He came out of the forest, slowly at first, as if to check that the way was clear, but then moved faster as he saw that the playground was deserted. He moved fast and silently, like a ghost, stopping only when he found what he was looking for. Instinct told him that this was dangerous, but longing pushed him on, made him slip through the window. She was as beautiful as ever. He watched, and waited, hoping that he might hear her voice once more, even if she was asleep. But there was nothing. Bella lay peacefully, silently, no longer wrestling with nightmares as she had all those years ago. He hovered near the window, ready to leave at a second's notice, unable to tear his eyes away, to miss a second. He heard a sound and left, swiftly. Back to the woods, to hide and to watch. Just one more day, he told himself, but deep down he knew he would not, could not, leave until he had spoken to her one last time and satisfied himself that she was happy.
Bella sat in the garden, watching the children play together. Seth and Embry, 5 and 3 respectively, were making a den out of a hollow oak tree that Jacob had cut a hole in for them to use as a door. Bella hadn't trusted it at first, and had begged Jacob to block it off, and save it for when they were older, but he had gently refused her, and she had relented. Bella was 25 now, and Jacob 24, although they still kept their joke about age – it was childish, to keep a joke for that long, but Bella liked it. It was a good life, she reflected, as she watched her children play together. They had their father's eyes.
Jacob, indoors, saw a figure heading for their house. A horribly familiar figure...but no, it couldn't be. Edward would not return to torment Bella after all these years. Would he?
Bella looked away from her children to see someone at the gate. A lanky boy with untidy, bronze-coloured hair, curiously golden eyes and skin that was unnaturally pale. He seemed a little familiar. She rose to greet him, and paused. There was something...almost threatening about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Seth, Embry," she called her children to her reflexively, to keep them safe. The children ran over to her. "Go inside," she told them, "you can watch tv for half an hour." Delighted, the children rushed inside. Their mother never allowed them to watch television during the day, especially not when it wasn't raining.
Bella raised her eyes to meet the stranger's.
"Bella," he murmured, a strange yearning in his voice. The fog that had covered her memory of her adolescent years began to clear.
Then there are the stories about the cold ones
She shook her head hard, to clear it. She was an adult now, she couldn't believe in fairytales.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked the boy.
"My name is Edward Cullen," he said, "We were at school together,"
Memories, again, like echoes, trying to break down her barrier between the past and the present, between reality and dreams. Then Jacob was in front of her, his hands at Edward's throat.
"Jacob, he's a guest," Bella reprimanded him.
"He's no guest, Bella, he just wants to hurt you again,"
"Again?"
if she stopped looking for him, it was over...tripped...stayed down...curled up on the wet bracken...nothing left in her to upset...
"Let him talk, Jacob," said Bella, giving in as she realised that the barrier was crumbling, and this would be the easiest surrender. Jacob looked doubtful, but released Edward.
"Bella," he said again, "I...I'm so, so sorry," he paused, unsure of what to say, "I shouldn't have left you. It...hurt too much...for both of us," Bella looked up, startled, as his words burst the floodgates. She remembered everything. And she wasn't ready to forgive.
