A/N Thanks to everyone reading this. I’ll have a lot of outtakes to come but this is the official end of the story. I know several of you read it here and I thank you for joining me on this journey!
Sacrificial Lamb Epilogue-25 Years Later
BPOV
I closed my eyes as the call I’d been anticipating for what felt like ages came. How do you prepare to hear something like this? How do you deal with it? Alice had given me time frames and estimates but now that the moment was here I didn’t know what to do with myself.
“Bella,” Edward said softly, putting his hand over mine on the receiver. “Do you want me to answer it?”
I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. I had to do this myself.
“Hello.” The voice that was once familiar sounded almost foreign to my ears now. Of course, he was much older, a man now. I listened to him tell me what I already knew, that I didn’t have very long if I wanted to say goodbye one last time. The fact that I was getting that much stunned me beyond words.
“Do you agree to leave as soon as you’ve seen him?” he asked gruffly.
“Of course.” Edward’s hand squeezed mine in gentle support. He was by my side, always. “I’m bringing Edward with me. He’ll wait for me elsewhere though. Is that alright?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Surely he didn’t expect anything else. I could count on one hand the number of times Edward and I had been separated over the last couple decades. Twice, when he went to medical conferences with Carlisle and another time when Alice dragged the girls to Paris for a fashion week extravaganza. I still couldn’t believe she’d gotten me to go, nearly twenty years later.
“I’ll allow it, this once.” I rolled my eyes at his proclamation but didn’t challenge him verbally. He really was bending the rules letting us come back at all.
“We’ll be there as soon as possible.” The plane was already ready and waiting. All that had been left was to wait for the phone call. I hung up and looked at Edward. “It’s time.”
We got on the plane and Edward took the controls. He let me sit and think as he piloted us home. It was just the two of us on this trip. That seemed fitting somehow. The family would have come if I asked them to but I needed to do this alone. They were all busy with their own lives anyway.
Rosalie was teaching at a local preschool, having finally embraced the idea of working with children since she couldn’t have any of her own. Every day she came home with new stories, glowing as if she was speaking of her own children. Emmett had become a teacher himself, coaching football at the local high school. He made up a story about tearing his MCL in college as the reason why he wasn’t playing professionally. He loved teaching now as much as he had when he was throwing baby dolls at me. I smiled as I remembered his joy when Alice had presented him the final piece of Emmett Junior a couple years ago. He now sat in his own chair at Emmett and Rosalie’s house.
That was another thing that had changed. We all lived separately now. Not that we were far apart. We were within five miles of one another and often showed up at each other’s houses uninvited, but always welcome. We were as close as we’d ever been but we decided since we weren’t pretending to be high schoolers anymore, we may as well live like real couples did.
Alice needed her whole house for space anyway. She had finally started designing clothing professionally under the label Forecasts. Her love of clothes combined with her gift allowed her to always be on the cutting edge of fashion and design houses wooed her constantly. She was reclusive and highly sought after. The fashion world loved a mystery. Jasper followed in Emmett’s footsteps and became a teacher in his own right, although instead of gym he was teaching self defense classes at night and history at the local college by day. He combined all his fighting skills; karate, jujitsu, krav maga and other fighting styles and helped women stand up for themselves. I was blown away that one of us who struggled the most was putting himself out there that way but Jasper always liked a challenge.
Carlisle was still practicing medicine; it was the thing that fulfilled him the most besides his family. Esme’s interior design business took off. We were living in the foothills of Michigan now but people came from far and wide to contract with her.
As he’d told Aro all those years ago, we no longer recognized the Volturi as part of our world. There was always the very slight worry that someone would mention us to Aro but even if they did, he wouldn’t know who we were. Eleazar, Carmen, Kate, Garrett, Irina and Tanya had all been told what we did that day and all agreed not to mention it to anyone. While I trusted the first four with that information, I was more hesitant about Irina and Tanya. Irina and I eventually met and we were cordial, though hardly friends. Things with Tanya were never really pleasant; we all tolerated one another for the sake of family. She was too afraid of losing her relationship with her own family if she slipped up again, though, so we trusted her, albeit tentatively.
