Delilah went to Port Angeles with the Cullen girls that Sunday, looking her dad in the eye as she said goodbye to him. Things were better, or it seemed to be getting that way.
All she could think about on the car ride back was Emily and Leah, just as she had for the entire bonfire and in her bed after Embry had dropped her off at home the night before. She wanted to understand the deeper rooted meanings behind their complications. Delilah was embarrassed by her incessant curiosity. She'd never considered herself a nosy person, really. But there didn't seem to be just a few details missing from Emily's story, there seemed to be so much that she didn't want to go into, maybe even couldn't. Delilah had thought that Emily had seemed restrained for the majority of their conversation. Like she was holding back information, not necessarily by choice. Delilah worried about the older girl the more she thought about her manner. She wondered if Emily had told Sam, or Leah, or anyone else for that matter. Delilah didn't know that it was good that she was the only one who knew about the pregnancy. She didn't live on the reservation and she couldn't go check on her on a whim. She didn't even have her phone number.
Rosalie noticed Delilah and her contorted facial expressions. She knew that she was thinking hard about something important, and she wondered what it was. Every once and a while, she'd hear the girl's heart pick up speed, only to slow down seconds later, like she'd mentally assured or comforted herself of something. Rose wondered what it was all about, and if it had anything to do with Embry.
"Has your beau addressed your rendezvous in the diner parking lot?" Rosalie finally asked, looking Delilah's way. She watched as the girl sorted through her thoughts. It was clear to Rose now that this hadn't been what she'd been thinking about.
"Not really, things feel different though. In a good way." Delilah said hurriedly. Rosalie believed her, but she couldn't help wondering why Embry hadn't spoken to her about it. Clearly, she liked him. Rosalie wondered why he wouldn't want to talk to her, to make things more official maybe. Not that she thought it wise to involve Delilah much further with the wolves than she already was.
Delilah then went back to a previous thought, asking herself how much Embry knew, and if it would be okay for her to ask him about it.
"What do you guys think of Leah? The girl that works with Jake?" Delilah posed the question to everyone in the car. There was a silence. Maybe she'd learn what she wanted to learn from them. Maybe they knew more than Delilah would have originally guessed.
"She's nice." Alice said, not taking her eyes off of the road ahead. Delilah didn't find this answer satisfying. And, she felt how she felt when Emily had been speaking to her, She felt that Alice was holding back, maybe even keeping things from her purposefully.
"What's up with her and Emily and Sam?" Delilah decided to ask. Alice looked away from the road and back at Delilah this time, her amber eyes showing that she was taken aback by the girl's abrupt question. It took a moment for her to speak, though.
"We don't know much about all of them. Maybe ask Embry." Alice finally responded. Delilah noticed that this comment earned Alice a sharp look from Bella, who was sat in the front seat of the car right next to her. This was all Delilah needed to feel sure that she was being kept in the dark to some degree. She just didn't know why.
Delilah didn't hate shopping, but she got bored with it rather quickly. Alice liked trying on boat loads of clothes, which wasn't Delilah's favorite thing to do. Bella seemed like she wasn't super interested in any of it either, so the two often sat next to each other outside of the dressing rooms, telling Alice their opinions of her current attire. It was more fun than changing her own clothes every two minutes for four hours. Plus, Alice was one to allow herself to explore the latest fashion trends, so it was amusing to see what worked and what didn't work.
She'd trusted both the Cullens and Embry for as long as she'd spent time with him, but Delilah couldn't seem to shake the feeling of unease that enveloped her when it came to the Emily, Leah, and Sam situation. She was curious as to why the Cullens were clearly keeping the details from her, if what Delilah was suspecting was true. After all, it wasn't as if it would impact Delilah in any way personally. She was just, well, being nosy.
Delilah wasn't surprised to find that Embry was sitting with Seth, Jake, and Renesmee at the kitchen table when she got back to the Cullens house. Embry saw her and his face immediately lit up, getting up from his chair and walking over to her.
"Did you find anything good?" Embry used his pointer finger to peer into her hopping bag, though tissue covered the items inside. Delilah looked up and smiled at him.
"Just a couple of things Alice said suited me." She flopped the bag onto the floor.
