A/N- WOW! It has been a very long time to get this done. I have so much going on as of late, but a wonderful long overdue visit with my fellow twihard, inspiration for this story and consequently my own original and very loved character(Rosemarie, yes this is a shamesless shout out…cuz it's my story and I can) who helped me to find my ending. The visit also helped me light the spark that has been my new story. Maybe it was also promises of more visits that included rocky road ice cream and Jacob's abs, but I will never tell. So, YES there will be a sequel to Natural as Breathing. There will be more time to spend with all the old characters, especially Bells and Jake, Edward and Rosemarie but also their family specifically, so read on and enjoy. I may add to this just to give you a preview of chapter one of the new story….and also a working title. Thanks to everyone for reading and a special thanks to the communities like Sim-'MyAirMySun for sending me such an encouraging message and helping get my story out there to more readers. And to all of you that have read and reviewed from chapter one til now…well I love ya dearly! Enjoy!
"Bells! Bells we've gotta go! Please tell me you're almost ready." Jacob said as he climbed the stairs of their beach home.
"Just about honey." Bella said through clenched teeth. She pulled a bobby pin from her teeth and secured the last one to lil Sarah's hair that had been pulled back into a braided bun identical to Bella's, leaving her face framed by wispy curls. The little girl shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"How many times is Auntie Wosie going to graduate from high school?" Sarah asked in a tiny bell-like voice, she was nearly 5 but almost everything she said sounded like singing.
"In your lifetime?" Jacob joked from the doorway. He looked particularly handsome today. Taller even, if that were possible. He was wearing his one pair of nice black slacks and a gray shirt with a straight black tie.
Bella frowned at Jacob's attempt at humor and pulled Sarah into her lap, straightening her dark blue dress and fixing the buckles of her Mary Jane shoes.
"I'm not sure Sweetie but maybe one day they will go to school with you." Bella suggested with her eyebrows raised in exaggerated excitement. The little girl squealed with excitement and jumped off of Bella's lap in a graceful leap. She landed perfectly on the balls of her feet and dashed toward the door. Jacob scooped her up with ease and held her out in front of him by her tiny waist.
"Hold on there little lady, you're a little too fancy for running right now, can you go get Eli?" Jacob asked.
Sarah nodded and smiled and reached her slender arms out to Jacob, he embraced her and set her back on the floor. She stepped away from him taking deliberately small and delicate steps out the bedroom door. Jacob shook his head, grinning from ear to ear and crossed the room in three quick strides and took a seat next to Bella.
"Is Eli ready? Did you get the tie on him ok?" Bella asked as she finished adjusting her black stockings and sliding on her black flats.
"Just barely" he said smiling as he smoothed the hem of her emerald green dress. He took her hand in his and kissed her cheek. "He's still pretty squirmy though."
"He'll grow out of it soon enough." She said with a sigh. Bella glanced down at her feet, rubbing the two black flats together before running her right toe along the floor, like she'd always done when she was worried about something. Jacob didn't skip a beat and leaned over gently elbowing her side playfully.
"What's wrong Bells?'
"Oh I just worry that they won't be babies much longer. I mean Sarah just jumped off my lap like that, she losing my clumsiness and getting more like you every day. And Eli he's not even a year yet and he's already walking and talking."
"Oh honey." Jacob said putting a reassuring arm around her small shoulders. "Everything is going to be ok, we're all ok. They're healthy and we're happy, you're happy right?"
"Oh course I am, happier than I ever imagined, I just…" She said pausing to look out the window of their bedroom. "….I never want to worry about them, the way I worried about you…the way you worried about me." A lump caught in her throat and she swallowed hard. She looked deep into Jacob's eyes and found comfort in the familiar. He reached up to stroke her cheek and she leaned into it. "I never ever want that life to touch them."
"We'll do our best Bells, you know we…"
"Daddy! Daddy!' Sarah came in holding hands with Elijah. He was just about a year old, with much lighter skin than Jacob and Sarah. Eli looked as if someone had stirred cream into Jacob's coloring and let it settle. He also sported a head full of short dark brown curls. His eyes were chocolate brown with long lashes. He still had chubby cheeks and limbs but he toddled forward just fine. Better than children double his age. He wore khaki pants, a blue shirt and a tiny gray tie that Auntie Alice had made just for the occasion. At the sight of her two beautiful children, Bella's worries quickly faded to the background. She found herself staring as they came in and sat down, one on each of Jacob's legs. Sarah was rambling on and on about how Eli had dumped an entire box of crayons in her room.
"But Daddy, now I can't find the pink one, and he's not even old enough to pick them up."
Bella couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth.
"Tell you what Sar-bear, Daddy will bring all of your Uncles over and we will turn over every piece of furniture until we find that pink crayon." Jacob said. "Eli is still learning and maybe he wanted to make you something pretty, don't you think?"
"Can't Eli make me something pretty in his room?" Sarah asked with her hands on her hips.
Bella felt her eyes start to water and she thought of how wonderful her life had been, the gifts she'd been given. Her family was everything to her and she promised herself in that moment that no matter how peaceful things seemed now she would always be ready to protect them from anyone. Whether their past came back to haunt them or the world presented new horrors, there wasn't anything she wouldn't give for them.