2. Intro to Bella Swan

"I'm so very sorry you had to take time out of your day, Mr. Masen. We could've had this meeting over the phone."

Edward's hazel eyes captured her attention the same as when she'd first met him on Renesmee's first day of school. He seemed to have this effect on the female population without knowing it. Similarly, she doubted whether his daughter was aware of her own enchanting nature.

"It's no trouble, Miss Allen," Edward said, shifting in his seat, showing the opposite.

She knew he had a busy job and admired that he always took time for his young daughter. Miss Allen could see why. Renesmee had this light about her—she glowed with an almost ethereal quality.

When the situation between her and Leelee was brought to her attention, she gave it a chance to see if it would resolve on its own. She tried to teach them to be kind and treat one another as they wanted to be treated. In fact, she'd given Leelee the task of becoming Renesmee's first friend and showing her around. When the new girl got more attention from the other girls, she graduated from friend to threat.

"I'm here because…" he began.

Miss Allen held up her hand. "I am aware of Renesmee and Leelee. Just so happens that by the end of the day, the two girls were holding hands and laughing just like they'd been friends every day of their lives." She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

Those thick, bushy brows of his rose. "Oh. I see."

"Yes. It appears the girls worked it out on their own…which is what we encourage." She noted the hint of skepticism as he formulated his reply.

"Be that as it may, sometimes children can't always manage on their own…"

"And that's when we step in. But this is not one of those times."

"I see."

"I understand your concern, and I will keep a close eye on your daughter. She's a special girl and has quite a compelling way about her."

"Thank you so much, Miss Allen." He rose and buttoned up the middle button of his suit jacket.

"You're so welcome Mr. Masen. It's such a pleasure having Nessie in my class. Feel free to reach out anytime." Literally, anytime. Mr. Cullen was known as a long-time widower, and she doubted he realized how desirable he was. Though, she wondered if Renesmee's father wouldn't be off the market soon. The family drawings his daughter had created during her free time told the story. "Oh…and I understand congratulations are in order."

"Pardon me?"

"Oh…I apologize. Nessie's drawings lately indicate…well, here let me show you."

She pulled out a number of drawings tucked neatly inside Nessie's desk. The earlier ones showed sketches of Edward in his suit and tie, holding hands with Nessie wearing a dress with a butterfly on it, but as the weeks went on, a woman was added to the drawing. This new figure wore a wedding dress and held a bouquet of pink flowers. When Miss Allen had asked, the child responded that it was her new mother. Maybe she was mistaken. "Oh…I'm sorry for the assumption. Maybe this is the nanny she keeps talking about—Alice?"

He knit his brows. "No. Alice is quite a bit shorter, and so is her hair, and light brown color."

Miss Allen didn't know what to say.

"Can I take this with me?" he asked.

Her cheeks warmed. "Of course. I hope this doesn't cause any trouble for either of you."

He simply smiled, took the drawing with him, and wished her a good day. She smiled in return.

It had been a late night for Edward, and at the end of the day, Nessie's drawing sat forgotten in the passenger seat of his car. He heaved a sigh as he gazed upon the three figures. Now, what was this about? First the vision board and apparently she was drawing pictures of a woman with them — a perfect happy outcome.

When he entered it was after 8, and Alice was drying the dishes. Her lips held a smugness and he already guessed why. Apparently, Nessie had applied some tactic of Alice's, and it worked. He couldn't really fault her. Whatever it was, the two girls were peaceful.

"Hello, Alice." She opened her mouth, but he spoke before she could. "I heard what happened."

"Turns out Nessie's quite a peacemaker."

"She is. Who knew?" She'd been so at odds at her other school, moping around with shoulders slumped. He could hardly tell she was the same girl.

"I did," Alice giggled, and announced she was going to say goodnight to Renesmee.

Edward sighed as he removed the drawing from his laptop bag. He debated showing it to Alice because what if his daughter had gotten Alice's likeness wrong? Though, to him, it seemed too much of a difference. The woman in the drawing wore her long, dark hair to one side.

