Author's Note: ::ducks behind table; shields self from flying rotten tomatoes, and possibly really old, refrigerated macaroni and cheese:: Okay. I am soooooo sorry, guys. I bet you all abjectly loathe me right now, and I totally understand - I loathe me, too for taking so long to update. And I understand if you never forgive me....

PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! PLEEEEEEAAAAAASE FORGIVE ME!!!!!!!

Ahem. Okay. That's over. So, apparently college is really time consuming. Who'd'a thunk it? But I have a little, tiny confession to make as to why this took so long: this chapter has been finished for somewhere in the neighborhood of ten months. But after a while I sort of got that overdue library book fear - you know, where it's just getting worse and worse, but you just can't return it, because it's soooo late...? Yeah. So, I think maybe I should just shut up and go on to thanking people.

Mille grazie to .Roses, live4ever, erised-i (twice!), Twilighter, Mandi1, Belle07, Your Vennela, doing 25 life in azkaban, ObsessedwithTwilight, Mirane, AneleTiger, orlibluver, Holli7555, lavanja loves muse, Lon-Dubh (three times!), GLIMMERGIRL1271, DOEeyes, starlighttwilight KlutzLike Bella, yasioasasi, simplyme88, The RaVen 303 (also three times haha! ), killersmile (three times!), annahelenamccrea, LovingEverythingIShouldn't, Ame Warashi, SKIDDY, dance2live, twilightguitargirl, MissMei92, Luckygrl27 (twice!), Lady Eowyn of Ithilien (twice!), stupidvampires101, moonlightshade, deep in the high, MusicIsEverything (twice!), Bella, beccaj-ilh (three times! ... I'm feeling like a really bad person right about now), Nerd314, hahajetzudjivnnn, ~April~, -insert random comment here-, Beth (twice!), HermioneRon 4ever (twice!), Carlisle060 (that's right! We had a review from CARLISLE! haha), twilightlover, sapphireseanymph, xxtwilight, librarymom (twice! I'm sensing a pattern....), oneiropulos, , StargazingLily, OperationDuctTape, Lizet M, the viEns of hIStorY, FredandGeorgeWeasleyareMYKings (twice!), o..l-dish, Sporkface, Live4YourXDreams, PlayFair, iloveedwardandjacob, Ginaaaa, Ema Coleen, kiwi27, Broken M a n n e q u i n, Animangel, theothercullen427, Rebecca101, spazzyjj27, tasha, on absinthe, deathpenity17, lisab34, JocelynA, cullenist1918, and Amileah for reviewing! I also seem to remember that ..Jasper and xoxoBloodRedRosesoxox reviewed, but I can't seem to find their reviews! Wow! There are a lot of you who could potentially really hate me right now. I hope you don't. :'-( And I hope that I didn't miss anybody! If I did, please let me know and I will amend my mistake. :-) One other thing: I wanted to get this story up tonight (or this morning, now), so I'll be sending my responses to all of your lovely reviews after I post this. Responses to anonymous reviews, however, are below.

GLIMMERGIRL1271 - Really? Your favorite story? That's so flattering! Thank you! I'm so terribly sorry it's been so long since I updated.

starlighttwilight - Oh dear! You're probably really cursing me now! But don't worry - I really don't think the end of this next chapter is a cliffhanger, so you can breathe easily. Ah, yes. The nonexistent note. I'm glad those scary days are over! ::knock on wood!:: For a while there, I thought I was going to lose my entire story!

dance2live - Thank you! I'm sorry it's taken me so long!

Bella - Thank you so much for your lovely compliments! They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :-) I felt awful having Esme's mother react like that, since I know I would be horrified if my mother not only didn't believe me, but blamed me for something like that, but I agree with you that it was necessary. I hope you're still excited to read the rest of the story!

~April~ - Thank you! Stephenie Meyer? Wow! Thank you! How did you enjoy Breaking Dawn? I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update! I hope you're still checking for updates!

Beth (review #1) - Teehee we can get a lynching group together for Charles, I think. :-) Don't worry - Esme will see Carlisle soon enough! Haha that sentence is probably growing very old in the ears of everyone, but she will! Oh, my! Three times? May I ask at what parts? I'm very happy I made you clap your hands and laugh with joy! I hope you like the next chapter!

