A/N: The long awaited update! Sorry this took a while. I finally got some writing advice and wanted to go back and edit all of my previous chapters before going forward with more. I've got the first two chapters posted on Twilighted. There is one more chapter after this one before the sequel is posted. The sequel has a lot of adult content so I wanted to post it separately rather than keep the chapters up with this story.
Chapter 10. – Four
JPOV
Rosalie took Nessie out for ice cream three times per week on average. Somehow she refrained from losing her temper with me, but there were a couple of occasions where she abruptly ran away from me and went out with what seemed like her new best friend, Rosalie. Edward and Bella had a bit more difficulty, though. Every time they tried to talk to her about what she was going through, she exploded. It only took them a few tries to figure out that it was useless.
Rosalie played devil's advocate. She never divulged the details of their numerous trips for ice cream, but she didn't leave Bella and Edward completely in the dark. She encouraged them to not pry, let her have space.
It all came to an end when Nessie leaped off her balcony and darted into the woods alone at ten o'clock at night after Bella tried to make plans to go out for ice cream the next morning. The magnetic force in my chest made it fairly easy to find her, plus I was still a smidgen faster than her. I was shocked that she found comfort in my presence instead of shrugging me away as well. Bella and Edward stopped trying to talk to her after that.
I felt guilty for the way she behaved, like so much of it was my fault. She got upset if I did something like keep my shirt on when I was sweating to death in the shop, but if I took it off she still got upset and stormed out. Esme and I agreed that I would postpone my custom work after I finished the project that sent her storming out the first time. Unfortunately I had just started it and still had a couple of months of work to put into the fine details.
Seeing Nessie like that wasn't worth anything in the world, especially not money. I could find some other way to earn my keep, though these days I hardly felt obligated. Building custom furniture started out as a way for me to generate my own money so I wouldn't be so dependent on Carlisle and Esme. She did interior design for the socialites of Portland and I was her number one referral for custom furniture work. Nowadays it was just something to do, something to keep me busy. The others had their musings, this was mine. The money was nice, too. People with six figure incomes would pay exorbitant amounts of money for a dining room set they'd use for no more than a year or two, however long it took their wives to get sick of looking at it.
The day I finished my work for Esme's client, I felt at ease. I wouldn't come back to the shop until Nessie was through this awkward phase. I couldn't stand to subject her to it, and could never deny her presence in the shop. Renesmee hadn't been shopping in a while, and I'd just received my final payment – a whopping $7,000 on top of what I'd already been paid – so it seemed like a good idea.
We didn't go shopping together often, it was something we both preferred she do with the girls, but I wanted to take her myself with my money. She was turning four in less than a week; it would be her birthday gift from me.
I had told her the night before that I needed to go to Saks for some new jeans, that I needed to replace a pair that I ripped before Esme noticed they were missing. My original plan was to head out around lunch time, but thought it'd be nice for us to go out for dinner somewhere – or in Nessie's case, dessert.
The curtains were closed to Nessie's dressing room when I entered, indicating that she was still getting ready. Shelves and racks that were once occupied with costumes resembling every form of royalty known to man were now overrun with her clothing hoard.
She was still the same Nessie, though; the expansive dressing room – which resembled an upscale boutique more than one person's closet and dressing area – was organized by style. Some days she wore light and flowy, others bold and cheerful. Aside from the closet, the room hadn't changed much. She'd only stopped playing dress up maybe six months or so ago.
When she finally walked out, I tried not to look surprised, knowing that it might upset her. She was wearing makeup, something I'd never seen her wear before. Not much, just a little on her eyelashes and a delicate pink gloss on her lips. Edward let her rule her life, but was very strict when it came to how she looked in public. Even on her most showy day, she never pushed his limits with anything too short or revealing.
Her hair was straightened and came all the way down her back like liquid bronze. I noticed she was wearing the sapphire ring I gave her, something she saved for when she was going out. Thankfully, her outfit was modest – a simple cotton lavender dress that came to her knees paired with flat sandals and a white cashmere sweater. Something about lavender combined with the color of her skin and hair, she looked absolutely gorgeous.