I watched my husband handle the controls effortlessly. He was even more beautiful to me now than he was the first time I laid eyes on him. I didn’t know how that was possible. Edward had followed Carlisle’s footsteps into medicine. Of course, he looked too young to pass for an actual doctor so he just perpetually went to medical school, doing residency so he got to practice at least. He figured that his ability to resist my blood made him strong enough to resist anyone’s and he was completely right. He was nearly as skilled as Carlisle already. He astounded me every day.
We were as close as ever. Closer, maybe. They hadn’t been kidding when they told me that the love only got deeper over the years. We still couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I loved being perpetual newlyweds. That’s what we pretended to be everywhere we lived anyway; it wasn’t much of a hardship playing that out.
I watched the clouds fly by as I tried not to think about what I was going to do. We’d kept a close eye on my parents over the years and I’d even been lucky enough to see Renee and Phil on TV a time or two at my brother’s games. That’s right, I had a brother. His name was John David Dwyer, though he went by JD. He was one of the best baseball players in the major league. He was an outfielder for the New York Yankees and Edward and I had gone to see him play several times. JD had Renee’s blue eyes and Phil’s dark hair. Edward swore he had my smile. He may have been right. It was strange to have a fully grown sibling that I’d never met but I was glad that my mother had him. Having him had helped her fill the hole that my absence had left. By all accounts, she was a much more attentive mother this time around, though she still couldn’t cook. Our private investigator gave us very thorough reports. It wasn’t the same but at least I felt somewhat involved with my family.
And Charlie…I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat as I thought of my father. Jasper had been true to his word and his man, Jenks, had sent a man to Forks to watch over my father. He was a former Seattle cop and he quickly got a job at the Forks, PD and became a close friend of my father. They fished together and watched sports and their two families spend time together as well.
Charlie had indeed married Sue Clearwater and Seth moved into our old house with them. Leah left the reservation and went to school in Portland, meeting and falling in love with a man named Mark Gains. They and their two daughters visited often from what I heard and Charlie loved lavishing attention on the girls. He got to be a grandfather and I was incredibly grateful for that. Seth also had a son that Charlie spent most of his time with.
I felt fingers brush over my cheek and turned to look at the love of my life. “Are you with me?” he asked, a soft smile on his handsome face.
“Always,” I told him.
“I’m sorry that this day arrived,” he told me.
“I always knew it would. You warned me it would happen. Now I just have to face it.”
“I wish you didn’t have to. I wish I could do something to help you.”
I took his hand in mine then. “You are, just by being here.”
“There’s nowhere else I would be,” he told me, which was wholly unnecessary because I knew that with every fiber of my being.
He set the plane down at the private airport that was a couple hours closer than Seatac. We got into the rental car, already arranged by Alice, and made the hour drive to Forks in relative quiet. It was drizzling and grey, so much like that day I arrived all those years ago. Who knew coming to live with my father would change my life so utterly and completely? And now, here I was returning and saying one final goodbye to the life I had willingly left behind.
I didn’t regret it. I couldn’t. My life with Edward had been everything I hoped it would be and then some. I’d gone to some of the finest colleges in the world: Oxford and Harvard and Yale. I had a couple different literature degrees and I had written and published a couple of novels under the penname Marie Mason. I used my middle name and Edward’s former last name, with a slight spelling change just as a precaution. My young adult series, about a boy and a girl who fall in love despite many obstacles, had a pretty huge cult following. I refused all press and publicity and was fortunate that my publishing company was too thrilled with the sales to push me on the issue.
My stories were our story, just without the vampire and werewolf twist. I kept the magic without the supernatural elements. I named the boy Kevin Charles, a private shout out to my father, and the girl Angela Jacobs, for two of my former friends. I doubted they read or knew about them, but their kids might. Or grandkids, in Charlie’s case.
