Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all. All credit goes to her for the lines utilized from her books.
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CHAPTER 3: CHICAGO
Aunt Alice expertly landed the G550 into the Signature Flights private hub of O'Hare airport on time. Her weather predictions had been spot-on. It was gray and cloudy, a quintessential September day in Chicago.
"Shopping shoes on, ladies?" Aunt A was pumped for some real shopping in a major city.
"I'm not sure what qualifies as 'shopping shoes,' but I'm wearing shoes, and we're going shopping," Mom said sarcastically. This was going to be painful for her.
"Good enough!" Aunt A was practically floating.
As soon as we de-planed, a black limo pulled up. The tall, slim and wrinkled chauffeur stepped out of the car, tipped his hat and smiled a crooked-toothed smile. He had obviously been a sun worshiper in his youth. He seemed to be in his mid-fifties, but his tanned leathery skin looked about ten years on top of that. "Good morning, Ladies. My name is Lionel. Please, whatever you need today, let me know. I will take excellent care of you ladies." His voice was soft and endearing especially when mixed with his obvious Chicago accent. He seemed to be one of those people in the mid-west that were born and raised in the same city where he'd lived their whole life, never wanting to move away. I liked that about him. He seemed content.
Alice glided toward him with a perfect smile. "Lovely to meet you, Lionel. Were you given our itinerary for the day?"
"Yes, ma'am. I see that shopping on the beautiful Michigan Avenue is our main activity for the day, then to the Elysain Hotel for the night. Tomorrow, I will pick you up from the hotel at three-forty-five and bring you back to the Signature hub for your departure time of five o'clock. Does this suit you ladies?"
"Wonderful, Lionel, thank you," Aunt Alice said as she reached a gloved hand out to him holding a one hundred dollar bill. Aunt Alice was an excellent tipper. Wherever she traveled, like most of my family, to hand out as tips, she had a roll of one hundred dollar bills five inches thick in her purse.
He opened the door of the limo, and one by one, we climbed inside. Usually limos weren't our style. Aunt A thought they were a bit tacky, so we usually took Town Cars or some sort of luxury SUV, but since there were three of us and we were no doubt going to have a few packages, a limo seemed to be the sensible option. As Lionel closed the door behind us and hurried over to the driver's side, Aunt A pressed the button to raise the partition for added privacy.
"Perfect weather today, huh?" I said as I peered out the tinted window at the clouds.
"Couldn't be better!" My aunt said as she and my mother pulled their gloves off daintily, finger by finger almost in unison.
"Sixty degrees and cloudy, we can't ask for much better than that." My mom chimed in.
"My party was so fun last night, Aunt Alice. Thank you. Really, you made it perfect. It was exactly what I wanted." I turned to her in our seat and gave her a hug.
"The Draculadies were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. I can't believe how quickly you guys got my Valley of the Dolls turn! I thought it would have been impossible! I just kept pretending to pop pills after you knew that it was a book. We're a great team," Aunt Alice said to my mom and me.
"So, the plan is to work our way north." It seemed that Uncle Jasper's military tactics had worn off on my aunt. She was approaching today the way a colonel would lead his army into war. "We'll start at Burberry then go to Ferragamo on the same block, as well as Marlowe. After that, we'll hit Escada, then Anne Fontaine, and then make our way over to Hermes and down to the Elysian. We've got a tight schedule, so no lolly-gagging. This is business, girls!" My little powerhouse aunt was pumped and ready to go. She lived for this.
"Yes, sir!" I mocked with a salute.
Soon enough, we pulled up to Burberry. Lionel opened our door, and the smell of the city infiltrated my nose. Car fumes mixed with cigarettes and crisp fall air. Sounds gross, but I loved it. Big cities fascinated me.
"Well, come on! What are you waiting for Miss Renesmee?" Aunt A hurried me through the door.
We were greeted by four members of the sales department all exquisitely dressed. Ruth, the store manager, handed us each a bottle of Perrier. Mom and Aunt A saved their bottles for me to drink.
"Hello Ladies. Welcome back to Burberry, it's great to see you again. We have been excitedly awaiting your arrival, so we have many things to show you. We even called the flagship London store and had them overnight some of the runway pieces that our store didn't get." Ruth wore skin tight camel colored riding pants with suede inserts at the knees, paired with a crisp white collared shirt and black pebbled-leather riding boots. Her wavy auburn hair neatly side parted and tucked behind her ears.
