A/N
Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their reviews, and as thanks I am doing an extra chapter tonight for everyone. I want to recommend that everyone takes a look at HeartofDarkess she is doing some amazing work, especially her newest story. It is a continuation of Midnight Sun, and she started at the meadow scene. If she gets enough interest she might actually finish the book for us.(and it will be amazing I promise you. Please don't fail to tell her where you heard about her, and what you think of her work, she is amazing!
Special thanks as always to Cullenfest for being an amazing beta. And please don't hesitate to take a look at Roadrunnertwilightlover 's stories.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer….I wonder if she would be willing to share?
Chapter 32
Reminding Bella of her desire to see our daughter had quickly pulled her mind back on that task. I took her hand to guide her home putting my libido on the back burner for now. I couldn't wait for her to finally meet the precious little being that she had brought into our lives through her sheer tenacity. We set forth at a quick pace, both of us hastening to fulfill her burgeoning need to see our daughter. "Tell me about her." Bella urged me as we ran.
How do you describe a miracle? Words felt inadequate to explain the phenomenon that was our child. "She's like nothing else in this world." I finally managed, my explanation lacking the ability to describe the soft silk that was the rosy cheek of our daughter, the gentle love that shone from her eyes, the utter purity of her each and every thought.
I glanced at Bella and saw that her brow had furrowed, and wondered if she felt my explanation as deficient as I had. Her lips pouted ever so subtly then she asked, "How much is she like you? How much like me? Or like I was, anyway." She finished lamely.
As far as I was concerned, every part of her was Bella, she was full of light, love and purity, and I was none of those things. The only thing I saw of myself in my daughter was her hair and the fact that her skin was more vampire like then human, and that was more than enough as far as I was concerned. She had Bella's expressive brown eyes, and her heart shaped face. "It seems a fairly even divide." I said knowing Bella would not agree with me assessment of our child's genetics.
"She was warm-blooded." Bella said, her words unsure as if she questioned the legitimacy of her memories. "Yes," I assured her quickly, "She has a heartbeat, though it runs a little fast than a human's. Her temperature is a little bit hotter than usual, too. She sleeps." I added wondering if she recalled how much I had enjoyed watching her sleep when she was still human.
"Really?" Bella inquired wondrously. "I nodded as I answered her. "Quite well for a newborn. The only parents in the world who don't need sleep, and our child already sleeps through the night." I said with a laugh as I watched her expression as she absorbed every bit of information I gave her about our daughter. I tried to offer her more details so she might be able to picture Renesmee for herself.
"She has exactly your color eyes--so that didn't get lost, after all." I said smiling at her adoringly. I had always loved the deep expressive chocolate color of her eyes. "They're so beautiful." I told her partly to let her know about our child, but partly to remind her of one of the things about her that I had always found so appealing. "And the vampire parts?" she asked as if prompting me to stop pointing out the features of our child that looked like her human self. I was slightly annoyed as I knew that Bella was trying to move the focus off of her once more. She had never thought of herself as the divine beauty she actually was, and yet she thought I was a vision of masculinity comparable to a god, how funny it was that she saw us in such a skewed fashion.
I chose to ignore her rush to compare our child to me, instead of herself, and answered her instead. "Her skin seems about as impenetrable as ours. Not that anyone would dream of testing that." Bella's eyes flashed to my face, her distress visible as she sought out my eyes. "Of course no one would," I assured her, watching her eyes calm somewhat. "Her diet…well, she prefers to drink blood. Carlisle continues to try to persuade her to drink some baby formula, too, but she doesn't have much patience with it. Can't say that I blame her—nasty smelling stuff, even for human food."
I smiled as I recalled watching Carlisle attempt to convince Renesmee to try the bottle of infant formula. I had been upstairs but had observed it through the minds of everyone in the room. Rosalie had been holding Renessme, with Jacob hovering nearby. She had finally grown so annoyed with Jacob's constant questioning of her abilities to care for her niece that she had relinquished Renesmee to Esme before huffing from the room. Jacob didn't even bother shooting any blonde cracks at her as her watched Esme to make sure that she was being careful.
Carlisle had emerged carrying a bottle similar to the one that Rosalie and Jacob used and when he sat beside Renesmee and held out the bottle to her. She had been hungry and had grasped it, suckling it only for a moment before dropping it and glaring at Carlisle in disgust. The whole house had cracked up, and Carlisle had not been able to get her to taste it again, even mixed with blood. She would sniff the bottles before drinking now.
Bella's mouth fell open at my words. "persuade her?" She questioned. I was suddenly reminded of how little Bella knew about our precious little one. "She's intelligent, shockingly so, and progressing at an immense pace. Though she doesn't speak-yet-she communicates quite effectively." I told her recalling how shocked I had been the first time Renesmee had touched my face and shown me what she was thinking. The way she inherently knew how to make herself understood was amazing in of itself. Bella would be in for such a shock when she first experienced it. Though knowing Bella she might be less surprised than I was, she never ceased to amaze me with her ability to accept the unbelievable. I was the perfect example.
"Doesn't. Speak. Yet." Bella said, enunciating each word. I slowed down a fraction, wanting to give her time to take in all of the information I was giving to her. "What do you mean, she communicates effectively?" Bella demanded slowing our pace even further. How do I explain it to her? There is no proper way to explain it to her, the best way was to show her. "I think it will be easier for you to…see for yourself. It's rather difficult to describe."
