We laid together a long time, fantasizing about the future. After high school, I would ask Charlie for Bella's hand. In the meantime, I would do anything I could to increase his chances of giving us his blessing, regardless we would let Alice plan the wedding. Surely, she was already having visions of what it would look like. After the honeymoon we would go to college together and would "die" in a car accident together. My family would stay here in Forks for a few years. In that time, we would run away together, until she was ready to be around humans. We would start in deserted areas, like the South Pole, maybe Siberia. They really were beautiful when you didn't have to worry about hypothermia. When she was ready to try human contact, we would go anywhere in the world she wanted. Once it was safe, we would rejoin my family and we would do what we always did, find a place and start somewhere new.
If she was committed to entering the world of the damned, I would do anything I could make her transition easier. If I could have her with me forever, I would do everything I could to give her the world. I had spent so long agonizing over the idea that I had stolen her, but in reality, she chose me. From the moment she laid eyes on me, I was hers. I never even stood a chance. No matter what I did or where I was, I would always belong to her and she would always choose to spend eternity with me.
"You're so happy about this all of a sudden. What changed?" She asked as we laid there, my head gently resting on her chest, and her fingers twirling strands of my hair.
"Bella, while I never wanted this for you, of course I always wanted this for me. To have you with me, forever? It's all I could ever want," I told her, shifting to look her in her deep brown eyes. There were certainly things I would miss, the blush of her cheeks, the sound of her heart, but none of that could compare to what we could have after she was changed. I would never thirst for her, never have to worry about hurting her, never have to hide the more terrifying aspects of my nature, never have to leave her side for the rest of my existence. All it would cost was her soul.
I tried to hide the guilt from my face, not wanting to ruin the moment. She took my face in her hands and pressed her warm lips against my forehead, and all of my stress melted away. She brought me peace in a way no one else could. As much as I wished I could read her mind, her quietness sometimes truly felt like a gift. She was the only person I could be with in comfortable silence. With her I could shut out the endless stream of voices running through my head. And then there was her tenderness. Even though I was hard as stone, she handled me with the same love and care as if I was as delicate as glass. I never felt less like a monster than when I was in her arms. She never judged me for what I was. I never earned her acceptance, but she gave it freely and effortlessly.
"Well, let me ask you something. Why did you say yes to my proposal? You've never seemed to be a fan of the institution of marriage. To be completely honest, I didn't expect you to say yes," I confessed.
"What do I really have to lose? Soon, I'll be gone, and I'll never see any of these people again. Why should I care what they think? I guess I just want them to know when I go, being with you is all I've ever wanted," she said, as color began to rise in her cheeks.
After an indiscriminate amount of time, our bliss was finally interrupted, but there were two more voices than we expected, and one of the voices was not happy to see my car in the driveway. As Bella and I came down the stairs, the house began to fill with faintest hint of wet dog smell. Standing in the doorway, was Charlie, Billy Black, and his large son Jacob.
"Hey Bells, I figured after today you might want some cheering up, and I ran into Jacob and Billy in town. We brought pizza!" Charlie said enthusiastically. "Edward is more than welcome to stay for dinner too," he offered, and in his mind, he thought about how I always left for mealtimes.
"That's okay Charlie, I wouldn't want to impose," I said looking straight at the old man in the wheelchair.
"No really, I insist," Charlie said shooting a glare at Billy, clearing noticing our standoff.
"It would be my pleasure," I said smiling smugly, admittedly enjoying getting under Billy's skin. This was not their territory. The Swan residence was within our 5-mile radius. "There seems to be enough pizza to go around," I said challenging him to stay. Billy knew he couldn't leave now. The boy was mortified by how his father was acting.
"We'll see about that," Jacob said patting my arm playfully as he took the pizza to the kitchen table. He was clearly trying to lighten the mood. He was slightly jealous of my relationship with Bella, but as a whole his thoughts were pure and free of malice. God Bella's perfume is going to give me a migraine, he thought.
It was obvious what was happening to the boy. At the rate he was growing, it would be weeks at most before his first transformation. I pitied Jacob. He had no idea what would happen to him. He had heard the legends being told around campfires. To him they were nothing more than scary stories told to children to keep them up at night. They were the same stories he had told Bella, unaware that he would be breaking a treaty.
As we all huddled around the kitchen, I grabbed a paper plate and took 2 slices of cheese pizza. Bella looked at me stunned. I winked at her as a took a large bite. I could hear a cloud of startled and confused thoughts radiating off of Billy that were completely incomprehensible. His mind could not process the thought of seeing me eat human food.
We shuffled our way into the living room, Bella and Charlie taking the couch and Jacob sitting the chair. I sat on the floor and leaned my head against Bella's legs. As we sat there together and watched reruns of some old sitcom, it felt nice being here for this very human moment, just sitting around the TV eating dinner together. The greasy slimy tasteless pizza, the string of curses running through the old man's head, none of it mattered. Charlie looked over at the two of us and smiled.
After an hour or two I began collecting everyone's plates and throwing them away. Jacob and Bella were laughing in the living room and Charlie had begun to doze off. Billy came behind me in the kitchen as I continued to clean up.
"Here let me help you with that," he said, his voice stiff but polite. We gathered up all of the trash and left together out the back door, as I guided his chair down the short set of stairs. When I gently set his chair down on the ground, his spun around to face me. "What is your plan here demon?"
"To take out the trash," I said nonchalantly, holding up the garbage bag in my hand. I smirked a bit at his fury.
"You know that's not what I mean. What do you want with Bella?" he said.
"I love her, I would never do anything to harm her," I promised him, looking into his nearly black eyes.
"So, you have no intentions of breaking any part of the treaty," he said, thinking of one particular provision. That we are not to bite a human, changing Bella would break the treaty.
