(Thomas POV)
The moment the plane doors opened, Florida hit me like someone had wrapped a warm, damp wool sweater around my face and whispered, Welcome to the swamp.
It wasn't even daylight yet, just that pre-sunrise grey that made the airport lights look harsh and unflattering, but the air already felt thick enough to chew. I could taste salt and jet fuel and humidity. The kind of humid that didn't just sit on your skin; it tried to move in and claim squatter's rights.
Bella blinked like she'd forgotten what "warm" felt like. Edward didn't blink at all.
Edythe's fingers threaded through mine as we followed the stream of passengers into the terminal, her step perfectly measured, her expression neutral in a way that only looked human if you didn't know her. She'd swapped her usual winter palette for something lighter, still modest, still careful, but it was strange seeing her dressed for a place where the sun had ambitions. Her sunglasses were already in her hand, ready.
"You alright?" I murmured, mostly because the idea of her in Florida made some primal part of my brain want to throw a blanket over her like she was a baby bird.
"I'm fine," she replied, soft and steady. "The cloud cover is holding."
Outside the glass, the sky was bruised with low clouds. Not the Forks kind, those were layered and patient and endless. These looked like they'd been thrown up in a hurry, like the atmosphere couldn't decide whether it wanted to rain or explode.
Bella's mouth twitched. "Mom's not going to be happy it's cloudy. She'll take it as a sign."
"Of what?" I asked.
"Of her being right about everything that comes from Fork's," Bella said, like it was obvious.
We rounded the corner toward baggage claim, and I spotted her instantly.
Renee was hard to miss. She radiated energy like a small sun, ironic in a place I was actively trying not to be cooked by the actual one. She was in a bright tank top that didn't match the hour of the day, hair pulled up in a messy knot that looked effortless in the way only Renee could manage. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet like she'd been waiting for this moment for weeks.
Phil stood beside her like a calm, steady tree planted next to a hurricane. Tall, broad-shouldered, easy smile. A man who looked like he'd learned, through years of experience, how to let Renee's emotions pass over him without getting uprooted.
Bella took three steps and got tackled.
"My baby!" Renee squealed, wrapping Bella in a hug that looked like it might crack ribs. "Oh my God, you're real. You're actually here. I was convinced you'd get abducted by forest cults or—" She froze mid-rant, pulling back just enough to stare at Bella's face. "You're too pale. Are you eating? Do they feed you in Forks or is it like… only mushrooms and depression like when I was a kid there?"
"Hi, Mom," Bella managed, half-smothered, half-laughing.
Renee's gaze snapped to me, and for a split second she looked like she might cry.
Then she didn't. Because she was Renee, and feelings were apparently illegal unless they could be weaponized into a lecture.
"Thomas!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging me too, fast and fierce. "You're alive. You're taller. You look like you've been… doing things. Are you sleeping? You look—" She pulled back again, scanning me like a mother assessing a used car. "—fine. You look fine. But you're in trouble for not emailing me enough."
"I did email you," I said automatically.
"Not enough," she declared, as if quantity was the only metric that mattered.
Phil stepped forward with an easy grin and offered me his hand. "Hey, kid. Good to see you."
I shook it, grateful for the calm. "Good to see you too, Uncle Phil."
Phil's brows jumped for half a second, then he chuckled like it hit him in a pleasant way. "Right. Yeah. Uncle Phil." He glanced at Renee, affectionate and amused. "Still getting used to that."
Renee was already looking past me.
Her eyes locked on Edythe.
And I felt Edythe's posture change, just a little. Not fear. Not tension. More like… attention sharpening. A predator noticing a new variable.
Renee took one step closer, smiling bright. "And you must be Edythe. Finally. Hi." She thrust a hand out like she was greeting a celebrity.
Edythe took it, her handshake gentle, perfectly human. "Hello, Renee. Thank you for having us."
I smiled to myself. So that's why she'd been holding my hand so much, Edythe had been warming her skin for this moment.
Renee blinked, recalibrating at the politeness. Then her gaze dropped.
To Edythe's left hand.
To the ring.
The world went very, very still.
Renee's smile didn't fade so much as… freeze into something brittle.
Bella's entire body stiffened like she'd just heard thunder.
