Thank you so much everyone for all the reviews! I'm glad the story has kept you guessing. Get ready for some big revelations in this one!
All the Twilight characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.
Chapter 51: I Confess (Cards on the Table Time)
Alice didn't look me in the eyes as she approached. Instead, she turned to Paul, who was standing next to us, and asked if he could carry Mike into the house, where he would be more comfortable. Paul looked to me for confirmation and I nodded.
"Embry," Paul called, "I need to take Mike into the house. Can you come over and carry Bella?"
I smiled at him gratefully, glad that he remembered my injuries made it difficult for me to follow on my own.
"I'll take her," Jake said bruskly, narrowing his eyes in Alice's direction. "Sam and Embry, you guys come too."
We walked to the Cullen house, were Alice directed Paul to lay Mike down on the sofa before she disappeared in the direction of Carlisle and Esme's room. Jake asked Embry to set some pillows on the floor before depositing me close to Mike's head so I could continue to talk to him and keep him calm.
"Thanks, Jake. There's food in the kitchen. Some snacks and drinks and even frozen dinners in the freezer, if you guys are hungry. At least," I wavered, "there used to be."
Jake looked at me quizzically.
"Jasper kept food here for when I came over. He always took care of me."
"It's all still here," Paul called from the kitchen. "A nice selection, too. Want anything, Jake?"
"You guys take what you want," Jake said, settling himself down beside me. "I'll eat when you're done. How about you, Bells? You hungry?"
I shook my head. "I couldn't eat right now."
"Nonsense," he said. "You'll need your strength, especially right now. Paul, pick out something good for Bella and bring it here, okay?"
"Sure," Paul agreed, as though he had a choice.
"Really, Jake, I'm not. . . "
"Will you for once stop being the most stubborn person in the universe and do what your body needs you to do? Mike needs you to be strong."
I relented, and when Paul brought me the microwaved pasta marinara dinner, I ate without complaints.
Alice came back into the living room.
"Jasper went to hunt and to get you some fresh clothes," she said to me dully, "I put out some towels and a robe in Carlisle and Esme's bathroom. You need to shower before he gets here. And those should be burned," she pointed to my clothes.
I looked down at my bloody shirt. Of course, Jasper had said he hadn't hunted and here I was, covered with fresh human blood. No wonder he hadn't come closer. Relief swept through me.
"That's a good idea," Jake acknowledged grudgingly. "Come on, Bells," he said, taking the plate out of my hands and picking me up again.
I directed him to the bathroom and almost asked him to put me down in the shower before I realized the logistics of disrobing while unable to stand on my right leg were not going to work.
"Maybe just put me on the bed and bring me the robe?" I said. "It will be easier for me there."
Jake did as I asked, then left the room instructing me to let him know when I was ready. I carefully took off my shoes and socks. The bloody shirt and bra followed relatively easily. The jeans and panties were a bit more problematic, but I lay down and wriggled both down to my thighs, then sat back up to gingerly push them off my legs. I examined my knee which, thankfully, was just scraped and bruised. My ankle was swollen, but I knew form past experience it was just a sprain – nothing was broken. I wrapped my self tightly in the robe and called Jake, instructing him to put me down right in the tiled shower enclosure.
"Do you need any other help?" he asked.
"I think I can manage," I said. "Maybe stay outside and listen and if you hear me calling or falling, then some help would be nice."
"Okay. Good idea." Making sure that I was steady leaning against the shower wall, he walked out and closed the door.
The shower felt heavenly. I washed my hair first, leaning against the wall for support. I used the body wash and a wash cloth to carefully clean the blood off my face, hands, torso and knee. After I finished washing I stood under the water longer than necessary to rinse, enjoying the relaxing warm spray. Finally, I turned off the water, toweled off and re-wrapped myself in the robe.
"Jake, I'm done. Can you carry me back?"
The door opened and I gasped with surprise and pleasure when instead of Jake I saw Jasper. He was next to me in a flash, lifting me up into his arms. Without any preamble, he captured my lips in a searing kiss that left me breathless. It was everything that I had wanted and needed and missed and longed for. After enduring so many weeks of emptiness, I finally felt complete.
Eventually Jasper broke off the kiss and looked at me sternly and seriously.
"That was twice now, Isabella Marie Swan. Twice that you ignored me and deliberately put yourself in harm's way, nearly sentencing me to an eternity of hell on earth. Swear to me that there won't be a third."
