Chapter 20
2013
Though Ness expected to toss and turn, reliving her humiliation all night long, she fell into a deep sleep and wasn't even disturbed when Rosalie came to bed some hours later. She awoke early, feeling refreshed until she remembered what had happened the day before. However, her embarrassment was quickly overshadowed by the anticipation of receiving the diary sometime that morning.
Ness sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She could hear the shower running and realized Rosalie was up early, too. She was likely anxious to make it to the site; it was barely six o'clock. Ness weighed her options. She had to check in with Shelley today, but it wasn't absolutely necessary that she do it in person. Maybe she would go to Osgood-Pell later in the afternoon after she'd collected the diary from Fedex, but she didn't want to risk missing them. They could arrive as early as 8 o'clock, and Shelley wouldn't be in the office until after that.
Ness shuffled to the bathroom and knocked. Rosalie called for her to enter. They exchanged superficial good mornings through the shower door, and Ness washed her face and brushed her teeth before leaving to get dressed. She warily left the bedroom for the kitchen in search of breakfast and morning coffee.
Ness was not looking forward to having to discuss yesterday's events with Serena. She didn't want to hear an "I told you so" or have her naivete rubbed in her face again. She was ashamed enough as it was. Having thought about it, she realized she should have seen the signs, but hindsight was 20/20. She knew for damn sure that she'd learned a valuable lesson and would never be that silly girl again. But she was lucky. Serena was still in bed, and she could hear Emmett's shower also running as she entered the kitchen.
Ness busied herself starting the coffee and pouring a bowl of cereal. She mentally reviewed the materials she had with her here at the house. Hopefully, she could get some research done this morning so it wasn't a total waste waiting on the delivery. She doubted that the diary would contain anything that would help her greatly with her architectural comparison of Cullen House and Swan Court, but she was holding out hope beyond hope that it would help her with the more current and consuming mystery in her life. She didn't see how she could get any real work done on her project while these ghosts were hanging over her head.
Ness chewed her cereal thoughtfully, staring into space. She needed to talk to Nate. He had intimated that he had also seen Edward Cullen and had wanted to discuss it at the hospital after the accident. They hadn't gotten around to the conversation with her worrying about Jake's feelings. She scoffed at the idea now.
Nate hadn't brought it up again when he brought her home yesterday, and she had been too caught up in the idea of receiving the diary and checking in with her father. So, maybe she could talk to Nate this morning. He might be too busy working, though. Still, she put it on her to do list for the day.
Nate. She paused in her academic musings to consider him. He was intelligent and sweet and had admitted to having feelings for her, goodness knows why. But she had met Jake first and was enamored of his looks and charm and stupidly thought they might have a future. The idea of it now turned her stomach. What would have happened if she'd met Nate first? He was shy like her, and they seemed to have a lot in common, including the ability to see ghosts, she thought wryly. She liked Nate, really liked being around him.
Could there be something there? Would he even consider giving her a second chance after the way she'd dismissed him for such an obvious (to everyone but her apparently) scoundrel? Ness doubted it. He would always doubt her sincerity if she tried to start something now. She sighed as the full weight of her mistake settled in her chest as bitter regret.
Luckily, she knew Nate was kind enough to be her friend. He'd already shown that by picking her up from the hospital, even after she'd rejected him multiple times. They really needed to have a conversation about the ghosts. For one, had he ever had an experience like this before? She had assumed she could see the ghosts only because she was a Cullen and sort of connected to their plight, but now she knew Nate could see them, too. How could that be? Was it some kind of inherited trait or susceptibility? He might know.
Ness was finishing her cereal when Emmett and Rosalie arrived in the kitchen. They thanked her for the coffee, pouring generous cups and helping themselves to the cereal still on the table. Ness watched the way they moved around the room in perfect concert. Rosalie poured coffee and then held out her hand without a word, but Emmett knew to hand her the sugar and a spoon. She in turn plucked the half and half from inside the refrigerator and handed that to him. Ness smiled secretly, sure that her two friends were going to find happiness after all. She tried not to feel sorry for herself and wallow in jealousy.
Thankfully, Rosalie didn't bring up Ness's humiliation from the day before. It probably hit a little too close to home for Rosalie, and all that had needed to be said had been said the night before. Ness was very appreciative and glad to let further commentary fall by the wayside. She wished Rosalie and Emmett a good day and watched them leave for Cullen Island together.
