just up and left without saying a word. We have no idea where he is. When I found those letters in his room, I didn't even think about it, I just posted them. They were already sealed and addressed, so I had no idea what was in them but I thought, things can't get any worse, so what the hell."
"I didn't see you decide to post them," Alice said, looking at Rosalie, confusion on her face.
"It was a split second decision and you were otherwise engaged with Jasper at the time," Rosalie said with a smirk, "I knew when you didn't mention anything that you hadn't seen it. I thought that was a good thing. Just let things play out and see what happens."
"I didn't see you decide to come here either," Alice said, turning to face me, "If I had, I would have come found you sooner. The first I knew was seeing you arrive at the house with Carlisle. He asked me not to search for you, so I was trying to respect his wishes. I'm sorry. I've been a terrible friend." She looked as if she would be crying if she could.
"It's okay, Alice," I said, putting my arm around her, "I understand why he left, why you all left. I just really wish you hadn't. It's been so hard without him, without you all." Tears began rolling down my cheeks. Tears of sadness, as I remembered how hard life had been without them, mixed with tears of joy that I was sitting here with them now.
Taking a deep breath, I began to explain what my life had been like since they had all left. I told them about how I didn't really remember much about the first few months, how I'd lived in a zombie-like state, worrying Charlie so much that Renee had come to take me to Florida. I told them how I'd thrown a fit, refusing to leave and that had pulled me out of my depression enough for me to at least attempt to live my life. I told them about how I'd met Leah, how her friendship had really helped me but I didn't tell them Leah's secret as it was not mine to tell. Finally, I told them about how I had made the decision to come looking for them all after reading the letters and realising that Edward still loved me.
They all sat in silence as I spoke, but their faces showed their shock at how hard it had all been for me and their own guilt at leaving me. When I finished speaking, silence filled the room, no one knowing what to say to me.
Esme finally broke the silence, "I am so sorry, dear," she said, taking my hand in hers, "We were all wrong to leave you. Edward thought he knew what was best and we all went along with his wishes, as he's done it for all of us before, but we should have fought harder. You've been like a daughter to me since I first met you and I'm ashamed that I left you behind to deal with all of that on your own."
I looked at her and then around at the rest of them. They were all nodding in agreement of what Esme had said, shame and guilt clear on their faces.
"I do wish you had all stayed and fought harder against him," I began, "But I don't blame you, guys. I don't even blame him. I understand why he left, why you all went along with it. It's dangerous for me to be in your lives, but it's where I want to be. I love him. I love you all."
We chatted for a while, hearing about what they had all been up to since they moved to Rochester, before I stood from the sofa saying, "It's getting kinda late. Maybe someone could give me a lift back soon?"
"Where are you staying?" Esme asked.
"Just a hostel in the city," I said.
"You are not staying in a hostel!" Esme exclaimed, "You'll go get your things and come and stay here."
"Oh, no, it's fine," I said, "I don't want any one feeling uncomfortable with me staying here." I glanced up at the rest of them, my gaze resting on Jasper, who looked at me guiltily.
"Nonsense," she said, waving her hand, "I won't take no for an answer. You can't stay in a hostel when we have plenty of space here. Besides, we all want to spend as much time with you as possible."
She entered full mother mode then, giving everyone a job to do. Carlisle was going to drive me to the hostel to pick up my things, Alice and Jasper were sent to the supermarket to get some groceries so Esme could cook dinner for me and Rosalie and Emmett were sent to get the guest room organised for me to stay. I smiled as I watched them all scurry around, no one daring to argue with her.
"Come on, dear," Carlisle said, guiding me out of the house, "Let's get your things."
We chatted a little on the way to pick up my stuff, still avoiding talking about Edward and I was glad of that. I knew that the conversations that I would have to have about him soon would not be easy. It had been an emotional day already, the rest could wait until tomorrow.
"Are you sure about me staying with you guys?" I asked, as we reached the hostel, "I really don't mind staying here."
"We want you to stay with us," Carlisle replied, "Besides, do you want to be the one to tell Esme?" He chuckled, as I grimaced at the thought of going against Esme.
"No," I said, "But what about Jasper? I don't want him feeling uncomfortable in his own home."
"Jasper has come a long way in the last nine months," Carlisle said, "He's been working extra hard on his control after what happened at your birthday. He feels so guilty about it and everything that happened as a result. However, if you don't feel comfortable staying with us, I understand."
"No, not at all," I said quickly, "I trust you all completely, Jasper included. I never blamed him for any of it."
We quickly gathered my belongings and cancelled my room, before heading back to the Cullens house. When we arrived back, I could smell something delicious being cooked and Esme quickly ushered me into the kitchen.