I wrapped both of my hands in his soft, wavy hair, and pulled myself up to place kisses over every surface of his face that I could reach.
"I swear, Jasper. Never again."
He crushed me to him and breathed in my scent. "I was so terrified, Bella. So terrified neither Jake nor I would get here in time and that I would lose you."
"I know. I'm so sorry. I was stupid. Please forgive me." Those damn treacherous tears welled up in my eyes again. Jasper saw and hurriedly kissed them away.
"Of course I forgive you, Darlin'. You're safe and you're here with me and that's all that matters as long as you never do anything like that again."
I looked at him incredulously.
"That's it? Just like that? No lectures?"
Jasper sighed. "We'll talk about it again when we have a little more privacy, just to make sure you really understand. But the forgiveness is unconditional. I'm just so happy that, for the most part, you managed to escape injury free."
He parted my robe slightly to look at my ankle and knee. I blushed furiously, knowing this time I was wearing nothing underneath, but Jasper behaved like a perfect gentleman, closing the robe back up as soon as he finished his examination. He carried me over to the medicine cabinet from which he took out a bottle of Advil, antiseptic cream and bandages. I caught a look at myself in the mirror. I had some cuts and scrapes on my face, but considering everything that happened, they weren't too bad. I would have to come up with a cover story for the twisted ankle anyway, so the cuts to my face would just be a part of that.
"I brought you fresh clothes. They're on the bed. Ready to change?"
I nodded. He carried me out into the bedroom, where Jake was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his expression brooding. I sighed, knowing it was too much to expect the two of them to be instant friends. Maybe it was too much to expect them to be friends at all.
"I think she can handle changing alone. We can wait outside," He grumbled. He sounded like such a protective big brother, I nearly giggled. Did he really think Jasper would take advantage of me under these circumstances?
Jasper and I exchanged a look. His was filled with annoyance until he saw the amusement in my eyes and his expression changed to where he could barely suppress a smirk.
"I'll need to wrap her ankle and clean up the cuts on her knee first. If you want to make yourself useful, get her some water for the Advils."
Without waiting for Jake's response, Jasper moved my robe aside again and started wrapping my foot with an elastic bandage. When he was done he rubbed some antiseptic cream into the cuts on my knee and wrapped it up as well. Jake returned from the bathroom with a glass of water, which I accepted gratefully to swallow a couple of Advils. Jasper took the empty glass out of my hands and leaned in to kiss me.
"Call when you're ready," he said, following Jake out of the room and closing the door.
I examined the clothes Jasper selected for me. I noticed that the top was the one I wore on the day we went to Seattle, which brought a nostalgic smile to my face. The jeans were pretty standard and he had selected a matching set of cotton bra and panties. I said a little prayer of thanks that I hadn't yet had a chance to unwrap my Victoria's Secret purchases. Tonight was hardly the appropriate time to debut those, and I was glad that, when the time came, they would still be a surprise.
I dressed as quickly as I could and called out when I was ready. Jasper was instantly there to pick me up and carry me to the living room. He set me down on my pillow perch and sat down on the floor beside me, lifting my right leg to elevate the ankle and placing his hand around the ankle in lieu of ice, instantly making it feel better.
"Carlisle and Emmett should be here in a few hours," Alice said from where she was sitting on the arm rest of the sofa by Mike's head, her hand combing through his hair absentmindedly. For the first time since being back in the room, I focused on Mike, who seemed to be as relaxed as he had been when I left him. Alice's touch must have been as soothing as mine, and I was thankful to her for staying by his side.
She must have seen something in my face, because she said, her voice melancholy, "He's my responsibility, now, and I will take care of him well. I knew what I was taking on when I agreed to change him."
"Why are Emmett and Carlisle coming?" I asked no one in particular.
"We need to take Mike to Alaska," Alice answered. "It would be most comfortable for him to transport him in a car, rather than carry him, but someone will have to carry him over the border – we don't have enough time to get the right documents to go through an official border crossing. I could carry him easily enough, but someone needs to be on the other side with a car. I called Carlisle because he has the most experience with this and he can evaluate his progress. Emmett wanted to come just in case Mike woke early and we needed help restraining him, and also to see you." She looked down, but I knew the last statement was directed to me.