I was so glad he’d had a happy life. Sue and her kids had filled the hole I left better than I could have ever hoped for. And they were there for him now, as his life came to an end. Alice saw it coming, the early onset of Alzheimer’s that forced him to retire a few years earlier than he planned. I wanted to come out and help him immediately but Alice told me that Sue wouldn’t welcome the intrusion and it would only make matters worse for Charlie. I didn’t want that, so I waited. And I waited some more and then suddenly it was too late. Charlie had lost all his mental faculties; he didn’t recognize anyone anymore. I still could have helped him recover everything but then he developed pneumonia as well. Alice said he wasn’t going to make it. I had only a couple days. Maybe it was cruel of me, maybe it was wrong but I wanted to see him once more and actually show him I was alright and say goodbye properly.
The trees flashed by, their green leaves sodden from the early spring rain. I nearly smiled as I remembered telling Edward that everything was too green here. It seemed like just yesterday but it had been a lifetime ago. Edward drove past my old house without my asking. He knew I would want to see it one more time. We didn’t stop; I could hear some children inside and knew that Leah and Seth and their kids were probably there. They had been informed of my visit and everyone was going to steer clear of the hospital for now. I was both happy and sad about that. Part of me wanted to see them but another part wanted to remember the gangly young boy and the angry beautiful girl just as they were.
We cruised past the high school and Edward squeezed my hand. I didn’t have to force the smile as I looked at the place where I first laid eyes on the love of my life. “I thought you hated me,” I reminded him.
He chuckled and lifted my hand to his lips. “I wanted to. It would have been so much easier if I had. I could have stayed away. Thank God I didn’t.” I smiled as he said those words; how he’d changed since we met. That Edward didn’t really believe in God and heaven and souls, now he said I was his heaven and recognized that we both still had our souls. We had to believe that there was something, some higher power that helped us find one another and hold onto our love through all the trials and tribulations we’d faced.
There had been no word from the Volturi. Eleazar had received word about Aro’s lack of power. It was being kept very quiet, as Aro didn’t want the vampire community to know that he had lost his ability. It seemed Aro blamed Caius, who hadn’t been seen since the day we rescued Esme. We knew there was always a chance he would find out about us, but not having his ability diminished the chances quite a bit. His focus remained on his rogue brother for now and we were quite happy with that.
Edward pulled into the parking lot at Fork’s General Hospital, yet another place that held many memories for us. It was the first place I’d seen Carlisle, a man I’d come to think of as another father. And now I was here to say goodbye to my birth father. It hurt, more than I would have thought possible.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you?” Edward asked, watching me closely as the windshield wipers whirred in front of us.
“We already talked about that. I can pass for a distant relative. People here will likely remember you, and seeing the two of us together would raise quite a few red flags.”
“You could make them not notice,” he reminded me.
“I know, but I really want to concentrate on Charlie, not on everyone around us.”
“I understand. I just don’t like the thought of you going through this alone.” He stroked my cheek gently.
“I’m never alone. Even when you’re not with me, you are.” He flashed me that lop sided smile. It had the same affect on me now as it did the first time I saw it; my belly flipped and my heart felt like it was beating again. I gave him a quick kiss and squared my shoulders. “I’ll see you soon.”
He nodded. “I’ll be…”
“I know where you’ll be,” I told him.
He kissed me again. “I’ll see you there then.”
I stepped out of the car and walked hurriedly into the entrance. The hospital hadn’t changed much at all since the last time I was here. I walked to the front desk. “Excuse me, can you tell me Charlie Swan’s room, please?”
The older woman adjusted her glasses and eyed me curiously. “And you are?”
“His third cousin, Marie. I heard he was ill and got here as soon as I could.” The lie fell smoothly from my lips even though I was screaming inside that I was his daughter and I wanted to see my father.
She looked something up on her computer and nodded. “Yes, I see you on the approved visitor’s list. Please sign in here.” I signed my name to the sign-in sheet and silently blessed my husband for his computer skills. “He’s in room 237,” she informed me, gesturing toward the elevator.
I rode up to his floor quickly; glad to be alone in the elevator. The scent of human blood was nothing to me now but it was still blessedly peaceful not be confined with it either. I took a right turn out of the elevator and found the room I was looking for quickly. I closed my eyes for a minute and steeled myself before going in.
