Chapter 6
RPOV
When we got inside, Bella let go of my hand and turned to Edward.
"I'll meet you in your room?" she asked him.
He smiled and nodded. He kissed her forehead and ran up the stairs. Bella motioned for me to follow her out on the balcony. She closed the door after herself and went to stand next to me by the railing.
"So….." she said, not knowing how to start.
"You're dating a vampire," I stated.
"Um, I'm kinda….engaged," she said slowly. I felt the fireworks going off within my body, but controlled myself by taking a deep breath. Then, I started laughing.
"Bella? Engaged? The goody-two-shoes engaged? Ha! Renee's going to have a field day with that news," I said.
She grimaced, then frowned a little before saying, "I know."
"I thought I'd never see the day where you would break one of Mom's rules. Better yet, one of your rules. What happened to the Bella that thought all boys, but her brother of course, had cooties?" I joked.
"It's not something I planned. It just….happened. Edward wants to do things right. He grew up in the early 1900's," I frowned at that, "It makes him happy, so who am I to take away his happiness? I mean, he's done so much for me. This is something I want to be able to give to him," she said.
When she talked about him, I saw the way her eyes lit up, like a fat kid seeing the biggest candy shop in the world. It's how I felt with Hayley before I was changed. My little sister was in love, and that scared me to death.
I sobered up from my laughter and put my arm around her shoulders.
"You love him?" I asked, just to make sure.
She smiled, looking out into the distance, and I knew the answer before she even spoke.
"More than my own life," she said softly.
I always knew this day would come. The day I would lose my little sister to another man. Someone else who would protect her from all the dangers her clumsy feet brings upon her. I wasn't ready to lose her, when I had just got her back. But I knew I must, for her happiness. Even if the man she loves is a vampire.
"But a vampire?" I teased, to lighten my mood.
She laughed and smacked my shoulder lightly. I heard a soft chuckle from the third floor.
"Yes, a vampire," she said becoming serious, "Vampire or not, he's still the Edward I fell in love with, and I don't want him to change. Even if he was human, I would still love him the same. But I love my sparkly vampire, just the way he is. Fairy dust and all," she teased, knowing he could hear her.
I laughed and she laughed along with me.
After a few minutes of laughter, I grew serious again.
"What are you going to do, you know, while he stays the same and you grow older?" I asked.
I felt her shoulders tense under my arm. Again, I knew the answer before she spoke.
"I'm not going to get older. He's going to change me," she said hesitantly.
I took a deep breath to calm myself. I didn't want my sister to become one of us. I don't want her to stand the horrible three days of pain and the burning in her throat that would follow afterwards. She would hate it, having to control herself around humans. I'm having to be careful around her myself. I'm barely a year old, and her blood is very potent. But I remind myself that this is my sister, someone who has always held that special place in my heart above all the others. I would never harm her. I'm her older brother, I protect her, not hurt her.
But the one nice thing about her changing, was that I would never have to worry about her dying. It would be bad enough I would have to watch my parents die in a few decades, but having Bella die would destroy me. It would be nice to have someone by my side, to help grieve with me.
I can tell from her expression that no matter what I said, she was going to follow through with her plan. It was obvious she was doing it for Edward, but who was I to tell her how to live her life. Bella is so much like Dad, always stubborn. Once she's made up her mind, there's no going back for her. I can tell I can't change her mind, so I'll let her do what she wants, no matter how much I hate the pain it will cause her.
"I guess I'd figure that much. You always were so determined to get your way. I remember you threw a tantrum once when we were in the toy store because you wanted the new doll. The old one was so yesterday," I joked, quoting her.
She growled at me while I laughed.
"Hey, in my defense, the old one had an arm missing!" she said.
I laughed harder at her before speaking again.
"You're so much like Dad," I said after calming down.
She rolled her eyes at me.
I grew serious again.
"But are you sure, Bella? This life, it's hard. I've seen so much violence. My first months were hard. I still have a little bit of a struggle now, but it's not so bad," Riley said.
"It's okay. I know. I smell appetizing. I've been told my every vampire I've met," she said, rolling her eyes.
I didn't like the idea of her being around a whole bunch other vampires, but I let it go for now.
"You do smell appetizing," I said.
We laughed again.
"I'm sure. I'm ready. Seeing the newborns did make me realize what I was giving up, but I would trade it all for Edward. He's the only one I want. I'm ready to spend forever with him," she said.
I sighed and nodded.
"I'm not going to stop you then. You'll end up getting your way no matter what," I said.