"Nessie's in bed watching videos, waiting to say goodnight." Alice grabbed a knapsack and her beaded bracelets jingled as she flung it over her shoulder and waved goodbye.

"See you in the morning, Alice."

"Bright and early!"

The door closed shut and he tucked the drawing back inside. The child was going to sleep and maybe this wasn't the time to be bringing up conflict.

He knocked at the door frame, and she smiled, taking her eyes away from her ipad. From her canopied bed, she looked every bit the little princess in a white, eyelet nightgown as she sprung out of bed and hugged him.

"Daddy! Did you hear what happened? Leelee and I are friends now!"

The grin spread across his lips. "Yes, sweetie."

"And Miss Allen didn't have to do anything. And it was so fun today. We jumped rope, and we started a club and we sat together at lunch. Best day ever!"

"That's wonderful, Ness. I'm proud of you and the way you handled yourself." Though, he didn't know the details.

He heard the female voice coming from the ipad, and she was saying something about speaking your truth.

"What are you watching?" he asked. He wasn't surprised. His daughter wasn't one for cartoons or shows that girls her age might watch.

"It's Bella Swan! Come see. I love her videos!" She pulled him to the bed and held the screen up, angling it so he could see it. There she was—the woman from her vision board. Against a background of a night sky, she was a sight in emerald green, her long hair falling to one side. When she spoke, there was a mesmerizing quality to her voice.

"Thanks for watching," she said, "don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more, sending you lots of love and light, and remember, make it the best day ever."

This was Bella Swan, apparently. And she was striking. Though he could see that her videos weren't targeted for children, Nessie had been attracted to them like sap to a tree.

Another video played where she spoke of the damaging effects that parents had on their offspring—though unintentional they may be—how children grew up with dysfunctions because of it. That was when Edward paused the video. To him, her narrative sounded like a personal attack. She'd all but blamed him for some sort of dysfunction that Nessie hadn't even developed yet.

"Why are you watching this?" Edward asked.

"She is amazing. She gives the best advice and explains why people are the way they are."

Edward pressed his lips together. He despised the blame game. "Ness…no more screens so close to bed, okay?" This woman was planting ideas in his daughter's head about Edward's parenting style.

Didn't she understand that he, like any parent, was doing the best they could? Did she have any children of her own? It was so easy to criticize! Edward couldn't do this with Renesmee right now. She was too young to fully comprehend any of this. "Your birthday's coming up," he said, hoping to steer the subject far from anything related to Bella Swan or her cockamamie conclusions about unconscious parenting and their resulting effects.

"Two weeks," she said, sitting up.

"Yes, and I'm sorry we haven't really talked about it before, but there's still time. We can have a party…go to Disneyland…you can bring a friend…"

"There's only one thing I want for my birthday, Daddy."

Please don't say a new mother, he thought. "Okay. What's that?"

She didn't answer him right away. "Bella Swan is doing a seminar in Seattle, and I want us to go to it."

His jaw almost dropped. A seminar, to watch this parent-hater speak? No thanks. He wondered if he would need to put a stop somehow to his daughter viewing these videos.

"It's late, Nessie. Let's talk about this tomorrow."

"Daddy," she said with a pout. "It's the only thing I want. Please?" Holding up her hands in supplication, she continued, "I won't ask for anything else, I promise."

Edward felt the dread well up in his heart. When she looked at him with those pleading eyes that way…"Let me think about it."

She clapped as if he'd just agreed and told him the date—two Saturdays away. "Here you go," she said, tapping some keys on her tablet. "I just sent you the link."

"Thank you. And I said I'll think about it, okay? No promises. Now goodnight," he said, kissing her forehead.

"Goodnight," she said, hugging him. "I love you, Daddy."

The "I love you, Daddy" sent him over the edge. It had been a long time since she said it. "I love you too, Ness, so much." His gaze darted to the vision board. A few more items were added to it, but he'd have to see what it was later. The next morning as she was getting dressed, 2 drawings of admission tickets to Bella Swan's seminar now sat beneath their faces, and his hands clenched at the sight.

