Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

A Fresh Start

By BetterInTexas

Chapter #:

Bella POV

It was him. I would never forget his face. Peter Whitlock. The guy
who gave me a new identity. For free.

“Peter? Charlotte?” I asked.

“Hello Mary, Bo.” They were both smiling. The big guy across from
them was smiling. The blonde who stared at me in the airport looked very nervous and wouldn’t make eye contact with us.
I looked back at Peter. His pupils were still red. I looked at Charlotte, expecting to see the murky brown eyes she had last time.

Her eyes were red.

The couple across from them had golden eyes.

Bo put has hand around my waist. I could feel the tension in his arm.

“Wasn’t expectin to see ya’ll here of all places. You still live near the Gulf, Peter?” Bo asked.

“Yeah, we was doing some traveling here to see our friends. They
live in Tyler. We came up the interstate and saw this place. It looked fun so we pulled in. I forgot that you two lived so close.”

“How did you know where we lived?” I asked. This was too weird.

“I put the address on your driver’s license, Mary.” He winked at me.

“And you remembered that?” I asked doubtfully.

“I got a good memory.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“So who are your friends?” Bo asked pulling up a chair. I was about
to do the same but he pulled me onto his lap. He was feeling extra
protective. He angled the chair so he could put me behind him in a
second. He usually does this when there are some rough people
around the bars or dance halls we go to.

“This is Emmett and Rosalie McCarty. They…”

“Have just moved here. Damn nice to meet you Bo. Mary.” The big
guy, Emmett answered.

Bo took his hand and jerked back at his touch. He offered his hand
to me and I took it. He was so cold.

Peter looked angry.

“So congratulations on the marriage. I told you I believed in fate.”
Peter said when he was done glaring at Emmett.

“How did you know we were married?” I asked quickly. I didn’t like
that. I appreciated what he did but the guy still kind of creeped me
out.

“Well he is wearing a pretty gold band and you got a giant hunk of
diamond on your hand.”

Oh yeah.

“Well thank you, Peter.” Bo nodded.

“Hey, I told you. I’m a sucker for a good romance.” He smiled.

Teddy walked up and leaned his hands on the table.

“Hey Bo, your game. Who are these folks?”

“Hey Teddy. This is Peter and Charlotte and Rosalie? Yeah Rosalie
and Emmett. Rosalie and Emmett are new to the area.”

“Uh huh.”

Chris walked up behind him holding a pool cue.

“Well, welcome.” Chris said, smiling. “Where you guys from?”
Emmett said New York the same time Rosalie said LA.

“We travel a lot.” Rose explained finally looking me in the eyes.

Todd came walking very quickly to the table.

“Hey, we got a new deputy Sheriff in the county, guys.” Todd was
smiling. What was the big deal? New cop.

“That right?” Bo asked, eyes never leaving the group in front of us.

“Yep. Him and his partner are walking through the bar right now,
checkin IDs on kids who are drinkin.”

Glad I hadn’t drank yet tonight.

“And Mary, you will never guess who he is.”

“Why would I Todd? I don’t know any cops.” I told him. Bo and I were kind of dealing with something right now.

“Oh but you know one…” I could hear the smile in his voice. Almost gleeful. I finally turned around and saw him.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

Charlie POV

“So this place looks like a slaughter house.” I commented to Dave,
my new partner. It was weird having a partner. I hadn’t had one in a long time.

“Don’t let it fool you. The place is actually pretty tame. Just local kids who get into fights occasionally. We might break up a few. Hand out the occasional MIP citation to some teenager who ain’t old enough to be drinking. That sort of thing. Nothing major ever happens here. I can show you some real dumps out in the pines that you will want to keep your hand on your weapon the entire time we are there. Probably the same from where you come from. Just a lot more crazy people. You also got to remember that a large majority of them have weapons somewhere and have them legally. They aren’t supposed to carry them in bars, but you never want to be too careful.

“Wonderful. Take a ten hour course and you are ready to hide a gun on you legally. Interesting State you got here Dave.”

“Yeah, we like it. Trust me, it ain’t the ones carrying legally that you have to worry about. Hell most of them will help you if you ever find yourself in a bind.”