I figure the more flattery, the better. I'd given up on trying to keep her from being attracted to me, why not make her happy. "Wow, Ness. You look gorgeous. And the hair, I like it. I like your curls, too. Your hair is perfect styled either way." Keeping my foot out of my mouth was more difficult than I'd hoped.
She smiled and batted her lashes. "Thanks," she said in a refrained squeal. "You look nice, too, Jake."
I smiled her favorite one, the one I saved just for her. "Thank Esme, she bought it."
She smiled my favorite one right back. "Esme didn't buy your hair, and I'm pretty sure I bought the watch and chain you're wearing. Let's not talk about the things that don't require money or gel." She touched my cheek lightly, showing me the smile I'd just shown her.
When we got in the car, she put in her favorite CD and cranked it up. It was a little soft for me, but listening to her sing along in tune with the guy made up for it. The remainder of the ride was spent alternating from her favorite songs to mine. We shared several favorites, too. She seemed to get lost in the music very easily, dancing in her seat and singing aloud. It's too bad she'd never have the opportunity to be a musician; she would have been great at it.
"Where are you going? You're supposed to turn left at this light. Look, the parking garage to Saks is right there." She pointed to the very obvious parking garage.
"We're going somewhere else, first. Emmett asked me to pick his watch up. He had to have it cleaned and the glass replaced after last week's hunting trip."
"He wore a nice watch hunting? What was he thinking?"
"I'm not sure that he was, but either way we're picking it up." I wasn't lying about the watch, but it was only my secondary reason for not going straight to Saks. I parked the car in front of Tiffany & Co.
"He wore a Tiffany watch hunting?! He has serious issues. That's like defiling a national monument." She shook her head in disbelief. She only had a couple of Tiffany pieces – the sapphire ring and a silver necklace with a heart charm I gave her for Valentine's day – but she understood the injustice of Emmett's negligence.
I opened the door for her and she took my hand. We held hands all the time at home, but I was slightly uncomfortable doing so in public. A seventeen year old boy holding hands with a thirteen year old girl, not exactly socially acceptable; but if it made her happy then that's all that mattered to me. I could only imagine the humiliation she would suffer had I pulled my hand away from her or even tried to carefully word a logical reason for doing so. This was a special day and I couldn't ruin it by caring about stranger's prejudices.
We entered the store hand in hand and the gentleman at the counter nearest to the door greeted us warmly. I guess our nice attire was enough to convince him that we weren't loitering or wasting his time. He seemed to recognize me from when I purchased Nessie's ring nearly two years ago, then he saw it on her hand and automatically remembered. He must've made a nice commission off me that day, because he suddenly became much more enthusiastic about our presence.
"I'm going to get the watch, 'kay? Go ahead and look around, it might take a minute."
She let go of my hand and walked toward the sterling silver collections, admiring the bracelet that matched the necklace she already had – an item far below today's budget.
I approached the gentleman who greeted us.
"Good afternoon, Sir. What can I help you with?" He smiled eagerly.
I hadn't thought this part through; I couldn't exactly tell him my intentions without her hearing. "I'm here to pick up a watch my brother in law had repaired." I handed him the service ticket.
"Of course, right this way." His enthusiasm slowly dissipated. We walked to the back of the store where I noticed pens. I pulled a receipt out of my wallet and jotted the man a quick note.
The girl – take care of her. She doesn't know it, but she's in for a surprise. Show her the gold and platinum keys – diamonds. Whatever she picks, charge this and put it in a bag with the watch.
That was all I could scribble. I laid my bank card on the counter beside the note. He showed my note to what appeared to be his superior and handed him the service ticket. I could tell he was suspicious of mine and Nessie's age difference, but his desire for a sale overruled it. If I were in his position, I would have made a similar assessment, so I let him slide. It wouldn't be much longer before we looked closer to the same age and problems like this would be over. At least if she looked fifteen it would be almost appropriate. I didn't expect our relationship to progress any further for a couple of years, but at least being in the public eye would be easier.
Not wanting to keep me from the potential sale, he rushed back with Emmett's watch, showing me the corrections they'd made. He unlatched it so as to put it on me, but then noticed I was already wearing a watch – the Rolex Nessie gave me against my will. The man commented on how lovely it was and placed Emmett's watch in a box, then in a bag just as I directed. I took the slip he gave me and wrote another note.