Around 7:30 Ness moved to the living room and spread a few books out on the coffee table. She placed a pillow on the floor for a seat and opened her laptop, turning the low table into a desk. She hadn't gotten very far with her work when Serena emerged from her room. She sighed when the tiny but forceful girl appeared in the doorway to the room. She wouldn't avoid this conversation, she could easily tell. Serena crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe.
"I told you so," she greeted Ness. Ness cringed, hearing the very words she'd hoped to avoid.
"Thanks, Serena, as if I didn't feel stupid enough already. You've pointed out my shortcomings on a number of other occasions; I think I've gotten it down by now," Ness snapped. Serena smiled and entered the room, sitting on the loveseat across from Ness's makeshift office.
"Ouch. I didn't know you understood how to use sarcasm," Serena retorted. "I'm actually glad to hear it. Keep it up, and I might actually approve of you and my brother." Ness huffed and tried to pretend she was absorbed in the research material before her.
"I'm sure you don't have to worry about that, Serena. Undoubtedly, Nate has come to his senses regarding me after everything that has happened. Please just let me get some work done," Ness pleaded. Serena snorted.
"You're both idiots. I'm just glad Embry was there to help you. It could have been worse," Serena finished ominously and left the room. Ness heard her banging around in the kitchen for a while, but she left mercifully quickly, leaving Ness alone in the house to wait.
Ness worked steadily for a while but got little done. She decided to take a break a little before 9 o'clock and give Shelley a call. She stretched a she stood from her huddled position on the floor and made a few circles around the room before retrieving her cell phone and dialing Osgood-Pell.
"Good morning, this is Shelley Cope," her boss answered the phone pleasantly. Ness cleared her throat.
"Hi, Shelley, it's Ness Cullen," she told her nervously. Ness hated being the center of attention, and she certainly was at the moment.
"Oh, Ness, honey, I'm so glad to hear your voice. Rosalie assured me that you're fine, but I wanted to make sure myself. I take it you're at home today. Do you need me to stop by and bring you anything?" Shelley could barely let Ness get a word in edgewise; she was so flustered. Ness finally had to interrupt her with a laugh.
"No, Shelley, I'm really fine. I plan to be back at work tomorrow. The overnight thing was just a precaution. I don't think I actually had a concussion at all. I'm only home today because my father is sending me some historic family documents, and I'm waiting to receive them," Ness explained.
"Oh, well, thank goodness. I'm very glad to hear that news. Historic family documents, you say? Are these related to the Cullens?" Shelley tried to keep the blatant curiosity out of her voice but mostly failed. Ness wasn't offended. Shelley was a historian after all, and new Cullen documents would be a coup for the NCPS. She had counted on this little tidbit in distracting Shelley from worry about her, and it seemed to be working.
"Yes, Ma'am, my father has an old diary that he wanted to me to look at. I doubt it has anything useful in it, but I'll let you know what I find," Ness hedged. She didn't want to promise anything until she saw what Alice had written. It was possible she might find something that she preferred to keep private. With Shelley suitably placated and distracted, Ness rang off.
Ness tried to resume her work but couldn't concentrate. She flicked on the TV and idly flipped through a few channels but couldn't find anything to catch her attention. She turned it back off. She considered taking a walk to the cemetery to visit Isabella again but dismissed that immediately. Isabella had given her the next clue, and it was Alice. She just had to wait until the diary arrived. She checked her watch and sighed. It was only 9:30, and the package wasn't guaranteed until noon.
Ness was in the kitchen making another pot of coffee when the doorbell rang. She raced back to the front door and flung it open without checking the peephole, so sure it was Fedex. She was very surprised to see it wasn't but recovered quickly when she realized it was Nate. She was surprised even further by the rush of relief and pleasure she felt when she saw him. She tamped that down as best she could, reminding herself that Nate was done with her on romantic level after her moronic behavior. He was no doubt here to discuss the supernatural happenings. She wondered if he knew about Jake yet, and if she should tell him, but dismissed the idea as too awkward. As all this was running through her head, it dawned on her that Nate was looking at her expectantly. She gasped and embarrassedly invited him inside.
"Hi, Nate. What brings you here this morning?" Nate returned her smile shyly, but she saw a new determination behind his eyes. He walked with more confidence than she'd seen in him before. He adjusted his glasses and ran a hand through his dark hair. It was getting a little long, but Ness thought it looked good on him. Then, he followed her into the living room. He sat on the love seat where his sister had been earlier after Ness gestured for him to make himself comfortable.
