* * *
Just a few days before Christmas. It was our first trip home to Forks, Washington, since our move to Dartmouth.
We had left the previous spring and had settled into our university routine quickly. Even with Edward’s long hours at the hospital, we had plenty of time together. It was amazing how much time we had without the need for sleep and only hunting every other week. Nessie ate more often, but Jacob handled her meals. I took night classes through the spring and summer. Edward’s residency wouldn’t let him off for the summer, anyway.
The classes in the fall weren’t as tricky. I could be out during the day with a hooded sweater or coat and gloves without attracting too much attention. I found if I was one of the last students in class, sat at the back of the class, and left first, I didn’t have too many problems with the other students. I was much too attractive to be ignored, so it was easier to just limit interactions.
Billy and Charlie were satisfied with their weekly calls, and I was careful to keep Renée updated with a daily email. We hadn’t told Renée about Nessie.
It was hard to keep her a secret from my mother, but we figured we’d tell her about the “adoption” we sprang on Charlie when Nessie had reached her full growth. Renée hadn’t seen me since my transformation into a vampire, and I wasn’t sure I would ever be at a point where I could see her. She was pressing me hard for a visit though, and I knew she missed me.
The Cullens dropped by regularly. Flight fares were never a problem. Sometimes we saw them a couple of times a week. They didn’t mind taking the puddle jumper to Lebanon, so it was a short drive to pick them up. Rosalie, the most stunningly beautiful blond I’d ever met, adored Nessie.
Her visits often stretched into weeks. Emmet, Rose’s dark-haired bear-like husband, and Jacob enjoyed hunting together, and Rose kept Nessie entertained. Jacob didn’t get many breaks with both Edward and I so busy, so he enjoyed their visits.
The rivalry between him and Rose sometimes got tense. They couldn’t stand each other but were tolerant since Nessie loved them both.
I smiled at the memory of Charlie’s excited call. It had been Thanksgiving. Jacob answered the phone, “Hi, Charlie. Sure. She’s right here.” He handed the phone to me, a question in his eyes.
I could tell from Charlie’s voice that he was nervous about something. He was usually confident, self assured. “Umm, Bells?”
“Yeah, Dad?” I could hear the intake of Charlie’s breath. He could never quite get used to my new musical voice.
“I have some news for you… I hope it’s good.” He rushed through the next sentence, sounding worried, “Sue and I are getting married the day after Christmas. We’d like you to come out for the ceremony.”
Well. This isn’t entirely unexpected, I thought.
Dad and Sue had been an item since Nessie’s birth. Sue was a member of the Quileute tribe council and the mother of two shape shifters, Seth and Leah, who were both members of Jacob’s wolf pack.
She understood weird in a way most humans couldn’t. Charlie had been her husband’s best friend, and it was Harry’s funeral that had led Edward to mistakenly believe I had committed suicide by throwing myself off a cliff. I shuddered at the thought. I’d almost lost Edward to the Volturi then. I don’t want to face that possibility again.
I suppressed a sigh. Christmas travel can be tricky. I don’t like the possibility of ice on the airplane wings. Travel from the East Coast during the winter wasn’t something I really wanted to do. Edward and I would survive anything—including an airplane crash, and I was sure Jacob could, too, but I worried about Nessie.
I had some small inkling of how Edward felt about me when I was mortal. Worrying about Nessie had become like breathing—not that I needed to breathe, exactly. She was so divinely beautiful, so innately good, and so frighteningly mortal.
Everyone she met—human and vampire alike—fell in love with her.
Well, almost everyone. I don’t think she has that kind of impact on Aro. He is like an unfeeling but thinking virus ready to suck the life out of any living thing he touches to feed his own endless need to survive.
“Dad,” I hoped he could hear the happiness in my voice, “we’d love to come. Who will be there?”
“It’s just going to be a small affair—nothing big. You know how I hate parties. We were thinking of inviting Sue’s kids,” I briefly wondered, How are Seth and Leah taking the news? “Billy, Rachel, and Jacob, Paul, Quil, Embry, the Cullens, Deputy Mark and his wife, and Renée and Phil, of course.”
I groaned inwardly. How can he do this? He’s the one who told me not to let Renée know about the new me. He knows I really don’t want to have Renée see me like this. But their relationship had warmed over the past year. I have a suspicion Sue played a big part in that one. She was a strong woman, felt strongly about family ties, and wasn’t the type to feel threatened by Charlie’s ex. I sighed in frustration.
Charlie must’ve heard my sigh, but he continued without a pause, “Alice was here the day I proposed and volunteered the Cullens’ home for the wedding. She’s so persuasive, I—we,” he corrected himself, “Sue and I couldn’t say no. I don’t know how Alice does it, but she always pops up at the most opportune time.” I smiled. Knowing Alice, she knew about Charlie’s proposal before he did.
Her ability to see the future comes in handy. She did such a spectacular job on my own wedding, I’m sure she’ll make this one just as memorable. Hopefully, she’ll tone it down quite a bit. It is, after all, a second wedding for both.
Charlie continued, “We’ve asked Billy to perform the wedding.” I remembered back to a time when his solemn recitation of the Quileute history had touched a very human Bella and knew his resonating voice would do justice to the simple ceremony. Even though his aging body was confined to a wheelchair, he carried all the dignity of a long line of chieftains.