"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related."
"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins—the blondes—and they're foster children."
I did the math in my head. "They look a little old for foster children."
Jessica had done a little math of her own. "They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight."
"With her?" I said with a raised eyebrow.
Jessica chuckled nervously. "Ha ha, no I don't think so. She's their aunt, or something like that."
I settled down. "That's really kind of nice—for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."
"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.
Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. They continued to look at the walls and not eat.
"Have they always lived in Forks?"33 I asked. Surely I would have noticed them on one of my summers here, unless they avoided summers, or sunlight, or something, for some reason.
"No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."34
33. A town where even non-traditional vampire families could comfortably reside without persecution.
34. A barren state where even undesirable people are paid to live.