Part of the draw of the game is that each group of extreme croquet players picks its own rules. I shook my head slightly. I can only imagine what turns this game will take. For one split second, I almost regretted my Christmas present.
It was almost 9:45 when Edward and Jasper came bursting in, a look of triumph on their faces. Jasper’s “Ready to play?” sounded intensely excited.
“Heck, yeah.” Jacob turned with a grin. “Seth, you comin’?”
Seth’s eyes flew open. His instant wakefulness from deep sleep reminded me of a guard dog I’d seen once, a long time ago. “I’m game.”
Jacob threw him one of his mallets and a ball.
Emmett and Jasper exchanged an intense look.
I shuddered. I’m glad I won’t be watching this game. Emmett had teased me shortly after my creation with being a ‘tame’ vampire. I couldn’t agree more. This game won’t be tame.
“Don’t forget. Dinner is at noon.” Esme reminded them. It seemed odd to hear a vampire reminding someone when dinner would be ready. Jasper nodded, and the men took off.
Edward turned to Alice and Rosalie. “Sorry to crash your party, but we have a date with Charlie.” They looked put out, but didn’t protest when he picked up Nessie and tossed her lightly in the air. She giggled as he caught her. “Ready?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
I grabbed her hand, and we headed for the car. We had decided to keep the Guardian after Nessie was born. It felt safer driving her in it. I hadn’t ever bothered to ask Edward who he had ‘borrowed’ it from. I knew it was ours as long as we wanted it.
As we pulled out, I turned to Nessie, securely buckled in her booster seat. “Grandpa is marrying Sue. You’ve met them both. Be careful what you say, and remember not to let him see your thoughts.” I paused when a look of fear washed over Nessie’s features. I reached out and squeezed her hand gently.
“Just remember Grandpa loves you just like we do. You’ll be fine.”
I hid a shiver from Nessie. I hadn’t been this nervous in a long time.
Edward parked the car beside the curb. Charlie’s cruiser was in the driveway. I took a deep breath to help calm my nerves and looked over at him. “How is he?” I knew he could read my dad’s thoughts, not as clearly as others’ thoughts but good enough, and was hoping he’d give me an idea on how to proceed.
Edward grinned, “Nervous as all get out. He’s like a school boy heading to his first prom. He hasn’t wanted to take the plunge since your mom left him. This is a scary step.”
I breathed out. “So he’s not thinking about me?”
“Well,” Edward admitted, “a little. And he wants to see Nessie, of course, but he’s getting married tomorrow so he’s mostly all nerves.”
I smiled. How well I knew those nerves. I had my own wedding nerves not too long ago…
“Here goes.” I stepped out of the car while Edward was helping Nessie. My pantsuit was a little overdressed for Charlie’s place. I hadn’t thought to change.
I walked up to Charlie’s door and knocked timidly, not sure if I could still walk into my dad’s house. It would be Sue’s house tomorrow, and I didn’t want to upset her.
Charlie threw the door open and stopped, his jaw dropping. I snuck a look at Edward to see if I could guess what Charlie was thinking. I saw his eyes crinkle in amusement. No answer there. I couldn’t think what could be so funny.
“Bells… you’re… stunning.” My dad tripped over the words. I looked back at him and hugged him, but not too tightly. I didn’t want to hurt him.
“I love you, Dad. How is Sue?”
Over his momentary shock, Charlie led us into the house. “She’s fine. Aren’t you, Sue?”
A preoccupied “Fine. Fine.” floated from the kitchen. I smiled. It sounded so much like Jacob’s “Sure. Sure.” She was fussing over a Christmas dinner. Ugh. We were planning to return to the Cullens for their dinner. This was going to be tricky.
I moved over to the kitchen. Sue looked up at me, her warm brown skin glowing beneath graying dark hair. I noticed her hair had grown out since we’d moved to New Hampshire. “Did you remind Seth we’re eating at 1:00?”
My face fell. So much for returning to the Cullens by noon. “Sorry, Sue, I… forgot.” Ouch. Charlie must’ve forgotten to tell me. He didn’t often forget stuff like that. The stress of the wedding must really be getting to him. “He’s with Jacob. I’ll call Jacob and remind him.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll call.” Edward interrupted.
I nodded and sent him a small smile. I’m sure he’s happy to have something to do.
