Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my creation..I mean no infringement of copyright...just playing with Stephanie's toys again.
Author's Note: Sorry for the tardy update...I've had family in for the holiday weekend. Thanks for the sweet reviews and yes, the Volturi are coming soon...
The Blood Wars
Chapter 21
"I don't think it's a good time to bother them," Rachel whispered. "I can hear music playing."
Jake gave her a wicked look and kept pounding on the door.
"Come on, Edward...open the damn door. I need to talk to you...right now!"
"Not now, Jake!" The terse reply vibrated with frustration and anger. "Go away!"
"Right now, Dracula. I've got important news, and everybody needs to hear it...including you and Bella. Open the damn door...I'm not going away." He pounded on the door again and rattled the doorknob.
"Shit! Give me five minutes, you mangy mut..."
Jake could hear the sound of Bella's protesting voice above the sounds of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. He hit the door again and rattled the knob.
Without warning, the knob was jerked out of his hand, pulled inward with such force that the upper hinge was torn out of the frame. Edward stood in the halfway open doorway, blocking Jake's view of Bella. His hair was disheveled and the top button of his shirt was in the third buttonhole. He had his pants on, but they were not completely zipped and hanging from his hips...the only thing holding them up, his obvious state of unrelieved arousal.
Jake took a step back, but his grin did not falter. Now here was an Edward he had never seen before...distracted, out of control, frustrated and entirely pissed off.
"What do you want, Dog?" the vampire growled through clenched teeth.
"We all need to talk, I heard..."
"I know what you heard, but we have an hour. Now go the hell away and I'll be down in a few minutes..."
"Everybody's already waiting..." He didn't get to finish his sentence before Edward slammed the door in his face. It tilted inward about an inch at the top where the hinge was broken.
"I told you so," Rachel took his hand and turned him to the stairs. "That was entirely mean of you, Jake."
The wolf grinned broadly as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.
"Yeah," he said arrogantly. "But it was fun and I owed him, remember?"
Rachel reached up and gave him a purple nurple. "Don't do it again...you might not like the payback."
"Ouch...why do you care? He had it coming..." Jake raised his eyebrows and smirked at his own raunchy humor.
"Because Bella's my friend, and I don't like to see her embarrassed."
"Emmett owes me a sawbuck. He double-dog-dared me, and you don't double-dog-dare the Dog."
"Oh yeah? And where are you going to spend all that money? Hmmmm? If Emmett dared you to blow your brains out through your nose, you would probably grab a Kleenex box...and since when did you start calling yourself Dog? I thought that pissed you off."
"Well, at first it did, but I'm kind of used to it now, and besides...I am, you know, THE DOG... as in Top Dog, as in the Leader of the Pack... as in Alpha. Besides, they don't call me a dog...they call me Dog...It's a guy thing."
Rachel rolled her eyes at him as they went to join the others down in the family room.
It was almost an hour before Beethoven finished his Moonlight Sonata.
Just as a relaxed looking Edward and a red faced Bella descended the stairs, Jake went to the door and turned to say, "They're here."
The Cullens and the rest of the pack got up to join him on the porch. Jake had heard the news from Embry over an hour ago when their visitors were still quite a few miles away, so there had been plenty of time to prepare himself and the others. Carlisle thought it best to leave the cousins out of it for the time being...so as not to overwhelm anyone. Seth and Embry were following them in.
Rachel noted the grim look on her husband's face. He was uneasy ...she could tell from the way he moved... deliberately...slowly as if he expected trouble.
He gave her a quick look making sure he knew exactly where she was before stepping down to the bottom step; she and the others stayed on the porch... silent watchers in the foggy twilight.
Two large shadows appeared at the forest's edge, hesitating for a moment before advancing slowly across the yard though the darkening air. As they crept out of the deep shade of the woods, their eyes began to lose their luminescent glow, and the group gathered on the porch could see two small shapes mounted on their furry backs.
A few yards from the house, they stopped. The larger black wolf lay down while a boy who looked to be around six or seven, dismounted by sliding down his side. In a shimmering explosion, the wolf metamorphosed into Sam Uley. Without turning his back, he pulled on his pants and went to the second wolf where he unfastened a leather harness that held the body of a little girl secured to its back. The girl was probably no more than three and sleeping soundly. Sam put the limp toddler to his shoulder as he shielded the second wolf's phasing giving Leah time to dress. They both looked warily up at the silent group on the porch. The young boy clung to Sam's right leg and cast shy glances at the silent strangers on the porch.
