I lay in bed, not sleeping, waiting for Edward to come. I looked at the clock beside my bed, moaning unintentionally as I saw that it was 10:00.
When I had come home with Shelbie from La Push we sat down at the table and waited for Charlie to come home. When he did, we all had a long talk about what was going on. Shelbie called her parents and her dad talked to Charlie for a while. Shelbie was going to go to school on the reservation on Monday; her parents would be paying for everything. I was going to share a room with her, which would put a damper on Edward's night visits, but we could work it out.
I heard the sound of the window sliding open, slowly, trying not to make to much noise. I lay there motionless, pretending to be asleep. Soft footsteps, my heart stopped then. The steps were different, the space between the steps was too short, and they were too loud on the floor. It wasn't Edward that was in my room.
I felt some pressure at the end of my bed, some one sitting and watching me.
"Hello, Isabella." Came the whisper. My heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing. I knew that voice.
"It's been a long time, Isabella. I've been watching you though. I've been protecting you, my Angelo." Alessandro whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes reluctantly; he already knew that I was awake. Ever since he had visited me the first time, I looked up what he had said to me. 'Buonanotte, cara Angelo. I'll be watching.' I shivered a bit. Alessandro tucked my faded quilt tighter around me. I shivered some more. 'Good night, my dear angel' he had said.
Alessandro brushed some hair out of my face and behind my ear. "I must leave now, Isabella. But I shall return." He bent down and kissed my cheek before whispering once again in my ear. "Be safe my Angelo. I'll be watching." He kissed me again and was gone.
I waited for a few minuets before I let the first tear fall. I sat there crying silently to myself. I felt violated and afraid. I needed to tell Edward about Alessandro. I was so deep in thought and was so intent on crying that I didn't even notice that Edward had come into the room. I was still shaky from Alessandro that when Edward was suddenly by my side I gave out a scream. The scream didn't last long; Edward's hand was over my mouth. Once I realized it was him I pulled him close to me.
"It's okay Bella. Shhh. It's alright, I'm here." He said soothingly. He waited until I was calmed down before he said anything else. "Bella, what happened?"
"Alessandro was here. In my room! He said that he was watching me; he kept calling me his angel and was kissing me. I was so afraid, I couldn't do anything! I feel violated. I'm scared Edward!" I began to cry once again.
He hugged me to him. I could feel the anger pulsing through him. It emanated from every pore in his body. "I'm sending Alice over here to stay with you. Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper and I are going to look for him." He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Alice's number. Their conversation was so brief and he talked so fast that I couldn't even catch a thing that he was saying.
"She'll be here in a minute. I'm going to wait here with you for a while." He said pulling back the quilt and crawling into bed with me. His body was cold against mine but I didn't care, it was how I knew he was there, that he was close and protecting me. Protecting me. That's what Alessandro said he was doing. What was he protecting me from? Did he know something I didn't?
I heard the sound of the window opening again and I propped myself up on my elbow. Alice danced over to me and gave me a hug. "Emmett and Jasper are waiting." She said simply to Edward. He nodded once and kissed me good-bye.
Alice sat in the rocker in the corner of my room and told me to go to sleep. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how tired I was. I soon tumbled head over heels into what seemed like the deepest sleep of my life.
When I woke Alice was still in the rocker, silently rocking back and forth. "Good morning." She said with a smile. "Shelbie already took a shower and is making breakfast, Charlie is at work. Get ready for the day and I'll "happen" to be in the neighborhood and hang out for the day." She said.
"Edward still isn't back?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"No." she shook her head.
I got up and took a shower, taking extra time to blow-dry my hair. I joined Shelbie for breakfast, not saying much. Both of us tired. There had been many tears last night when Shelbie called home. Her dad wasn't taking everything as great as her mom was.
The phone rang and I already knew who was going to be on the other end. "I'm going to your house." Alice said.
"Alright." I said before hanging up. I turned to Shelbie. "Alice is coming over."
"Aliceā¦" Shelbie said brows furrowed. "She's Edward's sister, right?"
"Right." In a few minutes Alice was knocking at the door. I opened it and she stepped inside.
She gracefully bounded over to where Shelbie sat and gave her a quick hug. "Long time no see. Nice shiner, by the way."
"Thanks." Shelbie said startled, but she quickly overcame her shock and was herself again. "Does it go well with my personality? I'm thinking about making it an all time thing. You know, ask someone to punch me. It makes me look fierce, right?" She flexed her biceps, with a tough look on her face and made a 'meow' sound.
