I just finished packing. In my living room there were a handful of boxes. My clothes were in two suitcases sitting by the door. I did a final sweep of the apartment to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. I was moving back to my hometown, La Push. It was tiny Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest. New Orleans had many great memories for me. Everything I knew was right here. I hardly remembered what life was like back in La Push. We moved to New Orleans, when I was eleven years old. We left so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to my classmates. I came home from school one Friday, and my mom already had our bags packed. She said we were leaving the house, because it reminded her of my father. My dad was her world. I had never seen two people so much in love. My dad died in a house fire when I was nine. He was so young when he died. The whole reservation was devastated. Daddy was really active in our little community. My dad was very generous. He was the type of guy that would share his last crust of bread with you. My parents met when my mom came to La Push to do her master's thesis on tribal customs. When my father, Joseph saw her, he jumped at the chance to be her guide. He told me she was smart, funny, and she had no problem putting him in his place. She would smile and add that it didn't hurt that her legs looked great in a pair of shorts. My mom wanted to leave the rez shortly after my dad died, but my Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry talked her into staying.
When we left, I remember that everything was new and exciting to me. I missed my aunt and cousins, but I wouldn't miss the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest weather. I thrived in New Orleans. I made a ton of friends in Elementary and High School. I ran track, went to football games, met boys and did all the things normal teenage girls do. I earned a full scholarship to Grambling University. That's where I met my best friend and roommate Gina. Gina and I had been friends since freshman year. We were inseparable ever since. We both pledged Delta Sigma Theta and were line sisters. I was gonna miss my bestie. I had been through so much in those four short years. She kept me together when my world fell apart. My mom passed away six months ago after a long battle with breast cancer. Gina helped me clean up my mom's house and donated her things. The few things that I kept were packed in the boxes that were coming with me. I smiled as I thought about my beautiful mom. I picked up a picture of us from last summer. She was the color of coffee with a touch of cream. Her almond-shaped, deep, brown eyes and soft features were the ones I saw in the mirror every morning. My skin color reflected a mix of both my heritages. I'm a warm cinnamon brown, with long, black hair. My thoughts were interrupted by my cell phone.
"Hello?" I asked, picking up my phone on the first ring.
"Nala, what time does your plane arrive?" my cousin, Emily, asked.
"Noon, Em, I should be there by noon," I replied as I placed the picture in my suitcase.
"Alright, Sam and I will pick you up from the airport."
"OK, but if I don't get outta here now, I'm gonna miss my flight," I said.
"Have a safe flight we'll see you soon," Emily said as we hung up.
My cab arrived a short time later. I had already said a tearful goodbye to Gina earlier in the day. She was making sure all of my boxes were picked up by the shipping company. With any luck, my things would arrive at my new address in the next few days.
I arrived in Seattle on time, walked through the gate and made my way to baggage claim. Through the tall windows I could see that it was drizzling. I sighed. My usually wavy hair was flat-ironed straight. I knew it wouldn't be that way for long. I pulled my luggage off the carousel and noticed Sam Uley, my cousin's husband standing right outside of baggage claim. I walked toward him and saw my beautiful cousin standing behind him. Even with the long jagged scars etched across her face, she was beautiful to me. I ran over to them and was engulfed in a big hug. I backed away from my cousin when I noticed a round bump in her midsection.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
"I wanted it to be a surprise." she replied, smiling. "C'mon, we have a nice long drive ahead of us." she hooked her arm around mine. Sam grabbed the bags and we made our way to the car and began our three hour trek, back to La Push.
During our drive, Emily filled me in on what had been going on with the guys. My first cousins Leah and Seth were doing well. I knew Leah was dating a wide receiver playing for the Seahawks and that she was teaching at the tribal school. Seth was working part-time and starting his first -year internship in sports medicine. Leah's boyfriend, Isaiah, helped spark that idea. Seth was really driven. He would be the first in our family to attend medical school. I was shocked when I first heard the news. This was the kid who had to repeat tenth grade. Quil became a deputy, which made me giggle. He never seemed like the law enforcement type. Embry was a paralegal and had just started working for the only attorney in Forks. Jared and Kim just celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary. They had just brought a new house and opened a general store that sold various items including, handmade jewelry and quilts. Paul had married Jacob's sister Rachel, he was working as a prison guard and she was an emergency room doctor. They were living in Port Angeles. I was glad that everyone was doing well, but they forgot the person I wondered about the most.
"What's going on with Jacob Black?" I asked. The car became quiet for a second.
"Jake's doing OK," Emily finally said.