She smiled.
"I'd wish Edward would see it that way," she said.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"He believes that after I'm changed, that I would regret it and hate him forever. He hates the idea of me hating him. He would die if I hated him. And it's vice versa for me. I did believe at a time that he didn't love me, and it was hell," she said, her eyes watering up a little.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
She smiled a small smile at me.
"I'll let Edward explain that to you. You two need to bond anyways. You'll be brothers soon anyways," she said, chuckling.
I narrowed my eyes.
"I'm going to gave a talk with that boy anyways. Set some things straight with him," I said.
She groaned and put her forehead on the railing.
"Please, whatever you do, don't do that!" she said.
"Bella, you're my little sister. He's your….fiancé. I'm going to have the big brother talk with him. It's my job," I said.
She groaned again.
"Please, for the love of all that's holy, don't do anything to scare him off. I'd like to have a groom sitting at the other end of the aisle on my wedding day. What are you going to say?" she asked.
"That's for me to know and for you to never find out," I said, smirking.
She pouted.
"You're mean," she said.
"But you love me anyways," I said.
She rolled her eyes before it got quiet again. I ended up breaking it.
"So….What's this about a werewolf kissing you against your will?" I asked, anger seeping into my voice.
She turned away from me.
"I don't want to talk about it," she muttered.
"Well, I do. Bella, you know how I feel about people taking advantage of you. You remember what happened with Mack after I found out-" she cut me off.
"I know, okay. It's just….it's complicated. I can't tell you the full story because Edward has to explain some things before you understand anything. I can only say it was kind of a love triangle. I love Edward, Edward loves me, but so does Jacob. He was so determined that I loved him, he wouldn't give up. Today before the fight, he threatened to get himself killed, and he's my best friend. How do you think I would have felt towards myself if I knew he was going to get himself killed because of me? So I did the only thing I could think of. I asked him to kiss me. But that cocky bastard tricked me. I betrayed Edward, only to find out Jacob was going to kiss me either way. Either against my will or to trick me into kissing him. I'm mad at him now for it," she said.
I controlled my anger the best I could.
"But you went to his house," I said, confused.
"Mad or not, he's still my best friend. He was there for me when I needed him and I needed to return the favor. I had to tell him that I chose Edward. He didn't take it very well, but that's how I feel. No one can change it," she said, looking down at her hands.
"Did he hurt you?" I demanded.
"No. More like the other way around. I hurt him because I love Edward. I've told him I only love him as a brother, but he refused to listen. So in the end, I broke his heart," she said.
I nodded and relaxed.
It was silent for a minute until she yawned. I smirked at her.
"Bedtime for the human," I said.
"You sound like Edward," she said, heading inside.
I followed after her and closed the door before pulling her into a hug. I kissed her forehead like I use to before I left her and Renee six years ago.
"Love you, Bells," I said.
"Love you, too, Riles," she said.
I released her and she headed up the stairs.
BPOV
I headed up the stairs and went straight to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
When I finished, I walked into Edward's room to find him lying on the bed with his hands behind his head. I crawled on the bed and laid my head on his chest. I threw my leg over his hip and snuggled close to his cold body as his arms snaked down my back to hold me closer. He began to stroke my spine softly through my shirt.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
I nodded my head against his chest.
"You don't want to get married," he said as a statement more than a question.
I froze and looked up at him. He gazed down into my eyes with his golden pools.
"Of course I do. I know you heard what I said. I want to do this for you. You've done so much for me, it's my turn to give this to you," I said.
"But I want you to want to get married. Not just because I want to. I want you to want to get married," he said.
"Edward, I want to marry you. Now that I've rolled the idea around in my head, I've found out that I like the idea. I want to be tied to you in every way humanly possible. I want to be your wife. I love you," I said, stroking his stone cheek.
He smiled softly and kissed me. I tangled my hands in his hair and pulled him closer. He broke the kiss and smiled again.
"I'll need that ring," I said, resting my forehead on his.
He smiled brightly and sat up. He reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out the velvet box.
He opened it and took the ring out. I stretched my left hand out and he slid his mother's ring on my finger.
He laid next to me, in our previous position, and kissed me again. He pulled away and buried his face in my hair, humming my lullaby softly. I fell asleep, dreaming good dreams.
I had Edward and I had gotten my brother back.
I know it's been a while since I updated, but I hope this made up for it! I get out of school in 2 weeks, and when summer arrives I'll try to update as much as possible! Until we meet again! :)
~Taylor~
