Thank you to those of you who read and reviewed my last chapter. I'm hoping to get a few more responses since this one is longer and was a little more fun to write. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 9:
Edward sat at the kitchen table, thinking about the events of the last week. He had returned to Forks. Something he had never imagined possible. And he had seen Bella again. She was still beautiful, but the way she looked at him was completely different. He knew she didn't love him anymore. She was a wife and a mother now. And she deserved that happiness. It was a life he never would have been able to give her. He would never completely stop loving her. A love like that wasn't easily alterable. But he did know that he could live without her. At the beginning, he thought he would tear himself limb from limb without her. But over the years, he realized that maybe a life with his own family...the rest of the Cullens...maybe that would be enough to sustain him. And now that she was back in his life, or he in hers, it was easier than he thought. She was Jacob's Bella now. And he accepted it.
Sienna, however, was a problem. Her mind overwhelmed him with thoughts of the two of them. The day before, when he had been at her house and had heard her intimate thoughts, he had no choice but to race out of there. He rushed to speak to Alice and she met him at the door, knowing that he would come to her.
She had a smile on her face.
"So Bella's daughter is in love with you? How deliciously ironic!"
He pushed past her into the living room. "Its horrible! What am I supposed to do?"
"Why do you have to do anything? Its not as if you've never had a young girl obsessing over you? Every school we go to, the entire female populace gravitates to you."
"Its not exactly the same. She's Bella's daughter."
"So?" She replied. "Its not as if you're in love with her in return. Right?"
He was stunned at the thought. How could Alice even suggest such a thing?
"Uh....Of course not. How could I be? That's insane."
Alice's eyes widened and he responded to her unspoken thought.
"I did not hesitate! I'm not in love with Sienna."
"But you are intrigued by her, are you not?"
He sat down at the couch and placed his head in his hands. His voice was somber, almost devoid of emotion.
"Sienna is an incredible girl. She is strong and independent, just like her mother. But unlike Bella, I can see her every thought. And it sends me shivers. When I am in her presence, she does nothing but fantasize about the two of us together. Its...unnatural."
Alice sighed. "You're being overdramatic again, Edward. She's young and you're mysterious and handsome. It is actually completely natural for her to desire you that way. Its how you're built."
He grimaced. "If I could get a headache from stress, I would have one now." He looked up at his little sister. "So what do I do?"
"Just wait it out. I'm sure she'll get over you. And you may even get over her someday too." She smiled and walked back to the stairs.
"Alice." He called after her. She turned to him. "I don't need to get over her. I'm not into her. Get that thought out of your head."
She just smiled again. "Whatever you say, Edward."
She went up the stairs while he sat down at the table to think. And the night passed him by without further movement or interruption. He was free to think and ended up thinking a little too much about what Alice had said. He knew he didn't have feelings for Sienna. He could never betray his own past that way. But it was nice to be able to see what she was thinking, even if her mind was controlled by her damn hormones a little too much. And she did smell a lot like Bella. He could definitely sense Jacob's blood in the mix, but it wasn't unpleasant. It was actually easier to be around her than it was with Bella at the beginning. He didn't want to kill her so much. And she was someone he wouldn't mind getting to know better. But that didn't mean he was in love with her. Right?
Alice came down the stairs and broke him out of his reverie.
"So I hope you're prepared to see your not-so-secret admirer. Sienna's on her way over with Lucas. And Bella's coming too, of course. Yay!!" She clapped her hands and giddily danced around the room.
"Coming here?!" He nearly squeaked.
"I thought you said you knew they planned on coming."
"I..." He stopped when he remembered his phone call with Bella the night before. It had been a long time since he had felt flustered at all.
"Edward...you're nervous."
"I'm not nervous! I just...I guess I didn't realize I'd been sitting at that damn table for so long. When will they be here?"
"Oh, about twenty minutes. Do you need to go freshen up before your girlfriend gets here?" She grinned.
"Shut up, you." He went to turn on the television for background noise, though he did not care what might be on.
Approximately twenty minutes later...Alice had not lost her touch...they heard a car pull up and smelled humans. A quiet knock came to the door and Alice skipped to answer it. She had Bella in an embrace almost as soon as she opened the door. Bella had not realized how much she missed her tiny, beautiful friend. She could feel tears prick her eyes, but she could not let emotions get the best of her today. She was too excited for her reunion with Alice to cry. After Bella had made the introductions of her children she asked if Edward was home. He strolled forward, paying careful attention not to look directly at Sienna. Her mind was already racing.
"Hello everyone. Nice to see you." He said, trying his hardest to sound pleasant.
Bella smiled, but then became slightly serious.
"Edward, this is a little bit more than just a social visit. Luke here has something he would like to say."
Luke actually didn't want to say anything, Edward knew. But Bella gave him a slight shove from behind and he reluctantly began.
"I'm sorry I keyed your car." Edward knew he was thinking, 'I'm sorry I got in trouble for it, mostly.' Luke continued out loud.
"Here's my allowance money to pay for it to be fixed. If you need any more I can earn it and pay you as needed."
The speech was well rehearsed, there was no doubt. Edward couldn't help but smile.
"Well thank you for the apology, but we don't really need the money."
Luke didn't look hopeful at this. "My mom told me you'd say that and she said I had to give it to you anyway. Something about 'learning responsibility' or some crap like that."
Bella cleared her throat in warning and Luke handed over his jar of coins and small bills.
Edward took it and set it on the table.
