When Dawn Breaks 45

“Why isn’t this stuff in a safe?”Charolette asked as she held up a black velvet box that contained a diamond sapphire necklace with matching earrings and bracelet. Rosalie had asked her and Alice to help clear out the master bedroom and both easily agreed. Charlotte had been very interested in what exactly they would find in the room but didn’t expect such expensive valuables. She thought maybe some antique furniture not expensive jewelry. “This has to be worth seven figures.”

“Seriously Rosalie if Bella doesn’t keep this kind of stuff secure I definitely want to see the stuff she does.” Alice opened a very old looking wooden box. “Is this a crown?”

Rosalie sighed. When Bella had said that they would have to clear out her grandparent’s things she hadn’t imagined that the room would have been left the way it was. If it wasn’t for the fact that all the furniture was covered in sheets and the bed had been stripped it would have looked like the owners of the room had never died. Even the vanity in the bathroom had all of Bella’s grandmother’s grooming products laid out. The only thing Rosalie noticed missing were hygiene products that could spoil. After looking things over she realized this was going to be a bigger job than just putting a few things in some boxes. Rosalie now needed to add a jewelry expert to her list of specialist that she needed to help properly preserve the many items at the estate. She didn’t even want to think about what was at the other properties Bella owned. Rosalie was just grateful the castle had a proper staff that oversaw it.

“Alice take that off.” Rosalie told her as she watched Alice fixing the crown on her head in the dressing table mirror.

“But I was always meant to be royalty. It’s only right I get to wear a crown.” Alice huffed. She would put the crown away for now but would ask Bella later if she could wear it. “Why would she have this? It looks really old.”

“Bella’s family is English royalty I bet a lot of this stuff is related to that.” Charolette opened a ring box that had a ring similar to the one Rosalie wore. “Isn’t this your ring?”

Rosalie took the ring from Charolette. It was almost exactly like her ring except much smaller and without as many jewels adorning the crest. She held her hand up for Charolette to see the ring adorning her right ring finger. “No it’s different from mine.”

“Oh here’s another one.” Alice opened another ring box. She had put the box with the crown on top of the pile so she could easily find it later.

“I bet these are some of the signet rings Bella’s ancestors wore. She told me that each generation of shifter gave one to their imprints.” Rosalie opened another couple ring boxes but didn’t see any men’s rings. “I wonder why they weren’t buried with them.”

“You know how Bella’s family is about keeping their history. Maybe they saved them for future generations to have.” Charolette wouldn’t want to be buried with the ring, she would want her children to have it. Especially something as special as the ring that each shifter gave their imprints.

Rosalie rubbed her forehead almost convinced a headache was coming on. “Ok so not only do we have extremely expensive jewelry that shouldn’t be just sitting in these drawers unprotected, we have imprint signet rings that are considered priceless artifacts to Bella just sitting out in the open.”

“That about sums it up.”Alice said.

“Ok so I need to figure out where to put all this stuff.” Rosalie pulled out her tablet and began trying to find the proper place to put millions of dollars worth of jewelry. She would prefer to put it in the bunker but reasoned that not everything could be stored there. “Alice do you want to start working on the closets?”

“On it.” Alice happily rushed to the walk in closets. If the jewelry they had seen was anything to go by then she was expecting some amazing pieces of clothing.

“Do you want me to box all this up?” Charolette asked.

“Give me second to call Bella and asked her. She may have a better idea what to do with it.” Rosalie walked over to the intercom on the wall and put her code into the keypad then pressed the red call button that linked directly to the bunker. Without the code the button did nothing.

“Hello.” Bella’s voice came through the speaker.

“Hello sweetheart. I know you’re busy but wanted to know if there is a place to store all this jewelry we found?” Rosalie asked.

“Yes there is a false wall in my grandfather’s walk in closet. That leads to their personal vault where you can put their everyday jewelry. Later we can go through it.” Bella told her.

Rosalie perked up hearing that. If Bella’s grandparents considered the stuff they found everyday jewelry then she wanted to see what the secured pieces were like. Rosalie was sure that the vault contained some amazing things. “We found a couple women’s signet rings what do you want us to do with them?”

“Those should not be left out.” Bella was silent for a minute. “I don’t think those are actual imprint rings as those are kept secured. They may have been made for someone’s children. I hate to put more responsibilities on you but can you check the vault in the basement to make sure all the others are accounted for.”

“Yeah I can do that. How are you doing with sorting through everything?” Rosalie asked.

“It’s slow going but I think I will have something solid to tell you by the end of the day.” Bella said.

“Ok well I’ll see you for dinner. That was all I wanted to ask.” Rosalie desperately wanted to ask Bella what she found but they weren’t alone and she didn’t want anyone to overhear.

“See you then. I love you. Have fun with going through everything.” Bella voice was teasing.

“I love you too.” Rosalie told her, cutting off the connection. Just as she was deciding exactly what to do next Rosalie heard a loud crash coming from the walk-in closets. Rushing in she saw Alice on the floor covered in a pile of clothes. “Alice what the hell?”