"Please let me know if there is anything extra that you need help with. As you know, we have an on-site tailor that has a less than twenty-four hour turnaround. In most cases, it can be done by the end of the day and sent to your hotel. Elizabeth, Lisa and Steven will be assisting you today. We have already stocked dressing rooms in the back with each of your sizes." She smiled at us and then quickly turned to Lisa, telling her to take us back to the fitting room.
"Please follow me, ladies." Lisa, a tall and thin blonde woman with her hair in a messy bun and thick cat-eye eyeliner, motioned to us. She was in her late twenties, and by her walk, I could tell that she was, or had wanted to be, a model at some point.
"Miss Cullen, this is your fitting room, Mrs. Cullen is in the next room to the right, and the next is Mrs. Whitlock's. Please let me know if you need anything," Lisa said to us with a smile.
A sea of tan, navy, white, black and touches of red filled the space. There was at least one hundred thousand dollars worth of clothes and accessories in my designated fitting room.
"I don't hear you changing yet!" Aunt Alice said in a sing-song voice.
Dresses first. They were the easiest. Dress after dress fit perfectly and were put in the yes pile. Then, I saw one of the most beautiful dresses I'd ever laid eyes on. It was entirely simple, but that was part of its charm. I slipped it on and looked in the mirror. "Whoa!"
"You found the cream colored v-neck dress, didn't you?" Aunt Alice chirped.
"Let's see it, honey!" My mom actually seemed excited. As I stepped out, there was silence. Was it bad?
"You look..." Mom couldn't speak.
"Grown up!" Aunt Alice's eyes couldn't have been any wider looking at me.
I looked in the mirror again. The person staring back at me looked to be a sixteen year old prom queen, but sexier. The bone-colored dress was only a shade lighter than my skin tone. The neck of the dress was lined with a thin braided piece of grey metallic Burberry plaid that ran down the back of the dress with the zipper as well.
"I've never seen you look more amazing," my mom said with a huge smile.
Out of the thirty-two items I left Burberry with, that dress was, by far, the stand out. I couldn't wait to find an occasion to wear it.
Ferragamo was a blur. We were in and out so quickly, each with four red shopping bags stuffed full of everything from leather jackets to shoes, belts and sunglasses.
As we entered Marlowe, Alice gave another colonel's warning. "Girls, I'd like to be out of here in thirty minutes. Can you do that? Grab and go; that's how this round of the game is going to be played. We can always give away to Goodwill what we don't want to keep," she reminded us.
Prince Rupert was freezing, so I made sure to pick up sweaters of all shapes, sizes and colors. I needed variety. Sweaters could get boring. The cashier rang up the total at $7,894.86. More shopping bags piled into the limo.
As we pulled up to the corner of Michigan and Chestnut, Aunt Alice started to squeal. She loved Escada. Mom and I weren't as thrilled, but we played nice anyway.
"I'll try to make this as minimally painful as possible. I don't even need to try anything on. I know my size, and I know what I want," she reassured us.
When the three of us charged the brass-bordered glass doors like we were storming Normandy, the troops inside were ready and waiting.
"Hello, Mrs. Whitlock. We've been expecting you," a handsome man in a slim navy suit said to Aunt Alice. He handed her a glass of champagne, gave my mother a once-over, and with hesitation, offered her a glass as well. I wasn't sure if the hesitation was because of her perceived age or her multi-colored Chuck Taylors. They were a limited Missoni edition, but Mr. Navy Suit probably didn't care.
"No thank you, I don't drink," my beautiful mother said with a wink back to me. As soon as Mr. Navy Suit's back was turned, Aunt A dumped the bubbly gold liquid into a potted topiary by the register.
"Let me take you ladies back to the salon where we have all of your items picked out for you. I think you'll be very happy, Mrs. Whitlock," Navy Suit said.
Aunt A danced over to the rows of clothes specially picked out for her. "Yes, yes, oh no, hmm- yes, never, I love this!" she said while flipping through the racks. She was a shopping whiz. She could tell just as much from a glance at a piece of clothing as I could at a pile of loose sheet music. I could read the notes so quickly that with just a glance, I could tell whether I would enjoy the work or not. Twenty minutes later, we were back in the limo, and I was exhausted.
"Saved the best for last!" My mom always enjoyed perusing Anne Fontaine. She tried on at least twenty different styles of tops and blouses. She was more discerning about buying clothes than Aunt Alice or I was. She hated to waste money. Mom ended up buying four new blouses and three other tops.
