Chapter Thirty Five

Jasper

At the Cullen place she took a deep breath,

"Is he here?"

I nodded pointing to his silver Volvo parked on the edge of the driveway just in sight.

"Right, let's go."

She kissed me and got out of the car marching to the door and knocking insistently until Esme opened it, surprised to see Bella standing there with me at her side. She smiled delightedly,

"Bella how wonderful, come in, you too Jasper."

Conversation ceased the moment my siblings heard Bella's name and as we rounded the corner of the hall I saw Emmett stand, a huge smile on his face. Rose scowled but that was her normal facial expression!

Edward sitting at the table with Carlisle looked scared, and glancing at Bella's face I didn't blame him. Carlisle got up and walked over, his hand out stretched and Bella shook it briefly,

"I'm sorry to burst into your home like this Carlisle but I need to speak to Edward."

"Yes, he's just been telling me what he did and feeling very ashamed of himself Bella."

She smiled bitterly and looked at Edward as if he were pond scum.

"Oh I'm sure Carlisle. What did you tell Carlisle Edward?"

"He told me he'd contacted the Volturi out of jealousy"

Bella waved Carlisle to silence, concentrating on Edward,

"Well?"

"I can only apologise. As soon as I'd done it I knew it was wrong but I couldn't take it back. I came here hoping Carlisle could help in some way. He was just going to ring Italy."

"Thank you Carlisle but as you can see it wont be necessary. So Edward what did you tell Carlisle? Did you tell him that you put not only my life but Jaspers too in danger? Did you tell him you did it because you couldn't get your own way? Did you tell him what I said to you outside the hospital?"

Edward looked guilty and I wondered what exactly he had told Carlisle.

"Well you can't have been in that much danger since your both here now"

Bella looked disdainfully at Rose

"Yes, so sorry to disappoint you Rosalie. You might have grieved for Jazz but you'd have jumped up and down with joy at the thought of my death I'm sure."

"Actually I wouldn't. I may not like you Bella but I do like Jasper and I wouldn't like anything that hurt him. Plus I think Edward is a weak spoilt brat and its good to finally see him faced with the consequences of his actions."

I smiled at my favourite sister and she winked at me. Emmett took two steps forward towards Bella,

"Don't Emmett. We have nothing to say to each other. Goodbye would have been enough once but silence doesn't cut it with me."

She cut him dead at this point and looked back to Edward,

"You're a very lucky person Edward to have a family who love you and stick up for you but let me give you a word of advice. Know your enemy before you take the battle to them or you could just get hurt and if you ever put me or Jazz in danger again I will come for you and it will be more than a friendly warning you get. For now..."

She turned to Esme

"I'd like to apologize in advance for any damage Esme, I'll pay for any repairs of course."

She looked back at Edward and concentrated, the shimmer around her becoming more noticeable until it became a glow that it appeared only I could see and she directed all its power at Edward. He flew backwards through the air crashing through the patio doors, across the lawn, and straight into the front of his Volvo smashing it as he continue on through the windscreen and out the back window, across the rest of the drive and straight into the river beyond. The glow disappeared almost immediately and Bella turned to Carlisle

"I apologize again for any damage but it's very little in comparison to what could have happened to us. I meant my warning so you might want to remind Edward when he gets back. Goodbye."

She turned and they watched in silence as we let ourselves out. My Bella was still amazing me, what a girl!

"So where to now darlin'?"

"That peaceful private place I think."

"Maybe you'd better speak to your dad first. He'll be going frantic."

She took out her cell phone and rang his number,

"Bella? Thank God, are you OK? Where the hell have you been? You promised to ring me when you got to Peters."

"It's a bit difficult to explain dad but we're fine, we didn't go to Peters in the end but we're going to rent a holiday let for a few weeks. Is everything OK with you?"

"Yeah, still on light duties but healing well. Your mum started ringing so you might want to give her a quick call, get her off my back for a while."

Bella laughed,

Will do dad. Love you"

There was a surprised silence at the other end then,

"Love you too honey."

She terminated the call and sighed,

"Do you want to go back?"

She looked at me and shook her head,

"No, I was just summoning the courage to ring Renee"

"You need courage to ring your mother after confronting and threatening vampires?"

"Renee is much more scary I promise you."

I drove on wondering if the old hunting cabin in the mountains would be too basic for Bella as she rang her mother. She had to listen to a ten minute tirade about not keeping in touch before she could get a word in.

"See what I mean?" she mouthed to me and smiled.

I decided it would be adequate provided we stopped and did some essential shopping first so I turned the car towards the mountains. I'd drop Bella and the supplies at the cabin before taking the car back down to town to be picked up then run back, hunting on the way. She wouldn't be on her own too long that way although what could hurt her now I wasn't sure after the couple of demonstrations of her gift I'd seen so far. When she finally got off the phone from Renee I explained my plan and her smiling agreement was all I needed. We stopped in the closest town and split up, I gave her a wad of cash to fill her list while I would use my card. I'd tried to think of everything to keep Bella comfortable. She was in charge of food supplies, warm clothes and anything else she might want while I stocked up on matches candles, oil, gas for the generator and anything else I could think of to make life comfortable for her. Remembering it would be cold I bought extra blankets, a duvet and a hot water bottle. My cold body wouldn't be very helpful to her survival up in the mountains.

When we met up at the car I realized it was going to be a squeeze but we managed although Bella was almost sitting on my lap. I wasn't complaining and neither it seemed was she, partly because she could feel my excitement at having her so close and the thought of having her to myself with no one else around for weeks. When we got to the cabin I looked at her face hoping I wouldn't see disappointment but quite prepared to drive back to town if she didn't like the place. She got out without saying anything and walked slowly up the porch steps pushing on the front door which opened up. No one locked their cabins this high up, there was nothing worth stealing anyway. She disappeared inside and as she didn't come running out screaming for civilization I followed her in. She was standing in the main room looking at the spectacular view through the window. I could feel her excitement and delight as she turned and whispered,

"It's so peaceful and so beautiful."

"You happy to stay?"

She nodded coming to me for a cuddle.

"Just don't take too long to return the car. Dump the stuff in the hall and I'll put it away while you're gone, unless there are certain places for things"

I shook my head,

"Its your home too, you plan it how you like. I'll be as quick as I can."

We kissed and I left, driving way too fast for the condition of the road but not caring, I was too eager to get back. As I drove it started to snow and I was glad I'd got plenty of supplies in for Bella. The weather could close the mountain roads for weeks and she would be unable to get down unless I could carry her, and if it were too cold that would be out of the question, as far as I was concerned the snow could fall for ever so long as we were together. I never thought I'd be so lucky, to have a woman who knew all about me and loved me despite it. As I approached the town I saw a truck going too fast jack-knife in front of me on the quickly icing road surface. Its tail end caught my car before I could wrench it out of the way and truck, car, and trailer, skidded across the road and through the crash barrier, tumbling down the steep rock face to land with a huge explosion of metal and glass near the bottom of the ravine.