Keep it here until we leave, put my card and her purchase in the bag. I'll sign when I leave, but make it look like I'm signing for the repair. Be inconspicuous.
Gifts were great, but I took great pride in the fact that everything I was going buy Nessie today would come from my bank account containing the money I earned. Esme never let me pay for anything, so it was just sitting there doing nothing. I had made some investments – which were doing quite well thanks to Alice – but it still seemed like the thousands were just piling up and collecting dust. Custom jobs only took a couple of months, sometimes less, and the yuppies paid top dollar.
I returned to Nessie's side, Emmett's watch still behind the counter. She flashed me my favorite smile and reclaimed my hand. "See anything you like?" I asked her.
"Well of course I do!" She laughed. "Lucas here has been showing me all of the magnificence that is Tiffany."
Lucas gestured to the pieces he had taken out of the case, pieces Nessie had shown interest in. "She was particularly taken by this one." He held up a white gold key that resembled an old-timey skeleton key. The top was a row of diamonds forming a heart. Perfect, just the one I hoped she would pick.
"That's interesting." I saw the key online weeks ago and knew I wanted it for her. It wasn't the most expensive or flashy, but the only one with a diamond heart. This left room in today's budget. "Let's go take a look over here." I pulled her toward the sterling silver collections. "Look, Ness, the bracelet that matches your necklace." I looked up to Lucas. "Could you take this out?"
He took it out of the case and moved to put it on her, but I reached out for it instead and clasped it onto her wrist.
"It fits perfectly," I said to Nessie. "We'll take it."
"Oh Jacob! Thank you! Thank you! You're the best!" she squealed, hopping up and down while hugging me. Wow, I couldn't wait to see how she reacted to the necklace she really wanted.
I paid for the bracelet with cash. The two gentlemen played along with my charade just as hoped, so I casually slid them a tip. Nessie was too busy admiring her bracelet. She skipped all the way to the car and put on her favorite song – again – once inside the Infiniti. Now was the time. I turned the volume down and watched her energy level come down along with it.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
I smiled her favorite one. "Absolutely perfect." I pulled the bag out of the floorboard of the back seat and dug the lighter of the two boxes out, knowing it would be the one containing the necklace.
"I already have two souvenir Tiffany boxes; they didn't really have to go to the effort of tying the bow back so nicely."
I let out one chuckle, that wasn't what I was expecting. "Ness, this one's not empty."
She looked confused, so I opened the box, revealing the heart shaped key she fell in love with in the store. Her mouth fell open; she gasped and put her hands on her chest.
"Oh my gosh, Jacob." Her voice was barely audible, just a low whisper. "How'd—I didn't—"
I pulled my bank card out of the bag and fanned myself with it arrogantly.
"I'd say something sarcastic if I weren't so impressed and absolutely shocked." She giggled, but still didn't reach for her newest treasure.
"I need to tell you something. This key… it symbolizes something. It's the exact one I hoped you would pick, and the fact that you actually picked it… well, that says something too." I leaned over and put the necklace on her, pushing the hair from her face behind her ears. "This key symbolizes the key to my heart. You have it. Well, really, you have my whole heart and soul, but Tiffany doesn't make heart and soul necklace charms. I'll always be here. I want you to know that. Now is a weird time for us, but it's just a phase. Try to understand that. I love you more than you know, but it's not time yet." I've never been good with words; I could only hope that she would understand the meaning in what I was trying to tell her.
She smiled, that was a good sign. "I do understand. I've thought about it so much lately and finally I get it. Would you agree that today hasn't been very weird? Well, except for the whole people staring thing?"
I nodded.
"Well, I came to a conclusion last night. You haven't been acting weird lately, but I have. I noticed that you learned to just roll with things. I decided I would, too… just roll with it, no matter what my overly hormonal mind tells me. I can't make any promises, but thus far it seems to be working. I'm not trying to not be weird, I'm just being me and you're being you. That's how it works."
"Perfect, then." I took her hand in mine.