"When he gets here, Carlisle can take a look at your ankle," Jasper said, "Make sure there's nothing else to be done."
"Sure, but it's really nothing I haven't been through before. Just a sprain. It's already feeling better," I offered, and it was the truth. The combination of Jasper's cool hand and the Advil was doing wonders.
The room fell into an awkward silence. I looked around. Sam, Embry and Paul sat at the kitchen counter, devouring Jasper's stash of snacks and not really knowing where to look. Jake was leaning against the living room wall, glowering at Mike, me and the vampires. I heard Jasper clear his throat, and knew it was more for the attention getting properties than a genuine need to clear his air passage. I turned to look at him direct his remarks to Jake.
"I'm truly grateful for the way you and the whole pack came to Bella's aid today, and for the exception to the treaty you made for Mike. But the fight is over now and Alice and Bella and I have some things to talk about that are pretty private . . ."
Jake opened his mouth to argue but Jasper, sensing his mood, quickly cut in.
"I will make sure Mike and Bella are safe."
Jake closed his mouth and glared at Jasper, then turned to look at me with question in his eyes. I sighed. I wasn't looking forward to the conversation with Alice, but I knew it was necessary.
"It's okay, Jake. I bet the search organizers are wondering where you guys are. Maybe one of you should go back to check in. And Jake, maybe not you? It will be easier to explain the ankle to Charlie if he thinks I was in the woods with you searching for Mike when I fell. Also, Sam needs to talk to Emily – I'm sure she's frantic with worry."
"I already called her, Bella," Sam said. "But I know she'd appreciate seeing me in person," he directed his last comment to Jake.
Jake looked annoyed, but he didn't protest as he pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the guys. I couldn't hear if he had said anything to them or if the signaling was silent, but they stood in near unison and all four filed out of the house. Alice sighed with relief.
"Finally," she said, "the stench was getting unbearable."
I looked at Jasper, puzzled.
"The wolves smell horrible to us," he explained. "I've met them before and had a little more time to get accustomed to the odor, but this is Alice's first time and in such close concentration . . . "
I glanced over at Alice, though I didn't feel particularly compassionate. What I saw, however, filled me with alarm. Alice's eyes were rolled back. She was clearly experiencing a powerful vision. I felt Jasper's hand tighten slightly around my ankle, and I saw he wore a worried expression. Alice's fingers curled in Mike's hair and she must have tugged on it, eliciting a painful moan from Mike, which snapped her back to reality. She loosened her fingers and slowly re-focused her eyes on us.
"What is it?" Jasper asked.
"It was, I don't know. I don't understand. I saw Emmett and Carlisle coming. They will be here in 2 hours and," she glanced at the clock, "17 minutes. I saw all of us talking. I saw us leaving for Alaska and Mike completing the final phases of the change, but then nothing. The vision disappeared, just as before." She let out a frustrated hiss. "What is wrong with me?"
I looked at Jasper, thoroughly confused.
"Alice has been having problems with her visions. Sometimes they're clear and other times they disappear. She didn't see anything that happened after I rescued you from Quil or my conversation with Jake or the outcome of the battle tonight. You've been disappearing for her visions on a regular basis as well, for extended periods of time. And now, it's apparently spreading to Mike."
I was surprised that Jasper had such a complete explanation, but this must have been one of the things they talked about in the clearing. I glanced at Alice again. She was looking down at Mike. I was glad. I didn't want to look her in the eye out of fear she could see my satisfaction. Knowing how much pain her one vision cost me, I was glad Jasper and I were regularly disappearing from them. I could only hope in the future this would become a more regular occurrence.
Suddenly Alice turned to me.
"Well," she said, "I suppose congratulations are in order. I wish I could say that the best woman won, but it was never really a contest. Not that I didn't try to make it one. I did everything I could think of to keep him. But I should have known better. I should have realized that in the end he would always end up with you."
I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.
"What are you talking about, Alice?"
She sighed,
"From the moment I first saw Jasper in one of my visions, I knew he would not stay with me forever."
A deep, menacing growl rumbled from Jasper's chest. "What are you talking about, Alice?" He asked, his voice gravelly.
"Even before we first met, I always knew that we would be together for a finite period of time, and that eventually you would leave me. At first, I couldn't see who you were leaving with. Gradually, as time got closer and closer to our move to Forks, I started seeing more details, but still I never clearly saw any distinguishing features. Once we moved here the visions became even sharper and then, on the day Bella started school, the vision crystallized and I saw the two of you together."
