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âDrive belt, right. Well, it looks like youâre keeping busy.â He was glad that she had found something to do that was keeping her content enough in the city. Had it been possible, Carlisleâs face would have paled further at her words. âNot quite.â He offered. âWhat he did is far from okay. But itâs done now.â He insisted. In all their years, Carlisle and Rosalie were the only members of the family that hadnât slipped up, but these things were easier to cover up before technology had advanced to what it now was. Carlisle supposed that was now their biggest issue in ensuring the accident was suitably buried. âBut I meant what I said; now is not the time for infighting. You can go back to sniping at him all you like, but we need to make sure weâre safe first. If the authorities trace it to us, or if the Volturi catches windâŠâ He didnât want to finish that train of thought. Their lives would be over in a flash.
âI remember.â It had been a far from pleasant time for anyone, but it had helped Rosalie heal, so Carlisle couldnât argue it. âEdward has always been⊠sensitive. Perhaps I have been too indulgent of him.â He always had been, at that was his problem. Edward had been Carlisleâs way out of loneliness, the first step towards the family he had so desperately wanted, and Carlisle had allowed that need to temper himself. He had been so frightened of being alone again that he had never been able to find it within himself to be more forceful with the boy, and by the time the rest of the family came around⊠well, he was too set in his ways by then. âWe canât hang him out to dry, Rose.â
Rosalie at least gave Carlisle the respect of listening to him, more than sheâd given Edward since the incident. âSo I need to be nicer to him because if we get caught, you want him to think âwell at least my whole family loves me and no-one is still annoyed about the whole reason weâre going to dieâ?â She questioned, raising an eyebrow, the expression on her face giving a clear response as to how she felt about that line of logic. âMe being angry at him isnât going to speed up him being found out. If I was really mad I would have given the Volturi his address but heâs still walking around the last time I checked. Give me a decade or so and maybe Iâll give him a break.â Of course Rosalie didnât really want Edward dead. Most of the time. They were family, and she would fight to protect him if it came to that, but she didnât think that playing happy families would help anything.
A quiet and derisive short laugh left her at Carlisle suggesting that maybe he had been too lenient with Edward. Yes, she knew that he would have protected all of them if they had made a similar mistake, she didnât doubt it, but if it had been any of the rest of them it wouldnât have been allowed to get as far. âIâm not asking you to, Carlisle. Iâm not suggesting for a moment that we abandon him or let him do anything stupid, which is apparently harder than we all thought. But you canât expect things to just go back to normal. What he did was reckless and stupid and endangered all of us. It was selfish. I think I should be allowed to be angry and stay away from him as long as I need.â She took a moment, turning her face from the other and composing herself. âWe could all have died, we could all still die, because of him. Iâm not just going to forgive that.â














