AN: A very quick, very rushed chapter. Enjoy . . .
It was long after the party guests had left for their hotels. I'd wanted to offer Charlie or Renee and Phil the guest room, but Angela had told me it wasn't a good idea since they'd all already paid for hotels. With that, I realised that we had been rude, dragging people all across the country and not providing one of the with accommodation. Why didn't at least offer someone the room? Neither Angela and Jacob had an answer.
I'd thought that Angela seemed a little anxious, but I didn't know why. I wondered trivially if it was something work related. Or maybe she'd had the sudden realisation that maybe her over-the-top farewell to Embry might have scared him more than she'd intended. But whatever it was, I knew she'd tell me when the time was right.
About an hour later, Angela rushed out, saying she had something urgent to attend to. Before she was out the door, she shared a meaningful look with Jacob and then disappeared quickly. I looked at Jacob, who innocently pretended not to notice my gaze, so I shrugged it off.
I was getting sleepy and wanted to go to bed but Jacob said he's wanted to watch a movie with me. That's when I knew something was up. For months now, Jacob had been encouraging me to get rest as often as possible, almost forcing me to lie down or take a nap. But all of a sudden, he wanted me to stay up with him just to watch a movie he could very easily record. He was up to something.
As tired as I was, and I was damned exhausted, I was also just as curious. I decided to cuddle up on the sofa with me, watching a boring romantic comedy I knew he wasn't the least bit interested. An hour into the movie, at about nine, Angela was back, making the loud entrance she always did when she walked into my door.
"I'm baaaaaack!" She sang. "And I have my present with me!"
From the sofa, my eyes drooping as I rested my head on Jacob's shoulder. - rolled my eyes, thinking that Angela probably brought a glamorous baby outfit or expensive toys that she'd seen with some baby in another magazine. I fully intended to pay her no mind at all, but Jacob told me we had to get up. Utterly drained of energy and running out of consciousness, I had to get Jacob to help me get my heavy body off the sofa. When I was up, he wrapped his arm around my waist and walked me towards the door where Angela had a grin on her face. I really didn't care anymore what she and Jacob were up to and I just wanted to sleep.
And then I realised he was hiding something behind the door, which was slightly ajar. I vaguely wondered what it was but didn't have the energy to make a big deal out of it.
"Guess what I got you!" She squealed, more pleased with herself than I'd seen all day. She was absolutely glowing where she stood.
I yawned loudly. "Can't you give it to me tomorrow. I'm so exhausted right now."
"Awww, baby sister," a voice said just before the door swung open. "Aren't you excited to see me?"
I was immediately awake, the voice so familiar to me I felt as though I'd been hearing it everyday. "Riley!" I leapt away from Jacob and launched myself at my big brother. "Riley! You came!" I wrapped my arms around him as far as my belly would allow.
"Of course! How could I not," he said with a pat on my back, "My baby sister is having a baby of her own. Look at you, Bells. You're massive."
I ignored his comment and forgot how tired I'd been five seconds go. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you. It's been years, Ri. And look how different you are!"
I held him away from me at arms length and looked him up and down. He was taller without a doubt and had bulked up just a little. His hazel nut brown hair had been turned sandy brown by the Australian sun and his skin was a little tanner than before. The blue eyes he'd gotten from Renee still sparkled with his natural cheerfulness, the way they always had when we were growing up.
"Bells. Let's not talk about different, okay? But you do look beautiful as ever, all glowy and motherly."
I hadn't noticed that Jacob had taken in Riley's bags and probably put them in the guest room . . .
"Heeeeeey . . ." I gasped, turning to him just as he returned from the room. "You knew he was coming!" It wasn't a question.
"It was a surprise," he shrugged as he dragged a heater out of the linen closet for Riley. "Angela said not to tell you," and he disappeared into the guest room.
I looked over to Angela who winked at me with a grin. "No need to thank me," she sighed sarcastically. "But I really need to go. Riley, we'll do more catching up another time. For now, take advantage of your sister's hospitality."
She kissed me good bye and then she was gone.
"I'm so happy you're here!" I gushed at my brother. "I want you to tell me everything about Australia!"
He rolled his eyes at me, putting an arm around my shoulder. "The weather is beautiful. Almost all the time. But when it sucks, it really sucks. And don't get me started on the animals . . ."
Almost simultaneously, we both let out lengthy yawns and ended up grinning at each other, just like old times. "I forgot that you've been in the air for the last fourteen hours. Maybe we'll talk in the morning?" I suggested, suddenly remembering how heavy my eyes were five minutes ago.