Edward's eyes flicked toward the ring, then toward me, like he was watching a train approach the station and deciding whether to intervene or just let nature take its course. Was it my imagination, or was he holding his phone camera towards us?
Phil sighed quietly, the sound of a man who had seen storms on the horizon and knew none of his umbrellas would survive.
Renee lifted her head slowly and looked directly at me.
"Thomas," she said, voice too calm.
Uh oh.
"Yes?" I answered, because apparently I hated myself.
Renee pointed at Edythe's hand without looking at it again. "What is that."
Edythe didn't flinch. Didn't hide it. Didn't pretend it wasn't there. She just stood, calm and unclaimed by fear, like she was letting Renee have her moment without surrendering a millimeter.
I cleared my throat. "That," I said, "is an engagement ring."
Renee stared at me as if I'd just told her I'd joined the circus.
Then her voice rose. "You are eighteen."
"Almost nineteen," I corrected, immediately regretting that I had a mouth.
Bella made a small choking sound.
Renee's eyes flashed. "Almost doesn't count!"
"It does in most courts," I muttered before I could stop myself.
Phil coughed, suspiciously like a laugh.
Renee whipped her head toward him. "Philip."
Phil lifted both hands. "Hey. I'm just here for moral support. Don't shoot the audience."
"I'm not going to shoot anyone," Renee snapped, then immediately pointed at me again. "Why. Why are you doing this. Why are you..." She gestured wildly, like she was trying to physically push the concept away. "...making permanent decisions when your brain is still developing?"
Bella murmured, "Mom…"
Renee ignored her. "Did Charlie put you up to this? Is this his weird way of… of claiming you? Because that man has issues..."
"Renee," Phil said gently, warning.
Renee barreled on. "Or is this because you're trying to be responsible? Because if this is about responsibility I swear I will personally drag you to a urologist..."
"It's not Charlie," I said quickly, because if she brought Charlie into this, it would become a three-day event. "And it's not panic. And it's not… whatever you're picturing."
Renee's eyes narrowed. "Then what is it."
I inhaled. Edythe's hand slipped into mine and gave a squeeze, just once...an anchor, not a leash.
I remembered what she'd told me on the plane: strike first and stand your ground.
So I did.
"It's love," I said, quiet but firm. "It's choice. It's not an accident. And it's not a shotgun wedding."
Renee's mouth opened.
Then closed.
Then opened again with different ammunition. "Oh my God," she breathed, eyes flicking between me and Edythe. "Are you pregnant?"
Bella groaned into her hands, like she wanted to dissolve into the tile.
"No," I said, heat rushing into my face. "No. Not...no. That is not...no."
Edythe's lips curved, faintly, like she found Renee's predictable panic… almost endearing. "No," she said simply. "I'm not."
Renee blinked at her tone, so calm, so certain.
It threw her off balance.
Good.
I leaned into it. "We're getting married in two weeks," I said, before I could lose nerve. "Spring break. Small ceremony. Forks. We weren't planning to make it a… whole thing."
Renee made a strangled sound. "Two weeks?"
Phil rubbed a hand down his face, already tired.
Bella peeked through her fingers. "Mom..."
Renee rounded on Bella like she'd just noticed her again. "You knew."
Bella winced. "Yes."
"And you didn't tell me."
Bella's voice went flat. "Because this is what happens when we tell you things."
Renee's mouth dropped open, offended...then she snapped it shut, because she knew Bella was right and that made it worse.
She turned back to me, eyes shining with something that looked dangerously like tears that had decided to cosplay as rage.
"Thomas," she said, lower now, like she was trying to keep control. "I love you. I do. You know I do. But you are..." she shook her head, hair coming loose from its knot, "...you're my kid too, in all the ways that matter. And you're doing something irreversible."
I swallowed. "Yes."
"And you're doing it with…" She looked at Edythe again, really looked. "With someone I barely know."
Edythe didn't pretend otherwise. "That's fair," she said, voice gentle. "You don't know me yet."
Renee blinked again, thrown off by the lack of defensiveness.
Edythe continued, still calm, still honest. "But Thomas does."
Renee's gaze flicked back to me.
