Happy Ever After

Chapter One

Author’s Note: So here is the official first chapter of Happy Ever After. I hope y’all like this, ‘cause I’m probably going to focus on this and Little Edward. At least till I finish LE … and then I’ll come up with some other pattern. 

So, that said, here is Chapter Uno. 

Happy Ever After

Chapter One

The blond woman brushed her long hair carefully, staring at her flawless appearance in what would appear to be a conceited and vain manner. She memorized her features…the angular nose…the high cheekbones…the smooth skin…the pale white scar on her collarbone…

Rosalie fingered the mark with a crushing sadness, as she always did on this day. Today was the day she lost it all. Today was the day she selfishly gave up the product of her and her husband’s true love. 

Today was her little Bella’s birthday. 

Rosalie stood, ripping herself away from the mirror. She didn’t want to continue thinking about what features her daughter might have inherited from her. It was too painful. Much too painful. 

She walked out of her and Emmett’s bedroom, feeling lost and empty. A day had not gone by that she hadn't regretted her wicked decision to abandon her Bella. That moment, that tiny, precious moment, when she’d cradled Bella in her arms … it had been everything she could’ve hoped for and more. Her beautiful child had been so perfect, and she’d thrown it away for this cold, dull life, her only bright point being Emmett. And of course, the other Cullens. 

Rosalie stopped in the doorway of the living room, where her husband was sitting, staring out the window at the grey sky. Edward walked in from the front door, holding the newspaper, when he spotted Emmett. His normally hard golden eyes softened at the sight of his adoptive brother. Both men had an eternally soft spot in their hearts for the other, and normally it would have made Rosalie smile, but not today. Nothing could make her smile today. 

“Emmett…” Edward started, but Emmett shook his head, cutting him off. He didn’t look back at the bronze-haired vampire as he spoke forcefully. 

“I- I was supposed to be with h-her today! Today and every other birthday! But she’s g-gone. I don’t know w-where she is,” Emmett said, his voice rising and falling with every pained word he said. 

Rosalie could feel her dead heart break in her chest. It was she who had caused this pain. She who had taken their happiness away from them, all so she could be perfect. But this … this wasn’t perfect. It was so very, very far from it. 

“Emmett, we all miss her. We all want her to come home,” Edward tried again, but Emmett interrupted once again, now whirling around. His eyes were blazing with an angry fire that terrified both Rosalie and Edward. 

“No, you don’t understand! You didn’t hold that little child in your arms and see her perfection! You didn’t deliberately hand her to your own father to take away and dump somewhere in a different part of the whole world! You didn’t look her in those sparkling eyes of hers and tell her you loved her! You didn’t even meet her! But I did, and I know all about what I sacrificed that night!” Emmett cried, pride being the last thing on his mind. He sank to his knees, and Edward was at his side, crouching before him. 

“You’re right, Em. I didn’t know her. But I knew that I loved her more than life itself without even laying eyes on her. That goes for Jasper, Alice, and Esme as well. And we can still find her. It might take centuries, but I promise that we won’t stop until we find our Bella and bring her home,” Edward murmured softly, and that’s when Rosalie decided to make herself known. 

“Em?” she asked cautiously, before stepping into the room, giving both men the chance to get up and distance themselves, knowing they treasured their pride and dignity. 

“Oh, hey Rosie,” Emmett replied weakly, pulling his love into his arms. Rosalie looked up into his face, his eyes mirroring her pain. Edward turned to leave them for a private moment, but Rosalie stopped him. 

“I happened to hear that last sentence, Edward. Do you really think we can find her?” she asked hopefully, knowing that Edward wouldn’t make a promise without fully intending to follow through with it. Edward looked down uncomfortably, obviously a little distressed that she’d heard his heartfelt vow. 

“Of course I do. Even if we have to search every orphanage in England, or every state in America, or every rainforest in Brazil, we’ll find my niece,” Edward said, and Rosalie gave him her warmest smile. She and Edward hadn’t connected after she’d come home bearing no baby and no beating heart. 

“Thank you, Edward. This means everything to me.”

Edward nodded, walking out of the room. Emmett watched his brother go, remembering how Edward had dove in front of that bear for him all those years ago. Even though now he knew it wouldn’t hurt him fatally, he knew that Edward could’ve just let him die, or even fed on his remains after the bear finished him off. But Edward had saved him, and now he had to trust that Edward would save their daughter and bring her back to them. 

Rosalie cuddled into her beloved mate’s chest, grateful for the reassuring comfort he offered. “I miss her so bad,” she whispered, her head against his neck. Emmett held her to him, his chin resting on top of her head. 

“Me too, Rosie, me too,” he answered softly, flashing back to that beautiful moment when he’d held that perfect little girl in his arms, her tiny body a perfect fit. He had wanted more than anything to raise her as his daughter, to teach her to be just like him and Rose, but to also teach her to be her own person. And now he didn’t even know if she was still alive.

That thought nearly broke him, and he brushed it off instantly, knowing that if he dwelled on it, he wouldn’t be able to function. 

“I’m so sorry. If I had just stayed human for a little longer than five years, we wouldn’t have had to give her up.” Rosalie regretted this decision more than she’d regretted anything else. She would have killed to have that baby, and when she did, she’d given her up. She’d never hated herself more. 

Emmett would have none of it. “It’s not your fault, my beautiful Rose. It would have gotten to be too much anyways. It’d affect her too, if people were questioning us, and then you’d still have to stay away from her when you were changed, even if she did stop aging … just not as long as you would have if we’d kept her and still changed you,” he said gently, knowing full well that part of it was, indeed, her fault. But he didn’t blame her. Love made you do some very questionable things, and it had all been for him. 

Rosalie knew this too, but didn’t say a word, grateful for his forgiveness. She nestled even further into his embrace, savoring the warmth of his skin that humans could not feel. 

“I love you, Emmett.”

“I love you too, Rose.”

And that was enough to give both vampires the hope they needed to continue their search for their daughter.