Good to know. Still. I’m a cop. The idea of a citizen pulling a handgun and firing at the bad guy shooting at me, makes me a little uneasy. Guess I better get used to it.

We walked in and the place was full of smoke and the smell of beer. It was crowded. The music was extremely loud. A band was playing country music. Quite a few people were dancing.

“How the hell do you even see if any kids are drinking?” I yelled.

“Don’t worry. Once they see you are a cop most will move aside and let you through and some will get the hell away from you. The ones getting the hell away from you are the ones who are underage. Don’t mess with them unless they look really drunk.”

“Why not? They are breaking the law.” That made no sense.
Underage drinking is a problem. It wasn’t something to be ignored.

“Knock yourself out but you will be here till 7 AM writing citations
they will pay with a bit of their beer money. Concentrate on the ones who look toasted. We will take outside in and call their mommas and daddies.”

“I just don’t think I can ignore it.”

“Look most of these kids grew up in small communities around here. There ain’t much for these kids to do except drink, fight or fuck. Sometimes all three at once. You ain’t in Forks anymore, Charlie. You got to pay attention to the ones who look like they are going to hurt themselves. Don’t wasn’t your time on an 18 year old drinking one beer. It’s not worth the trouble and trust me. You ain’t gonna change their lives except to make them more careful not to get caught next time.”

Great.

We strolled through the hall and sure enough most moved aside to
let us pass. Quite a few greeted Dave by name and offered him a
beer.

Weird.

I looked to the right corner and saw a table that caught my eye. Four pale people sitting at a table with a man who had a girl on his lap.

Two cowboys were standing by the table. One was staring at me and smiling. I recognized him from the wedding. Todd. Chris was next to him. The naked guy on Bella’s lawn. Then the girl on the guy’s lap turned around and it was her. She looked surprised. I suppose maybe I should have mentioned this to her but she had been gone on her honeymoon.

I was so caught up in her stare it took me a moment to concentrate on the pale people. Two weren’t looking at me. Two were with wide eyes.

Holy shit. Rose and Emmett Cullen. Hell no!

I left Dave calling my name and stormed over to the table. Bella
stood up and stepped in front of me.

“Char… Dad?”

“Hey Be… Mary. Bo.” I couldn’t look at her now. My eyes were
caught on two of 7 people I hated more than anyone else, with the
exception of the man who took my baby. I still need to arrange that son of a bitch’s death.

“What are you doing here? In that uniform?” Bella asked.

“Uh, Bo, would you take Bella outside and I can explain everything
where I can hear the two of you better? I need to talk to your new
friends.”

“Sure Charlie. Good to see you again Pet… where the hell did Peter
go?”

“He slipped out the back smooth like a second ago. Sumbitch moves pretty fast” Todd replied.

“We will be out front Charlie.”

Bo sat Mary on the ground and they both walked out. I kept my eyes on the Cullens, making sure they didn’t slip out.
I sat across from them.

“What the fuck are you two doing here?” I growled. I wasn’t in the
mood for niceties.

“Just visiting an old friend Charlie.” Emmett smiled.

“Just cause I can’t kill you doesn’t mean I don’t know people who
can, Emmett. People who are a lot closer than you think.”
That caught Rose’s attention. She always did strike me as the smart one.

“We saw Bella in the airport when she came back from her
honeymoon. We didn’t know you had found her until a few days ago. We have been keeping an eye on her.” She said.

“She has a husband to keep an eye on her. A husband who has
done a damn better job than any of us have done. You weren’t
keeping an eye on her. You were stalking her. Do all of you know
now? Where are the rest?”

“The family broke up Charlie. We don’t see them anymore.” She
responded.

“You need to leave. Leave now and forget what you saw. If you have been watching her you know. You know she has no memory of what happened. It needs to stay that way.”

“We know, Charlie. We plan for it to.”

“Then why the fuck did I just find you talking to her?”

“They came over to see Peter…”

“That was Peter Whitlock?”

“You know him?!” She seemed surprised. I guess I did know a little
more than she thought.

“He told you to stay away too, didn’t he?”

