Chapter 14: Cold Nights and Kidnappers
"I like not only to be loved, but to be told I am loved."
George Eliot
The Brandon's house was attractive, but modest. White clapboard siding and a small front walk lined by rows of once-blooming flowers; ice curled over the cloudy window panes. The sun was sinking beneath the horizon as three, young best friends curled into Alice's large, opulent bed.
Rosalie wrapped her arms around her smallest friend, "Hmm, I'm sorry you guys."
"Oh don't be sorry," Alice scoffed, "we all knew Royce was a dirty, no-good rat."
Bella laughed and tweaked Rosalie's nose, "Yes he was indeed, as little Alice put it—but we're happy for you and Emmett."
Rosalie smiled and sighed, before turning her head and playfully screaming excitedly into her pillow. Alice rolled over and stroked her hair. "Rosie, you always were the lucky one."
Rosalie sneered, "Oh Alice, you knew you were going to marry Jasper before you even met Jasper—so I don't want to hear it from you."
Bella laughed in agreement.
Alice sighed with mock pity, "Yes, but, Jazz still hasn't come to ask my Papa for my hand in marriage, yet."
"Yet," Rosalie said, and Bella echoed.
"How'd we get so lucky?" Alice asked rhetorically, pulling her pink quilt up to her chin.
"You two are lucky," Bella said morosely, "at least Emmett and Jasper have both said 'I love you' to you."
Alice and Rosalie rolled over in the bed so they could face Bella. Rosalie spoke first and with vehemence, "Edward seems moody and touchy; but you should see the way he looks at you."
"Looks at me?" Bella asked skeptically, "There's not much to look up, I'm clumsy and plain."
And then, Alice slapped Bella. The sound made a sharp staccato clout resound throughout the otherwise silent room.
Bella let out a breathless gasp and put her hand up to her cheek which was quickly turning bright red, an angry, white handprint in the middle. "Mary Alice Brandon!" She screeched, "What the devil was that for?"
"That was because you're being ridiculous," Alice replied, leaning over to place a kiss on the spot she had previously slapped.
Bella pouted and nodded at Rosalie, asking Alice, "Why didn't you slap her when she needed to be slapped?"
"Nuh-uh," Alice said her eyes going wide, "have you seen this woman? I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a catfight with Rosie. A rose with thorns."
Rosalie laughed and growled at Alice, lunging at her and starting a tickle fight.
"See! See!" Alice called conspiratorially, "I told you, Bella, she's vicious!"
Bella laughed, forgetting her anger with Alice, and joining in the tickle battle. They rolled around on Alice's bed laughing until the wee hours of the morning.
They finally settled in to get some sleep once the moon had risen to its highest point of the night. Rosalie ended up sprawled on the foot of the bed, using Alice's thigh as a pillow. Bella was curled up on her side in a tight ball; either Rosalie or Alice had put a pillow over her face to muffle her sleep talking. Alice was curled so that one arm was under Bella the other on Rosalie's soft, yellowy hair.
Around four o'clock in the morning, however their sleep was disturbed. Something was raining down on their window, and it sounded suspiciously like a handful of pebbles, punctuated by the harsh whisper of a deep male voice calling, "Alice!"
Though, it was not Alice who was awoken by this, it was Rosalie. Thoroughly miffed, she rolled off the bed and threw the window open, the icy air nipping at her as it entered the room.
"What in the world?" She asked, leaning out of the window sill and staring directly into Jasper Cullen's eyes.
"Jasper! What the heck is my woman doing in your woman's bedroom?" A gravelly whisper asked from behind Jasper.
Rosalie considerably brightened. "Emmett!"
Emmett strode up to the window, and raised his arms above his head so he could softly caress her face. "Hello, my Rosie."
"Oh, Em', what are you doing here?"
"I'm getting you, that's what," Emmett said, putting his hands under her arms and effortlessly lifting her through the window, he pulled her into his embrace so that he had his arms over her back and her legs wrapped securely around his waist. "You're comin' with me, Babe."
Rosalie smiled in answer and placed a quick, chaste kiss on his lips.
Alice, awakened by the ruckus outside came to the window and squealed. "Jazz!"
He quickly explained his reason for being there, and she pulled away from the window, dancing over to her wardrobe and throwing it open to grab a dress and pull it over her head. She tossed another dress on top of Bella's already stirring form and threw another over her arm for Rosalie.
She was about to climb over her window sill when Edward jumped through the window and went to the bed.
Bella said his name.
His lips curved into a smile as he strode forward to sweep a lock of her luscious brown hair away from her face.
"Don't get so exited, lover boy," Alice said keeping her voice down so they wouldn't be discovered, "she talks in her sleep."
"As long as she's talking about me," Edward replied with his signature crooked smile.
Alice rolled her eyes and let Jasper hoist her out of the window. He carried her with one arm around her back the other under her knees to their wagon, where Emmett and Rosalie were already sharing a rather heated kiss.
Somewhere to their left leaves and twigs cracked and snapped as Eleazar pulled through the tree line, Carmen clinging tenaciously to his arm. He smiled at his younger brothers, "Well, it seems you all have had good luck thus far."
"Yes indeed," Jasper replied, helping Alice into the wagon, "these three were all at Ali's house so we didn't have to look very hard."
Carmen gave a startled gasp, "Rosalie Hale, I know you're engaged to him but that doesn't give you the right allow him to devour your face while you're wearing nothing but a nightgown!"
Rosalie pulled away from Emmett and looked down at her outerwear; she shrugged and went back to having her lips glued to Emmett's. Alice snickered and Carmen shook her head. Alice threw the dress she grabbed to Rosalie, who simply ignored it.
