Confrontations & The Ring!

Bella

I awoke the next morning to Garrett whispering in my ear, how much he loved me, needed me and now wanted me, a very pleasant experience I must say. I realised he was still firmly encased in my body and must have been all night, wow, there's dedication for you. I slowly rotated my hips while clenching my inner muscles, this gave a new meaning to pelvic floor exercises, it didn't take long for both of us to be ensnared by the passion we had for each other and once more I was flying through my own personal high.

Nothing could ruin this day, then I remembered school! Still almost done only a few more weeks and this hell was over forever. I sent Garrett up to the big house or I'd never get out of here and he wanted to talk to Jasper anyway, about my shield and doing some serious work on it, as Jasper had plenty knowledge of handling gifted vampires, one gifted human should be no problem for him. I was all ready to go when I realised I would be alone today as the sun was shining, Alice texted saying they would be there for lunch as the sun would be gone then.

I felt the tension right away as I jumped from the cab of our new baby, called 'Beauty', an in-joke as 'Thing' had been the Beast. I smiled to everyone and headed for homeroom,

"Well Bella! Who'd you have to sleep with to get the new 4x4?" Lauren spat at me,

"What Lauren! Are you such a lousy lay that guys don't buy you anything?"

I snarked back at her dropping into a seat beside Angie.

"God will they never grow up?"

I asked her quietly and she shrugged, shaking her head no! That at least shut her up until lunch, I think she thought because I was no longer dating Edward that they would not be my friends or defend me. Not that I really needed them to, I was no longer the sad pathetic Bella who started here last year.

I was in the lunch queue for her next attack and she obviously didn't realise the Cullens were back,

"So Bella! Who are you sleeping with now? First Edward, then Jake, is it still what's his name?

Of course, you would have had to move on since Jake went and killed himself! Probably to get away from you!

So who's turn is it now? Hey Mike the way she's getting through them, you might stand a chance, yet!"

she yelled loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear, they collectively held their breath and rumbles of disgust went round the room. Jess was sniggering beside her until she saw Edward and Alice coming up behind Lauren and she hurriedly sat down,

"Listen to me, you bleached blonde bimbo! I don't give a rat's arse what you say or think about me! I can see at least fifteen of you conquests in this room alone,

but funnily you're single once again! You really must be shit in bed cause they never come back for a repeat do they, Lauren?"

I said in a cool disdainful voice as I turned to walk away.

"Oh and boys, if I were you guys I'd be making a trip to the free clinic! Just to be on the safe side, you know!"

I said sitting down at our table and Lauren just stood there as everyone burst into applause. She was livid and I saw her coming at me hand raised when Angie and Alice stepped in front of her.

"Enough Miss Mallory! My office now!" the headmaster's voice rang out.

The rest of the day was quiet and rumours that Lauren had been suspended for the callous remarks about Jake, a couple of the catering staff who heard her were from the rez and they were infuriated. I was beyond glad when the final bell rang and headed out when I heard Mike

"So Bella when is it my turn?"

he asked cockily as he swaggered over to me, well I think that's what he was trying to do.

"When hell freezes over Mike , Do I look like I would take Lauren's sloppy seconds?"

I replied but kept walking out the door. He was stupid enough to grab my arm as I saw Garrett leaning on our shiny new vehicle, god he's spectacular. I looked at his hand and growled

"Get your hand off of me Mike! Now!"

He let go right away stunned by my anger.

"See that Mike?"

I pointed to Garret who was now heading towards us

"That's a man, not an immature school boy! Why on earth would I want you, when I get to have that several times a day? Please, I've got more respect for my body!"

I spat at him and Garrett stopped and threw back his head laughing, everyone was staring in awe at him. Mike stood red-faced as Garrett picked me up and kissed the ever loving shit out of me,

"God I love you, woman!"

He said as our lips parted and everyone around us heard him clearly

"I can't wait to make you my wife, Little Swan, you're spectacular!"

he said laughing and threw me over his shoulder

"Now if you will all excuse us, I need to take this woman home and make love to her all night long!"

with that said he strode over and open the passenger door of 'Beauty' and slide me in. I was so happy, he had staked his claim in front of everyone and I was ecstatic, this was my mate, my heart, my lover.