"You mean the treaty your own son broke?" I retorted, avoiding his line of questioning. Billy's mouth fell open in shock. "Did you not know? He was the one who told Bella what we are. Of course, he didn't believe what he was saying, but Bella did. If she was not so accepting, it really would have caused problems for me and my family. To have someone who knows your secret, not being able to trust who they would tell. It would almost be as bad as Jacob in there founding out that one of his best friend's was actually his brother," I said smiling cruelly.
"How… how could you know that?" he stuttered terrified.
"You think about him often, don't you?" I said continuing to scare the old man. "The treaty is still respected as far as my family is concerned, and your secret is safe, but be careful old man. There are still more of us than there are of you," I said and walked inside alone. "Jacob, your father said he is ready to go home," I announced as I entered the room. The boy frowned and grabbed the keys to their rusted Ford Tempo.
"You'll come down to the reservation, soon right?" Jacob asked eagerly. His mind was such a comforting presence to be around, I was almost disappointed to see him go.
"Yeah for sure!" Bella said beaming at him. It was hard not to feel at least a little jealous by how happy she was around him, but obviously after today that was ridiculous. The more important issue was whether or not she would be safe at the reservation, surrounded by wolves and out of the reach of my protection.
"Did you see Billy's face when you started eating?" she whispered giggling, trying to make sure her sleeping father wouldn't hear us.
"You should've heard what he was thinking," I said with a smirk. "But, I'm not sure you going to the reservation would be such a good idea," I said cautiously.
"You worried they'll be the ones to finally scare me away?" she teased.
"If that were the case, I'd send you there every day, you should be scared," I chuckled. "but, maybe not just of me…" I said.
"What, are the Quileute's friends with Bigfoot or something?" she said rolling her eyes.
"Or something," I told her with a small grin. "Just promise you won't go up there without Charlie," I said and kissed the top of her head.
"Fine," she said stubbornly.
"I'll be back soon, don't go looking for Bigfoot while I'm gone," I murmured in her ear before driving off as fast as I could. I assumed someone would be waiting for me at home.
As soon as I pulled into the driveway, I heard her coming. I barely got out of the car before I was nearly tackled by Alice running fully full speed in to hug me.
"Oh, thank you thank you thank you Edward! You are going to have the most beautiful wedding anyone has ever had! I have so much to do, so much to plan. Thank god I already ordered her a dress. I mean I knew there was a possibility of this happening, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. You're lucky you have a sister who plans ahead like I do. Oh, thank you Edward," she gabbled at impressive speed.
"Alice, slow down. You'll have to control yourself. I don't want Bella to have a heart attack before she can make it down the aisle," I said. I couldn't help but share in her enthusiasm.
"Edward, she'll love it! She just doesn't know it yet," she said confidently, but I could see she was right. Alice was concentrating very hard to not envision her dress. Her mind was entirely focused on Bella's face. She was so beautiful, but it wasn't the hair or make up that had me awestruck. It was the pure joy on her face.
I went upstairs to take a shower and get changed. Alice's mind continued to radiate visions of our wedding, and there was a feeling of bliss that filled the entire house. Jasper could feel how delighted Alice was, and he couldn't help but spread that joy to everyone within a mile radius.
I rummaged deep into my closet until I found it, my mother's ring. It was old Edwardian era ring with a large marquise cut diamond, and an intricately designed silver band that was encrusted with smaller diamonds. I pictured it on Bella's slender hand. It looked to be exactly the right size, as if it were made just for her. I slipped it into my pocket and prepared to return to my Bella.
Before I could make it out the door, the entire energy of the house shifted. The air grew heavy. Alice was getting a new vision. Billy had talked to the council and they had made their decision. War was on the horizon, only we couldn't see it.
"Edward!" Alice cried. "Edward I can see the council, but I can't see the wolves," she said in a panic.
"Alice, what is it?" Carlisle asked as he ran to her side.
"It's the Quileute's, Edward scared Ephraim's grandson. They see us as a threat, and they plan to act," she said staring into the difference, searching through the future, trying to see through the fog the wolves had created.
"Idiot! Now look what your silly infatuation with that human has done. You've put the entire family in danger," Rose bellowed as she stomped into the room.
"Rosalie, please," Carlisle warned. "What happened Edward?" he asked.
"The Blacks came over to Bella's for dinner, and Charlie insisted I stayed. Afterwards when I was cleaning up, he confronted me, asked if I planned on breaking the treaty," I stared at my feet, ashamed for what I was about to say. "I threatened him. I told him that his son had already broken the treaty, told him I knew about his secret bastard son, and told him that there were still more of us than there were of them," I could not meet Carlisle's gaze, but he held no anger towards me. Rose on the other hand was thinking of all the different ways she could tear me limb from limb.
"You arrogant fool," Rose spat. "Now we'll never be able to come back. Who knows how far we'll have to stay away or how long?"
"If we leave now, we'll be on the run for kidnapping!" I snapped. "Charlie will have Bella's face on milk cartons and my face on the nightly news," I said, my knuckles nearly fracturing from the clench of my fists.
"I never said anything about bringing your stupid pet," she growled. I couldn't contain the snarl that escaped my lips.
"Stop, we're not going anywhere, not yet. Bella is a part of this family. While I don't think instigating the tribe was wise, what's done is done. We will do everything we can to avoid conflict, but in the meantime, I don't want any more fighting from you two," Carlisle said, his voice filled with parental authority.
Rose was right though. This was my fault. I had put the entire family at risk. If this came to a fight, how many of us would survive? We would win, but at what cost? We were already fighting at a disadvantage without Alice's sight. Bella wouldn't be changed for nearly a year. Would the wolves wait that long? The ring suddenly felt heavy in my pocket as the future me and Bella had planned crumbled into dust.