Chapter 29: Conversations

"So…now Kim knows," Emily said.

"Do you know how she took it?" I asked, taking a sip of tea. It had been about a week since that ugly scene with Kim and I was at Emily's house catching up with her while Paul had stayed home with Alexandra.

"They're working through it," Emily said carefully. "Obviously she understands that nothing is going to happen between you and Jared but I don't think it was easy for her to hear."

I rubbed at my temples. "This is such a mess."

"They're going to work through this," Emily soothed. "She knows how much he loves her."

"I wish I had some way of proving to her that she has nothing to worry about with me," I said.

"A baby and an engagement ring should do a pretty good job of explaining that."

"Yeah, you're right," I said.

"Speaking of engagement rings…" she began, raising her left hand from under the table and extending towards me.

My eyes widened at her as they took in the glittering ring on her finger. "Oh my God, Emily, congratulations!"

"Thank you," she smiled.

"When did he ask you?"

"Last night," she said. "We'd gone out for dinner in Port Angeles and then we went for a walk along the boardwalk and he asked me there."

"That sounds lovely," I said. "I'm so happy for you."

"Have you thought any more about when you and Paul are going to have the wedding?"

I shook my head. "I've been so overwhelmed with everything that I haven't even had the chance to think about it. I'm sure Alice already has basically everything planned, though."

Emily laughed. "She could make a business out of her wedding planning."

"She really could," I agreed.

After that, we chatted about our upcoming weddings and what the future would hold for us. I couldn't believe how far we'd come and how much our lives had changed since we'd first met. I could clearly remember the day I'd met Emily—it was the day Paul had phased in front of me and my life had changed forever.

When I left Em's place and began to drive home, I chewed on my lip the whole time. I hadn't spoken to Jared or Kim since the day she'd come to the apartment asking questions. I felt like I needed to check on them and make sure everything was okay.

It wasn't enough to just hear Paul and Emily insist that they'd be able to work through it. I needed to see it with my own eyes.

I drove to Jared's house, hoping that they'd both be there. Deep down I thought that paying them a visit was going to be a bad idea, but I couldn't help it. I needed to know that I hadn't ruined their relationship.

To my relief, when I knocked on Jared's front door, it was Kim who opened it. She looked guarded as she realized that it was me standing on the porch and I felt my stomach lurch.

"What is it, Mel?"

"I just wanted to check in and make sure everything's okay with you two," I said. "I'm sure it wasn't easy hearing about the whole thing."

She took a deep breath. "I appreciate you checking in. We're…getting through it. It just wasn't very easy to hear."

"I completely understand," I said. "I'm glad you two are okay. You're really good for him."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't lying last week when I talked about the way he looks at you," I said. "He really loves you, Kim. I struggled for a long time with being with Paul instead of him because I thought that it meant he'd never be happy. But you've given him the happiness that I couldn't."

"It's just not easy to see how happy you are with Paul and how happy Emily and Sam are," she said. "You guys have this connection that goes deeper than what I have with Jared. And then on top of that, you and Jared also have that connection."

"I know," I said sympathetically. "I can't imagine how that must feel for you but I promise that there's nothing you need to worry about. Like I said last week, I see him more as a brother now and we've reached a point where we're both okay with that. Paul isn't going anywhere and if he is…I'll be with him. No matter what."

"Yeah, you're right," she said. "Thank you for checking in, Mel. I appreciate it."

I smiled at her and we said goodbye to each other before I got back into my car to drive home. As I drove, I felt lighter on my feet, as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. As guarded as Kim seemed with me, she was understandably taking her time to process what Jared had told her.

I entered the apartment to see Paul feeding Alexandra on the couch. I smiled warmly at him and approached them, pressing soft kisses to the top of her head and his cheek.

"How's Emily?" he asked.

"She's good," I said. "She and Sam got engaged last night."

"It's about time," Paul muttered. "He's been planning on asking her since before the newborn battle."

"And you didn't tell me?" I asked, feigning offence.

He laughed. "I knew you wouldn't be able to keep the secret from her."

"Honestly, I think she knew it'd happen eventually anyway."