Garrett

God I'll be glad when Little Swan finishes high school, they are so god damn immature, I always forget how old she is because she's so grown up for her young age, so it's a shock having to deal with her peers as they are just children, playing at being grownups. We're on our way to her dad's house to see him, as we can't go to the rez.

I really like the Chief and he has gotten a new lease on life since becoming Leah's 's one of the reasons were going, to help pack up the rest of his stuff, he's permanently moving to the rez. My trust bought his house from him, Bella won't need it and if he's starting a new family he'll need the money.

So it's now a cross between a halfway house and a children's home, called Swan House. The receptionist from the high school Mrs Cope is moving in to run the place as a live-in caretaker, she lost her husband recently and wanted a fresh start so it's perfect. Sue Clearwater is still helping the three girls with their education and they will live there till they go to college.

We decided to have it renovated and an extension put on giving it a couple of rooms more, so that will get under way in a couple of weeks when school finishes. The social services are happy with this development and will liaise with Charlie in regards to the girls and the house in future as I made him the facility coordinator so to speak, but the money will come from Jenks in Seattle, as we will be leaving soon.

That's the thing with any and all vampire businesses we always need a human face to front operations. We also had the forest tree line pulled back from the house and daylight spotlights fitted to light up the place at night, just in case any stray vampires pass by and catch a whiff of any old scents left behind,

the lights trigger a recording of Jasper's voice stating that the town of Forks is under the protection of not only The Major but the local tribe of shapeshifters and suggesting they move on or be hunted down and exterminated. Also, the wolves said they would add it into their patrols as well, once we left, so that's a worry off our minds.

Bella

The rest of the week flew by, Lauren was suspended and likely to miss the finals, therefore would have to repeat the year. Mike kept his distance and refused to look at or talk to me, but it rebounded on him as everyone else just ignored him for his childish behaviour, some people never grow up.

The weekend was almost upon us and the teachers were loading homework on top of us as if it were going out of fashion. But all of the senior year had managed to give the search for the children's families a few hours of the time and we were slowly picking through the American and Canadian missing child databases.

At last, it's Friday, Garrett and I were setting off for Seattle in a couple of hours, for a weekend alone. I know we spend our night together in the cottage, but there are always constant interruptions or phone calls, texts, the Cullen's don't do privacy and for an only child, it's wearing on the nerves.

That's one of the main reasons for not staying with them in the future, they have no concept of personal space, it's starting to get Garrett down too, we don't butt into their time alone with their mate's, so why can't they reciprocate. Ah, speaking of mates, he comes my sexy other half now, god I just feel like pinching myself every time I see him, cause I'm sure this is all a dream I've had, nah, my imagination's not that good.

"Ready to roll Little Swan?" he purrs to me,

I nod and wrap my arms around his waist just hugging him to me,

"A whole weekend alone, angel! Just you and me, I can't wait!"

I see my bags in the back of 'Beauty' and I raise my eyebrows,

"Couldn't stop myself! Sorry!" he tells me,

and I laugh and hug him again. We drop by the station on our way out of town, to say bye to Charlie and he tells us to have a really great time and enjoy the peace and quiet while we can, yup, like father like daughter, he doesn't really do big crowds either, god knows how he'll cope on the rez!

Knowing him the way I do, he'll already have set out the boundaries, god help them if the overstep the mark, he might shoot them knowing they'll heal quickly anyway. When we arrived at our hotel in Seattle, we got cleaned up and I changed before we headed out to get me something to eat. As always Garrett chose wisely, an open-air bistro, with a buffet, so it wasn't obvious he wasn't eating too.

We sat and watched the sunset as I ate and he fed me dessert from the plate in front of him, just like normal lovers do and I sighed he was perfect and he was mine. We strolled along a couple of side streets on the way back to our hotel, just window shopping and laughing at the fashions and other things that took our fancy.

Until we looked into an antique shop window and there it was! Gleaming up at me was the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen. I was just staring at it,

"They open at nine Little Swan, we'll come back in the morning and you can try it on angel!"

He knew without me saying a word! That was our ring!

"Yes please!" I sighed,

and he turned me round and kissed me reverently and I could feel the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes, it was just perfect.

WC

Providence & Provenance!