"I like the way you think, baby sister. I'm beat." And I was grinning at him again.
"What?" He asked.
"Your accent," I grinned wider. "You sound like Chris Hemsworth . . ." It was an exaggeration, though. His accent was still more American but you could hear little bits of Australian here and there. He rolled his eyes at me and threw his arm around my shoulders.
"Still as silly as ever, baby sister. Let's get to bed."
Jacob had set up the guest room by the time Riley and I were ready for bed and even still, I stood in the door way a whole ten minutes before Riley was off to take a shower. Jacob had to hold me down by the shoulders to make sure I didn't go back to "check on him" as I'd said.
"Bella, he'll be here in the morning. Just get some sleep, okay?"
"Fine," I sulked but gave him a kiss. "Goodnight."
He wrapped him arms around me and I lost consciousness almost immediately.
When I finally wake up, it's already late morning, which was what I was afraid of. I didn't want to lose any time with my brother. Even though I felt like just lying there under the covers for a few more minutes, I got up and forced myself to make my way out into the hallway. Already, Jacob and Riley were up, having a conversation in the kitchen as if they'd known each other for a long time. It made me wonder about the way our lives, Jacob's and mine, melted into each other with more ease than I ever would have thought. It was almost too easy.
Rubbing my eyes as I dragged myself across the living room to the kitchen, I let out a dainty yawn and pulled the gown I was wearing tighter around me.
"Ah! She has awakened!" Riley announced after swallowing a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "From her eons of sleep she is risen."
"This is one of the better days," Jacob comments as he scoops me up some eggs and makes me some toast. "The record is two-fifty-five in the afternoon. With that in mind, eleven is not that bad."
Riley put his arms around my shoulder and I didn't hesitate to lean against him. I missed him so much. "Once a sleeper, always a sleeper, I guess." And then he asked Jacob. "Does she still talk in her sleep?"
"No," came my outraged answer the same time Jacob chuckled an amused "Yes."
"I do not!" I protested at him as he placed a plate in front of me.
"You do," he smiled gently, really not wanting to upset me.
"Awww, you actually haven't changed much, baby sister. Glad I haven't missed as much as I thought I have."
It was true in a sense. He hadn't missed much, nothing overly important, anyway. But it was still a drag to not have him around more often.
We ate breakfast and afterwards, Jacob opted for giving us time alone to catch up. We decided not to go anywhere but to just hang out on the sofa. He told me about his job: how much he loved it, about his colleagues and his boss. He told me about Australia: how it's mostly warm there and how the insects sometimes look like man-eating aliens. He'd gotten me a kangaroo stuffed animal and picture frame and told me that Angela insisted that he divert his attention away from all things duckling if he wanted to get me something different. He told me about how Angela had called him three weeks ago and insisted he show up for the baby shower. He told me that he actually couldn't get a flight until that morning and that was why he arrived so late. He asked me about Jacob, you know, typical big brother questions: does he make you happy? does he treat you right? And all that sort of stuff. Of course, I didn't have trouble answering those questions.
"If he ever hurts you," he said jokingly, but with serious intention to get the message across," I swear, I will beat the shit out of him."
"Um . . . Thank you for that," I said, my feet tucked under me as I used a spoon to scrape some yogurt from a tub. "But it won't be necessary."
"It better not be."
He told me about this girl he met once and how she was a beautiful red head and how he'd thought he'd been in love. But as it turned out, she'd this unforgivable tendency to talk about her dead childhood pets at every chance she got. That made me laugh my eyes to tears.
We talked about Angela and how it was that we'd stuck together so long in our friendship. I told him about what it was like having a person growing inside me and having to used the bathroom every so often. We talked about a lot of stuff. But mostly, we talked about our childhood together: cartoons we'd watched, games we'd played, times we'd gotten into trouble and times we'd gotten away with it. We talked about our parents splitting and moving to Phoenix without our father. We talked about our summers with Charlie and never wanting to leave when the holidays were over. We talked about each other, laughed at inside jokes and embraced that he was my big brother and I was his baby sister and that through all the ups and downs in our growing up, we were the only constants in the other's life. He made me feel solid and I did the same for him.
"I really missed you, Ri. I wish you'd come home more often."
"I will," he promised in a heartbeat. "Now that you have a little person on the way, I'll definitely be here more."
"Good. I want baby to know his or her uncle."
He saluted at me with a straight face, "Uncle Riley, ready to serve and protect."
I laughed and rested my head on his shoulder. "I love you, Ri."
"Love you too, baby sister."