Marvellous days

Chapter 28 -Last Day of the Trip/First Goodbyes-

In the morning or should I rather say at noon, I woke up in our bedroom in the huge lodge. I stretched and sighed. Carlisle wasn’t in here. I stayed in bed for some minutes longer and thought about yesterday.

I thought that we couldn’t have celebrated a better New Year party. Everyone we love and cherish was with us and had fun. I got up with a smile, grabbed my gown and saw that Carlie was also not lying in her crib. I walked out of the door and padded down the stairs.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Emmett greeted me from the hall. “Morning,” I laughed and hit his shoulder for his comment. “Ouch,” he said and held his shoulder to mock me. “Ha ha,” I said nonchalantly, but a smile formed on my face.

Emmett and I walked over into the kitchen together. “Morning,” I called. “Hello, Esme,” Charlie greeted me. He had a mug of coffee in his hands and leaned against the kitchen counter. I hugged him and walked over to the table. I hugged Carlisle from behind, kissed Nessie and Carlie and sat down next to Bella and Sue.

“Where are the others?” I whispered to Bella. “They are hunting before we drive home,” she answered in a hushed tone only I could hear. I nodded.

“Mmm,” Carlie clapped the spoon on the table of her high chair. “Do you like your breakfast?” I asked her. She laughed and motioned a spoon to me. I took it and tried it. She watched me expectantly. Whatever that was that I just tasted, it was horrible! I looked away and my face twisted in disgust. Bella, Emmett, Sue and Charlie had to stifle their laughter. I turned back to Carlie and smiled. “Hhm, delicious,” I said and handed her back the spoon.

Carlisle gave her another spoon of that icky stuff. “What do you feed her with?” I asked him. The others laughed out loud now and Charlie was already holding his sides. Carlisle looked at the glass of baby food. “That is milk pudding with apple and banana,” he said and looked questioningly at me. “Does she like it?” “I think so,” he said unsure, but Carlie confirmed that when she reached eagerly for another portion.

“Well, if she does like it...” “Esme, I don’t think that the others are better apart from maybe mashed banana or apple sauce…,” Carlisle told me and laughed now as well. I shrugged and grabbed yoghurt from the fridge.

A couple of hours later, the others came back home again. “Have you all packed your suit cases?” Alice asked as she shook the snow from her clothes.

“Yes,” Charlie said absentmindedly and watched some revision of a football game with Seth, Jacob and Emmett. “We did it last night,” Bella said and returned to playing Monopoly with Edward and Nessie. “Did we?” I asked Carlisle unsure. He smirked at me and nodded at Alice. “You’re an angel,” I laughed and cuddled nearer to him. “Always at your service,” he smirked and kissed my hair.

“dada,” Carlie squealed and showed Carlisle a ball. “Yes, a ball,” he answered her and smiled approvingly. “b…b,” Carlie tried to mimic the sound.

“What do you think of another round of going skiing before we drive home?” Seth proposed. “Why not? We still have time, right?” I asked Alice and Carlisle. “Yes, we could bring the suit cases to the cars, go to the reception and the rest of the time we could still enjoy the snow,” he answered. “That’s a deal,” Jacob said and sprang up to get his ski suit.

We had taken care of everything for the departure and were now at the tracks.

“How about taking the sleigh?” I asked. “Oh, yes,” Nessie squealed and looked pleadingly at her parents. Edward laughed and ruffled her hair. “Okay,” Bella said and we both walked over to get sleighs. The other ones were already snowboarding or skiing.

“Ready, set, go,” Carlisle called and pushed our sleigh forwards. I had Carlie sitting between my legs and behind us was Carlisle, who held me against him around the waist. We all laughed as we drove around trees and stopped first downhill. Edward, Bella and Renesmee were with us seconds later.

“Again, again,” Nessie said and sprung up to pull the sleigh up again. She was up with blinding speed. “Don’t be too eager,” Edward admonished her, “other people could have seen you.” “Sorry, daddy,” she said and looked sadly at him. He hugged her to him. “It’s okay, but next time, just think of other humans who shouldn’t see you like that.” She smiled sweetly at her father and hugged him again. “Okay.” We spent the afternoon there and Carlisle and I went skiing once whereas Edward and Bella looked after our daughter.

Before we drove home, we all gathered together for the last time to eat lunch together. “The best holidays ever,” Jake laughed and hugged Nessie to him.

“Yes, thank you all for inviting us, guys. It was great,” Charlie smiled at me and then the others. “Yes, we had a great time,” Tanya said and squeezed my hand. “Maybe next year again?” Emmett laughed. “Definitely,” Alice squealed, “We could already plan everything.” “Alice, we have still a year to plan,” I laughed. “You said so yourself, better safe than sorry.” “You’re right,” I smirked.

I watched everyone laughing, hugging and talking. Tears formed in my eyes. I didn’t want this trip to end. It was so beautiful to be together with everyone and get to know others.

I get to love Sue’s advice and her calm demeanor and Charlie’s jokes and just his way. Seth and Leah were people with which you could spend time and you would find yourself laughing. Leah had changed so much over the year and I was somewhat proud of her. She noticed my glance and smiled at me. A tear escaped, but I wiped it away.

The Denalis weren’t often visiting, but every time they did we had much fun together and I enjoyed talking to Carmen. She became my confidant over the years just like Edward.

Then Rose and Emmett. Both would take a longer journey as soon as we would move to Hanover. Edward, Bella and Nessie would do the same for months. I knew that I would miss them all terribly. The only time I was longer separated from Edward was some time after I was changed, but never again after that. And Nessie was always with us and we witnessed every step of her development. I sighed and more tears fell down my face.

“Esme?” Carlisle asked softly and wiped the tears away. I leaned into him. “It’s the last time for now that we are all together,” I sobbed. “We can still visit everyone. It does not have to be good bye,” he whispered soothingly.

“Oh, Esme,” Bella said as she noticed that I was crying and hugged me as well. I laughed through the tears when everyone came to hug and soothe me.

“Ready?” Carlisle asked as soon as we were in the car after we said goodbye to everyone and hugged each one. “Yes,” I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. I watched as the mountains slowly faded in the distance and leaned back into the seat.

-All rights belong to Stephenie Meyer-