Alice moved the clothes off her and smiled sheepishly. “I tried to find the fake wall but as I was looking the railing came down on top of me with all the clothes as well.”

“For fucks sake Alice.” Rosalie wasn’t sure if she was more mad or exasperated with her sister. “Even if you found the false wall which is right here by the way, you wouldn’t be able to open it.”

Alice watched as Rosalie pointed to the wall covered in shoes opposite the one she tried. “How do you know that’s the right one?”

“It’s the only one that has unaccounted space behind it.” Rosalie explained.

“Oh that makes sense.” Alice hadn’t thought about that. She was too excited to find the vault. “Well are you going to open it?”

“Yes Alice I am going to open it.” Rosalie ran her hand on the wall trying to feel for the access point she knew was there. When her hand ran over a small random scratch in the otherwise pristine wood she pushed on it causing the the entire wall including all the shelves with shoes to swing forward.

Alice’s eyes went wide with excitement as she saw behind the wall was a steel door. Her amazement grew after she watched Rosalie type something on the keypad and scanned her eye on a retinal scanner. “So you are the only one who can get in there?”

“Myself and Bella are the only ones who have complete access to the estate.” Rosalie opened the steel door noticing it wasn’t as thick as some of the others they had encountered the last time they were at the estate.

“Holly shit.” Alice exclaimed as she walked into the vault after Rosalie. The room was set up with floor to ceiling display cases filled with all kinds of different kinds and makes of jewelry. “I now know why that other stuff was left out. It can’t be nearly as valuable as the rest of these.”

Rosalie shook her head as she looked around. “At least all this is stored properly.”

“Rosalie open this one up I want to try on those earrings.” Alice pointed to a pair of earrings that were in the Art Deco style that was popular when she woke up as a vampire. The earrings were part of a set that even included a broach.

“I’m not opening any of this for you.” Rosalie denied Alice request without thought. There was no way she was going to let the small vampire play dress up with jewelry that Rosalie was positive was mostly one of a kind. “Why don’t you get back to the clothing and Charolette can move all the jewelry in here.”

“Ok but I want to go with you when you go to the big vault in the basement.” Alice wasn’t going to miss the chance to see what the Shurlongs thought were important enough to keep in a vault hidden under the White House. From the amazing things they had seen so far that weren’t secured Alice imagined whatever was in there was probably unbelievable.

“Is there a specific place you want me to put these?” Charolette asked as she met the two vampires at the vault carrying a cardboard box. She felt it was almost sacrilegious to put these works of art in a cardboard box but it had to be moved.

“For now just put it wherever it will fit. I will figure out later how to organize it.” Rosalie wondered it they should contract someone to install a new vault. She would have to wait until she saw what else they came across while inventorying the rooms. They probably would need more than one. Where to install them would be another problem and Rosalie wondered if they should just have another bunker built instead just for valuables.

“Hey Rosalie are you sure Bella doesn’t want to keep any of these outfits?” Alice called out from Bella’s grandmother’s closet.

Rosalie left the vault and joined Alice in the closet. “None of them would fit her and she said she didn’t want to keep anything. Why?”

“Well it seems like Bella’s grandmother was about my size and some of these dresses are vintage. Do you think she would mind if I kept some of them?” Alice hoped Rosalie would say yes because she found what she was almost positive were custom pieces from famous designers. With a little alteration she was sure they would fit her perfectly.

“I don’t see why not. You how Bella is about history, she would probably like that you would get use out of some of her grandmother’s things.” Rosalie knew Bella would like the fact that someone would appreciate her grandmother’s possessions.

Alice rushed Rosalie throwing her arms around her. “Thank you Rosalie!!”

“Get off me Alice.” Rosalie as carefully as she could pushed Alice away from her holding back her natural instinct to launch Alice through a wall. She didn’t want to do anymore damage to the house than she already had.

Alice stumbled away from Rosalie. “How does it feel to know that all this stuff we are looking at is yours?”

“It’s not mine it’s Bella’s.” Rosalie corrected her.

“Come on Rosalie don’t you get it yet. Bella gave you half her estate which I am extremely jealous of and that means that all that jewelry and clothes are yours. You even gave me these clothes without having to ask her.” Alice wasn’t lying when she said she was jealous. She couldn’t imagine what it must of felt like for Rosalie as they went through all this stuff knowing that it all belonged to her. Jasper had only given her a few pieces of jewelry over the years and Bella basically gave Rosalie millions of dollars worth for her to wear anytime she wanted. “It’s like Bella is a king who made you her queen and lavishes you with expensive gifts.”

Rosalie didn’t want to admit it but that was sometimes how she felt when she was with Bella. Bella did treat her like a queen and with Bella actually being legitimate royalty the comparison was as close to being real as it could get. “I know my mate treats me very well and I thank fate everyday for her.”

“She treats you more than well. She would give you anything you asked for I bet.” Alice said.

