JasperPOV-
It had been almost 150 years since I had been back here. I stood in front of our graves under our tree, and felt my long dead heart constrict. She had died only a few years after I was bitten. I leaned down and brushed the leaves off the headstones and read hers.
Here lies,
Isabella Marie Whitlock
Loving wife and mother."
I gasped. She was a mother? Who was the father? Did she move on, or am I the father?
'No it can't be. It was only that one time. It couldn't have happened that easily, could it?' I thought sitting down fully in front of her grave.
I don't know how long I sat there looking around thinking about my love. I got up to leave a while later, could have been days, or weeks I didn't know when a glittering caught my eyes. I noticed something in our tree. I looked around before jumping in the tree.
There nestled in the branches weathered by time was a whiskey bottle. I grabbed it and I could see there was a piece of paper inside. I opened it and tipped it upside down. Two pieces of paper fell out, both with my name on them. One was faded and brittle, and the newer. I picked up the older one and unrolled it. I teared up as much as I could. It was my Iz's handwriting.
My dearest Jasper,
May 1894
If you are reading this then I was right. You are alive. I knew in my heart that you were out there somewhere and you have a good reason for not coming home to me and our daughter. Yes, she is your daughter. Her name is Alexia, named after you, Jasper Alexander. She looks so much like you. She has my eye color, your hair color and nose.
There is something I need to tell you. Do you remember Mr. Salvatore. He came to me and asked how I knew you were alive. I told him, thinking he was going to tell my father and have me committed, but he didn't. ]
He asked me what I would do to get you back. I told him that once Alexia was grown, anything. He then told me that he had been 20 for almost 50 years, and he would make me like him. I know that you probably do not approve, but trying to live without you hurts too much. I need you.
Love always,
Your Isabella.
I put the first letter down and took a deep breath. My daughter grew up without a father. What did she think of me. I was unsure if I wanted to know what was in the second letter, but I picked it up and slowly unraveled it.
MY Jasper,
If you are reading this then you have obviously think I'm dead. I'm still here though and this is my promise to you. I promise to that I will come to this place every year on the day of our wedding and I promise that I will explain everything to you when we are together again.
Yours for eternity,
Bella Whitlock.
Underneath was years written down, all the way up to last year. She came here every year just like she said she would, but I couldn't keep the promise I made to her the day I left for the war.
Flashback-
We laid there in or bed, soaking in each other's presences. I was leaving to rejoin the war in a couple of hours. We were young when we got married., but we had been courting for two years after finally confessing our feeling for each other. Our parents thought it was cute.
We laid there with her head on my chest. She curled up to my side and I could feel her bare body pressed against mine.
"Promise me something?" She whispered.
"What's that nugget?" I asked, not wanting to promise her something I could not control.
"Promise me you will come back to me?" I could hear the tears and that made my heart clench painfully. I placed my finger under her chin and tilted her face up. "I promise that I will do everything in my power to come back to you." She searched my eyes for a moment before nodding and going back to drawing shapes on my chest.
I laid my arm behind my head and just watched her, trying to memorize every aspect of her face.
'I'll come back to you Iz, no matter what.' I thought to herself, not wanting to make a promiser I might break. I never told her, but I was scared. I wanted to join the warm, but I didn't want to leave her.
I placed my finger under her chin again and kissed her lips. She kissed me back willingly me to feel as she did. I could feel her fear, but what I felt the most was her love. I pulled her impossibly closer and poured my feelings of fear, purpose, anxiety, and passion into mine.
End of Flashback
That night was the first and only time that we made love, and that resulted in the conception of our daughter.
'What else did I miss?' I closed my eyes imagining the baby Iz described. A baby with brown eyes like hers and blonde hair like mine. I felt a true smile make its way onto my face for the first time in all of these years. Only Iz could ever truly make me smile.
I don't know how long I sat there before I heard a voice.
"Kept me waiting long enough, cowboy." My eyes flew open, and I I looked at my Iz for the first time in over 150 years.
She stood there and I took the time to drink her in. From her flipflop covered feet, to her endless legs with the short shorts, and a tank top. To her brown eyes and her hair pulled back. Wait, brown eyes.
I jumped down from the tree, and slowly walked up to her. When I was right in front of her I slowly reached out my hand and lightly cupped her cheek, needing to know she was real.
"My apologies ma'am." I whispered, my southern twang coming out thick, knowing how much she used to love it when we were human. "Is it really you nugget?" She laughed, and placed her hand on my hand to keep it on her cheek, and sighing.
"Are you really here?" She laughed, and her eyes filled with tears. She pulled my head down to hers and kissed me with such passion. I pulled her flush against me and kissed her back. WE fought for dominance, but eventually broke apart and I laid my forehead against hers.