I let out an involuntary cry when I saw my father lying against the white pillow. I’d seen pictures of him over the years and I thought I was prepared to see him now. I knew his once brown hair had gone white. I knew he no longer had a moustache, having given that up about ten years ago. Logically, I knew he would have aged but I just wasn’t prepared to see him looking like an old man. He was only 67 years old. But he’d been sick for awhile now and it had clearly taken a toll on his body. He was frail; his skin was wrinkled and withered. It was clear that he’d lost a lot of weight. He didn’t look like the Charlie I remembered at all. Time had passed for him but stood still for me.
I took a tentative step into the room but he remained unaware of my presence. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep. I walked over to the chair on his right side and dropped into it, never taking my eyes off the first man that I loved. “Dad,” I whispered, “It’s me, Bella. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t come to you before. I wanted to, but it just wasn’t possible. I wish I could have been there for you.” I stroked his hand softly, not wanting to wake him.
His eyes flashed open though, perhaps at the coolness of my touch. And there, at last, was my father. Those brown eyes, my old eyes, were focused on me. I swear I saw a flicker of recognition in them before confusion wiped that away. “Hello,” he said, his voice raspy and quiet but still familiar.
“Hi,” I responded, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
“Who are you?” I kept the smile on my face even though my heart lurched at the question. Alice told me that he wouldn’t know me but it still pained me to hear the question.
“I’m family,” I told him.
“That’s good.” He patted my hand gently. “Where is my gun? I need to go on patrol.”
I bit my lip to keep from crying. I’d been warned but still…this hurt. “No, you don’t need to go on patrol today, Charlie. You have the day off.”
He blinked those brown eyes at me and then smiled. “Well then, what am I still doing in bed? The fish are already biting; I need to get out to the lake. Where’s Billy? He needs to pick me up.” Billy had died seven year ago but clearly Charlie didn’t even remember that Billy didn’t drive. He was in a much earlier time, maybe even before me. He tried to sit up and I put a restraining hand on him.
“No, Charlie, Billy won’t be here for awhile yet, you have plenty of time.” Time…it was endless for me but so short for my father. I wished there was something I could do. “Charlie, do you know who Bella is?” I held my breath as his brow furrowed and let it out when he shook his head.
“Never heard of her. Don’t tell me Billy got a girlfriend and that’s why he’s late,” he grumbled. “He always had an eye for the ladies.”
I choked out a laugh. “No, she’s not his girlfriend.”
“Who?” he asked.
“Bella,” I reminded him gently.
“Who’s Bella?” I closed my eyes again. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t leave him in this state. He was going to be gone in a day anyway, what harm would it do? I held his hand and stared into those familiar eyes. I opened my mind and entered his. I had done this countless times over the years. Carlisle and Edward had me help them with many patients that had memory loss, either through amnesia or Alzheimer’s. The minds were always very unclear, almost like driving through a thick fog, but I was able to find and coax out memories with some effort. We couldn’t do it often or publicly but there had been many miraculous recoveries at our hands. Initially Edward had to help me but I’d learned how to do it on my own after a few tries.
Charlie’s mind was definitely very fuzzy, though not the worst I’d ever seen. I found the section of the mind that stored memories and began sorting through them. This was the one thing I could do for him; give him back his mind, if only for a day. Sue would be by later and I knew she’d be thrilled if she could have one final conversation with him, where he knew her and remembered their love. The only thing I hesitated over was giving him back me. I knew that if he talked about me at all, they’d just think he was confused again. Was I being selfish for wanting my father to recognize me? Was I giving him more pain than necessary?
Alice had told me that if I went ahead and let him remember me, it would be fine. I wanted it to be but I also didn’t want to hurt him. I’d caused him enough pain over the years. What was right?
While I soul searched, I sifted through his cloudy memories, they appeared smudged, like camera film. I spoke the word Remember over and over, scrubbing off the smudges with my power. I gave him back Sue and Leah and Seth and their families. I gave him back Jacob and all his time with Billy and even Renee and Phil and JD. They’d stayed in touch in the years since my death, which made me happy. JD got Charlie some fantastic Mariners tickets when the Yankees had been in town.