I was wondering how Seth would consume two Christmas dinners. Then I remembered how big he’d gotten and quit worrying. He could down four dinners with room to spare.
Nessie ran over to Charlie. I watched the exchange intently while Edward called Jacob. I could hear the phone ring. Jacob is probably out of range. I’ll bet Edward and Jasper laid the course over some rough terrain and some very long distances.
Charlie watched Nessie in amazement. She was absolutely beautiful, and a perfect mix of both Edward and me. Charlie could see the curls that matched his own. The eyes were his, as well. Emotion washed over his face, and he reached out to hug her. “Hi, Nessie. I’ve missed you. You’ve grown.” He paused and directed a quizzical look at me. “But you haven’t grown as fast as you did before you left…”
Edward had been working with children at the medical center who had rare growth disorders, so a human explanation for her rapid development was fairly easy to fake. “We’ve been experimenting with hormone growth therapies. They seem to be helping.” I couldn’t explain how the slowing growth was natural for her. That led to too many theories as to what Edward and I really were, and Charlie couldn’t be allowed to guess right or he’d be on the Volturi hit list.
Charlie nodded, as if he was satisfied with my explanation. “I was worried about her. I’m glad you’ve found something to help.”
All of us had been stressed about Nessie’s rapid development until we’d met Nahuel. After that, it was just Charlie that had to worry. We couldn’t really explain much, and we hadn’t been aware of human growth disorders until Edward was working with his patients in New Hampshire.
“Hi, Grandpa.” She smiled brilliantly at him. A look of adoration crossed Charlie’s face. Nessie snuggled into his lap, content to quietly sit.
We—well , it had been Jacob’s idea, at first—had presented her as our adopted daughter because she looked so much older than she should be. We’d been married just a little over a year, and here she was a little girl who looked about eight. She had grown quickly from looking like a few months old to a six year old before we left for New Hampshire last spring. How could I explain that one? Fortunately, Jacob had instilled in him the idea of “need to know only,” so Charlie rarely asked for an explanation. Asking and wondering are two different things, though, and I was sure he wondered—a lot.
Edward was re-dialing. I heard Esme on the phone. “Hello, Edward.”
Affection warmed Edward’s voice, “Hi, Esme. Sue wanted Seth here at 1:00. Could you send him over then?” I was relieved that he didn’t mention the fact that dinner would be served. I didn’t want her worrying about him missing the meal she’d fixed for him and Jacob. It was bad enough that Nessie wouldn’t be eating with them.
“I’m expecting him at noon. I’m sure he’ll be there in plenty of time.”
“We will be staying longer than we’d planned. We’ll be seeing you later this afternoon.” Edward’s voice was apologetic.
The disappointment in Esme’s voice was apparent, but she was gracious, as always. “We’ll be happy to see you when you get here. Have a nice afternoon.”
Edward stuffed his cell phone in his shirt pocket and smoothly pulled out an envelope. “This is our Christmas present to you,” he said as he handed it over to Charlie.
Charlie opened the envelope, and pulled out a stack of papers, his eyes going wid
e. “Two round trip tickets to Honolulu?” He shuffled through the papers, “And two weeks in a condo in Turtle Bay with... a car rental?” Tears were in his eyes. He’d never even dreamed of going to Hawaii—it was far beyond his meager salary as police chief in Forks.
I walked as slowly as I could—still fast for a human—and hugged Charlie. “Merry Christmas, Dad.” I smiled fondly at him. “You have a year to use the tickets. You and Sue can decide when it would be most convenient for you.” Charlie took his duties as police chief seriously, so I knew he’d want to work out the timing with the city.
Charlie flipped on the TV, Nessie still on his lap, to hunt for a game. Christmas day didn’t have much on, so he settled for a performance of Handel’s Messiah. He had used up his conversation quota. The rest of the day would be filled with the blare of the TV. Dad hadn’t changed a bit.
Nessie leaned forward. She hadn’t heard the Messiah before. The divine music was a fascination for her. Edward watched Nessie and listened to the performance with new ears. Having a child enabled him to experience joy in everyday moments. I loved watching him. He was reliving his life through her. My eyes shone with joy. What more could I want?
Suddenly, Edward jerked up, startled. I looked at him with wide, questioning eyes. There was concern on his face, and he mouthed the word I didn’t want to hear, “Renée.”
