JACOB'S POV
I pull into The Switchyard and kill the engine to the truck.
This week has not gone as I expected. I returned to La Push with the intention of telling Brielle that I couldn't marry her. That was 4 days ago. The morning after I found her sleeping on the bathroom floor and put her to bed she woke up just as sick. I took her to the hospital. She was severely dehydrated despite River sitting up with her, giving her water and ginger ale all night before I got there. That entire day I missed work to stay with her while she got fluids pumped into through IV. She started medication to treat the morning sickness. She still doesn't feel great but at least she isn't throwing up all day. Then on Tuesday, a package arrived with all the information on the prenatal paternity test. Berta got a hold of it before I could even tell Brielle and it became a huge argument. There was no way that I was going to tell her that day. Especially because Brielle agreed to the test which we did on Wednesday. Now it's late Thursday. Berta is working and my sister has agreed to let River stay over for the night so I can talk to Brielle alone.
I feel sick to be doing this to Brielle after all of the promises I made to her. But I also know that I will be miserable which will likely make her miserable and that will not be good for the baby either.
I hate everything about this situation.
My phone vibrates. I smile when I see that it's Nessie.
"Hello, my love," I answer.
"Did you do it yet?" Nessie asks. Her patience is wearing thin and I don't blame her.
"I'm picking up dinner and then I'll go home and do it," I promise.
"Come on, Jacob. You said that you'd do it this morning," Nessie replies.
"And I was going to but then Brielle picked up a shift. I wasn't going to tell her that I'm calling off the engagement and then send her off to work for the day."
"I don't like this, Jacob," Nessie sighs.
"It's complicated, Ness. I understand-"
"No, you don't. You don't get it. Until you call it off I'm the other woman," Nessie says, her voice mirroring disgust.
"You're the only woman," I assure her.
"Yeah… well, the ring on her finger says otherwise," Nessie replies.
Fair enough.
"I love you, okay. I have to go. I'll call you once it's done. I promise it won't be long now," I reply.
"I love you too," Nessie says, her voice is soft but I detect insecurity.
I hang up. I feel bad for Nessie. I feel terrible for Brielle. None of this feels good. I'm excited to have my Nessie back but stressed out about Brielle and the baby.
When I get through the doors I let the hostess know that I am just waiting on a takeout order so I go to the bar to wait for it.
"Jacob! I hear congratulations is in order," Sam Uley says, he appears to be waiting for a takeout order as well.
"What?"
"Leah told Emily that you knocked up that waitress, Brielle Lennox," Sam smirks. "Really, though, isn't she like Misty's age?" he teases.
I'm going to kill Leah.
"No, she is not Misty's age," I reply gruffly.
"Almost, though, huh?" he snickers.
"I don't really want to discuss this with you," I glance around him, attempting to look through to the kitchen, hoping my order will get here quickly.
"Good on you for marrying her, though," Sam says, "I love Emily. She's my everything. But it would have made my life a whole lot easier with my daughter if I would have just married Leah when I found out that she was pregnant with Misty."
"It would have?" I ask. My voice is flat. He has my attention.
"Oh yeah," he nods, "it's complicated, never really being involved in their life and then you always have to worry about what kind of men your ex is bringing home to them..."
"Kalen is a good guy," I reply.
Sam nods, "and then when they do find someone, you become daddy #2."
"Sam, Misty only calls you dad," I reply. What exactly is he getting at?
"Sure, but it isn't me she's calling when she gets a flat and needs help changing a tire," he says, "I'm lucky if I even get included in the conversation on what kind of car she gets as a graduation present."
"Come on, Sam… maybe if you made a little more effort with her-"
"Effort?" he laughs harshly, "Jake, when you're the weekend dad your window to be included in their life gets smaller and smaller. Once those kids hit middle school they don't want weekends spending time with dad. They want to hang out with their friends."
"Uley!" a waitress sets a paper bag down at the bar.
"You'll be fine, though," Sam says with a grin that says otherwise. He grabs the bag and heads out, "See you around."
I clench my teeth together. Like I said, before. I hate everything about this situation.
The entire way home I am dreading the conversation I'm about to have with Brielle. I drive around for an extra 10 minutes as I try to think of what I'm going to say to her exactly. When I arrive at the house I'm surprised to see that the remainder of the boxes are gone. I guess Brielle feels well enough to finish unpacking. That's a good sign.
I put the takeout order on the table.
