Title – You Found Me
POV – Bella
Setting – Killeen, Texas (near Fort Hood, Texas)
Mortality – All human
Time Setting – Fall of 2007
Summary – The worst part of being an army wife is not the wait, it is when the wait is over and you find yourself with no husband and son with no father. That's the hardest part and at that point you can only find comfort in a certain person, when does the comfort become something else? Bella is what we call an army wife. She is married to Sergeant Black. He has been in the army since he was 17. He is best friends with Edward Cullen, a guy who is dedicated to the army but doesn't realize that it's taking a toll on his life. Tragedy strikes and soon there are two people left and they must depend on one another to get through it. Can they get through it without making a sinful mistake?
A/N – The funeral would've been here but I wanted to give ya'll some history on Bella and Jacob and I adore this song.
Whisper soft
Whisper low
Tell me things I shouldn't know
With you I want to grow
If this is love
It hangs in doubt
It'll kill you or me
If we come out
Talk to me again
Please talk for me again
You've drawn a breath
From my soul
Then you gave me life
And made me whole
Forever
And when it ends, as it must end
I'll write a book, the saddest book
And it will be our story
The ballad of a bitter end
The bitter end
The bitter end
–Ballad of a Bitter End, The Poems
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The Bitter End
BPOV (Bella)
I woke up to an empty bed. Beside me there was nothing but emptiness and the constant reminder that I was not only a widow but a single mother. The next day was not easier. I was not emotionally capable of taking care of myself much less of my son. I felt guilty for putting so much pressure on Edward because whether Jacob asked or not he has no responsibility to me. I know there is something wrong with him, something very wrong and with this it can only get worse. The thing was that I couldn't make it on my own. I needed someone to keep me together for my baby.
I sat up against the headboard and brought my knees to my chest. I longed for this to be a horrible dream but I knew it wasn't. I got out of bed and went to the living room, in the center table I found a black box next to an envelope torn in half. The envelope was what the military gave the families of fallen soldiers. I now understood why Edward tore it in half. I opened the box and inside was the Purple Heart. This meant nothing to me, it merely symbolized my husband was killed by a foreign bullet. That didn't help me. It didn't bring my husband back.
I put the black box on a shelf where his pictures were as I reached up to place it in a shelf it came tumbling down. I bent down to pick it up and I noticed an album pulled out too far. My guess was that Jake had been playing around here. I picked up the box and pulled out the album. I decided to torture myself.
The first picture that caught my eye was one taken at a ceremony at Fort Hood. It was a ceremony in honor of the troops from Afghanistan. Jacob had been on tour, he was just returning. I was in college and my friend Angela, who attended the same college as I, and I decided that it would be a good event to take pictures.
I remember the first day I saw him.
"Private Jacob Black." The man, who I believed to be the colonel, announced. "In the name of our country I thank you for your service and offer you the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal." A tall muscular tanned guy joined the colonel. He had dark eyes and he wore this boyish smile. His hair was cropped short. He was not over a year older than I. I took the camera and snapped a photo of the medal being pinned to this uniform. He lingered on the stage for a moment longer and so did my eyes. "You're slobbering." Angela teased. I scowled. "Ugh, no….not really." "Liar, I see you looking at him. He's definitely easy on the eyes and what girl doesn't like a man in uniform?" She let out a brief giggle. I sighed. "Fine, I admit it! He's not bad." "Not bad! Look at him, he's very good looking and, he's looking over here!" She whispered. He had walked back to his seat and he was in fact looking at me. I wasn't hard to miss. Angela and I were in the media section. We got permission from the colonel to take the pictures. He smiled at me and sat down. When the ceremony was over we walked through the families of soldiers, they all congratulated their spouses, their siblings or their friends. "Talk to him." Angela urged me. "I think he has better things to do than to talk to a random girl who took a picture of him." The truth was that I was intimidated, he seemed like a nice guy but I felt very insignificant. I was certain I had insecurity issues. "He's right there." She gestured towards a group of soldiers gathered. "Go!" "What, no are you crazy?" She linked her arm on mine and pulled me over to them. I tried to pull away but she was freakishly strong. When we reached them she gave me slight push so that I would bump into him but classical me had to trip over absolutely nothing and fall back. I was caught by two strong arms before I hit the ground. He had caught me and pulled me back to my feet. He smiled. "Are you okay?" I looked like a clumsy mute. I laughed nervously. "Sorry." I managed to say. "No worries, no harm done. Did you get a good shot?" I raised my brow in confusion. "W-w" He eyed my camera. "I assume you took a picture of me." I felt my face redden. "Yeah, I did." "How did I look?" He asked a bit cocky. "I…don't know yet." I smiled nervously. "How about you give me call and tell me how that picture turned out?" I said nothing. "She'd love to." Angela interjected. "You have to pardon her, she's shy." "In that case how about you give me yours, you may forget." Neither one of us had realized his hand was still on my arm. We realized this in a split second and he instantly dropped his hand. He reached into his pocket and handed me his phone. I put in my number and my name feeling very awkward but it was happy awkward. I gave him back the phone and he glanced at it briefly before shutting it. "Bella I'll call you."