Beth (review #2 a.k.a. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????!! haha) - I'M SORRY!!!! In answer to your question, though, I've been in college. Boo. I know how miserable it is to wait and wait (and wait and wait) for an update, and have one never come, so I'm doubly sorry that I've been forever about this chapter! I'm pretty much the least cool person in the world, aren't I? ... Maybe you shouldn't answer that. No, go ahead. Answer it, actually. It's good to have those kinds of things right out on the table. ANYWAY! I've finally updated, and I reeeally hope you think it's worth the wait!

twilightlover - I'm sorry I've kept you waiting for so long!

kiwi27 - Thank you for reviewing! I'm sorry you've been waiting for so long, but I'm finally updating! ::evil laugh:: Just to be completely evil, I've PURPOSEFULLY kept everyone waiting this long because it's a cliffhanger!! ::another evil laugh:: Okay, so that's not true, it was a total accident, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

tasha - Haha it's so sad that I haven't updated in so long that people think I never will again, but I am (finally) updating! Thank you for being honest - I know that the story's taking a while to unfold, but the cliff part is coming up soon! (Soon in terms of chapters, of course, not in how long it's going to take my fricking self to write them ha) Wow! You really like Carlisle? Thank you! I was just looking over that part with him and I was questioning if it's at all in character, so I'm really glad to have an opinion on it!

Okay, so it's prize time! Beth gets a hug from Esme; HermioneRon 4ever receives a recording of Edward singing her favorite song; and Mandi1 gets a new squeal muffler, because the first one is probably worn out by now! And as for the rest of you... I've made you all wait for so long it had better be good, so... you all get an all expenses paid weekend getaway on Esme's island with the Cullen of your choice!! Also: a pan of Timmy's Magic Cookie Bars to whomever can spot the Music Man reference in here, and finally, keep your eyes peeled for a tiny cameo in here....

Disclaimer: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, Esme Evenson, and Charles Evenson, all belong to Stephenie Meyer, who rules the earth and all who live on it. Franklin Platt, Montgomery and Millicent Gillis, the store clerk, and Margaret Bennington belong to me. :-)

Okay, enough dilly-dallying, for Pete's sake! Yes. Dilly. Dallying. On with the story!

Chapter 17. Shelter

"Turn slowly."

I was still frozen in place, but all of my fear had left me the moment I identified the voice.

"Uncle Franklin," I whispered.

I heard an intake of breath and the rifle being disarmed.

"Esme?"

I turned around to see my Uncle's pale, astonished face. We regarded each other silently for a few moments. I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I smiled and said, "Good evening."

"Good eve- Esme!" he sputtered. "What in the name of all that is holy are you doing here?!"

"I-" this part proved more difficult. How could I explain to him why I was here?

He slowly lowered the rifle, looking at me with a wrinkled brow. He reached out a hand and brushed my cheek. I winced. A great sadness crossed my uncle's face.

"Did someone do this to you?"

I looked at my bare, muddy feet.

Uncle Franklin stepped forward suddenly and enveloped me in his arms.

"You poor child," he whispered, stroking my hair.

"Please," I murmured into his vest. "Please don't tell anyone. I can't stay here."

"Why did you stay so long? Why are you going now?"

I pulled away, brushing a hand impatiently over my wet eyes, and stumbled over my words. "I... I can't let him to do a child... what he's done to me."

He considered me for a moment, then turned and headed for the cluttered bookshelf.

"Please, you won't say anything, will you? No one knows... about the baby."

He didn't answer. My eyes seemed to take in everything around me while waiting for him. I payed attention to every grain of wood, every nail in the wall. shifting my weight from one foot to another anxiously. A chilly breeze shifted through the barn, and I shivered and hugged myself, watching Uncle Franklin rustle around on the shelves.

After a few moments of my watching the patterns made on his vest by the flickering light and shadows, Uncle Franklin turned back and walked up to me.

I looked into his blue eyes, perspiring despite the temperature.

Slowly, so slowly, he reached out and took my hand. I looked down at our hands as he gently pressed something cold and hard in the palm of my hand and closed my fingers around it. My eyebrows came together in confusion. I opened my fingers.

A small metal key lay there. I looked up, astonished.

"Frank said that you knew how to drive it."

My mouth gaped open. He leaned in and pressed his whiskery face against my cheek, kissing me. Tears started in my eyes again. When he pulled away, I saw that his eyes were shining as well.

"I will have missed seeing your child grow."

"I-" instead of words, a sob fell out.

Uncle Franklin cleared his throat. "Now, you climb in, I'll get you started up."

Unable to find the words to protest, I pulled the door towards me and slid onto the cold seat, clenching my hands around the steering wheel. Uncle Franklin was gesturing something to me through the windshield. I stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment before I started and reached out and pulled the choke. I nodded at him and he bent down, turning the crankshaft.

The car started with a roar, and in a moment Uncle Franklin was outside my window. I rolled it down.

"Now, there's a map inside the glove compartment," he told me. "It's for all of Ohio... perhaps you would like to head northwest?"

I leaned over and pulled a folded map out of the glove compartment. I smoothed it out slightly and set it on the seat next to me. I turned back around to face Uncle Franklin, managing a wavering smile. He reached in and took my hand.

"If you can, let me know, every once in a while... how you're doing."