And now I had to decide. Was it better to say goodbye as a stranger? Or would he be happier knowing that I was still alive and well, in my own way? I just didn’t know. I looked in those eyes, so like my own, and tried to put myself in his place. Would I want to see my child after all those years of thinking her dead? I think I would. If there was indeed a heaven, Charlie was going to go there and then he’d likely know where I was anyway. And so, I took out the rest of those smudges, the ones that catalogued my life from birth to death at nineteen. I pulled out of his mind and watched s those eyes cleared again, confusion gone.
He took me in slowly, running his eyes over me as if he thought I was mirage. “It can’t be,” he whispered, shaking his head slowly in denial.
“Yes, it’s me.” I waited; just to be sure that he knew who I was.
“Bella? Is that really you?”
“Yes, Dad. I’ve missed you.” My voice came out in a half sob and I bit my lip. Charlie’s eyes widened as he took in my mannerism, one that hadn’t changed in all these years.
“How can it be? You’re still young. And you look different, paler. Your eyes…what’s going on?” He tried to sound authoritative but he didn’t have the strength, instead his words were a whisper. His face, however, said what his words couldn’t. He was surprised, happy, upset and confused all at the same time. I didn’t need Jasper here to tell me that much.
“I could explain all that, if you really wanted, but there isn’t that much time. I…I just wanted a chance to see you again. To show you that I’m alright. Edward and I are still happy together. The Cullen’s are wonderful to me. I had to let you think I died, because, well, how could I explain this to you?” I gestured at my face and my new body. “Plus, it was safer. You have to trust me on that. I’m so sorry that I had to leave you and that you thought I was dead all these years. You are the best father in the world and I hate that I caused you any pain. Can you forgive me?”
He just stared at me, trying to take in the spill of words that I couldn’t seem to stop falling from my lips. “I don’t understand,” he whispered, but his hand came off the bed and brushed my hair back. “You are still young.” His brow furrowed as I nodded. “How is that possible?”
I caught his hand in mine and held it. “There’s a lot more to the world than you or I thought possible. Everything you thought wasn’t real, probably is. At least a few things are. There are different beings. I…I don’t know how much you want me to tell you.”
“Tell me it all. At least the highlights.” He watched me steadily. I prayed that I wasn’t going to cause him to die any sooner with the revelation I was about to lay on him.
“I…Edward…the Cullen’s, all of us really, are vampires.” His eyes widened but he didn’t pull his hand from mine or try to scream so I continued on. “I figured out Edward was different right away and he eventually let me know his secret and…” here’s where I broke off, ashamed to tell him what I’d done, even though I didn’t regret my choice, only that it hurt him. “And I asked him to turn me into one so we could be together forever,” I finished all in a rush, my eyes on Charlie’s face, waiting for anger or censure, maybe even hate.
I didn’t see any of that in his eyes though, I saw only confusion. “I must be dreaming. Or dead. Am I dead? It’s not funny to play a joke on a dead man, Bella.” I choked out a laugh.
“You’re neither,” I assured him, gently squeezing his hand. “You’re just being given some very strange and disturbing news to process. I probably shouldn’t have told you, I just really wanted you to know that I’m happy.”
“I always knew there was something off about that kid,” he muttered, shaking his head. “But no, you had to have him. And you knew what he was all along?” I nodded and waited. “Why didn’t you just tell me, Bells?” At his use of my nickname I nearly wailed. Nobody called me that anymore and I loved hearing it again from my father.
“Would you have really been alright if I told you I had a vampire boyfriend that I was going to marry and have turn me?” I asked, already knowing the answer. He scowled at me in response. I laughed and couldn’t resist giving him a gentle hug. His hands awkwardly patted me but I was thrilled with that much and that he didn’t try to push me away.
“No. If you’re really a vampire, though, aren’t you supposed to want to drink my blood or something?”
I laughed and ran my hand over his cheek. “No, I’m a vegetarian vampire. We all are. We don’t eat humans at all. Why aren’t you scared?” I asked him, curious as to how calm he was.
“Probably because this seems like a dream. On top of that, I’m old and I’m sick. I’m hardly in any shape to run out of this room screaming about vampires. They’d throw me in a padded room then.” I smiled because he was probably right. He put his hand on mine over his cheek. “Tell me everything, Bells.”