"What?" I asked in disbelief. "You had a vision of Jasper and me together on the day I started school?"
Jasper was no longer growling. I turned to him and noticed that he was dumbstruck.
"From the very beginning you always told me we would be together forever, that you had a vision of us that way. You've been lying to me since the moment we met?"
Alice could not look at Jasper. Instead she turned her body to look through the back windows out into the yard.
"I loved you. I was hoping that if I didn't mention the visions to you, if I didn't plant that idea in your head, I could do something, make some decisions that would change the final outcome."
"But you didn't just not mention the visions, Alice. You affirmatively told me that I would fall in love with you and be with you forever. And I believed you! Our entire relationship has been a lie from the beginning."
"No," she shook her head vehemently and looked back to him, her eyes begging for forgiveness and understanding, "We were always meant to meet in the diner and to find the Cullens and to be together all those years. None of that was a lie."
"And what about the other things? My weakness around humans? The need to monitor me?"
Alice looked down at the floor.
"In the beginning it was all genuine. You were more attracted to human blood than the rest of us and you needed monitoring. There were many near-misses. Later, as you were getting stronger, I started seeing more in the visions and realized that the woman in them wasn't necessarily one of us, that she could have been human, so I may have discouraged you form getting comfortable around humans. I may have exaggerated some of my visions."
"You lied to him to make him feel weak, to keep him under your control and away from humans?" I was absolutely outraged.
"I lied to keep him with me, because for all the times that I exaggerated a vision he could have really slipped. And he could slip again. And he needs someone who would be able to see that in advance."
"No, Alice, he doesn't. Jasper is strong. He is less likely to slip than you or any of the Cullens. He just needs to believe in himself, and to be with someone who believes in him and his strength, instead of convincing him that he has a weakness that doesn't really exist."
"What would you know about it, Bella? Spending a few weeks with him suddenly makes you a Jasper expert? I've been with him for over six decades. I think I know better than you what Jasper needs."
"You don't," Jasper said, his voice hard as steel, "Because in those six decades you never once took the time to get to know the real me. Not the way Bella has. You assumed things about me and you made decisions for me and, like a supreme fool, I let you, because I believed you. I believed the lies. When you told me we were meant to be together forever I had no reason to doubt you, even though deep inside I felt there was something missing. But I thought it was my past with Maria that was bothering me all this time, when all along it was the knowledge that I was with the wrong woman!"
"What about Edward?" I asked Alice. "If I was supposed to be with Jasper, why did Edward get involved with me?"
"Edward," Alice scoffed. "He played right into my hands. As soon as I realized he couldn't read your mind I knew he would find you irresistible. It was never about your blood, Bella, no matter what he told you or anyone else. He would have been able to resist your blood just fine if he only had entry into your vapid little teenage mind. But he couldn't have your thoughts and it drove him mad, so he came up with the whole blood farce because he couldn't admit to anyone, even himself, the frustration he felt at his power being thwarted by a human girl. But, of course, the blood theory was a perfect excuse to keep you and Jasper apart, so I played right along."
"But I thought you were my friend."
"Ever hear the saying 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer,' Bella? You and I were never friends. Oh, you were fun to dress up, like a life size doll, but friends? Please! What could you and I possibly have in common that would make us friends? How could I be friends with a woman whose existence threatened my eternal happiness?"
I shrank into the floor, mortified. Suddenly I understood exactly what Jasper was feeling. We had both been expertly manipulated and we both fell for it, hook line and sinker. I had thought I was being manipulated since Alice's phone call, but it really started from before we even met. It made me feel so incredibly vulnerable and victimized. I wasn't sure I could listen to much more of this.
I looked at Jasper and saw my thoughts reflected in his eyes. But then something changed in his expression, and my back straightened as I absorbed this new feeling of defiance and fortitude. No matter how much it hurt, I needed to hear everything.
"So what happened with James?"
Alice laughed bitterly.
"Ah, yes. James. I had hoped that by delaying telling everyone about James's coven he would take care of things for me and kill you at the baseball game. But I must have misjudged their distance from us, because they arrived too late, and by then we had our defenses ready. I also didn't anticipate everyone being so protective of you, Bella," she looked at me curiously, cocking her head. I threw a glance at Jasper, who gave me a slight 'I told you so' smile.
