Chapter Music: Smile by The Glee Cast
A/N: Thanks again to my ladies. My pre-reader, miztrezboo who has also built me ma very own blog! And to my beta, annanabanana who kept my lemonade sweet. Thank you for your response to this story so far; it's lovely to see some familiar faces as well as new readers.
LINK TO CHAPTER UNDER THE COMMENTS BAR
:: Charlie ::
Two hours. That was how long my baby cried for that piece of shit, Black, in my kitchen. Two hours she spent telling me how he had broken her heart and she didn't understand why. I knew the day he took her out of Texas she'd come back broken and hopeless because of him. He never had treated her right. She gave up her dreams for that asshole and he tossed her aside. Well, if he made things more difficult for her now that she was home, he'd have Charlie Swan to deal with. It didn't matter to me that I'd know him since he was in diapers. Jacob Black had broken my baby girl, and I wouldn't think twice about breaking him.
I sat perched on the window seat, watching Bella, my gut twisting with disgust for Black. I didn't know what to do for her. I guessed this was where her momma might have stepped in and taken the reins a little, but with Renee gone, I would have to try and do the best I could.
I walked over to Bella and placed a hand gently on the back of her head as she lay, resting it on the table. She opened her eyes to look up at me and my chest tightened at how lifeless they looked. I knew she must have been tired from her drive, but I also knew she hadn't eaten since she arrived and God knows when before that.
"You hungry, sweetheart?" I crouched down so my face was level with hers, but she shook her head. "You need to try and eat something, Bella," I coaxed.
"I'm just tired, daddy. I'll eat tomorrow, I promise." She closed her eyes again and let out a heavy sigh.
"Okay. Why don't you go on up and rest? Your old room's just the same as when you left it," I offered. The chair scraped back as Bella rose to her feet and she shuffled her way to the stairs. "I put your bags in there already and there're clean towels in the bathroom."
"Thank you."
"Bella," I called before she disappeared. She hesitated and turned to look at me. "You know where I am if you need anything." Bella gave me a weak smile before she turned and headed on up the stairs. It wasn't long before I followed behind her, sticking my head in through her bedroom door on my way to my own room. Bella lay asleep on her bed, shifting restlessly, still dressed in the clothes she had arrived in. The doors out onto her balcony were open, letting in the warm Texas air.
As I climbed into my own bed, I wondered how long it would take for Bella's spark to return. The light of life that had carried us both through darker times, before she left for college, married Black and moved to Phoenix.
~oOo~
Come morning, I'd heard nothing but whimpers from Bella's room. By ten thirty I was standing in the driveway changing the spark plugs on my old truck, wondering if I should be trying to encourage her outside instead. A little after noon, Bella made an appearance. She poured herself some lemonade, grabbed a peach from the fruit bowl and headed back on up to her room.Just after four, the phone rang in the kitchen.
"Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak with Mrs. Black, please?" The unfamiliar male voice sounded professional down the line, and my back stiffened at how he addressed Bella.
"Who's callin'?"
"Mr. Michael Newton, I'm her attorney."
"Hold on," I said as I placed the receiver down on the counter. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I shouted up.
"Bella, a Mr. Newton is on the phone for you." I waited. And I waited. Sighing I walked back to the kitchen.
"She can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message? I'm her dad."
"Mr. Swan, of course. Mrs. Black informed me that she would be staying with you." He cleared his throat before continuing. "I was just calling to let Mrs. Black know that Mr. Black's attorney has been in touch. They're going over the paperwork and will get back to us as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I'll pass on the message," I replied.
"Thank you. Mrs. Black need not call me back, unless she has any questions, of course."
"Fine." With those parting words, the line disconnected and I made my way back to Bella's room. She was curled up on her bed, sleeping under a sheet. At least it looked like she had changed her clothes, though her face was blotchy and streaked with tears. My hands curled into fists at my sides as I thought about my baby shedding one tear over the asshole that had ripped her heart out, with no explanation.
Yes, Black had a lot to answer for.
I didn't see Bella for the rest of the night, and although I would have preferred that she eat something, I knew that she needed to deal with things in her own time.
~oOo~
Three days passed by in the same fashion. Bella slept late after a restless night, she skipped breakfast, picked at a small lunch, and avoided dinner—and me. On day four, I was chopping wood on the old stump by the shed when the familiar sound of a truck filtered down the road. I cast a glance at the house and smiled when I saw that Bella had made it out onto her balcony today. She was sitting wrapped up in her duvet, rocking back and forth on her grandma's old, large rocker. She didn't seem bothered by the warm sun as her eyes stared off, glassy and distant toward the lake, and I wondered how long she'd been sitting out there."Hey Charlie, need a hand with that?" Edward's voice sounded out of his open window, before he shut off his engine.
"Sure thing, son. You can stack 'em while I chop." My family had always lived in Masen and I had known Edward since he was a boy. He was a good man, well respected in town, hard working and honest. It was hard to find fault with him.
Edward tossed his over-shirt onto his truck-bed and grabbed his working gloves. I watched as he cast a glance up at Bella and quickly averted his eyes when he realized I was watching him. Striding over to the chopped logs, Edward waved his hand in Bella's direction.
"You know there's a girl up on your balcony, Chief?" He bent to start stacking the wood along the side of the shed.
"I haven't been Chief in this town for nearly three years now, give it up already," I said gruffly. Getting shot 'in the line of duty' had meant taking early retirement, which I was enjoying, but that didn't mean that I didn't miss the job. It was too bad that the muscle in my thigh was pretty torn up when the bullet passed through. Sure I could walk, but I'd never be a cop again.
"Whatever you say, Charlie. You know you'll always be the Chief to us." Edward chuckled, and I knew he was right. His friends were just as bad.
