Epilogue: Understanding Edward

Charlie's Point Of View

Renée was taken to the airport by an all too eager Edward. The bond that seemed to have formed between them was a lot more than I had expected, and in all honesty, I'd hoped that Renée would side with me. Maybe Bella would listen if both parents told her the same thing, that Cullen was bad for her.

The truth was, though, that Renée had allowed me to see something I hadn't seen – Bella's happiness. Before, I'd closed my eyes to the way Bella smiled when she saw Edward simply because I hadn't wanted to see it. I'd ignored the laughter that crept downstairs as they hung out, and the way she seemed to enjoy life.

Her words rung in my ears whenever I thought of demanding him not to see her: You saw what I was like when he was taken away, so don't take him away from me dad. I guess I'd have to learn, and quick.

After all, I may not have that long left. Apparently Bella wants marriage, and kids, and other fairytale romances that they put in those fluffy movies. At first, I thought Renée had gone mad. Bella? Marriage? Kids? But then I realised that's what I wanted, really. Well, not any more but I'd already done those things. I had the marriage and I'd had the kid. There was nothing weak or feminine about wanting those things at all.

Talking to Renée was something I hadn't done properly in quite a while, and doing so allowed me to get another person's perspective on Bella and Edward's relationship. He'd talked to her about the time he caused complete disruption in our house by leaving and she'd listened. It's not as if he hadn't tried to explain to me… I'd dismissed his attempts. He seemed to beat himself up just as much as I'd liked him too. Renée told me to back off; maybe I would, seeing as he was doing the job completely by himself.

Struggle would be an understatement – any reminder of that horrific time was too much to handle for me. As well as the awkward situation that I didn't know how to handle, Bella was broken. Edward had caused it, yet he returned and was welcomed back into her life as if nothing had happened.

Maybe I was jealous. It was definitely an option, and obviously not in the creepy way. I just wanted my daughter to stay exactly that. My daughter. Not a girlfriend to an unworthy boyfriend, or a wife, or anything remotely like that. I just wanted her to stay my little girl forever.

I'd gone to work the day that Renée left – I'd said my goodbyes vaguely the night before, and I couldn't linger to say goodbye again. My feelings for Renée had dwindled from the love I'd felt for her, but it still caused unnecessary pain to watch her leave.

But with the goodbye, I'd promised I'd think about things. I'd promised her that I would try to view Edward with a friendly eye, and talk to him in a more civilised manner. As Renée explained, Edward was a good man who'd simply made mistakes. We'd all made mistakes at some point, right? Considering his traumatic past, he'd come a long way and seemed to value and judge appropriately. His foster parents seemed good people, a doctor and a loving substitute mother.

My prejudices just lay extremely deep.

However, I promised to try, try being the key word. So with my new perspective in mind, when I next answered the door to Edward, I promised to greet him with a civilised 'hello' instead of a grunt of disgust. It was just all about doing it one step at a time…

Okay, so as always, this story didn't finish when it was supposed to. It never does. All my stories get expanded on at some point because a reviewer requests it or I get a sudden urge to write an extra chapter, or something. Well this idea came from 'dragonsong94' so you have her to thank for this.

I know its extremely short but that's all the story needed for it to be complete. Renee definitely helped changed Charlie's views of things, don't you think?

I'd like to thank you all for an amazing response to this story! I was looking through my stats and it really hit me how many people enjoyed reading this story, and complimented my writing. They really do make me smile, guys, so thank you!

If you would like to make me happy even more, then please review - your thoughts and comments are very much appreciated. This was written for you guys.

Also, I haven't written any other stories involving Renee (another reason I began writing this) but I do have some others involving Charlie including: When Bella Goes and Eternal Goodbye. Please check them out, along with my other stories :)

Thanks for reading!!