“How the hell… what do you know about Peter Whitlock?” She
asked.

“I know that he is a human eating vampire who I like a hell of a lot
more than you two.” At least he wants my daughter safe form
knowledge of vampires. More than I can say for these two bastards.

Okay a bastard and a bitch.

“We just came to watch her. I swear Charlie. Bella and Bo
recognized Peter’s wife and came over to say hi.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“We know.” She agreed.

“Then fucking leave.” I stood up. This conversation was over.
Except…

“If I see you around my daughter again you will die. I wasn’t kidding. I know people who can make you truly dead. Dead and burned to ashes. Do not fuck with me.”

I walked out to see the parking lot empty and my heart stopped a
little. Then I heard Bo’s voice.

“Hey Charlie! We are over here.”

I followed the sound of his voice to their truck. Bo was standing in
front and Bella was seated on the hood.

“What was that all about Dad? How did you know them?”

“I didn’t. I just didn’t like the look of them.”

“You are fucking lying to me.” Oh shit. She was angry. She just
dropped an F bomb. Still can’t get used to that word coming out of
her pretty mouth.

“I’m not…”

“Don’t deny it. I would rather you just say you don’t want to tell me and I will figure it out for myself. You are my father and you aren’t telling me the truth about my past. Phoenix ring any bells?”

Damn it. Renee. Should have known.

“Your Mom showed up huh?”

“Yeah. Now are you going to tell me the truth about what happened in Forks? What the hell are you doing here anyway?” Bo said nothing. He just held Mary’s hand and looked at me. I couldn’t exactly look to him for support. He supported her. If she wanted to know, he wanted to know.

“I moved here. I mean I’m moving here. Sue and her kids are coming with me. They are in Forks putting my house up for sell. I found a place a couple miles from you house. We are moving in next week. I got a job working patrol for Smith County. That’s what I am here for. As far as your past, you want honesty? There are some things in your past, things involving Edward Cullen that you don’t want to know. It’s better that you don’t know. You may not think so because you don’t remember but I promise you, if I asked you a little over a year ago before you took off, if you would like to just forget it forever, then you would have jumped at the chance. Now you have the chance. Whether you remember me or not, I am your father. I haven’t been the greatest Dad but I love you and I want to protect you. Why the hell can’t you just trust me?”

Neither Bella or Bo said anything. Finally Bo spoke up.

“Any chance of her past coming back to bite her?”

“There is always a chance. You don’t want lies? Fine. You know
there is always a chance of the unknown. But I want to protect you. I never have before and I want the chance to now. Will you let me? Will you stop asking so many damn questions about things that are better left forgotten?

Bella was staring at the ground and playing with her wedding ring,
turning it back and forth.

“If something from my past shows up, I want to know about it.” She finally said.

“Okay. If something comes up that you have to know about, I will tell you and Bo. But for now, can’t you just enjoy your new life and
maybe let me enjoy it with you?” Please say yes. I was coming
regardless but it would be nice if she was okay with it. I wasn’t letting her far from me again.

“Okay Dad.” She said, nodding her head.

I felt relief. I wonder if I should push my luck.

“Can I have a hug?”

“Of course you can, Charlie.” Bo responded and wrapped me up,
lifting me off the ground slightly. Strong boy, that Bo.

That seemed to break the tension and we all started laughing. Bella walked up and hugged me. I will never take holding her for granted again.

“Charlie, you and Sue weren’t living together before were you?” Bo
asked.

“No.”

“So you got two households to move, right?”

“Yes. I plan to fly down there this weekend and we are driving two
moving trucks back.”

“Mary and I were planning on going down to see you next week. See the place she lived, went to school. How about we fly with you and help you move your things?”

Damn it. She really did not need to go back there. But Emily would want to see her. They all would. I suppose it couldn’t hurt. There weren’t any traces of Edward Cullen in our house. The Cullens wouldn’t go back there. If they were looking for her they would never suspect Forks.

“Fine. That sounds good. I know Emily is missing you Be… Mary.

She would like to see you again. Would that be okay?”

“Sure. I would love to meet her.” Bella replied, smiling.

