Delilah had hesitantly taken Emmett up on his offer of personal driving lessons. She was anxious about the whole thing because, first of all, she'd never really liked the feeling of being behind the wheel the few times she'd driven, and on top of that was the fact that all of the cars that the Cullens owned were expensive, and she didn't exactly want to risk crashing a $100,000 car. But Emmett had assured her that they wouldn't crash, that he'd made sure that nothing happened. She believed him, for some reason. And so she was forced to go through with his lessons.
An hour later, they were back at the Cullen house. Delilah didn't know how worried Embry had been. He knew that Emmett wasn't the most controlled of the family in terms of his dietary restrictions. Jake had told Embry that some of them had slipped up more than others over the years, though they all meant well and believed in the principles behind their "vegetarian diet". Emmett being alone with her was better than Jasper being alone with her in that respect, according to Jake. So Embry sat in the house, uneasy, knowing that Edward could read all of the unsure thoughts that Embry was having on his brother. Edward didn't say anything about it, though. In fact, by the way he looked over at Embry a few times over the course of the hour, it seemed like he understood more than anything else.
Delilah was fine, of course. She came back in one piece, though she was grimacing. Emmett was in tow, his face scrunched as he grinned comically.
"She's a natural." Emmett proclaimed, resting his arm on her shoulder once he had shut the door behind him. Delilah looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed together as she watched him lie to the entire room.
"I almost died." Delilah corrected him, walking further into the house and into the living room, then sitting on the couch next to Embry. He rested in his hand on her knee comfortingly.
"You didn't almost die." Emmett corrected. Leaning against the wall and looking at her with knowing eyes. She breathed in, planning to defend her argument only for nothing to come to mind. Delilah laughed as she exhaled, shaking her head as she looked at the built pale man in front of her.
"I think maybe I just wasn't meant to drive," Delilah said decidedly, looking at Embry out of the corner of her eye. He was looking at her already, which was usually the case, Delilah had come to find.
"Five more lessons and you'll be as good as Alice," Emmett said, nodding at her confidently.
"She needs compliments right now, Emmett." Edward chimed in, causing a collective snicker to erupt throughout the room. Though she looked slightly offended at first, Alice let it go and laughed along with her family, knowing Edward was right. She wasn't the best driver in the family, though she liked to drive.
"It's a learning curve, didn't say she'd stay driving like that forever." Emmett put his hands up in surrender, grinning at Delilah as he left the room.
Delilah slumped further down the cushioned piece of furniture.
"Do you want to come back to the rez with me?" Embry asked her and she quickly nodded, jumping up from the couch, Embry following suit.
"We'll pick you up for Port Angeles tomorrow at 10." Rosalie reminded Delilah, smiling at her softly. Delilah had noticed that Rosalie wasn't one for strong displays of emotion mostly unless she was around Emmett. Delilah nodded at her, smiling back.
"Another lesson after you get back tomorrow!" Emmett hollered from another room in the house. Delilah couldn't help but laugh, turning and following Embry out of the house.
It'd been two days since he'd kissed her. He hadn't commented on it at all, which made Delilah feel like she shouldn't comment on it either. Part of her believed that he was waiting for her to say something about it, as a reaction to him being the one to kiss her. But that seemed so childish, and he wasn't that way. So Delilah decided she'd wait.
Embry asked her if she wanted to go to Emily's place and see if anyone was there, so they could visit for a little bit. Delilah agreed, having not seen Emily in a while. She'd liked her the few times she'd met her and had wanted to get to know her better.
They walked into the house, finding a similar scenario to what Delilah had seen the first time she'd met Emily and been in her home. The boys could be heard from feet away, and when Embry took her hand and led her into the house, she found them all at Emily's kitchen table, stuffing their faces and laughing and bellowing at one another.
She observed a woman, who was behaving much less obnoxiously sitting at the table and laughing with the boys that surrounded her. Delilah had never seen or met her. She was beautiful, her jet black hair cut off at her shoulders and a slender, symmetrical face.
"Delilah, hey!" The curly-haired one, who Delilah had gone on to learn was named Quil sputtered his words with his mouth full. She smiled at him, finding his lack of couth to be endearing in some ways, most ways.
"Hi, Quil." She greeted him. Embry still held onto her hand, and she noticed that both Paul and the girl that she'd never seen before them had visibly registered the interaction. She tried to ignore it, not wanting to seem like she was intimidated.
