Chapter Twenty Nine: Bella's Back
The day after Harry's funeral held a strange feeling in the air, like there was nothing and everything to do. It left Charlie and I restless and it was still early morning when Uncle Charlie couldn't take it anymore and escaped to the station to catch up on work before heading to the rez to check in on Sue. I personally remained restless for a few more hours before heading down to the rez. I didn't have a specific place in mind till I saw the sign for the beach and pulled in.
It was there hours later that Embry found me, he didn't say anything just walked with me. His presence did more than his words every could, taking my hand and eventually leading me back to his house where Tiffany had been making dinner. She had thrilled to have Embry home for dinner, but she embraced me with open arms even happier to see me after weeks of avoidance or just going to Billy's or Emily's.
I didn't get home to later in the evening, Uncle Charlie pulling in right behind me. I heard Uncle Charlie hit the button on the answering machine, but froze half way up the stairs when I heard who was calling.
"Hello Charlie, this is Esme Cullen. Just wanted to mind to just, Edward is going to be dropping Bella off later on tonight. Our family will moving back into the house this weekend, you can call the house number if you need to get a hold of us." The machine beeped with the end of the message and I heard the deep sigh of relief from Uncle Charlie and then the sound of him falling into one of the kitchen chairs.
Though I was glad that Uncle Charlie could finally relax a little, the stress of Bella running off yet again being lifted off his shoulder, I felt that same weight settle in my heart at Esme Cullen's last line. 'Our family will be moving back into the house this weekend'. With Bella came the Cullens once again and with them more vampires and more chaos. There return to the area was likely to trigger more of the boys of the tribe to phase, the pack already bigger than it had been in generations.
I hurried up the stairs, closing the door soundly behind me as I pulled out my phone. I debated how to call, Embry would know what to say, but the return of the Cullens was probably something that Sam should hear directly. I silently debated till I glanced at my clock and realized that Sam was likely on patrol while I knew Embry was home at least for the time being, he would be able to give Sam the news sooner than I could. I selected Embry's contacted and listened to the line ringing, Embry hated the sound of a ringing phone so it was never long before he picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Embry answered on the third ring.
"Hey, babe." I replied.
"Miss me already? You just left twenty minutes ago." Embry teased and I chuckled.
"Yes, dearly actually." I sighed.
"Uncle Charlie found a message of the tape when we got back here. A message from Esme Cullen saying that Edward would be by later to drop Bella off and that their family would be moving back." I said. There was a long pause on the other end.
"Damn it." Embry said lowly.
"Yeah." I agreed.
"I know this is something Sam should have heard directly, but I know he's on patrol and you'll get the chance to tell him long before I do or he finds out for himself." Embry grumbled, but made a noise of agreement.
"I'll tell him later. At least Charlie should be happy about the news." Embry tried to point out the silver lining, but it was hard to see the silver in all the darkness this could possible bring with it.
"Well at least someone gets to be happy in all this. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Yeah, love you, Anna."
"Love you, too." We hung up and I flopped back on my bed and laid my phone on the end table. I laid there for a long time, just listening to the rain on the roof and thinking before I finally pulled myself up to change out of my clothes and into a pair of lounge pants and one of Embry's shorts that I had stolen.
It late when I finally heard the purr of an engine pull up outside. The headlights flashed across the wall of my bedroom and were followed by the hurried steps of Uncle Charlie as he rushed to the door. I quietly slipped out of bed and cracked my door to listen as Uncle Charlie started to yell.
"I can't believe you have the nerve to show your face around here." Uncle Charlie bellowed. I heard Bella's voice, but I couldn't make out what she was saying.
"What's wrong with her?" Charlie demanded.
"She's just tired, Charlie. Please let her rest." Edward said and I scoffed at his audacity.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Charlie yelled, loosing his composure and patience with the prick.
"Give her to me. Get your hands off her!" Charlie demanded.
"Cut it out, dad." Bella said after a moment.
"Be mad at me." She said and I rolled my eyes.
"You bet I will be." Uncle Charlie promised.
"Get your ass inside." He demanded.
"Kay. Let me down." Bella said, after a moment there was a sound almost like a scuffle.
"Just let me get her upstairs. Then I'll leave." Edward plead.
"No!" Bella cried. Stretching a little I could see her clinging to Edward in front of the steps outside. Uncle Charlie grumbled, but Edward began moving, carrying Bella inside. I quickly moved back into my room and shut the door. I listened to Edward's steps on the stairs and then down the hallway. There was some quiet murmurs before Bella's door closed and Edward's steps were once again going down the steps.
