Chapter 9
Tristan looked like he just came in from the outside. He was wearing a grey pea coat with black jeans and a pair of black leather boots. His long black hair fell perfectly down to his chin. Tristan waited until I closed the bedroom door behind me to begin his speech. It seemed like he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say.
"Renesmee," He began with some difficulty. "I want you to know that if anything goes wrong, you and Willow can always come back here."
"Thanks, Tristan. I really appreciate it. We will be okay. We are going home." I replied optimistically.
"Home should be a place where you are accepted for who you are." Tristan argued.
I leaned my wrists on the railing and looked down the staircase. Tristan's words hit a nerve. I struggled with the same thought when I watched Willow suffer through his craving for human blood. Was I doing what was best for Willow? Or was I dragging him to a place where he didn't belong just so that I could be with Jacob?
"Willow is happy here." Tristan spoke softly behind me. "This could be his home...this could be your home..."
"Tristan..." I turned around and saw the yearning in his eyes. His handsome face troubled. "I…I can't stay here."
"I know it's wrong for me to have these feelings for you." Tristan paused briefly. "I tried to ignore them. But when I saw how unhappy you were, my restrain became powerless. I wanted to make you happy. I wanted to protect you and Willow."
I knew I should have stopped him from continuing his speech and walk away. I knew where this conversation was going. But I was speechless and frozen in place. Tristan had been nothing but caring and supportive to Willow and me. I didn't want to hurt him.
"I am in love with you, Renesmee."
"Tristan…" I said as I put my hand over my forehead.
Just then, the bedroom door creaked open and Willow peered out from behind the door.
"Mommy?" Willow asked quietly.
"…I am really sorry." I said to Tristan and I pleaded with my eyes.
I turned around to pick up Willow in my arms. Tristan nodded once and reached his hand out to stroke Willow's head gently.
"Take care of yourselves." Tristan said to us sincerely.
I nodded my head. Without another word, Tristan walked down the stairs. Willow rubbed his eyes and rested his head on my shoulder. I felt a bit dazed as I brought him back inside the room and tucked him into bed.
I woke up the next morning feeling tired. I couldn't sleep after having that conversation with Tristan outside the bedroom. Gabrielle said that he had left early to hunt so I wouldn't see him again before I left. I felt terrible for Tristan. He was a beautiful being inside and out. He didn't deserve to have his heart broken. I didn't know what else I could do about it.
Gabrielle drove the three of us to the airport. She didn't get out of the car for fear of succumbing to her blood craving in the presence of human at the airport. We said our goodbyes in the car. Willow was teary eyed. He was really going to miss her a lot. Gabrielle promised that she would call. Rosalie and Gabrielle exchanged a hug. I was happy to see that they became good friends.
During the flight, I put my hand on Willow's face and projected images of Jacob into his mind. I have done that many times in recent weeks to prepare him for the meeting. Willow had not seen Jacob since the day he was born. I didn't want him to treat his dad like a stranger when they meet.
My parents were picking us up at the airport. When I talked to Jacob this morning, he had instructed us to go straight to Carlisle house first. He said that there was a riot in the reservation and he didn't want us to go there by ourselves.
Willow was asleep when we landed. My parents were so excited to see him but they kept quiet to avoid waking him up from his nap. We got into my dad's silver Volvo and began our journey home.
In town, everything looked pretty much the same except when we drove by the border of the reservation area. There were picket signs along the border that I had never seen before. As I looked more closely, the signs said 'keep evil spawn out' and 'beware of the devil's child'. I gasped.
"What is going on?" I asked my parents.
They looked at each other for a second and then my dad explained.
"Some of the people in the tribe are not open to the idea of Jacob bringing you and Willow into their land."
"What?"
I was surprised. Jacob never mentioned this to me. I was under the impression that he had convinced everyone of accepting us into the tribe.
"Don't worry, honey. We will stay at Carlisle's house for now. Jacob is getting things under control." My mom reassured me.
I looked at Willow. He was still fast asleep. I suddenly worried if I had made a mistake in bringing him here so soon. Perhaps we should have waited a little longer.
As we turned into the half hidden driveway to Carlisle's house, I could see Jacob standing outside waiting for us. The light from the setting sun was filtering through the trees and it shed a warm glow on Jacob's bare shoulders. He had a big grin on his face when he saw our car approaching. I woke Willow up from his nap.
"Baby, we are here. Daddy is waiting for us outside" I whispered to Willow.
Willow rubbed his eyes and stared out the window.
"The voices are getting louder, mommy."
Willow's comment reminded me that I needed to talk to Carlisle about his strange condition. Our car stopped on the driveway and Jacob ran over to open the passenger door.
"Okay, we will ask Carlisle about that later. Don't you want to meet Daddy first?"
Willow nodded his head but his face was unsure. I got out of the car and ran into Jacob's warm embrace. He stroked my hair and whispered in my ear: "I missed you so much, Ness. Welcome home."
I put my hand on his face and projected my joyful feeling to him. It was just too hard to put into words.
"Mommy?" Willow asked as my mom helped him out of the car.
Jacob looked surprised.
"Whoa…you are a lot bigger than I thought." Jacob kneeled down and opened his arms for Willow. But Willow didn't move.
"Come say hi to daddy." I said to him encouragingly.
Willow clutched my mom's hand tightly. His face was cautious as he dug his feet into the ground.
"Willow? It's ok. It's daddy. Remember?" Jacob asked.
Willow buried his face into my mom's jacket. I was about to walk over when Jacob stopped me.
"It's ok, Ness. Let him warm up first." Jacob said as he rose back up to his feet.
Jacob couldn't hide the look of disappointment on his face. My expression was a mirror image of his. Rosalie was getting impatient to see Emmett so she hurried us to get inside. Once we were inside the house, everyone gave us hugs and kisses to welcome us home. Willow was still a little shy and acting uncomfortable. It was a big change for him to meet so many new faces in one day. Besides my family, Quil and Seth were also in the house. They smiled and waved at Willow.
"Mommy, what's a tan?" Willow asked me out of the blue.
"You heard that?" Quil asked in a surprised tone.
I looked at Willow and then at Quil. I suddenly realized what was going on. Willow heard Quil's thought! I was right to assume that he could read minds, it was just that he couldn't read vampire minds.
"What's Seth saying in his head?" I asked Willow.
Willow looked at Seth shyly and said in a small voice: "He wants to go home and eat a sandwich."
Everyone giggled. My dad nodded his head in agreement to Willow's reply. Seth looked a little embarrassed and Jacob was beaming.
"Amazing!" Jacob exclaimed. "This will be great for the ceremony!"
"What ceremony?" I asked Jacob.
Jacob hesitated for a second before replying.
"We are having a ceremony tomorrow morning to officially introduce you as my wife and Willow as my son."
I knew this was necessary since we didn't get married in the reservation and Willow wasn't born on their land. These were all traditions that we didn't follow. But then the image of the picket signs flashed through my mind. It made me worry about Willow being at the ceremony tomorrow. I didn't want to question Jacob's decision in front of everyone, but I would definitely need to find out more about what was happening in the tribe as soon as possible. I reached out and pulled Willow closer to me. I had a bad feeling of what was coming our way.