As I plopped back inside the stuffed limo, sardine-packed with our purchases, I began to nod off.
"We're on a bit of a time crunch. I'm just going to run in. You guys can just stay here." Aunt A just needed to run into Hermes to pick up the bag that was already wrapped and paid for. As great as my affinity for Hermes was, I was glad that I didn't have to drag my butt from the seat again until we reached the hotel.
"Why are we in such a hurry? I didn't think we had anything else planned for the day." I didn't understand why we were so rushed.
"I just want to have as much time with you as possible, that's all," my aunt said with a smile. What was she not telling me?
As Lionel opened our door when we finally arrived at the Elysian, I took in the incredible view. The hotel seemed to reach all the way to the clouds. The air had gotten a bit dewier in the late afternoon, and I could smell that it was going to rain. I loved the sky before it rained—so perfectly painted with muted tones of mauve, charcoal, and lilac. I must have been staring.
"Looks like we'll have some rain tonight. I hope you ladies brought umbrellas or were planning on ordering room service for dinner," said Lionel.
"Yes, it does look like rain. I have a feeling I'll—we'll be ordering in." I tried to recover my slip-up. He didn't seem to notice. Small talk didn't seem like Lionel's forte.
Mom and I waited in the gargantuan lobby of the hotel while Aunt Alice checked us in. The white marble floors were broken up by a beautiful black mosaic swirl on the floor. Letting my eyes follow it for too long made me dizzy.
"Quite the statues, huh?" My mom walked over to the two ceramic busts fixed on thick glass rectangular slabs. The haunting faces seemed like an odd choice for the hotel, but interesting none the less.
"Our room is ready!" Aunt A skipped over to us with a big smile on her face waving the electronic key card. We were followed up to the room by six bellmen carrying all of our luggage and trophies from the day's shopping. With a slide of the keycard, I walked into the Presidential Suite (it was the only suite with two bedrooms).
The gargantuan three-thousand square foot suite was exquisitely decorated. The sophisticated grey, black and white color palate was offset by touches of vibrant purple throughout the suite. Black tufted leather sofas adorned with faux grey mink blankets were the focal point of the main living room. This place was just my taste. "Wow, this suite is incredible, Aunt Alice! I want to live here!" No matter how many of these six-thousand a night suites I'd stayed in, I always understood the insane opulence of it. My mother made sure.
"Well good. I know we always stay at the Four Seasons when we're in Chicago, but I thought you'd like this hotel better," she said back to me with a warm faced smile.
I flopped down on the couch, stretched my arms above my head, and took a deep breath in relaxation. I was looking forward to the quiet evening ahead. Today had been a whirlwind. Not that I was complaining, I loved to shop, but days like this were overwhelmingly tiring. I stood up to get lip gloss out of my purse when I felt it. A feeling that I wasn't used to. I stood still for a second taking inventory of my body, inch by inch, trying to figure out what was different. All of a sudden, I felt my panties become uncomfortably wet. I rushed to the bathroom, having finally caught on to what was going on. Great. The two worst people to be with when this was happening. For all I knew, they were going to gush all night about my "womanhood." Ugh.
"Mom!" I yelled from the bathroom. "We have a situation."
In an instant, she ghosted in holding a box of slim tampons. "Think you can figure it out?" She was already smiling. Fantastic.
"Thanks. I think I got it from here." I awkwardly reached for the box and wanted to crawl into a shell and hide forever. Maybe I could just stay in this bathroom until the morning. After I cleaned myself up and figured out the tampon situation, I realized I was stuck in here with no bottoms. The bloody panties and jeans were rumpled on the corner of the pristine white Carrera marble bathroom floor. Almost on cue, the bathroom door creaked open a few inches, and a silver crinkled Neiman Marcus shopping bag slipped in with the help of a perfectly manicured hand that I knew to be my clairvoyant aunt's. Inside the bag was a pair of clean panties and my favorite, comfy, boyfriend-style, loose-fitting jeans with holes in the knees. Underneath the clothes, lying on the bottom of the bag, was a note from my aunt.
Congrats on growing up, Renesmee Carlie. We should talk. When you're ready, your mother and I are waiting. xo A.A.
What was there to talk about? If they were really going to give me the "birds and the bees talk" it was too late. I'd been studying biology and anatomy with Grandpa Carlisle for years. I figured there was no point prolonging the agony that was sure to follow, so I wrapped my soiled clothes up in a towel and exited my cave.