Alice invited them in and asked if they wanted drinks or refreshment of any kind. She always had taken the role of hostess seriously. The girls politely declined, but Luke dug in to whatever Alice offered. He never could turn down free food. After some visiting and small talk Alice asked if anyone was interested in seeing the garage. As soon as she mentioned it was filled with luxury cars, Luke was on his feet ready to go. He had inherited his respect for vehicles from his dad. Bella went with Alice and her son, while Sienna opted to stay with Edward. He silently cursed his decision to not accompany the group to the garage, but he didn't want to be rude and leave Sienna alone.
"So..." Sienna began. "You have a very beautiful house."
"Thank you." He said.
"And your sister...she seems incredible."
"She is. Definitely one of a kind."
She thought about that, knowing there was contradiction to what he had said. Yes her personality was one of a kind, as her mom had explained on the way over. But she was also a vampire just like the rest of the Cullens. Not one of a kind in that respect.
Edward's eyes widened.
"You know?" He asked.
"Know what?" She countered. She hadn't been told about Edward's special ability yet, so she didn't know he had just read her mind.
He looked intently into her eyes, trying to glean as much information as he could from her in a stare. She looked back. She loved those golden pools he watched her with.
"You know...what I am?" He asked incredulously.
She blushed and nodded.
"We had a family council last night after Caleb's little 'show' in the woods. But Mom didn't get very far in the story though, before Matt started freaking out and lost his temper. She says he's now becoming a werewolf too. Weird, I know."
"You can say that again." Edward replied.
She took a deep breath to steady herself. She always had to do that when he was around.
"So yes. I know what you are."
"And you're ok with it." It was a statement because he picked it right out of her brain.
She nodded again. "My mom and dad both said we could trust you and your family...but they didn't really explain why. I mean, I believe them of course. I can tell that you are very...trustworthy." Edward started when he heard her other thoughts she used to describe him. Sexy, hot, lickable.
"So tell me how a vampire can be trusted by humans? Don't you..you know...drink blood and stuff?"
He laughed at her casual tone. "Your mother didn't get that far, eh? Well, we actually drink animal blood. Not everyone of my kind is that way. There are some very dangerous vampires out there that do prey on humans. Feeding off of animals is just something we do in my family. We feel a little less like monsters that way."
"It makes sense." She said simply.
They sat in silence for another minute. Then he spoke again.
"You're a lot like your mother, you know. The freaky stuff never really bothered her either."
She smiled. "I like all kinds of freaky stuff." She inched closer to him on the couch. He cringed again at her lustful thoughts.
"I was talking about the supernatural...you know, vampires, werewolves. That sort of thing."
"Really?" She asked. "Cause I was thinking more along the lines of handcuffs...edible body lotions."
She leaned closer and closer to him with every word, until she was only inches away from his face. He quickly moved away from her and stood up.
"Sienna, I don't really think your...flirtations are appropriate."
She stood up next to him. "But I'm not flirting. Flirting implies teasing. Like you don't really mean what you say. But I do mean it. I'm extremely attracted to you Edward. And I'm pretty sure you're single, so I don't see a problem with a little...experiment, IF you know what I mean."
He started backing away from her, while she followed his every step.
"I know exactly what you mean, and again I must say that it is completely inappropriate."
He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and nearly tripped over the coffee table in front of the couch. Again, it was not like him to be flustered. His near clumsiness made Sienna stop her chase.
"Why?"
"Why?!" He repeated. "Actually, there are a number of reasons, not the least of which is that you are fifteen years old."
"So? You can't be that much older than me. Or at least you don't seem so."
He laughed. "I am very much older than you...but that's not the point. The point is...we just can't ever be together. It would be wrong."
"Edward, I don't understand. You'll have to spell it out for me, because all I see are two people who seem compatible...and I don't think we need to make that big of deal out of it. We can just hang out more, get to know each other a bit better."
"Getting to know each other is a lot different than what you had in mind. Of course I wouldn't mind being your friend. But anymore than that I absolutely cannot do."
She stamped her foot. So like her mother. "You still haven't told me why."
"Did she not tell you anything other than the fact that I'm a vampire? Nothing of the history between us?"
Sienna sat down. She wasn't expecting him to say anything like that.
"What do you mean...history?"
He took a deep breath and sat next to her.
"Bella and I were in love. We weren't together for very long in the whole scheme of things, but we loved each other more than I can possibly describe. But it became too dangerous for me to be around her, so I left. And then your mother and father became closer and when I returned...he was the best friend and I was the boyfriend. Anyway, we went through a lot together over the time we were together. We were even engaged for a time. But she was still very close to Jacob. So...without going into too many details, there came a time when your mother realized she loved both me and your father. She was forced to make a tough decision. And she decided to live a mortal life with him. I fully understood her decision and was actually in support of it because he could give her a life I could not. So I left with my family. And that as they say, is history."
She felt overwhelmed. Edward and...her mom? Wow. That's all she could think. Wow.
"Thank you for telling me." She mumbled.
Just then, Bella and Luke came back into the house with Alice in the lead.
"Sienna sweetheart, you ready to go home?"
She nodded and stood up, but her eyes never left Edward's face. She should be sickened by desiring a man that had been with her mother. But she was still intrigued by him. Then she looked at her mother, as if seeing her for the first time. And anger filled her features. How could she not tell her? How could she have ever been with anyone else besides her father and not ever mention it? Her mother was the reason she could never be with Edward and for some reason, she felt an irrational and incontrollable sense of resentment.
"How could you?!" She shouted at Bella. Then she ran to the back of the house and out into the surrounding trees.
"Sienna?! Where are you going?" Bella called, but her daughter was already gone.
Then she turned to Edward. "What on earth did you say to her?"
He felt her gaze burning him and wished he was on the other side of the world.
End of Chapter
