EP Read Along Week 19 - Chapter 54-56

[credit goes to the creator of this pic - wasn't me ;)]

Welcome to week 19!

Are you keeping up tesoros?

Remember, if you went on ahead and finished the story, 

we would still love to hear from you in the comments!

Ch. 54 - CPOV

Chapter 54 is from Carlisle's POV and we finally get to meet Alec.  What are your first impressions of him?  Carlisle describes his eyes as being so dark that you couldn't differentiate between the pupil and the iris.  That make me think of a shark - a predator.  Alec is scary as hell, but Carlisle is turning to him for help with the situation he finds himself in.


Carlisle is revealing everything he knows about Isabella to Alec, including that she is a principessa della mafia (mafia princess), that her mother Renee is actually named Bree and the daughter of Marcus and Didyme and Aro’s niece who was supposed to be dead.  Whoever killed Bree’s parents sold her to Charles Sr. knowing full well who she was and he kept her as a slave. Carlisle’s concern right now is that if Aro finds out that he has been keeping this information from  him, that he will be killed  - which is confirmed by Alec.

Alec agrees to help Carlisle against his better judgement and makes it clear that he is only doing this to protect Esme.  In agreeing to help Alec decides that their first order of business is to permanently silence the doctor who ran the DNA tests.  Alec also recommends that Carlisle tell Edward everything so that he knows what he is up against.

In the chapter we also find Carlisle musing about how proud he is of Emmett and Jasper as they graduate from high school and that he feels like he's not a complete disappointment to Elizabeth's memory.  This line of thinking leads him to panic about Edward's future.  Edward is about to turn 18 and will soon choose the path his life will take.  He is concerned that Aro will try to manipulate Edward (read between the lines - use Isabella) to get Edward to do what he wants.

The chapter then flashes back to one year after Elizabeth's death.  

Aro has told Carlisle that Charles Swan had Elizabeth killed.  Understandably angry, Carlisle gets into his car against Aro's orders and starts driving 26 hours straight through from Chicago to Phoenix to get his revenge.   As he a approaches the Swan residence he comes across Charles Sr. and his wife driving along and Carlisle turns around and goes after them, causing them to crash and severely injuring them both. Carlisle proceeds to beat Charles Sr. to death and light his car on fire.  Having nowhere else to go, Carlisle goes to the Swan home to clean up and tries to kill Isabella and would have killed her if his gun hadn’t  failed.  That’s when Carlisle hit rock bottom.  He realizes that he almost killed an innocent child.  The child his wife sacrificed her life trying to save.  In the end Aro gives Carlisle a pass and helps to cover his tracks, but continues to hold it over his head.

The chapter ends with Carlisle and Alec finishing their private discussion and then Alec greeting the family.  Isabella is understandably nervous about meeting Alec but with a little whispered encouragement from  Edward, she faces her fears. Edward introduces her as his girlfriend and she surprises everyone by holding her hand out to him to shake it and saying "It's a pleasure to meet you Alec".   Are you wondering what Edward whispered in her ear?  I love how Carlisle is watching how Edward and Bella are interacting with each other and it makes him smile!

What do you think?  Is Carlisle softening, as Alec says?  Is this a good thing?

Chapter 55 - EPOV

Chapter 55 begins with Bella meeting Alec from Edward's point of view.  What Edward really wants to do is throw Bella over his shoulder and run away from the situation but he knows that Bella needs to face her fears.  Instead he whispers to her to pretend that she is Harry Potter and that fucker over there is Voldemort and that his love for her will protect her the same way that Harry was always protected by his mother's love. (I'm a huge Harry Potter fan so I loved the reference!)

Don't you adore the banter between Edward and Esme?  "That's not the only thing big about me, isn't that right, Bella?"  Esme has a great sense of humor, but I'm sure Bella was totally embarrassed by Edward saying that!  It's comforting to know that Esme is the one adult that is so accepting of Edward and Bella's relationship.  She just accepts it without question or reservation.

When Edward sees that Bella is getting ready to make cannoli, he says "Holy shit, don't tell me you're making what I think you're making".  This is one of the reasons I love Mafiaward!  He just comes out and says stuff like that out of nowhere and makes me LMAO!  Then he says, "Christ, just when I thought it wasn't possible to love you anymore than I do, you go and make fucking Cannoli from scratch"  Edward just has a way with words, doesn't he?

"Food fuckers!" - again.....LOL!!!!

