Chapter 1:

Esme's POV

My name is Esme Cullen and I have been married to Dr. Carlisle Cullen for six and a half years. We have three beautiful children together; Emmett Dale Cullen who is five, and Edward Anthony Cullen and Mary Alice Cullen (or Alice) who are both four. Carlisle is a surgeon at the local hospital and I am a stay at home mom. The school year had just ended and come fall Emmett would be in first grade and Edward and Alice would be in Kindergarten. Due to Carlisle's position at the hospital, we were well off in the money department. We have a big house that was more like a manor. Alice has her own room, while Emmett and Edward shared a room, though there were three empty rooms.

I was doing a little shopping while Carlisle was at home with the kids. I had been out for a couple hours and was itching to get back home to my family. I was walking to my car, which was parked across the street from the dry cleaners when I felt a little tug on my skirt. I looked down to see a little blonde boy and an even younger brunette girl who were covered in filth staring up at me. The sight broke my heart.

"Hi, ma'am, can you be our new momma?" the little boy asked in a sweet voice, but he had a country twang. I was at a loss for words, but the boy wasn't, "please, we'll be really good and we clean up after ourselves all the time."

"Sweetheart, where are your parents?" I wondered curiously, looking around before glancing back at the two children in front of me.

"Our daddy's dead and our momma left us under those tracks over there yesterday," he answered, scratching his arm a little, "my name is Jasper and this is my little sister Bella. I'm five and she's three. Can we come home with you?"

I laughed lightly. "You don't waste any time, do you? Yes, you can come home with me, honey. I'll get you two cleaned up and we'll go down to Social Services and find your mom."

Bella whined when I said that and Jasper shook his head. "No, she doesn't want us anymore, well, actually her new husband doesn't and we don't want him either. Can you keep us, please?"

"Um… I'll have to ask my husband, but in the meantime, let's get you home," I opened the door to the backseat of the SUV, helped Bella and strapped her in.

"Hold on, please. I have to go get…" he mumbled the last part before running off back to the tracks, so I didn't hear what he said.

I smiled at Bella who was playing with her seat belt. Bella grinned at me and I could see a blush under the grime on her cheek and my heart dropped at the sight. How could someone do this to their own child? I heard a little throat being cleared behind me and turned to see Jasper holding a little sleeping blonde girl. She was set on his hip and her face was nestled into his neck.

"Who's this?" I queried, taking the girl from him and putting her into Edward's car seat next to Alice's which was where Bella was.

"Rosalie," he informed, getting in next to her and strapping himself in on his own. He was clearly the oldest.

I nodded before getting into the driver's seat, starting the car and heading home. It didn't take long to get there and Rosalie was still asleep when they arrived. I parked in the garage, unstrapped Rosalie and Bella. Bella slid out all by herself, which she seemed very proud of. Jasper waited by the car for me to get Rosalie out, so he could carry her in, but I assured him that I had her. She was virtually weightless in my arms. We all walked into the house where little Alice was running to greet her me, but stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing the guests.

"Mommy, who are they?" the little pixie inquired with curiosity laced into her skeptical tone.

"Hey, sweetie, can we do the questions later? Emmett, Edward, go get Daddy and get the groceries out of the trunk. Alice, go to your room and pick three sets of pajamas, but get a set from last year that you can't fit anymore," I handed out my orders and then rushed off upstairs.

"Ma'am, Bella can't go up or down stairs yet," Jasper told me and I mumbled thanks and picked Bella up, sitting her on the opposite hip that Rosalie was on. Jasper and I walked upstairs and I led them into the spare bathroom, "can I wait somewhere while you bathe them? Rosalie doesn't like when I try to clean her up. She fusses a lot when I try."

"Sure, Jasper, you can wait in my room. It's at the end of the hall closest to us," I directed him.

"Okay, just let me wake Rose up first," he walked over to us and shook the sleeping child gently and her eyes snapped open. I couldn't hold back my gasp when I became entranced in Rosalie's vibrant violet gaze, but to my surprise Jasper interrupted my little episode, "Rosalie, this nice lady is gonna give you and Bella a bath, okay? Be good," Rosalie nodded now wide awake. Jasper turned to me, "she's really small as you can tell, so please watch her carefully `cuz she's accident prone and sometimes she slips and goes under water."

I furrowed her eyebrows at this. That's just a little odd. "Okay, yeah, I'll keep a close watch on her and you don't have to keep calling me ma'am, it's Esme."

"Okay, Esme. Thank you so much for this. I think Bella was getting sick," he hugged me around the neck and walked out.