"I'm sure she's right." Embry mumbled, somewhat bashfully. Delilah felt her face heat up, as it always did whenever he complimented her. She looked away from him, hoping it would cease before she looked back to answer him. Delilah noticed Renesmee, who was still sitting at the table, smiling from ear to ear as she looked between Embry and Delilah. Apparently it was noticeable, even to the twelve year old.
"Hey, I was thinking we could go to First Beach. Just for a while, I know you promised you'd take Renesmee to the movies later tonight." Embry suggested. His eyes seemed to gleam with more and more emotion every day Delilah saw him. Which was startling, considering how she'd noticed it so profoundly the first day that she'd met him.
"I'll come back around 7?" Delilah offered, looking to Renesmee, Jasper, and Rosalie, who had been the ones she'd planned to go with. They all nodded, agreeing to her plan.
"Guess we're doing a night drive then." Emmett smirked at Delilah as Embry took hold of her hand. She rolled her eyes, not knowing if there was anything she could do to get out of it, really,
As she left the Cullen house, she wondered how Embry would react to her asking about the love triangle, if he'd let her in on any information that Emily hadn't. After all, if the Cullens knew, surely Embry did. That was when Delilah had begun to feel guilty. What if Emily just didn't want her to know? And there was nothing more to it than that? Delilah never wanted to overstep, she loved the friendship she'd started to build with Emily, and wouldn't want to break her trust. But with every guilty feeling, came a flash of the look on Emily's face. There was something else. Delilah knew it and she had to at least ask.
Delilah watched as Embry drove, trying to bring herself to pose the question to him without him thinking she was some sort of gossip. Because that wasn't where she was coming from, really, it wasn't.
"Embry?" She called his name as she looked at him, his eyes on the road as he gripped his Jeep's steering wheel with one hand, the other on the center console that was between them. He looked over at her before she had even gotten his name out completely, which was made Delilah jump slightly, suddenly more nervous than she had been originally.
"What happened with Sam and Emily and Leah?" She finally blurted. Delilah saw the change in Embry's temperament as soon as she asked the question. The energy in the car almost became uncomfortable. The most uncomfortable she'd ever felt around Embry, surely.
"Emily told you something about that?" He questioned, looking back to the road. Delilah felt embarrassed. She hadn't meant to put Embry in any sort of awkward position in asking her question.
"A little bit, yeah." Delilah admitted, looking out of the car window. She was fully prepared to let the subject drop with the silence between them, not wanting to push him any further than he wanted to be, seeing as he already seemed uncomfortable.
"What do you want to know?" Embry asked her softly. Again, Delilah found herself surprised by his reaction, only in a different way.
"Did Sam and Emily have an affair? I know we're all a little young for that word but…" She trailed off. Embry looked over at Delilah, who was still looking out of her window. He could see through the reflection that she was practically wincing as she waited for the answer. Embry swallowed, bracing himself to come up with an answer to a question that he'd quite literally asked for.
"There's more to it than that. Even Leah knows that." Embry tried to mask the truth with a veil rather than a lie to Delilah. But even that was hard. She suddenly turned to him , her eyebrows furrowed.
"So he did cheat on her then?" Delilah pressed, thrown by Embry's words. She didn't want to believe that he would condone that sort of thing.
"No, no. He didn't cheat. It wasn't that simple." He reiterated his last comment, hoping the thoughts in their new form would be enough for her to understand. He couldn't explain the truth to her, of course. She knew nothing, and it was supposed to stay that way. The more time passed, though, the more he thought about how her not knowing may be doing more harm than good. He wondered if he was just telling himself this, though, in an effort to make his own life a bit easier.
"Emily feels guilty." Delilah replied, knowing she wasn't getting the full truth from Embry, just as she hadn't gotten it from the Cullens. She was sure then that they all knew something that she didn't, and that they were all going out of their way to keep her from finding it out. What she didn't know was what they were keeping from her and why. She considered the fact that the Cullens had no real relationship with Emily, or Sam and Leah for that matter. So, it didn't make much sense that the Cullens were protecting her. It had to be something else, Delilah thought, but she couldn't think about it for too long, considering how uneasy it made her feel.
"It's complicated, no doubt. Why'd she bring any of that up with you anyways?" He turned to Delilah. She only side eyed him for a moment before looking away, unable to lie or stifle the truth to his face. She found this ironic, the more she thought about it, considering the fact that she was all but sure that he was lying or stretching the truth to her in the same conversation.
