Design For Life

Esme and Carlisle's Outtake

EsmePOV

As I sat in the gym of Forks High, it was hard to believe that my oldest grand-baby was graduating. She was off to Dartmouth in the fall, and we couldn't be prouder of her. Although, I knew Edward was going to have a hard time letting her go. She was his baby girl, and the two of them were as thick as thieves.

When Abbie's name was called, our family stood up and hooted and hollered and effectively embarrassed the poor girl. Snickering to myself at the glower on her face, I knew we'd be in for a tongue lashing later, but it was my right as a grandmother to embarrass my grandchildren.

After graduation was over, we met Abbie in the parking lot. I wrapped her up in a hug, telling her how proud of her I was. We all were. Once she was congratulated and hugged by everyone, we all drove back to our house. Abbie had insisted on having a family celebration instead of a big party like her friends.

As I carried out the cake that Bella had baked, I looked around the yard. Everyone except Alice had showed up. Alice had been difficult for the past eighteen years. We rarely spoke anymore, and it broke my heart. She'd always been my sweet baby girl, but somewhere along the way she had changed.

After she and Jasper divorced, she'd become colder and more critical. She'd been furious with Carlisle and I when she found out that we had still kept in touch with Jasper. She'd accused of us choosing him over family. We'd explained that Jasper was family even if they were no longer together. She hadn't been happy with us. She'd let that resentment grow until it had made her bitter.

The last time I had seen her was three years ago. She had moved to New York to be closer to her lover who was also her boss. I'd been outraged to find out that he was married, and I'd expressed my disappointment in her. She'd told me to mind my own business; that she was an adult and was capable of making her own choices. She was right. There was nothing I could do or say that would make her see reason, so I stopped trying.

"Hey, Grandma!" a voice called, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked up and saw Ryan coming toward me. He was such a sweetheart. At twelve, he was starting to gain some height, and was the spitting image of his father. He'd called me Grandma for as long as I could remember and, as far as we were concerned, he was just another one of our grandchildren.

"Did I tell you that Dad is dating?" he asked me.

I hadn't known that. I'd hoped that Jasper would find someone that was worthy of him and Ryan.

"No, you didn't. Tell me."

"Her name's Hazel and she's a horse breeder. She lives on a ranch outside of town and has horses and everything!" he exclaimed.

"Is that right?"

"Yep. And she's teaching me to ride! She's super cool, and really pretty. Dad likes to kiss her all the time," he whispered.

I tried to control my laughter.

"Ryan!" Jasper called. "Just what are you telling your grandmother?"

"Nothing," he claimed, trying to act innocent.

Jasper wasn't buying it. "Uh huh. I take it you're telling Grandma about Hazel?"

I sent Ryan away so I could interrogate Jasper about the new woman in his life. I could tell just by talking to him that he was in love with her. She sounded wonderful, and I made him promise to bring her to Disney Land for our annual trip.

After we all finished eating and everyone was lazing about, I took a moment to take it all in. I couldn't begin to express how happy I was with my family. They'd turned out wonderfully for the most part, and had created beautiful, if not mischievous children.

CPOV

"What's wrong, son?" I asked, sitting down next to Edward who was tugging on his hair.

"Besides the fact that my baby girl is off to college in the fall?"

"Yeah, besides that."

"Bella found some porn mags in Luke's room," he told me.

I couldn't contain the snicker. It was too funny. I remembered how Esme had reacted when she'd first found porn in Emmett's room. She'd sat him down and had given him a lecture about safe sex and how she didn't want that filth under her roof. Not that that had stopped him.

"It's not funny, Dad! She's demanding that I talk to him about it."

"Who are you talking to about what?" Emmett asked as he and Jasper sat down next to us.

"Bella found porn in Luke's room," I told them.

Emmett let out a howl of a laughter. "Oh, man. That is awesome!"

Edward turned to glare at him. "Awesome? It's not awesome! She wants me to talk to him about it. Like I know anything about having porn in my room. I never did that. You did though. You should talk to him."

Emmett's face lit up, and Edward quickly realized that he'd made a mistake.

"Never mind. Don't talk to my kid. You'd probably congratulate him and give him more. It was bad enough having to have the sex talk with him."

Emmett was laughing his ass off at Edward's discomfort until Edward brought up the fact that Emmett was raising girls.

"Just wait, Em. One of these days, your girls are gonna start dating."

A look of horror crossed his face. "Hell fucking no! My babies aren't dating until they're thirty!"

"Yeah, good luck with that. I said the same thing, but Bella told Abbie she could start dating at sixteen," Edward warned.

"So not happening. I need to have a talk with Maggie about this. Do you really think she'd let my Emma start dating at sixteen?" he asked, extremely worried.

"Yes," we replied.

"I'll kill any boy that puts his hands on my girls," Emmett growled out, getting worked up. I quickly changed the subject.

"So, what's this I hear about you having a girlfriend?" I asked Jasper.

We spent the next hour listening to Jasper tell us about the woman he was in love with. I prayed that his new relationship lasted. He'd gotten the short end of the stick when it had come to Alice and Sheila. I was still upset with the way Alice had acted. Hell, I was upset with the way she still acted. She was a grown woman, but she acted like a child a majority of the time. I knew that Esme often wondered what we'd done wrong, but it wasn't us. We weren't to blame for the decisions our daughter made.

"Hi, Pops!" Matt said as he plopped down next to me. "Want to see a magic trick?"

"Sure," I told him.

"Okay," he said, flashing me Emmett's dimpled grin. "I'm gonna need a dollar first."

Oh, hell. The kid was truly Emmett's I thought with a laugh.

"No way, kiddo. I know how this trick goes. Your dad used to try and pull it on me all the time when he was a kid."

"Aw, man. Nobody wants to see it," he complained before turning to his dad. "You need to teach me better tricks, Dad!"

Emmett grinned, and I shook my head as I looked at them. Father like son. Or was it son like father. Either way, I felt bad for Maggie and the girls.

Later that night as we lay in bed, I sent up a prayer of thanks. I had the love of a wonderful woman who'd been by my side for over forty years, I had beautiful children who, for the most part, had grown up well. My sons had married wonderful women and given us fantastic grandkids, not to mention that we had been given a surrogate son in Jasper. Yep, life was good.

....

a/n: Just a little insight from Esme and Carlisle.  New stories should be up within the next few hours, assuming I don't get distracted by the awesomeness that is the Internet.