Chapter 8

Edward

"So did you two do anything fun while Nessie's been away?" Jacob awkwardly attempted to make conversation from the backseat of my Tesla. He was sitting in the middle seat, bent forward with his elbows on his wide splayed knees, looking over Bella's and my respective shoulders as I sped us to the airport. His imposing posture was irksome but hardly his fault. At closer to seven feet than six, no automobile short of a convertible could accommodate his towering size.

Wordlessly, Bella dropped her shield and recalled a highlight reel of the past week of passionate, clothes-shredding, furniture-splintering marathon sex that had occurred while we'd had the house to ourselves. Let's just say Renesmee's room wasn't the only one that had gotten a makeover.

The car swerved slightly in the fast lane as I was deluged by my wife's salacious thoughts. Rolling around in rumpled white sheets, Bella's silky auburn locks cascading down around my face as she gazed at me from above. Then the scene changed to us in the shower, with her legs wrapped around my hips and her back pressed up against the tile as I drove into her with powerful, deliberate thrusts.

"We saw an R-rated movie last night with Alice and Jasper. Wasn't that fun, Edward?" she asked with an innocent flutter of her long, dark lashes.

"Oh yeah? What'd you see?" Jake asked with polite interest.

"Hell Baby," Bella answered with a wide smile. "It was a real scream."

"You never were much of a rom-com girl, were you?" Jacob chuckled and nudged Bella on the arm with his elbow in a gesture of familiarity, a move that made him wince slightly and cup his throbbing funny bone from the blunt force trauma.

The film was objectively terrible. And like many of the horror films it was meant to satirize, it included a lot of gratuitous female nudity. I uncomfortably averted my eyes for every bawdy, gravity-defying scene. The way I looked at it, the only bare breasts that were meant for my eyes belonged to my wife.

The only positive element of the movie-going experience was that thanks to Bella, I wasn't forced to watch the vulgar film through the eyes of dozens of other people. Manipulating her shield had become so effortless for her by now that she could shield an entire theater full of people so that I could watch the film just like everybody else, with only the sounds of popcorn munching, candy wrappers, and the occasional loud whisper to distract me.

It shouldn't have surprised me that being married to Bella would enhance my life in every conceivable way. But what nobody could have foreseen was that Bella would end up being the antidote to some of my most unsavory traits. As it turned out, I wasn't naturally a brooding, despondent curmudgeon. It was just that having to hear the dark, unfiltered thoughts of every soul I encountered for the last hundred-plus years had put me in a century-long funk.

So instead of the usual feelings of self-loathing and anxiety that Jasper had come to associate with my presence, with Bella at my side, all he ever picked up was gratitude and a general sense of contentedness… That is until Renesmee started to get older. Then the anxiety came back full force because everything ever said about raising a teenager (even a hybrid teenager–especially a hybrid teenager) is absolutely, horrifyingly, maddeningly true.

"How was seeing everyone in La Push? Your dad must've been happy to see you," Bella conversed in a neutral voice.

He would've been happier if I hadn't been such a sad sack, lying around the house eating his food and drinking his beer, Jacob grumbled to himself.

Jacob remembered a short exchange with his father. "Why don't you take a shower and clean yourself up, son? You're acting like the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl or something," Billy gently teased. "Nessie will be back soon. She'd hate to see you like this…"

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing she can't see me all the way in freaking Brazil," Jake growled back from where he'd taken up residence on the too-small couch, his tone was bitter and aggrieved.

"Yeah, but she can probably smell you, though," Billy muttered dryly as he wheeled himself away.

I snorted at the memory. Billy didn't know how right he was. I was probably never going to get the wet dog smell out of my car.

Jacob shrugged noncommittally and rolled his eyes as he grumbled, "You know my dad, can't keep his unsolicited advice to himself."

"That's all dads, I think…at least the good ones," I chimed in with an acknowledging glance at the rearview mirror. Bella smirked at that and gave me a knowing look as I pulled into the arrivals terminal at Vancouver International Airport.

While Bella and Jacob searched for Renesmee among the clustered groups of humans milling around the domestic arrivals concourse, I listened for her internal voice, which was so familiar to me that I could have picked it out of a crowd of thousands.

It didn't take me long to find her. Renesmee's thoughts were filled with the names and faces of our family and how excited she was to see everybody. When I looked through her eyes to pinpoint her location, I was surprised to see she was not traveling alone. Smiling back at my daughter was a familiar face.

"I think I know what, or rather, who Renesmee's surprise is," my stunned voice filled the car.

"What? Who?" Jacob's nose was practically pressed against the window, fogging up the darkly tinted glass as his eyes scanned the crowd.

