Fathers

Carlisle

Part Sixteen - Conclusion

By Memya, Empress of Edit

So, Charlie was blunt and to the point. What did he expect me to say? I agreed just to get the man off our property without any more animosity. If the kids want to be together, he's going to have to get used to the idea or we'll have to go with Jasper's plan which at this point, might not be a bad idea.

Tentatively, I explained this to Bella after their return from Italy during a brief meeting of the family.

"Bella, your father is likely not going to be happy about this turn of events and I've heard that he's been doing some investigating of our family," I explained to her. "If you and Edward remain together, that's not going to help the situation. How do you want us to handle it?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," she answered.

"What we are must remain a closely guarded secret," I said and she nodded. "The fact that you know about us but were allowed to leave Volterra with your life was only with the understanding that you would soon be one of us. A situation that must be shortly remedied either by Edward or myself." I raised a hand to silence Edward so I could continue. "The Volturi don't make idle threats. Your father is on the brink of discovering what we are, he is already suspicious and has been asking questions out at the rez. So the question is what do we do about Charlie?"

"You know my thoughts," Jasper said evenly, "and Alice agrees with me. She's seen what happens if we do nothing. It's time for Charlie to be dealt with."

"You mean. . . " Bella said, aghast, unable to finish the question.

"Eliminate Charlie as a threat," Alice completed the thought. "Yes, Bella. You didn't think you'd get to keep your human family and friends while becoming one of us, did you? We've all lost our human families and you'll have to, too," Alice said quietly. "You decide, Bella. Us or Charlie."

"Wait," Bella said.

"There's something else you should know. He's going to have your marriage annulled," Alice informed them. "As soon as he finds out, he's going to start the proceedings."

Edward and Bella stared at one another and something passed between them.

"He can try," Edward said. "But if we go off to Dartmouth in the fall, won't that be far enough away for him to not be a problem?"

"Edward, while you are with Bella, Charlie will remain a problem. He's dug in his heels and I've seen what he's capable of. He'll make sure that we leave here permanently and do it in such a way that we can't come back, ever. There's a choice to be made Bella and you have to make it, now," Alice asserted. "He'll be coming to the house tomorrow to take you home."

"I won't go, my home is here with Edward, with all of you," Bella shouted. "How dare he! Do whatever you need to do. I don't care. How dare he treat me like a child, like I'm not capable of making my own decisions."

"Bella, you'll have to go with him to avoid any suspicion falling on us if nothing else," I told her. "He is your father, after all, your marriage is likely going to come as something of a shock."

 

* * *
 

So he came and took Bella home, thinking that he was somehow solving the problem.

That was a week ago. Today Edward came by my office at the hospital and showed me something. A properly signed and sealed marriage license from Clallam County, State of Washington. They held onto it for the necessary three days and today they cut classes and went to Port Angeles, stood before a judge and got married. Again.

I'm not sure either of them is the best influence on the other one but what can we do? They tried to live apart and failed, miserably, at least Edward did.

I've heard that Bella was, to put it delicately, busy, in Edward's absence. It seems she was hot and heavy with a boy from the reservation named Jacob. I tried to mention it to Edward but he wasn't having any of it. He says that whatever happened while he was gone was his fault and he forced her to it because of how much he hurt her. Do you suppose she's convinced him of that? That whatever she did was just fine and dandy?

No matter now. The deed's done, as it were, though I still have serious reservations about the wisdom of this union.

They plan to keep their marriage secret for a few more weeks until graduation and the next day they'll be leaving for New Hampshire to get a house set up before attending college in the fall and Edward will change her as soon as they move from here. He's set his mind to do it, even though he still has his doubts, as do I.

Whether or not she'll then be capable of attending college remains to be seen. Most of us needed several years before we could safely be around humans but with Bella, who knows? She's the most determined person I think I've ever known. She might surprise us all or she might become a crazed killer. No one can say.

I wish I felt more sure of Bella. Once she becomes a vampire there's no going back. A marriage can be dissolved but changing your existence can't be revoked.

The fact that she quickly got deeply involved with another young man makes me doubt her loyalty to my son. True, she had no idea that he'd ever come back and she did immediately rush off to save him but Edward never looked at another girl, even though his brothers urged him to. Oh, well. One way or another, this will resolve itself. I only hope she doesn't become a liability to be dealt with, as we had to with James.

So, we have a plan in place. Charlie, it seems, is going to disappear as far as the townspeople know. In reality, we plan to take Charlie to Denali to stay with our friends after I change him. Jasper's done if lots of times but not recently and he wasn't sure since he hasn't tasted human blood in so long that he would not simply drain the man and we can't have that. I have a great deal of respect for Chief Swan. We had thought originally of merely eliminating him but I believe this to be a better solution. Whether he will agree or not, after the fact, only the future will tell.

We have no plans to tell Bella about Charlie, not yet. There will be questions when he disappears and Edward says her face is too easy to read and that she's not a good enough liar to pull it off if needs be so we've left her completely out of the loop. As far as she will know for now, Charlie is gone, with no word and no forwarding address.

Charlie's simply became too big a liability so a week before graduation the plan will go down. We've only had to take these type of steps once or twice before and those were eliminations not transformation but what else can we do? Wait for the villagers to appear with garlic, crosses and wooden stakes? As if those things could harm us.

So ends the life of Charlie Swan, a man guilty of nothing but loving his child too much and being a bit too suspicious for his own good.
 

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