A/N: Huge thanks to my ladies Sherry & Paige. Love you both to the moon and back.

Chapter 15

"That's my mom." I look up from the picture in my hand to see Annabella standing next to me, staring at me. We'd come upstairs - after lunch and an afternoon of decorating the tree - so she could show me her room. While I had been looking around, a picture on her bedside table caught my attention. I hadn't meant to pick it up, but the girl in the picture was striking and looked so much like Annabella.

"She was pretty, wasn't she?" she says as she swishes her princess dress at me. She'd insisted on trying all of her dresses on for me. Not that I'd minded. "Her name was Anna," she states simply before turning and walking away from me, leaving my head in a spin. Her mother's name was Anna, which explains the first part of her name, but does that mean… Did the guy's name her after me, too? I'm not sure I'm ready for the answer to that question yet.

I turn around to see what she's doing now. She's on the floor playing with more Barbie's like she doesn't have a care in the world; I suppose she doesn't. The guys have made sure she has everything she needs. Everything, but a mother. It breaks my heart to think this kind-hearted girl will have to grow up without a mother. She deserves more. Why does the world have to be so cruel at times?

I have to remind myself, before I turn into an emotional mess, that this is the norm for Annabella. She doesn't know what it's like to grow up with a mother, yet she seems pretty well adjusted, which is a huge testament to the guys and how they have raised her.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Annabella asks with a look of concern on her face. "Why do you always look so sad?"

I'm not sure how to answer that question. Sadness has just become a part of who I am now. I set the picture back down on the bedside table and walk over to her, taking a seat beside her on the floor. "Sometimes people are just sad, Annabella," I explain, not sure how to word it better.

"Oh," she says, her small eyes seeing far too much as they stare at me. "Do they not want to be happy?"

"They do," I answer, as I pick at a bit of fluff on the carpet. "But sometimes people experience too many sad things, and they find it hard to be happy."

"When it rains," Annabella says, reaching over and touching my hand. "You should look for the rainbows and when it's dark you should seek out the stars. Happiness is all around us, you just have to know where to look."

I stare at Annabella in shock, wondering where a child of her age would hear such a thing, when suddenly I hear a laugh at her door. Emmett is standing there watching the two of us. "Don't look so freaked out," he says to me. "Annabella loves quotes. We have that plaque somewhere in the house."

Even still, this little girl is wise beyond her years.

"Come on, trouble," Emmett says as he holds out his hand. "It's time for your bath."