Chapter 64 Chapter Notes
On the reservation, we find out what's happening to Chief Littlefoot. Back in Forks, Charlie is trying to accept the fantastic, but he feels as if his life is spiraling out of control.
The chapter title belongs to Carly Simon and Jacob Brackman
Chapter 64 That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be Thursday, November 9th
After Bella goes to bed, I run to the house to see my family. I just missed Carlisle, heading back to the reservation. He'd told the family that the Chief had woken up from whatever kind of trance he'd put himself in. He was dehydrated and had lost a few pounds, but Carlisle said he would make a full recovery if he chose to.
I call Jacob Black, who gives me some more information. Billy had told him that the Council refused to accept the Chief's resignation. So if they can keep the old man from falling into despair again, the Quileute might just get to keep their Chief.
"Billy said the amulet has been locked away with the spell, and the key is in a safe deposit box in Forks," Jacob says. "This way, the magic can't be accessed by any one person. Should have been done like that to begin with, if you think about it."
Tuesday, November 14th
Charlie stays in the hospital for ten more days. On the day he's due to be discharged, I drop Bella at school and pay him a visit. He greets me wordlessly but shakes my proffered hand with a trembling hand. His thoughts are bleak. I have to work so hard to get anything meaningful from him, but I think I hear stealing. Maybe, stolen. I'm not sure what that refers to. Maybe that I'm stealing his daughter? I don't know for sure.
"Chief, I wanted you to know that I'll take care of Bella for the rest of our existence together. She'll never sicken, fall down stairs, get cancer or food poisoning or any other human disease. And I promise, I'll make her happy. And we'll never go anywhere without telling you first."
"I appreciate that, there, Edward. This has been a hell of a shock. Your family, Maya, the Quileute. It's a lot for a regular guy to take in."
I nod. I'm getting another thought. Money. He's worried about money. This is something I can understand. I spent the last few weeks giving all mine away, but I still have tons of properties and hundreds of investments. I vow to give him a wedding gift he won't believe.
"Ah, Bella said that your…kind…don't age? Like, ever?" His face reminds me of humans who have experienced something painful, like getting a tooth knocked out or their nose broken. When I don't answer right away, he continues, "You're not human?"
Still nothing from me. I feel my face harden. What am I supposed to say?
Charlie looks around as if to make certain that we're alone and whispers, "What are you if you're not human?" The look on his face makes me wonder if this is a question he thinks he should ask, but doesn't really know if he wants answered.
But unflinchingly I tell him. That we are Immortal. Impervious. Ageless. He stares at me as if he's simply horror struck. When his heartbeats pick up, I'm afraid he's going to have another episode like he did when he and Bella last spoke, but he takes a few deep breaths and gets his emotions under control. A little bit.
We stare at each other for a long moment. "I can't say I'm sorry about my relationship with Bella, Charlie. I think that some things are simply meant to be."
He swallows and nods his head, but in a reluctant manner. Yeah, okay, I rear ended the guy in front of me because I was going too fast. Or, Yep. That's an open liquor bottle in my car, Chief. Like that. Grudging acceptance. I'll take it, because I don't think there's going to be anything more.
He closes his eyes for a long moment, then says, "Maya wanted me to invite you both…to Thanksgiving dinner next week." He's grimacing, wanting to do the right thing but not knowing what that is.
"We would love to join you. Give Bella a call and let her know what time."
He tells me that Maya is taking him to her house to recuperate. She's taking a few weeks off to care for him during the first difficult weeks of his convalescence.
We part with a handshake. I'm concerned that his grip is extremely weak, even on the uninjured side. I'm afraid that his entire future has been derailed, and it saddens me that there isn't anything I can do about it.
Afterward, I stop by Carlisle's office and he tells me that he and the tribe have reached an agreement about his work on the reservation. He's excited; I am appalled that he'll have to smell that place on an ongoing basis. But he encounters human blood in his work as a doctor, after all. He doesn't need me to worry after him.
