CHAPTER 2: Familiar Strangers
Morning rolled around quicker than usual. The whole pack was anxious to find out about the oncoming tribe. What did they know that Jacob and the others didn't? They're anxiety made me nervous.
"Jacob, please stop pacing, you're making me worried." I watched as he moved restlessly across the room.
He sighed a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry. I'll try to calm down. It's just the fact that they'll be here any minute...I want to be fully prepared for their arrival, no surprises." He shook his head as he said it.
"I know everything will be fine. Just please sit down." I patted the chair next to me for him to sit down.
As he did, there was a loud rumbling sound outside, and Jacob immediately stood up. Looking out the window, I could see all these vehicles driving up the path. Jacob went out the door. This was it—the new tribe had arrived.
I followed Jacob outside as I saw people exiting their cars, introducing themselves to the Quilette people that now surrounded the area. There were so many people! I saw Jacob walk up to—what I'm guessing as—the tribe leader. He tried to avoid shaking hands at first. I saw Jacob's expression as he continued his conversation with the leader. Jacob smiled, which was a very good sign. He took the tribe leader's hand and shook it in earnest. Did they really know each other then? Did the other tribe know about the werewolf legends?
The leader asked Jacob a question, which made him look to me. I must have had a surprised look on my face because he gave me a worried look. He turned back to the man and answered his question.
When Jacob was done talking to him, he came over to me and told me, "The tribe leader's name is Andres. He says he comes from Southern Arizona, and they are very close the Spaniards there. He told me he knew about the werewolf legends, and about how some tribes inherited the trait. He also told me that he has a couple in his pack as well, but not many. Or, so he says."
"You don't trust him on that?" I asked, curiosity aroused.
"It's not that I don't trust him, I think that he's oblivious of how many he actually has. He's not necessarily the pack leader, but he runs the tribe. It's not his responsibility to know how many werewolves he has in his tribe, though it would help." He ran his fingers through his now shaggy hair.
"So, how many werewolves do they actually have?" I asked, slightly worried.
"More than us, I'm sure of that. Hopefully they don't mean to take our territory away, just a friendly visit. But you can't be too sure of their intentions. They seem nice enough." He scanned around the crowd, making sure he knew where each member of his pack was.
I wrapped my arm around his waist in comfort. He responded by putting his arm around my shoulders. He seemed to be aware of some tribe members staring at us, so he lead me back inside our little house.
The next few hours were full of commotion. The other tribe was very friendly. Many of them seemed to be trying to make a friend of everyone in the Quilette tribe. I'm sure that was a good sign, though I didn't say it out loud. Maybe it wasn't at all a good sign.
Jacob introduced me to Andres. He was very kind, but I could see resistance in his eyes. He didn't approve of Jacob marrying me, nor having his first child neither.
Jacob saw it as well, and was trying to be as polite as he could without knocking the man's face into the ground. I smiled at how hard he was trying. He was really trying to make this work.
We introduced ourselves to the other tribe members. They didn't really seem to care about who Jacob was married to. All they really cared about was making friends with us. One may put it off as too friendly, even. But I let that thought pass, and went on the others.
Sam was right. There were more males that females. A lot more. I thought he might have been blowing it way out of proportion, but he had it completely right. Out of the whole tribe, I maybe saw about a dozen or so women, and maybe half of that in children. That had to mean some of the women were not yet married. That scared me for some reason. Why did that bother me so much?
"...and this is my wife, Isabella. She is the love of my life." I snapped back to reality at the sound of my name. I looked to who he was introducing me to. It was another man.
I shook his hand and replied, "Please, call me Bella. It suits me better."
Jacob laughed, then said, "Yeah, she said her dad calls her Isabella when he's angry. So we like to keep that out of sight."
The other man laughed at this. "You know, I have a daughter named Isabella. It's much easier to call her Bella, and it almost sounds like the Spanish word for pretty."
"What's the Spanish word for pretty, if you don't mind me asking?" Jacob asked, curious.
"Bonita. Sometimes I call her that. She knows what it means, and she always asks why I didn't name her Bonita!" The man laughed hysterically.
Jacob laughed in return. "I'm gonna remember that one." He looked at me from the corner of his eye and winked.
I immediately smiled, then blushed. He's not seriously going to call me that, is he?
As it got darker, Jacob sighed and said that it was time for them to get to bed, which meant it was time for me to go to bed. He obviously thinks I need all the rest in the world all because I'm pregnant. It's sweet of him to be that worried, but it gets annoying at times.
"Jacob, please, can I stay up just this once?" I pleaded to him as he walked me to our bedroom.
"Come on, Bella. I don't want anything going wrong with you and this kid. I want you to be perfectly healthy all the way through. And if you stay up to who knows how late, you might get sick, which will make this pregnancy harder than it is. Please, just go to bed." He ran his fingers along my cheek, then kissed me sweetly. I sighed, but gave in. He was right, and he was only doing the best for me and our baby. I loved him forever more for that.
That night, I had a very strange dream. I was in a forest. It was dark and forbidding. I walked through it, scared of what lingered there. I kept glancing over my shoulder to see if I was being followed. A sudden swift of wind gave me the chills, but I kept walking. I saw a light ahead. It was small, but it was there. I headed towards it, and when I finally got to the opening, I saw our meadow. The meadow where it all really started. The light was warm on my skin, but that soon left as a huge, menacing cloud that covered the glowing sun. The meadow was dark and deserted. The flowers that were once abloom were dying before my eyes. I watched as the trees started to rot and wither away until I was the only thing left standing.
I woke up in a cold sweat, confused by dream, confused about my loneliness. Why was my dream telling me I was lonely? I was perfectly happy with Jacob.
Then it hit me: I could never be complete without Edward.
Do you like how I made Bella's dream? Please read and review! Tell me what you think! I don't mind constructive criticism!!
Oh, and I did some researching about Arizona Native American Tribes, and I found one suitable for this story. They're called the Fort Yuma-Quechan Tribe. They live in Southern Arizona, and they have they're own reservation in Yuma, Arizona. Hope you like it!