Leather and Lace
Fairy Dance
Atlanta's downtown was a mob of steel buildings that stretched tall into the smoggy sky. It was nowhere near as pretty as Forks, and I realized with that thought that I'd slowly grown fond of the rainy town that I'd banished myself to. "Well, it's not what I expected," I admitted, and Jasper laughed. Char's eyes twinkled, and Peter simply chuckled. "It's not!" I defended myself, and Jasper just laughed harder.
"It's Atlanta, the capital of Georgia," Jasper finally managed to gasp out. "It's not as bad as it could be." I shrugged. It could be worse, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. "Besides, we won't spend much time out in downtown. We'll head somewhere else."
Somewhere else turned out to be Palmetto, Georgia, in a place called Serenbe. Serenbe was filled with a soft quaintness that was both strange and familiar, and I found myself wondering if I'd been there before or not. "Look, Petey! Horses!" Char's delighted squeal made my eyes wander from the little town of Serenbe to the stables that dominated the corner before the town. My jaw must've dropped. There was pasture upon pasture of horses, and the stable was a stone building that had a small woman with a wide, wild grin standing in the doorway. "Wow!" Charlotte said, and I silently agreed with her.
"We should probably stay here. Bella, go ask the lady if she minds us stayin' till nightfall." I grinned and dashed out of the truck, making sure that not much sunlight made it in to the truck. I slowed to a walk when I got closer to the stable door.
"Um…" I trailed off, and the small woman turned to look up at me.
"Hello, dear!" she smiled, "I'm Mindy. What's up?"
I smiled in response and said, "I'm Bella Swan. I was wondering… You don't mind if my friends and I hang out here till later? We've been driving for a long time now, and I think they need the sleep. I'd drive around, but I don't know Georgia at all and I'd probably get lost…" I was rambling, so I quickly shut up. Mindy's brown eyes were glowing with amusement and she sent a friendly wave towards the truck.
"Don't worry," she said, "I don't mind. You can watch our show jumpers practice. It's pretty impressive." I smiled and trotted back to the truck.
"We're good to go," I said, and the three vampires whooped. I snickered. "She also wants us to watch the show jumpers practice. She says they're pretty impressive." Even as I spoke, a slender girl with shoulder length blonde hair led a tall brown horse to the ring. Jasper was grinning.
"I haven't seen horses and riders in such a long time," and I thought he sounded somewhat wistful. I sighed. Poor Jasper. He had probably grown up with horses, and now he couldn't even get near them. "It'll be fun to see how much horseback ridin' has changed over the years." He sounded happier then, and I relaxed slightly. The blonde girl was followed by a tall brunette who led a skinny brown horse. The brunette was grinning and laughing the entire time, and Jasper's eyes never really left her.
An unfamiliar emotion sprung to life when I realized that, and a frown tugged at my lips. I stomped out the emotion before Jasper could catch it and tried to remove the frown, but it was insistent upon remaining where it was. I growled low and gave up. I watched the horses, and since Jasper was so caught up with the brunette, I watched her, too.
Whenever they jumped a round, she whooped and scratched the horse's neck. The horse would then prance and toss its head merrily, inciting merry laughter to resonate from the girl into the slit windows of our truck. Jasper's tense shoulders relaxed every time he heard the laughter. I soon grew to know the emotion that snuck up behind me when that happened as 'jealousy'. The whole cycle lasted for about an hour and a half. The brunette girl rode her horse back to the barn, and Jasper suddenly said, "Bella, go talk to her. Ask her name." I was shocked, but I did what he asked. Jasper didn't really ask me to do anything, so I was happy to do something for him.
She was hosing the horse down when I walked up, and the horse bit the air around me when I approached. "Good horsey!" I cried, not wanting to be bitten. The girl laughed and came around to scratch his nose.
"Be a good boy, now, Slim," she said, and her husky voice was delicate as well as strong. "I'm Blaise," she smiled, and offered a tan hand to me. I shook it.
"I'm Bella Swan." She grinned.
"You one-upped me! No fair! Fine, fine, I'm Blaise Siwel. I've lived in Georgia my whole life." I could tell that much from the honey-sweet Southern accent that marked her voice. "I'm pretty sure I've roots that date back to the Civil War, but I dunno," she said thoughtfully, and then she looked at me. "I'd move, Bella, less you wanna get wet. Slim Jim here isn't the best about gettin' bathed." I stepped away just as the horse whinnied and pawed the ground. Blaise smiled at me.
"See ya later, Miss Swan." She teased, and I took the opportunity to escape back to the truck.
"Her name's Blaise Siwel. She's lived in Georgia her whole life, and she's pretty sure she has roots dating back to the Civil War."
Jasper's eyes were huge. "Siwel… I wonder…" He spent the next few hours silently, and I talked to Charlotte and Peter, curious because it wasn't really in my nature to be jealous. Blaise didn't leave even after it got dark, and Jasper evacuated the truck. I stared after him with pain as he approached the Southern girl. Not once did he take a snap at her. I left the truck and Blaise waved at me wildly.
"You didn't tell me you knew one of my cousins, Bella!" She had a wild grin on her face. "I've not met one of the Whitlocks for a long time, now, and it's great to know that they're still around! It was great to meet ya, Jasper, but I've gotta go now." She danced off towards the blonde girl and the blonde girl's car. She jumped into the passenger seat and the two roared out of the stable yard. Jasper's maroon eyes swung to me then.
"Now, Bella, you've got some explainin'." I blushed. "Why were you so jealous up till now?"
I didn't want to answer. Jasper knew it, and sighed. "I won't force you to tell me. If you tell me, great. If you don't, that's fine, too. I don't really care one way or another. I do get the feelin' that it has to do with Blaise. She's my cousin, Bella, and I'd only seen a girl that good with horses once before. That girl's my sister's great-great-great-granddaughter. That makes her my niece." My jaw dropped again.
"Yo, Jasper, me'n Char are goin' to go huntin'. Ya'll should hang out here for a while. Okay?"
"Go for it, Peter!" Jasper called back, and just like that, they were gone. Suddenly, Jasper scooped me up and then we were standing in a clear field, the tall grass swaying gently around us. Jasper's eyes never left mine as he sank into a bow. My eyes never left his as I dipped into an awkward curtsey. He swept me into a dancing form, and I felt obliged to give him fair warning.
"I can't dance, Jasper."
When he spoke next, it was a soft whisper in my ear. "Forget all of it, Bella. Just trust me. Forget everything else." His voice washed away all embarrassment that might've marred my dance. I followed Jasper's lead, and we were swirling around the field softly, twirling and smiling. I was having a great time, and what with the way the moon and the stars seemed to sparkle, a distant childhood dream came back. A dream of a fairy dance beneath the moon and the stars in a field of amber, gently-swaying grass.
I looked at Jasper and smiled. I didn't care how he knew about that dream, I was just thankful that this mysterious vampire was granting me my childhood dream of a fairy dance.