Jacob stepped off the bottom step and walked over to Sam. They looked at each other for a second or two, "I'd hug you, Man, but looks like you have your hands full," He jerked his chin in the direction of the child still sleeping against Sam's shoulder and smiled down at the little boy.
"I won't be staying long. Just needed a place to leave the kids where they'll be safe. I thought you'd be at the Res, but Embry caught my thoughts about fifty miles out and told us where you were. I would really appreciate it if you would take the children...I just don't think I can keep them safe anymore. We've been attacked twice."
"How many?"
"Just one each time and lucky for us. If there had been more, we might have lost the kids. Figured my luck wouldn't hold indefinitely. I didn't know where to take them but here."
"Where did you find them?"
"Found the girl in a little town in Canada about two days after the virus swept through. We heard her crying when we passed the house where her folks died...she would have starved to death... The boy we found just outside of Portland. Best I can figure, his parents were trying to outrun it and died in the parking lot of a convenience store. I don't know how he got out of the car...Pure luck that we found him too..it kills me to think how many we didn't find, you know?"
"Stay with us, Sam. Don't leave just yet. We have some big trouble coming and could use the help.'
" Yeah, I heard from Embry...but I don't think I would feel exactly comfortable here..." His dark eyes glanced at the Cullens on the porch.
"Don't be like that, Man! They took us in and treated us like family...They're good people once you get to know them."
"It's not that, Jake...I meant I'm not comfortable around anyone...I wouldn't be staying if it was just you guys..I'm not good to be around anybody yet...If I could shake Leah's ass, I'd leave her too. "
Jake heard a threatening growl behind Sam as Leah made her sentiments clearly known.
"What if I made it impossible for you to leave?"
"Don't try Jake. I know you're Alpha now, but please just don't do that to me...you don't know what it's like."
"What are you going to do...wander around until you find enough vampires to take you out?"
"That was sort of my plan, and then Leah showed up...so until I get rid of her, I have to make an effort to keep her alive...figure I owe it to Harry and Sue ."
"I'll make you a deal...If you'll stay until we deal with the Volturi, You can go do whatever it is you think you have to do. I'll even find a way to keep Leah here... Wolf's word, Sam. If you hang around a while, you might change your mind, who knows...anyway, we 're going to need all the help we can get just to survive the attack...what do you say?"
Sam turned and stared back into the forest for a moment as if he had heard someone calling him. He turned to Jake and gave him a long look, thinking over his offer.
"You'll make her stay here if I hang around long enough to help out with these Italians? Swear to God?"
"Swear to God."
Sam gave a brief nod which seemed to be the signal for Carlisle to descend the stairs.
"Sam," he said softly. Let's get these children in the house and fed. You all look exhausted. Esme has food ready and your rooms have been aired and made up. We all hope you'll feel welcome to stay with us."
"Come on," Jake grinned. "I want to introduce you to my wife."
After the unexpected guests were fed, and the exhausted children were tucked into bed, Sam listened as the Cullens put the finer points on the situation with the Volturi. Leah sat in a corner watching him as if she half expected him to slip away now that they had found a place for the children. Several times, she noticed Sam's nose fair. She smiled. The smell of the vampire family made her nose burn as well. How did Jake stand it all the time?
Through wolf telepathy she usually knew what Sam had on his mind. In darker moments, she realized she probably wouldn't be able to save him, but she hoped if she could keep him alive long enough, his pain might one day diminish enough to let him at least breathe without pain.
She wanted to hate Emily...wanted to, but couldn't... how can you hate a dead woman? It wasn't Emily's fault that Leah had fallen for Sam before the whole imprinting thing. Fallen...as if she merely loved him... as if what she felt was some kind of adolescent crush. That was what she wanted the pack to believe. They thought they could read every thought in her head, but she was female...and like eons of female ancestors, she had been conditioned from primordial times to keep secrets. It was a survival mechanism in women. The female of every species was by her very nature secretive...it was encoded in her genes and handed down from mother to daughter from times beyond calculating.
Males generally depended on their size and strength to survive...but not women. At the center of every woman's breast beat a secret heart, and Leah's deepest heart...the one she worked so hard to hide from the pack with her constant anger... was one that had imprinted on Sam years ago before they even started dating...he had feelings for her before he imprinted on Emily...she knew he had...even when they were just kids who didn't even know what imprinting was...before they both began to phase. She also knew her imprint on him was not reciprocated. Sam had always been sublimely unaware, and she planned to keep him that way. She had taken his anger, his rejection, and his betrayal, but she would not endure his pity.
