Relationship

When vampires in the Twilight series fall in love, they don't fall out of love. The love relationships that they share with their 'mates' are therefore extremely important to them. This is the story of how Esme and Carlisle's relationship formed. It should be noted that this was compiled both from the books and from Stephenie Meyer's personal correspondence at the Twilight Lexicon.

First Meeting (1911)

After living almost 300 years on his own, Dr. Carlisle Cullen's life took a different turn when he met a sixteen year old patient in a small hospital in 1911. Esme Anne Platt had managed to fall when climbing a tree on her family's farm, located on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. As the local doctor was away at the time, her family brought her to the Columbus hospital to have her broken leg treated. Unfortunately, Carlisle and Esme were not able to get to each other better at this point; Carlisle was already pretending to be 35 and needed to move on.

The pair didn't fall in love at this first brief meeting, but Esme "never got over the experience" of meeting Carlisle. Moreover, given Carlisle's actions when he found Esme a decade later, it is clear that she made a strong impression on him at this first meeting as well.

Separate Lives (1911 – 1921)

Shortly after his departure from Columbus, Carlisle took up a position at a hospital in Chicago. While he was in Chicago, an influenza epidemic broke out in the city. It was during this time that he was introduced to the Masen family who had all been struck down with the flu. The father of the family died first and the mother, Elizabeth Masen, died soon afterwards. Prior to her death, however, Elizabeth demanded that Carlisle save her son, Edward, in the way that "others cannot". She didn't know that Carlisle was a vampire but she did feel that there was something "supernatural" about him. Given that loneliness had prompted Carlisle to consider creating a companion for himself in the decades leading up to this point, he followed through with Elizabeth's wishes and saved Edward's life by changing him into a vampire. Soon after these events, Carlisle and Edward moved on to Ashland, Wisconsin.

As for Esme, in the years that followed her brief meeting with Carlisle in 1911, she desperately wanted to fall in love but she was unable to find another man who "measured up" to Dr. Cullen. Indeed, by 1917 when she was 22, she had decided to live a solitary life as a school teacher, moving out West on her own. Her father, however, wasn't supportive of this desire; Stephenie Meyer has said that he "didn't think it was respectable for a lady to live alone in the wilds". He instead pressured her to marry Charles Evenson, the son of a well-to-do family friend. Due to her father's pressure and the fact that she wasn't overtly opposed to Charles, Esme agreed to marry him, obviously hoping that the love she desired would develop over time.

Esme had been horribly misguided; upon marriage, she discovered that Charles was abusive. Immediately after this discovery, she went back to her parents but they counselled her to stay with him and stay quiet. Sparing Esme from a difficult decision in the short term, Charles was drafted to fight overseas in World War I shortly after these events. In 1919, however, he returned and was more terrifying than before. When Esme fell pregnant in the months that followed, she knew that she had to escape – there was no way that she would bring a child into that home.

She ran away to the home of a second cousin but had to move to Wisconsin when her whereabouts were leaked to her parents. Once there, she lived in a small community outside of Ashland, pretending to be a war widow and working as a school teacher to support herself. By this stage, she had essentially lost everything in her life but she was staying strong for her unborn baby who she loved dearly. Tragically, however, he died of a lung infection only a few days after he was born and it was at this point that Esme lost the will to live. She jumped off a cliff just outside of Ashland.

Second Meeting (1921)

When she was found at the base of the cliff, Esme was taken directly to the Ashland hospital morgue. Miraculously, however, her heart was still beating and unknown to her, the Doctor she had never forgotten was working night duty at the hospital she was taken to. Carlisle found her in the morgue and, remembering her from their first meeting, he reacted on impulse, not wanting her to die. Although Esme didn't take to her new lifestyle as easily as some of the others who would eventually join her family (e.g., Emmett), she wasn't unhappy to discover that Carlisle had changed her into a vampire. Rather, she was grateful that she was finally able to be with the man of her dreams.

It is unclear how long it took the pair to fall in love but we do know that their relationship formed "quickly and easily".

Happy Ending (1921 – Forever)

Esme and Carlisle married early in their relationship, at which Esme wore a "very traditional ornate lace-and-orange-blossoms" wedding dress. Esme also devoted herself to Carlisle's lifestyle. Her ability to love passionately, which was accentuated by becoming a vampire, helped her to stay true to her new husband's chosen way of life. This may have also been assisted by the fact that the most prominent facet of their relationship is their deep spiritual and intellectual connection. It should be noted that it is implied within the books that Esme did 'slip up' at some point but obviously her relationship with Carlisle helped to strengthen her resolve.

In the years that followed their marriage, Esme pretended that Edward was her younger brother. As more vampires joined their family, it became necessary for Esme and Carlisle to take on a parenting role despite their obvious youth (Carlisle is physically only 23 while Esme is 26). This suited their personalities quite well, however, as Esme never lost her maternal instinct. Indeed, when describing his family, Edward wrote in Midnight Sun, page 78: "If Carlisle was the soul of our family, then Esme was the heart. He gave us a leader who deserved following; she made that following into an act of love."