Chapter Forty Eight: Continuing
It's almost Thanksgiving, school has been released till after the holiday and Uncle Charlie is anxious to hear from Bella. The last he heard from her, she was sick with some tropical disease and was in a hospital somewhere in South America. Bella and Edward had been on their honey moon for a month before we heard that she was 'sick'.
Since the wedding Uncle Charlie has had trouble with adjusting back to not having Bella around. Sometimes he would ask if Bella was up yet when I came down for school and would realize what he asked and get a little sad. She didn't bother to call often and there hadn't been any calls for two weeks and it was worrying Uncle Charlie.
Uncle Charlie and I were heading down to Billy and Jake for the game and dinner. Rachel was coming in for Thanksgiving this weekend and was going to be staying with Paul. Her relationship with Paul was strong though it had started off rocky because of Paul reputation. I grabbed up my jacket and keys when the phone started ringing.
"Swan residence." Uncle Charlie answered gruffly. I waited to hear what the call was about and from whom, but was only met with a long pause. I walked back around the corner and saw Uncle Charlie standing frozen in front of the phone.
"Okay. Thank you, Dr. Rodriguez." Uncle Charlie choked out before putting the phone weakly back on the hook. He sunk into a chair, tears falling down his face as a sob broke through.
"She's gone." He said as he started to sob harder. I ran over and gave him a tight hug.
"Who?" I asked, but I had a pretty good idea about who he was talking about.
"Bella. The doctor said the disease was too much for her system to take. She's gone." Uncle Charlie cried and hugged me tighter to him. I let a few tears slip down my face for Uncle Charlie's loss. I got him into the living room before I walked back into the kitchen to make a few calls. I called Sue first because she and Uncle Charlie had been getting closer since Harry's death. Then I called Billy and Jake and lastly I called Embry. They all said they would be right over and Embry was going to run over to Sam's and inform him.
The pack had decided that Bella wasn't worth the war and that when she was changed the Cullens had to leave and never come back. The Cullens had been willing to do just that. They moved out of town last month again, it was a sort of warning for the pack that Bella would be changed soon. Paul had grumbled about it for a while, but eventually he conceded.
A lot of things have changed since Emily's wedding. I turned eighteen, Bella got married, School started again, Jared and Kim got engaged, and the Cullens left town, hopefully forever. Bella's wedding was beautiful. I had to admit that Alice knew what she was doing with wedding planning. Renee had yelled at me as soon as she got to town for not being in Bella's wedding, that I was ruining Bella's big day. That led to a yelling match that Uncle Charlie and Renee's husband had to break up. Now she didn't come round the house and she refused to talk to me. No skin off my nose. The only complaint I have about the wedding is how obvious it was that Bella was looking for Jacob. As she walked down the aisle she scanned crowd and during the reception she was constantly searching. She pouted when she couldn't find him during the reception. How rude is that? It's your wedding night and you're looking for a guy that isn't your new husband. She even had the nerve to ask me if I knew if he was coming or not. I didn't tell her that he had had a fit day the day the invite had come. He ripped it up before throwing it in the trash where it belonged.
Billy and Jake pulled into the driveway fifteen minutes after my call. I held the door open while Jake pushed Billy inside out of the light drizzle. Billy looked sadly at me and I gave him and hug. I nodded my head toward the living room and he began to roll himself toward the door way. Jake threw his arm around my shoulders and gave me a quick side hug. Sue pulled in a couple minutes later with Leah and Seth in the car. She came running in, only stopping to see me nod to the living room. We all went up stairs to my room.
"How you holding up?" Jake asked. I shrugged.
"I'm mad that she didn't think about how this was going to influence Uncle Charlie. That he is losing his only child." I said and sat on my bed with a sigh. Leah joined me and the guys sat down on the floor with their backs against the wall. Embry showed up a few minutes later and came right up stairs. He picked me up and sat me on his lap when he sat down on my bed.
"What am I going to do with Uncle Charlie?" I asked out loud. Everyone looked up at me.
"This is going to worse than when grandma died. This was his daughter. It's not like life is just going to keep going on for him and there wouldn't be anything new to keep his mind off it." I said. When grandma died I had moved in and he had put his mind to settling me in and taking care of me.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Leah smirked and shared a look with Seth who smiled back. I looked confused between the two siblings.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We all have noticed how Charlie has been getting closer to mom for the past couple months." Leah said with a smug smirk.