"It's fine, I shouldn't have asked." Delilah said in an attempt to move Embry from the subject. She didn't think it was her place to tell Embry that Emily was pregnant, and really, that was why Emily had brought anything up to her at all.
"It's okay. Just know that Emily isn't a bad person. None of them are." Delilah was relieved that he'd changed the subject, though her original curiosity still loomed.
They went to First Beach, only to find Paula, Sam, and Jared were just heading off the beach. They saw the pair right away and ran up to them quickly, happy go lucky smiles plastered on all of their faces.
"Back so soon? We're more fun than anyone in town, I bet." Paul snickered, beginning to throw the football he'd had under his arm into the air,
"Thought we'd come see what you guys were up to, I guess. Maybe watch you miss the ball a few more times." Delilah smiled, raising her eyebrows at the man who towered over her.
"Ouch. We have a patrol meeting tonight. All divisions, Embry." Sam looked at Embry closely. Delilah watched Embry nod his head at him, not speaking. She looked back to Sam, who was staring at her. She noticed the look in his eyes. It was a thankful, knowing look. It was impossible to ignore for Delilah. And she couldn't help but wonder if he knew about the conversation Delilah had participated in with his fiancee the day before. If he knew that he was going to be a father.
"Might take you back to the Cullens a little earlier than expected." Embry said after the other three boys walked away, taking her hand in his as they walked downhill toward the seashore.
"I thought Jake was the manager of your patrol team. Sam's allowed to call meetings for you guys?" Delilah inquired. Embry led them right to the edge of the water. Delilah took off her flip flops with one hand, still holding his hand with the other, letting the water cover her feet. Delilah often wore flip flops, even though it rained so constantly. She found them easy and that she never really got cold enough to ignore the conveniences that came with shoes that slipped on and off so effortlessly. As the water embraced her body up to her ankles over and over as waves hit the shore, she remembered why she thought that way.
"Division meeting means Jake knows about it too. He'll be there. We all have to work together some of the time, but it's still separate." Embry explained. He let go of Delilah's hand, wrapping his muscular arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side. He was so warm, all the time. Delilah hardly ever wore more than a long sleeve when she knew she was going to be with him. She didn't need to. His body temperature and his constant nearness to her was warmth enough. Delilah thought the warmth in his eyes helped a little bit too.
"I hope it goes well." Delilah stuttered out softly as she looked up at him.
Her eyes closed as he bent his head down, cocking it sideways so he could brush his lips against hers. It was as good as it had been the first night he'd done it, maybe better, by Delilah's observation. He seemed more confident, even more so as the kiss went on. She made no effort to deepen the kiss this time, it was all him. She turned to face him, never breaking their lips apart. Delilah was slightly surprised when she felt his tongue slip across her bottom lip gently, but she didn't reject it. She was only embarrassed moments later when she let out a whimper of some sort when he finally pulled away from her.
"Delilah." He looked into her deeply colored green orbs, resting his forehead against hers as he tried to catch his breath. He swallowed, talking a small step away from her, then grabbing both of her hands, holding onto the with his. She didn't say anything, she just looked at him with curiosity and thrill.
"I want you to be my girlfriend." He finally said. Finally. She didn't know that he would be this frank when he finally brought up the topic, but she wasn't complaining.
"Okay." She said shortly. And before Embry could open his mouth to try and rephrase or overthink his words or hers, she kissed him again. It was then that everything made all the sense in the world to Embry.
He dropped her off at the Cullens, noticing the pace of her heart hastening as he pecked her on the lips firmly and quickly. She hurried out of the Jeep, retelling of her agreement to his plan for him to pick her up the next day sometime in the afternoon. They hadn't decided what they were going to do, but they didn't have to.
He immediately drove back to the reservation after he'd seen her walk into the house, immediately greeted by Emmett, who picked her up and spun her around humorously. The last sight he saw before he pulled away was Delilah laughing, which was enough for him.