And in that moment, the noise of the airport faded a little. The carts rolling, the announcements, the distant laughing, none of it mattered as much as the quiet war happening in Renee's eyes. Fear and love. Control and surrender. All battling for dominance.
Phil stepped in beside Renee, placing a hand lightly at her back. Not restraining. Just steadying.
"Honey," he said softly. "Let's take a breath. Okay?"
Renee exhaled, sharp. Then again, slower.
Bella's shoulders loosened by a fraction.
Edward watched, like he was cataloging human behavior for later analysis.
Renee's eyes softened just a hair. "You're really sure," she said, not as an accusation this time, but as a plea.
I nodded once. "I'm sure."
"And you're sure," Renee asked, turning to Edythe.
Edythe met her gaze without blinking. "Yes."
Renee looked like she wanted to hate that answer.
Instead, she turned her head away and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Okay. Okay." She inhaled, then exhaled, then abruptly pointed at me again. "But I reserve the right to be mad about it for at least… an hour."
"That seems reasonable," I said, because I wasn't stupid.
Bella muttered, "That's a personal record."
Renee shot her a look. "Do not sass me, Isabella. I missed you for a year. I have a backlog."
Phil cleared his throat. "Bags?"
"Bags," Renee echoed, as if remembering we were in an airport and not the center of her emotional universe.
We collected luggage in a haze of Renee alternating between fuming silence and rapid-fire questions at Bella:
"How long have you known?"
"Did Charlie know?"
"Is Charlie going to have a heart attack?"
"Is there a dress? Please don't tell me there's a dress."
"Do you have a venue? Don't tell me it's in the woods."
"It's going to be in the woods, isn't it."
Bella didn't answer half of them. She just stared at the baggage carousel like it might save her.
Edythe answered when it was appropriate, short, truthful, controlled.
And I… I held my ground.
It was strange. I'd expected to fold under Renee's intensity the way I always had when I was younger. Expected to backpedal, to soothe, to apologize for choices that weren't wrong.
But Edythe's hand stayed in mine, steady as gravity. And every time Renee's voice climbed, Edythe's calm made it harder for me to panic.
By the time we reached the parking garage, Renee's anger had shifted.
Not gone.
But… redirected.
She climbed into the passenger seat of Phil's SUV, twisting around to look at us in the middle seat like she was conducting an interrogation.
"So," she said, suddenly bright, like a switch had flipped. "Tell me everything."
Bella made a low sound of dread from behind us in the back seat.
Phil started the engine, eyeing the clouds. "Let's get home first," he said. "Coffee. Food. Then you can interrogate."
Renee waved him off. "I can multitask."
Edythe leaned slightly closer to me, her voice barely audible. "This is impressive."
"What is," I murmured.
"The speed at which she converts rage into planning," Edythe said, perfectly serious.
I snorted quietly. "That's Renee."
Renee's head snapped around. "I heard that."
I smiled, despite myself. "Of course you did."
She narrowed her eyes, then softened again, just a little. "I'm still mad," she warned, but the edge was fading. "But… I'm also happy you're happy."
Bella blinked at her like she didn't trust it.
Renee huffed. "Don't look at me like that. I'm allowed to have multiple emotions. I'm a complex person."
Phil murmured, "That's one word for it."
Renee ignored him and leaned forward between the seats, peering at Edythe again. "You're very calm," she said, suspicious.
Edythe offered a small, polite smile. "I've had practice."
"With what?" Renee demanded.
"With… being around people who love intensely," Edythe answered, smooth as silk, and somehow it didn't sound like a dodge. It sounded like respect.
Renee blinked, then laughed once, surprised. "Okay. Fine. That was good."
Phil shot Edythe a quick, appreciative glance in the rearview mirror, like he'd just seen someone successfully talk down a bomb.
The car rolled out of the garage and into the Florida morning, the clouds still holding, the air thick, the road slick like it had rained recently.
I leaned back, watching the palm trees blur past, and let myself breathe.
Renee had exploded.
Renee was still Renee.
But she hadn't shattered anything.
Not yet.
Edythe's fingers squeezed mine once, quiet reassurance.
And Bella, curled against Edward's side in the back seat, looked like she was trying very hard to believe that this might actually be okay.
For now, the storm had passed.
Which, in Renee's world, probably just meant she was gathering momentum for the next one.