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Those words were all it took for Bella’s world to come crashing down around her, and it was deafening.

Bella remained in the same position, staring at Charlie, for an unnatural amount of time. It was beginning to become uncomfortable, which their silences usually were not.

“Bella,” Charlie began, “please say something. I know this is hard to process.”

“Hard?” Bella bit back. “Try impossible.”

The phrase seemed so simple – you’re a twin – but completely ludicrous. Her brain wasn’t willing to deal with something her heart knew must be true. The thing that seemed even more incomprehensible was how Charlie and Renée had lied to her. Boys are supposed to lie to you, friends are supposed to lie to you, but not your parents. They were who you run to when everyone else let you down.

“How could you keep this from me?” she protested, snapping out of her stupor.

“I know you’re mad,” Charlie said, getting up and pacing the living room.

“I’m in shock,” she corrected, unable to stop the tears from forming. All at once it hit her. “Why are you telling me this?”

Something definitely wasn’t adding up. Why would he lie to her all this time and then suddenly tell the truth? She knew that what was coming next was probably worse than finding out her parents were liars.

“There’s been a recent… development,” he responded. “Someone found her.”

Bella’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Found her?” she questioned. “She’s alive?!”

“Yes,” he stated, “in North Beach, Maryland.”

Somehow saying it aloud to another person made this seem that much more real. Even though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, having this conversation was not something Charlie had thought he’d ever have to do.

“Tell me there’s more to this story,” Bella nearly shouted.

“Of course,” Charlie assured. “I just don’t want to tell you unless you’re really ready to listen. I need you to know what happened, and I need you to understand. It’s pretty important that you come to terms with this quickly. ”

“I’m hanging on your every word, I promise,” she snapped, bitterness seeping through her words.

“Stop with the attitude, young lady,” Charlie ordered. “I know I’ve never been much of a father, and I’m about to tell you why. So pay attention!”

Bella’s shoulders slumped as she realized how rude she was being. It was strange how quickly the anger had flared up in her. Charlie took a deep, calming breath before he began. Bella wasn’t completely convinced she was ready to hear this; it seemed surreal. Of all the questions playing in her mind, one in particular was most prominent: Why had they lied for so long? Surely she had proved her maturity was beyond those of her peers.

“Okay… well… umm… I’ll just start with the day you were born,” Charlie said, sitting back down.

Bella sat back into the couch, getting comfortable; to hear what she hoped would be a lengthy story. Charlie was not a verbose man, but she needed to understand how two people could lie to their child for so long. Unsure that any story would make this situation okay, she was prepared to listen anyway.

“That day there was a huge storm,” Charlie began. “Your mom had actually planned to have you girls in Port Angeles, but you were in a big hurry to get here.” A small smile played on his lips. “We weren’t making it five more minutes once the labor pains hit her, much less an hour drive up there.”

“When we made it to the hospital, hardly anyone was there; they’d sent everyone home because of the storm,” he explained. “Your mom was completely freaked out, but she was in too much pain to really care,” Charlie continued, talking more with his hands then Bella had ever witnessed.

“There was one doctor and a nurse there, and they were the ones who delivered you guys… I mean girls,” Charlie stumbled over his words. “The delivery was completely normal, everything went fine.”

He stopped and swallowed the lump in his throat. The next part of this story was the hardest, and he’d never actually said it out loud to anyone, ever.

“Over the next couple of days, everyone came to see both of you,” Charlie began again. “Between me and your mom, we knew everybody in town; even Billy and Rachel came down from La Push with their girls.”

He stopped again, lowering his head.

Okay, here comes the hard part, Charlie thought. If you can just get through this next part, you’ll be home free.

“On the day I was supposed to take you guys home, someone went into the nursery and took Lily, your sister. The nurse said some woman came in, said she taking Lily to your mom, and left,” Charlie looked back at Bella, tears in his eyes.

Bella was taken aback by the depth of emotion there. He had only ever acted like that twice that she remembered; once when she left to go back to Arizona and the other when she returned from Italy. She knew Charlie loved her, but the depth of that love always surprised her. It was strange to know that that love extended to another person – her sister.

“The weirdest thing was she knew your mom’s name,” he continued. “The nurse didn’t recognize her but assumed it was someone from your mom’s side.”

“No one other than that nurse saw her. For all we know, she just walked right out the front doors, and no one stopped her.” Charlie shook his head, trying to rid himself of that memory. Maybe now he wouldn’t have to relive that traumatic day again.

“When I got to the room, everyone from the station was there, asking your mom questions. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, all dressed and ready to go, rocking back and forth with you in her lap,” Charlie shuddered. “It was surreal, being on the other side of that situation, being questioned like that.”

He sighed heavily. “After that day, something in me snapped. I became obsessed. It didn’t help that after a little while, everyone else was starting to act like there was no hope. It was like she had never been there. I started to feel crazy,” he admitted with a smirk. “I probably acted a little crazy too.”

He immediately remembered the days when anything and everything could set him off. It had gotten to the point where no one would work with him. That’s when he started to get quiet. At least when he was quiet, people could handle being around him.

For a while, the anger had been just beneath the surface, but after a while it had been replaced with sadness – a sadness that never seemed to go away. After Renée and Bella left, that sadness was accompanied by a profound loneliness.

