Chapter Twenty Two

Jasper

Bella was doing great and this pregnancy was progressing at much the same speed as her first so we were hoping that we knew what to expect. She was more fatigued but then she was still insisting on looking after Maggie even though she now had plenty of help. I don't think she wanted to give in, afraid that Maggie might resent the new baby if it took Bella away from her.

I don't know if Bella had invited Rose and Emmett to stay on at the ranch for the help they would offer or if she had taken pity on Rosalie knowing how much rose had wanted children of her own. She had sacrificed any chance of being in Maggie's early life in order to keep Bella safe. This time Bella's offer had ensured she would be here when the new baby was born and get time to be a real Aunt to Maggie.

Either way, they had jumped at the chance to move into the cabin and I'll admit I enjoyed having Emmett's company and help on the farm. When we had lived together before I knew Emmett had always been a little hesitant to become close. I didn't blame him, Edward had given me a pretty grim press and it had taken me some time to fit in with my new family.

These days Emmett and I had grown closer, I felt like I had a real brother and I liked it.

Bella, as stubborn as ever, kept going until eventually, she was forced to put her feet up for a nap in the afternoon which suited Rosalie as she and Maggie would make trips into town for some retail therapy. My daughter now had more clothes and shoes than the rest of us owned put together! What is it with women and clothes? Admittedly they were also buying for Bug but again if they bought any more toys and stuff for the new baby we would need to extend the nursery. I didn't complain though, Rose was having the time of her life and the look of pleasure on her face was priceless.

Maggie had already donated some of her things for Bug's nursery but I was touched when she sat beside me one day.

"Papa, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Would you and Mommy mind if I kept my mobile? The one with the animals you carved for me?"

"Of course not, why?"

"Aunt Rose said it would look nice hanging over Bug's cradle. I don't really mind but I'd like to keep it in my room."

"Hey, I made that for you. No one is going to make you give it up. I tell you what, why don't you and Aunt Rose find a new one for Bug?"

She hugged me, "Thanks, Papa. I'll always keep it. I love my animals and remember the stories you told me about them."

Considering the toys she had, especially all the expensive ones that Edward kept sending her, I was proud of the fact the ones she loved most of all were made by me.

The letter we received from the Volturi quite out of the blue was the only thing that caused any tension in the house. Aro had written to ask when Bella intended to join us. He pointed out that the Volturi had been more than happy to defer her transformation due to Maggie's birth but it had been more than a year now and they were becoming concerned.

"Well, they haven't been keeping too close an eye on us or they would know why by now."

Rose jumped in right away to defend Bella.

"I don't see why they have to put pressure on Bella, Jasper. She's already proved that she can keep our secret and let's be honest, how could she do otherwise with Maggie being half-vampire?"

Bella tried to soothe Rosalie, she hated any kind of hostile atmosphere in the house, convinced that Bug could sense it.

"It's OK, Rose. I can understand their concern. We should have told them earlier. I guess with all that's going on I just never gave it a thought. I'll write to them today and apologize for the delay."

I didn't think there would be a problem, Aro would understand and Marcus seemed happy to take on the role of Bella's champion in Italy.

Their reply when it arrived proved me right. There were words of congratulation first and then understanding. The only slightly jarring comment came at the end of the letter.

"There will, of course, be the necessity for us to see your new child as we did Maggie. I'm sure you understand why."

We did. They wanted to assure themselves that our new child would not be a liability to their world. Understanding didn't mean we had to like it though. Or at least I didn't, Bella seemed unconcerned by it and accused me of being oversensitive. ME!

As the weeks rolled by Emmett and I got the new barn built and a new chicken coop with extra security wire. One of the local foxes must have gotten a degree in jailbreaking because three times we had opened up in the morning to find some of the chickens missing and the others too terrified to lay.

"I don't get it, Jazz. Foxes usually kill where they find their prey. There are no feathers, no blood, nothing. I can't even find a hole big enough in the wire to let a fox in. Who is this guy? Fucking Houdini?"

I had to agree, it did seem odd. The loss of the chickens was upsetting for Maggie too. She cried the first time we found some missing but after that, she didn't want to talk about it. She was so upset she even stopped eating for a while. Bella and Rose tried tempting her with all her favorites and eventually, she allowed herself to be coaxed but then it happened again and this time Maggie even refused ice cream which was her all-time go-to comfort food.

I could tell it was stressing Bella out and the closer she came to giving birth the more that worried me. Her emotions were being transferred to Bug who seemed to think he/she was to blame. I had to get to the bottom of this mystery, hence the new chicken coop.

"Short of laying landmines around it, I don't know what else we can do, man."

Emmett was right, if our predator got through the three layers of wire buried a foot into the ground and concreted in place then we needed Monster Quest to come out here and investigate!

The following night Emmett and Rose went to hunt so once Bella and Maggie were asleep I decided to keep a vigil on the coop. It reminded me of when I was a boy and a coyote had attacked the stock on our farm. My daddy used to sit up all night on the porch with his shotgun waiting for the critter to show. Eventually, it did and daddy blasted it although he told us that he hated doing so.

"It's one of God's creatures, boy. All it's doing is trying to survive, just like us."