My human face would’ve gone white. A groan rose up inside me, but I bit it back. I should’ve known she’d be at this family gathering. What am I going to say about Nessie?
I moved over to Edward to hold his hand, then whispered urgently, too low for Charlie to hear, “What’s the story on Nessie?”
“Same as the one we gave to Charlie.” He struggled to hide his amusement. Of course it would be. I couldn’t think. I nodded, too scared to talk. How will Mom take all this?
There was a brisk knock on the door. Charlie moved to answer it, and I was staring into two pairs of shocked eyes. “Hi, Phil. Hi, Mom.” My beautiful features turned into a stunning smile.
“Bella.” Renée breathed. “Dartmouth has been good to you.” Tears glistened in her eyes. She had been missing me.
My throat tightened as I reflected on lost time with her. She walked over and hugged me, seemingly unaware of my cold, hard flesh.
Then she turned to Nessie, a confused look on her face. She looked so like Edward with her bronze hair and facial features but then her brown eyes were an exact match of my human ones. How could any child look more like a mix of her two parents?
“Who is this?”
“This is Renesmee—Nessie. We adopted her after Edward’s brother and his wife died in a car crash.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” her words were a cry of pain.
Suddenly, I’d wished I hadn’t kept this secret from Renée. Of course she would be hurt.
I silently cursed Charlie for bringing this down on me just then. Couldn’t he have waited another year or two? I fumed. Nessie would be closer to full maturity then. I really didn’t want to explain growth hormone problems to my mother. I suppressed a sigh. Having them both think she had a growth problem might not be such a bad thing. At least they’d have something concrete to discuss.
“Sorry, Mom. I didn’t think you’d want to be a grandma just yet.”
The pained expression on her face turned to a self-conscious laugh. She sighed. “I suppose I haven’t really wanted to see myself as that old. I know you were just thinking of me, Bella. You always do, but I think I’m ready to think of myself that way… you’ve been married over a year now.” She looked at me intensely, seemingly oblivious to all the extraordinary changes in my physique.
Is she blind? I had heard about this strange psychological phenomena called ‘denial.’ I would say she was suffering an extreme episode. I stifled a giggle.
“So when are you and Edward going to bless me with one of your own?”
My mouth dropped open in shock, then I shut it with a snap. “Wh-what did you say?”
“Well,” Renée sounded like she’d been thinking about this for some time. “You always seemed so… middle-aged, I guess. Aren’t you going to have one of your own?”
Charlie coughed to hide a choked laugh.
This is so NOT going like I’d thought. Mom wanting me to have her grandbaby? Shock was not even the right word.
“Ummm, Mom?” I paused, not quite knowing how to word this, and stunned about how events had turned, “Nessie is going to be your only grandchild. Edward and I,” I snuck a look at Edward, hoping for some support, but he looked as nonplussed as I felt, “aren’t planning on having any more kids. She is all we want.”
“Oh.” She made that a drawn out sigh. “I see.”
I looked at Renée like I’d never seen her before. Who is this person? She is not the person I thought I knew. She had been happy about my wedding, she was acting like I hadn’t changed physically one bit, and now she wanted grandkids—as in plural, more than one. I felt like the planet quit spinning and was starting to head the other direction. Suddenly dizzy, I sat down on the couch next to Charlie. He reached out for my hand as if to comfort me, but when he felt my cold, hard skin, he jerked away. He wasn’t suffering from denial.
Nessie had watched the exchange between me and my mom in some confusion. We’d never really talked much about Renée around her, but she had often looked over my shoulder when I wrote my daily email, and she knew a little about her from our correspondence. She stepped away from Charlie and offered a timid hand. “Hi.”
Renée took another long look at her and gasped. Anyone could see my eyes in Nessie’s face. “She looks just like you, Bella.” She smiled in delight. I looked at Edward, frightened that my mom was finally breaking out of her denial, but his eyes were alight with amusement, not worry. Renée enveloped Nessie in a big hug, then turned to me. “Well. I guess I never was one for babies. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.” I let out the breath I’d been holding.
Sue and Phil had been watching our little reunion. Sue relaxed. Phil had a stunned look on his face. I was suspicious that my mom’s denial didn’t extend to him. I was so obviously different. Breathtakingly attractive. Phil couldn’t help but notice.
Edward was looking darkly at him, so I assumed Phil’s thoughts weren’t entirely what they ought to be.