I wiped my tears and took a deep breath then flipped the page to a picture where Jacob held a ring up to me. I remembered this day so well. It was beautiful proposal, so thoughtful and so sincere.
Jacob had told me this morning that Angela had asked us to go over for lunch. We drove down the familiar street and he passed her house. "Jacob you missed it."
"No this is it, go inside." He placed his hand on the small part of my back and walked me inside. The door was unlocked inside there was a crowd of people. The house was empty except for the dozens and dozens of white roses. In the crowd stood my parents, my brother, Angela and her boyfriend/fiancée. His father and two friends, Embry and Quil joined the crowd. "These are most of the people that mean the most to us. They shall be our witnesses."
"To what?" I whispered.
"To me, to my adoration towards the woman who makes me whole, to the woman I wish to marry if so she chooses to. You are what makes me come home everyday, you are my light and you are what my soul yearns for." He lowered himself to one knee. "Every day I wake up to see you smile and to see you happy. I am confident that what I feel is mutual. Isabella –"
"Yes!"
"I haven't even asked, you don't know what you're agreeing to."
"It's not hard to figure out, unless I really am wrong." I got down to the floor to meet his eyes. "I love you so much. I can't imagine a life without you."
"It's a good thing you're not wrong." He reached into his pocket and revealed a tiny black box. "My dear Isabella, are you willing to marry me? I want to make sure you really want to do this because I am conscience that being an army wife may not be your dream and if you say no then I will completely understand. But I promise you forever, I promise to give you everything I have to give, forever. Will you marry me?"
"Yes."
"Really?" He asked as if I were kidding.
I nodded. "Really, my dream is to be married to you and if I have to suffer a bit, it'll be worth it."
The same day he revealed to me that that was the home we were to start a family in. It was a wonderful day, it was an unforgettable day. That day he promised me forever and forever has come to an agonizing end, it seemed to be the end of my existence.
I remembered every moment of our life, from the day we met to the day he left on his final tour. I skipped over the wedding, I couldn't bear to look at what we used to be, I could bear to look at the happiness I had lost.
I reached a picture of when I was pregnant with Jake. Jacob was ecstatic and he was so afraid that he would leave before he was born. I told him there was no possible was I could be pregnant for 11 months. I tried to tell him that he would be here. He had gotten a leave and he was working at Fort Hood with the new recruits coming in.
I sat in the living room with photographs sprawled around me. I was finishing up a portfolio for my class starting next fall. I was joined by Jacob. He picked up a picture that I took a while back. It was a picture of him training with another group of soldiers. The picture was centered on him and de-saturated (black and white). I loved it…he didn't love it quite so much.
"Really?" He asked.
"There is nothing wrong with this picture, Jacob."
He shrugged. "Only the fact that I'm in it."
"And you look beautiful and so pretty." I teased.
He chuckled. "That's exactly what I want to avoid. You're pretty; guys aren't pretty or beautiful in the least."
"Fine, you are handsome in a very pretty way."
"Well at least it boosts my confidence. You're going to be a great mom." He laid his hand on my stomach, I was 8 months pregnant and he was so anxious for the birth.
"I hope so." The baby nudged the area where his hand was placed.
"Hi baby." He began to have an entire conversation with the baby, it really made me so happy to see him this enthusiastic. Every night he'd lay his hand on my stomach calming the baby so that I could sleep. Jacob loved this baby from the day we found out of his existence, he loves him so dearly though he's never laid eyes on him or her. We had decided to surprise ourselves.
The memories had become so painful, for days I sat in a hole of pity crying myself to sleep every night. Every day I flipped the pages in the album of my own torture. Edward was determined to keep me going, despite everything in me wanting to let go, he reeled me back in each time. Sometimes I wondered where my son was but I had enough trust in Edward, he would never leave my son in harms way. Sometimes I noticed his pain, it was a pain I couldn't decipher and it was something very apart from mourning or physical, though he was in physical pain, it was another kind of pain. When he was with me he was silent and simply offered me his presence, which was all I could handle. The pain was too great to speak or to even move from one place to another. In every inch of my home Jacob lingered and it hurt to remember what I would never have again. I remembered his smile and his caring ways. I remembered the day he first made love to me. I remembered it all and part of me wished I didn't.
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I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter and I love the song from this chapter, it inspired me to write the flashback and I picked some of the better memories.
Next chapter is the funeral and everyone will be there except of course Emmett who is still in Iraq but everyone else will be there. Review so I can write it faster.
Happy Twilight DVD release…night, LOL. I wish I could've gone to the release in Dallas,Tx (though they turned out not to even be IN THE COUNTY) we had two locations that a start is going to appear but they released the info way late and the places are like over an hour each. I still wonder who came Texas. By bets are on….Catherine in Frisco and Jackson in Allen, IDK. Please review! I KNOW you're reading, LOL
~Toodles.