Garrett

We were just laughing and fooling around last night when we looked into the next window, but instantly my eyes had been drawn to the antique ring hidden almost in the back of the window display, it was practically screaming buy me!

I'd glanced over to see Little Swan's eyes glued to the very same ring and I knew we had found her engagement ring. It was a large square cut black diamond, surrounded by small white diamonds and set into the shank were several more small black ones, stunning was the only word that came to mind.

We then agreed to return in the morning, as I had held her to me kissing her with all the love I had inside me and I felt the little tears brushing our lips as she cried with joy at finding the ring for us. Once we were back at the hotel, I had carried an exhausted, but a happy angel to the massive bed gently stripped us of our clothes and slid into the cool sheets. I held her against me all night.

Occasionally stroking her hair or the skin on her back as she slept soundly, now and then mumbling my name with such love and devotion, I was humbled then, that this wonderful human woman, could love me, to other eyes I was a monster, but to Little Swan I was a man, her man and I thanked anyone who was prepared to listen, there in the dead of night, for giving her to me.

I woke her gently, giving her plenty time to have breakfast in bed and a shower before we headed out to get our ring, it was still there in the window looking as perfect to me as it did last night. To Little Swan's eyes, she said it was more splendid in the daylight, she pulled me into the shop practically bouncing with anticipation, the shop owner smiled affectionately at her, did my woman have this effect on all men? yes, yes she did!

Caius

"Aro, have you heard from Carlisle recently? Is that human changed yet?"

I was seriously bored and was looking to get someone, anyone into trouble, it was the only fun I ever got nowadays. Aro had us all tied to Volterra and him, we knew this but were unable to break free. Aro and Marcus looked up from what they were doing and they were pensive,

"Yes it's been over a year so I would have thought it would be done by now!"

Aro seemed confused, wondering why Carlisle hadn't told us it had occurred.

"She wasn't his mate, were you aware Aro?"

Marcus asked in his usual bored voice and Aro smiled nodding,

"I read him remember! That boy's so conflicted, it's a holdover from his human life, his life was destined for the church you know? Shame! Let's hope it's done,

I really don't want to have to kill Carlisle. I like him and his peculiar thoughts on our way of life! He's wrong of course, but I do like him, I predict we get a call soon, Alice will have seen this conversation!"

Alice

"Shit, Shit, Shit! Jasper, we've got trouble coming our way!"

It was only a matter of time, but as usual, we just didn't give it enough attention, the Volturi have remembered Bella and her promised change, Damn it, Caius couldn't let sleeping dogs lie!

"My mate you need to head the Volturi off, they have decided Bella is out of time, I told you, Edward, you're a bloody fool!"

Jasper and Carlisle were frozen in place and Edward was hanging his head in shame, little good that would do now!

Jasper

Fuck! I didn't want them involved in our coven until we were back to full strength and Bella was changed, well I'm just goin' to have to bluff my way through this! I motioned for Carlisle to follow me to my study, I know everyone would hear, but I needed to have the comfort of my own stuff around me, for this call.

"Okay, Carlisle I'm goin' to tell them everythin'! Swamp them with information and hope Bella's still being human is just a small blip, due to all the other stuff! but I'm not holdin' my breath"

he nodded and I made the call.

"Hello Major, you are not who I expected to call!"

Aro was soundin' a little thrown and I laughed,

"Ah Aro, are you losin' your touch? Might I enquire if the other two Kings are present? I have much to tell you all and would rather only say this once!"

I used my most persuasive, but commandin' tone. I then explained that the 'Whitlock' and 'Cullen' covens were now one unit under myself as the leader, this drew a hiss from Caius.

"So you've just added Peter and Charlotte to the existing Cullens?" he demanded,

"Actually Caius, Garrett and his mate are also members too!"

I said hopin' to distract them I rushed on to tell them about the blood.

I explained that our newest member had made the discovery that animal blood lacked the vital ingredient to let us maintain our humanity, which was a shock to us all. So that Carlisle was now tryin' to blend the two, so we could keep the more human eye colour but have what we needed to survive.

How we all had become complacent and indifferent to the humans around us, rather than enhance our humanity it had watered it down so much we didn't even care about each other's feelings, but it had crept up on us slowly over the last, well for me anyway, fifty years.