"Yeah we all kinda did," he said.

I sat down next to them and watched Alexandra drinking from her bottle. She'd grown a little bit over the course of the past three weeks and her body temperature had gotten a bit warmer. She still ran on the cooler side—Carlisle assured me that that was normal for a premature baby—and I was sure that when Paul held her, his body heat helped with that issue.

"I also went to see Kim," I said quietly.

"And how did that go?" he asked, shifting Alexandra onto his shoulder and gently patting her back, touch light as a feather.

"It was okay," I said. "She said that they're getting through it. I hope that some of the things I told her made her feel better."

"Like what?"

"Well, I assured her that you're not going anywhere," I said, smile quirking at my lips. "Of course, there's no way that I'll know that for sure given your history."

He laughed. "As long as I'm with my two best girls, I'm not going anywhere. You know that."

He leaned over and kissed my forehead and I settled against his side, gently stroking Alexandra's head. I was forever amazed at her—at how perfect she was. Her skin had changed from the pinkish tone it was when I'd first seen her to a warm golden shade; the result of Paul's coppery skin tone mixed with my ivory shade. She looked completely healthy and I was relieved by it—when she'd arrived early I'd been afraid that she would have health issues but I theorized that perhaps she had inherited Paul's heightened immune system.

Perhaps she'd also inherited the wolf gene from him.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I knew that Paul had his own reservations about it and we hadn't really talked about it much, but I was sure he was anxious about it. He didn't want her to have to deal with the same thing that he'd had to deal with.

"God, I hope she didn't get the gene," he said, looking down at her.

"I was actually just thinking about that," I said. "Do you think she will?"

"Before Leah, I'd have said no," he said. "But now that we know that it's possible for men and women to phase…"

"It'll be okay," I soothed.

"Yeah, we'll be able to give her better help than what I got," he muttered, bitter edge to his voice.

I put a hand on his arm. "We'll be there for her no matter what." I paused and then my tone turned lighter. "Hopefully she didn't inherit your temper as well."

He barked out a laugh. "For your sake, I hope she didn't. It wouldn't be easy to deal with both of our bad tempers."

"It's bad enough dealing with yours," I teased. I rose from the couch and padded into the kitchen, preparing myself a bowl of cereal. Our lives finally had some sense of normalcy and I was grateful for it. We'd suffered through so much to get to this point and it was finally working out properly. It reminded me of early in our relationship when things were as easy as breathing between us.

We'd gotten back to a point where things were that easy again and it felt like we didn't have anything to worry about anymore. Our biggest worry was whether Alexandra would become a wolf just like Paul, but it would be years before that happened.

Our only other worry was figuring out wedding details, but even that wasn't a lot to worry about. Alice had forced me to agree to letting her plan it and wouldn't let me do anything apart from giving my opinions on the guest list and decorations.

My life with Paul had finally calmed down and I felt like we were finally at a point where we could just enjoy our lives. He was a lot less stressed out after giving up the pack and now that we'd overcome the strain of my pregnancy and weakened body, he wasn't constantly worrying about my health.

Alexandra fell asleep on his shoulder and he carried her back into her room and into her crib. He returned to the kitchen and his arms circled my waist. He pressed a soft kiss to my cheek and I leaned back against him, closing my eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" he murmured against my hair.

"How far we've come," I said. "Talking with Kim about imprinting and everything has reminded me about how it was when I first found out."

He chuckled. "I never thought we'd get here."

"Me neither," I whispered. "Back when the Cullens were gone and I had to leave La Push for all those months…I never thought I'd be able to come back to you. And then when you left…"

His hold tightened on me. "God, I remember that night in Port Angeles when you were with your friends so clearly; I thought I'd lost you for good."

I smiled in spite of myself. "I remember I was trying so hard to keep my composure. I wanted nothing more than to grab you and kiss you."

"I wish you had," he said, humour lacing his tone. "That would've pissed Sam off."

"I do love getting under his skin," I said.

He pressed another kiss to my cheek and let go of me so I could finish my cereal. Afterwards, he and I sat on the couch together and we enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the evening.

It was a quiet, mundane evening together and it was all I would ever want.