"You can come and see Emmett now," Nurse Julie said. "He should be waking up soon."
Edward, who was pretending to sleep in order to avoid any more questions about his captors, strengthened his grip on Izzy's hand. Even if Izzy wanted to leave him, which she didn't, they'd need a crowbar to free her fingers.
"Hey Esme," Izzy said. "Why don't you go get Emmett and I'll stay here with Edward?"
Edward loosened his grip, but only slightly. Izzy's fingers would live to see another day.
Esme stood but didn't leave the room. "Bella...Izzy...I'm sorry. For accusing you. I should have known better than to believe what they say about you online."
Drug use, illicit affairs, and animal abuse were just some of the wild accusations people threw around without a shred of evidence. Izzy could handle strangers believing those horrible lies. But Esme, the woman who said to call her mom, that hurt. A lot.
"It's okay," Izzy said, keeping her eyes on Edward. "I get it. You were just trying to protect Emmett."
By letting things go, Izzy was protecting Edward. He needed to focus on recovering, not playing referee between his mom and...fiancee? Ex-girlfriend? Friend? Izzy stared at her fingers interwoven with Edward's. She wasn't sure if things could go back to the way they were. She wasn't sure she wanted them to. Going back to Edward would mean leaving La Push, the dogs, and Jake. While not always easy, she loved her life and wasn't going to throw it away like a used tissue. Izzy squeezed Edward's hand. Eventually, a decision would have to be made. In the meantime, she'd be there for him in whatever way he needed her to be.
After Esme left, Edward opened his eyes and released Izzy's hand. He reached out and touched a stray lock of Izzy's hair.
"My friend Kim did it for me," Izzy explained. "She thought it might be fun to try something new. Purple hair is kind of my thing now."
She'd tried different lengths and styles, but she always favored mid-back length bright purple hair. Izzy wondered what Edward thought of it. They'd always made fun of the girls at school who got their 'natural' blonde hair from a bottle.
Edward said nothing and gently tucked the hair behind Izzy's ear. He ran his fingers down her arm until he got to Izzy's most recent tattoo, a pawprint on her shoulder.
"It's a paw print," Izzy explained. "I work at a dog rescue."
Every member of the band, their significant others, and many of the volunteers had tattoos of their favorite dog's paw print. After years of being the only one without one, Izzy
Izzy waited for Edward to press for more information. Her working with dogs should have been a shock. As a child, Izzy was terrified of dogs after being nipped on the cheek by a neighbor's cocker spaniel. That fear stayed with her until she met Jake's dog, Black, and learned that while some dogs were aggressive, most were kind and loyal creatures.
Much to Izzy's surprise, Edward nodded and continued down her arm until he got to the waves on her bicep. Izzy thought of the day of her first jump as a sort of rebirth. She went into the water a broken woman and came out with a whole new outlook on life. While there were sometimes days when getting out of bed was a struggle, she knew Jake and her other friends would always be there to remind her life was worth living. To remind herself of the ups and downs of life, she had Seth tattoo a ring of waves around her arm.
"They're waves," Izzy said. "I've taken up cliff diving."
Edward stiffened at the mention of cliff diving but didn't say anything. He continued down Izzy's arm until he got to the flower on her forearm.
"It's a rose."
Izzy didn't elaborate any further. While beautiful, the tattoo didn't have any real significance. Its main purpose was to cover up the thick scar on her wrist. She was tired of explaining the scar came from a motorcycle accident rather than a self-inflicted wound.
Edward furrowed his brow when he got to Izzy's hand. She wished he would say something. The silence was killing her. She couldn't tell if he was judging her or just curious about how someone with a phobia of needles ended up covered in ink.
Edward started rubbing the callus on her ring finger with his thumb. "Do you still have it?"
Izzy had been wondering how long it would take him to realize her engagement ring was missing. "I gave my ring to your mom."
"I want you to take this," Bella said close to tears.
She couldn't take it anymore, the looks of pity when she had to tell people that the big day would never come because her fiance died.
