Chapter Forty One
Jasper
The girls came in to clean up and Esme left after preparing lunch for Megan, a healthy salad, baked potato, and tuna which Megan fell on as if she hadn't eaten for days. The fresh air and exercise had certainly given her an appetite.
After lunch, she sat in the picture window looking for our visitors and called out when she saw their car pull into the driveway.
"They're here, mommy, daddy."
We opened the door and stood on the porch to greet the guests, Megan holding Bella's hand and half-hidden behind Carlisle who stood at my side.
The Mercedes had darkly tinted windows and pulled up in the shade of the carport the driver stepping out to open the rear doors then standing back. He was a vampire but could have been taken for a human, unlike the mostly huge figures that comprised the Volturi guard.
Two figures appeared, the first recognizable as Aro Volturi dressed smartly in a dark business suit and he held his hand out to help his companion, a beautiful dark-haired woman.
"Sulpicia!"
Carlisle was taken aback and as I recognized the name he had whispered I understood. This statuesque beauty was Aro's wife. I'd never heard of the Volturi wives leaving Volterra, this was obviously a very special exception.
They walked up the steps, hand in hand smiling and stopped at the top for Aro to shake hands with Carlisle avoiding forcing me to do so and then introduced his wife who smiled graciously but said nothing.
"Bella. it's been a while since we last met and I can see that becoming one of our kind suits you."
Carlisle invited his guests inside and guided us into the lounge where we all sat down. Megan peered at the two Volturi from Bella's side.
Both Aro and Sulpicia were fascinated by our daughter, unable to take their eyes from her and finally, Sulpicia spoke.
"Megan. It is so nice to finally meet you. Aro and I brought you some gifts."
Megan drawn by the thought of presents stepped out from her mother's side and after a glance at me for reassurance walked slowly over to Sulpicia.
"Hello, my dear. We weren't sure what kind of things you liked so we brought a selection from our own country. Have you ever heard of Greece? It's where Aro and I were born."
Megan shook her head, "But I have an atlas in my room. You could show me."
Sulpicia glanced at Bella, "Would that be OK?"
Bella nodded a little warily and Megan took Sulpicia's hand quite confidently leading her out of the room. Obviously, Megan felt that Sulpicia was no threat to her and I had only sensed appreciation and a little excitement from Aro's wife. He, on the other hand, was intensely curious but not at all hostile.
"My dear wife was so keen to meet Megan. As you can imagine it's a once in a lifetime chance for her. I hope you don't mind her coming. She insisted on bringing gifts with her."
Carlisle answered as Bella and I were still getting a measure of the man.
"It was lovely to see your wife, you know you are both always welcome."
Aro nodded an acknowledgement to his old friend but carried on addressing us.
"I see your daughter has much human in her makeup, Bella, but I can sense the vampire in her too. I must admit we were concerned that her vampire side might be dominant, rather like the Immortal children but I can see that she is indeed nothing like them. A very well behaved young lady, and bright it would appear. She is growing both physically and intellectually at an astonishing rate it would appear."
Bella and I had agreed beforehand that unless Aro questioned her personally I would be our spokesperson so it was left to me to reply.
"Yes. We were concerned about how you might feel about her."
"Understandably of course. Is she gifted? I assumed she would be with such strongly gifted biological parents. No insult intended, Major."
"None taken. As far as we can tell she's very bright but she has yet to exhibit anything extraordinary. Would that be a problem?"
"No, not with such competent adults around her. I do hope you were not concerned that the Volturi might swoop in. We are not barbarians, Major, Bella. Just concerned rulers trying to keep our kind safe."
"I did explain that but the Volturi do have many different guises, Aro."
Aro smiled at Carlisle's words, "Yes, unfortunately, we do but sometimes serious measures are necessary."
Bella
Megan and Sulpicuia came back in before anyone could reply to this and I gasped as I stared at my little girl. She looked exactly like one of the Caryatids from the Parthenon. She was dressed in a pale cream dress that flowed from her shoulders in soft folds, gold glinting from two pins that held it in place there. Her long dark hair had been plaited and was held in place by a gold comb.