We all laughed; even I couldn't help but giggle. Shelbie just had that kind of charm about her. You had to look really close to find any shred of proof of the storm raging within her. She hid her true feelings very well. It was one of the many things I envied about her.
"So, how is everybody else?" Shelbie said, making conversation as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"They're doing well. Emmett and Rosalie are going to be married pretty soon." She looked at me and winked, where Shelbie couldn't see. "And I'm engaged!" she held out her hand for us to examine the rock. And when I said 'rock' I meant 'ROCK'. This thing was huge. It was a large diamond in the middle, flanked by two "smaller" diamonds on each side of the brilliant gold band. The only word I could use to describe it was, to say the least, impressive.
Shelbie stared at it in disbelief, her eyes wide in wonder. "Wow." Was all she could say for a few moments. She was awed. "Put that thing away! You're blinding me with your bling!"
Alice smiled and dropped her hand to her side. "So, what are we doing today?" she asked.
Shelbie and I looked at each other and shrugged. "We didn't really plan anything." I said.
"Good, I have the sudden urge to go shopping. Let's go down to Port Angeles for the day."
After a quick call to Charlie, telling him where we were going, some time in the bathroom redoing our hair, and getting our purses stuffed with the things we needed, we were off to Port Angeles.
Shelbie was startled by how fast we were driving, but once she saw that Alice was in control, she eased her grip on her seat arm. We were soon in Port Angeles, the small sea town at the top of the peninsula.
"This is pretty cool." Shelbie said looking around. "I've never been here before."
"Alright ladies, we've got three credit cards and all day to max them out. Where do you want to go to first?"
"Um, where ever you want to, I don't really know my way around here." I said for Shelbie as well as myself.
"Let's head over here." Alice said walking away in the direction of an expensive looking store.
We looked around for a while, we all tried on a few outfits, some dresses, but didn't buy anything. Shelbie and I really didn't want to spend Alice's money. After we walked around the whole shopping district and still had nothing new to our name, Alice turned to face us.
"That's it. I bring you guys shopping and you don't buy a thing! And don't think I didn't see that you saw something you liked. Shelbie, sweetheart, you where eyeing that little red dress like a fat boy looking at a cupcake. I'm not buying anything until you guys find something you like and I can get it for you." Alice crossed her arms and looked defiant. "We'll go to Seattle if we have to."
Shelbie and I looked at each other and sighed. We'd do anything to make Alice happy, and besides, Shelbie did look really good in that dress; and I absolutely loved that grey sweater I tried on. I gave another sigh and said "alright." I'd have to distract Shelbie while Alice paid for everything. Last time I saw Alice use a credit card she signed her name as Alice Marie Durpos.
We filed back into the store and Shelbie picked out her dress and I got my sweater off of the rack. But before we could even get close to the register Alice stepped out in front of us. She had one hand on her hip and the other arm extended in front of her, making the "stop" gesture.
"Wait a minute. Bella, you need a dress too."
"Why?" I asked, bewildered.
Alice had her large beautiful smile planted on her face. It was in that moment that she looked insanely beautiful. Not just supermodel gorgeous, but angelically beautiful. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Edward's taking you to dinner. Shelbie is taking Jacob and I'm going with you guys along with Jasper."
"Whoa! Dinner at a fancy restaurant? I've never done anything like this." Shelbie's shock and excitement was clearly written on her face. I couldn't help but get excited too.
"Yep, tonight, when the boys get back, we're going to Seattle to eat." Alice's smile grew wider. "That means we have to find shoes still." She said, shoeing Shelbie off to the shoe part of the store before turning to me. "You're way behind, here, take these." She handed me two black dresses, three red and one pink to go and try on.
Alice sat down in a chair right outside the door to my dressing room and waited for me to come out and model her choices. I tried on the pink one first. While attempting to zip up the back, Alice began to talk to me through the door.
"How are you doing? You know, after last night and everything. You seemed to sleep pretty well through the rest of the night. How were you this morning?"
"I'm fine Alice." I grunted. "But I'll be even better if I could zip this the rest of the way up." I opened the door and held my hair so Alice could zip my dress closed.
She stepped back gasped and smiled. "You look amazing!" The dress was very pretty. It was light pink taffeta over pink silk. It was very well done; it didn't show too much skin and went a little bit passed my knees. It was perfect because the dress stopped a little after where my scar did that Victoria gave me, so I could sit down and it still wouldn't show and it also covered the mark she left on my shoulder. I timidly walked out of the dressing room to look at myself in the mirrors. I did look pretty, sort of.