"Yes, I will, I promise," I said through tears, bringing his hand to my lips and kissing it.

He smiled and freed his hand gently, stroking the side of my head. Then he turned and opened the barn doors wide.

I closed my eyes and recalled the day that Frank had taught me how to drive. I tentatively reached out my foot and pressed the pedal in the middle. The car lurched backwards. I let up immediately, automatically stepping on the pedal on the right. I jerked to a stop.

I looked up. Uncle Franklin was watching me, eyes wide. I smiled feebly and reached for the throttle with one hand, my other tight on the wheel. I gently stepped on the left pedal.

I slowly crept forward along the floor until I pulled up alongside my uncle.

He cleared his throat. "You, er, will be careful, won't you?"

To my surprise, the corners of my mouth twitched. "I will, I promise," I repeated.

He stepped aside, and I drove past him.

The car continued slowly forward, and I directed it carefully. It's a wonder that I didn't crash it into anything before I cleared Uncle Franklin's yard, because I wasn't really watching the path in front of me.

I was watching him. I watched him standing in the doorway, bathed in the light, until the darkness swallowed the two of us, and he was out of sight.

I drove all through the night, my adrenaline keeping me wide awake. For the first twenty miles or so, my mind was swimming with everything going through it. It wasn't until I felt the first few cold drops of water that I realized that my window was still open, and that it was beginning to rain. I panicked, fumbling with various controls until I figured out how to turn on the windshield wipers. The rain picked up, or maybe it was my speed, for the wind was whipping my face, and the raindrops stung my cheeks.

And suddenly I realized: I felt alive. I was alive again for the first time in so long.

A smile slowly unfolded across my face. Then, inexplicably, I was laughing. I threw my head back against the seat and laughed and yelled and cried.

And I was happy. I was so happy.

The light crept over the horizon, making me squint. I blinked and my eyes remained closed.

I hit a bump. I gasped and awoke. I was driving alongside a wheat field, and I was starting to drive off the road. I stopped the car and looked around.

There was nothing but wheat for as far as I could see, stained red by the rising sun. And I was falling asleep.

After a moment of indecision, I pulled the car carefully into the field, and then turned off the engine.

I lay down across the seat, pushing the map onto the floor. A breeze was flowing in through the window, caressing my face, carrying the sound of spring peepers on its back. I sighed, and I was asleep.

An hour, or perhaps a day later, I was awoken by a sharp rapping on the windshield. My eyes snapped open.

"Excuse me."

A chubby man stood outside the car, looking rather irate.

I sat up, fighting off a bout of dizziness. I leaned out the window.

"This... this is your field, isn't it?" I asked quietly.

"Yup," he drawled.

"I'm so, so sorr-" I broke off, clutching my head.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

"Please, sir," I breathed, "I'm going to have a baby." I leaned my head on the steering wheel.

The front door opened. The man put a hand on my shoulder.

"It's all right, hon, come with me."

My head was too thick with nausea to think why I should argue, so I climbed out and leaned against the side of the car.

The man held out his arm and I clutched it.

"My truck's over here," he said soothingly. "We've got three kids, so my wife knows all about this. She'll be able to take care of you."

"Thank you, sir," I whispered.

I felt myself being lifted into a car seat, and I felt the car begin to move. I could no longer see to know where we were going, but I didn't care.

Before I knew it, I was being pulled out of the car and along the grass. I stumbled up a few stairs and heard a door open.

"Oh, my goodness!" A woman's shocked voice cut through the buzzing in my ears.

"You better take her upstairs, Millicent, she's in bad shape."

Another pair of hands took hold of me.

"Is she conscious?" Millicent asked.

I made a sound deep in my throat.

"You're all right, dearie, you're safe," she said as she guided me along the floor.

"She'll get you fixed right up, hon," said her husband.

My stomach lurched, and I was pulled forward. I clutched at the side of a metal basin.

My eyesight slowly came back and I breathed slowly and deeply.

I straightened up and looked around. I drank in the small kitchen I was in. It was tiny, but everything about it was cozy, from the scrubbed wooden table to the ancient stove in one corner. I took in the faces of the couple standing near me, and they almost seemed to blend in, as though they were a part of the house itself. They looked as though they were both in their fifties, with faces lined by both grief and happiness.

"Why don't we get you something to eat?" said Millicent.

I nodded. "Thank you very much," I croaked.

A few hours and several helpings of scrambled eggs and ham later, I was sitting at the kitchen table still, talking to Millicent as she made bread. She looked up at me once in a while to ask me a question, then returned to kneading the dough.

"Why did you decide to leave your home?"

I shifted uncomfortably. I felt terrible for lying to someone who had been so kind and sheltered me, but I felt that I was still too close to home to tell the truth. I took a sip of water to stall while I quickly invented an answer in my head.