"Look, mommy, this is the kind of dress Sulpicia wore when she was little. Isn't it beautiful and it's all mine. Even the sandals."
She lifted the hem of her dress to allow us a glimpse of soft leather thong sandals with gold buckles before twirling around. She took everyone's breath away, there was just a hint of the stunning young woman she would one day be.
Sulpicia beamed as she turned to me.
"I hope you don't mind, Bella. As soon as I showed Megan her gift she wanted to try it on. It brought back so many memories of my own childhood."
What could I say? It was a beautiful and touching gift and obviously meant a lot to Sulpicia.
"Sulpicia and Aro brought me a board game too and she's going to show me how to play."
The game board was made from wood inlaid with polished marble in a grid and very old. In a carved box inlaid with the same two colors of marble were ivory and ebony counters.
"I hope you said thank you?"
Megan nodded but ran over to Aro and startled him by leaning in and kissing him on the cheek.
"Thank you, Aro."
We waited nervously, now he had touched her had he read her thoughts? Would he now know everything?
I recognized the look in his eyes, it was the same baffled look he wore when he had touched me and I realized with relief that he hadn't been able to read her thoughts.
Looking up at us he smiled.
"Well, it would appear that your daughter follows in your footsteps, Bella."
We all knew what he was referring to without him having to utter the words and I didn't need to be an empath to see the relief in Jasper's demeanour.
"Mommy told me that you can read people's minds but not hers. Does that mean you can't read mine either? I'm not trying to hide anything. Will you want to take me back to Volterra with you? Because I really don't want to go there right now. Maybe later when I get a bit older."
Sulpicia smiled at Megan's bluntness, "Now why would we take you from your parents? That would be very mean but perhaps one day you could bring your parents and visit us in Italy. I think you'd like it there, it's so beautiful."
"I'd like that, but why don't you live in Greece if that's where you were born?"
"Because Volterra is where our castle is, where we rule over all our kind."
"Do you miss home? I would."
Sulpicia smiled again amused by Megan's questions, "I did once upon a time but Italy isn't so different and I have Aro and all my friends around me. Just like you have them here."
Megan thought about this, then turned to the game she had put down on the table.
"Can we play now?"
"Of course, I should teach your parents so they can play with you. Carlisle already knows how. He used to play when he lived with us."
We sat around the dining table like a normal friend and family gathering and began to play what was obviously an easy version of the game which resembled Othello slightly although the opponent's counters were removed instead of changing color. Megan was surprisingly good once she grasped the rules and we found ourselves enjoying the game despite being very aware that the most powerful vampire in existence was sitting beside me and laughing as Megan captured yet another of his counters.
Jasper
When they finally left a few hours later, my attitude towards Aro had changed completely. I still regarded him as an extremely dangerous man to have as an enemy but he was no longer the boogie man I had learned to hate and despise. I saw him through Megan's eyes now and although she treated him with a certain amount of wary respect she was not afraid of him.
As for Sulpicia, there was something I didn't quite understand going on between her and Megan. Some kind of secret understanding and I hoped to learn what this was all about soon. Until I did so I would avoid worrying Bella but maybe Darius would have some luck in discovering what was going on. I text him after they left telling him that we would be remaining in Boston for several days and explaining my concerns. His reply was short and to the point.
"Will contact you if I have anything to report."
Aro
As we drove away from Carlisle's house I felt strangely refreshed as if I had just had a long relaxing vacation. The little girl was clever and amusing but she was also no threat to us or our way of life and of that I was glad. I would have acted if my hand had been forced but on this occasion, I was happy to turn my back and walk away.
I was sure I would have Marcus blessing for my decision, as for Caius, well he was becoming more of a problem with each passing year. My dear brother was a too-long caged tiger who became more dangerous, the more frustrated he became but of course, it was all of his own making. Soon, I would be forced to act, I just wasn't quite sure what to do in order to obtain the best outcome.
Sulpicia was silent for a long time before turning to me and took my hand in hers.
"I haven't enjoyed myself so much in centuries. It shows me just how much we miss being vampires. I envy Bella."
