Chapter One

"Mom, we're going to be late!" I shouted from down the stairs. My mother Renee always seems to forget where she leaves her things.

"Honey have you seen my passport?" she called. "I can't find it anywhere!"

"You had it in your hands barely five minutes ago!"

"I found it! I left it on the balcony in the bathroom. Is the cab already here to pick us up?"

"Yeah, Mom, come on now…"

After the hardship of carrying our luggage we finally got into the cab. We were going to be away for just a couple of weeks for a sunny and warm Christmas with my brother Emmett in Sydney. My mom recently got back to Forks, our home town.! She's a kindergarten teacher and decided she needed a clean break after her last divorce. I rolled my eyes remembering when she called me hardly six months ago, right after another night shift I might add, saying that she wouldn't be home for the lunch I was invited to attend at her place because she was in Vegas with Phil Dwyer and would be responding to the name "Mrs. Dwyer" from then on.

"Aren't you happy for me, honey?" I thought I heard her say in my reverie, recalling that phone call.

"What?" I asked, maybe a little too harshly.

"Aren't you happy we're visiting Emmett, honey?"

"Yes! Sure, Mom," I reassured her.

"Why are you frowning then?"

"Just worrying about a patient," I lied.

"Oh, sweetie, you must enjoy your days off. You've been working so hard…. Just forget about everything for the next couple of weeks. I surely do need it."

I didn't respond to her request because I knew it would be close to impossible to forget.

By the time we got to the airport we hadn't said another word to one another. It wasn't unusual for me to be lost in thought, but not so much for my mother. I knew she was still hurting about the divorce and that it pained her to fail another marriage. She got married the first time, to my dad, when they were both very young. She had only been eighteen, and they married shortly after she got pregnant with Emmett. The second marriage had been as imprudent as the first, and I thought she would have known better by now—she is forty-three years old, for God's sake! Although "I told you so" crossed my mind more times than I'd like to admit, I swallowed the words and the guilt that the thought of them brought to me. My mom was hurting and that was the only thing to it for the moment. If she needed a normal daughter with normal behavior so be it, she would have it, for the next two weeks, at least.

AN:

I decided to resubmit the story because it was thoroughly edited by the most wonderful and talented Beta Reader Scooterstale. It is actually readable now! Thank you Scooterstale for your patience!

This is an Edward&Bella story. He's probably going to show up in Chapter 6 or 7… So you know;) This story is going to be unusual, I hope I'll be able to keep you captivated. To all of you who reviewed the first version of this story, thank you for your love and kindness, You really make my day!

Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or any of its characters (SM does, obviously) but this little thing called "The Heiress of Henry More" is mine.