BPOV
"We can't stay holed up in here," Edward says gently as he gestures around the bathroom of our room at the B&B.
I suggested we come in here so Hadley couldn't hear us, right now she is watching a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills marathon on one of the queen-sized beds in our room.
"You flew all the way here—"
"We came to be with you for Christmas," he explains.
"I don't see any point in staying," I say with a sigh. "I came here to visit with my dad but that's pretty much shot to shit now."
"Did he tell you why he did it?" he asks, wrapping his arms around me.
"She was unfit, insert sob story, yada, yada, yada," I grumble. "I've never seen him so livid and I guarantee you Sue put that box in my room."
"What makes you think that?"
"The fact that he ran to his room looking for it," I say still shocked that this has been hidden in his room under my nose all this time.
"No, shit?" he says surprised.
"Yes, shit," I reply back.
"I can move our flights up, you need to leave tonight?" he asks while his eyes search for their answer on my face.
"You just flew out today. I don't want this traumatizing Hadley," I say rationally.
Flying was a pain in the ass to begin with but for a child, it had to be exhausting. I didn't want to put her through that.
"I'll look for flights and hopefully I can get us out of here before Christmas," he says.
We have a few days, but we might be insane thinking we can get a flight home.
I nod.
We both exit the bathroom, Hadley is zonked out on the bed. I move to the bed she's sprawled out on and gently remove her shoes.
"She still needs dinner," Edward says with a quiet sigh.
"Let her nap for a bit and we can go to the lodge in an hour," I offer, knowing that it's Taco Tuesday tonight, and Ms. Shelly's tacos were a chef's kiss. Also, I knew Charlie's go-to was the diner and that we had a better chance of seeing him there than at the lodge.
He nods and takes a seat on the other bed.
His face softens when Hadley snuggles closer to me in her sleep.
"So is there a plan?" he asks and I know what he's referring to.
What am I going to do about my mother?
I get that my dad deterred her from seeing me but she did sign away her rights. If you were going to fight for your child that might be the first thing you don't do.
"I think I need to read all the letters," I reply.
"Seems like a logical place to start," he says with a shrug.
"I need to cool down, I'll talk to my dad again at some point but right now we both need space. He's not a malicious guy or so I thought. The point is he had to have had a reason," I say feeling in my gut that my father wasn't this guy.
There was no way he was a vindictive man that used his child as leverage because his wife left him.
Again my dad only became overbearing when he thought he knew best about life choices—
"What?" Edward asks after I realize that Charlie might be capable of doing something like this.
"I don't want him to be a monster," I admit quietly.
He gets up and takes my hand. I carefully pull away from Hadley and follow Edward over to the other bed.
We sit side by side while he pulls me in for a hug.
"Bella, I'm sure he had his reasons for what he did… I think he knows he was in the wrong, but your dad does love you. I might not agree with his decision to keep your mother from you, but I get it," he tries reassuring me.
"I never wanted to search her out," I say after a minute.
"But now you want to," he states.
"I want to hear her out, but be cautious about it," I say honestly.
He nods his agreement before kissing me on the top of my head.
"I probably should try to find us flights back before they're all gone," Edward tells me before he goes over to his bag to retrieve his laptop.
He sits up against the headboard and I crawl up the bed to sit beside him. It really is slim pickings but he's able to find a red-eye flight for tomorrow night.
Edward tells me I can sit with Hadley and he'll take the open seat two rows back. I feel like he's taking a bullet for me to sit next to a random stranger.
That is love.
He texts Esme to let her know we are coming back for Christmas. Her response is worried but he lets her know that something happened between me and Charlie and that it's nothing in regards to our relationship.
I hate that he has to disclaim that.
"Why is everything so dramatic?" I ask in a huff when I glance at him.
"I think this is all a temporary drama," he says optimistically.
I shoot him the stink eye.
He teasingly pinches my chin before he goes to wake Hadley up from her nap.
"We're going to dinner?" she asks sleepily.
"Taco Tuesday," I say enthusiastically.
A smile lights up Hadley's face.
The girl loves tacos as much as I do.
The ride to the lodge was pretty mellow, Hadley gave me a recap of her trip to Forks. Edward said this is really her first time out of the city.
Even in Port Angeles, she couldn't get over the little shops on main street. I noted that after dinner I should take them to the bookstore I loved to go to growing up.
Another reason I chose the lodge was because it was bordering both towns and it's closest to where we're staying.