Esme refused to accept Bella's engagement ring. " Edward would want you to keep it."
If he were alive, Edward wouldn't want her to keep the ring. He'd want her to buy her something flashy with a diamond the size of her fist. The three-carat ring he proposed with, large by most people's standards, was probably half of what he would have preferred.
"Why don't you come inside and we'll talk," Esme said.
Bella didn't move a muscle. It was hard enough being on the driveway. She couldn't imagine going inside the house where three bedrooms waited for occupants that would never return.
"Please," Bella said, forcing the ring into Esme's hand. "Just take it. I can't look at it anymore."
Bella had been trying to decide what to do with the ring for weeks. She couldn't sell it. It would be wrong to profit off of Edward's death. She tried hiding it under the floorboards in her room, but like the tell-tale heart, it was always there reminding her of what she'd done. Fearing she'd go insane if she spent one more night in the same house as that ring, Bella decided to hurl it into the ocean. She found a cliff on the edge of town and spent an hour staring at the black waves churning far below, but she couldn't follow through with her plan. In the end, she went to Esme's house hoping she'd be willing to relieve her of her burden.
Esme tried to give the ring back, but Bella had both hands curled into tight fists. Esme could argue all day, but Bella wasn't taking that ring back.
"How about this," Esme said. "I'll put your ring into our family safety deposit box for safekeeping. When you want it back, I'll call the bank and have it brought to you."
Izzy never did reclaim her engagement ring. As far as she knew, it was still gathering dust at the bank.
"I meant my bracelet," Edward asked. "The one from my biological parents. I gave it to you the day I...left."
Unlike her engagement ring, Izzy hadn't been able to part with Edward's bracelet. Touching the soft leather helped her to remember that while they didn't have a future, they did have a past. Edward loved her and trusted her with his most prized belonging. On the rare occasion that someone asked it, Izzy told them the bracelet belonged to a loved one who'd died in 2020. That was enough to satisfy most peoples' curiosity. In a hard-hit area like Forks, everyone knew someone who'd during those dark times.
"Do you still have it?" Edward asked.
Izzy bit her lip. How was she supposed to tell him she lost it? She should have known better than to leave his bracelet in the sand while she went cliff diving with her friends. She combed the area for hours, but she was never able to recover the bracelet. Even worse, that day marked the last time she heard Edward's voice. Part of her wondered if Edward made the bracelet vanish as a way of telling her it was time to move on. Now that he was back, she knew the only one to blame for the bracelet disappearing was her.
"I'm sorry," Izzy whispered. "I don't have it anymore."
"It's okay," Edward said, closing his eyes. "Five years is a long time to keep some stupid bracelet."
Edward spoke again 20 minutes later. "Bella, if I ask you a question will you give me an honest answer?"
"Of course."
Izzy's mind was going a million miles an hour. Was he going to ask about the tattoos? The missing wedding ring? Her career choices?
"How long has my father been dead for?"
Izzy mentally slapped herself. Of course, Edward would worry about Carlisle. He'd always been there for every one of his children's bumps, bruises, and broken bones. It was reasonable for Edward to assume death was the only explanation for why Carlisle wasn't there pacing the halls questioning every treatment decision.
"Sorry," Izzy said. "I should have mentioned that earlier. Your dad isn't her, but he is alive and well"
Edward looked into Izzy's eyes. "Please don't lie to me. If my father was still alive he'd move heaven and earth to be here."
Izzy had no doubt that was true. Carlisle would gladly buy a plane and pilot it himself if it meant getting to his children a single day faster.
"He's working at a clinic in Africa," Izzy said. "He'll be here as soon as he hears the news."
Izzy and Esme had both left messages, but they hadn't heard back from Carlisle yet. The clinic kept him busy and electricity was never a given in that part of the world. Izzy wouldn't be surprised if it took him a week or more to hear the news.