"Megan is certainly a most unusual child. I do understand my dear, but we must live with what is, not what we might want it to be."
"I know my love. Aro, I need to speak to you about something most sensitive."
"Oh. I'm listening."
"Megan asked me to speak to you about something very dear to her."
I looked at my wife quizzically, "She did? How curious."
"I'm going to pass on her words as she spoke them, as much as I can. She asked me if I thought you believed that if you did something you were later ashamed of that you should try to right that wrong if you possibly could."
"And what did you say?"
"I said of course if it was possible, but that sometimes people did things that could not be put right later. I had no idea where she was going with this and I didn't want to box us into a corner. She seemed so serious, like an adult."
"And where did this conversation lead?"
"Megan said that her daddy always told her she should try to put right something she did wrong, that it was the right thing to do. She told me that she sensed you were a good man but that you had been forced to do bad things in the past. She said that she knew you regretted some of them but you didn't always try to put things right because that meant accepting that you had weaknesses like everyone else. She seemed to have you pegged exactly my dear."
I frowned, wondering where this was going and how Megan could possibly know such things. Carlisle would hardly have told her tales about me but I sensed this was heading to a very specific request. I couldn't help thinking that perhaps Megan had a gift of her own, a very special gift if it meant she could sense my own feelings.
"Yes, perhaps. Go on."
"Megan asked me if you would consider putting right one of those things for her sake."
I raised an eyebrow sceptically.
"Her sake? She's talking about things that happened centuries ago. They couldn't possibly affect her."
Sulpicia ignored this and continued, staring at me knowingly.
"I think we both know the one wrong you did that has always eaten away at you. The one you would have done much to put right but were never able to due to misplaced loyalty."
I stared at her then shook my head.
"No. Megan could never have known about that, no one except those involved did."
"Do you deny feeling guilty at letting that filth get away with it?"
I regarded her, shocked by her choice of description.
"Oh don't look at me like that. You know perfectly well what I mean and you also know that despite my friendship with Athenadora I will never allow her husband to be alone with any female in the citadel. I have my spies who watch over him not to mention Athenadora's own eyes and ears in Volterra. It's time you acted to rid us of his menace. I know Athena will be devastated but I believe she would get over it if you asked Chelsea to help. She can loosen the ties between Athena and that monster of a husband of hers."
"Are you suggesting that I have Caius, my brother in arms, murdered?"
"No, of course not. I merely think it might be time for him to expand his horizons."
"Leave Volterra? My dear sweetheart, you couldn't pry Caius from the citadel with a crowbar wielded by Felix. He knows what awaits him."
"I have it on good authority that Caius will see no one waiting for him."
"No one? Trust me, if Darius were dead I would know. Caius would have held a celebratory feast."
"Yes. Then feasted on any unsuspecting woman who took his fancy no doubt. Why not suggest that rumor has it a certain vengeful vampire is no longer around. What he chooses to do with that information is then down to him."
I studied her for a long time, all this had come from the little girl? What was her connection with Darius? I knew he was an acquaintance of the Major but even he would never put a child up to this.
"Megan is sure that when Caius sends out his spies they will find no sign of his demon?"
"She seems to be."
I frowned, "How? What am I missing, Sulpicia?"
She sighed and addressed me as if I were a rather slow child.
"Well, you once told me that the only person who could ever hide their thoughts from you was Bella Swan. Perhaps hiding thoughts isn't all she can do. Perhaps her daughter has asked for her help. I got the feeling that Megan is very fond of Sara's husband and surely he deserves closure after so long."
I patted her cheek smiling fondly at her.
"How did I get so lucky? Not only do I have a beautiful wife, but she is also incredibly clever. Let's just say I will consider what our young friend has spoken about. I admit it would be a burden off my conscience although at the time there was nothing else I could do but watch my brother's back."
"Well, you don't owe him a thing now. None of us does, Aro. So don't take too long to consider your next move. I think that child is relying on you to do the right thing."
I was sure my dear wife was correct. I had come to meet the newest member of our world and found myself outmanoeuvred by her, a mere child. Was I losing my grip? Or had I finally met my match? These were intriguing questions that one day I would find the answer to.