Carlisle

"When did the 'Patriot' find his mate? Do you realise you are now a coven of twelve? Isn't that a bit obvious and dangerous?" asked Marcus.

Jasper sighed and told them we were spreading ourselves out but would still be one coven, there for back-up and help. Peter and Garrett and their mates ranching in Montana, Emmett and his in North Dakota, himself and I with ours in Oregon, as well as Edward.

"Yes Major, that makes sense but what of Edward's young lady? Bella I believe, although she wasn't his mate, she must still be with you all as a newborn or almost finished her first year by now?"

Aro asked and there it was, so now he had to do a little stretching of the truth.

"Well that answers two of your questions, Bella is Garrett's mate, they met when he came for a visit, so she's off to Montana very soon. actually, it was her who worked out our blood problem, also she's researched both Garrett and Alice's past and found out who they were as humans!"

Jasper said hoping they wouldn't dig any deeper.

"Really? So who is the 'Patriot'?"

asked Marcus, as record keeper he liked to keep abreast of all new information.

"Winslow and Alice was Mary Alice Brandon," he said,

I hoped that would be the end of all their questions.

"Marcus, Edward recently made a discovery about himself and was hoping to ask you for help and information?" I said.

"Ah, old friend we were aware! The church yes? I think it's possible and who better to absolve you than a mind reader!"

said Marcus, as Aro and Caius laughed

"Get him to call me tomorrow and I'll talk to him, but we must finish off, for now, I hear Heidi approaching with our meal"

with that the line went dead and the whole house let out a collective sigh and the breath they were holding. We just dodged a bullet there but Bella would have to be changed as soon as possible.

Bella

I had just walked into the antique shop and the owner was smiling at me pulling Garrett in behind me when I shuddered violently.

"Little Swan are you okay?"

Garrett asked me concerned, I laughed shakily,

"Someone just walked over my grave baby! I'm fine"

he looked confused and I squeezed his hand, saying quietly that it was just a human saying to explain a strange feeling. He nodded and asked about the ring and as the owner went to retrieve it he pulled out his phone, had a quick conversation which I didn't catch any of and came over to me smiling,

"Okay angel let's get you your ring!"

he said nonchalantly, I knew something was up but decided to wait until we were back at the hotel before asking him. It was a perfect fit and the man said that although the centre stone had been replaced that the setting was from the late seventeen hundreds, possibly twenty years before the war era, he said and we just looked at each other amazed.

This was definitely the ring for us, I asked what the black stone was and the owner laughed,

"It's a black diamond miss, as are the small ones on the shank" I gasped, "

Baby, it'll be too expensive"

I murmured and Garrett shook his head,

"It's to last for eternity Little Swan, how could that be too expensive?"

and I was stumped, how do you answer that. He's good, not trying to flatter me into it, but just stating the obvious. I assumed that it would be put in a box and Garrett would give it to me later, but not him, he got down on one knee and took my hand slid it on and said

" Little Swan, you have no idea how much I love you, but I will spend every day of forever showing you, my future wife, Mrs Isabella Winslow!"

I started to tear up and hugged his head against by breast,

"Not as much as I will love you, my Soldier.

"That's funny!"

the owner said and we looked at him,

"No! not your devotion to each other, but the provenance of the ring, It belonged to Mrs Eldon Winslow originally, Mabel, it says here"

and he held out the document to Garrett, which he took with shaking hands. How on earth had we managed to do that, it had to be divine intervention, Garrett has just given to me his own mother's engagement ring, as mine, we were meant to be, this had to be a sign from the heavens if ever there was one.

His family came from Maine originally, so at some point they had to have moved across the top of America, stopping in Seattle and thus bringing the ring with them. I looked over his shoulder as he stared at the document, the ring was given on the birth of their son, Garrett and the stone swapped out for a black diamond after his death during the War of Independence, as a mark of mourning.

It was so sad, but his family loved him and missed him, this was a true sign of his mother's love for him and that made me happy. She would I hope be pleased that I now wore her ring to remember them by. The universe was a crazy place but sometimes, things just clicked into place. Time for more research I think, to find their burial site and give Garrett closure, of a kind.

WC