So I did. I told him about me being Edward’s singer, how hard he fought just to be near me, why he left, my death, the Volturi…I told him all of it, leaving out only the part about his best friend and his son and his wife’s children being wolves. I didn’t figure he needed that information. “He must really love you,” Charlie responded after hearing our story.
“He does.”
“And you must really love him, since you were willing to give up your life to be with him forever.” I couldn’t read his tone in that moment.
“Do you hate me for that?” I asked fearfully. I knew I deserved his hate and his anger for everything I’d put him through.
He watched me steadily for a minute before answering. “No.” I felt like the entire world righted in that moment. “Do I wish you would have clued me in, somehow? Yes, I do. But I am too happy that you’re alive or…well, you know…that you’re around and happy. That’s all I ever wanted for you. I wanted the love of a lifetime with your mother but I didn’t get it. I did find my happiness with Sue but it took me a long time. Knowing that you have eternity with the man you love…that makes me happy Bella.” I was in his arms again then, pressing my face to neck and just letting myself be his little girl this one last time. His arms held me as tightly as they were able, which wasn’t much at all but I was in my father’s arms again. That was all that mattered.
I pulled back and wiped the tears that coursed down his face. For the first time in a long time I wished that I could cry too. At least these would have been somewhat happy tears. “Dad, I love you so much,” I told him.
“I love you too, Bells. I never stopped. I never will.” He told me, running his hand through my hair.
“I never will either,” I told him hoarsely.
“Then that means I’ll be loved forever. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”
“Always, Dad. I promise I’ll always love you.”
“I guess I don’t have much longer left on this earth, huh?” he asked. I couldn’t lie to him now so I just shook my head. “I’m glad you came to me. And it was you cleared my mind?”
“Yes.”
“That’s pretty amazing, Bells. I hated not being able to talk to people. A part of me knew who they were but I couldn’t connect that with my mouth and everything came out wrong. You’ve given me two incredible gifts today, my mind and my daughter.” His eyes began to flutter a little and I knew his medication was tiring him. His voice was getting raspier and softer the more he talked and I knew I had to go soon but I didn’t want to leave him. I promised though. A glance at my watch told me I had only a few minutes before Sue arrived.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you sooner.” I wouldn’t explain to him about broken treaties and promises made and kept. It wasn’t until now that Sue and Jacob had agreed to my brief return.
“You came, Bells. That’s all that matters.”
“I’ve had an eye on you all along, Dad. I knew about you and Sue and your grandkids…I’m really glad you got to have that family. My only regret about the life I chose is that I took that opportunity away from you. I’m so grateful that they gave you a family again.”
“They helped me through quite a bit but I never replaced you, Bells. You’ve always had a special place in my heart.” He watched me with those deep brown eyes and it felt like he was the mind reader for a moment. I didn’t know how he knew that I needed to hear that but I did. I knew it, for I had never replaced him either, though I considered Carlisle very much a father, he wasn’t Charlie.
“Same goes for me,” I whispered back. He squeezed my hand. I heard the elevator open and a soft voice speaking with the nurse. I knew our time was up. “I have to go, Dad.” The smile slipped off his face and I felt my heart breaking. “I don’t want to, but Sue’s here now and she really needs some time with you too. Think about how happy she’s going to be to have you recognize her again.” The smile slid back on his face then although it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s time.”
“How much time do I have left?” I shook my head. “Bella, please.”
“A day or two.” I wasn’t going to give him the exact hour and minute. I wanted him to enjoy the time he had left, not watch the clock.
He surprised me by smiling at that. “Then I’ll see you again real soon, won’t I?” I made a weird wheezing/sobbing sound and nodded. “I’m glad for that, Bells. I’ll always be watching you, just like you did me, okay?” I nodded, unable to speak. “Give me another hug, please,” he asked softly. I hurried to do as he asked, breathing him in one last time. “I love you,” he told me, giving me a final squeeze.
I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you too. Always.” I released him and looked to the door, where Sue stood watching us, tears running down her face. “I believe your wife wants a little time with you,” I told him.
“I imagine she probably does,” he said with a soft chuckle. “Thank you for coming, baby. I can go in peace now.” And that was all I truly wanted for him. I memorized every line on his face, every wrinkle on his body and most importantly the look in his eyes. They were full of love and happiness. I could replace the desolation on his face from the last time I saw him with the joy that was there now. That was the greatest gift I could receive.