Hopefully, Edward won’t share. There are some things I simply do not want to know.
Another knock at the door. This time it was Leah. She was beautiful, even in her casual jeans and t-shirt. She, too, had let her hair grow out since the last time I saw her. It looked better than the buzz she’d been sporting while we were having Volturi problems. I felt a momentary twinge of pity. There was so much she was missing out on by not getting over Sam.
She looked at me in open distaste. Her hate for vampires extended wholeheartedly to me. I had chosen this existence, and she simply couldn’t comprehend that.
Seth followed quickly, and Sue announced, “Time for dinner.” It was with some relief that we crowded into the kitchen to fill our plates. Since Renée might be watching, Edward and I put a couple of token bits on our plates, knowing that anything we ate would have to come back up at some point. Our digestive systems couldn’t handle anything but blood. Nessie filled her plate with what smelled palatable.
Seth piled his plate high. There was no way he had left Esme’s without a full dinner. I shook my head slightly. His stomach really was bottomless.
Phil and Renée sat at the kitchen table. The rest of us retired to the living room. Edward, Nessie and I sat on the floor—as comfortable there as on a chair. We could’ve stood, but our vampire dexterity would’ve been more noticeable. Seth joined us. Sue and Charlie sat on the couch together, and Leah sat in the arm chair. I hadn’t often seen Charlie’s house this full.
Last Christmas this little house was full, too. My mind wandered back to the strained holiday. I was still a newborn vampire then and wasn’t completely sure I could control myself. Edward an
d I had been stressed about the coming fight with the Volturi. The shape shifters attending the gathering were all anticipating the fight with excitement. I had been terrified for them and for the whole Cullen family.
What a difference a year has made.
My eyes rested on Seth. His immense body took up as much space as Jacob’s. He’d grown a lot since last year. Leah hadn’t really grown that much, but I guessed she was still the fastest wolf in La Push.
None of us talked about the wedding. It was the big event for the next day, but it was almost as if there was an unspoken agreement not to discuss it. I suspected Charlie was scared that something was going to jinx the occasion.
We left Charlie’s around 2:00, shortly after everyone finished their meals. Leah’s glowering made me uncomfortable, as did Phil’s dazzled look. I certainly hadn’t intended to cause a problem with my mom’s young husband, but he was human, after all. Even Edward’s glare hadn’t bothered him.
When we loaded into the Guardian, I turned to Edward. “Oh, my. That was interesting.”
Edward chuckled as we drove off. “I’d say.”
He looked thoughtful. “Your mom is suffering the biggest case of denial I’ve ever seen. It was like she couldn’t even see any changes in you. It was incredible.” He reached over for my hand. “Maybe it’s a mom thing. She always thought you were perfect. You just physically match her internal picture of you.”
“Maybe…” My brow furrowed, then I burst out, “Can you believe her wanting another grandchild? I felt like she’d just arrived from another planet. It’s like I don’t know my own mother.” I folded my arms across my chest in frustration.
After a moment, I relaxed and turned to look at Nessie. “You were perfect, honey. Grandpa Charlie was so happy to have you visit, and Grandma Renée was happy to meet you, too.” She smiled back at me, but she was obviously relieved to be heading back to the Cullens.
When we arrived, Carlisle and Esme greeted us at the door. Rosalie and Alice looked up from the couch. They had a pile of outfits ready to put on Nessie, and Nessie hurried over. She enjoyed all the changing almost as much as they did. She looked around, puzzled. “Where is Jacob?”
Rose looked like she’d like to say something nasty about him, but then thought better of it. Nessie adored him, and she didn’t want to hurt her. “Jacob, Emmet and Jasper went out to play another game of extreme croquet.”
Alice laughed. “I didn’t think croquet could be so addicting, but you’ve found a game the guys can really get into. From the sounds of things, they’ve added hunting to the rules. They’ve definitely created an extreme course only they can play.”
Esme moved back to the other couch and picked up her stitching. She was already almost a third done with her first portrait. Her needle was flying through the canvas. It was fascinating to watch.
Carlisle retired to his library, and Edward followed. I was so shocked by Renée’s odd behavior that I needed some time to digest it all. I stood next to the glass wall staring at nothing, reviewing the strange meeting, and trying hard not to think about Phil’s reaction. I don’t need any more problems.