Edward

Renesmee no longer mentioned Bella to him, and he had mixed feelings about this. Two weeks had passed since the cruise and he was engrossed in work again with a bigger case load, yet his thoughts wandered often to Bella. And why they couldn't/ shouldn't be together.

Bella seemed more worried about hurting his daughter, yet Nessie seemed content, hanging out with Alice, and she would be heading out to summer camp the next day.

Nessie had received a card from Bella the week before, and Edward wondered how Bella had gotten their address. Though he was dying of curiosity, he didn't dare read it. Edward imagined that Bella had no malicious intent, but it still left him in a mood.

Wasn't she right, as he anticipated? Edward was still checking daily to make sure that ring was on his finger. Why? It wasn't Rose that kept it there.

When he returned home from work, he found Alice and Nessie at the dining room table, and his young daughter was switching from a red color pencil to a green.

"Oh, coloring. Nice picture," he said, distracted and wondering what to do for dinner. He went to the kitchen and peered inside the fridge.

"It's from a coloring book that just came in the mail. Bella sent it to me."

His heart froze when he heard Bella's name. So, she intended to keep contact with Renesmee, but with Edward…not so much.

Feel your feelings, Edward. How does that make you feel? He grabbed a beer and shut the fridge door. How did that make him feel? How come he felt like he was trapped between different feelings? Hurt obviously. Rejected. Forgotten. Then the ring on his finger shone and it reminded him that there were other emotions he needed to deal with.

The doorbell rang, and thank God that Alice had ordered pizza. As she sprung up to answer the door, the nanny's bracelets jingled. She gestured for Edward to stay seated, grabbed only 2 plates and set everything down on the table before him and Nessie as they cleared everything away.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Nessie asked, and they both looked at her, but Alice shook her head.

"I have plans," she said.

"Oh…Jasper, right?" Nessie said.

"Shhh…" Alice said back.

Wait. Jasper? His assistant? "What is going on?"

A blush fell over her face. "Well, I was housesitting while you and Ness were gone, and Jasper delivered your dry cleaning, and we got to talking…"

Oh…so now his nanny was dating his assistant? He wasn't sure if mixing business with pleasure was a good idea, but they were adults…

"Alice! Have an amazing time!" Nessie said.

Alice kissed Nessie on her forehead and hugged her. "Have an amazing time at camp, Ness! Text me."

That was it. Usually Alice was available most days, but it looked like with the addition of his new assistant, she'd found other things to occupy her time.

"So, Ness…how was your day?"

His daughter kept her eyes on her coloring book as she colored in the mandala with a shade of peach. "Good."

Edward seemed to be getting these one word answers from her lately, but he didn't know why. They'd enjoyed themselves on the cruise, and even after those last few days with Bella gone, he'd felt their connection was stronger than ever. But since they'd gotten home, she seemed more distant than usual. Was this about Bella?

"What did you do?"

"Dance class. I talked to Joseph on the phone. Packed. He's going to camp too, but his is all the way on the east coast. The best thing was getting this surprise today! I wasn't expecting anything from Bella!"

"How nice."

She put her pencil down and met his gaze, reminding Edward so much of her mother. "Daddy, are we going to talk about this?"

"About?"

"What happened with Bella."

"I told you already. We just decided we're better off as friends."

"Are you friends? Bella sends me stuff. Do you text her?"

"It's complicated, Ness. And we're both busy."

"I see."

Wait. "What?"

"You and Bella like each other but you're not over Mom."

Had Bella told her that?!

"No, she didn't tell me that. It's just that you're different than you were when we went parasailing and spent that week together. Now, you just seem so wooden."

"I'm not wooden."

"I think that you won't let yourself move on. Then you meet someone who's amazing like Bella, and it seems that no matter who you meet, it won't matter because you can't let go."

"Where do you get this stuff?!"

Nessie picked up her tablet and tapped on the first video on the feed. "Bella just put out a video on grief."

Edward's mouth dropped open. Bella didn't dare, did she? If she had mentioned him in the video…

"She didn't say anything about you, Daddy."

How did Nessie keep doing that?

"Bella tries to help people," Nessie said. "I think you should watch the video."

"How about you stop trying to tell your dad what to do?"

"I'm just making suggestions. Because I want you to be happy."

"I am happy. We are happy. You and I are a great team."

His daughter steepled her fingers like an old, wise soul, not the young girl that she was. She looked down at her plate and then met his gaze. "I'm going to camp soon, and then it will be just you here. By yourself. Then what are you gonna do?"

Ness was such a little grown up. "I will be fine."

"Seriously?" Her fists landed on the table. "I won't be able to have any fun, knowing you're all lonely and sad."

"Nessie! You don't have to worry about me. I will be just fine. Please. Can you just allow yourself to be eight? Go have fun!"

Six weeks. Of a quiet house. He'd not thought about it much. Had tried not to think about it. He had his work. It was easy to get caught up in his cases. Too easy.

Nessie got up from her chair and threw herself into his arms, her eyes sad. "Maybe I'll just stay."

"No! You go, and have fun. I won't be able to live with myself if you stay because you're worried about me. Please, Ness? Go have fun."

The next day, he dropped her off at the camp 4 hours away, and his heart felt empty as he waved goodbye. This wasn't her first time away at camp, but this was the first time Edward considered how truly alone he was.

That night, he paced the house like an impatient panther. He strolled through each of the rooms, spied the vision board, happy to see that Bella's face was no longer on it. No more Disney cruise, no more laptop. However, Edward's face remained at the top and there was a square that had the words "to be determined."

He cracked open his laptop, intending to research some background for his newest client, but he darted to his emails, and that was where he saw he had one from Bella.

She'd included pictures from when they'd gone parasailing, of he and Nessie both laughing, eyes wide, and their sail trailing up behind the boat in flight above the water. Bella wore her signature oval pink crystal as a pendant that fell exactly above the neckline of the white top she was wearing.

Bella had not included a personal message. At the end of the body of the email sat the familiar signature…Sending love and light out into the world. One email at a time.

A/N: I ended up splitting these chapters from the advice of my awesome beta—so many thanks to EdwardsFirstKiss! The next one is coming soon. Where I am has very spotty WIFI, so I'm trying to get this out while the getting's good! Yay! I'm so happy the alerts are working again, and I look forward to hearing from you. I'm still working on review replies, and if I haven't thanked you personally, then I still intend to. Thanks for reading!