"So then someone had to take you to Phoenix and, again, I needed Edward to stay in Washington, so that he wouldn't arrive in time to stop James. Since Jasper couldn't read my mind, it was easy to keep your plans a secret from him so that you could escape. But then Edward's plane was early and, once again, my plans were foiled. James had time to bite you, but not drain you."
Jasper started growling menacingly, but Alice didn't look alarmed. "It's all in the past, Jasper. She's still here, isn't she? Very much alive, very much human? We can't change the past, and do you really want to take on the responsibility of raising Mike? Because that's what you'd have to do if you killed me."
Jasper calmed a bit. I saw Mike shift and moan, and I placed my hand over his reassuringly.
"It's okay, Mike. Everything is fine."
"The most interesting thing about Phoenix was how far Edward was willing to go to stop you from turning into a vampire. He was absolutely terrified that once you turned, he would be able to read your mind, and then he would be stuck with you for an eternity without your most appealing quality. I know he gave you that line about your soul but trust me, Edward's MO has always been wanting something he can never have. Once whatever the object of his desire is within reach, he becomes bored with it. So his need to keep you human and unreadable was very strong. To be honest, I didn't know he had that type of self control, and all the way to the end the outcome was unpredictable. He could have killed you just as easily as James, something I would have actually preferred. But he managed to stop himself in the nick of time, and here you still are."
I was absolutely amazed that she could speak about the many times that she wished me dead without any sign of emotion or remorse. It was as if she didn't see me as a person at all, just an obstacle in her path to keeping Jasper with her forever.
"So then I had to find all sorts of ways and reasons to keep you and Jasper apart until the next opportunity to change the future presented itself. I saw the paper cut incident at your birthday party and I made sure there was plenty of glass around to increase the odds of you blood spilling in the aftermath. I also made sure that Jasper was plenty thirsty prior to the party. One of the potential outcomes was that he would have actually gotten to you and killed you but, again, there was that over protectiveness on the part of my family that somehow kept you safe.
"Afterwards I regretted letting the incident go forward. It hurt you so badly," she was speaking directly to Jasper now. "I felt absolutely horrible about the emotional pain you had to endure. Both your own and that of the other family members. I was thrilled when Edward insisted that we leave Forks and Bella behind, but then Carlisle had to suggest that you separate yourself from the rest of the family. I could have killed him! I tried to insist on staying with you but you all wouldn't let me. And so I had to take a risk that I could still find a way to keep you, even from Alaska."
"I saw everything that was going on between the two of you. I kept a careful watch. But I had to keep a distance. I couldn't get too involved or that may have actually driven you away. I had to count on the guilt the two of you would feel about forming a relationship to keep you apart until a different solution came along. And that guilt was stronger if I didn't keep in touch with either of you. Plus, if I didn't talk to you, you couldn't end the relationship," she turned her attention back to me.
"Just when I thought the plan had backfired and that Jasper was going to come out to Alaska to tell me he was leaving me, I saw Laurent heading to Forks and I knew he would be the perfect distraction. I told Jasper, knowing very well that Jasper would not call anyone for help, which meant that he would not be able to catch Laurent quickly and would not be able to leave town. Again, I hoped that Laurent would kill you," she said, looking at me, "Or that you would kill him," she said to Jasper, "and that his death would drive a wedge between the two of you. But then, at the last minute you had to let him go and then you called me. You actually left me over the phone! I couldn't believe it and I knew you did it against Bella's wishes, so I did the only thing I could. I told you both about my vision of you coming to Alaska and used that to separate you."
"So it was a lie. I suspected, but . . .
"No, Jasper, it wasn't a lie. I did see you leaving Bella and coming to Alaska, and it may still happen. I just wasn't certain of the reason, but what could it be other than coming back to me?"
I looked at Jasper in alarm, but he locked eyes with me and shook his head and I calmed instantly. I trusted him. And after hearing Alice's story I knew he would never return to her. She herself admitted all her efforts to hang on to him had failed. I had nothing to fear.
"It worked for a while," Alice continued. "You actually made him leave," she looked at me with disgust, "You stupid, stupid girl! You had him, and you couldn't appreciate him.
"Do you see?" she turned to Jasper. "Do you see how much better I am for you? How much more I value you? How much I'm willing to fight for you where she was just content to walk away?"
