Disclaimer: The whole wonderfully amazing Twilight Saga belongs to Stephenie Meyer, not me. :(

Once again, I'm soooooooo sorry for takin so long! It's the end of the year so I'm flooded with finals and studying! I wish I had more time!! But here we goo!!

Enjoy :)

Bella POV

Getting out of bed in the morning was harder than I thought. I sat there and stared at my ceiling, memorizing the stucco patterns. I found pictures of apples and cats, the same that I'd found ever since I was little. But my eyes stopped on a pattern I hadn't ever noticed. It was hidden in the corner, so small that I almost missed it. I slid out of bed and stood on my chair to get a better look. They were initials.

I gasped and stumbled on the chair as I read them.

E.A.M.C.

Those were Edward's initials, Edward Anthony Mason Cullen. I pushed my fingers over them, and they had been etched in before my room was painted. Under them were another set, my mothers initials.

I cupped my hand over my mouth and got off the chair as warm tears fell from my eyes. There's no way he could have known my mother. I shook my head, it didn't mean anything. Maybe he did it and painted over it when I came here. He would have told me. He would have told me!

But instead I tore off my pajamas and tossed on the first clothes I could find. I hurriedly pulled my hair up and grabbed my stuff, practically running out the door.

~.~

When I got to school I saw Edward getting out of his car, Alice by his side. The rest of his family was already walking inside.

"Edward!" I yelled. He turned around in surprise. Alice grabbed his hand in alarm and I knew right then she knew. Edward's eyes changed slowly from shock to an expression I had no name for.

"Edward!" I screamed.

Everyone in the whole parking lot turned to stare at us. Alice walked away and left Edward standing there, unable to decide if he wanted to face me or run.

"Bella, what are you doing?" he hissed, trying to avoid a scene.

Hot tears from this morning rose into my eyes and threatened to spill over.

"How could you not tell me!" I cried.

His hands grasped my shoulders. "Can we talk later? Class is about to start."

I shrugged his hand off and let tears spill over. "You knew what it would have meant to me and yet you said nothing! How could you do that to me!"

People in the parking lot turned to whisper to their neighbor about the scene. No doubt we'd be top gossip for the whole week. But Edward ignored them and dragged me off to the side so we'd be concealed by the trees.

"You knew my mother! You've known all along!" Tears kept spilling down my face.

He waited for my tears to come under control before saying anything.

"Yes...I did."

I rubbed my arm across my wet eyes and bit my trembling lips. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Edward looked away, clearly pained. "I couldn't do it. I tried so many times, but I just never could."

"Why!" I demanded.

"Because, I've been in love with you since you were born, Bella! I didn't want you to think I was only with you out of obligation to your mother, because I'm not! I'm here because I love you! I let you go last night because I love you. Everything I've ever done is because I love you!"

His speech took a minute to soak in, but boy did it. His eyes had gone soft now, watching me cautiously.

"H-how, how did you meet my mother?"

"It's a long story," he said.

I shrugged. "I've got time, seeing since we're cutting class." His look was wary though. "Please, it's my mother."

He sighed. "It was about eighteen years ago. We were living in Oregon at the time, but Esme had just bought the house we live in now and was starting to restore it. Alice saw that we'd be back living here in the next decade so we decided to get started early. I was in town with Esme and Alice for a weekend and I was out hunting. I'd cut through town and it was about midnight so the town was dead. That's when I saw her, your mother.

"She was sitting at the bus stop with a small suitcase at her feet and he hands were curled around her pregnant belly. She must have been like six months along or something. I would have just left but she was crying. So I started to her when out of the blue a shadow ran through the streets and knocked her out. I realized it was a nomad vampire, out hunting too. They snatched her up and ran her out into the forest. Naturally I followed after them. He was crouched with your mother in his lap, getting ready to bite her neck. And I can't explain it, but I felt some tie to this woman, like something was keeping me there to protect her. So I fought the vampire until I killed him and then rushed your mother back to our place-"

"You mean...you saved my mother from another vampire?" I asked with a shaky voice. He nodded.

"As I held her tiny body in my arms, I was shocked to see how young she was, only about eighteen, just around the same age I was. And she was so incredibly beautiful, I knew I had to save her, and her baby. So I took her home and we nursed her back to health. When she was awake the next day, she was scared out of her mind. She kept babbling about her husband Charlie and how they got in a fight and she wanted to run away, but then all she wanted was to go back to him. This strange girl was so fascinating that I knew I couldn't lie to her. So when she finally calmed down a little after I assured her the baby was okay, I told her what I was. And the weirdest part was that she wasn't even scared. All she cared about was how I saved her life, and your life.

"She went back home and I came down to Forks every weekend, just so I could get to know her. And we spend every minute together while Charlie was at work. Sometimes he was suspicious, but she knew he couldn't know me. We became so incredibly close that she even started hanging around with my family. She probably spent more time shopping with Alice than with me, but she was my best friend. I even helped her decorate the nursery, which is where you found our initials, I suppose?"