The pack knew she loved him, but they never guessed what Leah knew...she could not live without Sam Uley just as he couldn't live without Emily. So she had gone after him when he ran, knowing what he would try to do. She had stayed with him...refused to let him run her off. Several times he had almost succeeded... his cruel words and his constant rejection a heartbreaking torment...but even he couldn't break a heart already broken...broken... the when he left her bed and went to Emily's.
How ironic that they had spent the last few months sleeping together again, albeit chastely...and that night in the Cullen's home, he came to her bed as usual. She wasn't surprised. For months they had curled their bodies around the children as they slept trying to keep them warm and safe. As far as Same was concerned, they were still in enemy territory...even after all Jake had told them. That kind of trust didn't come in a matter of hours. But he wasn't there in her bed for her...only for the kids. Making sure the kids were covered, he settled onto the bed and looked into Leah's dark eyes for a moment. She let him hear nothing but her anger as usual. It was her camouflage... amazing what a woman's anger could hide from the men around her.
"Do you want me to sleep in my room?" he asked her.
"No," was all she said.
He nodded.
He fell asleep first,but she lay watching him. Relaxed in sleep, it was hard to see the despair that drove him. They looked like any mother and father whose children had crawled into the bed with them... their bodies curled around their kids like two halves of a heart filled with the miracles their love had created. It was a cruel illusion, but it was all she was ever likely to have, so she let it warm her for a while as she drifted into dreams.
The next morning, everyone...everyone who bothered to sleep that is...awoke to the sounds of carpentry and heavy equipment. Trees were falling at the hands of busy vampires who had moved a small cabin from the outskirts of Forks to the edge of the forest near the Cullen home. Tanya, Kate, Carmen and Eleazer, Jasper, Emmett...all of the Cullens were working on it. It was for Sam and Leah.
They had simply lifted the house onto a flatbed truck and brought it home with them. Rose was already stretching wire from the power plant to the new addition to the growing settlement. Emmett was digging trenches for pipes and already had the septic tank in the ground and covered thanks to his new acquisition, a big red backhoe. It had all been Alice's idea...of course. She had trouble seeing the wolves futures, and had not seen the arrival of Sam and Leah, but sometime during the night, she had seen them living in this particular house in the not too distant future. What else she had seen about them, she would not say, although Edward tried to make her let him see...she kept thinking in Mandarin which he had never learned.
"We thought you might be more comfortable here until you got used to our...er...scent," Calisle told Sam and Leah as they stood watching."Jake and the pack seemed to have gotten used to us already," he added smiling... but you're certainly welcome to stay in the house with us if you like." He stood waiting and hoping their gift wouldn't be taken as a rejection or offense. "We thought you might stay longer if you didn't feel crowded."
"Nobody died in this house."Alice assured them. It was a vacation cabin.
"It's great," Sam said softly. "You've gone to a lot of trouble, but like I said. I won't be staying...just till everybody's safe. Leah and the kids will need it though."
"Yeah, right," Leah jeered. God forbid that you actually accept the responsibility of staying around to help take care of Joey and Missy...cause that's what real men do, isn't it? No, you have to leave so you can keep nursing that self-absorbed grief of yours. That's what your precious Emily would want you to do, isn't?" With that she took the children from him and went stomping back to the house to feed them breakfast. Half way there, she whirled around in her fury and said to the Cullens.
"Thanks for the house...I really appreciate it. I've always hated vampires, but I have to admit, you've turned out to be kinder, and more humane than I ever expected. You protect the weak, and you don't abandon children. From what the pack has told me, you're much better people than some jackass werewolves I know."
She continued to the Cullen's house, carrying Missy on her hip and leading Joey by the hand. She slammed the screen door behind her so hard it bounced back open.
Sam said nothing...his dead eyes showing no reaction.
An awkward silence followed in her stormy wake.
Carlisle cleared his throat, and they all went back to work. With vampire speed and strength, the project was a one day wonder. Many hands make light work. Carmen finished the project off with a flourish. She brought a silver cross she had been given by one of her now deceased coven mates and fastened it above the front door.
"To keep vampires out," she explained to everyone with a smile and then went inside to help Esme arrange furniture.
They moved in that afternoon. Rose even installed a deluxe swing set and sand box for the kids thinking it wouldn't be long before her little Kiowa would be old enough to enjoy playing with other kids. Tightening the last bolt in the slide, she took her son from Rachel's arms noting how much bigger the girl's belly was than Bella's when she was, in fact, not nearly as far along. Rose listened intently for a moment or two. Curious.