Before I could absorb her words and start to doubt myself, Jasper's arms were wrapped tightly around me and his lips were next to my ear.
"Don't even think about it, Bella. Don't even consider letting her poison spread in your mind. None of it is true. You gave me a choice and I made the wrong one. You were right all along. I should have gone to see her. It wouldn't have made any difference except to make you feel more secure."
He pulled me over onto his lap so that my back was towards Alice and I could only see his face. "Please forgive me for letting my pride stand in the way of granting you the only request you ever made of me. I swear I will never make that mistake again."
I heard but ignored Alice's whimper behind me. Instead I used my right hand to push back some of Jasper's hair that had fallen over his eye.
"We both made mistakes, Jasper, but we'll forgive each other and it will help us grow even stronger together. That's what love is all about, right?" I smiled and he returned the smile, kissing the tip of my nose.
"Absolutely," he confirmed. "You, my Darlin', are wise beyond your years." And for a moment, as we were lost in each other's eyes, there were just the two of us in the room, Mike and Alice fading into the background like two inanimate objects.
"You used to look at me that way," Alice broke into our moment.
"No, Alice, I never did," Jasper replied without taking his eyes off mine.
"I don't understand," Alice wailed, and my heard constricted involuntarily at her obvious pain, "I waited for you in that diner until you finally showed up, I led you to a new family, I showed you a way of life where you didn't have to feed on creatures like her, I gave you all of me and stopped you from making countless mistakes, I even took on the responsibility of raising a newborn so that you wouldn't try to do it and get yourself killed by werewolves in the process, and you still choose her over me? What has she ever done for you, Jasper?"
Jasper opened his lips to start explaining, but I silenced him with my index finger and a shake of my head. Alice would never understand the explanation and I already knew what it was and didn't need to hear it. Right now, as awful as she had been to me and as indifferent as she had been about my life, I understood her grief and I knew the only thing that would make her feel better. I turned to face her and leaned towards her, taking her hand in mine.
"Alice, for over six decades you were the right mate for Jasper and you did exactly what you were meant to do. But you knew right from the beginning that he wouldn't stay with you forever, and your attempts to change your own future are what's making you miserable right now. Like you said earlier, Jasper and I were always meant to be together. I understand why you did what you did, because I love him as much as you do, but in trying to change the future you only succeeded in putting off the inevitable and hurting a lot of people in the process, including yourself. It's time to let him go, Alice, and to see your vision for your own future. I know there are some wonderful things up ahead for you. You just have to let yourself see a life without Jasper."
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked me suspiciously. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because even though you may not ever have considered me your friend, I always considered you mine, and this is what I would do for a friend. And because for the next year you're going to be responsible for the care of another friend of mine, and I want to make sure that you are as devoted to that responsibility as you possibly can be, without any distractions, because he knows nothing about this lifestyle and he will need all the help and guidance he can get."
Alice looked down at Mike and her expression softened.
"I will take good care of him, Bella. I meant what I said, I will take my responsibility very seriously. He will never even want to taste human blood."
"I know you will, Alice. I know he's in good hands."
"Hmm," Alice mused, "I guess I lost a mate but gained a newborn on this trip. Won't Rosalie be jealous?" she smiled slightly at her own joke. Given how morose she had been just a few minutes ago, I considered this a good sign.
I wasn't sure what to say next, but I was saved from having to think too hard by the sound of the front door opening. All three of us turned to see Carlisle and Emmett stride into the room. They stopped when they saw us in the living room, assessing the situation.
"Hello Jasper, Bella, Alice," Carlisle said before focusing on Mike. "Let me see how he's doing," he said, walking over to the sofa with his medical bag. Jasper lifted me out of the way and settled us both in the armchair.
"Hey everyone," Emmett said, only somewhat subdued. "I see we missed quite a party. You should air the place out every once in a while – it stinks in here."
The title of this chapter was inspired by the song I Confess by The English Beat. The "cards on the table time" subtitle is from a line in the song, which I thought was particularly appropriate for this chapter. There's a link to the video in my profile.
No big cliffhangers and the story is almost done (just 2 chapters to go -- yikes!), plus I have a busy week ahead, so the next update will probably not be posted until this weekend.
You know I'm dying to know what you thought of Alice and all her revelations, so please click the green button and leave a review.