"Come sit. We've much to discuss, honey." My mom looked nervous.
I sat down on the black leather couch across from where my mom and aunt sat in two parlor chairs.
"First of all, how are you feeling? Are you having cramps at all?" My mother, the worrier.
"I'm fine. What do we need to discuss? Please don't give me a speech about becoming a woman. That's going to be too painfully embarrassing." I put my head in my hands.
"Well, it is about that actually. Just not in the way you think," Aunt Alice said with a gentle tone, her eyes golden and endearing. "There's something we want to tell you about."
"Have you heard the story of how Sam and Emily fell in love?" my mom asked me.
"Yeah," I said as I furrowed my brow. I didn't know what this had to do with anything. "Sam was dating Leah, but then he met Emily, and as much as it killed him to hurt Leah, he realized Emily was his soul mate."
"That's mostly right…" my mother hesitated "…so you've never really heard about imprinting?"
"In what sense?" I was getting more and more confused by the second.
"Okay." Mom took a big breath and started again. "Vampires mate. When we meet the one, we know it. We want to be with that person for eternity. Your dad knew it with me, Grandpa Carlisle knew it with Grandma Esme, Aunt Alice knew it with Uncle Jasper. The list goes on. You could even go back to Aro and Sulpicia. They've been together for a millennia." She took another breath and continued. "Quileute shape-shifters mate too. When they make eye contact with their soul mate, they know immediately. Like Sam and Emily. It's called 'imprinting.' It's a bit more intense than how vampires mate, but overall, it's pretty much the same." She paused trying to figure out how to go on.
"Well, this is a lovely history lesson and all, but I'm not sure of the relevancy."
"Jacob imprinted," Aunt Alice blurted out.
"Oh." My heart sank. "Did you just get a call from him or something? I mean, that's great right? He deserves to be happy. Do we know her?"
"It's not new, Ness. Jacob imprinted six years ago, yesterday. In a way, you knew it before he did. When I was pregnant with you, all I wanted was to see Jake, to be near him. It was weird. You'd think all I'd want would have been your dad, but something in me pulled me to him. Like gravity. It was you, you were pulling to him." She tried to explain. "The moment Jake locked eyes with you that day, he was a different person. He imprinted on you the day you were born."
"It's not gross like you think." Aunt Alice stepped in. "When a Quileute imprints on a child, it's not an adult kind of romantic love right away. It's more of a companion, protector, best friend kind of thing. Then, as the person matures, so will the relationship. They will automatically be the perfect match for each other. And then, they can live their lives together." Aunt Alice tried to explain.
"Are you trying to tell me that now that I've started my period, I'm technically matured, and that Jake is going to...what...fall in love with me?"
"He already does love you, and no. You're physically around fifteen or sixteen. A sixteen-year-old is not fully matured yet, but their sexual self starts to mature. They start to date, and some—not that we agree—start physical relationships," my mother said gingerly.
"What, and now you're Mrs. Robinson?" This was not okay. "I just get your castoffs? You didn't want to be with him, so now he took second best, your spawn? No thanks."
"It's not like that, and Renesmee, you know it." My mother looked sternly at me straight in the eyes, lips pursed. "Jacob doesn't deserve to be spoken about like that."
My aunt tried to redirect. "Nessie, you've had feelings for Jake for a while, right?"
"Yeah, I guess. I feel this odd need to be around him. Like when we're not together, the Earth stops spinning." Really? Did I really just say that?
"The imprint calls to you too, Nessie," Aunt Alice said to me.
"So you're saying it's almost as if a love spell has been cast on me? I have no choice in the matter? He just decided that I would be his, and that was it?" I didn't like the sound of this. I was just getting excited about the possibilities of my future, and now it was all slipping away. Sure, I liked Jacob, but if I ended up with him, I wanted it to be on my own accord, not some stupid wolf spell.
"It's not like that. Of course you have a choice. But why wouldn't you choose him? He's perfect for you. He'll love you more than anyone else could possibly even imagine loving someone. He'll always be there for you, and come on, he's not that hard on the eyes either," Aunt A said to me with a wink.
I wasn't denying any of this. Jacob would be an amazing mate, of course. But the assumption that it was just a given did not sit well with me.