I had the biggest crush on Jacob as a child. I was crazy about him. He was tall, handsome and never seemed to wear a shirt. I used to draw little hearts around his name in all my notebooks. We saw each other at bonfires as kids and I would always try to get close to him. When he did notice me, he was so nice to me. I knew he didn't take me seriously, because he's five years older than me. He didn't have time to pay attention to a little kid. Jacob stayed on my mind throughout the years. I never forgot what he did for me. When I was ten, a boy in my class named, Tyler Abrams, pushed me down and started yelling at me. Jacob was walking by and saw the whole thing. He calmly walked over and gripped Tyler by his collar. He said if Tyler ever laid a hand on me, he'd tear it off. Of course Tyler ran off crying. Jacob helped me up and made sure I made it home safely. Tyler never bothered me again after that. Emily went on to say that he became the youngest chief in the history of the tribe. He recently opened up two auto repair shops. One was in Forks, and the other was in Port Angeles. His personal life was a different story. Jake never got over his first love. A girl named Bella Swan. I only heard snippets of what happened between them. Leah was quite vocal about the whole ordeal at the time. I would go to Aunt Sue's house and listen in on Leah and Seth's conversations. I remembered all her stories about the girl who stole Jacob's heart.
We pulled up to Sam and Emily's house. A small two-story home nestled in the expanse forest of redwood and cedar trees that covered the reservation. This was a home that they had built together. They had put so much work into it that it hardly looked like the house I remembered. The wooden wraparound porch had two wicker rocking chairs. Sam took my suitcases into the house as I looked around. Emily turned to me and said "Welcome home. You can stay with us as long as you like."
I smiled back at her. I couldn't believe I was finally home. I wondered if I could walk to my parent's house later. I wanted to see if it was still there.
I walked inside; hardwood floors covered the first floor. There was an overstuffed sofa and matching loveseat and the TV was tuned to some basketball game. A large dining room table with six chairs took up most of the space in the dining room. The kitchen was decorated with old country flair, complete with a checkered blue tablecloth and white cabinets. I leaned on the counter watching Emily move around.
"I'm cooking a big dinner tonight. Everyone will be here including Seth and Leah."
I raised an eyebrow at the mention of my first cousin's name. Leah had hated Emily. She blamed her for stealing Sam. When they were teenagers, they were so close. My visits to Aunt Sue's house, as a child were so fun. Leah would let me dress up in her clothes and use her make-up. Then Emily would come over and we would bake cookies. Sam would come to the house and hang out with us. Then something changed, the year I turned ten. Leah and Emily stopped talking. Sam didn't come to see Leah anymore. Then Uncle Harry had a heart attack. After her dad died, Leah started having trouble controlling her anger. She would snap at the slightest things. Leah left La Push for a couple of years. She bounced around a few cities, finally settling in Seattle. When she came back, she had a degree in education. She took a job teaching fourth graders at the tribal school. I wasn't sure if she was still angry at Emily. They hardly spoke to each other at my mom's funeral.
"Leah's coming?" I asked, confused.
"Yes. Isaiah can't come, because he's out of town on business, but she'll be here."
"OK, what time?"
"About six," she replied as she started cooking.
"How many months are you?" I asked, helping her take veggies out of the fridge.
"I'm five months," she said, automatically touching her belly.
"Do you know what you're having?"
"Not yet, but Sam thinks it's a boy," she stated, smiling.
At six o'clock, people started to arrive at the house. I came down the stairs and saw Embry and Quil had already arrived. My little cousins were there as well. Twelve year old, Claire and her sisters, Lilly and Star. I gave them all hugs. The first thing I noticed was Embry and Quil both looked like they hadn't aged a day since I left.
"Dang girl, you filled out," Quil said. I blushed.
"Thanks, Quil," I replied, as I playfully hit him on his arm.
We laughed. I spent some time catching up with them. Leah and Seth came in and Seth picked me up and swung me around. When he finally put me down, I gave Leah a big hug. She turned and waved at Emily.
"I missed you guys!" I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.
"I can't believe how tall you got since the last time I saw you," Seth replied
"Aww, Sethy, you just saw me a couple of months ago," I said. Embry and Quil started laughing at Seth's nickname.
"Do you have to call me Sethy in front of the guys?" he asked.
"Yup. If they can talk about how much I 'filled out' then I can call you, Sethy," I replied laughing.
"Fair enough," Seth said.
"We have a lot of catching up to do. You wanna go to lunch tomorrow?" Leah asked.
"Sure, call me and let me know what time," I said.
Jared and his wife Kim walked in. They said their hellos and walked to the back of the house where Sam and Emily were. Soon the house was filled with family. They made the house seem smaller than it already was. Emily announced that it was time to eat. I waved to Paul who waved back as he made a beeline to the kitchen. Shaking my head, I turned around and walked smack into Jacob Black.
"Sorry," I said mortified.
"It's all right; welcome back, Nala," Jake said. He held his arms out for a hug and I hugged him quickly, hoping he wouldn't see that I was blushing.