"I had a whole drawn out thank you in mind, but I already feel like I'm going to cry so let's just save it." She leaned over and hugged my neck for a long moment. "Thank you so much, you really are the best. Even if we were both poor and you couldn't buy me tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, you'd still be the best because you're you. You're my Jacob," she mumbled into my shoulder while I became putty in her arms. She pulled away wiping tears from her cheeks.
I took a deep cleansing breath. "Alright, which way to Saks?" I asked robustly.
"You really need to go to Saks?"
"Well of course. The necklace was only part of your birthday gifts."
Her brows furrowed. "Jacob, I know how much this necklace cost. I don't want you to spend more."
I started driving back toward Saks. "Alright, I'll take you home and come back. But I can guarantee I'm not nearly as good with choosing designer handbags as Rosalie or Alice. Probably worse than your mom even."
She crossed her arms and huffed. "You're not going to let me win this one, are you?"
We didn't leave Saks until all but a small portion of the check I received that morning was gone – mission accomplished. Sticking with my agenda of providing Nessie with an exciting day without things getting weird, I took her to a well lit family restaurant that's known for its massive brownie sundaes. Esme recommended this fondue restaurant, but when she mentioned the soft lighting and music I knew it would be a bad idea, it'd be too much like a date.
Our server let out a sarcastic laugh when Renesmee ordered a two person dessert with one spoon before we even ordered drinks or opened our menus. The server glanced at me as if in search of approval for such behavior. I simply nodded, barely making eye contact with her. Nessie pulled one of the many Saks bags onto the table. My brow furrowed in confusion.
"What? I'm switching out purses," she said as if I'd missed something incredibly obvious. That's when we both heard the snide remarks that would bring our blissful afternoon and evening to a screeching halt.
Our server thought she was out of earshot. She could have been outside and Nessie would have heard her. "Look at that little slut-to-be. Draped in Tiffany, switching from one Luis Vuitton to a new one. She didn't even order a meal, just that huge sundae with one spoon. I hope she doesn't plan on keeping twentysomething sugar daddy's by eating like that."
The other servers laughed along with our waitress. Nessie turned into a hostile statue. She looked like she would explode at any moment.
The server decided to continue. "Ugh. You should have seen the way they looked at each other. I mean, that hottie's got to be at least twenty, and she can't be more than fifteen. Pedophile. Eew."
That's when Nessie snapped. I'd seen Ness and Emmett compete to see who could incapacitate a grizzly the fastest, this was not the girl a human should piss off. At that moment, we were both ready to strangle the girl. I was trembling at the table, struggling to keep myself calm, unable to think of anything but not phasing. I opened my eyes to see Nessie throwing all of her stuff into the Saks bag. She stood and shoved it in front of me.
"We're leaving," she breathed through her clenched teeth.
I stood up, but she began to stomp off in the wrong direction – the direction of the laughing girls. "Renesmee! No! Don't!" I called to her, but she didn't stop, she didn't even turn to look at me.
"I'm fine," she breathed again through her teeth.
There was nothing I could do. Either way, we were seconds away from having to leave Portland – Carlisle's job, Esme's clients, our home and all that we held sacred about it. We would have to start over, something I wasn't ready to do just yet. I had two options – let Nessie release her fury on this disgusting vile human, or try to stop her which would result in just as big a spectacle, and Nessie would most likely be very upset with me if I went with the second option. There was no guarantee I'd even be able to stop her if I tried.
I stood at the table holding the Saks bag, waiting, watching Ness briskly stomp to the wretched server.
"I heard everything you just said," Nessie told the girl. The server was much taller than Nessie, but that didn't matter.
"Did you? Hmm." The server crossed her arms and raised her brows, unmoved by Nessie's threatening posture.
"I suggest you apologize to my friend and I." I saw her cock one eyebrow as she breathed the words.
"Apologize? Honey, I should be calling the police, not apologizing." The server stood still, condescending in both her tone and posture.
"Have it your way, then." Nessie reached up and slapped the girl pretty hard, harder than any other girl could slap but not quite inhumanly. Maybe we'd be okay after all.
"Apologize," she breathed again.
"I'd kick your ass if you weren't a minor. Joe, call the police. The pedophile and his girlfriend are assaulting people out here." The server made no move to defend herself.
Nessie reached up and grabbed the girl's ponytail, brought her down to her eye level, and spit in her face.