"So, what? I'm supposed to go home and just forgo the idea of any other guy ever and just be with Jake from now on? How romantic is that? Because to me, it's not. I want to be wooed, courted; I want someone to try to win my affection. I don't want to be a sure-thing for anyone, even if it is Jake." I felt my eyes start to sting.
Don't cry. Don't cry! I screamed to myself in my head. Every possibility for my future was slipping away, and I started to panic.
"You think he's not going to have to win your heart? Of course he'd court you. You're Edward Cullen's only daughter—his only child. You think your father is just going to let you get scooped up without a little work? Not a chance, princess." Aunt A was smiling at me, trying to reassure me.
"What has Dad said?"
"He is on Team Nessie. He only cares about your happiness. If Jake is what makes you happy, then he's on board, but he's not going to be easy on your wolf," Aunt Alice explained.
"My wolf." I let out a giant breath. I'd called him that for years, but now I didn't like the connotations it held.
"He's going to be very strict with Jake. Jake is going to have to work very hard to appease your father. See, the thing is, your father and I already know that Jake is the only one who can truly make you happy, Ness. We just want to protect you in every way possible through the process. So, even though your father knows that he'll lose in the end—just like he would to any man you choose to mate with—he's hoping losing you to Jake will result in your eternal happiness," Mom added.
"What if I let Jake down? What if he can't love me as much as he loved you?" Tears streamed down my face as I spoke to my mother. They plopped down onto my lap, seeping through my jeans. "You are so much prettier and smarter, and..." I was starting to hiccup in between sobs. "How could he possibly want to be with me? How could I possibly be with him? I'd be afraid he'd always be wishing I was more like you. I don't ride motorcycles. I don't..." more hiccups "…I can't compare."
Both my mother and Aunt Alice rushed to my side. I laid my head down on my mother's lap and let her stroke my hair as I soaked her lap in my tears.
"Do you ever listen to me? Honey, what have I told you almost every single night since you were a baby?" my mom asked in a soothing voice.
I shrugged my shoulders defiantly.
She recited Proverbs 31:29. "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all." She took my head in her hands and turned my face towards hers. "Do you think that is just lip service? That I have to tell you those things because I'm your mother? Renesmee Carlie Cullen, shame on you. You surpass us all. You are more unique, more beautiful, and more grounded than anyone in the family. You have pink cheeks, a heartbeat and all the beauty, strength, intelligence and invincibility of a vampire. Don't you see that you are the most special creature that walks God's green Earth? How could Jake not want to be with you over everyone else in the world? He should only be so lucky that you would love him just as much."
I wasn't ready to be rationalized with yet. I didn't feel like that girl that they described. Who was she? Certainly not me. "This feels like a medieval arranged marriage."
"Nessie, you have a choice. You don't have to take him as your mate, but may I ask—why the hell not?" Aunt Alice always got to the point.
"It's not about that." I was calming down a bit. "I love Jake. But how do I know? How do I know there isn't someone better for me? Someone who doesn't have pack obligations that, to an extent, dictate where we can live? Someone who hasn't once loved my mother?"
"Nessie, you have to let that go. You will never be compared to her. You are his imprint. There is no comparison. You are his lifeline. He lives for you, honey—the same way your father only exists in a world with your mother, and the same way my reality revolves around your Uncle Jasper. It's the same. It's unbreakable." She was rubbing my back in gentle circles trying to do her best to calm me.
"Why are you guys telling me? Is he too afraid to tell me himself, like a normal person?" I asked.
"He doesn't actually know that we told you." My mom started. "He did want to be the one to tell you, but your big mouth Uncle Emmett told us that if we didn't tell you this weekend that he would. We also felt it was best to fill you in, so that this little breakdown didn't happen during a time that should be romantic and memorable."
"Humph" I sighed as I crossed my arms across my chest like a petulant three-year-old. "How could it possibly be romantic? I feel like I'm just going to get home, and when he sees me, he'll grunt at me and pound his chest in a 'me Tarzan, you Jane' type fashion."
"Oh honey, no one is ever going to call you Jane," my mom joked.
"I don't know, just wait until the first fight, Jake might wish Nessie used Jane's powers instead of her own." Aunt A started to laugh.
"Is this something you saw, or are you just guessing?" I asked.
"Not telling." She stuck out her tongue in response trying to lighten the mood.
"Have you guys talked to Jake about all this?" I asked.
