AN: These characters are not mine.
"Hey Bels, this package was on the doorstep when I got home," Charlie said as Bella dropped her bag on the kitchen table. He handed her the small parcel, wrapped the old fashioned way, in kraft paper and twine.
Miss Bella Swan was written in careful handwriting. Edward's.
She knew it from the peculiar curlicues he added to certain letters, and a strange Gothic feel it had. Her heart began beating more rapidly.
"Where's he been lately, anyway?," Charlie asked tentatively. Bella was always so touchy about her relationship with Eddie, as he liked to call him jokingly.
"Uh, well the Cullens might be relocating soon, maybe to Oregon," she muttered, turning the package around in her hands. "Something about Carlisle having access to some special medical equipment near Portland."
"Oh, gee, just as Eddie was warming up to me," he joked. Edward was very polite, and handsome, but he was a cold fish, as far as Charlie was concerned.
He'd been as pleased as punch that Jacob and Bella were closer than ever, too. And if it was to be one or the other, there was no competition in Charlie's mind, as he was as fond of Jake as his own son.
"Well aren't you going to open it?," Charlie asked, pointing to the package.
"Yeah, I guess," Bella said, pulling the jute bow, which neatly untied. Of course Edward would make a perfectly functioning bow.
She had a bad feeling about what was inside. She was right. Nestled in a box within a bigger box was the ring with Boleyn's Blaze, the historic diamond with the red flame in its center.
Bella's knees weakened and she sunk into a kitchen chair.
"A ring. Well that's sweet of him," Charlie said. "But isn't that a pretty expensive trinket to be mailing to you, like a package of cookies?"
"It's complicated, Charlie," she said, sighing deeply. "I guess since he's moving, he wanted to give me something to remember him by." She rose, grabbed her bag, and headed for her room. "I'm gonna take a nap. See you in a few."
The moment she was safely in her room, door shut, she sunk to the floor and began to sob.
The ring symbolized the once illustrious future she and Edward were going to have together, before she decided to stay with Jake, stay human.
She noticed a note folded up and stuck into the crevice between the velvet and the box.
"My dearest Bella,
Please keep Boleyn's Blaze forever, a symbol of my love for you that will never die.
Yours eternally,
Edward
Holy crap. To see those words written down, in his own hand, gave them an impact and a finality that she hadn't felt before.
She placed it on her dresser next to the moonstone shell ring that Jake had given her that day on the beach. How she loved that shell ring… it was so suited to her, simple, natural, and organic, like the love she shared with Jake.
She fell back on her bed and shut her eyes, tired from working a shift at the store, and not entirely pleased to have these complicated feelings welling up again. Things with Jake were so simple, the way she liked it.
Just then, a knock sounded and the door clicked open.
Jake stuck his head in, raised his eyebrows and grinned as Bella propped her weight on one elbow, threading a hand through her hair and grinning back.
"Hey Bels. Charlie told me you got a little package from Eddie."
She just pointed at the rings. Jake smiled when he saw the ring he'd given her, then frowned as his gaze landed on the diamond.
"He sent it as a keepsake," Bella whispered. "And to torment me," she thought.
He picked it up, inspecting it. "I have to say, it's really cool how that little red spot flickers like a flame," he said.
"It doesn't really flicker, it's just some flaw in the stone that's an illusion," Bella explained.
His weight sunk to the bed, his shoulders slumping forward.
"I'll never be able to give you gifts like that, Bels," he said quietly. "I don't know how I'm gonna make a living yet, but I'm pretty sure we're not gonna live like kings, or even remotely like the Cullens. Although on the reservation, we have so many more advantages than most folks do, tax and land-wise."
She sat up and circled her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
"You know I don't care about having stuff," she said. "I mean, look at me. I'd rather wear your ratty old sweatshirt than any of that chiffon stuff that Alice is – was – always trying to get me to wear."
He smiled. That was one of the things he loved about Bella, that she was the opposite of vain, while managing to be the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
"And to be honest, and not that I have to choose anymore because I've already decided, I really prefer the shell ring you gave me. It's perfect."
He grabbed it off the dresser and gestured for her hand. More ceremoniously than he usually was, he slipped it on her ring finger, and clasped her hands within his.
"We may not live forever, but Bella Swan, as long as I've known you, and as long as I live, I'm yours."
Her eyes clouded with tears and she sniffled into his t-shirt.
"Ew. Are you drooling on me?," he teased. "Then I'm just gonna have to clean you up," he said, licking her cheek.
"In fact, come to think of it, you got any eggs in the house? I'm starved," Jake said.
They both started laughing, and hugged each other tightly, kissing softly.
"It's good to have human appetites of all kinds, isn't it?" she giggled. "I'll be right down, just want to freshen up." Jake headed toward the kitchen.
Bella took a brush to her hair, loosening the tangles. Then something caught the corner of her eye.
It was Boleyn's Blaze, pulsing ever so faintly, like a heartbeat. Bella drew in a sharp breath.