Just then Shelbie came in with three shoe boxes under her arm. She looked me over and began to laugh. "I can't wait to see Edward keel over from a heart attack when he sees you! Kodak moment! You look hot!"
I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks so I ducked my head down. I sat there with Alice to wait and see Shelbie in her dress; we were going to be judging shoes. Shelbie came out of the room with a flourish, but she soon became self conscious. It was a red halter dress that was formfitting and kind of short. She looked really good in red, it brought out the beautiful tones of her skin. She was wearing black high-heels. She walked gracefully over to the mirrors and looked at herself with a critical eye.
"I like the shoes." She said. "I'll be as tall as Jacob in these!" She looked at herself again. "Okay, I'll still be a foot shorter, but hey, their cute."
We got dressed in our street clothes again and made our way to the counter once we picked out a pair of white shoes for me. They were heels, but still low to the ground so I didn't have to worry about being very unstable.
I distracted Shelbie while Alice paid, I caught a glimpse of the name though, Alice Louise Barker. We left for home at about 1:30, Shelbie called the front seat this time around and we made it home at a little after 2:00. Alice dropped us off, saying that she was getting all of her stuff and that we would all get dressed at my house.
"I'm pooped." Shelbie said, slumping on the couch. "I need to call Jacob and tell him to dress nice for tonight. Didn't Alice say something about leaving at 5:00?" She got back up with a grunt and called Jacob.
"Tell him to be here at a quarter till five." I stage whispered to her from the kitchen.
As soon as Shelbie hung up, Alice was at the door, her arms full. She laid down the things and told Shelbie to take a shower while she got ready. It was really all a distraction as Alice hauled in a 200 pound full length mirror. Alice snuck up to my room and literally seconds later came down in a lovely flowing black dress, her pixie like hair perfect.
Shelbie came down in sweats and a baggy T-shirt and was air drying her hair. I went into the shower next. The water was hot and relaxing, it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep standing up. When I came back down the stairs Shelbie was all ready in her dress and shoes. Her hair was slightly curly and gelled to stay that way; she had silver hoops in her ears and was wearing black eyeliner and two coats of mascara. Her black eye had magicaly disapeared. My guess was that Alice had brought out that wonderful foundation of hers. At first glance I could have sworn that Shelbie was Latino. She gave me a big toothy smile and a little finger wave.
Alice handed me my dress and told me to go upstairs and change. I came down the stairs before putting my shoes on, not wanting to risk tumbling down the stairs. I sat down in the kitchen chair that Alice had set up in front of the mirror and took the curling iron off of the floor and went to work. About an hour later, I was allowed to look in the mirror again to see Alice's handy work. She had my hair done up in beautiful waves framing my face. She had taken a decorative comb with pink and white crystals on it to hold the left side of my hair up. I was tempted, but didn't ask if the jewels on the comb were real.
Next thing we knew it was 4:45 and Jacob was at the door. Alice answered the door and paused for a beat. "Um, can I come in?"
Alice flashed her mega watt smile. "Sure." She opened the door and motioned for him to come in. Shelbie and I were leaning against the counters in the kitchen when he came in. Shelbie quickly got up and gave the momentarily stunned Jacob Black a hug.
"I start school on Monday." She announced to him happily.
"Yeah, cool." Jacob said giving Shelbie a once over, for the fourth time. His long hair was slicked back and pulled into a ponytail. He was wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks, he looked pretty dressed up, but it was still plain by comparison to what I knew Jasper and Edward would be wearing.
We soon heard another knock on the door; Alice answered and was followed into the living room by Edward and Jasper. I ducked my head down again, embarrassed about my appearance. I felt Edward's cold finger under my chin lifting my head up to look at him. "You look beautiful." He said simply, his topaz eyes blazing with intense longing.
"What?" I asked, still embarrassed.
"Nothing, except that I'm going to have to hear all the dirty little things every male in a one mile radius will be thinking of you. I want you all to myself." He kissed my neck. "I'm terribly selfish."
"I need to call Charlie and tell him what's going on." I said.
"I'll follow you, we need to talk anyway." He said leading the way to the kitchen.
I took the phone off of the charger and dialed Charlie to fill him in. "Alright, be careful. And let my conscious be your guide." He said before hanging up.
"So" I said turning to Edward, "did you find him?" I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, but it cracked anyway. Edward sighed and drew me close to him.
"We tried, we found his trail but it was very faint, then it just disappeared. We looked all over but it never showed up again. I tried Bella, I really did."
"It's fine." I lied. "Let go out and have a good time, okay?"
We all packed ourselves into the black Jag and took off for Seattle.