I was quick to get the girls in and out of the bathtub, so Jasper could get in. Rosalie washed herself while Bella just splashed around, so I washed Bella myself. In the short amount of time it took me to bathe them, well, Bella mostly, I noticed that Rosalie was very independent and did almost everything for herself, though she had some trouble getting out of the bathtub when I was still washing Bella. She dried herself off and sat on her towel, naked next to me until I was done with Bella. I also noticed that Rose stared with a far off look in her eyes. Wanting to get Jasper in soon, I finished with Bella, dried her off and wrapped her in a towel. Rosalie stood up when I did and followed suit. We walked out of the bathroom to see Jasper leaning against the banister casually. He jumped when we walked out.

"Were they okay?" he queried worriedly, "Rosalie didn't bite you, did she?"

"She bites?"

Rosalie snatched her hand away from mine and set a pout on her gorgeous little face, which was clear now that she was clean. Jasper frowned and shuffled away into the bathroom.

"Rosie clean! Clothes now?" Bella giggled and blushed reaching for her sister, but Rosalie turned away coldly and walked down the hall into Alice's room. I found it odd that she knew exactly where to go, but my curiosity was interrupted by Bella's whine. Bella looked up at me with big brown eyes that were brimming with fresh tears, "Rosie mad me," she shifted her gaze to the floor in disappointment.

"No, sweetie, she's not mad at you. I think she's mad at Jasper, besides, you're way too cute to get mad at," I picked her up and kissed her cheeks.

She giggled happily, wiping away her tears. "Momma, I hungry."

I felt my heart skip a beat at the title Bella had just given me. Now we were connected. That one word had me, completely and I knew it the moment that I smiled back at Bella. There was no way I could give these kids away now. It would devastate me.

"All right, Bella, let's get you dressed," I walked down the hall into Alice's room to see Rosalie staring at Alice with that far off look on her face.

"Mommy, can we keep her?" Alice requested, staring right back at Rosalie.

"Alice, she's not a dog," I stated as I put Bella on the bed and unwrapped the towel from around the baby. It seemed as if Bella's whole body blushed when Edward walked into the room.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just came to check to see if everything was okay with everyone… Mommy, the blonde girl is staring at me..." Edward trailed off as Rosalie approached him. She looked him up and down, circled him, she even got on her tip toes and sniffed his neck, "Mommy, what is she doing?"

"I don't know. We'll ask Jasper when he gets out of the bathtub. Rosalie, come here, please, you need to get dressed," I called her over and Rosalie began to walk toward me, but turned around and raised an eyebrow at Edward.

"I'm sorry, I'll go if that's what you want," Edward turned to leave.

"Edward, what are you talking about?" I asked him. He sighed, but didn't answer me and walked out. I picked Rosalie up and put her on the bed next to Bella, "what was that?"

Rosalie shrugged and yanked the towel off of her body. She ran her fingers through her long blonde hair and let out a shaky sigh. She then began getting dressed. She yawned, pulling on a pair of new underwear I had purchased for Alice when she was out and wiggled into one of Alice's nightgowns. It was plain and white, but Alice and I couldn't help but notice how she seemed to glow. Rosalie caught us staring and grinned, hugging her sister who giggled and held onto her.

"Rosie happy now?" Bella wondered with a hopeful smile. Rosalie nodded with a white smile, despite her previous homeless status.

"Okay, now, Bella, are you potty trained?" at this Bella nodded proudly, "do you wear underwear or pull-ups?"

"Pull-ups," Bella mumbled as Rosalie slid off the bed and walked out of the room. Alice followed.

"Okay, well, that's a little inconvenient," I muttered to myself, wrapping Bella up in the towel again, sitting her on her hip and heading downstairs. I stopped at the top of the steps when I saw Rosalie gripping the bars connecting the banister and the stairs for dear life while making her way slowly down the stairs. I also saw that Alice was right beside her though she would usually be at the bottom by now.

Alice looked back at me. "She's so small."

Rosalie was small, granted we didn't know her age, but she was small to be able to walk as well as she could. Suddenly, Rosalie shrieked in frustration and dug her nails into the stairs. I was shocked, but was even more shocked when the little girl continued to go down the stairs.

"Esme, honey, what was that?" the silky voice of the love of my life rang out coming into the living room where the stairs led to with Emmett and Edward.

"Daddy, I have two new sisters!" Alice squealed, running down the stairs and jumping into her father's arms.

"Sweetheart, what is she talking about?"

I chuckled nervously, speeding down the stairs to my beautiful blonde husband. "Well, Carlisle, I kind of promised this little boy named Jasper that I'd adopt him and his sisters. I know I should've consulted you first, but I couldn't say no. Jasper has the cutest little country twang and Bella called me Momma and just look at Rosalie."