"Delilah, I didn't know you were coming over." Emily walked into the kitchen from her bathroom. She smiled at the green-eyed beauty, pulling out a fresh tray of chocolate chip cookies.
"Hey, I didn't know you made those," Paul grumbled, sounding somewhat cranky. Emily looked to him, shaking her head.
"There's a reason." Emily rolled her eyes, looking back to Delilah and extending the plate out to her. Delilah only took one with her free hand. Nodding thanks to her before she turned and walked back to the kitchen.
"Oh, Delilah. This is Leah Clearwater, she's Seth's sister." Embry gestured toward the other woman in the room. Leah looked up at Delilah, smiling faintly. Almost as if she had to try to be pleasant to some degree.
"Your brother's the sweetest." Delilah offered, smiling a bit wider at Leah, hoping she would find it encouraging and friendly.
"He can be, yeah." She nodded at her, smiling a little bigger before turning back to her muffin and the others at the table.
The boys decided they'd do a small bonfire and that Delilah needed to show them her volleyball skills now that she was back to playing. They all shuffled out of the house, Embry being the last of his friend group to go out the door, pulling Delilah along with him.
But she saw a look in Emily's eyes as her arms leaned up against the countertop. She looked as if she was in a daze, she was so conflicted, maybe even upset. Delilah decided she couldn't leave her alone looking the way she was, so she looked back to Embry.
"I'll follow you out in a minute." Delilah tried, motioning for him to follow the rest of the group. He looked confused for a moment, only to see Emily's state a moment later. He took Delilah's cue, letting go of her hand and jogging out of the house and after his friends.
Delilah was now alone with Emily, who hadn't seemed to notice that she was still there, so she approached her gently.
"Emily, are you okay?" Delilah's tone was delicate and smooth. Little did she know, that was exactly what Emily needed in that moment. More than anything. She'd felt so harshly alone as of recently.
"Oh, no. I'm fine." Emily quickly began to look around the counter, grabbing a dishtowel before she began to wipe down the counters, clearly trying to busy herself. Delilah decided that she needed to press further, that it would likely be for Emily's benefit that she did.
"You can tell me, I'm good at keeping things to myself." Delilah pried further. Emily swallowed hard, looking down at her kitchen floor as she thought about the pale face's offer. She then looked up, holding her eyes on Delilah.
"I'm pregnant." She said simply and bluntly. Delilah was taken aback, and she showed it more than she probably wanted to. She was trying to keep her cool in order to comfort the other girl in any way she needed.
"Emily, wow! That's great. Does Sam know?" She moved closer to the girl so she was stood right in front of her,
"Maybe. I haven't told anyone." She said, looking down at the floor, away from Delilah again. Delilah wondered if Sam would know if no one else knew about it, but she tried to focus on Emily rather than the specifics of what she was saying while in such a weird state.
"Why wouldn't you? Is this not exciting?" Delilah said hesitantly. She didn't want Emily to feel bad or weird if she really wasn't excited. But she also wanted to let her know that it was okay for her to feel excited if for whatever reason she felt as though she couldn't be.
"It is, I know it is. It's just complicated too." Emily's eyes were watering, and Delilah felt compelled to hug her as she noticed it. She walked around the table and toward her. Surprisingly, she didn't have to offer an embrace, Emily just fell into her arms, finally allowing herself to release a strangled sob.
"I just don't want to see her face when she finds out," Emily admitted. Delilah wrapped her arms around the older girl, doing anything she could to comfort her amidst all the confusion she was personally feeling.
"Who's she?" Delilah finally asked. She didn't pull Emily away from her, she waited to see him she would look at her and tell her. And a few moments later, she did pull away. She walked over to the worn couch in her living room and sat down, staring forward aimlessly. Delilah quickly sat next to her.
"Leah." The girl said softly, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her legs and her hair falling into her face.
"Oh, well, why can't she know?" Delilah hesitantly pressed further. Though she was worried that the girl would clam back up, she felt there wasn't much else she could do to help her if she had no idea what had upset her so much. Plus, she had to do her best to help her feel better,. After all, she was pregnant. That much stress and emotion couldn't be good for the baby, Delilah thought.
"She dated Sam before me," Emily sniffled, pausing before continuing with explaining everything to Delilah. "And she's my cousin, so it's always been…" Delilah didn't make Emily continue, knowing how hard it must have been to force the words out of her mouth that she'd already said.