Edward shook his head at her as if counseling her to keep her thoughts to herself. He nodded. She smiled. So, Carlisle hadn't told Jake or Rachel yet.
…...
"Twins?"
The volume of Jake's alarmed outburst could be heard all over the house.
Carlisle had taken them into his den for a conference where he announced the news.
"Twin boys?"
"I don't know the gender yet, but yes, twins."
"Why did you wait so long to tell us?"
"There were reasons, Jake. I'll let you read about the unusual development of twins, if you like, but take my word. It's best to wait a reasonable amount of time to make sure they are both going to be carried to term."
"Twins! Oh my Sweet Jesus, twins."
When they came down stairs, Emmett was playing chess with Jasper. He didn't look up from the board.
"So, Dog...I hear you're having a litter."
Something just snapped in Rachel's mind the minute she heard his tasteless joke. She flew across the room at him. The chess board went careening off into the corner and the pieces were scattered across the room as she attacked him. Pummeling his head with her fists, trying to scratch his eyes out, kicking him so hard, she felt like she had broken a toe on his leg.
It was like watching a chihuahua attack a Great Dane.
Jake grabbed her and tried to peel her off Emmett, but her swinging fists caught him on the nose and one of her wildly kicking feet hit his family jewels so hard, he fell to the floor groaning and trying to contain her pint sized fury. She tore free from her incapacitated husband's arms and resumed her attack cursing like a sailor...cursing like two sailors actually. Jake had never even heard some of the words she used.
Emmett was stunned into utter immobility at her uncharacteristic outburst. At first he just stood there looking down at Jacob who had finally, wrestled her to the floor and tried to wrap his arms and legs around her... doing his best to keep her still without hurting her or the baby.
Emmett looked over at Jasper who was so stunned, he still held the chess piece he was about to move when she had overturned the chess board.
"For God's sake, Jasper. Do something!" Emmett pleaded with his brother.
Jasper shrugged and backed away, putting his hands up in a defensive posture that said he wasn't about to get involved.
Looking up at the Dark One, Rachel calmed enough for articulate speech and hissed, "Don't you ever refer to my babies as a litter, do you hear me, you thick skulled leach? The next time, I'll find some way to hurt you... and if I can't, I'll...I'll find someone who can. Do you feel me, Emmett?"
He burst into laughter, and then sobered, seeing she was deadly serious.
"I'm sorry, Little Mama. Sincerely, I apologize. I'll never do such a thing again. I swear."
"Can I let you go?" Jake asked her. He too was amazed at her towering rage. Where was the submissive, quiet little girl he had married? Something like pride filled his chest as he untangled himself from her still quivering body and helped her to stand. She straightened her clothes with renewed dignity still glaring at Emmett. She started to leave.
"Oh come on, Rachel," Emmett pleaded. "Don't be mad at me...You know I can't help it...Say you forgive me. Don't leave mad. When Rose hears about this, she'll make me sleep in the dog...outside for a month or more.."
She stopped and looked back at his smiling face. He seemed sincere enough.
"I forgive you, but just watch your mouth in the future."
"Give me a hug?"
Jake gave her a little push, and she went reluctantly into Emmett's arms. He grinned incorrigibly over her shoulder at his friend so sure of his ability to charm, raising his eyebrows in awe of her spunk.
"Hey, Rach," Emmett told her as he drew back from the hug. He patted her growing baby bump gently. "I think something's coming between us."
"Oh Good God!" she groaned.
He put his arm over her shoulder and smacked a kiss on her cheek.
"You still love me?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, I hit you so hard," she mumbled suddenly dismayed at her outburst and then impulsively hugged him again for a long moment.
"Oh shit! Don't cry, Rachel. There's no crying when you fight vampires...takes all the fun out of it."
"Enough!" Jake pulled her away from Emmett, and they headed out the door to go see Sam and Leah.
He could here their laughter behind him all the way to the door of the new cabin.
That night at dinner, Emmett showed up at the table wearing a huge bandage on his head and about fifty band aids on his cheeks and arms. Using a decorative cane that Esme kept by the door, he limped painfully to the table and collapsed dramatically into his chair.
At first everyone was bewildered, but when Edward and Jake started laughing, everyone else did without really knowing why. Rachel's mouth twitched a time or two and then she too broke down. It took a while to explain, but that brought on even more hilarity.