"Well, I wanted to check on you like I said I would yesterday," he seemed surprised that he hadn't taken him literally about that. "Plus, I wanted to talk more about what happened when you fainted." He looked a little uncomfortable and didn't meet her eyes when he said the last part. Ness nodded and pursed her lips.
"I'm absolutely fine, as you can see," she told him. "I appreciate everyone being so kind to me. Shelley offered to come over and bring me anything I needed, but I'm just getting some work done. I feel completely back to normal," she assured Nate, motioning toward her makeshift work station on the floor.
"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Nate replied, collecting himself and resuming the business-like tone. "But, I expected you to be physically all right, because you didn't actually faint, did you?" Now he met her eyes and watched her with intensity. Ness looked back at him and shook her head slightly without answering.
"You saw and felt something when you touched the remains," Nate stated this with certainty. "It was something about the auburn-haired man." He reiterated what had been whispered the afternoon of the incident. Ness cleared her throat before answering and looked away from Nate's probing stare.
"Yes…um…I saw him and felt a searing pain through my chest. I couldn't breath and just blacked out. I'm sure they are his remains; I don't know why or how I know that. I believe that it is Edward Cullen, Carlisle Cullen's son and Jasper's brother. Rosalie found a newspaper article, and I've been doing some research. He disappeared in 1901 the same night a young girl named Isabella Swan died after going over the cliffs at Swan Court. He was blamed for her death, but I don't think he did it. She was engaged to someone else at the time, but there's something fishy about the whole story. Her fiancé drowned a few years later in the marina on Cullen Island. There are too many coincidences," Ness admitted. It was Nate's turn to nod. His voice forced her to look back at him.
"The man in the water at the marina," Nate asked flatly, "have you seen him, too?" Ness gasped.
"Yes, I believe his name in James Hunter!" Ness felt so relieved to have someone else validate her experiences. "You've seen them both, too. How is this happening?" Nate sighed.
"I'm going to guess this James person was present when Rosalie had her altercation on the island," Nate concluded.
"Yes, he was!" she answered excitedly but pressed Nate further. "How do you know all this?" Nate slumped back on the sofa and directed his attention toward the ceiling.
"So…" Nate began hesitantly but continued, "…I've been seeing things like this my whole life. The first time I remember was when I was about seven years old. My grandmother had just died, but no one had told me yet. I woke up, and she was sitting next to me on the bed in the dark. She gave me a kiss and told me not to be scared. My mom told me she was gone the next morning. When I described what had happened during the night, she explained that some members of our family have this gift." Ness listened to Nate's tale, enraptured. She fought the urge to reject what he was saying. Thanks to recent events, her mind had been opened.
"Does it happen often?" she asked. Nate looked down from the ceiling and back at her.
"No, I only see certain spirits with strong imprints. My mom can summon them and works as a medium or what you might call a fortune-teller, but I can't do that. I'm actually glad," he admitted. Nate leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his cheeks below his glasses. A wide grin broke out on his face, and he looked up at her. "It's such a relief to be able to tell someone outside my family about this."
"Can Serena do it, too?" Ness asked, but Nate shook his head.
"No, just me and my sister, Jennifer, have the ability. How about your family?" Ness was surprised by his question.
"My family doesn't have that gift," she denied. Nate raised his eyebrows.
"Ness, how do you think you are able to see those two ghosts on Cullen Island?" he queried her gently.
"Three," she corrected softly.
"What?" Nate asked with a crinkled brow. "There are three ghosts?"
"Yes," Ness confirmed. "The other one is Isabella Swan, the girl I told you about. I've seen her on the cliff, in the cemetery, and here in this house, but not on the island." Nate glanced around in surprise.
"She's not here now," Ness told him. Nate shifted from the love seat to the couch next to her and took her hand. His proximity made her feel a little lightheaded.
"Ness, you have the sight. It must run in your family," Nate insisted. Ness just shrugged. No one had ever talked to her about it, and she said as much.
"I don't know how it works. I'm trying to figure out what Isabella and Edward want. They both asked for my help, but I don't know what to do," Ness responded agitatedly.
"Tell me what you've seen," Nate instructed. So, Ness began at the beginning from that first moment in the fog on the cliff with Rosalie, someone standing next to her. Nate absently rubbed the knuckles on the hand that he clasped. Rather than feeling uncomfortable, Ness thought it felt nice. Their knees were touching, but as Ness told her story she found his closeness comforting instead of nerve-wracking. She found the more she talked, that she longed to lean into his side.