Still holding the girls head, she spoke, "He's not my boyfriend, nor is he a pedophile you disgusting, jealous whore." For the first time in her life, Renesmee looked dangerous.
"Apologize," she demanded, louder this time.
"I'm sorry!" the girl finally screamed. Nessie lunged her backward, but not hard enough for anyone to suspect that she were anything more than a stronger than average human girl.
The farther Ness got from the server, the more her face smoothed back out into its original smile, the smile she wore when she was switching out her purse just a moment ago. By the time she was at my side, she was back to her former self.
"Let's get out of this dump," she said as she grabbed my hand and headed to the door, all signs of fury gone.
"May I ask why you're smiling?" I asked as she bounced into the Infiniti.
Her face lit up. "I controlled myself!" she shrieked with great pride. "I thought I was going to murder the girl – and I was fighting hard against the urge to do so the entire time. Plus, I won… that always makes me happy. Not that I ever thought I'd lose." She rolled her eyes. "No one calls my Jacob a pedophile." She was bubbly when she spoke, playing with the symbolic key to my heart.
Once home, Nessie reenacted her triumph to the others who were very proud of her restraint. The girls gushed over all of the things we purchased at Tiffany's and Saks, unbelieving that I was capable of such masterful ideas. I even detected a faint indication of jealousy coming from Rosalie whose husband was a bit too much of a brute to put such planning and thought into her gifts. Emmett was an awesome guy, but like most brawny men, arranging things like this was not part of his skill set. Before long, the contents of all the Saks bags were scattered all over Nessie's downstairs furniture.
After she was in bed, the others all convened in the formal dining room. Out of curiosity, I followed. The long table was quickly covered in three dimensional models, fabric swatches, magazine clippings, and countless documents and spreadsheets.
Alice noticed my puzzled expression first. "I knew you'd want to get Renesmee a gift yourself, something special, so we kind of left you out of this thus far. I hope you're not insulted?" She had on that expression that could sell ice to Eskimos.
"Of course not. So I take it you guys are redecorating her room?" I sat down beside Bella at the table, scanning the table, putting together the various pieces.
"Yes. It's about time, don't you think?" Bella said as she began to jot down notes on a piece of scrap paper. "Nice job on your gifts, by the way. You've far outdone us, but that's okay." She smiled and somehow her face looked warm.
"We'll see about that," I replied.
"I didn't have to read her thoughts to know how overly ecstatic she was about your gifts, Jacob. Give yourself some credit," Edward interjected from the other side of Bella.
Bella pushed the paper away from her, a much more elegant script than I could ever manage. "Alright, we're ready to start with the hard part. We've got four days to pull it off, but Alice has good faith that everything will go according to plan." She shifted to face me ever so gracefully. "Jacob, there's a reason we're finally letting you in on this. You're going to have to get Renesmee out of the house for a few days. Her birthday is Friday, can you handle a trip to Forks just the two of you? Edward and I would accompany you, but this is a large part of our gift to her. It wouldn't be the same if we let the others do everything."
"Sure, I can take her. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but it's the least I can do." I paused and massaged the furrow in my brow, uneasy over the thought of spending so much alone time with Nessie during this uncomfortable stage.
"Can you leave first thing in the morning? The last renovation took months. We're not changing much structurally this time, but four days is still cutting it close."
I nodded, still massaging my brow.
"You might want to go ahead and pack the RV tonight so you can get an early start. We're going to pack her things after she's in a deep enough sleep. Come back at 9:00am the morning of her Birthday. That way, we can just take her straight to her new room." She spoke in a very businesslike manner which matched well with her posture.
She must have been taking the redesign very seriously, and it was clear that she was in charge. My guess is she was trying everything she could think of to reassemble her relationship with Nessie. Maybe this would bring her back to her family. The fact that Rosalie was part of the project was good, she was part of their team, and maybe Nessie would see that.
While most of Nessie's time was spent with me, she still clung to Rosalie, which didn't seem to bother her a bit. She took great pleasure in being able to fill any void in Renesmee's life. Her empty nest syndrome was being sated through Nessie. It seemed to warm her personality, make her a more enjoyable person.