I kissed him once more and backed my way toward the door, not wanting to stop looking at him until I absolutely had to. He smiled and gave me a little wave. “Goodbye, Bells. Tell Edward I’m glad he’s taken good care of you. The Cullen’s as well. I’m very proud of who you’ve become, even if you are a vampire.”
I laughed. “I love you, Dad.” I had to say it one more time.
“I know. I love you, Bells. Be safe and be happy.”
“I will.” I turned then and smiled tentatively at Sue, trying to edge around her without touching her. She surprised me by grabbing my hand.
“Thank you, Bella, for bringing him back to me.”
“Thank you for taking care of him, Sue.”
“Taking care of me, ha,” he grumbled. “I’m not a child.”
“Sure, Dad,” I said, rolling my eyes at Sue who responded with a smile. “Thank you for letting me see him,” I whispered softly to her.
Regret flashed in her eyes. “I only wish I would have said yes sooner.”
“No, this was exactly right,” I told her. I meant it too. I would have liked longer with Charlie but I knew the time I got with him would be with me forever. “If you ever need anything, you’ve only to call.”
She gave me a quick hug. “Same goes, Bella.”
“Are you two going to blubber in the hallway all day or is someone going to come in here and give me some much needed attention?” Charlie asked.
Sue laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m coming.” She released me and walked over to him. I watched the way he watched her, the love I saw there, and I felt a smile stretch across my lips. Charlie’s eyes met mine again and he gave me a little nod. I nodded back and turned and walked slowly toward the elevator. I longed to run back into the room and throw myself in his arms again but I knew that Sue needed time with him as well.
I got in the elevator and rode down to the first floor. I made my way out the door and to the parking lot, back into the rain. At last it felt like tears were falling down my cheeks. I hadn’t wanted to cry in years but I wanted to cry now, tears of happiness and also sorrow. I hated that Charlie was leaving this world but I was so glad I got that time with him. I would treasure it always.
I walked across the lot, ready to find cover in the forest and run to Edward. I smelled something awful and whipped my head to the left. “Bella,” a deep, familiar voice called. There, standing next to a new red pickup truck, was Jacob Black, wearing ratty jeans and a black t-shirt. I would have recognized him anywhere, even though he had aged. His hair was cut short again and there was some slight gray hair at the temples, but that was really all that had changed. He was still huge and muscular, although maybe not as big as he’d been when he first transformed.
“Jacob,” I replied, not sure if I was supposed to talk to him or if he was just here to tell me to leave. He pushed off the truck and walked over to me. I wrinkled my nose against the smell but didn’t say anything.
“How are you?” he asked, stopping a couple feet away from me.
I glanced back at the hospital. “I’m good, all things considered.”
“How did Charlie take seeing you again?”
I smiled. “Surprisingly well.”
He laughed ruefully. “I’m not surprised. You had to get that acceptance for all things weird somewhere.”
“How are you?” I asked him. I hadn’t talked to him at all, other than to ask if I could return to see my father. I knew from reports that he was married and had a 13 year old son and an 11 year old daughter.
“I’m good. Married for eighteen years now. I have two kids, Joseph and Kira. They’re incredible.”
I grinned at him, glad to see him so happy. He positively glowed when talking about his wife and children. “So you finally imprinted, huh?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, I never did. After you all left town, the threat went away and the gene went dormant again. We kept shifting for a couple of years but eventually we all moved on and got our own lives. Most of us are still on the rez raising families and we’re all friends still but we’ve all got our own stuff going on.”
“That’s great.”
He smiled. “Yeah. One day Dana pulled up in front of my garage, smoke pouring out of her ’87 Mustang. She was spitting fire and trying to tell me how to fix her car. It was lust at first sight and not much further from there to love.”
“I’m really glad to hear that, Jacob. I always hoped you’d find someone special to love.” I really was glad my old friend had found his happiness.
“Yeah, thanks,” he murmured, glancing toward the hospital. “I guess I should get on up there and visit. Sue probably won’t let me see him for long.”
