Chapter 2
Rated M
Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer.
As the family pulled into the driveway of their home, Jacob sighed with relief. The first ¾ of the ride had been quiet and relaxing. The last two hours had been hell on wheels, literally. Hope was tired of riding in the car, so she started asking Ryker thousands of questions. They ranged from simple things like, "Can I have a drink?" to "why are you blinking?" Ryker quickly tired of the annoying game and started hollering at his sister. Danni started getting on the kids and finally 10 minutes ago they both fell asleep.
He shifted the Pathfinder into park and turned off the ignition. Glancing over he realized that Danni had also dozed off. Carefully, he carried each of the kids into the house and placed them on the couch to finish their nap. It was not quite bedtime and he knew to let sleeping dogs lie. Last, he pulled Danni from her seat and raised her up to his face, where he placed light kisses on her cheek. A smile broke out on her face and she reached out to wrap her arms around Jacob's neck.
"Put me down so I can help unload the truck," she answered through her sleepy yawn. Jacob put her down but placed a kiss on her lips before turning to unload their bags. Vacations were fun but the returning home and cleaning up really sucked.
They hefted all of the bags into the house and garage. Danni sorted out all of the dirty laundry and groceries, while Jacob laid the tent out on the garage floor to dry out before putting it back into storage.
At bedtime, the kids were still sacked out on the couch, so Jacob and Danni worked together to get them both into pajamas and into bed.
"Want to take a shower with a hot, sexy guy?" Jacob asked suggestively.
"Mmm. Yes, I do. Have you seen one?" Danni answered playfully.
"Oh, that's it! I'm gonna get you now!" Danni turned and ran from Jacob, squealing lightly. They filled the bathroom with light laughter as they both stripped of their dirty clothes. Jacob turned the shower on and stepped into the water. Danni joined him after the temperature was just right.
While Danni had her head tilted back, her hands running through her hair to get it all wet, Jacob stepped closer and lightly touched the tips of her perky nipples. She jerked her arms down involuntarily at the surprise and laughed.
"Turn around," he said, huskily. Danni stood while Jacob carefully washed her hair, making sure to massage her scalp as well. It was so relaxing, Danni wobbled a little. "Careful."
Jacob turned her body back toward the water and helped her to rinse all of the shampoo out. When she stepped out of the water to put conditioner in her hair, Jacob stepped in to get himself washed. Danni grabbed the sponge and squirted some body wash onto it, then began giving Jacob's body a thorough cleaning.
Afterward, they stood in the bathroom and dried each other's bodies with the soft towels. Jacob pulled her robe from the back of the door and wrapped it around her body before giving her a kiss from the bottom of his heart. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest and was thankful after all of these years together, he could still get her worked up with just a kiss.
"Let's go to bed," he whispered. They laid together in bed and Jacob showed his wife what a wonderful husband he could be. Then he joked with her, "Aren't you glad you didn't invite that guy over after all?"
"I love you, Jake," she leaned up to kiss him. The entire family slept peacefully that night in their comfortable beds, happy to be home.
The next morning, Jacob announced that after breakfast he was going in to check on the store. He and Paul had opened a furniture store together. Although, they did well, it was a lot of work. They bought furniture from local craftsmen, but made some of it also. Jacob hadn't taken a vacation in years, but Paul had assured him everything was fine. Now that he was back, he wanted to stop in and check everything out for himself.
It must have been the leftover alpha in him, but he still felt the need to assess things for himself even if he delegated out jobs. It used to annoy the hell out of Paul, but he finally just accepted that was how Jacob was built. He was never a jerk about things, he only needed to oversee things.
As Jacob drove to the store, his mind raced back to the past. He hadn't phased in years, there hadn't been a need. The Cullen's had been living in Forks but once the new pack began phasing, Carlisle suspected their presence had triggered it and packed his family up and moved out of town. Unfortunately, the gene had been jumpstarted, and Jacob, Sam, Paul, Embry, Jared and Quil had already all phased. They ran patrol for a couple of years only running across old scents and never running into any Cold Ones.
Sam, Jared and Quil had all imprinted and Jacob hoped that by giving up the wolf, he would never imprint. Before he and Danni married, he told her the entire truth. He didn't know if he would imprint, but he told her that he'd do everything in his power to stop it. She told him that she trusted him and she had faith in their love.
The truck pulled smoothly into Jacob's reserved parking space at the back of the store. He took his keys out and entered through the back door. He could hear Paul talking to some of the employees about how he wanted things arranged on the sales floor and being careful not to "scratch shit up." Jacob shook his head. Paul never did learn how to stop cussing.
"Hey, dude," he said, as he walked up behind his brother-in-law.
"Hey, bro! Welcome back!" Paul smiled, as he reached out and slapped Jacob on the back. "How'd the trip go? You all have fun?"
"Like Danni didn't text Rachel the entire time we were gone, so I know you know how it went," he chuckled.
"Well, what did you want me to say? Did you have fun after you slipped and fell on your ass? By the way, that was a great picture. One for the history books," Paul had waited 10 seconds longer than Jacob figured he would to make fun of him.
"Shut up. I was trying to keep Hope from falling in. Better me than her," Jacob retorted.
"Yeah, whatever excuse you got. The wolf has clearly left your body without looking back, Grace!" Paul teased.
"Don't worry, Paul. We both know I could take you, human or not," Jacob's eyes danced as he remembered the time he caught Rachel and Paul making out, and the fight that ensued after Jacob yelled at him for kissing his sister.
"I hear ya. So anyway, hate to change the subject and all, but I got a phone call about some new furniture I thought you'd want to check out," Paul said, as he walked over to his desk and grabbed a post it off the computer screen to hand to Jacob.