It didn't have to be the tickets, he thought. He could get her the laptop for her birthday. Maybe they could plan the Disney cruise for the warmer months. Yes. He could give her all those things…

She walked out of the bathroom, finding him looking at her board and figured this was as good a time as any.

"What is this about?" he asked.

"I'm manifesting. We're the creators of our realities, you know."

In fact, no, he wasn't aware of that. He certainly would have created something better, a more satisfying career, Rose would still be here….

"Ness? Why is Bella Swan here next to me on your vision board?"

"She's going to be my new mom." She stated it as fact. Like there was no doubt about it.

"Shouldn't I have a say in this? This is my life too, you're talking about. And hers."

"Because Momma told me."

"Excuse me?"

"I dreamt about her last night. Again. And she says that my new mom is going to love me and you so much."

She dreamt about Rose?! "How come you never mentioned this before?"

"Because you seemed like you never wanted to talk about it. You just seem so sad all the time."

"I'm not sad."

She grabbed his hand, holding up his finger. "You're still wearing your ring."

"Still…you can't expect that I will just end up with someone just because you want me too."

"Why not? It's the law of attraction. I'm putting it out there into the universe. I want a new mom, and Bella Swan…"

Edward shut his eyes. "Stop right there. I may marry someday, in the future, but why her?"

"Because she's manifesting us."

"How do you know she's not married? And how do you know what she's manifesting?"

"She's not married, she's always trying to help people be their best selves, and she's spoken about her own difficulties. She's divorced and miscarried."

How on earth did she know all this? "Ness…I don't want to encourage this. I would hate to disappoint you."

At this point, he did not even like this woman. How did she expect him to marry her?

"I know this is a lot, Daddy," she said, as if she was giving him some kind of shocking news and presenting his future to him as though he had no say. "But just go with it."

"NO, I will not just go with it. You are my daughter, not my matchmaker."

"I see. Yeah, Bella Swan says that parents pass their own parent's doubts onto their children."

What?! "Renesmee, we are done with this discussion."

"Does this mean that you won't take me to see her for my birthday?"

"Yes. That's exactly what that means."

Tears flooded her eyes, but he imagined this would just be the tip of the iceberg of her disappointment. And he hated to see the light gone from her eyes.

"It's just like she says. I can't expect anyone else to make me happy. I have to do that for myself."

Now, what was that supposed to mean? She was only 7 years old! "Ness, please. Let's not start the day off this way."

"Good morning," Alice said brightly, but her lips curved down when she saw Renesmee.

The young girl sniffled. "Good morning, Alice." She ran into Alice's arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. We were just having a private discussion." Edward cleared his throat. "Can you wait downstairs, please?"

Nessie's arms were crossed, and he hated thinking that her day would begin this way. Edward had his own full day to consider.

But, if he looked at it from another angle…it didn't look like his young daughter would be swayed…by him. However, if they went—and he was able to speak privately with this Bella Swan woman and told her that he didn't appreciate the kind of advice she was giving…and further, persuade her that his daughter's wishes were unreasonable, then Ness would believe it…coming from her new idol.

"Ness…I will take you to see her for your birthday on one condition." He held up one finger for emphasis.

Her face brightened and she threw her arms around him. "Yes! Yes! Anything, Daddy. Anything."

"Okay. We will go see this Bella Swan…but you have to give up the idea of matching us. Can you do that?"

Her expression fell for a moment. "You want me to stop manifesting her?"

"Yes. I want you to stop trying to manifest her as your mother and my wife. And no more drawings of the three of us at school or telling people she is going to be your new mom."

Her eyes widened. This killed 2 birds with one stone. No more vision board, no more drawings.

But instead, a glint shone in her eyes. "Okay, Daddy. I agree."

"Okay then." She gave him the biggest hug, he said goodbye as he rushed out to work, and made a mental note to tell his personal assistant, Jasper, to buy the tickets and to arrange a private meeting.

A/N: You just gotta love Nessie. So now what happens when they meet? Coming soon-the seminar, so stay with me, and I'd love to hear from you!