“Well I don’t want to intrude on your night any longer.” I should
probably find my partner.

“No, it’s okay. We need to get back home to Renee. Hope she hasn’t
burned the kitchen down.” Bella said, surprising the hell out of me.

“Renee is still here?”

“Yep. She is an… interesting woman.” Bo replied. I had to chuckle.

“Yes, that’s one way to put it.”

I hugged my daughter once more and watched the two of them drive off. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe she would leave it alone.

Bo POV

“You’re not going to leave it alone are you?”

“After what he just told me? I want to know more than ever now.”
Mary replied. Why was I not surprised?

“We have to get all the orders done this week.” She said.

“We are working as fast as I can.” I told her smiling.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I know you are the business manager. It’s your job to
worry about things like that.”

“Business manager?”

“Yes. Business Manager.” It was a good title. Plus I never had to
worry about the books or orders. She took care of everything. It
allowed me to focus on what I do best.

“Your business manager thinks we need a bigger shed. And we
might want to think about a business name. Something that would
look flashy on a website.”

“Bo Walker’s furniture doesn’t sound flashy?”

“It doesn’t come close to describing the beautiful work you do.”

“What would you suggest?” I asked.

“I don’t know. At least add the word custom in the title. I will come up with a few ideas. Internet orders are picking up. But the orders are mostly from the Tyler area. People know you around here. You
should be known other places too. You are too good not to be.”

“Thanks for the confidence, baby.”

“Baby, what you do is amazing. You have the most beautiful hands.”

Yeah and those hands wanted to trace every inch of skin on her
beautiful body.

“So, your dad is moving here. Think that will be weird?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe at first. But I am kind of looking forward to it. To getting to know him again. It will be nice.”

“Yeah. I think it will be good for you.” I agreed.

“Now if my Mom… I mean wow. I love being around her you know?
She has this energy about her. A childish energy. A joyful childish
energy you normally only see in… children. But she can be a bit
much. I can see that she would have required a lot of supervision
while I was growing up.”

“Yeah. Hey speaking of business, there is something we need to talk about.” May as well bring this up now. While we were alone.

“What is that baby?”

“I kind of got a pass after my parents died. But now I am married and a few regular and past customers have made off hand comments and…”

“And what?”

“We have to go to church.”

“Say what?”

“We have to go to church.”

“What church?”

“Doesn’t matter. Actually it does but we have a few choices.”

“Why do we have to go to church?” she asked.

“Because we own a local business that does a lot of local work and
locals like to see the people they deal with go to church.”

“I… I… okay. When do we start this?”

“I was thinking when we came back from Forks.”

“What do we do in… church?”

“Pretty much just sit and listen.”

“But, I don’t think I was raised that way. At least Charlie and Renee haven’t mentioned it.”

“Mary, we kind of have to if we want to keep local business. Now that we are married, we are kinda expected to be part of the adult
community.”

“What church do you want to go to?”

“Uh… like I said. It really doesn’t matter. There are three major
church groups we can belong to. Baptists, Catholics and
Methodists.”

“Did your parents go to Church?”

“Every Sunday.” I told her. I had only recently gotten to the point I
could think about my parents without feeling a pain in my chest. The joy she brought me, helped with that.

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“What church did you go to?”

“First Baptist in Lindale.”

“Then that’s the one we will go to.” Mary replied. Decision made.
Just like that.

“You don’t mind?”

“I would do anything for you Bo. I can certainly go to church with
you.”

“Thank you Mary.”

“Besides I don’t want to lose our local business base while we are
growing.”

There is my girl.

“Also one other thing.” May as well get it all out there.

“I don’t have to be baptized do I? Because nobody is dunking me in a creek Bo.”

“No, it’s just we need to go to the High School Football game this
Friday.”

“Why? We don’t know anyone on the team do we? Do you have a
relative playing?”

“No. We just need to be seen there.”

“At a high school football game?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“Is this like the church thing?”

“Yep.”

“Really? High school football?”

“Mary there are two major things that matter to small town Texans. High school football and church. The order of importance is determined by how well that year’s team is doing.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah Mary. I’m serious.”

“Did you play football?”

