Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 15 (New Moon 4)

I spent the next workday as I usually would, with one exception – I drove over to the high school, leaving a handwritten note on a silver car that could only have belonged to a Cullen.

I knew that Bella had a shift at the sporting goods store after school, which would give me some time to have a little conversation with Edward himself. Thankfully, the boy heeded by message and pulled up in front of the house shortly after 4 pm.

"Chief Swan," he said as I opened the door for him. His golden eyes looked... sadder, somehow. His composure jagged, skin pale, cheeks more hollow than they were already prone to be. The guilt was plain to see on his face, but so too was a look of immense remorse.

"Come on in," I said, walking into the living room and sitting down on the well-worn couch. He sat, though only after I gestured for him to take the armchair.

"Now I think we both know why we're talking here," I said. He nodded. He gave me a long look, as though he were trying to read my mind through my expression. I made sure to keep my face free of any tells – an old interrogation trick.

"Believe me, Char- Chief Swan, there was no one as worried as me when Bella fell and hurt her arm," he said. Carlisle must've told him that we'd talked, and that I knew about the incident. That, or Bella had talked to him at school.

I let the silence linger, waiting for him to say more, but he stubbornly refused.

"Well," I finally said. "I'm sure you understand that no one worries about Bells quite as much as I do, being her father and all. It's my responsibility to keep her safe, and to keep her from getting hurt – physically or emotionally."

"Yes. I'd hate to see her hurt – physically or emotionally – as well."

"So, of course, you can appreciate that I'd be... concerned given the track record over the past few months. Her being in the hospital, and coming home injured, and how the two of you had your little break up all those months ago. Here's the thing, Edward – Bella isn't like most other girls. When she falls, she falls hard, and that means that she's putting a lot of faith in you not to hurt her. And that means I need to put a lot of faith in you not to hurt her. Is that something that I can do, Edward?"

"Of course, Charlie, I... I think we're in the same boat here, I really do. The thing I care most about in the whole world is your daughter, and her safety. I mean it. I'll do whatever I need to do to keep her safe. To keep her from being hurt, like she was. I'd die for her, if I had to." My guess was that Edward was in the same English class as Bells and had been incorrectly interpreting Romeo and Juliet.

"Well, now, you don't have to go getting all intense about it. I just need to know that you have Bella's best interests at heart."

He looked at me with those strangely golden eyes, deadly serious: "I do, Charlie. I promise you, I do."

We both turned as we heard the door open, shortly followed by Bella's voice: "Dad? Edward?"

"In here," I called, turning on the TV and sitting back on the couch as though we'd just been watching sports together. Edward, for his part, remained sitting like a constipated statue, a look of serious dread on his face.

"Hi," Bells said.

"Hey Bella," I answered. "We just had cold pizza. I think it's still on the table."

"Okay."

She fled to the kitchen, and I was left sitting with Edward, whose eyes were glued to the place where my daughter had once been.

"You like sports at all, Ed?" I asked, offering something of an olive branch to the strange boy who was sitting in my living room.

"Yeah, sure. I think it's really admirable for the players to put so much of their mortal lives towards a single pursuit."

"Hmm," was all I could think to say back. Bells darted past the living room and up the stairs, her camera in hand. It was a little while before she returned, taking a photo of the two of us sitting there, staring idly at the TV.

"What are you doing Bella?" I asked.

"Oh, come on," she said smiling. She sat down in front of my spot on the sofa, a place where she used to sit for movies when she was younger, leaning back and using my legs as a backrest. "You know mom will be calling soon to ask if I'm using my presents. I have to get to work before she can get her feelings hurt."

"Why are you taking pictures of me, though?" I asked. The whole purpose of the camera was for her to spend time with her other friends, not with me and Edward.

"Because you're so handsome. And because, since you bought the camera, you're obligated to be one of my subjects."

"Well, just don't go showing your mom how handsome I've gotten," I mumbled. In reality, I was worried that Renee would see the additional pounds I'd gained over the past 17 years. The wear on our old couch that I'd never replaced. The crow's feet on my eyes. The utter loss of youth that had slowly chipped away at me over nearly two decades since she'd last looked upon me with love.

"Hey Edward," Bells said. "Take one of me and my dad together."

She tossed him the camera, and leaned in close to me. This, I was okay with. I hadn't gotten a photo with my daughter in ages. I was already thinking of where I could hang a framed, blown up version of it.

"You need to smile, Bella," Edward critiqued.

He snapped the photo, and I figured I should return the favour. Again, as something of an olive branch. "Let me take one of you kids."

Looking through the viewfinder, I realized what it was that Edward must have noticed moments earlier. Bella's lips were turned up, her teeth showing, but her face looked nothing like a smile. There was sadness there, and worry. "Smile, Bella," I offered, but to no avail.

"Enough pictures for tonight. You don't want to use the whole roll now," I said, realizing that something was seriously amiss. I'd been meaning to talk to Bella about Edward, and while he and I's conversation had somewhat quelled my worries, I still knew that I needed to make sure everything was alright.

We all sat back down on the sofa, but it wasn't very long before Edward abruptly stood. "I'd better get home," he said. Good riddance, I thought. 

"See ya," was what I actually said. Bella followed him to the door like a puppy. He left, and she came over and joined me on the couch, grabbing a slice of cold pizza on the way. We sat there for a while, and though I kept trying to muster the courage to bring up Edward, and her relationship, and to bluntly ask if he was hurting her in any way, I found that I simply couldn't. 

I couldn't be Chief Swan with my daughter. I couldn't even be Charlie. All I could be was Dad. And that meant sitting there with her, being a comfortable presence, and trusting her to tell me whatever it was that she might need to say. And making sure she knew that she knew she could, of course.

"Hey Bells," I said as the light began to fade and the sports were forgotten and we sat there, just the two of us, just my daughter and me.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"I just want you to know, I'm here for you. For anything you need. And, well, I love you, Bells."

She looked at me with that impossible-to-read expression on her face, and we both sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. But finally, for the first time since she was a little girl, she said: "Thanks. I love you too, Dad."

And what else could I do but cry a few cold and silent tears? 

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