The family has a somewhat tense dinner, but Edward of course tries to soothe Isabella throughout.  Everyone is impressed with the Cannoli and this leads to Emmett quoting "The Godfather" and then promising Izzy Bizzy a date with her to watch it.  After dinner, Edward is summoned to his father's office where he is met with his father and Alec.  After a brief commentary on Edward's lack of manners (and Isabella's possession of them despite being born in a barn literally), Alec comes right out and asks Edward if he is going to be initiated.  After some stalling, Edward tells him no.   Carlisle and Alec proceed to tell Edward everything about the DNA and who Bella is, but he pretty much had it all figured out anyway.  Again, the possibility of Isabella being used to manipulate Edward to do what Aro wants comes up in the conversation.

On graduation day, the girls go up to Edward and Bella's room to get ready.  Do you love how Edward is eye-fucking Bella when he sees her all dressed up for the graduation?  And the subsequent "conversation" between Rosalie ("You're such a fucking pervert Cullen") and Edward ("Whatever, sleaze") Of course after seeing Bella looking so hot, Edward wants to fool around.  Did anyone else think it was adorable that that Bella thought they would be able to tell?  Yeah, blushing Bella would give their little secret away! LOL  Then Bella gets a little eye-fuck in herself before Edward gets dressed for the graduation.

The graduation itself has a profound effect on Bella, particularly the speeches.  They brought tears to her eyes.    I can imagine what she must have been feeling, this being her first experience at such an event that can be filled with emotion.  Afterwards Edward's brother's reveal to him that they figured out that it was Bella that their mother was trying to save.  Bella has changed so much in time that she's been with them and Emmett proclaims that although their dad brought her there, Edward is the one who saved Isabella.  He made her what she is today, by giving her the love that she needed.  Edward tells his brothers that he does not want Bella to find out about their mom because it would crush her.

The evening ends with Edward and Bella making love and Bella surprising Edward by getting on top of him.(GO BELLA!!!)  Edward starts speaking in Italian (makes me melt!!!) and says "Principessa mia ti amo tanto" which basically means "Princess I love you so much".  Do you think Edward was telling Bella in way that he knows she won't understand? Or was it just passion talking?

Chapter 56 - BPOV

Edward's 18th Birthday.  Bella gets out of bed and goes downstairs to bake Edward an Italian Cream Cake for his birthday and gets an unexpected visitor.  Alec just watches her while she is making the cake and making her feel very uncomfortable.  After skeeving her out for a while, Alec finally says good morning.  Things continue to be awkward for Bella and then Carlisle comes in which is almost a relief (but not quite).  Bella is mortified when she realizes that it is quite possible that Dr. Cullen and Esme were home last night and most likely heard her and Edward and has her fears basically confirmed when Carlisle says to go wake Edward up because he's probably not decent.  Dr. Cullen seems really upset about the Italian Cream Cake that Bella is making for Edward.  Why do you think that is?

The bad news is that Aro is coming to see Edward on his birthday.  Dr. Cullen tells Bella that she needs to let Edward know that his Godfather is coming.  Edward is not happy at all because he knows exactly why he is coming.   While Edward is taking a shower, Bella writes him a little note and puts it in his winter coat pocket knowing that he won't be wearing that coat for a while and it will be a nice little surprise for him later on.  This will come back later......that's all I can say.

Edward tells Bella that he is not only worried about Aro trying to get him to iniate but that he is also worried about how all this might affect Bella.  Now that Edward knows the truth about Bella's ancestry he is seeing this situation with a new perspective.  The meeting itself is strained.  Edward is openly affectionate to Isabella which Aro finds surprising.  The discussion turns to Edwards future plans and Aro is not pleased that the plans do not include Edward joining the organization.  When asked what is to become of Isabella, Carlisle tells Aro that his is preparing her to be set free. Alec steps up to vouch for Isabella which basically means if Bella screws up in any way, Alec will pay for it with his life.

Just before Aro arrives, Esme has a heart to heart with Bella and tries to explain Alec to her and let  her know that she thinks of Bella as family.  Bella feels like Esme is being very motherly toward her which brings about feelings of guilt from Bella who is missing her own mother.

Bella heads up to bed early because she is overwhelmed with the stress from the day.  When Edward joins her later on, she asks him if she will really be free.  He says she will be free, but it won't be easy.  He tells her she will be free to do anything she wants with her life including going to school, marrying him or leaving his ass.  LOL  Bella says she would never leave him, and he is glad to hear it, but assures her that his point is that she has a choice.

***************

So now that Edward is fully informed of Bella's lineage, 

do you think he will continue to persist with his early pursuits of running away with Bella? 

For next week - Read Chapters 57-59