"I sat down with the Council and showed them pictures of Bree, after the accident, and her husband, who is grief-stricken and alone," he says, with an uncharacteristic frown on his face. "They are now fully aware that they indirectly caused her death. When I told them that she was pregnant, one of them began to weep. Their Chief is still recuperating. I've been speaking to him on a daily basis, trying to convince him that nobody knows for sure that his magic spell was the cause of the problems."
He tells me that the family is due back this week. Esme has to pick up some papers and check in with her crew in Seattle, so she's flying into SeaTac with Emmett and Rosalie. Jasper is bringing Alice back in the Raptor.
Later
I meet Bella in the hallway before the start of our third period class. After school, I drop her home and tell her I need to hunt. She's making enchiladas for her supper and I just can't abide that smell of burnt cheese and tomatoes. I find a few deer in the woods above the house and they'll have to do. I don't want to travel farther.
When I get back to Bella's house, a few hours later, I don't smell enchiladas. She's upstairs, and when I walk up, see that she's cleaning out Charlie's room. She's been crying. After a quick hug, I say, "What's wrong? Is Charlie okay? Why didn't you call me?"
"Maya came over and picked up all of Charlie's stuff. He's moving in with her. For good. She said this room is ours now and he understands that you'll be living here with me until graduation. Then he's putting it on the market."
I look around and see that she's been busy. Charlie's closet and dresser drawers are empty. The bed has been stripped and is airing.
"He said that this is our room?"
She nods. "He thinks we've been sleeping together this whole time. I didn't even call and try to convince him otherwise." Bella's cheeks warm and she hurries to her room to bring in some more things.
I stand there and look at the bed. Now, our bed. Bella dumps an armful on the floor by the closet. "I have some money in my savings account. I think we need a new mattress, because this one is old."
She doesn't look at me as she says this, avoiding the elephant in the room, I guess. As am I. We work together and bring all of her stuff in, then both of us, in true sitcom fashion, look at the bed and then at each other, then back to the bed.
Bella swallows loudly. In the movie version of my life, this is the part where a frank discussion takes place about how to navigate a sexual relationship after the human's father, who thought his daughter was sleeping with her vampire boyfriend anyway, decides to move out so they can get on with it.
I play my part, but this time, I'm not pretending. I take my fragile human in my arms and press my lips to hers. Predictably, her heart rate soars and her breath comes short. I am similarly affected, and I know she can feel my arousal through my jeans.
"I want you, Bella," I whisper, my breath icy in her ear. She shivers.
"I want you too," she whispers back, her voice shaky.
"Give me a few days to work through how to do this safely, okay? I want to experience this with you, but I have to be certain that I won't hurt you. I have some ideas, so please, just give me some time, and I promise, you'll have a true honeymoon."
I've used my most persuasive voice, the one Bella says 'dazzles' her. And she does look a bit bemused, and shakes her head. "O-okay," she stammers. "I won't rush you. I understand."
Wednesday, November 15th
Bella is exhausted the next morning. I look in the refrigerator and try to figure out what to fix her. There are eggs. I could do something with eggs. Fried, maybe? I look around for a pan and see several. I don't know which pan is good for frying eggs. I pull up a YouTube video and Bella comes in to investigate. "What are you doing?"
I frown. "Trying to cook eggs. I'm not sure about…"
She smiles and says, "Thanks, but I just want cereal this morning."
Both of us stumble through school until Friday afternoon—Bella literally, myself, metaphorically. She gives an audible sigh when we finally get home. After hanging up her raincoat, she plops on the worn sofa.
"When was this house built?" I ask.
Bella has no idea. But I have an idea. "I'll be right back. I need to make a call."
Charlie answers on the second ring. When I lay out my plan to buy the house right away, he's silent. "Charlie? Still there?"
Finally, he says, "Let me get this straight. You want to buy my house. Right now."
"No. Bella and I want to buy your house. I can have my attorney in Seattle draw up the paperwork, and I'd like to offer twenty thousand dollars over market value."
More silence. Then, "Why are you doing this, Edward?"
"Bella is nervous about the house going on the market, and I could alleviate her stress by purchasing it now. We'll have to live somewhere after we get married, and she loves this house. Also, the Cullens feel responsible for the debt you've incurred due to Bella's injuries. If she hadn't been hanging around with my family, most of them would never have happened."