Bella seemed to think about that for a moment, then she surprised me by changing topics. "Why is Jacob still here?" She asked I knew that amidst everything she would worry about that mutt. "How can he stand it?" Why should he? "why should he have to suffer more?" She asked me, her marvelous voice ringing out over the air as she voiced her concerns for Jacob. I wondered how she would react when she found out why Jacob was perfectly content to linger around the house now, even though she was the very thing he had always dreaded that she would become.
"Jacob isn't suffering." I said being sure to carefully select my words so Bella wouldn't catch my hesitancy to answer her questions. Maybe she would simply think that it was my dislike of Jacob that kept me from wanting to talk about him. "Though I might be willing to change his condition." I said thinking about what I would like to do to him should the opportunity arise. I gritted my teeth thinking about him suffering at my hands. "Edward!" Bella admonished me with a hiss as she pulled me to a full stop. Hmm, this new strength was also going to take getting used to, I suddenly realized.
She was very angry, her emotions radiated off her skin, and her eyes blazed with emotion. "How can you say that? Jacob has given up everything to protect us! What I've put him through--!" Bella's face turned into a tortured grimace as she recounted the things Jacob had done for us. I knew what Jacob had done, but he tended to cause as much trouble as he solved, and the latest in his list of irritants was not going to go over well, no matter how much Bella cared for him.
"You'll see exactly how I can say that." I mumbled vehemently. Bella looked at me, and I remembered to late that Bella could now hear when I spoke at that level. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. I held up my hands in defense. "I promised him that I would let him explain, but I doubt you'll see it much differently than I do. Of course I'm often wrong about your thoughts, aren't I?" I said watching her carefully as I pressed my lips together to keep myself from speaking my thoughts aloud again.
"Explain What?" Bella pressed. I shook my head. Oh no I wasn't going to be the one to tell her this news, let Jacob be the one to have that honor. "I promised. Though I don't know if I really owe him anything at all anymore…" I said letting my words trail off into silence. I could see the annoyance building up as she bit her lower lip. It was hard for me to stay angry at Jacob when she stood there looking so alluring. "Edward, I don't understand." She growled with exasperation.
I reached over and stroked her cheek, hoping that my touch would help ease her infuriation. The furrowed lines of her brow instantly smoothed away as her face became peaceful. I wish I knew how she was able to calm herself so easily. "It's harder than you make it look, I know. I remember." I mused softly. "I don't like feeling confused." She blurted out suddenly. I understood that feeling to, recalling with vivid clarity how swiftly thoughts and emotions flew through my newborn mind, everything was done on impulse, yet somehow Bella seemed able to handle the impulse part, which was the most difficult.
"I know." I said. "And so let's get you home, so that you can see it all for yourself." I said gently trying to reassure her. I ran my eyes over her face trying to see if she was less upset, and seeing that she was indeed calmer, I let my eyes rove over her body. Up close it was impossible not to allow my eyes to linger or the torn fabric that allowed me to see so much more of her magnificently feminine body. I frowned for a moment. "Hmmm." This wouldn't do, her curves called to me, begging me to run my finger over their soft slopes and valley's of her flesh. I had to get her back, But I was not about to let any other male from our house see her like this. She was mine.
After a split second I had an idea. I quickly undid the buttons of my shirt and held it out to her. "That bad?" she said, her face forming a small pout, making it even harder to keep my distance. I said nothing, but a grin stole across my face as I thought of how quickly I would be able to remove the last few scrapes of fabric from her lithe form.
I quickly got myself in line as she slipped her arms into the overly long sleeves and buttoned up the shirt. I was happy to have temptation slightly removed, though I had to admit she even made the plain fabric of my shirt look good.
Bella didn't move for a moment, than she suddenly said, "I'll race you!" Then she narrowed her eyes and said" No throwing the game this time." Which nearly caused me to bend over in laughter. Instead I released her hand and grinned at her. I waggled my eyebrows mischievously at her before speaking up. "On your mark……" Bella turned and ran with an amazing amount of speed, but she was no match for me and I quickly outpaced her. There would be no accusation of my holding back on her this time. As we neared the river she launched herself off the ground, her extra strength propelled her past me and over the water where she landed in the soft grass.
She turned back towards me laughing, 'Ha!" She exclaimed, prepared to boast. I was just launching myself when I saw her turn suddenly back towards the house, her head tilted in a manner that leant me to know that she was intently listening to something. I heard it right away, the thick pulsing beat, thrumming with life and energy. I landed unnoticed beside her as she focused on the sound, moving quickly to place my hands on her upper arms, to help her stay in control. I squeezed her to let her know that I was there, and to help keep command of her senses.
"Don't breathe." I whispered urgently behind her, knowing that it would help. I was not sure how this would go, would she find his blood as unappealing as the rest of us did. I felt Bella's breathing stop instantly, and I could feel how rigid she was in my arms. All I could do was watch while she searched for the source of the sound. I reached for his thoughts just as she saw him standing there on the edge of the forest that surrounded our house. He was waiting for our return, his thoughts worried, protective, and as far as I was concerned, completely unwarranted. This was not my place to say what I thought, but to support her s she faced Jacob for the first time as her new self. This ought to be interesting.