"Brielle?" I call. I don't get an answer but I can hear her talking. She must be on the phone. I follow her voice to River's room where I find her putting away laundry. She must be feeling much better to be doing my kid's laundry. I stand by the door.
"Yeah, you left it right here on your desk… I'll make sure you get it…... I'm feeling so much better. You're sweet, that's so nice of you to ask," Brielle says, "okay… yeah. I'll let him know. See you later," she hangs up and sets the phone back down on the charger. Brielle turns around and then jumps as she sees me. "ah! you scared me," she breaths.
"Sorry," I reply.
"That was River. He left his braille calculator here and he needs it for school tomorrow. If you want, I can go drop it off?" Brielle says.
"Oh… uh, no… That's fine. I'll bring it to him in the morning. Dinner is in the kitchen."
"Great. I'm starving," she says abandoning the laundry. I follow her to the kitchen.
"That's good. You have your appetite back?" I ask, leaning against the kitchen counter as I watch her dig through the takeout bag.
"Yeah. So you better ration off what you want because I can probably eat everything here," she says with a grin, "you okay?" she asks, noticing my tense expression.
"Uh… yeah," I sigh and walk over to the table, "let's sit," I say taking a seat.
"Um… sure," Brielle sits down at the corner of the table.
I take in a deep breath, "listen, Brielle…" I take both her hands in mine and momentarily look down at the moonstone ring glimmering in the light, "I care about you a lot… and I intend on being here for you if the baby is mine-"
"Oh no," Brielle says, pulling her hands away.
"Brielle, please listen to me," I plead.
"I knew it. I knew you were going to back out," Brielle says, standing up abruptly, her chair falls over backwards, "I can't believe Mom was right."
I remain sitting, looking up, watching her, "Brielle, stop," I try to take her hand but she jerks away from me.
"What is this, then?" she asks, holding up her left hand with Nessie's ring.
"Brielle… that ring was not for you… it belongs to my ex," I reply, "uh.. Former ex," I confess. I need to get everything out in the open so we can move forward without any secrets.
"What?" she stares at me for a long quiet moment as her mind puts together what my words mean, "Former ex? ... So not your ex? ... Christ… And you just let me humiliate myself by thinking this ring was for me?" Brielle shakes her head, twisting the ring off her finger, throwing it at me. It hits me in the chest and falls to the floor somewhere with a clank.
"Bri, I swear, I'm going to do my best to-"
"Don't worry about it," Brielle says, walking to our bedroom. I expect to hear her slam the door but instead she returns with her purse and continues on to the door.
"Where are you going?" I finally stand and follow her outside to her white sedan. "Brielle, come on," I knock on the window as she shuts herself inside. "Brielle!"
She starts the car so I move to stand in front of it, blocking her way. The neighbours have all come out to witness the commotion. Great.
She cracks the window, "get out of the way, Black!"
"No. Get out of the car. Let's talk about this," I reply.
"There's nothing to talk about, move right now," she says.
"I'm not moving," I reply.
Brielle lays on the horn. I glance around as even more neighbours come out to gawk. Fuck. Fuck! Brielle eases forward in an attempt to get me to move. I back up and then yank the hood of the car open with force and pull some wires. The engine immediately dies. When I slam the hood back shut I meet the intense angry glare of Brielle. I cautiously walk over to the driver's door.
"Bri, can we have a conversation about this, please?" I ask calmly.
She shakes her head.
"Okay… you do realize I know how to get this car door open, right? So you can either get out of the car and come back inside or I can jimmy the lock and drag you back inside."
Brielle remains seated, considering her options. Just before I am about to go get my tools she pushes the door open and walks back inside the house.
"Thank you," I follow her inside, "look, this doesn't have to be a negative situation, okay… we can work things out so that we both get what we want."
"What you want," Brielle says, throwing her purse down on the kitchen table.
I exhale out of frustration, "then tell me what you want from me, Bri?! I'm not in love with you! I don't want to be with you. Okay. I'm sorry."
"Yeah?... So am I," she says leaving me alone in the kitchen, slamming the bedroom door and twisting the lock.
I tried to talk to her through the door but she hasn't responded with much more than 'please go away' and 'leave me alone'. I left a plate near the door and was relieved when I checked on it an hour later and saw that she had retrieved it. At least I don't have to worry about her starving.
Knowing that the walls are thin, I go outside to call Nessie.
"It's done," I say when she picks up.
"Are you okay?" she asks. Her voice sounds relieved.
"Yeah… she's mad at me but I guess I had that coming…" I lean against the door, "I miss you."