"Good deal. Hold on." Charlie puts his hand over the receiver and speaks to Maya for a moment. "Fine," he says. "Have your attorney call me and draw up the papers. As soon as he can get them filed, the house is yours. Yours and Bella's. I have just one condition."
"What was that all about?" Bella asks me as I walk back into the house. She's in the kitchen, pondering what to make for a late supper.
I mold my face into a frown. "I just spoke to Charlie. Apparently, someone approached him and he's not going to wait until we graduate. He's already made plans to sell the house."
Bella drops the pan she was holding and it clatters around on the floor. "What? He sold the house? This house?" Her mouth opens and closes as if she's trying to think of how to respond. Finally she says, "So now what? Where am I supposed to live?"
Yikes. I hadn't expected her to be so upset. "Hold on. I know who he's selling it to. Maybe it will all work out."
Now she looks angry. There's a cloud over her head and her mouth has grown small. "How can it possibly work out?" she demands. "And who is he selling it to?"
"Me."
And her face just goes blank. Like, blank.
"Well, actually, he's selling it to us."
"Edward, you swine!" She picks up the pan she'd dropped and leans against the counter with a huge sigh. "Just so you know, you scared me half to death." She closes her eyes for a few seconds and then a look of intense relief washes over her.
Bella looks around, at the old refrigerator and stove, letting her eyes play over the yellow cabinets and tile floor. I follow her out into the unused dining room to the foot of the worn wooden steps. The looks up, to the bedrooms and bathroom, then into the shabby, over furnished living room.
"I've loved this house since I was a little girl," she says in a shaky voice. I know it's dated, but it feels like more of a home than any place I ever lived with Renee."
"Charlie did have one condition." I chew my lip, wondering what her reaction will be.
She narrows her eyes. "He already knows I plan to finish school…he said he expected you to stay here with me. Oh! He wants us to tie the knot! Did you tell him that we were engaged?"
"Yep."
Bella extends her left hand and wiggles her fourth finger. Her diamond shines in the overhead light and her eyes are glassy. "This is the one the ring goes on."
I take her in my arms and press an apology to her lips. "I'm sorry that I teased you earlier. Just having a bit of fun. I didn't think you'd be so upset. Can I make it up to you later?"
She gets a gleam in her eye and tows me to the kitchen, where she grabs the eggs out of the refrigerator. "This is what I want for supper," she says, and relaxes in a chair.
I finally manage to fix Bella eggs with the help of a video, and she seems to enjoy watching me fiddle around with pans and spatulas. She laughs out loud at my grimace when I crack the shell and empty the nutrient-bearing yellow portion and the slimy, viscous white portion into the sizzling pan.
The video says to stir them until the portions are no longer slimy, so I do this, and in a minute, they look like curdled yellow guts, but I slide them onto a plate with a smile. When I present them to her, she says, "Thanks. Um, you look like you're in pain. Do you want to go check that the vehicles are locked and I'll finish up in here?"
The device has yet to be invented that could measure the speed at which I escape from her house. I add eggs to the list of food I just can't stand to smell cooking. Why do humans consume eggs, as they house the nutrients for a growing bird embryo? It baffles me.
Of course, Bella knew that the vehicles were locked, but I check them and then do a quick walk around her house. When I hear her drop the trash in the outside can and open the kitchen window, I think it might be safe to return.
Back inside, I hear Bella in Charlie's old bedroom. Our bedroom. She's putting fresh sheets on the bed. I appear behind her and she leans into me. "What are you doing tonight?"
"I think I'll go hunting again," I say with a sigh. I look at the bed, wondering when I'm going to have enough confidence to make love to her. She presses her body closer to mine and the scent of her desire swirls all around us. I could pull her clothes off and take her right here, right now, and she would be eager and willing. But she's tired, and, if I'm honest, I'm waiting for Alice to wake up so I can ask her about it.
Tonight, I'll be chasing deer around the woods, instead of chasing Bella around the house.
Soon, I tell myself. You'll be chasing her around the house soon.