The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (56 page)

Renée loved being in love, and she loved feeling like she was living an adventure.

On First Beach, Renée met Charlie Swan. She was very attracted to him; he was different from her usual boyfriends, so serious and responsible, but funny and kind. She fell head over heels. She thought about Charlie for the rest of the trip north, and when she returned to Forks, she was easily convinced to stay for a little while longer. Renée loved being in love, and she loved feeling like she was living an adventure. When Charlie proposed, getting married sounded like the perfect cap to the whirlwind romance. They were married by a justice of the peace, with only Charlie’s parents and three best friends in attendance. Renée sent her mother a picture from the wedding, but Marie didn’t respond.

For a while, Renée enjoyed the novelty of being married. Charlie was a much easier person to live with than her mother had been, and his passionate adoration of her was very pleasant. She had a great deal of fun decorating the little house. She liked Charlie’s kind, quiet parents. The tiny, quaint town was very different from L.A. She worked as a waitress for a while, and she liked meeting new people.

When Renée found out she was having a baby, it seemed like the next big adventure. She learned to knit and started decorating the nursery. She wrote to her mother again, and this time Marie sent a gift: her own mother’s handmade quilt. Renée was touched.

When Bella was born, it changed Renée in some ways, but not in others. She became more responsible, better able to focus on what had to be done.

However, after a few months, everything seemed to get stale. The rain didn’t let up for even an afternoon; Renée had never gone so long without seeing the sun. Charlie was busy with work and his parents, and Renée felt trapped and unhappy. She still loved Charlie, but there was no adventure left in their now staid relationship.

When Bella was born, it changed Renée in some ways, but not in others. She became more responsible, better able to focus on what had to be done. But she still felt trapped by the sunless small town. She hated the thought of letting her baby grow up in the gloom. She begged Charlie to leave with her, though she knew that was not a kind thing to ask. Finally, she decided that she needed to leave on her own and get her life in order, for Bella’s sake. She realized that she had made some life-altering decisions without much thought, and she wanted to start over and proceed more carefully.

Renée went back to her mother, who was still difficult, but who doted on Bella. She enrolled in school and got her elementary education degree—spending time with Bella had made her realize that she was good with children and enjoyed them. Once she had her degree and a job, she moved a little distance away from her mother, to Riverside, California. There
she began teaching kindergarten. Bella grounded Renée, who found ways to be satisfied with small changes in her hobbies and recreational activities. She made many close friends among the other teachers, and she got a lot of sunshine.

Renée’s life was still more than a little chaotic, however. She was always getting herself into messy situations. As Bella got older, she began to assume many of the adult responsibilities in the home, simply because she was better suited to them than Renée was. When she took over the bookkeeping at age ten, it made both of their lives much easier.

After living in Riverside, California, for six years, Renée decided that she wanted to try living in a new place. She ended up getting a job in Phoenix, where she and Bella lived for five years. Renée’s mother, Marie, died when Bella was twelve, after which Renée did not visit Califonia as often as she had when Bella’s grandmother was alive.

“I rarely write about just humans. You can get humans anywhere.”

—
Stephenie

Renée missed Charlie, but always thought of him as a childish infatuation. She recognized that she was not well suited for serious relationships, and she did her best to keep herself from becoming entangled romantically, worried about the impact such a relationship would have on Bella. When Bella was in her teens, she encouraged Renée to date more, sensing that her mother was a little lonely. After a few relationships that didn’t take, Renée met Phil and fell hard. Phil had an adventurous spirit, too, though he was a little more practical than Renée. They married when Bella was seventeen.

Shortly after they were married, Phil went on the road with his minor-league baseball team. It was difficult for Renée to stay behind, for multiple reasons. She missed Phil
a lot, and he was off having the kinds of adventures she still craved. Renée never considered leaving Bella, however. But when Bella suddenly announced her intention to live with Charlie for her last year and a half of high school, Renée did not fight her decision as much as she would have before Phil.

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NGELA
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Angela Weber was born and raised in Forks. She is the only daughter of a Lutheran minister and his wife. Her twin brothers, Joshua and Isaac, are eight years younger than she is and are very loud and demanding of attention, but Angela dotes on them. Angela’s unusual height made her self-conscious, and she developed into a shy, reserved person. She was a good all-around student and well liked despite her shyness, thanks to her kind, sweet nature. Angela started dating Ben Cheney during her junior year. She was accepted to the University of Washington, where Ben also planned to attend.

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EWTON