"You don't have to," Nessie says, "I'm here."
"You are?" I smile. My spirits are immediately lifted.
"Yeah… Embry had to get back because of work and Emma has been absolutely miserable for the past 2 days so I said 'fuck it, let's go'!" Nessie chuckled, "and to be honest, I've been a little blue too."
"Where are you?" I smile.
"I'm viewing another rental. The one I had over the summer isn't available anymore," she says.
"Tell me the address," I'm about to get in my truck when I remember that Brielle is inside moping, "uh… actually… text it. I'm on my way."
"Sure, I'll see you soon," Nessie hangs up.
I hurry back inside and knock on the bedroom door, "Brielle, there's somewhere I need to be. Are you going to be okay?"
I wait for her to reply.
"Can you please answer me so I know you're okay?" I sigh.
"Fucking go," Brielle says. I raise my brows. I don't think I ever heard her swear before.
"Um… okay, well if you need anything, call me, Okay?" I ask.
She doesn't reply.
On my way to the house that Nessie is renting I feel an exhilaration to finally reunite with Nessie. I also feel completely lost on what to do about Brielle. I wish I could just know that everything is going to be okay. When I arrive at the address I am surprised to see several cars parked out front. For a moment I wonder if I have the wrong address and then I see Nessie waving at me from the door. I get out of the truck and quickly make my way to her.
I pull her up into my arms and kiss her passionately as I guide her into the house; one hand sliding down her back and onto her rear.
"He's wasting no time," I hear a familiar rye voice. Emmett?
I pull away from the kiss and look around the room in shock to see every single damn Cullen… apart from one.
"Bella!" I put down Nessie and go to hug the brunette vampire who I haven't seen in ages.
She hugs me back tightly "I missed you too," Bella says with a smile.
When I finally let her go, I look around the room at the other vampires, "... sorry, I only really missed Bella," I shrug.
Emmett lets out a big booming laugh.
"Why is everyone here?" I look around at all of the vampires; Bella, Alice, Jasper, Rose and Emmett.
"I missed my family," Nessie says, "and I thought it'd be nice to spend a few days together."
"Where's the other one?" I ask, referring to Edward.
"Dad's waiting outside to talk to you alone… I told him not to do this but he insisted on one of his famous man-to-man discussions," Nessie sighs.
"Oh," I reply, "I just got an instant headache."
"Yeah… look," Bella says, "he's insisting… I would be more than happy to put up the shield for you to level the field and keep him out of your mind."
I sigh, "it's fine. I'll be back, I guess," I kiss Nessie a couple more times and then walk outside. I turn back to the house to see all the vampires and Nessie watching from the windows as I approach Edward who is standing near a wooded path.
"Jacob," he greets me and then looks past me at the crowd, "let's go for a walk," he says heading onto the path.
I guess he's already figured out where to hide the body.
Edward softly chuckles, "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."
We spend a few minutes just walking.
"Can we get this over with?" I ask as we have wandered far enough to not be seen.
"Yes, we can," Edward says. He turns around, facing me and then offers his hand.
At first, I am confused and have no idea what he is doing. Then slowly I also extend my hand. After the slow and rather awkward handshake, we stand in silence as I wait for him to speak.
"For the better part of 16 years I have watched my daughter exist in a state of complete devastation because of you… or rather because of a lack of you… She's miserable without you. And while I am angry that her misery was caused by you, I am relieved that it also has been ended by you… Your business is your business. I know about the baby and the situation with the other woman," he says sternly, "I'm not going to argue about it. Life happens."
"That's generous of you," I reply.
"That's where my generosity ends," he glowers at me, "Emma does not deserve your venom for what happened to River. She is Foxworth's daughter. I understand you dislike that man. However, seeing as you are expecting a child that will not belong to your imprint, I expect you to offer up some compassion and understanding. Furthermore, I understand that your pack member, Embry, has imprinted on her… So there's that," Edward says, gritting his teeth ever so slightly.
"Embry's a good guy," I defend Embry.
"I'm sure he is," Edward mumbles, "I'll leave it to you to delegate the warnings to him of what will happen if he ever hurts her… It was only because Nessie wished no harm done to you that I did not come for you when you broke her heart."
"I understand," I nod.
"Good. Then we're done. You take care of my girl," he says sternly.
"You sure you don't want to get one good punch in?" I offer.
"As tempting as that may be… I'll pass," Edward replies with a slight grin and speeds past me, back to the house.
That went better than I thought it would.
Please review. More chapters on their way.