I understood what he meant now and I hoped to scare our unwanted visitor off without bloodshed if possible. There had been too much killing over the years and although I was now living on animal blood again for the most part I still took the odd human for Maggie's sake.

Would Bug need my venom too? It was a sacrifice I was willing to make for my children especially as Maggie had almost weaned herself off venom now. Maybe her body was producing what she needed or maybe it was no longer necessary. Either way, I was happy and I knew Bella felt easier on my behalf.

The night sky was full of stars and I could hear the scurry of small nocturnal creatures moving around unseen amid the soft noises of the roosting birds.

I loved the farm and understood why Maggie had never wanted to leave. Bella and I had decided we would never sell it. From time to time we would be forced to leave just as the Cullens did the house in Forks but it would always be there waiting for our return.

Then suddenly a soft noise put me on alert, something was heading this way although the wind was blowing in the wrong direction for me to get its scent. It was hard to work out what it was, the noise was so faint but instinct told me that it was not a four-legged predator, so what the hell was it?

I ran through various possibilities. Emmett or Rose coming to join me? No, they were off hunting and wouldn't be back until tomorrow at the earliest. Besides which they wouldn't be sneaking up. It wasn't Bella either. Heavily pregnant as she was, there would be no way for her to move so silently and she certainly wouldn't be wandering about outside in the middle of the night.

A large cloud obscured the moon for a minute and the noise stopped which was odd. If this was my predator why would it stop given the extra shield of darkness?

My curiosity stirred. I fell back into the hidden depths of the trees and waited.

The moon reappeared and by its light, I recognized Maggie standing there in her nightgown.

"Maggie?"

Hearing my voice she jumped then turned and ran back towards the house but I soon caught up with her and shot out a hand to stop her headlong flight.

"Maggie? It's OK, it's Papa. What are you doing out here?"

Her eyes were like huge dark saucers and I saw she was trembling all over.

"Come on, let's get you in the warm. You're freezing."

As I swung her up into my arms I noticed she wasn't wearing anything on her feet and wondered if she had been sleepwalking.

Once in the house, I made her some warm milk and wrapped her in a blanket setting her down by the fire.

She sipped her drink slowly without speaking and seemed reluctant to look at me.

"Maggie? What's going on? Why were you outside? You could have gotten lost in the dark. Did something frighten you?"

Still, she remained silent and I let her finish her drink before I asked again.

"Maggie, answer me, please. Why were you outside?"

Slowly she turned her head to look at me and I saw that she was crying so I took her in my arms and cuddled her reassuringly.

"Hey there, Firefly, don't cry. I'm not mad at you. I was just surprised to see you out there and worried about you. Can you tell me why you were out there?"

She wiped the tears that were rolling down her cheeks and shook her head, "I can't."

"Why not? I won't get mad I promise. You tell me and we can work it out together."

She twisted the edge of her pajama top agitatedly as she continued to shake her head.

"Maggie, did you have a bad dream?"

She peered at me through her bangs hesitating then shook her head, "No."

"So why were you outside? You can't go wandering about out there without a coat and shoes and certainly not in the middle of the night. It's dangerous. You know something is taking the chickens and we don't know what it is. A coyote could be roaming about out there."

"No. it's not a coyote, Papa."

"It's not? How do you know?"

Her bottom lip was quivering and I knew she was close to tears again. Her emotions hit me like a train and suddenly everything made sense.

"Oh, baby. It was you, wasn't it?"

She began to sob and I held her close and let her cry herself out all the while rocking her on my lap.

Only when she finally stopped did I speak again.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

She looked up at me through puffy eyes, "I thought you'd be mad at me. I started to get thirsty and nothing stopped it. I heard Mommy talking to Aunt Rose about how you were drinking blood because of me. I thought if I tried to drink blood maybe you wouldn't have to and it would stop my throat from hurting. The chickens were the only thing I could think of but it was horrible Papa. I hated it."

I held her tight wishing I could cry to relieve the pressure of guilt inside me.

"You should have told Mommy or me. We would have organized something for you. Don't ever take something like that on your shoulders Firefly. It's what we're here for, to look after you."

"You won't tell anyone else, will you Papa?"

"Only Mommy but I promise you that she won't be mad at you."

She laid her head on my shoulder and was soon asleep, exhaustion overcoming her little body.

While she slept I decided what to do about her problem. I would tell Emmett that I'd trapped the fox which would cover that. As for getting the blood for Maggie, well, I would go out once I put her to bed and find something. The chicken blood must have been pretty revolting and I doubted that it had quenched her thirst much.

The vampire side of her nature had now kicked in and the poor little mite had tried to hide it from us. She probably wouldn't have if Bella hadn't been pregnant but she was very aware that her Mommy was fragile right now. Not that she should have to worry about such things, she was just a child.

Once I was sure Maggie was deeply asleep I tucked her up in bed and went out to hunt. I would talk to Bella in the morning and we would tell the others that Maggie had spoken to us and needed blood in her diet from now on. No one needed to know about her experiment although they might suspect, well Emmett anyhow. From now on I would watch out for my little Maggie more closely. Guilty that I had neglected her enough to miss the internal conflict she had been going through. What kind of a father was I to do that?