I felt weak when he smiled. He had such a pretty smile. He smelled so good and it felt wonderful to be in his arms. "Whatthehellwaswrongwithme?" I thought. I couldn't still have a crush on him? Not after all these years. I must say the years had been good to him. Jake was wearing a white t-shirt that accentuated his muscular frame and a pair of denim shorts that showed off his calves. I was never into a guy's legs, but his were beautiful. I had to walk away before I embarrassed myself any further. I excused myself to eat and ended up just pushing the food around on the plate. I watched him sit next to Emily at the dining room table and I caught myself looking at him again as he ate and talked. "You'rebecomingastalker," I thought. To look busy, I got up and began cleaning up. As soon as Em saw me she shooed me away.
"Enjoy yourself. I got this," she said.
Before I could even protest, I was pushed out the kitchen. Everyone had split into groups in the living room. I walked over and sat next to Seth on the steps. The guys were teasing Seth about not having a girlfriend.
"I'm picky!" he shouted.
"You are not! You just don't want to settle down," Jared said.
"He's become the town whore. There's nobody that Seth doesn't want. If she has a pulse and boobs, she's Seth's type," Paul added. Rachel smacked him on the back of the head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Paul asked
"Watch your mouth, there are kids in here," Rachel said, pointing to Claire sitting in the corner.
"She can't hear me. She hasn't taken off those damn ear buds since we got here,"
Paul said. We looked over and saw that Claire was still playing with her IPod.
"Watch it, Paul," Quil warned.
"Weren't we talking about Seth?" Paul asked, ignoring Quil.
"What the hell, man? One of these days you're gonna catch something,"
Embry stated.
"I'm careful. Well at least I'm not a terminal bachelor like the rez's own Bruce Wayne!" Seth exclaimed pointing to Jacob.
The room erupted in laughter. Jake grabbed Seth into a headlock.
"Take that outside," Emily shouted.
They stopped playing around and soon the topic changed to sports and town gossip. At eleven everyone was heading home. I hugged everyone goodbye and stood on the porch with Sam and Emily talking to the stragglers. We finally said goodnight to everyone and went inside and upstairs to bed.
I lay in bed, tangled in the sheets and looking up at the ceiling. I knew I wasn't going to sleep any time soon. I got up and put some flannel pajama bottoms on, slipped on my slippers and a hoodie. I grabbed my sketch pad and headed for the front porch. I walked outside and flipped on the porch light. I couldn't see anything beyond the driveway. The trees swayed in the night breeze and the air was cool and damp. I sat on the steps and began to sketch. The moon was full and there were thousands of stars in the sky. I thought back to the nights my dad and I would sit under the stars. He would grab a huge blanket and put it out on the front lawn. We would sit out there and talk for hours. Just beyond the trees, something moved. I gasped, stood up and looked.
"Who's there?" I yelled into the darkness
"What are you still doing up?" I relaxed immediately. The voice was familiar.
"Jake! You scared me half to death. Everyone's asleep and I don't want Emily to be worried."
"Trust me, Sam knows you're out here," Jake said as he walked towards me.
Even in the dark, with only the porch light, I could see his beautiful face. He walked up the steps and sat in one of the rocking chairs. I took the other. He picked at something invisible on his shorts, then turned and looked at me.
"Hey, I wanted to say I'm sorry about your mom. Emily told me she was fighting real hard at the end."
"Yeah, she was a fighter," I replied.
"So why'd you come back here? If you don't mind me asking?"
"To visit my family before I go on to graduate school. I've got big plans."
"Well I'm glad you're not staying here too long. This place can limit you sometimes. It's not a bad thing per se. It's just that I've seen people be held back because they're afraid of the unknown out there," he said.
"What happens here besides rain?" We laughed.
"How did you like Louisiana?" he asked.
"Well it was a lot hotter there, so it took a while to get used to the heat. I liked hanging out with my friends. The streets during Mardi gras, the food and the music. I'm gonna miss my Sorors." I stared up at the stars.
"You were in a sorority?" he questioned.
"Yeah, Delta Sigma Theta," I smiled putting my hands up, palms facing out forming a triangle showing him the Delta hand sign. "I miss the parties. The step shows… the guys."
"All right, I get it. I hope you accomplish all your big plans Nala," he said as he patted my hand, holding it for a minute.
"Thanks for sitting with me. I've been having trouble sleeping lately," I added
"No problem, I know how that feels." he chuckled and stood up "You should go back into the house. I won't have Em on my back because I kept you out late."
"I think I'm old enough to be out on the porch."
"Well, I'm gonna go home and go to sleep," he said, hugging me.
"Good night, Jake," I called to him as he walked away.
"Good night, Nala."