I nodded. "I can't believe she never mentioned you. Why didn't I know about you? Did you get in a fight?"

But he held up his hand. "Let me finish. I told you it was long. Anyway, when you were born she called me up, because I was in Seattle at the time. When I told her I was coming, she told me no. She said she didn't want me to come see you because she was leaving Charlie and moving to Arizona where she got a job teaching. Your mother loved me very much, but she didn't want you apart of my lifestyle. All she told me was that the babies named was Isabella Marie Swan.

"So weeks past and I thought I would have gone crazy, but your mother started to write me. All her letters were about you. They were about your first steps, your first words. How well you did in school. I knew every single detail about you."

So that was why Edward never asked me questions like that, because he already knew.

"But she never sent me pictures of you, even though I always asked for them. It didn't take me long to realize that I had fallen in love you, in love with a girl I'd never even seen or met in my entire life, yet I was head over heels for her. Alice started seeing visions of me being happy, but the girl was always a shadow because no one knew what you looked like. All we knew was that somehow we were going to be together. When I told Renee this, she was happy, but sad. She made it clear you were to have no part in my life. She was only trying to protect you.

"But when she got sick, her letters changed. Instead alll she could talk about was how one day you and I could be together. Even during her first bout with the cancer she knew it would have to end sooner or later. When Alice got the vision of her death, my letters changed too...and she knew it. Your mother asked me to tell her when...and I did against my wishes. She knew all along Bella...."

Tears had once again filled my eyes. I closed them and remembered back to the day she died....it all made sense now...

It was an unusually cold day, and rain was pounding on the window. My mother was sleeping in her bed as usual, but things were different. She was bald still, and her skin was so frail and translucent that I was scared to touch her. Purple bruises shadowed her eyes, which brought tears to mine. I sat there and tried to concentrate on my book, but there was something about today that scared me. Her eyes opened slowly and a smile formed on her lips.

"Read to me, Bella Bear," she whispered.

My lips trembled. She hadn't called me Bella Bear since I was a child. "Shh, you need your rest Mom."

She shook her head and grabbed my hand. "Please? I just want to hear your voice. You sound so beautiful when you read."

Her voice cracked on the last word, and her eyes were filled with even more pain than usual.

"Mom? What's wrong? Do you hurt?"

Tears slid down her cheeks and she squeezed my hand until it hurt. "It's my time, Baby."

Knots stuck in my throat, almost too painful to squeak out some words.

"What are you talking about? It's not time, Mom. I won't let it be!"

Her free hand reached up and cupped my right cheek. "Baby....it's time to let go."

My book slid from my lap and hit the floor with a thud.

"Please don't say that Mom," I cried.

But I could feel it too. My mother was slipping away right in front of me.

"I love you so much Bella. You have no idea how much so," she whispered. We were both crying now.

"Mommy please! Please just hold on! You don't have to go, please! Just don't leave me."

"He'll watch over you...."

Her last words left chills on my arms. Who the hell was HE! But I ignored that as her eyes closed suddenly. Her monitors started beeping and I shook her violently.

"Mom! Mom! Wake up! Please...please Mom! Don't leave me here!"

Tears blurred my vision until I saw nothing but wetness. I continued shaking her, begging her to get up.

"Please Mom! MOM!"

I jumped up and started screaming. "Help! I need help! She's dying! Someone please come help me!"

Nurses and doctors filled with room within minutes. It took me a minute to realize that shrieking noise was still me screaming. Two nurses were trying to pry me from her bedside, but I thrashed and yelled.

"Mom please!" I screamed.

"Bella, you need to leave. It's going to be okay, just come with me. Shhh...."

The nurses words did not soothe me.

"Mom help me!" I cried.

"Doctor, we need to sedate her!" one of the nurses yelled.

Something sharp poked me and all the sudden everything went black.

He'll watch over you....

"He'll watch over you....those were her last word," I said suddenly, looking up into his eyes. "She was talking about you, wasn't she?"

He nodded solemnly. "She wrote me a letter, a few weeks before she passed. She asked me to watch over you when you came to live with Charlie. I was to protect you, and she gave me her wishes that if you loved me too, it was okay. And that first day you came here, we had no idea who you'd be, but once I saw you, I knew. You looked just like her, even more beautiful if it were possible. It was like falling in love all over again."

My breathing increased again. "She wrote you a letter?"

"She also sent me a box, and she told me to give it to you when I told her about everything. I haven't opened it, but I'm guessing it's filled with things she wanted you to have," he said.

Everything that had happened since I moved her finally came together. My dream with Edward saying I looked like my mother, saying I reminded him of an old friend, that fight I overheard Renee and Phil having. He knew too...

"Phil knows?"

He nodded. "Yes, but he trusts that I'll take care of you. Your mother loved him very much, you know."

"Can I....can I see the box?"

Oooo...so the truth finally comes out!! Leave some love!! :)