There was a light thump from behind them in the Brandon house as Bella fell out of the bed and straight into Edward. He laughed lightly as she looked up at him with wide, doe-like eyes.
"Hello, my love," he said, and placed a long, hot kiss onto her lips. Her pulse started thudding in her ears and she pressed herself into Edward's embrace, twisting her fingers into his dark, coppery locks.
"I love you, Edward," she said, deciding to take the initiative and tell him of her affections first.
Edward laughed, a sound like chiming bells, and twirled her around in a circle, "I love you, too. My sweet, caring, beautiful Bella."
She blushed quickly and grabbed the dress Alice had thrown to her. It was a beautiful, deep blue gingham that had a tie in the back. She slipped it over her head and pulled her arms through the sleeves. She turned her back on Edward as she was about to tie the bow around her waist. Edward's fingers beat her to the lacing and made quick work of the knot just above the small of her back. He placed his palm above his handiwork and leaned in to kiss the exposed part of Bella's shoulder.
Bella shivered and pulled away. "We must be quick, Edward."
"Yes, my love. I'm so happy that you decided to come back with me," he said, truly elated.
"I'm so happy, too," she said, leaning in to place on more kiss on his mouth.
They all were settled in the wagon by the time Benjamin and Tia arrived where the wagon was stopped. They were both a little worse for wear, twigs sticking out of their hair and dirt smudging their cheeks.
"What happened to you?" Eleazar asked, settling with his back against the side of the wagon, and Carmen seated between his legs.
"My room is on the second floor, he meowed like a cat to get my attention. We had to climb the tree to get out of it," Tia replied warily with a yawn.
Benjamin just nodded, trying to ignore the slight limp he had acquired due to her room's location; and wrapped an arm around her waist.
The final brother took some more time to get to their meeting spot.
"You think Kate killed him?" Emmett asked after his kissing became impossible as they were squished into the back of the wagon.
"Probably," Carmen replied.
"She wouldn't really kill him, would she?" Eleazar queried.
"No, but she's kind of scary," Alice replied, wrinkling her nose.
Jasper laughed and kissed out the creases in her nose. He started running his hands through her short, choppy hair.
Garrett suddenly burst into the clearing, Kate thrown over his shoulder so that her legs were slung over his chest and her front was level with his back.
She occasionally thumped him on the back with her fists and he winced. "Stop hitting me, Kate, I'm serious."
"You could have just asked me if I wanted to walk," she replied beating him again, her fists connecting with his spine, "I would have said yes!"
"But this way is faster," he reasoned.
"No it is not," she replied kicking her legs up, "It would have been faster if you weren't whining like a baby every couple of steps."
Garrett laughed, "Well, we're here now, so I can put you down."
"Thank God," she said, righting herself and dusting her dress off. She turned and stuck her nose up into the air and traversed her arms across her chest. She let Garrett help her into the wagon and then went back to ignoring him. He laughed and put his arm around her shoulder; she relaxed slightly and rested her head against his shoulder.
"So that's everyone?" Jasper asked from the seat of the wagon, Alice pressed tightly against his side.
They all nodded in agreement. The girls were quiet as Jasper steered the wagon out of town. None of the girls looked back at the town. It was their silent agreement not to think about the ramifications of their running away or what this would do to their families.
Once they were in the mountain pass, each couple started their own quiet conversation. Their voices were hushed, but the snow that sat precariously atop the mountain still groaned and shifted at the slight echo.
Suddenly a great wall of white cascaded down the mountainside, blocking the passageway behind them.
"There's no turning back now," Jasper deadpanned from the wagon seat.
"No regrets," Alice replied, winding her arms around his waist and squeezing him tightly. He leaned over to give her a kiss on the crown of her head.
The rest of the ride to the cabin in the mountains was slightly more euphoric than the rest of the journey.
When the boys saw what waited for them at their cabin their faces fell. Carlisle stood on the porch, his arms crossed tightly over his chest and his jaw clenched so that he wouldn't yell obscenities at them.
The girls quieted down as they sensed the tense atmosphere. Everything grew startlingly quiet, so much so that they might have even been able to hear the ice crackling as it settled onto the thick pine branches.
Esme walked out onto the porch, she wore Carlisle's thick, winter coat and the afghan wrapped around her shoulders and waist. She put a steadying hand on Carlisle's upper arm. She whispered his name but he silently disregarded her soft plea.
He turned his steely gaze on his shamefaced brothers.
"I can't say that I'm at all surprised by this. I am, however, ashamed of you all."
He spoke with a deadly even voice, and Esme knew not to interfere. She stood beside him, trying to look sternly at her brothers—but the looks of repentance on their faces poorly masked their exuberant love. Esme sighed; this might be a long winter after all.
Ok, so here's the deal with the easy-kidnapping. The more and more I thought about it--I figured if I was one of those girls I'd go pretty darn willingly. And, seriously, who wouldn't? Hence the easy-ness of the kindapping scene. I tried to write it as best I could. And Carlisle's not that mad, so don't worry about that. He's just a little miffed because his brothers have seemingly created more stress for Esme.
Go check out my other full-length story "The Great Bird Migration"!
Next time on 7B47B:
Bella, having been the only person actually trying to make dinner, turned to look at the boys, "What happens now? We're all snowed in here for the next couple of months."
Edward shrugged, "Usually we all go hunting a couple of times, have snowball fights, you know typical guy stuff." He raised one of his shoulders noncommittally.
"It should be better now that we actually have company," Eleazar said blissfully. Carmen leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek.
He smiled at her.
Emmett groaned, "Ok, so there are a few ground rules, here. No kissing in front of all of your brothers."