"I... I just couldn't take it anymore... the emptiness of that house without him. It wasn't a home."

She nodded sympathetically. and fell silent temporarily.

I watched her strong hands work. I knew now that I was in Indiana, a few hours away from Fort Wayne, and I being hosted by Montgomery and Millicent Gillis. They, in turn, were under the impression that I was a war widow from Owensboro, Kentucky, and I was heading for River City, Iowa, where an aunt was waiting for me.

Mr. Gillis had left for the fields shortly after breakfast, so Millicent was the only one who had heard my entire story.

I drained my glass of water and glanced at the clock anxiously. Charles would know by now that I was gone. Would he just let me go, or would he search for me? I wracked my brain for any ideas I had left of where I could go. He would find me, I was sure. He couldn't know where you were headed because you don't even know where you're headed, I tried to reason with myself.

The clock chimed loudly. I jumped. Millicent looked up at me.

"You look restless, Mrs. Bennington."

Oh yes, and I had also told them that my name was Margaret Bennington.

"It's nothing, just... I really need to be on my way. My aunt is expecting me," I lied.

She nodded. "If you must."

I felt another pang of guilt. I found myself liking Mrs. Gillis more and more, as much for her kindness as for her unobtrusiveness.

I stood up, smoothing out my dress.

"I wish there was something I could do to repay you for your kindness," I said, uttering perhaps the first truth since I had entered the house.

Millicent wiped her hands on her apron and took one of my hands in both of hers.

"Good luck to you, dearie. Everything is going to work out just fine for you."

I smiled. "Please give my best to Mr. Gillis," I said.

"I certainly will. Let me walk you to your truck."

She escorted me through her hallway and opened the front door. I saw that Montgomery had pulled the automobile out of the field and had parked it in front of the porch.

I opened the door, slid across the front seat, and pulled the choke. Then, I walked around to the front of the truck nervously. I had never started one of these myself. I reached down and took hold of the crank. I turned it vigorously, praying. I gasped when the motor caught and stuttered to life. I straightened up painfully, wiping my brow.

I smiled cheerfully at Millicent and climbed in behind the driver's seat.

"Now, you take care of yourself and your baby."

I nodded, "I will," I promised.

She stood back and waved as I put the truck in gear and started down the road. I rolled the window down and waved until I was swallowed in the waves of the field around me.

Days later, I sighed and wrinkled my brow at the map stretched out in front of me. I traced my finger along one line, and then consulted the key to try and translate what I was seeing. According to my map, I was neck-deep in Lake Michigan. I impatiently shoved the map onto the passenger seat and massaged my eyes. I had really thought that I had seen the worst misdirection when I wound up on the opposite side of the state - in Platteville, ironically enough - now I was in the city that I wanted, but I had been sitting on a street corner for the past half an hour and hadn't made any progress whatsoever.

I sighed in disgust again and threw my door open. Surely there had to be one person in this city who knew where they were and how to get somewhere else.

Everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by buildings stretching into the sky. I turned on the spot a few times and finally decided on a small grocery store tucked in between two office buildings. Two men stepped out as I reached for the door. One man with auburn hair held the door for me and I lowered my eyes and brushed past his blonde friend.

"Can I help you?"

I stepped up to the counter where a young man waited.

Ten minutes later, I slipped back inside my truck, reciting the directions in my head.

"You follow 27th street, turn right on Grand Avenue, follow it to Prospect Avenue, then watch for the signs for Lake Drive... follow... 27th street...."

I followed my directions carefully, gathering a line of irritable traffic behind me as I crawled along the roads, veering suddenly on my turns. Fortunately, I had no one behind me as I drove up Lake Drive and saw what I was looking for. I slammed on the brakes and turned down a dirt path. I drove to the end of it, stopping abruptly in front of a yellow house with a brown roof. I shut off the engine and let the silence fall over me.

I was finally here. Yet I couldn't find the strength to get out of the truck. I had grown used to being more emotional lately, but I think that my eyes would have filled with tears even if I wasn't expecting.

The house was perfect. It was exactly the way I had imagined it, exactly the way it had been described. There was even a rocking chair on the porch, just as I had dreamed. I sat there, unable to move as I took in every tiny detail.

I don't know how long I stayed in my seat, but when I finally clambered out of the truck onto the path, I felt as though I were just waking after a nightmare, and the morning was more glorious than any I had known.

My legs felt like they were made of water as I walked up the front path and climbed the stairs. Courageously, I thought, I knocked on the door. I watched through the glass as a figure emerged from the hall and pulled open the door.

"Esme?!"

I smiled. "Hello, Margaret."

So what did you guys think? Was it worth the wait? Was it totally not worth the wait? And what did you guys think of Breaking Dawn???? And the movie?? Was Peter Facinelli good, or were you disappointed? Let me know!