He knew that the packs would all be gathered at First Beach, so he didn't bother going to Jacob's or Emily's first. He was right, and the last one to show up. He noticed them all huddled around a small fire, including Emily. Sam held her close. Closer than he usually did, by Embry's assessment. He made his way to the group, noticing the silence that everyone sat in. They were likely waiting for everyone to arrive before they began to discuss whatever they'd gathered everyone for. It was always awkward for Embry to be the last one to arrive somewhere. He even remembered hating being the last one to show up to class, even in high school.
He felt them all watch as he took a sit next to Quil in the sand, the awkward silence only lasting a moment or two longer after that.
"I'll be honest. I don't know why this meeting was called. Sam said it was important." Jake said as he stepped backward, a physical way of giving the other Alpha the floor. Sam cleared his throat, holding Emily even closer to his chest, if that were possible.
"I think it's important that everyone knows that Emily and I are expecting our first child together." Sam began looking to all of the pack members. As per protocol, they stayed quiet as he gave his initial spiel, but their excitement for the couple shone in their eyes.
"This is the first time a pack member and his imprint of this generation have procreated, so I'm unaware of how this will impact my behavior and how much I'll feel the need to be around her all of the time. Jake will lead our pack for the time being, should I need to take leave to be with my family. This is all "what if" preparation for now, we don't know how it will pan out. We're essentially playing it by ear, but preparing as much as we can." Sam's words seemed to startle Jacob at first, but he quickly took to Sam's words, stepping forward again. The other boys nodded their heads, indicating that they understood their leader's points.
"And one more thing." Sam said, causing the slight rustle that had started to ripple its way through the circle to cease. "Embry, Emily told me that she mentioned her news to Delilah yesterday. She said she was a good help, but she may have said too much. Did she ask you about anything today?" Sam looked at the former member of his pack. Embry registered that every member of the love triangle was present. In fact, everyone had at least glanced Leah's way for a moment at least after Sam and Emily had officially announced her pregnancy.
"She did." Embry admitted aloud, looking back at Leah before moving his eye contact to Sam.
"What did she say?" Sam continued to press. Embry knew that he'd have to say the truth, but he couldn't help but grimace as he braced himself. He knew from sharing thoughts with both Sam and Leah that he didn't want any part of their disaster, even now that they were technically apart of separate packs.
"She mentioned you two, And Leah. She was confused by the history, I think." He gingerly moved his sight between the three individuals. Sam clearly stiffened in his posture, his eyes darting to Leah for a moment before he looked down at his fiancee, who seemed uncomfortable and like she was avoiding looking Sam in the eye.
"Well, that must've been hard to explain. Given that you aren't telling her… anything." Sam said, clearly feeling awkward, and clearly aware of the fact that Leah was looking at him from across the circle.
"Yeah, it was." Embry admitted.
"Well, maybe it's time to consider telling her more. You guys are progressing, right?" Emily offered. This was clearly for her own benefit, seeing as Delilah being aware of everything that went on would give her another person to relate to. And Emily had taken to Delilah, as everyone seemed to. But, of course, Embry had considered how much easier it would be to eventually tell her, though his agreement with the Cullens indicated that he couldn't, of course.
"I can't. I told the Cullens I could make it work without her knowing. I still think I can." Embry said, not only to his brothers, but to himself, considering how much harder it was getting the more he'd gotten to know her.
"How much have things progressed without her in the know?" Emily asked, looking at Embry with eyes that told her she wasn't sure that things could progress correctly without Delilah knowing everything.
"Well, as of an hour ago, she's my girlfriend." Embry replied, earning hoots and hollers from all of the men around him, Quil even clapping his back a few times.
"Clearly she reciprocates. Maybe it's time you address the heavy hand the Cullens have in your relationship, and in her life in general." Sam advised, soon after adjourning the meeting.
As the rest of the men scattered, walking their separate ways, Embry sat alone. Jake had watched him for a few minutes in a clear attempt to see where his best friend's head was at, but he walked away. As Embry sat with his thoughts, he wondered how much good the Cullens really did for Delilah, and how much he really needed their approval to tell the truth. Her truth.
Hello! I'm sorry this chapter came a bit later than expected. My puppy chewed the charger to my regular laptop, so I'm having to finish things up on one that isn't mind. I hope this chapter is to your liking. This is one of the chapters I've enjoyed writing the most. Please let me know any outstanding thoughts, should you have any. I'm excited to continue the journey in the upcoming chapters. Again, please stay safe! I know the world is insane right now.
-J