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Chapter 18

Father Talks

Bella

I was just in my truck driving back home.

I stayed with him for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe how happy I was. I would always be with Emmett ... as a vampire. Hopefully Dad wouldn't be mad and hopefully he had believed Alice. Because at five in the afternoon, Charlie suddenly came to mind. I had written him a note in the kitchen saying I was at Alice's, but I hadn't told him I was sleeping there. When I was almost freaking out about it, Alice heard me and explained that she had called Charlie last night and that I had supposedly fallen asleep on the sofa with her.

When I parked in front of our house, Charlie's patrol car wasn't there yet.

That was good, then I could cook him something delicious to eat to appease him.

I made steak and potato gratin to go with it.

"Bella?" called Charlie from the doorway.

"In the kitchen."

Charlie came to me, breathing deeply in and out through his nose.

"Smells delicious, Bella," he praised me.

I had just taken the finished gratin out of the oven and gave him his plate.

We sat down and ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Bella, it's rude for you to just fall asleep with strangers," Charlie said worriedly.

As if they were strangers. They are my family, I thought.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

He nodded and continued eating.

I had the feeling that he wanted to say more.

Five minutes later, he looked up again.

"One thing I don't quite understand ..." he said to himself rather than to me.

I looked at him questioningly.

"I know you and Alice are best friends. But isn't it weird when you're with your ex-boyfriend's family and then you're still spending the night there?"

I hadn't thought about that at all. Charlie didn't know that Edward and Rose were gone.

"Ah ... Dad, I haven't told you that yet. So ... Edward moved away, he and one of his sisters," I mentioned in a casual tone.

Of course, he was not satisfied with that.

"He's gone? Is that why you're no longer together? Where did he go?"

Oh man, since when was Charlie so curious?

"No, he's gone BECAUSE we broke up. And I have no idea where he is." And I don't want to know either, I added in my mind.

Charlie nodded and continued eating.

Well, that's over with.

Suddenly, something seemed to come back to his mind.

"And have you met anyone yet? For example, the boy you were with in Port Angeles?"

He continued to look at his food.

"DAD! Do you really want to talk about boys now?", I asked.

I knew I would have to tell him about Emmett. But I was hoping I could put it off a little longer. Besides, I was dating my ex's 'brother' after all. This was just too crazy.

"Please, Bella. I just want to make sure you're okay."

This time he looked me in the eye.

Well, eventually he would find out anyway.

"So ... I have a new boyfriend as of yesterday," I said hesitantly.

Boyfriend was far too weak a word, in my opinion, to describe Emmett's and my relationship. After all, we would be spending eternity together.

The corners of my mouth automatically pulled up at the thought.

"Who? Mike ... from school?", he guessed.

I shook my head.

"Emmett," I said devotedly.

"Emmett who?" he continued to drill.

Ohh no ... I couldn't lie. As soon as I was back in school, the rumors would boil.

"Cullen," I said meekly, looking stubbornly at my food.

Charlie said nothing.

"Cullen … of the Cullens? Edward's brother?", he asked incredulously and almost angrily.

I nodded.

"Was that the reason why you and Edward broke up?"

It was clear that he would draw these conclusions. I had to tell him the truth, otherwise I couldn't get out of it.

"No, Dad! That was not the reason! The reason was that Edward cheated. Then on top of that with his brother's girlfriend!"

I left my half-full plate in front of my stunned father and ran angrily upstairs to my room.

Why did it have to be so complicated?

Emmett

When Bella went home, I decided to talk to Carlisle. So I sat down on the couch and watched sports until Carlisle would get off work. I watched the 'Huskies' against the 'Bears'.

Alice was in a good mood all day and pranced around the house even happier than usual.

Of course, she was also happy that Bella would be immortal. After all, she loved her just as much. Jasper had always been in favor of Bella becoming a vampire, since the Volturi forbade that a human knew about our world.

When I heard Carlisle's car coming in the distance, I went down to the underground garage to talk to him.

The automatic gate opened, and he parked perfectly in the narrow parking space. He got out and looked at me questioningly.

"Emmett, what are you doing down here?", he asked.

"I wanted to talk to you for a minute, Carlisle. About Bella," I said.

Carlisle came to me.

"I know it sounds very crazy after everything that happened. But we love each other."

I looked him in the eyes.

Carlisle put his hand on my shoulder.

"Son, love sometimes takes strange detours. But if you're happy, so am I and the rest of the family," he said.

"Thank you, Carlisle. But there is something else," I continued.

"I assume that since you love her, you want her to become a vampire too. Of course, I will support that too, as long as Bella wants me to. She's already part of the family either way."

He smiled paternally.

Half an hour later I jumped through Bella's window.

She zapped through the channels.

"Emmett!" she said happily and jumped into my arms.

"Did you miss me that much?", I quipped.

She nodded and gave me a kiss.

"I have something to tell you, Em," she began.

What was going on that made her sound almost afraid?

She said nothing for a while.

"Spit it out already, Bells."

"So, my dad wants to meet you. On Sunday."

She swallowed hard.

I laughed softly.

I already thought something bad had happened. What was she afraid of?

"What's so bad about it? He won't rip my head off and I'm bulletproof," I said to cheer her up and winked.

"Well, you're my ex's brother. I'm just worried about what people will talk about," she confessed.

That was the least of the problems.

"We'll have to leave in three months anyway, if you're a newborn vampire by then. Then we won't care about small-town rumors anymore."

"Why?" she asked in wonder.

"Newborn vampires are not as controlled as we are. Moreover, they are incredibly strong. So, since we want to prevent you from killing too many people if possible, we'll keep you as far away from civilization as possible if you're going to be a newborn."

She looked at me in shock.

"Not too many?", she groaned breathlessly. "Then you're assuming that I'm going to ... kill people."

She looked at me with her doe eyes.

I stroked her cheek with my fingers.

"No, we don't assume that. Every newborn is like that, it's just our nature. We were all like that once. Maybe you have Carlisle's willpower and really don't kill people. But don't worry your pretty little head about it. Not yet, anyway?"

I hugged her and carried her to bed.

"Sleep now, little one ...", I whispered in her ear, and she closed her eyes.