When we get out of the SUV, Hadley gets between us holding both our hands. A few people I know from town pass by us doing double takes. Seeing the Chief's daughter holding hands with a young girl is probably having them doing some math in their heads.
As soon as we walk through the door Ms. Shelly sees me.
"Isabella Swan, well as I live and breathe," she hollers from the hostess stand.
"Ms. Shelly," I grin brightly.
Ms. Shelly was one of the OG's who had a crush on Charlie.
She was definitely a cougar back then now she was giving me Blanche Devereaux vibes especially with the way she's eye-fucking Edward.
It's hard for me to keep my composure.
Her hair is still blonde and reaches the sky with the help of hairspray. She was always curvy but now she looks a little bit trimmer. She looks good for her age, which definitely falls in the Medicare demographic.
She hugs me tight.
"Who is that snack of a man, Isabella?" she murmurs in my ear.
"That snack is my boyfriend, Ms. Shelly," I say playfully as I pull away.
She bites her lip and shakes her head giving him a little wink.
"And who is this sweet thing?" she asks, crouching down a little to Hadley's level.
"This is Edward's daughter, Hadley," I introduce.
"Such a dumplin'," Ms. Shelly says, giving Hadley's cheek a pinch.
She stands eyeing Edward again. I'd bet she wishes she could pinch his other cheeks.
"I bet you were a real heartbreaker before our Isabella snatched you up," she says, leering at him.
I cover the laugh escaping with my fist.
Edward gives her a placating smile and me a glare.
"Charlie's over at the bar he didn't tell me y'all were joining him," she announces.
"Actually Ms. Shelly, can we not tell him we're here? Holiday drama and all that," I say waving my hand.
"Say no more, sweets," she tells me.
Hadley perks up at that and smiles.
Ms. Shelly lets out a groan. "What a little doll," she coos, pinching Hadley's other cheek.
Saving the kid I pull her back to me and give her a squeeze.
"Can we by chance get a table in the back?" I ask her.
"Sure thing," she says, grabbing a few menus before leading us all the way to a corner both in the back.
She leaves us to enjoy our meal.
I start to think about all the times Ms. Shelly would watch me here after school until Charlie got off work. I would have worked here last summer if it wasn't for Charlie asking Waylon as a favor.
"I'll be right back," I tell Edward and Hadley.
I jog up to where Ms. Shelly is standing by the kitchen door.
She gives me a wry grin.
"What did Charlie do?" she asks.
"What makes you think he did something?" I ask innocently.
"He's been nursing a couple of glasses of my best scotch and looks like someone killed his puppy," she says frankly.
"You knew my mother, right?" I ask.
"Ahhhh, I see," she says, her face turning sympathetic. "What would you like to know?"
I bite my lip thinking about where I should start.
"What was she like?" I ask.
"A real firecracker. Your mama and Charlie fought a lot… Like screaming in the parking lot at each other—"
"They fought here?" I ask.
I couldn't really remember them together, only my individual time with them.
She nods.
"Charlie kept her like a caged bird, she just wanted to fly," she says wistfully.
"And fly she did," I mumble.
Ms. Shelly eyes me.
"Now you stop, Renee loved you. We all couldn't fathom why she wasn't in your life, Isabella," she says gently.
"I found letters from her today," I confess as she gasps. "Yeah, pretty sure Sue wanted me to find them because I found them in the closet of my old room. Ms. Shelly, she has been writing to me since she left, up until last spring."
She suddenly pulls me into a hug.
It's tight and nurturing, like she's trying to protect me from the world.
When she pulls away she holds me by the shoulders.
"I can't begin to understand what you're going through," she tells me.
"But?" I ask with a wry smile.
"Your father is a good man—"
"Which is why this is so hard, because I know Charlie is a decent and honorable man but he kept her away from me when she tried to reach out time and time again," I say, feeling my resolve breaking.
"Like I said, Renee was a firecracker. She was also flighty and scatterbrained, but she was very young. She was around your age when she left," Ms. Shelly explains before elaborating. "Your father was going back and forth to Seattle trying to work things out with custody and then she signed her rights away. I think this is more complicated than you know."
"I heard his side and he was adamant that he did this with my best interest in mind—"
"But you want to know her side of things," she states.
I reluctantly nod.
Because before I could condemn Charlie for his actions, I need to understand them.
A/N: Charlie, Charlie, Charlie...