Belle picked up the telephone and sighed. 'I don't want to
hurt Jacob, but I have to do this.' She sat down and dialed her fiancé's phone
number. After ringing twice, he picked up.
"Hello?" Jacob's voice rang through Belle's phone.
Belle almost hung up on him. She hated it when Jacob was
hurt, and she certainly didn't want to cause the pain. But she had to do what
she was about to do, otherwise she wouldn't ever be happy. Jacob would
understand that, he'd have to. "Hey, Jake, it's me."
"Hey, sweetie. How's Salem? Everything still look the
same?" Jacob asked, obviously smiling at the sound of Belle's voice.
Belle cleared her throat. "Um, yeah. Look, Jake, I have to
tell you something. Um, remember I told you about Shawn?"
"He was your ex-boyfriend, right? The one that you
dumped?"
"Yeah, that's right. Well, we met up last night at the
reunion."
"Oh really."
Belle heard the suspicion in Jacob's voice and almost
regretted what she was going to tell him. Almost. "Yeah. We went out to dinner
and then came back to my parent's old penthouse-"
Jacob immediately became angry. "Did he touch you? Belle,
I swear to God, if he did, I'll-"
Belle mentally kicked herself. "No, Jake, nothing happened
between us," she lied. She hated lying to him, but she had to for Shawn's sake.
"Actually, when we were talking, I kind of realized something."
"What?"
Belle took a deep breath. "Jake, I realized last night
that I can't marry you, and I'll tell you why." She continued before he could
say anything. "I'm still in love with Shawn, Jake, and I think I always have
been. And I know that if I marry you, I won't be happy, and you won't be happy.
We'd end up having kids that are totally screwed up because their mom didn't
marry the man she loved and now she was stuck with him. So, I'm breaking off
our engagement, Jake. I'm sorry," she explained. Belle waited for his reaction
but didn't expect what she heard.
Silence. Dead silence. Then, after a few moments, "You
don't love me?"
Belle offered a silent prayer
of thanks for Jacob's calmness. "No, Jake, I do, just not in the same way I
love Shawn. I care about you, that's true, but I only love you as a friend.
What I feel for Shawn-it's completely different. I love him, Jake. I
love him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I hope you
understand," she pleaded.
Jacob sighed. "Yeah, I understand. As long as you're
happy, I'm happy, okay? Just remember one thing-if things don't work out with
Shawn, I'll still be here waiting." With that, he hung up.
Belle looked at the receiver and couldn't believe what she
had just heard. Jacob hung up on her. She didn't really know what to
feel-happiness that she was free to marry Shawn, or sadness that Jacob was
so-what was the word-upset that he hung up on her. Belle quickly dialed Shawn's
number. He was staying at his old house that his parents still owned.
"Hello?"
Belle smiled at the sound of Shawn's voice. "Hey, Shawn,
it's me."
Shawn grinned. "Hey there, beautiful. So, what's new?"
"I dumped Jacob."
Shawn's eyebrows shot up at the news. "You're kidding. How'd
he take it?"
Belle leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up on
the table. "Better than I expected. He basically told me that as long as I'm
happy he's happy, and that if things don't work out with you he'll be in
Florida waiting, and then he hung up on me," she explained.
"He hung up on you? He obviously doesn't know that nobody
hangs up on Isabella Black," Shawn joked.
Belle laughed. "Yeah, well, he did. I'm okay with it,
though. Jacob's one chapter of my life that I'm done with." She rested the
phone between her shoulder and ear and fingered her engagement ring that Jacob had
gotten her. "Except, I have one problem."
"No you don't."
Belle chose to ignore that comment. "I don't know what to
do with my engagement ring. Should I toss it?" she asked.
Shawn thought for a second. "Well, I don't know. I think
you should send it back to him with no return address," he suggested.
"You're an evil, evil man, you know that?" Belle said.
Shawn laughed. "I'm proud of it, too. So, you know what
this means?"
"What?"
"Like I'd tell you over the phone. Look, I'll be over in,
like, ten minutes, okay?"
Belle nodded, even though Shawn couldn't see her. "Okay,"
she agreed, confused.
Shawn stood up from his seat on the couch. "Good. See you
then." He hung up and looked at his mom.
Hope smiled at her oldest son. "Belle?" she asked, already
knowing the answer.
Shawn grinned. "I'm going to do it, Mom. I'm going to
propose to Belle Black."