Bella, being the selfless person she is, allowed Rosalie this satisfaction. Bella would rather be the one Nessie was running to in stressful times, but she saw the glass half full side of things. Rosalie would perhaps no longer regret never having a child of her own. During Nessie's infancy, Rosalie spent a lot of time cooing and caring for her.
"Sounds like a good idea," I agreed. "You guys are braver than me, though. This could go one of two ways—"
Bella interrupted. "I'm betting on Alice," She replied in a sarcastic tone. She cocked one eyebrow waiting for my rebuttal. I couldn't think of one. Redesigning her room without asking for her input was dangerous. Even if Alice saw it going well, there was always a slim chance it could backfire if Ness decided to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
The next morning, Nessie skipped out of her room looking like nothing known to Forks, Washington. Nessie made no attempt to conceal her love for designer labels. I'm pretty sure this stemmed from the grudge she held toward Leah who never really took much liking to Ness or any of the Cullen's. She put on a nice façade, but there was no fooling Edward who could see right through her. Not that she cared, she only pretended as a favor to me. The first time Nessie showed up in La Push dressed like a movie star, Leah muttered a barely audible comment about how spoiled and flashy she was. Edward assured Nessie that Leah was merely an acidic person.
Nessie was wearing makeup again, same as yesterday. She neither asked questions nor seemed to care at all that her parents wouldn't be joining us. She did keep her manners though, smiling and kissing everyone goodbye as we stepped into the RV, Infiniti in tow.
The ride was surprisingly comfortable, just us being ourselves, very easy. Ness danced around; I jokingly joined her in belting out all the words to our favorite songs. My performance was pitiable compared to her melodious voice. It felt like the old 'us' again. Well, except for the couple of times I saw her holding a gaze for longer than would be expected. I just grinned, though. No reason to make things hard for her. Carlisle said she could be finished growing in as soon as eighteen months, I could pacify her until then. I wasn't in a rush for her to grow up, quite the opposite in fact, but if it meant getting past this weird phase then I was all for it.
Our stay in Forks was a very pleasant one with a single, minor exception. Charlie and dad planned a surprise party for her in La Push. Of course, it was no 'Alice' party, but it was nice. Everyone we knew and loved was there, with the exception of the Cullen's who were busy working on their gift to her.
I wasn't surprised to find Emily pregnant. She had that whole pregnancy glow thing going on and Sam was worshipping her even more than usual. Leah wasn't in attendance, apparently she decided to move out to attend college somewhere near Seattle. Perhaps she could find inner peace there.
The fairly new covered porch came in handy as the rain started very early. Music filled the air as we all partied late into the evening, a large bonfire providing us with all the light we needed.
I never got a chance to talk to Sam about all of the things that had gone on between Renesmee and me. After guests started to leave and I tucked Nessie into her bed in the RV, I asked if he could stay for a little while longer. Sam and I sat together beside the fire on camp chairs, the RV in plain sight.
"I hope this isn't too personal," I said, thumbing the fabric of the chair I sat in.
Sam let out a throaty snicker. "We've seen each other naked… each other's fantasies… nothing is too personal."
"We'll see about that." I let out a sigh. "It's about you and Emily. Well, about the things that came with imprinting."
"Go on," Sam instructed.
"I've always felt a magnetism toward Nessie, just as you have with Emily. But there's something else. Last November when we were on the island, it happened to her, same as it does for us. The pain, the longing, the magnetism. Has that… ever happened to Emily?" I looked up to meet his gaze.
"Well, not that she's ever mentioned to me." His expression led me to believe that he was a bit jealous, that perhaps my connection with Renesmee was stronger than his and Emily's. Sam's interest in our conversation was waning at this point.
"Okay, there's something else. I'm… having trouble… phasing. It takes a lot of effort to force myself, and sometimes I can't at all." I slouched in my seat, staring into the fire.
"You think it has to do with the fact that you surround yourself with your natural enemy? That you imprinted on one of them? That you accept your natural enemy as your family?" he replied in a harsh tone. My fingers began to tremble as I realized perhaps Sam is not as accepting of the Cullen's as he seems.