“That’s why your mom and I couldn’t be together,” Charlie explained. “I wasn’t ever home. I never helped her. I was beside myself with worry, trying to figure out any piece of this crazy mystery; none of it was making sense.”

Charlie stopped speaking, hoping to give Bella a chance to ask questions. She continued to stare at the blank television screen, never giving any indication that she had even been listening.

“Bella?” Charlie said, reaching out and touching her leg.

She immediately looked down at his hand and then slowly up at him.

“Okay,” she choked out, the emotion clear in her voice, “but how did you find her?”

Suddenly, Charlie’s enthusiasm was clear on his face, and she was excited for him. It was clear that he was overjoyed, that a weight had been lifted from him, but she was still completely disoriented by the situation. How was she expected to deal with this and so suddenly?

The anger was starting to subside as she realized that she wasn’t the only one who had been lied to. At least she knew who her real parents were. Somewhere, at the other end of the country, was a girl just as scared as her, being told the same story.

“Well,” Charlie responded with a smile, “Every year, I send out an updated picture, of what she could look like to the Missing and Exploited Children’s headquarters. They distribute the picture to every state, making at least that part a little easier on me.”

“About two weeks ago,” Charlie continued, “I got a call from the police chief in North Beach, Maryland. He’d been looking through the Missing Children’s stuff he had received, and he knew a girl in his neighborhood that looked very much like that picture. The hair color was all wrong, but everything else was uncanny. He started out small, just questioning her parents,” Charlie revealed.

“He knew something was up, because the minute he started mentioning the word ‛adoption,’ they clammed up, refusing to talk at all. The more he kept digging, the more certain he was that he was on to something. Even if it wasn’t Lily, she was definitely not their kid.”

“Come to find out there were no adoption records and no birth certificate for her – not a valid one, anyway,” Charlie continued. “The one they had produced turned out to be a fake.”

“Anyway, a couple of days ago she ran away from home, and the police department there picked her up,” Charlie said, putting his hands on his knees. “She still won’t tell them why she ran away, leading them to believe that her adoptive parents were abusive in some way.”

Charlie bowed and shook his head at that thought. If this turned out to be the case, he didn’t know what he’d do.

“They decided to try and take a blood sample to see if it was really, truly Lily. I couldn’t bring her home on a picture and a hunch,” Charlie explained. “The tests proved that it is your sister.”

He stopped, took a breath, and looked at Bella. It was apparent that she was completely in shock. Charlie remained quiet as she processed the information.

“Well,” Bella started, “is that it?”

“Umm… no,” Charlie stuttered. “I told you all that because she’s coming here . . . to live with us.”

The absurdities just kept coming. How could Charlie expect her to be okay with everything he had just told her? Hey, by the way, your mom and I have lied to you your whole life, you have a sister, and she’s coming to live with us. Try as she might, she couldn’t be as angry as she felt she was entitled to be. All she could think about was the fact that there was a girl in North Beach, Maryland, who was probably just as scared as Bella was angry.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and faced Charlie.

Opening her eyes, she saw her dad’s loving and scared expression. “All right, when will she be here?” Bella whispered.

Charlie’s eyes grew big as he comprehended exactly what she had said. A smile crept onto his face, reaching his eyes, as a tear slid down his cheek.

“She’ll be here in two days,” he said softly. “Thank you for being okay with this.”

She got up from the couch. “I guess I have to be, don’t I?” Bella stated simply.

She walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and started making dinner like it was any other night. Thoughts were whirling through her head at an alarming rate. Charlie got up from his chair and walked into the kitchen behind her, leaning against the wall.

“I hope one day you can forgive me for all this, Bells,” he said, his voice cracking. “At least that would make one of us.”

He continued through the kitchen, up the stairs, and to his bedroom. When she heard the door close, Bella instantly broke into tears. She slid down the cabinets to the floor, where she rested her head on her knees. She was sobbing quietly when the phone rang. She got off the floor, wiped her face, and picked up the receiver.

As she placed it to her ear, she noticed that Charlie had already answered it and was talking. She was about to hang up when she recognized Renée’s voice on the other end.

“Yes,” Charlie said, his voice still cracking, “I told her.”

“Is she mad?” Renée asked.

Bella held her breath as she listened to their private conversation.

“Yeah, she’s mad,” he stated plainly. “I just wish I had figured out sooner that I could look for Lily and be a good father to Bella at the same time.”

Bella replaced the receiver and walked upstairs to the bathroom. Edward would be there soon, and she wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him just yet. She splashed cool water on her face, attempting to fix her blotchy complexion.

She grabbed a towel and began patting her face dry when the doorbell rang. Charlie was still talking to Renée as she walked downstairs. She opened the door and looked up into the most beautiful face she had ever seen.

His smile faded quickly as he took in her expression. “Bella,” Edward said, sounding concerned. “What’s wrong?”

Bella immediately broke down again.

Edward scooped her up in his arms, carrying her to the table, and placing her in his lap as he sat down. He began rubbing the top of her head, placing small kisses there.

As the sobs quieted, Edward reached under her chin, lifting it up.

“Sweetheart, please tell me what’s wrong,” he pleaded.

“It’s a long story,” Bella said, looking down again.

“I have all the time in the world,” he said, chuckling.

A small smile played on her lips as she spoke. “Later, I promise. I need to fix dinner now,” she said, getting up and pushing her hair out of her face.

“Later then,” he said, frowning, as she began to gather what she needed.