Hi all. So glad so many of you are a little less confused now. We get a bit more information in this one…and I promise they will meet soon.
Melanie is such a support with this one. She loves it so much and her enthusiasm just make me more excited to get her chapters. Are you reading her 'Awaken'? You should be.
Get ready…
"What do we do now?" Bella asked as they sat around the kitchen table. Her hands were still shaking and as much as she tried, she just could not get warm.
"Now we look through your ancestor's Book of Shadows to try and get some more information." Esme said with a sigh as she stood and started up the stairs to gather the journals. "And you need to think of a way to keep Elizabeth away."
*()*()*
The wind whipped at his hair, blinding him.
He wished he had a leather tie so he could secure it, but his pockets were empty.
The house was dark save for the glow coming from what he assumed was the kitchen.
He was desperate to get closer.
To see her.
To feel her presence.
He needed to.
His feet moved without his permission.
*()*()*
"But…she wasn't carrying his baby anyway. From everything I've read they never even…laid together." Bella said shyly as they paged through the books that covered the table. The aching jealousy and sense of possession in her chest flared every time she remembered the way Elizabeth had declared that Edward was hers.
"Back in those days, just the talk of a betrothal was enough to declare possession, Bella. And she might not have written about them sleeping together. Yes, the child wasn't his, but that doesn't mean they never were together." Alice said quietly as she sat back and sipped at her ginger root and chamomile tea. Her belly was a mess after what happened during the circle and she had started with morning sickness just as Bella had. Every time a wave of nausea hit her; she couldn't help but be reminded of Jasper's face right before he walked away from her. She knew that her own father had left Salem after she was conceived as he was unable to be so close to her mother. She wondered if Jasper would do the same. She knew he had been accepted at Salem State, but was that too close? Would he leave too? It hurt just to think about.
"No, he was never with her." Bella whispered vehemently, ignoring the surprised looks from the women around her. She was sure he hadn't been with her, because she had been his first.
*()*()*
The soft light streaming through the windows called to him.
It was easy for him to see into the room through the glass.
There she was.
She looked…
Terrible.
Her hair was wild and her skin was sallow.
Her eyes were dark and sunken.
The flutter in his chest exploded in agitation.
Something was terribly wrong with his girl.
*()*()*
"Bella…be reasonable. I mean, yes things were different back then, more straight laced, but to think that they would have never been together is…" Alice huffed, her already thin patience wearing down.
"Stop! I know it because I was his first." She shouted, pushing back from the table so fast her chair skidded back noisily. Esme and Alice looked at her, immobile.
"It was him…I know it was. He came to me at that party and it was perfect. He was gentle and kind and he whispered sweet words in my ear. It was…" She yelled, but stopped when she saw the shocked look on their faces.
"Bella…you can't truly believe that. I saw the boys that raped you…" Alice gasped but stopped when they heard a crash from outside the window.
*()*()*
The little dark-haired one's words cut through him like a knife.
It was happening again.
Over and over their history must be repeating itself.
He remembered the agony he felt when Elizabeth had been brutalized.
And his feelings for her had paled in comparison to the way he felt about his girl sitting there at the table.
She was magnificent in her fury as she tried to explain to them what had happened that night.
He knew it had not been a dream.
But when the little one spoke of his girl being…
Raped…
He couldn't take it anymore.
His hands splintered through the thick trunk of the oak tree and it came crashing down around him.
And then…
He ran.
*()*()*
"What in the name of…" Esme gasped as she looked into the dimly lit yard and saw the remnants of the tall oak tree strewn around the grass.
Bella collapsed into her forgotten chair as Alice and Esme looked at the damage. Bella didn't need to see what had happened, she knew what occurred. He had been there.
Edward.
She could feel him.
The question she had was…
Why had he run?
*()*()*
The flutter in his chest didn't fade with his distance from her this time.
He had hoped it would.
Nothing could come of this.
And as much as he was desperate to be near her, he worried what he might do.
*()*()*
"Bella, it must have just been your imagination. He comes to you in visions, and visions aren't real." Alice said as she closed the kitchen door. There was nothing they could do about the tree now. They would have to deal with it in the morning.
"Elizabeth seemed pretty real and pretty dangerous didn't she? What says that Edward could not have come to me?" Bella asked as she wrapped her arms around her belly. She hated that they were making her doubt what she knew was real.
"Bella, we won't get anything else done tonight. How about we turn in and deal with this at first light." Esme said as she cleared the cups off the table and turned to stand with her arms braced on either side of the sink. Her head hung low and it was not until Bella saw her shoulders start to shake that she realized she was crying. She rushed from the chair and wrapped her arms around Esme's shoulders, pulling her away from the sink and into her arms.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry my family has brought this all down on you. If it weren't for…" Bella rambled, feeling Esme's pain as if it were her own.
"No...this isn't Elizabeth's fault, just like it isn't your fault. It's all that damn man's fault! If he had just seen what was right there in front of him…but no, he had to follow his heart and now you see where that got him!" Esme snarled as she pushed away from Bella and started to pace around the room. Alice stepped back against the wall to stay out of her mother's way, while Bella stood with her hand over her mouth, unable to believe what she had just heard.
"Esme…you've read the books, you know he didn't know she would do something like this. It wasn't his fault he only had eyes for her…" Bella tried to defend him, her heart hurting just listening to Esme's unkind words about Edward.
"Yes Bella…he only had eyes for her. I know and yet you are living in some sort of dream world where he really loves you. Wake up Bella! You are going to die. And we will raise your daughter just like it has been for the last 200 years. Nothing will ever change!" Esme screamed, whipping her arm out, sending the tea cups shattering all over the stone floor. She looked down at the mess for a moment before turning and walking out of the room.
"He's getting married." Alice whispered as she knelt down to pick up the broken cups. Bella looked at her, still trying to process all Esme had said.
"What?" She rasped, bending over to help Alice.
"My father, he's getting married. I found Mom on the computer before we started the ritual. She must keep track of him through Facebook and Google, and there was a newspaper article about him getting married next year. There was a picture of him and his…fiancée. I…I think she is having a hard time dealing with it. It's one thing to know they don't want you but to see them with someone else…" Alice said, her voice getting thick as she thought about what she would do if Jasper started going with one of the girls from school. It would kill her.
Bella looked down at the broken pottery in her hands and vowed to somehow find a way to break the curse. Not only for her…but for all of them.
Rec time:
Bornonhalloween is doing a daily drabble called 'Lather, Rinse, Repeat.' It is like a daily dose of perfection.
Robsmyyummy Cabanaboy just posted her first foray into the fic world and is already rocking my socks with her 'Last Call'. Go read it now!
And my usual girls…JA Mash, Lvtwilight09, theonlykyla, Dalloway5906 and Edward's Eternal…read them or die!