"Charlie has been taking her out for lunch and stopping by the diner a lot when she's in for work." Seth said with a grin. I smiled at the thought. I knew there was something between the two of them.
"Well if it helps him, I'm all for it. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be cousins?" I teased Leah and Seth.
"Oh, no. Whatever did I do that I deserve you for a cousin?" Leah asked dramatically, causing me to lightly chuckle.
The week went by slowly as Uncle Charlie planned out Bella's funeral. Uncle Charlie had been told that she couldn't have an open casket because of the effects of the disease had withered her. This had beaten him more than he already was. Renee was heartbroken and balled her eyes out for the three days she was in town for the funeral. She yelled at everyone she could and blamed them all for something they had supposedly had done to Bella. She told me that I was an uncaring cousin and should have been in the wedding to help make her last few months better. She blamed Edward the most and pulled out his leaving and then taking Bella on their honeymoon. Everyone that knew the truth had to hide their smug faces. We enjoyed watching him get his ass handed to him by a small, middle aged women that he had only met three times.
Life slowly began to go back to normal. I didn't spend as much time in La Push though and the pack relaxed a little with the lack of threats. There had only been one vampire to come through the area since Bella's wedding. Embry had more time off and we spent more time out of La Push. Rachel came home more often and was in her last year of college. When she graduated she was going to move in with Paul much to his excitement.
Billy wasn't as happy about it, but he didn't complain because she would be closer to home and wouldn't be somewhere across the country. Rebecca had even made a visit home with her husband to tell Billy that he was going to be a grandpa and they were going to move to Forks. Billy was so excited about the baby and made Jacob take him to Port Angeles to buy gifts for it.
Tonight Sam and Emily were hosting an early Christmas party so we could be together and celebrate, but also spend the actual holiday with our families. I had everyone's gifts wrapped and ready in the car. I drove down to La push singing along to the Christmas carols on the radio. When I got to Sam and Emily's, Jake and Embry were waiting for me on the front porch.
"Hey guys." I called as I got out of the car and started to take the gifts out of the car. Embry came up behind me and took the gifts from my hand before handing them to Jake to take inside. I looked at him curiously as he took my hand and led me back down the driveway. I saw there was an envelope half hanging out of his back pocket. He stopped at the end of the driveway and pulled the envelope out. He handed it to me with a grim look on his face. The envelope was addressed to me with Jake and Billy's address. There was a fancy stamp and a return address to someplace in Alaska.
I opened it and pulled a heavy sheet of paper. It looked expensive and like nothing anyone that I knew would be able to afford. I scanned the letter that was written neatly on the paper. It was from Bella. In the letter she was bragging about her new life as Mrs. Edward Cullen and the luxuries she had at her at her fingertips now that she was a vampire with her leech. She told me to take care of Charlie for her. I stuffed the envelope in my back pocket and crumpled the letter to throw away.
"Let's go inside and have a good evening." I said, forcing a smile. Embry took my hand as we walked back to the house.
"I'm sorry that you had to receive that." He apologized. I smiled up at him. He was so thoughtful of everything and how things could affect people. I gave him a quick kiss.
"It's not your fault." I said and then ran into the house with a giggle when I look back at Embry. Everybody quickly settled into the living room and handed out their gifts. Wrapping paper flew everywhere, bows and ribbons laid discarded across the floor. Everyone was smiling and having a good time. After all the presents had been opened Emily got up and walked out of the room. She came back with a small box and handed it to Sam. Sam looked confused, but slowly ripped off the paper. The box looked like a watch box. Sam opened the box and pulled out a little baby rattle. A smile started to creep onto my face along with the other girls, the guys however looked confused.
Sam's eyes looked at the rattle confused then the light bulb seemed to come on. His head snapped to Emily and looked at her and then down to her stomach. Sam looked at her questioningly; Emily nodded and slowly placed her hand on her stomach. We girls squealed and Sam jumped up from the couch and caught Emily's lips with his.
All of us girls gave Emily tight hugs in congratulations while the guys gave Sam theirs and hard slaps on the back while cracking jokes of what was to come. Everyone was excited for the next addition to the pack. One thing was for sure. The pup was going to be spoiled rotten by all its aunts and uncles. And lord help it if it was a girl, no boy would dare mess with her for fear of her family.