The only ones unmoved by the hilarity were Sam and Leah. He sat watching them...amazed that the Cullens always came to the table at dinner time just to be with their friends while they ate. He wanted to be a part of the easy camaraderie of the family, but wouldn't allow himself.
Emily would have laughed. She would have thought the idea of a puny little girl trying to beat up a hulking vampire like Emmett hilarious, but Emily wasn't here. He felt eyes on him and looking up he saw Leah watching him intently across the huge table. For the first time in a long time he felt something besides his grief.
It was shame.
As the days of August rolled slowly into September, the Cullens and their Denali cousins practiced fighting techniques every day. Even the wolves joined in learning how to coordinate their skills for the upcoming battle. Alice's newest predictions were that the Volturi would arrive in the middle of the month. The exact day was unclear because she said Aro was trying to hinder her by not deciding the day until the last minute. She would know when they left Volturi for Seattle, but how long he took to secure his human herd and where were unmade choices at this point. They were all coming. Of that she was sure. Aro refused to trust his guard with the humans while he confronted the Cullens. Jane and Felix had sent quite a few survivors back to him and they had destroyed almost every nomad and established coven throughout Europe, but they were dead now and the Americas were, as of yet, mostly unplundered. The Cullens, the largest coven in America and worse, the one that had destroyed his precious Jane...were in his way. He had to deal with them before he could completely establish his absolute dominion.
Carlisle didn't practice with the others. He spent long hours in his lab. Sometimes, Edward helped him. Periodically, he left for a couple of days and always returned with more machinery and equipment. Edward knew what he was doing, but kept it to himself for good reasons. Then, late one rainy afternoon early in September, when everyone was sprawled around the family room watching a DVD of old Andy Griffin reruns, he came up the stairs from his lab with a smile on his face and an injection vial in his hand.
Edward grabbed the remote and turned off the player despite a few protests of the audience. He stood up and smiled at his father knowing what he was about to say.
Carlisle waited for them to quiet down before he spoke.
"As you know," he began. "Edward and I have been spending a lot of time down in the lab these days. For a while now, we've have been concerned about what will happen if survivors of the plague have children."
"What do you mean if?" Rose wanted to know.
"There has been no evidence that survival is an inheritable trait. After all, Bella's father and probably her mother died of the plague, but she lived. That was true of Joey and Missy as well. Obviously, the pack's resistance is linked with their ability to shape shift, but that is not the case with humans. It is possible that Bella's little girl and Rachel's twins will be born immune since they are ..half vampire and half werewolf...but...what about the babies of other survivors? Alice tells me that the females captured by Aro have been forced to...conceive...for lack of a better term. Some of their babies must be near to term by now. Will they be immune? Not likely. It will take years for the virus to dissipate or mutate...even without a host...so a vaccine is the only answer. I actually started working on a vaccination to the virus when it hit Europe. I didn't make much progress although I desperately wanted to find one before it hit the States. I know every virologist and researcher in the world tried to do so as well because I followed their research on the internet before it shut down. They failed, obviously, and for a while after the end, I just gave up, but with the arrival of Bella and others, I renewed my efforts. One problem was the extremely small size of the virus and another complication was..."
The breathless quiet in the room was palpable as he paused for effect and then smiled broadly.
He shrugged unable to go into all the minute details of his quest for a vaccination...unable to keep the good news to himself a moment longer.
"We finally did it!" He held up the vial.
The room erupted in hoots and shouts of joy. Esme watched her husband from the kitchen doorway her fingers pressed to her mouth... beaming with pride in his accomplishment as the family hugged him and patted him on the back, vampire, werewolf and human alike. This fear had been a cloud of worry that hovered invisibly for so long over the happy prospects of Jake's and Edward's impending fatherhood. Of course, Edward had several clouds still looming, but at least this was one less.
" Sit down and let me finish," he admonished them, but his stern words didn't diminish the happiness in the room.
"I'm pretty sure it will work...I've existed...er lived for centuries as most of you know, so I ….and especially Edward...who has several medical degrees himself...have done considerable research in the field, but until we test it on a human, we won't know for sure...but I'm pretty darned sure it will be effective."
Little bursts of laughter at his first use of anything remotely close to a swear word erupted around the room.
"Pretty darned sure, Carlisle?" Emmett taunted.
The good doctor and minister's son nodded emphatically.
"Pretty darned sure!"
"Then, it's party time!" Jacob decreed and headed for the kitchen for snacks.