"Oh, that makes sense. I understand." Delilah tried to console, hoping Emily would take the next step in explaining how she wanted to tell Leah, and more importantly Sam.
"It was all pretty close together and they… work together sometimes. So it's hard." Delilah was surprised as Emily became more candid with her. She hadn't expected it, but she welcomed it, and she hoped that she could help her.
"Well, is she coming to your wedding? That's soon, right?" Delilah asked, trying to coax the girl into opening up further. Emily sighed.
"Yeah, in a month and a half. She's a bridesmaid. It's just gonna be small, here on the rez." Emily explained. She suddenly looked at her stomach, touching it gently as Delilah figured she was probably thinking about if she was still going to fit into her dress. She was sure that Emily would, she was petite and clearly not very far along.
"If she's a bridesmaid, I think she's over whatever happened with you guys." Delilah tried but to no avail. Emily was clearly still lost in deeply rooted emotion. In the past. Delilah was happy to see her at least trying to work through it.
"I just don't know that she didn't feel obligated. I wish I knew if she'd ever see me normally ever again. I wish it didn't have to happen how it did." Emily trailed off as she said the rest of her thoughts. Delilah paused for a moment, wondering what exactly Emily was leaving out of her story. She wondered if she'd started with Sam before he was done with Leah. If she'd betrayed her cousin that deeply. Then, Delilah wouldn't blame Leah for being apprehensive. But she thought of Emily, the person Delilah had gotten to know a bit over the few times she'd been on the reservation. She couldn't see her just up and doing that. There had to be more to the story, Delilah decided. Only it was clear that Emily didn't want to tell her more, so she didn't ask and was left to ponder it on her own.
"I think it'll all work out fine. It's a baby, everyone gets excited about babies. Think about Sam. He's gonna be over the moon about being a dad, right? I bet he's a natural." Delilah knew that she was spewing words that were nothing short of guesses, really. She didn't know Sam all that well, less than she knew Emily, for that matter. But she saw the way Sam looked at Emily every time he saw her, it was like he was seeing her for the first time, or like he hadn't seen her in ages.
"I think he will be." Emily seemed to be saying it to herself more than she was saying it to Delilah, which was fine. As long as she felt better. And she did seem better, even visibly so. She'd been shaking just a little, but that had ceased. And she was no longer crying, as well as looking Delilah in the eye as she spoke to her.
"Well, maybe he's met the boys down at the beach, she should go see." Delilah encouraged, grabbing Emily's wrist and pulling her off of the couch. Emily gave her a grateful look as she went to the coat rack, choosing a lightweight rain jacket out of the three female jackets that hung there.
Delilah walked with Emily, close to her. She felt bad for her, in a way. She hated that her first emotions about being pregnant had been pretty negative. All she could do then was hope that it would pass, and that her conversation with her had done the pregnant girl some good.
They reached the edge of the sand, looking down to see that the boys had been throwing around a soccer ball to one another, tackling each other and carelessly laughing away. Jared noticed Delilah, and he began yelling for her, telling her to come and play with them. Embry looked up, his eyes lighting up as he looked at her, then running toward her eagerly.
Delilah smiled as Embry hooked his arm around her waist, his pointer finger linking itself in the belt loop of her jeans. Their pace slowed, but Emily's pace didn't. She kept walking. Delilah watched as she made her way to a log, where she'd probably planned to sit. Sam stopped her though, his body towering over hers. He leaned down, pecking both her forehead and her right temple. Emily was then smiling ear to ear, and Delilah knew she couldn't help it. Emily loved Sam, and they'd be alright, Delilah thought.
Delilah's eyes then glanced over to Leah's direction. She was clearly witnessing, maybe even monitoring the public displays of affection between her ex-boyfriend and her cousin. She took hold of the ball, kicking it so aggressively that it almost hit Quil in the face.
And that left Delilah wondering, what exactly was Leah feeling when she looked at the pair? And why did she feel that way? Delilah knew she was missing pieces of the story, that there was more to Leah's clear emotional pain. And suddenly, Delilah didn't know if Leah deserved condolences than Emily deserved congratulations. Or, if it was some twisted, complicated combination of both.
Hi! Once again, thank you so much for reading. The world is going through a lot right now, so I can only hope that this story has brought you some comfort and entertainment. I'm so happy that I finally get to introduce Leah to my story. She is a favorite character of mine. I admire her deeply. Please let me know your thoughts if you have any! And, as always, please stay safe!
-J