"Oh, Esme," I said, "You didn't have to go to all this trouble. I could have cooked something myself or just had a quick snack."
"It gives me an excuse to use the kitchen, and besides, I love looking after my children," she said wrapping her arm around my shoulders, "I can't cook for the rest of them, so humour me." My heart warmed at hearing her call me one of her children. I loved her like a mother and they had all been family to me before they left. I was only beginning to realise just how much I had missed them all.
I ate the delicious pasta Esme had made, while she chatted with me, asking about school and my friends. When I finished, she lead me to the guest room on the ground floor. It was beautifully decorated in varying shades of green with a large bed set in the middle of the room. There was a door off to the right that lead to a bathroom.
"If you need anything, anything at all, you just let me know," Esme said, as she left the room.
I was just getting things together to grab a quick shower before heading to bed, when I heard a soft knock on my door. I opened the door expecting Esme again or maybe Alice, but was surprised to find Jasper, standing a few feet back from the doorway.
"Sorry to disturb you, Bella," he said, looking down at his shoes, "I just wanted to apologise for everything that happened on your birthday."
"No apologies needed, Jasper," I assured him, "I never blamed you for any of it. I was clumsy. That's on me."
"You shouldn't have to apologise for a paper cut," he said, still not looking me in the eyes.
"And you shouldn't have to apologise for being who or what you are," I told him, "I know it's tough for all you guys and the fact that you all go against what you are to be better people astounds me."
"You genuinely mean that, don't you?" he said incredulously, finally looking up into my eyes, "I can only feel honesty from you. I was sure you would hate me and not want to be anywhere near me again. Everything that happened after that was my fault." He looked down again.
"It's not your fault," I said, walking towards him, "I know Edward and if that was enough to make him leave me for my own good, then it would have happened anyway. He'd have found some excuse. I really don't blame you. I never have. I blamed myself for a long time, for not being good enough to keep him."
"You are definitely wrong about that," he said, meeting my gaze again, "If anything, you're too good for him. You are kind and compassionate and you accept us all for who we are without hesitation. Goodnight, Bella."
He walked away and before I could even reach the door to close it, Alice bounded into the room, scooping me up into another rib crushing hug.
"Thank you, Bella," she beamed, "You don't know how much that means to him, and to me. He's been beating himself up about it all since we left. No matter what the rest of us told him, he's never been able to forgive himself."
"I only told him the truth, Alice," I told her, trying to pull away enough to be able to breathe easily.
"I know, and that's what makes all the difference," she said, sitting on the edge of my bed, "He can feel your honesty and knows you're not just trying to placate him."
Alice and I chatted for a little while, catching up on the things we'd missed. She told me about her search to find out more about her human life after finding out that James, the tracker vampire that had tried to kill me last year, had known her when she was human. Her parents had her admitted to an asylum because of her strangely accurate predictions of the future. She had found her birth announcement and her 'death' announcement, which was the same day she had been admitted into the asylum. She had a sister called Cynthia and her daughter, Alice's niece, still lived in Biloxi.
"I've really missed you, Bella," Alice said, "I'm really sorry I went along with his stupid idea. I told him you'd both be miserable."
"I missed you too, Alice," I said, stifling a yawn.
"Okay, that's my cue to leave," she chuckled, "Edward was always telling me off for forgetting that you are human and need to eat and sleep."
I quickly showered and climbed into bed, thinking about just how weird, but also wonderful, it was to be tucked up in bed in a house full of vampires again. Now, I just needed to find where my stupid, self sacrificing vampire was hiding and my life would be complete again.
So, nearly everyone guessed that Edward didn't actually send the letters. Bella was probably a bit naive in not realising that herself lol. Many people thought it was Alice, but I think if it had been her she would have meddled much more and made it easier for Bella to find them. Alice didn't see Bella deciding to look for Edward or the Cullens, if she had, I think we all know, she would have helped her along. I think in all the reviews only one person mentioned Rosalie, so well done Traceybuie! Though in saying that you mentioned all the Cullens and even then Rose was at the bottom of the list lol. My thoughts were that Rose hated that her family were miserable about the whole situation so she mailed the letters, but she didn't care enough about Bella to actually help her along in her search. Any of the other Cullens probably would have just shown up at Bella's door or sent her a plane ticket to Rochester lol. Some more answers next chapter, which I will post next Wednesday, all being well. Until then, here's another recommendation.
Once Bitten by Elise de Sallier
Edward finally meets the love of his existence but can't resist her singer's blood. Can their fairytale love survive a horror beginning or will Bella's newborn grief, an outraged wolf pack, and the offended Volturi deny them their happily ever after? COMPLETE
