"Bella! Jasper! Where have you been? You have been gone for hours!" their mother admonished them when they set foot in the house.
"Sorry mother. Bella was in danger so I had to help her. We didn't mean to worry you," Jasper apologized.
"Well thank the god's you are back. Many bad things are known to happen at night," Charlie commented.
As the family ate in silence, Jasper kept looking over at Bella, watching for any signs of distress. It seemed though, that Bella was fine. She ate and interacted with the family as usual, doing nothing that seemed out of place.
"Jasper really, I am fine!" she exclaimed when they were alone and could talk about the day without being overheard.
"Fine. Although if you start acting weird in any way tomorrow you are staying in bed all day."
…
Somehow Jasper had actually convinced their parents to make Bella stay in bed all day. She was blazed, so she wrote a note to Edward and sent her falcon to him saying she was being kept under scrutiny and wasn't allowed to leave her bed thanks to her wonderful brother. He wrote back and simply agreed with Jasper, making Bella even more furious.
Throughout the day she wrote poetry and drew some, bored out of her mind. Renee brought up some clothes she could mend at about mid-day along with some food so she could keep busy. Evening was approaching and Bella waked downstairs to eat dinner with her family and Charlie told her she didn't have to stay in bed anymore.
"Thank you sweet Isis! I thought I would die from boredom!"
"Yes, but I think you needed the rest anyway," Rosalie told her from her spot.
Bella grumbled from her spot, irritated at Rosalie's comment. She finally made it through dinner and cleaned off before bed, slipping into her evening clothes and falling asleep.
…
When Edward made it back home that night he figured Bella wouldn't be allowed out of the house based on Jasper's reactions toward the incident with Mike. Mike. He hadn't known him for five minutes and look at what already happened. Bella could handle it though. She was tougher than people gave her credit for. Even so, he couldn't help but feel like there was something bad that was going to happen
…
Bella was waiting in the garden with some other kids when two teenagers passing out fliers started walking in her direction. They were talking between themselves but kept giving the fliers out just the same. When they got to Bella they gave her one and she looked at it. It showed a picture of a young, strong-looking man that was apparently worth quite a bit of money. The description said he would marry girls and after a few days run off with anything and everything that was worth money, leaving the girl nothing. While people knew of him, it was said he would change his appearance to fool people into marrying them off to their daughters. Once he was married long enough, he would leave with all the money he could get and the family would end up dirt poor.
'Jake' the flier said.
"Bella!" Edward called.
Bella whipped around and shoved the flier into her bag before Edward had time to see it. The whispers about this man were still going around but Edward seemed oblivious to it. Bella was grateful for that though. People had enough to worry about. This is something that we can handle on our own if she ever had to.
…..
Mike hadn't come around for a few weeks and Bella felt at ease walking around town. Her feelings for Edward had increased but she knew there was no way they could be together. She sighed and her brow furrowed in frustration. Then, out of frustration, she kneaded the bread harder, putting all her strength into beating the dough. She then felt a hand touch her arm. When she looked up she was surprised to find not Jasper, but Rosalie of all people!
"Rose?"
"Bella, if you ever need to talk to anyone, just remember I am here for you."
She blinked, not expecting the rare soft side she had seen.
"Thank you Rose."
Rosalie nodded once. She had changed so much since the almost fatal incident around two years ago. Her usual happy, nice side had been tainted with a more stoic, slightly harsher version of herself. She rarely revealed the pleasant side, but when she did, it was much obliged.
It's only when you copy and paste something, do you realize how short or long a chapter is. Sorry for the shortness.