don't own twilight. What I own is my character's, personality, background, and the plot of my story.

"Daddy," Bella sighs into the phone once her father answers her call.

"Hey, baby. What's up? Is everything okay?" he tells her sounding worried. Bella only calls him daddy when she is upset.

"I think I jumped the gun," she tells him frowning.

"What happened darling? Is everything with Edward okay? Do I need to kick his ass?" he asks her sounding serious at the last sentence.

"I think I need to kick my own ass. I though he was ready. I got excited for Cece because from what I see, he is a better person. I was so happy for Cece that she will finally have her biological father in her life, and I didn't stop to think that maybe he isn't ready to meet her yet," she tells him tearing up. She opens her clutch and looks for a tissue paper and once she finds it, she pats it under her eyes.

"What happened? Tell me exactly what went wrong?" her father asks her in a kind tone.

"As you know, after Edward agreed to all of my stipulations, we decide to meet today. I got Cece all excited about meeting a friend and now I can't because when I called to check where he is, I found out that he is running circles around his own office and is scared to meet her. Now Cece will be disappointed. I should have known that he isn't ready to face her yet."

Bella raises her feet and sits cross legged on the bench. Now that everything has gone to shit, there is no point in keeping her outfit wrinkle free.

"What did you tell him?" Charlie asks keeping his thoughts to himself and probing for more information.

"I don't want to scare him off, so I told him that Cece and I will stay in the park for thirty more minutes before leaving and that if he isn't ready yet, I won't judge him," she tells him sniffing. She takes out a tissue paper and blows her nose with it then cringes at the fact that her dad just heard her do that.

"Baby, first of all, you had no way of knowing that he isn't ready,", "But I should have known. Edward has always been someone that takes forever to get to do something. He isn't good with change," Bella cuts him off. Edward likes routines and loathes change. That's probably why their break up devastated him as much as it did, not only was it a change he hated, it also came suddenly. Edward is one who is slow in that regard. He needs a long time to entangle himself to something.

"You yourself said that he has changed. How where you to know that he didn't change in that regard?" he tells her softly in a calming voice.

Bella blows a breath in frustration and tells him, "I shouldn't have assumed that he changed in that regard." That's another thing Bella has failed at managing.

She hears her father sigh in the background before he tells her, "You are responsible for Cece, not Edward. He is a grown ass adult. Regulating his emotions isn't your job. If he had an issue with the timing, he should have told you so. It's not your job to anticipate the needs of a man you haven't seen in years. Regardless of how much guilt you feel regarding that relationship, his shit isn't your responsibility."

"But,", "No buts. It's not your responsibility. He isn't your responsibility. Quite beating yourself over it. No one is handing out awards for struggling, or people that handle things that aren't their responsibility. Quite with this crap. You are an adult who is the primary parent of a child with a full time job. You have enough on your plate. You don't need to add more to it," Her father cuts her off, not interested in hearing her reprimand herself.

Bella takes a deep breath and holds it for a couple of seconds before she releases it. Her father is right. If Edward had a better handle on his emotions, he would have anticipated his own needs and not overestimated himself. It seems that all it took was for Edward to be back in Bella's life for her to reprise the role she used to play in his life. None of that is happening. She doesn't want to go back to that.

"You are right. I am sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You weren't thinking," he states simply.

"Yeah," she mutters to herself as she uses a tissue paper to pat under her eyes. They are both silent for a minute as Bella fixes herself. She hears rustling in the background as she takes out a compact mirror, and powder from her bag and fixes her look.

"Dad?" Bella asks quietly as she lowers her feet to the ground.

"Yes, baby," he replies.

"How did you do it? I was only two when mum died. How did you do it all alone?" she asks her dad.

Her dad is silent for a moment pondering over her question before he answers, "When your mum was pregnant with you, your grandpa told me something I will never forget. He said all parents screw up. No matter how much you try, you are bound to screw up. Its the only constant in parenting. What sets good parents apart from bad parents is that despite that knowledge, good parents try to not screw up."

"That's an interesting take on good parents," she replies as she ponders his answer. His answer make it seem so simple, but is it that simple?

"Darling it's not that complicated. As long as you approach everything you do for them from a place of love, not control, be willing to recognize your mistakes, and continue to learn, you will do right by your kid," he replies as if hearing her thoughts.

"Really?" she asks skeptically.

"Yeah," he tells her as she feels someone staring at her. She looks up and finds Edward standing in front of her looking sheepishly.

"Okay, Dad. I have got to go. It seems that someone is ready after all," she states her sentence directed at the person in front of her.

Please leave a comment in the review section. It could be your favorite part, thoughts, feeling, or even criticism. Any and every comment you leave is read and taken into consideration. Your comments motivate me to update faster, and help me grow as a writer.

Until my next update,

Stay Safe