Chapter Thirty: Surprises
Tonight was Tiffany's birthday as well as the day Jake had decided to remind the Cullens of the treaty. I fought to my mind clear of the evening plans all day at school, but honestly I was excited and apprehensive. I knew the Cullens weren't going to take kindly to the pack reinforcing the treaty, but the pack wasn't taking too kindly the destiny that had been forced upon them due to the Cullens' presence along with the pain that had been caused to the pack members due to it.
I was hurrying to decorate Tiffany's cake when the phone rang. I quickly iced the last leaf on the cake before setting up the piping bag and running across the kitchen to get the phone. We didn't often get phone calls and most of them were for Uncle Charlie, but this couldn't be if they were calling the house during the day.
"Hello?" I answered, forgetting to check the caller ID.
"Hey, Anna, it's Jake."
"Hey, what do you need. Bella won't be back till at least six." I reminded.
"I know, but when does Charlie get home?" Jake asked.
"Charlie? Sometime between five and six… why?"
"Because you're probably going to want to leave before he gets home. I'm gonna Bella's bike by."
"Are you crazy?" I all but yelled into the receiver.
"He deserves to know what Bella does when he'd not around." I could him shrugging his shoulders in my mind.
"You're going to give him a heart attack!" I yelled.
"Charlie's stronger than that. He'll be fine, pissed but fine." Jake said.
"He's definitely going to flip his lid, Jake. We both know how he feels about motorcycles and let's not forget that I was there when she showed up with the bikes and when you taught her how to ride. I'm going to get in trouble for this, too." I argued and Jake sighed.
"I wasn't going to tell Charlie any of that." Jake defended and I had to fight the urge to face palm.
"I'm not saying you were, but when Charlie starts yelling Bella going to throw me under the bus faster than I can run. She's not going to take all the heat for that, not when she sees an opening to get me in the dog house, too, especially when it'll put me in the exact same situation as her, on boyfriend exile." I had better things to do than be stuck in this house staring at the four walls of my room while Bella and her blood sucking boyfriend sat in the next room.
"Just tell Charlie that you never thought she would go through with, that I would have come to my senses before it got that far and that you thought it was up to Bella to come clean because you didn't want to make him worry or damage your relationship with Bella anymore than it already was. Charlie would buy that." Jake said and I had to admit that Charlie would, but I didn't want to lie to him.
"I don't want to lie to him." I sighed and I could almost hear Jake rolling his eyes.
"Fine, but you get to explain why I'm in trouble to Embry."
"Deal." Jake said quickly and I rolled my eyes.
"Do you want me to wait around the corner for you? I'll give you a ride back to the rez." I offered.
"Sure, sure. Thanks." Jake said and hung up the phone. I sighed as I put the phone back on the hook. I went back to decorating Tiffany's cake, putting the finishing touches on it before safely packing it away for transport and carrying it out to the car along with the gift I had gotten for Tiffany. I stayed inside working on my homework till just before five. As much as I wanted to see the look on Bella's face when she saw Jake with her bike. I equally didn't want to see Charlie's, he was going to be pissed.
I wrote a note to Charlie and double checked that everything I needed was in the car and drove around the corner where neither Uncle Charlie or Bella would see me on their way home. I rolled the windows down and turned up the radio a little as I settled in to wait out the yelling. I couldn't help but laugh as the song "Thanks for the Memories" started playing.
I heard Jake long before I saw him coming on the bike. He gave me a thumbs up as he flew by and I sighed. Curiosity was getting the better of me as I waited like a coward around the corner waiting for Jake to show up. It was almost like he could read my mind as my phone started to ringing nearly ten minutes after Jake drove by.
"Hello." I answered.
"Hey, it's Jake. I'm over at Bella's, do you mind coming to pick me up in say, twenty minutes?" Jake asked and I had to laugh.
"Around the corner whenever you're ready." I replied.
"Alright, thanks man, you're the best." Jake said and hung up and I laughed at his antics. It was another ten minutes before I heard Uncle Charlie's yell.
"ISABELLA MARIE SWAN! GET IN THIS HOUSE NOW!" I stared wide eyed back at the direction of the house. I yell having actually startled me. I'd heard Uncle Charlie raise his voice before, but it had been nothing like that. Jake came jogging out of the woods minutes later and hopped in the car.
"Damn. I'm never heard Charlie like that." Jake said with a wince, but there was a smug grin on his face.
"Hopefully he'll calm down a little before I get home." I said hopefully as I pick in the car in gear and pulled away from the side of the road.
Jake didn't say anything till I pulled into Embry's, a quick thank you as he dived out of the car and into the tree line before Tiffany could spot him. Embry met me on the porch, taking the cake from my hands and leading me inside.
"She keeps asking why I won't let her cook. She thinks I forgot it's here birthday." Embry said with a roll of his eyes and I chuckled.
"Like you would ever forgot." I said and Embry gave me the 'exactly' expression.
"Happy birthday, Tiffany!" I said as she walked out of the living room.
"Oh my God, thank you." Tiffany said, giving me a tight hug before straightening up and seeing the small gift box and cake on the table.
"Oh you didn't forget!" Tiffany said with tears in her eyes as she reached out for Embry. He rolled his eyes, but hugged her back.
"Like I would forget your birthday, mom." Embry said and kissed her cheek. Tiffany sniffed and quickly wiped at her eyes.
"We're taking you out to dinner and then we Tiffany huffed, but I saw the smile as Embry turned to put her purse on top of the cabinet and out of her reach. We didn't do anything fancy for dinner, just went down to the diner where my co-worker Katie was waiting for us. Dinner was nice, the diner only had three other families sitting around, but we were the only one's in Katie's section.
It wasn't till we got back to the house that Tiffany got a good look at the cake and she fawned over the little roses I had piped knowing they were her favorite flower. After cake I brought over the little gift box and handed it to Tiffany.
"Embry and I got this for you." I said and smiled as she slowly started lifting the lid.
"You two know you didn't have to." She said seriously and we just smiled.
"We knew, but we wanted to get you something anyway." Embry said. Tiffany gasped as she finally lifted the lid off the box revealing the necklace we got her. It was little diamonds placed to be shaped like a flower.
"Oh you guys." She sniffed back tears as he carefully pulled the necklace from the box.
"So it's safe to say you like it." I prompted and Tiffany nodded, wiping at her tears.
"Like it? I love it. Thank you, you two." She said and put her arms around Embry first before moving to me to wrap in a tight hug.
"You should read the plate next to the clasp." Embry said and pointed to the small gold plate that we'd had engraved. Tiffany wiped at her eyes again and brought the necklace closer to her face to read. In a dainty inscription it read 'Happy Birthday, Mom'. Tiffany sniffed again as the first real tear fell down her face.
"We thought it would only be appropriate since you've become like a mom to me." I said and Tiffany's lip quivered. She held open her arms for me to step into. She wrapped her arms around me in another tight hug.
"You've been a blessing to this family. Embry picked so well." She said and hugged her back just as tightly. I smiled at Embry over her shoulder and he smiled back.
"And you're both making me cry. Why'd you have to do that for?" Tiffany joked through a small laugh as she picked up a tissue to wipe at her eyes again.
"Here, Embry. Help me put it on." Tiffany said handing Embry the necklace and turning so her could clasp it around her neck.
"It's absolutely beautiful, you two." Tiffany said and touched it where it laid at the base of her neck. Her happiness made the necklace worth every penny.