I had passed the reins over to my deputy, Eric Yorkie, and even though he was good at what he did, Eric still acted like the deputy when things got tough. I grumbled under my breath as I remembered the last time I had to bail Eric out of trouble because the Burton kids had left the cattle gate open. It had taken over six hours to get them all off Main Street and back onto the Miller's ranch, and another two to get all the cow shit off the street, but I'd left that last task to Eric and his own deputies.
"That's Bella." I nodded my head in the direction of the house, and Edward paused mid stride with several pieces of wood in his arms.
"Huh?"
"The girl. It's Bella. You know, my daughter," I teased, bringing the axe down hard on a larger piece of wood and picturing Jacob Black's neck lying across the old stump instead. The wood splintered into three before the blade stuck in the tree stump below it. Edward let out a low whistle, and I wrenched the axe free, feeling pleased that I could inflict that sort of damage but disappointed that Black was still nine hundred miles away.
"That's Baby Bell?" Edward asked, staring up at Bella as she continued to rock on the old chair. I laughed.
"Not sure she'd take too kindly to that nickname right now, son." Bella had always hated Edward teasing her when she was little. She was only a year younger than his group of friends but had often felt left out.
"Sure, of course. But, wow. She sure looks grown up now, Chief." I let his comment slide. I knew he didn't mean anything by it. Edward wasn't like the other cowboys in town—if he was going to be inappropriate, he certainly wouldn't do it in front of the father of the girl in question.
"Yeah, well she's home now. For good. Her piece of shit husband hurt her and she's here to…" What could I say? What was Bella here to do? Hide? Heal? Start over? I'd be here for whatever she needed; I just didn't know what that was yet.
"Husband? Hurt her?" Edward dropped the wood and clenched his fists, clearly angry.
"She married Jacob Black right outta college, and he moved them across to Phoenix." I watched as his anger turned to confusion. It was easy to forget that Edward had his own commitments and difficulties at home. Bella wasn't something that we usually discussed when he and the boys were over. He wouldn't have necessarily remembered the small wedding that took place in the judge's chambers just before Bella left town.
"She's alright, physically at least. He didn't hit her, it's not that kind of hurt," I explained and Edward visibly relaxed. "Three months ago he told her he wanted a divorce, no explanation." Edward began collecting the wood he'd previously dropped and set about stacking it with the rest.
"Three months? They been workin' it out?" He asked as he stood facing me, scratching the back of his neck.
"Not really. He told her when he thought she was asleep. Son of a bitch." I shook my head and swung the axe again, splitting another log. "Anyway, she was waitin' for him to bring it up again but he just kept gettin' more and more distant, he never mentioned a damn thing." I probably shouldn't have been telling Edward what had happened between Bella and Jacob, but I trusted that he would keep it to himself.
"So…she's just been…waitin'? For the last three months?" Concern and confusion flashed through Edward's eyes as he spoke, and I knew right then that if I needed his help with Bella that I could count on him.
"Waitin' and hopin', I guess. Not sure when she went to see her lawyer, but as soon as the papers were ready, she left," I said.
"How long they been married?" Edward asked.
"About two years. Two years too long if you ask me."
"Another woman?" Edward pulled off his Stetson and ran his hand through his hair.
"Better not've been, not if he knows what's good for him." If I found out that Black had been with anyone else, I wouldn't think twice about putting his dick in a vice.
"How long's she gonna sit up there?" Edward nodded toward Bella again.
"Beats me. Long as it takes, I guess. She's not talked to me about it since she got here four days ago. She hardly eats, and either sits in her room or sits out in that chair just starin' at the lake." I would give her till the end of the week, then I would maybe have to push a little harder.
"Want me to send Rose or Alice? Maybe she'd talk to one of them," Edward offered.
"I'll keep it in mind, son, but I don't want to force anyone on her right now."
"Sure thing, Charlie, but let me know if you want any of us to…you know," Edward mumbled, stacking the last of the wood.
Edward and his friends often stopped by the house, helping with bits and pieces, watching football or joining me for a day on the lake. They were all good boys, worked hard and were surrounded by people who cared about them.
As usual, once our work was done, Edward and I shared a pitcher of McCarty's lemonade and he left for the day.
Walking through the house, I quickly made my way upstairs and through Bella's room, joining her on the balcony. She looked tired and pale, her hair was lank and almost greasy looking and her lips were chapped and dry.
"Bella, I'm about to start on dinner. What do you fancy?" I asked, hoping that she would eat something tonight.
"I'm not really hungry," she murmured without meeting my gaze.
"Bella, this has to stop. Sweetheart, you need to shower and change your clothes and start eating something. Or I'm gonna have to make an appointment for you to see Doc Garrett." I hoped the threat would just be an idle one, rather than one I'd have to follow through on. The last thing I wanted to do was have her medicated.
Bella stood up and pulled the duvet tighter around her body. With her head hung low she walked right past me and headed back into her bedroom. I followed her slowly and watched, with tired eyes, as she collapsed on top of her bed, facing away from me.
"Tomorrow, dad. I swear." Another promise passed through her lips, muffled by the pillow, and I had to purse my own shut so as not to argue about the already broken promises from earlier in the week. I left her room with a sigh, making myself a grilled cheese sandwich before turning in for the night. As I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, I hoped that tomorrow would be different—hoped that Bella would start living instead of just existing.
A/N: I have about 70% of this story completed so far and my current posting schedule will be weekly on Saturdays. At the moment we're good until about November, until then I'm still writing. Teasers will be posted there as well as on The Fictionators and PicTease. Thanks for reading, see you next week.
0 comments:
Post a Comment