Chapter Three
The next night was the same. It was like we were developing a new routine, except this time my reluctance was genuine and Nessie's pleas were real.
In the end, though, it was Alice's advice that prompted me to tell her the beginning of the story. It was the logical place to start, and the beginning wasn't so hard to tell anyway.
"Well, Mommy and I went to the same college --"
"What college?" she immediately interrupted me. I smiled a little despite myself. She had so many questions packed in that little body of hers.
"The University of Washington. We met when I was a in my fourth year of school and Mommy was in her first. But we didn't fall in love until much after we met. You see, Mommy thought that I was a jerk, even though the first time we ever saw each other, I saved her."
"What did you save her from?"
"An even bigger jerk who was trying to pour pickle juice on top of her head."
"Why would someone try to pour pickle juice on top of Mommy's head?"
"Well, Nessie, you know how Uncle Emmett is. Sometimes he just does silly things."
"It was Uncle Emmett!" Nessie gasped, and I can't help but laugh at a combination of the memory and my little girl's reaction to the story. I couldn't have asked for a more captive audience.
"Yep, Uncle Emmett. Mommy was not happy when she turned around and saw the two of us fighting over the jar of pickle juice."
"But why did she think you were a jerk? You were being the good guy."
"Thank you, sweetheart. But Mommy thought that we were fighting over who got to pour the juice on her head. She thought we were both the bad guys, even worse because we were fighting over it. And, I don't know if I've ever told you this, Nessie, but sometimes Mommy was really clumsy, and she would trip over thin air. Anyway, after she turned around and saw me and Uncle Emmett fighting over the jar, she tripped over her own foot, and fell right into us. The juice got all over her. She was so mad that she never wanted to talk to me again."
"So how did you fall in love with each other?" Nessie asked. Obviously a petty fight amounted to a lifelong grudge in her innocent mind.
"Well, the way Mommy reacted to the whole situation made me want to know her. But because she was mad at me, she didn't want to get to know me. But I would bother her every time I could so I could get to know her a little better. I didn't realize that I was in love with her until a little while later, but she didn't fall in love with me for a long long time. You see, when we met, she was already in love with somebody else."
"What?!" Nessie was also of that innocent age where Mommies and Daddies loved only each other for their whole lives.
"Yep, so I had to convince her to love me more than she loved the other boy."
"How did you do that?" Nessie asked, her mouth hanging open wide.
"I guess you are just going to have to wait and find out later," I finished. She didn't like that answer, and gave me a pout.
"Time for bed, sleepyhead," I told her, refusing to back down. The only way I can get the whole story out there is to space it out, tell it to Nessie in digestible pieces.
I pulled back her covers, and she slipped in underneath. Before I even had a chance to kiss her on top of her head, she leaned up and kissed me on the cheek.
"I would have loved you right away, Daddy. Even if you dumped pickle juice on me." she told me before slumping back in her bed and snuggling against her pillow.
And her simple declaration of love more than made up for all the pain.
Emmett Cullen loved freshman move-in day. There was nothing quite so invigorating like the smell of fresh blood.
He meant that in a purely figurative way. Carlisle would kill him if there were any mysterious murders on the campus. Even though he would probably assume that it was Jasper, Edward would know, and he would immediately point his all-knowing finger at Emmett.
But still, so many opportunities to wreck havoc and cause minor meltdowns all over campus. Everywhere he turned, a confused new-comer trying to find their way. And he would be there, so willing to point them in the opposite direction. If Edward was around, sometimes Emmett would force him to track his victim's thoughts, so he could vicariously hear their gratitude turn to confusion turn to anger turn to embarrassment.
Today promised to be just as much fun, even if Jasper wasn't as excited as he was and Edward was glowering because he had been coerced into coming along. After manipulating and confounding the first freshman that came their way, the other two would join in his exuberance, even his uptight older brother.
After two minutes of watching students in the union center, Emmett zeroed in on his first target of the day. She was half-hidden behind a stack of textbooks that had to weight at least fifty pounds and the confused expression that she wore told him plainly that she was lost.
"Hey," Emmett muttered beneath his breath, hitting Jasper on the arm to gain his attention. Emmett wasn't sure why Jasper was so distracted today. But as soon as Emmett gave a pointed look in the girl's direction, Jasper broke out into a devious grin.
"What's the plan?" he muttered back. Emmett wasn't sure yet. Misdirection was usually his favorite tactic, and it could work well in this case too, considering that she was carrying around an extra fifty pounds of textbooks. But that was what he did always did, and he wanted something a little more... obvious.
That was when he saw the jar of pickles abandoned on one of the tables near the hot dog vendor. As soon as the thought entered his mind, Edward gave an exasperated scowl that was almost loud enough to be heard by regular humans. Sensing Edward's displeasure, the plan was fixed in his mind.
"Grab that jar of pickles." Jasper grabbed it so quickly that no one even saw him steal it. Emmett had already twisted the cap off the jar and positioned himself behind the girl before Edward intervened.
"Give me the jar, Emmett," Edward demanded in the no-nonsense tone he adopted whenever he was trying to pull the "I'm your older brother" act.
"Oh, come on, Eddie," Emmett replied with grin. "Loosen up a little." He put his hand up to pour the juice over the unsuspecting girl, who was currently hesitating about which way to go. But before he could spill even a drop, Edward's hand grabbed his wrist with a crushing strength.
"What's your problem, Edward?" Emmett growled, no longer amused by Edward's protest. He knew that he had forced Edward to come along today, but he didn't expect him to put up a fight like this over something they did every year.
"I don't mind when you tell a confused freshman to go the wrong way, but this is just mean," Edward said, making a swipe for the jar. Emmett attempted to pull it out of his brother's reach, but Edward's gift of insight made Emmett's evasion futile. But now they were on equal footing, trying to out-wrestle the other for the jar.
Something about their struggle must have alerted the girl about their presence behind her, because she whirled around with a surprising agility, considering the stack of textbooks weighing her down. What she saw the two of them, fighting over a jar of pickle juice suspended in midair, she quickly deduced what was going on, and she wasn't happy about it.
"Jerks," she muttered under her breath. It was perfectly audible to them, but it was clear that that had been her intention anyway. "So much for chivalry. Here I am, lost on my first day at a new college in a new town in a new state, and all I am to you is an easy mark for a prank," she continued in a scathing voice. "Pathetic," she finished, disgust etched in every feature of her face.
It would have been an impressive, dignified reproach had she not tripped. But as she tried to shoulder her way between the two stricken Cullens, her foot caught on the overlong hem of her pants. She thrust her hands out to break her fall, turning her textbooks into projectiles in the process. Her literature book ricocheted wildly, hitting the jar of juice that Edward and Emmett were still clenching onto. The glass shattered, spraying everything beneath it with the sickly-sweet smell of pickle juice. Unfortunately, the girl and all of the textbooks she had been carrying happened to be directly beneath it.
She gave a small, defeated laugh and threw her hands into the air. Edward let go of the fragment of glass still connecting him to Emmett and leaned down to help her gather her soggy books.
"I am so sorry--" he began, but she cut him off immediately.
"You know what, you've done enough here for one day. Just go, okay?" She gave him a piercing stare before turning back to the mess on the floor.
Not sure what to do, Edward stood back up and led Emmett, who was doubled over in laughter, away from the girl. Just before leaving the union center, he turned back to look at her one more time. She looked so small and helpless among her pile of books, and Edward felt an unfamiliar pull at his stagnant heart, almost like a forgotten, feeble beating.