And party they did until the wee hours of the morning.
Emmett and Jasper cleared the middle of the room and rolled up the large carpet.
Edward sat at the piano with Bella at his side and played dance tunes.
And everyone...except for Sam and Leah...got up to skip the light fantastic.
Seth and Tanya danced only with each other, but the others switched partners over and over taking care not to tire the pregnant ladies too much.
Emmett even danced with Rachel dramatically flinching when she reached up to put her arm on his shoulder.
Little Joey and Missy swung each other around in the middle of the other dancers to the amusement of the crowd.
Rose and Emmett held Little Wolf between them and waltzed around and around without missing a step despite the wiggling, giggling burden in their arms.
Had there been a prize for best dancers, Jasper and Alice would have won. She knew every complicated step before he took it and followed without flaw, but after a while they stopped to help keep the constant flow of refreshments going so Esme could dance with Carlisle.
Jake made a big production of standing with his middle arched far out from Rachel's growing stomach until she smacked him lightly and then he drew her close laughing
The pack took turns with all the ladies, especially Kate, who turned out to be an excellent line dancer.
Carmen and Eleazer enjoyed the Latin dances but mostly visited with Carlisle and Esme and enjoyed watching the others.
At one point, Jacob and Emmett went out on the porch to smoke confiscated cigars. Esme wouldn't allow it in the house. They stood quietly for a spell enjoying the once-upon-a-time expensive smokes and then Jacob turned to the vampire and said, "Thanks for what you did for Rachel today."
"Yeah, who woulda thunk?" Emmett arched his dark brows. "Been a long time coming, that. Your girl has some rage in her, I tell you. It was beautiful to see."
"Just between you and me, Emmett...and I mean just between you and me...Edward said some guy...one of her foster parents...tried to force her to be his submissive...he beat her, Em, with the buckle end of his belt...and that's just what I know about...Edward says there was worse, but he won't tell me...says it's pointless now that she's getting better. She wasn't raped...at least...I know that...but she won't talk about it much. I tell you what...when those Volturi get here, I'm gonna pretend they are the sicko who hurt my Rachel, and I'm gonna work a world of hurt on them...Emmett...what do you think?"
"Good enough, but Jake, let me tell you what I've learned about living with a damaged woman..." And he went on to tell his friend about Rose's past and how they had learned to deal with it over the years. Jake listened carefully to the painful story of how Rose came to be a vampire and what it took to get her past that horrible time in her past.
"Thing is, Jake...don't let her run from her anger...or hide in it...get her to let it out, or it will fester and rot her soul...she'll never be half the woman she could be if she can't purge the anger she has about what was done to her...and even then, she'll always have to deal with the scars. They'll never completely go away. Provoke her...but protect her as well. She needs to know it's okay to be angry even with you...that you won't quit loving her or tie her up or take a belt to her...or worse," he ended bitterly.
Jake nodded looking off into the darkness.
"The reasons I like to fight so much, Jake, are the same reasons you dream about working your rage out on the Volturi. Somebody's gotta pay and I'm mighty happy to be the one collecting the check...even if it isn't from the one that owes the debt. Rage is a funny thing, isn't it? Can't carry it around in your pocket forever...can't keep it locked in a cage...it has to be let off the leash to play eventually or it will destroy you from the inside out. "
Jake wasn't sure if Emmett was talking about himself at that point or Rose or Rachel or …. but he didn't have a chance to ask because Rachel and Rose called them back in to dance. They stubbed out their cigars and went inside like obedient husbands where the party was still going strong... their moment of confession over but not forgotten.
Finally, Esme took over the piano and encouraged Edward and Bella to take the floor. She played Unchained Melody, and they waltzed together so gracefully...so obviously bewitched by each other, that for a while everyone moved aside to stand in awe of their elegant flight around the room until the last, heart rending note of the song had ended.
With their dance, the party wound down and ended. Everyone went their various ways up or out or over to sleep or patrol or read or make love.
It had been a very, very good day, Edward thought as he carried his weary wife up the stairs...but he realized that one of the things that made it so good ironically, was everyone's awareness that worse days were coming. He gently lowered his already sleeping mate onto their bed and pulled the covers over both of them. He sighed pulling her into his arms... guarding her sleep as always through the darkest hours of the night...worrying about the future and what it held for her and for him... for their child...borrowing trouble as Esme often put it...but despite his worries or maybe because of them... it had definitely been a very good day. He kissed Bella's forehead tenderly. Carpe Diem. Carpe Diem.