I sat motionless for a long moment. "How dare you talk about Renesmee like that," I grumbled, my fingers still trembling. "They ARE my family. You know what, this conversation is over. Get off my land, Sam."
"Have a nice life, Jacob Cullen."
That was it. I erupted, breaking the chair and ripping my clothes to shreds as I phased. I let out a deep growl and crouched down, ready to lunge myself onto him. Sam didn't even turn around to look at me, he just continued toward my house. What was he thinking? Perhaps he was just getting Emily so they could leave. I didn't wait around to see, or to kill my once-brother. I ran around the forest for about a half hour, Sam was nowhere to be found when I returned.
That morning, I told my dad he could visit us at Charlie's for the remainder of our time in Forks, but I wouldn't be returning to La Push any time soon. He didn't take me up on my offer. Could he really side with Sam? Did he really still have any hint of a grudge toward the Cullens? Renesmee was practically his granddaughter; could he possibly have some hint of a grudge toward her? Surely not.
We were only going to be in town for one more day, maybe he already had plans. Seeing him probably wasn't a good idea, anyway. If Sam had mentioned anything about our little scene, he would surely side with Sam in that I was wrong for threatening him regardless of my intent.
I pulled the RV up to the front door of the Cullen mansion at exactly 9:00am, as instructed. Nessie was still asleep in the back. I tried to pick her up and carry her but she woke.
"We're home?" she said groggily, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She looked out the window.
"Mom!" she yelled in excitement from inside the RV. Nessie jumped up and ran out the door ahead of me. Bella and Edward were waiting at the top of the brick stairs, Nessie ran into her mother's waiting arms. "I missed you!" she said to Bella. "You, too, dad," she said as she reached for Edward.
"Really? We missed you, too, sweetie," Bella replied, shocked by Nessie's display of affection. "We've kind of already got your birthday present waiting for you, do you want it?"
"Where are the others? I want to see them!" she squealed in reply.
Bella took her hand. "They are with your gift. It's sort of a group effort, your gift from all of us."
Nessie darted into the house, Bella and Edward right behind her with me close behind. The lilac curtain leading to what used to be her playroom was closed.
"You ready?" Bella asked sweetly.
Nessie just squealed. Maybe this would go well after all. Edward placed his hands over her eyes as Bella pressed the button to open the curtains.
"Now Renesmee, whatever you don't like, we can undo. I promise," Bella said.
Edward dropped his hands from Nessie's eyes and she gasped. Everything was completely different, bold and striking. Bright pink, purple, black, and white covered everything with splashes of silver, bright green, and other bold colors. The furniture in the living area – the furniture I built myself – still remained, but had been reupholstered. The large sofa was solid white; the loveseat was now bright pink, and the two plush chairs were purple.
Heaps of brightly colored accent pillows scattered all of the furniture and a huge high pile rug with black and white stripes rested beneath it all, bringing the furniture together. The stage remained, but featured a new sound system and a disco ball along with bright fabric panel backdrops.
The space that used to be reserved for pretend play was now occupied by a large, white L-shaped desk. On it stood a new hot pink laptop and various electronics and coordinating accessories, all striking and colorful. The fabric to her dressing room was now bright purple and had not been opened. Thankfully the walls were a bit less striking, they were lavender.
Nessie roamed around her new space, touching everything. We went out to the balcony and found that the furnishings there had also been reupholstered to match the inside colors. I was thrilled that it was still the same furniture that I made for her, only updated to better suit her present style.
Nessie's bedroom hadn't changed as much. The fairy tale themed items were replaced with more contemporary accents. Antique white with hints of pink and lavender, and the reading chair remained the same. The space as a whole was very 'Nessie'- half bright and glittering, the other half subtle and calm. Nessie was quite pleased with her gift. I almost expected her closet to be completely restocked with new clothes, but it had only been redecorated and painted. Just as Alice predicted, Nessie loved her new space.
Naturally, the unnecessarily large cake matched everything perfectly. Nessie and I spent the day relaxing in her new room just like friends. We watched TV for a bit, ate cake, listened to music, and I particularly enjoyed it when she paid me the honor of singing one of her favorite songs on her stage with the new sound system. Maybe she couldn't be famous in the real world, but she'd be my favorite singer for all eternity.
A/N:
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