"Hey, hey, hey. Where do you think you're going?" Uncle Charlie demanded and I opened my door again to peek. Charlie was standing between Edward and the door, standing toe to toe. In that moment I worried for Uncle Charlie, he didn't realize what he was up against.
"I want answers, and not just from about this week, about everything." Charlie demanded.
"I don't think any answers I could give you would be good enough." Edward said and Charlie scoffed.
"You're damn right they're not. There's no good answer for how you shattered my daughter, no reason for the amount of pain you caused. And leaving her in the woods like you did, I hadn't realized you were stupid until that day. And then this week, there's no good reason why Bella had to go running after you because you got yourself into some sort of trouble. If I had my say, you and Bella would be sitting in separate corners of the earth right now." Charlie growled out.
"I'm sure your mother's expecting you home any time now. You better get to it, I don't want to see you anywhere near this house for a good long while." Charlie spat and Edward quickly walked around him and out the door back into the pouring rain. Charlie looked up the stairs as the door shut behind him.
"Good night, Anna." Uncle Charlie said gruffly.
"Good night." I said quickly and shut the door to my room.
I was up early the next morning and quickly left the house, wanting as far away from the practically vampire infested town as I could get and La Push being basically a vampire free zone sounded better than it normally did. Embry met me in the drive way as I pulled in, pulling me into a tight hug when I climbed out of the car.
"Hey babe." He said and gave me a kiss.
"Hey." I replied with a smile.
"How'd things go last night?" He asked.
"Okay." I said with a shrug.
"Uncle Charlie's pissed and he gave Edward a piece of his mind. Which was awesome to see, but also scary considering he doesn't realize that Edward could have killed him at any moments when he got irritated." I said and Embry pulled me closer.
"At least Cullen's smart enough to know that someone like that is more likely to get him into something he can't handle." Embry sounded a little cocky, but I brushed it off. I would worry about something like that only when it came down to it and not before.
We headed inside where almost everyone was seated around the table. Kim was already helping Emily and I slipped in easily. We were getting ready to set everything on the table when someone mentioned, a treaty. It peeked my interest especially with how hyped the guys were about the Cullens being back I was surprised they were even thinking about a treaty.
"What about a treaty?" I asked. Conversation paused and the guys looked to Embry who was looking back at them incredulously.
"Don't look at me like that. You all told me that you had already told her everything she needed to know, pardon me for thinking that included the treaty." Embry snarked and Jared rolled his eyes before turning to me.
"When the Cullens first settled here when our grandfather's were wolves, the Cullens outnumbered them. They didn't like the odds of three against five, and with the Cullens claiming to only drink animal blood they offered a treaty." Jared said and Sam continued.
"The treaty states that the Cullens won't bite a human or cross onto Quileute land and in return we keep their secret from the pale faces. It always them to live their charade of humanity and our grandfathers were able to justify not jeopardizing their lives or the tribe's." I nodded.
"So what happens if they break the treaty?" I asked thinking about Bella, there was no way that she would survive without them again. If the Cullens were staying they were likely to change Bella at some point.
"War." Sam said in a deathly calm voice that sent a shiver down my back. Emily reached my hand and squeezed it, but the gesture brought little comfort.
"Maybe we should remind them of their part of the treaty." Jake suggested and Sam nodded.
"We can do that, but I want to wait a little longer. Be sure that they're going to be sticking around and if their going to be continuing relations with Bella. No need to be adding problems to our plate if they're just going to pack up and leave again." Sam said. Emily choose that moment to interrupt the conversation and start setting platters on the table.
"Enough vampire talk. Time for breakfast." She said gently and the guys happily dropped the discussion and pounced on the food while Kim, Emily, and I shared a look. Things were definitely going to be rough with the Cullens back in town.
Looking back around the rooms I spotted Jake still standing next to the window and without a plate. I felt another pang in my heart at the sight of him. He had been getting better till Bella ran off with Alice. The action was good as choosing Edward over him and we all knew it, and for once Jake seemed to fully realize the connotation, it was as good as Bella finally saving that she didn't love him, that she had been using him. Jake was putting up a strong front, but we all knew he was heart broken, he had put so much time and effort into saving Bella from herself, into rebuilding her from the shards that Edward had left behind and he had nothing to show for it.
With the new information that the Cullens were banned from La Push I knew that Edward and the others were be keeping her as far away from here as possible. Not even their friendship was going to survive her decision, Jake knew, the pack knew it, hell the Cullens probably knew it, but my guess is that Bella didn't know it yet, but she would and I knew that someday she would regret her decision.