Making concessions gave Jacob the momentum he needed to start finding his place in the Cullen family, something he'd been resisting a long time. We'd accepted his being on the periphery of our lives, which I began to realize was a little cold, but we'd all thought we were merely giving him his space.

Fitting in with the family included finding his place in terms of material possessions. He took an unusual approach: rather than simply accept having the family pay his college tuition, provide his car, and whatever else they were hoping for, he asked if he could use their resources to make his own money.

"I know I'm already doing that, with the shop," he explained to Carlisle, "so maybe it seems like I'm hiding behind technicalities. But I'd feel better if I were at least slightly independent."

"We gave you the shop as a thank you gift, Jacob. The fact that it's making a profit is entirely due to your own hard work and talent."

"Sure, sure."

Carlisle chuckled at the familiar, skeptical response. "What is it you would like to do?"

"You guys make a lot of your money by investment, right?"

"Nearly all of it. Thanks to Alice, we never fail to make a profit."

"Exactly. I was wondering if you'd mind if I shared in that."

"How do you mean?"

"Invested some of the money I make at the shop, using Alice's All-Seeing Eye. If that's okay with her, of course, and with you."

Carlisle turned to Alice, who was grinning happily. "Tell you what," she said, "I'll give you hot financial tips as needed, if you'll accept a little guidance with your clothing choices."

"Should've seen that coming."

"I'm the only one who sees things coming around here, Buster. Is it a deal?"

"I get final veto."

"All I ask is that you be reasonable. You want to look like the young self-made mogul you are, right? Or rather, soon will be."

"Will I be able to pay my own way through college in three years?"

Alice laughed. "You're thinking small. You'll be well beyond that."

"Good."

"I don't know why you have to make such a big deal out of this in the first place."

"Not that I have a lot of choice, but I'd rather support myself. I don't like being kept."

"Jacob," Carlisle said gently, "I admire your attitude, but keep in mind that you are only now at the age when most young people become independent of their parents' financial support. Had you continued in school and gone on to college, you would have been provided for until quite recently. Instead, you took the role of a man while you were little more than a boy, in order to protect our family. Is it not more than fair, then, that we try to make up for some of your lost time?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "It always sounds so reasonable when you say it."

Carlisle smiled at him. "The approach you suggest is fine. We are all delighted to help you establish yourself."

Alice cocked an eye at him. "So you won't take money from us, but you don't mind insider trading?"

"It's legal insider trading, and at least everybody here's doing the same. I'm okay with it if you are."

Alice looked back at Carlisle, who nodded. "I believe we have an agreement."

"You're getting better at those," I told Jacob.

His relationship with Nessie continued as it had been, except that Jake was noticeably more careful to let Nessie make decisions and arrive at conclusions without his influence. He still gave his opinion freely, and our discussion didn't seem to have made him self-conscious around her. For myself, I felt a surprising sense of relief at having got all that off my chest. I'd done it for Nessie's sake, but maybe I'd been holding on to just a tiny bit of resentment on my own behalf, all these years. Maybe repressing things wasn't always the best approach, after all.

Jake came with us when Edward, Nessie and I went back to Forks for a week during Spring Break. He spent the time with the pack, getting reacquainted and going over any business that might call for the leader's attention. There had been no vampire presence in the area since the Cullens had left, but the wolves kept themselves unofficially on call to deal with dangerous or covert situations where they might be useful, from lost children to hiking accidents. Leah said employing the werewolves to rescue campers was like using a winged horse to pull a plough, but Jake was all for it. As he pointed out, the wolves appeared in the first place in order to protect humans. There was no reason they had to limit that protection to fighting vampires. Humans encountered more than enough other dangers to keep the wolves busy. Charlie was given just enough of a hint to know he could notify Sam when a local difficulty required some unofficial help.

While Jacob was there, he officially gave Seth permission to leave the pack, a decision the others supported unanimously. In a few years, Seth would begin to age normally, and he and his Hannah could grow old together. Seth was like the flip side of my coin: I accepted immortality for love, and he gave it up for love.

We spent some time with Charlie and Sue, who were now as comfortable together as a couple married decades instead of a few years. Charlie was especially happy to spend some time with Nessie. In spite of her mysterious beginnings and the fact that she had apparently become a high school sophomore in only six years, somehow Nessie never set off Charlie's fear of the uncanny. They adored each other. Charlie arranged to get access to the local community centre so Nessie could use their piano, giving Charlie a personal reprise of her music recital triumph.

We had the chance to meet Hannah George, a sweet, funny girl we took to right away. She'd been won over by Seth in no time, as I'd expected. Everybody liked Seth, and Seth in love would have been hard for any girl to resist. He'd found a great job in Seattle with the public health department - Sue suspected more Cullen intervention - which would allow him to be near Hannah while she attended college.

We returned home from our visit to find Mila and William at the house. This was unsurprising. They'd become a fixture in the Cullen household.