“Thanks for looking out for him all these years, Jake. I know you didn’t do it for me, but I thank you anyway.”
He nodded and then turned to look back at me. “I did it for Charlie, for Billy and even for you. I’m sorry for how I was the last time I saw you,” he told me, regret flashing in his black eyes.
I shut my mind against the memory of his angry words. “You had your reasons, I deserved it.”
“No, you didn’t. Maybe some of it, but not all. I was jealous and hurt. I took that out on you and I am sorry for that.”
“It’s okay, Jacob. I understood.”
“I didn’t.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him, confused by his words.
He squinted against the rain as he looked up at the sky for a second. “I get it now. Why you did what you did. If I had the choice of forever with Dana and my kids…well, I’d probably choose it too. Maybe you didn’t go about it the right way but who knows what the right way is anyway. I just wanted to tell you that I understand your choice now. And I’m glad you’re happy.” He held out his hand to me and I slipped mine into it without thinking twice. “You are, right?”
“I am, happier than I ever thought possible. I’m glad you’re happy too. I always wanted the best for you, Jacob. I wasn’t it.”
He laughed and pulled me in for a quick hug, which I returned in surprise. “No, you weren’t. You always knew that, it just took me awhile to come around to it myself.” He released me from his tight grip and gave me a tap on the shoulder. “You better get going, before you turn my kids into wolves. Their mother would not be pleased.”
I laughed and gave him a little wave. “Take care, Jacob.”
“You too, Bells.” I smiled at the use of my nickname again and started toward the trees. “Hey, Bells?” he called. I turned back and looked at him. “Give me a call now and then. Let me know how you all are doing okay?” I grinned at him and nodded. “See ya!” He grinned back and strode toward the hospital.
I took off then, feeling lighter than air at my interaction with Jacob and my father. His pending death was weighing heavily on me but I knew I had to just hold on to the gifts I’d received today. I got my father back and made peace with my former best friend. It was far more than I ever thought I’d get. I ran without seeing the forest around me, my body feeling the call of another, to the one person I needed to be with, the one place I truly had to be now.
I saw the light up ahead and knew that I was close. I increased my speed and burst out into the opening, to our meadow. There, leaning against a tree, was my Edward. His hair was wet from the rain and falling over onto his forehead. I ran up to him and brushed it aside and met his lips with mine. His arms tightened around me and all his love poured into the kiss. He pulled back and studied me closely. “Are you okay, love?”
“I am,” I assured him. I knew he’d been worried about me for weeks, knowing the call was coming soon. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way home, but everything went way better than I expected it to.”
He smirked at me. “I thought it might have.”
“Did Alice tell you?” I asked, curious as to how he knew.
“You smell like dog. I figured if you’d killed one, you would have told me, so I assumed that everything went well.”
I laughed and smacked him on the arm, enjoying the loud noise that accompanied it. “Yes, it did.” He wrapped me in his arms. I held him tightly and started to sob then, happiness and sadness bubbling up in me. I was a mess.
“Sweetheart, are you alright? I’m so sorry I let you go alone. I shouldn’t have.”
I shook my head and spoke into his neck. “No, I needed to. I’m just so sad that he’s going to die but I’m so happy that I got to truly be with him again.”
“I know, love. I’m sorry you had to say goodbye, again. I wish there was something I could do to give you more time together.”
I pulled back and looked into his concerned golden eyes. “Edward, you need to know that I wouldn’t change my choice, not now, not ever. I love you and we belong together.”
A smile lit his face again and then the clouds parted and the sun did the rest, making him glow with happiness. “I love you, too.” He traced my sun kissed face and slid his hand in mine and tugged me toward the path to the rental car. “Let’s go home.”
“Yes, let’s,” I told him. We started to walk out of the meadow but I stopped him and walked to the tree closest to us. I carved our initials there, just like he’d done so long ago at my house. This was our place and it would always be, even if we never returned. He smiled and carved a heart around the initials I’d placed there.
“Edward?”
“Yes, Bella?”
“I do,” I told him. “I always do.”
“I do, too.” We linked hands and walked toward the future. The past would always be there, a happy memory, but we had lifetimes to look forward to.
The End
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