Everyone turned to look at Rosalie, who frowned unhappily before pushing herself away from the bars and jumped forward.

Alice gasped. "Catch her, Daddy!"

My eyes widened and my heart stopped completely as Rosalie's head got closer to the edge of the bottom stair, but my husband reached out and caught her with his awesome doctor reflexes and I was able to let out a relieved breath.

"Are you okay?" Carlisle seemed just as frazzled and concerned as I did. Rosalie shrugged nonchalantly and wriggled around in his arms. When he wouldn't let her down, she bit his cheek, hard, "ow, ow, ow, ow!"

The little blonde girl giggled and slid down to the floor where she landed on her butt and stayed there with a sheepish expression.

"Oh, my God, honey, are you okay?" I rushed over to see a crescent shaped imprint on his cheek. I touched it lightly and looked down at Rosalie who was staring blankly at Emmett.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but is she?" he was obviously referring to Rosalie who shook herself as if trying to clear her head and glanced up at Carlisle with her arms reached out to him, silently asking him to pick her back up, which he did almost instantly. That was cute. He was such good father.

"Rosalie, are you all right?" I questioned her, smoothing out her damp blonde curls. She only shrugged.

"She's weird, Mommy," Edward told me quietly, but Rosalie must have heard because she threw a dirty look his way. I raised my eyebrows at this adult behavior.

"Why do you say that?" Carlisle inquired to him.

"Her thoughts are all fuzzy and I can't hear her all the time and when I can, she's practically screaming in her head," he started rubbing his temples with a groan. Rosalie only smiled cheekily at him and he groaned loudly this time, "she's doing it on purpose."

"Rosie, stoppit," Bella whispered, yanking on Rosalie's arm. Rosalie seemed to restrain herself from something and shook Bella off of her arm with an eye roll. So glad Alice didn't know what sassing was yet. It would be the death of her. I watched Rosalie shake her head and bite her lip, looking between Carlisle and I as if waiting for us to punish her.

"Esme, she's shaking," Carlisle informed me, his voice wavering ever so slightly.

I took a step forward and she jumped. "Rosalie, you're okay, we're not gonna hurt you. I promise. Does your mom hurt you when you do something bad?" Rosalie furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips, but didn't answer, so I continued, "do you wanna go back to your mother?" at this, she picked her head, looked me dead in my eyes and shook her head, "okay, Carlisle, that's it, we're adopting them."

I knew Carlisle's sigh was coming probably before he did. "Honey, they could have an aunt or their father could want them."

"Our father is dead," I heard Jasper murmured from upstairs. He was leaning up against the wall that kept him from falling forward the thirteen odd feet from the second floor to the first, "he was in a bad car accident. We don't have any other family cuz if we did our mom would've left us with them. If you don't want us to stay, I can take Rosie and Bells somewhere."

"Oh, no, you're definitely staying here. Edward, go get Jasper some clothes and Jasper, when you're finished, can you come down here? I'd like to talk to you," I let him know.

"With Rose?" he had a cute little smirk playing on his lips. I laughed and nodded, "okay, then we have a lot to talk about."

My husband took a quick look at the tiny child in his arms. "I'm sure we do."

Rosalie giggled and buried her head in Carlisle's shoulder. She was laughing so hard her entire body was shaking. Her laugh was so beautiful. It was slightly high pitched and silvery and it suited her perfectly.

"Mommy, she has a pretty laugh," Alice giggled, running to wrap her arms around my legs.

"That she does, sweetie, but I almost forgot why I came down here in the first place. I have to go get Bella some pull-ups," I told my love, handing him Bella to hold in his other arm.

"Oh, ma'am- sorry, Esme, I forgot some of our stuff at the tracks that our mom left with us, would you go get it for us? I mean- I mean, you don't ha-have to," oh, the poor boy was stuttering. I felt so bad for him.

"Jasper, don't even worry about it, I'll go get it for you, honey," I assured him softly, "um, is there anything you or your sisters would need while I'm out?

"Well, our mom forgot to get Rosalie and Bella's sippy cups and Rosalie, she likes pacifiers and if you could get her a teddy bear or something that would be great cuz our mom's new husband burned her other one and it took me three hours to get her to sleep last night. She also likes pillows. Yeah, she'll need lots of those and you'll see why soon," and then he turned completely red, "oh, was that too much."

I grinned at him. "Not all, sweetie, I'll get it all," I said, heading for the garage. It was gonna be interesting having these three members join our family.