"So, Isabella confirmed that Edward was not a murderer, and you've never seen them together. I agree with you that they may be separated and want to be together. But, you're also right that it is a bit of a coincidence that Isabella's fiancé later died on Cullen Island," Nate summarized and paused, thinking hard. "And there aren't any more letters or documents you can examine? You haven't been able to directly question them when they manifest to you?" Ness shook her head.
"I don't think so. I've tried asking Isabella questions, but it doesn't seem like she can give me more than a head shake or a single word before she fades away," Ness could hardly believe she was sitting in her living room having a calm conversation about something so insane. She was suddenly overwhelmed and started to tear up.
Nate sensed her upset immediately and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and patting between her shoulder blades. Ness was impressed with the way he seemed to be taking charge of the situation. He had always seemed so hesitant with her before. Maybe admitting his secret had allowed him to let down a few walls. The shy boy she'd first met was nowhere in sight.
"It's a lot to take in, I know," he murmured in her ear. She pressed her face into his shoulder and sighed deeply, willing herself to calm down. She bathed in the feeling of comfort his embrace brought her. Finally, she turned her head slightly, feeling ready to sit back up. But, she found that his face was only inches from hers when she did that. In fact, his lips were so close to her own that all she had to do was lean in slightly, and they would touch. His mouth had her hypnotized, and she began to move forward, almost in a daze.
"Ness," Nate's voice shook her out of her daze, the note of warning contained there making her pause. She looked away from his lips and into his eyes. They were pleading. "I have feelings for you. Please don't toy with them."
"I won't," she promised lowly and that seemed to be all the encouragement he needed. His hands slid up from her shoulders to settle in her hair as his lips touched hers. It was soft at first but became more heated. She fisted her hands in the front of his shirt, pulling him closer. Their mouths moved together and parted slightly. Nate let out a soft growl as Ness nipped at his lower lip with her teeth.
This was nothing like kissing Jake. Nate's lips worshipped her mouth; it was not wet or sloppy. There was no urgency. This pace was unhurried. And Ness knew that this was actually how passionate people kissed. She had tried to convince herself that the unease she felt with Jake was just her inexperience, but now she knew that being with Jake had been wrong. This was the way things were supposed to feel.
How long it went on, she really couldn't say. She lost herself in the sensations, realizing now what she'd been missing, but Nate never tried to push things further. They were both surprised by a knock at the door and jumped apart startled. Ness caught Nate's eye and giggled a little sheepishly. He returned her grin with a brilliant one of his own.
"Sorry, that's got to be Fedex," she explained breathlessly as another knock came at the door. "Just stay there," she pleaded as she leapt up to answer it.
This time, her visitor was as expected, a deliveryman. He handed her a package, then the electronic pad to sign for it. He wished her a pleasant day and headed back down the front path. Ness stood for a second staring at the package, anticipation filling her.
"What is it?" Nate asked, breaking her reverie. She turned excitedly and went back to him on the couch.
"Well, I didn't have a chance to tell you about this before we got distracted," Ness blushed prettily, and Nate reached a single finger out to touch her cheek. They grinned at each other before Ness continued. "My father had Alice Cullen's diary. I don't know what is in it; it hasn't been read since her time. I thought it might have some information that might help me work out the mystery, or at least help Rosalie with her project. So, this is it." She held up the box. Nate quickly pulled out a pocketknife and handed it to her.
"Go ahead, then. Let's take a look," he urged, and she thrilled to the idea of them doing it together. Ness made quick work of the outer box and gently worked an old leather journal free from the packing material. She paused for a moment and just held it in her hands. It had a metal clasp on the side, which was sealed with wax. It was inscribed on the front as her father had described. She slowly set it down on the coffee table and rose to her feet. Nate looked at her questioningly.
"I'm just going to get some cotton gloves before I open it, so I can handle it properly," she told him and left the room. When she returned, she donned the gloves and sat the book on her knees.
She paused with it on her lap and looked at Nate. Silent communication passed between them, and he squeezed her free hand in encouragement. She was so glad he was here with her for this. She regretted all the time she'd wasted. He nodded at her, and she took her hand back and used the knife blade to slice away the wax on the clasp. Then, she opened it and began to read.
A/N: Sorry for the cliffie! The next chapter will reveal the contents of Alice's diary! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Thanks to all who continue to read and review.