This Is Who I Am

Chapter Nineteen

Edward's P.O.V

A couple of days turned out to be an entire week at my father's hometown. A week of what Bella would like to call getting-to-know-each-other-bullshit, explaining and catching up. I came to find out he helped my mother with the transfer of the paperwork I needed in order to get me back into medical school. I can't say I wasn't pissed and didn't take a long stroll around one of the nearby parks for almost three hours. After everything was clear and he had no more bombshells to drop on me - Or that were at least not his to tell -, we were sort of father-son bonding for the remaining of my stay.

On my last day, he decided to take me out for a hike at Ottawa Trial Woods. It's a very beautiful place, filled with so many colors and even life. It was a mellow spot, a great place to take a walk and just think. Dad said it's a excellent fishing spot and we used to come down here on our days off to enjoy a good beer and fish a bit. We came in days like this, like today and it felt like a great day to come down for a hike. The weather wasn't too hot or even humid and there was a fresh breeze going on. The only sound was the sound of the trees, the sound of the leaves dancing with the wind and that is by far the best sound that could ever exist. It gives me a familiar feeling, like I'm really home. I haven't felt this way in what feels like ages ago, but in reality, it hasn't been very long.

"Do you know what you're gonna do when you go home?" Dad asks.

I shrug, hiding my hands in my pockets. "Not really," I say thoughtfully. "I had planned to go to my mother's house and have a word with her. And, by word I mean-"

"Yell at her?" He asked amused.

I smile. "Well, not yell at her but give her a good piece of my mind." I pause, looking at the trial we have ahead of us and then I ask myself what am I going to do when I get home? "I want to talk to Alice," I say. "Like you said, she needs to have a chance to explain herself and I'll allow that."

"But?"

"How do you know there's a but?"

"You forget that I'm your father," he laughed. "I know you pretty damn well."

"Huh."

"And I know there's more to just talking to your sister going on in your head."

"That's funny, my mother wouldn't have been able to figure that out even if I threw hints at her." I chuckle and look down at my feet. "I'm scared."

"About what?"

I look up. "Well, I once told the girl I love that I didn't know if I'd be able to forgive my family for lying to me. Not when it turned out to be this much." I pause again, but this time only for a second. "I don't want to lose my sister, Dad. She, Jasper and Hunter are my family and if I can't find a way to forgive her-"

"But you will, Edward."

"How?" I almost shout and come to a stop. He stands just a couple steps ahead of me and looks at me. "I know she was a... victim, if that's what you want to call it but I need to know how will I be able to forgive her? She lied. She-she lied to my face. All this time we were together, she looked at me on the eyes and lied! I love her. Fuck, I love her so much and she lied to me all this time but-"

"I come to have a feeling you're not talking about your sister anymore," he says with a raised eyebrow. "This is about a girl. There's someone else you haven't told me about, isn't there?"

I sigh. "Yes, there's a girl-"

"But what about Ava?"

"Ava can go to hell for all I care!"