Edward flared his nostrils. "I know my dad isn't 'living' in Africa. That's the same lie my mom told Jasper when the cat died."
Edward moved his arm causing Izzy's heartbeat to speed up for a second. How was it that Phil could still have a hold on her when he was locked in a cage thousands of miles away? Izzy took a deep breath and looked at Edward. It was just fear manifesting itself as anger. He wasn't going to hurt her.
"I'm not lying or trying to trick you," Izzy said after her heartbeat had returned to normal. . "We all had to find ways of coping. For me, it was dogs and music. For your dad, it was joining Doctors Without Borders."
"Prove it."
Izzy dug into her pocket for her phone. While it stung a bit that Edward didn't trust her, she didn't blame him for wanting proof. It was hard to believe that Carlisle Cullen, the man who acted like a kid in a candy shop at the Apple store, would ever live somewhere without wifi or cell service.
Izzy pulled up the pictures from her visit to Carlisle's clinic. "I went to visit him last fall." She flipped through the pictures of smiling kids, the half painting clinic, and Carlisle posing with a brand new operating table donated by the record label.
"The record label thought it would be a good idea."
While it was great to see Carlisle, Izzy thought the trip was a colossal waste of time and money. They were only there for two days, long enough to take a few feel-good photos of the band painting walls and giving out autographed t-shirts to kids who'd never even heard of the Wolves. The money they spent on plane tickets alone could have funded the clinic for six months. When she expressed her frustrations to Carlisle, he told her she didn't need to feel bad. While they didn't get much work done, the Wolve's visit had drawn the much-needed attention of potential donors.
Carlisle wasn't the only one who viewed the trip as a success. Thanks to a candid shot of Jake wiping paint off a laughing Izzy's face, people stopped talking about the near-riot after the show in Tampa. Maybe the Wolves weren't animals after all.
Edward furrowed his brown. "The record label?"
Crap. Izzy wasn't planning on bringing up Jake or the band until after Edward had some time to adjust to the less radical changes in her life.
Izzy was trying to decide how to explain her journey from shy bookworm to rock star when Jasper sneezed under the bed.
"Is that Jasper?" Edward whispered, pointing down.
Izzy nodded, thankful for the diversion.
"Is he..okay?"
Keeping her promise not to lie in mind, Izzy chose her next words carefully. "Physically, yes."
Emotionally? Not so much.
"Is Alice coming?"
At the mention of his former girlfriend's name, Jasper poked his head out from under the bed.
"She's getting on a plane and should be here sometime tomorrow," Izzy said, pretending not to notice.
Izzy wondered how Jasper would react to Alice's arrival. When Jasper's panic attacks were at their worst, Alice had always been able to calm him down. Would the same still be true? Would he speak to her when she arrived? What if he was afraid of her? What if she was afraid of him? What if she was only coming out of obligation and walked away when she realized they were years of healing away from happily ever after. What if she wanted to say but Jasper sent her away?
Izzy was so preoccupied with what-ifs that she didn't notice Emmett wheel himself into the room.
"What about Rose, is Rose coming?"
Unlike Izzy and Alice, Rose never picked up the phone. Izzy doubted she ever would. She couldn't imagine Rose sacrificing a life of luxury to hold Emmett's hand while he spent the next five years in therapy.
"Emmett, sweetheart, we talked about this, remember?" Esme said.
"No, I talked and you refused to answer!"
Izzy was taken aback. She'd never heard Emmett raise his voice in anger at anyone.
Emmett turned to Izzy. "Please, tell me the truth. I can take it."
Izzy begged to differ. While he looked slightly better after his transfusion, Emmett still looked like a shell of his former self. Telling him that his wife was now engaged to someone else would probably send him over the edge.
"She's okay," Izzy said after careful consideration. It wasn't a lie. Being both the head of research and development at a major tech company and engaged to Seattle's most eligible bachelor fit most people's idea of doing okay.
"Don't lie to me," Emmett begged. "I've had my fill of liars. Please, just tell me where my wife is."