“Even if she would I would never take advantage of that.” Rosalie would never be frivolous with her and Bella’s money. It may be a lot but Rosalie wanted to make sure her children, her grandchildren and their children didn’t have to worry about being able to take care of themselves.

“When are you guys going to get married?” Alice hoped they would soon because she was excited to help plan it. She had no doubt that Bella would spare no expense and with the connections Bella had a lot of interesting people would probably be invited.

“Not anytime soon. Bella hasn’t even graduated high school yet. Plus we want our new home built so we aren’t living with Charlie as newlyweds.” Rosalie didn’t mind staying with Charlie but she always had a fantasy of carrying her bride over the threshold of their home after their wedding. Then christening it that night.

“You guys are building your own home? Where?” Alice hoped it was someplace that was big enough for her and Jasper to live as well. She didn’t want to be separated from her sister or her best friend.

“We decided before we left that we wanted to stay close to Charlie so we will be looking to buy some land in Forks.” Rosalie could already see Alice’s mind working and would have to have a talk with Bella about telling her sister no to whatever requests Alice had.

“So it’s going to be a brand new home?” Alice hoped that she could have some input. She liked the tailor shop at the estate so maybe she could convince Bella to add one to their new home.

“It’s the smartest idea. With a used home we would have to renovate to get it up to our standards and their is no guarantee we could find one with a big enough plot of land around it for privacy. I want Bella to have a place she doesn’t have to hide her tiger.” Rosalie told her.

“That makes sense. When are you going to start building?” Alice asked.

“We are now focused on the shifter stuff, after that we will start looking for land.” Rosalie hoped that would be soon because not only did she want to have her own place with Bella but that would mean the danger was over. “Why don’t you take whatever you want out of here and then maybe gather up whatever is left and any of Bella’s grandfather’s clothes and offer them to the shifters. There is also a bunch of children’s clothing in Bella’s room that was left there when she moved out. I’m sure the kids would at least like the shoes. Some of them are brand new and most of the sneakers would work for boys as well.”

“I don’t think anyone would turn down the offer. I bet they would love to have a piece of the White Tiger’s history even if it was just Bella’s ancestors. That’s not even mentioning the fact that this all belonged to the Shurlong family.” Alice was a sure that the shifters wouldn’t be too proud to take a gift like this from Bella. From the way Alice had seen the shifters had acted around Bella she wouldn’t be surprised if the clothes became a status symbol. Especially for the kids who got Bella’s old stuff.

“Then you get on that. When you are done I’ll show you where Bella’s old clothes are. Until then I am going to continue packing up the room. Then maybe we could get a few volunteers to help move all this stuff into storage.”Rosalie figured it would give the shifters something to do. She could tell they were getting a little restless and made a mental note to ask Bella about what they could do to entertain them. Maybe she could get Bella to take a break and hunt with them in her tiger form.

“Are you going to buy new stuff and decorate the room different?” Alice asked.

“Yes Bella told me I could make any changes I wanted. There is a bunch of old furniture in storage that I’m going to look through. I’m sure I can find something I like. Once I have that picked out then I’m going to plan how to decorate everything else. I know for sure we are at least painting the walls.” Rosalie couldn’t stand the pale yellow color the rooms were now. For some reason Bella’s grandparents used the color in all of the master bedroom rooms including the bathroom.

“Do you think any of the furniture was used in the real White House. I mean some of Bella’s ancestors could have kept some stuff.” Alice wondered what type of antique furniture would be there. It was another exciting treasure hunt. Rosalie had told her not to snoop but Alice had gotten to look at a bunch of cool stuff anyway. She was going to have to have Emmett help as well. He wouldn’t want to be left out of the fun.

Rosalie hadn’t really thought about the historical significance some of the stuff they had handled had. She mostly thought important historical artifact were kept in vaults of secured rooms. Now that Alice had brought it up though Rosalie thought different. She held back a sigh as she realized that having Bella’s possessions properly protected was now even more important than ever. She would have to add historians to her list because even if they could be properly stored they would need to be inventoried based on exactly what they were. That meant they would have to have historians who specialized in Shurlong history to identify if it had been part of something important. Rosalie knew Bella would probably know most of it but there was a lot of stuff here and if it was up to Bella to catalog everything it would take almost a lifetime to complete.

“I don’t know but there could be. Until we see what’s in there let’s get back to our tasks. The sooner we get this done the sooner you can go do whatever it is you do when not being watched closely.” Rosalie said. She hoped to get the rooms done by the next day at the latest so that Bella would have a private place to relax. She had felt the stress coming from her mate as they ate breakfast in the kitchen with a few of the shifters. Bella hid it well but Rosalie knew that she would need to unwind and reset when she got home. Giving Bella that space was something Rosalie would happily do and as she started boxing up the things in the bathroom she knew Bella would appreciate her efforts. Maybe for a reward she could convince Bella to get a little rough like they had before they left for Maine. She had been fantasizing about dominating Bella and biting her on the back of the neck at the same time. She was sure Bella would want to as her mate was just as insatiable as she was when it came to sex.