"Frequently," Mom answered. "Look honey, Jake understands that this isn't going to be an easy transition. He knows that you're stubborn and will take some convincing, and Jake has made it clear that when the time comes, he'll do whatever he needs to do to bring you continued happiness. He just doesn't know that time has come."
I turned to look at Aunt Alice.
"I didn't tell him. I didn't think it was my place. But what I can tell you is that he'll know the difference the next time he sees you."
I then realized that the whole time during this conversation I'd been holding my cuffed wrist with my other hand, grasping on to the lapis bracelet. I slipped it off my wrist and turned it over to look at the "imprint" on the back that now made so much more sense to me. I turned the back of the bracelet toward my mom and aunt. "So that's what this is about."
"He wants you to always carry a reminder with you of his imprinting, his love for you. In whatever form it is in, love is love." My mother took it out of my hands and slipped it back on my wrist. "Where it belongs," she said.
They sat in silence for hours with me, just being my support, physically and emotionally. I laid my head back onto my mother's lap and let her stroke my hair until I fell asleep.
BPOV
What had I ever done to make my baby so insecure? To feel so insignificant? The part that tore at me the most was that her insecurities were about me. How was this possible? My perfect, beautiful, genius daughter was jealous of me? Incomprehensible. Jake had loved me, and tried to win my heart, but his love for me back in Forks was nothing compared to what he would give to Renesmee. I honestly never thought that of all the things she might take issue with, her number one concern would be that she couldn't live up to the love he'd had for me. Ridiculous.
My baby had grown up so fast. It seemed like just last week I was holding her in my arms. Next thing I knew, we were bra shopping. Renesmee had made the whole family closer. They all took equal roles in helping to raise her, and for that, I was grateful. She had been a handful in her "toddler stage." She had gotten into so much mischief. Renesmee had broken a marble statue that Carlisle had bought for Esme for their fortieth anniversary when flinging glow-in-the-dark rubber bands across the house at night with Emmett, and in an attempt to dodge one of Emmett's shots, she ran smack into the statue. There was no way to repair it. She was the kid that was constantly asking "Why?" It was cute, but got old really fast. Edward had been better than I about explaining everything to her in extreme detail. She was like a little sponge. She soaked up every word he said. I loved her craving for knowledge—if only I could have gotten her to love Jane Austen as much as I did when I was her intellectual age.
I was so proud of our daughter. She had grown up so gracefully. She was definitely her father's daughter. The way she looked up to Edward was so beautiful. They shared many of the same passions, and I really loved listening to them play piano to, for, and with each other. They were inseparable. I could only hope that they would remain that way. This was going to be so hard on my husband. He would have been a wreck if he'd seen her face as Alice and I told her about the imprint. His support for Jacob had waned a bit in the weeks prior to her birthday. He knew it was coming, and he insisted that she wasn't ready. More like he wasn't ready, but after speaking with her about the situation, maybe she really wasn't ready.
Jacob had been such a trooper through Renesmee's growing up. He was there for everything. I loved seeing him play such an active role in her upbringing. It had taken some getting used to for me, but now, I really embraced the idea of Jacob imprinting on my baby. I knew from personal experience that this was a man of integrity, honor, and courage. I loved Jacob very much and was so delighted to know that even though I married Edward, Jacob would be in my life forever. This pleased me to no end. The icing on the cake was that I knew that my daughter would be loved. Loved so passionately and completely, the way only Jacob could.
Part of me was glad, though, that she didn't just take the idea and run with it. I wanted her to always question things and to always make sure she had as many options as possible. She would give him a run for his money; that's for sure. Jacob was going to have to be very patient and very understanding—two things I personally knew him to be an expert at. He was going to have to prove to her that his love for her wasn't based on some pack legend; it was based on fate. He was made for her, and without even knowing it, Edward and I made Renesmee for him. She would come around.
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A/N
A MILLION THANKS TO MY AMAZING "PROJECT TEAM BETA" BETAS!
Nikki Halen- Thank you again, for all your great notes. You add so much depth to my stories. I love your comments like: "What did so-and-so think about this?" "describe what it looked like." Those are my favorite kind of notes.
mcsc2008- The punctuation queen! Not only do you tell me what to fix, but you tell me why. I have learned so much… including what an "Oxford comma" is! :)
Also, a big shout-out to my new friend, awesome author, and magnificent pre-reader, Content1. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ HER STORIES, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING FOR THE NEXT WEEK, TAKE A VACATION FROM WORK IF YOU HAVE TO... AND READ THEM! You will thank me later.