William and Mila stayed in the little cottage the Cullens rented for them through the spring. They returned to Quebec for a ten day visit with the Denali in March, only to come back and stay with us again, giving no indication they were thinking of returning to England. In fact, they'd tentatively brought up the subject of finding a more permanent residence in the area. This was awkward, once again because of money. If the pair wanted to live in a more civilized fashion, they would require some kind of regular income. Two family meetings had been devoted to resolving this issue without making our friends uncomfortable.

"They seem to be determined to stay on, but they're wavering on where and how," Edward told the family. "They feel the reasonable thing, and the expected thing, is probably to join the Denalis. Tanya's family found them in the first place, and they're a smaller group. But both William and Mila have a preference for our family. They don't want to explain it that way, especially to the Denalis."

"I'll explain it to them," Emmett offered gleefully. "'Hey, Tanya! They like us better!'."

"You'll do nothing of the kind!" Esme told him.

"They don't dislike Tanya's family," Edward said, "and they intend to keep up contact. In fact, they're not entirely amenable to joining our family, either. After being alone so long, living in constant contact with such a large group puts them off. What they find the most congenial is the idea of living on their own, but in regular contact with both other families."

"Sounds good," Emmett shrugged. "Why not do that?"

"There are practical considerations," Jasper pointed out. "The paperwork I can handle, but they'd need a source of money. William can't bring in enough playing music in the street, and they don't want to steal."

"They also don't want to let us support them," Edward said.

"This is always the problem," Alice sighed. "Where are all these people looking for a free lunch we hear so much about? We never seem to run into any of them."

"I'm sure we can come up with an arrangement we can all live with," Carlisle said. "Jacob was willing to receive our assistance on his own terms. We have to find out what our friends feel able to accept, and work with them on that basis."

We all agreed to stay alert to possibilities.

One indication that William and Mila were accepted as one of us was their inclusion in our occasional baseball games. Neither of them had ever played before, but were happy to learn. The last week in March, a thunderstorm was predicted, and the eleven of us headed out to a flat, open area we'd discovered in the low mountains to our east. No humans would be wandering near there, especially at night in a thunderstorm. We took time for a few practice swings, in deference to our newcomers. They caught on quickly. Emmett badgered Mila to stop holding the bat like a cricket bat, until Jasper pointed out that her batting average was already close to Emmett's.

"Maybe you should be taking pointers from her," Alice suggested.

"Just throw the ball," Emmett growled, swinging the bat menacingly over his head.

Alice grinned and let fly. Emmett worked up to two strikes before connecting to the ball, but Edward leapt up and caught it deftly before he'd reached first base. We mocked Emmett in the usual fashion. Emmett's competitive spirit intensified a notch.

In the next inning, a fly ball headed to what had been designated right field, the area given to the less experienced Mila. Emmett, in centre field, dashed for it, hoping to match Edward's last move. Mila ran to intercept it at the same time. Emmett picked up speed and dove just as Mila did the same.

What happened next was difficult to define. One moment Emmett was in midair, leaping into right field for a fly ball; the next moment, he was sitting on the ground, looking dazed, and the baseball had bounced back into the infield - a fair distance, given the dimensions of our particular baseball field.

We stopped playing. "Em? Are you okay?" Rosalie called.

He looked around as if confused, then slowly got to his feet. "What the hell was that?"

Edward looked sharply toward Mila. She had a panicked look on her face, and was staring helplessly at William, who hurried to her side.

"Mila, you don't have to be afraid. They're not going to..."

"Wills, can we just go? Please."

He nodded, and with the briefest of apologies they ran off together.

We gathered in the centre of our baseball diamond. "What just happened?" Jasper asked.

"That's what I want to know," Emmett said. "I never felt anything like that! I was jumping for the ball, and suddenly..." He shook his head.

"What was it you felt?" Carlisle asked.

"It was like being hit by a truck. Well, being hit by a truck when I was human. Not even that, though." He frowned. "It was like everything around me, the air, gathered up and knocked me away. I didn't know where I was for a minute. Weird!"

"It makes sense now," Edward said.

"What does?" Carlisle looked at him sharply.

"What they were blocking in their minds. Why they were so afraid of the Volturi knowing about them. It's Mila. She's gifted."

"Mila did that?" Emmett seemed more offended than surprised.

"What's the exact nature of the gift?" Carlisle asked.

"I don't know. She's still hiding it from me as much as she can. But she's afraid of it becoming known."

"They're both afraid," Jasper said, "but Mila far more so."

"We have to reassure them," Esme said, "tell them we'll keep their secret. I'd hate to have them leave over this."

"Are they thinking of leaving?" Carlisle asked Edward.

"Their plans aren't clear just yet."

"Then let's go back and talk to them," Carlisle said. "And until they consent, don't mention this to anyone, not even Jacob or the Denali. I want them to know they can trust us."

The couple were not at our house or their cabin when we returned. Their scent trailed off into the park and to the north-east.