“Of course. Playing football is like being drafted in war. If you are an able bodied male you better be there, whether you like it or not.”

“Wow.” She whispered.

“Yep.”

“Okay then. Do we have to wear team shirts or something?”

“Yeah. You know those blue and white shirts that are sold all over
Lindale that has Eagles written on them?”

“That’s a football team? I thought it was some new clothing brand.”

I shook my head. “Don’t ever say anything like that in public where you might be heard. If you are confused ask me quietly.”

“Okay. Guess we are going to go cheer for the home team.”

“Actually they are playing in Brownsboro tomorrow night so we will be going there.”

“We have to go on road games?” she asked, a little surprised.

“Yep.”

Mary took a deep breath. “Alright then. Anything else?”

“No that’s it… for now.” I whispered the last part.

“Okay. Now hurry up and get me home. I need to get laid.”

Renee POV

I was asleep when Bella and Bo came home last night. Stephanie
was the only one I shared my good news with. I swore her to
secrecy. I was so proud of Phil. He knew how difficult this past year has been. He agreed without a second thought and already fixed everything.

Phil would have never let Bella run off.

Unlike Charlie.

It was my fault. 17 years of my baby’s memories gone because she
went to a miserable place so I could be a baseball roadie. I was
never a good mother. But I do love her. I love her more than my own life. I shouldn’t have let her put her happiness on hold so I could have mine. I would be more responsible. I would stop focusing on crap that didn’t matter. With Charlie in Washington where he belonged, I could have my baby back. We could be a team again.

But this time I would pull my own weight. I would be more
responsible. I would help her instead of holding her back. Charlie
wasn’t around. He had his chance. Now it was my chance again. He
may have found her but he lost her in the first place.

I set my alarm for 6. No more sleeping in. I called my school
yesterday and told them I wouldn’t be back. Luckily for me that
position opened up in Lindale for the Spring. And Phil…

I wasn’t surprised to see the light on in the shed. I knew Bo and Bella got up early to work. She actually found someone as responsible as she was. Hot as hell too. My baby got lucky he found her. But she deserved him. From what I saw he deserved her too. I made a couple cups of coffee and walked out to the shed to tell them my good news. The door was closed. I opened it gently and saw…

My baby sitting on the desk naked with her back to me and her legs wrapped around her husband.

I dropped my cups of coffee.

I guess that caught their attention.

“Shit! Mom!” Bella yelled.

“Good morning baby. Apparently it is a very good morning for some of us.” Good Lord, Bo’s chest was ripped. Too bad she was covering up the rest of him.

“Mornin Renee.” Bo smiled.

“Bo. Getting some work done early?”

“Yes ma’am. Just polishing the desk.” He winked at me.

“Mom! Turn around!”

“Oh, of course.” I turned around and heard Bella scrambling to get
her clothes on.

“What are you doing up? You never wake up this early. You can turn around now.”

I turned to see Bella pulling on a t shirt and Bo had put on jeans.
Good Lord, those abs. Bella was looking good herself. She must be
exercising. Now I know what kind of exercise she was doing.

“Oh, I wanted to tell you the good news!” She would be so happy.

“What is that Mom?”

“I got a job at Lindale Elementary teaching Kindergarten and Phil got a job at the high school coaching baseball! We are moving here
baby!”

She was so happy she couldn’t say anything. Bo was looking at me
in surprise as well. I could tell he was happy though.

“Okay.” Bella finally breathed out.

“I know you are excited. I mean, this is okay right? I just don’t want to be away from you any longer, knowing you are alive.”

“No Mom. It’s fine. It’s just a little surprising. First with Charlie moving here with Sue and her kids and now you…”

“What did you say?” I must not have heard that right.

“You didn’t know? Charlie got a job here. We are going this weekend to help him move. He didn’t tell me he was going to do it. I just found out last night. I thought you would have known.”

“He is moving here?”

“Yeah. He got the house down the road from us.”

That motherfucker.

“Okay. Phil is moving our things next week. We need to find a place

to live. So when you are finished… working… come get me. I need
to find a place and I want it close to you.”

“Oh. Good…” Bella said quietly. I knew she would be excited.