Jacob glanced at the Forks address and figured he'd give the guy a call and go see it after lunch. It was his last day with Danni before she headed back to school and he didn't want to spend the whole day working.
"Rachel said you could drop the kids off to play if you wanted," Paul called out as Jacob headed back to his office. He looked through the sales reports left on his desk. They weren't turning a huge profit, but they were making enough to support their employees and their families. Last, he looked through the custom orders and saw that he and Paul were going to work on a china cabinet and some bookcases for a client.
"Heading out," Jacob said, as he walked with the file in his hand.
Danni and the kids were waiting when he pulled into the drive, ready to head out. They opened the doors and climbed in the truck. Danni buckled Hope into her car seat, while Ryker buckled in to his booster seat.
"I can't wait to go see Aunt Rachel!" Hope cheered.
As they drove into Rachel and Paul's driveway, his sister walked out onto the porch and waved, holding her young son in her arms. She shifted him onto one hip and waved to her brother's vehicle.
They parked and unloaded the kids. Inside, they sat down and talked for a bit about their vacation with Rachel, the kids playing in Will's room.
"Thanks so much for taking the kids for a bit," Jacob said. "We're going to stop buy a customer's house in Forks and then get some lunch. We won't be out too long."
"No worries. Will takes a nap after lunch, so the kids and I will do something quiet til you get back," she smiled.
"All right. See you later, Rach," Danni said, as they walked out the door.
"What are we going to look at?" she asked Jacob as she climbed into the front seat.
"Some guy has some antique furniture he wants to sell," Jacob shrugged. There was a lot of business for selling antiques, but he didn't buy fixer uppers. He had enough work with custom furniture and running the store. He only bought stuff that was in condition to sell. They told people this when they called, but their standards often varied from his.
They enjoyed each other's company in silence, the occasional interruption from the GPS giving directions to the address Jacob had typed in.
A white two story house sat on the road and Jacob glanced at the house to make sure the house address matched. He didn't want to get out at the wrong house. The curtains slipped back over the window, Jacob saw, but he couldn't see anyone looking out the white lace.
Danni opened her door and headed out to the gravel driveway. She turned around to look for Jacob. He stepped up beside her and led the way to the door. He rang the bell and waited for someone to answer.
An older gentleman, in a Forks Police uniform answered the door. He had black hair and matching moustache. When Jacob glanced at his eyes, he thought the man looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in years. He took a deep breath of a scent coming out of the house. It caught him off guard, but it was like a nice, light floral perfume. Oddly, he felt his wolf stir a little for the first time in nearly 10 years. It was strange, but he shrugged it off and got down to business.
"Hi, I'm Jacob Black, and this is my wife, Danni. We're here to check out the furniture," Jacob reached out to shake the man's hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Charlie Swan. Please come in. I'll show you what I called about," Charlie backed into the house, opening the door wider for the couple to enter.
Jacob glanced around the room and noted the mixed arrangement of furniture. Some of it was crappy and falling apart, but there were some nice pieces mixed in as well. They followed Charlie up the stairs to the master bedroom. He showed them a bedroom suite. Jacob asked if he could open the drawers and look at it. Charlie just nodded his silent assent.
"This is beautiful furniture, Charlie. You're very lucky to have it," Jacob rubbed his neck. "I'm going to be honest when I say, I don't think you should sell it. It's very valuable."
"I thank you for your honesty, Jacob. Unfortunately, I've got to let this go. I need the money to cover hospital bills for my daughter. This furniture has been in my family for a long time, but I think they'd understand, I need to sell it," Charlie answered, his weariness evident.
"I don't have the kind of cash it would take to buy this from you. However, I know a lot of people in the business, and I could help you sell it for a small commission," Jacob offered. Overall, he was glad this guy had called him. He didn't think there was any way the man had any idea of the tremendous value and someone of lesser character would've taken advantage of someone in such a bind.
"Whatever you can do. I've exhausted my insurance and my girl needs to be taken care of," he sniffled as he wiped his nose on the back of his arm.
Danni walked over tentatively and wrapped her arms around the man. "I'm sorry about your daughter."
He lightly hugged her back, before taking a step back and holding his hand out to Jacob. They shook on the agreement and Jacob went out to the truck to grab a camera to take quality photographs to list the furniture for sale. Once it sold, he and Paul would come back to pack it up.
Once he finished with the photographs, he met Danni and Charlie downstairs in the kitchen. He smiled at his wife, who had made herself completely at home in this man's kitchen and was pouring two mugs of coffee. She glanced up at him and smiled. She was a nurturer, she couldn't help it.
They sat down at the table while the two drank their coffee. Charlie opened up a little about his daughter who had been in the hospital for a couple of months and the doctors weren't sure if she was going to survive. He said his ex-wife had taken off years ago, and had no idea of their daughter's plight. It really was a sad story.
Jacob promised he would get working on the furniture sale that night and he was sure that someone would buy it quickly.
As they walked out the front door, Danni pointed out a picture of a pretty young woman, with long brown hair, curled gently around her face. She was smiling widely with her arm wrapped around her father, wrapped in a dark green graduation gown. It was shocking how much older Charlie looked in the present compared to the photograph on the table. Danni raised her eyebrows at Jacob, conveying her shock in the change of the man. Jacob felt that stirring again, and ignored it as he stepped out on the front stoop.
After they promised to be in touch, they drove the short distance to the diner in Forks to have lunch before heading back to pick the kids up. Lunch was quick and they talked about the furniture pieces. Jacob said he'd have to call some people he knew from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to sell it for top dollar. Ideally, for Charlie, there'd be a bidding war over the valuable pieces of early American furniture. Jacob paid for their food and they headed back to the truck to pick up their children.