The look of confusion on Bella's face morphed into one of understanding as her much stronger eyes were able to find Renesmee a few thousand feet before Jacob would. She was standing on the curb with her back to us, her unmistakable battered knapsack hanging heavily from her slight shoulders, and her slender hand was pressed to a man's face.

Then Bella's expression changed again from understanding to concern as her eyes flashed from Renesmee to where Jacob was still searching frantically for her in the backseat.

The car slowed to a crawl through the busy terminal as we got closer to the doors for the Air Canada section of arrivals. "Who is that?" Jacob asked, a note of frustration in his voice as he squinted in Renesmee's direction. His dark eyes locked onto her backpack, the rusty-colored Jansport that had once been Bella's, but the back of Nessie's head was obscuring his view of the man's face.

Nahuel's face flashed through Jacob's thoughts. It took him a moment to place where he'd seen the man before. Seven years earlier, Nahuel showed up in the clearing wearing little more than a loincloth, animal hide cuffs on his arms and wrists, a few traditional beaded necklaces, and gladiator-style sandals laced up his legs with leather cording. Today, in a white Oxford shirt worn casually untucked over a dark, loose-fitting pair of blue jeans and white sneakers, he was dressed to blend in.

"Oh," Jacob said softly with recognition, finally placing the face. Then, as we got close enough for Jake to clearly see the enamored look of wonder on Nahuel's face as Renesmee cupped his cheek, in a voice filled with wariness and dread, he repeated with more emphasis, "Oh."

It was the sound of an emotional gut punch.

Well, this should be interesting, Bella thought, giving me a sideways glance. Her mental tone made it clear that 'interesting' wasn't really the word she had wanted to use.

I don't understand. They told me Nessie was going to visit Zafrina, so why is she with him? Did they lie to me? Or did Renesmee lie to them or–? God, I wish she'd just stop touching him, Jacob inwardly growled.

Just as I pulled the blacked-out Tesla up to the curb in front of them, Nahuel tossed his head back and laughed at some anecdote Renesmee was projecting into his brain. Ah, it was the time she cut off all of her hair in protest. At one year old, she lacked the patience for the daily maintenance of her wavy, waist-length locks, even if Bella or I combed and detangled at vampire speed. Everyone was horrified. Rosalie cried, or would have if she could. But her grief was for nothing because as it turned out, Renesmee's cells grew and multiplied so quickly that her hair grew back–even curlier this time–in only a matter of weeks. She never dared cut it again.

What are they laughing about? Jacob's thoughts screamed from the backseat.

Surprisingly, I caught myself feeling for the dog. I could certainly empathize with the bitter jealousy that coursed through him now. Seeing the reason for your existence touch another man with such familiarity, even for the most innocent of reasons…it's like acid inside your veins.

In the moment before I opened the car door to greet Renesmee and Nahuel, I whispered in a voice that was just barely audible, "Not about anything scandalous, Jacob. Don't torment yourself," I turned to give him a tight, sympathetic smile.

I slid out from behind the wheel, meaning to get my arms around Renesmee before airport security could shoo us out of the loading zone. I hugged her as tightly as I dared, breathing in her usual sweet smell of honeysuckle and cinnamon that was now mingled with the foreign scents of vanilla orchid and passion flower…and airplane.

"I've missed you, sweetheart," I told her, rocking her slightly from side to side before pulling back, but holding on to the tops of her arms. "But I'm glad you went. It was the wake-up call I needed," I told her earnestly as I gazed repentantly into my favorite pair of warm brown eyes–Bella's human eyes–replicated exactly in the face of the person who doubled the size of my heart.

Nessie beamed at the warm reception and startled me when she threw her arms around me for another embrace. "Thanks, Daddy. I missed you too," she whispered, the side of her face pressed tightly against my chest. I felt my throat tighten with some strong emotion that I couldn't quite identify, but it reminded me of the intense feelings of love and relief that swept over me all those years ago, every time Bella would return to my arms after leaving me to spend time with Jake and the other wolves in La Push.

Moments later, as I was shaking Nahuel's hand and cordially telling him how nice it was to see him again, Jacob slunk out of the car to awkwardly join our little family reunion. It didn't help matters that he stood a full head taller than the rest of us. But seeing as Nahuel was a diminutive 5'7, a full foot shorter than Jacob, I don't think the dog minded the extra inches then.

"Jake!" Renesmee cried happily, but with a note of hesitation. She still wasn't sure how he would receive her after their short but melodramatic separation.

Jacob took two confident steps toward her and swept my daughter up in a huge hug, lifting her sneakered feet several inches off the ground and spinning her around as she squealed with delighted laughter.

When her feet finally returned to the pavement, she began in a penitent tone, "Jake, I missed you so much. I'm so sorry I–"

Her apologies were interrupted by Jacob shaking his head and telling her in an urgent, gravelly voice, "You're back home. With me. That's all that matters." And then he pulled her back into his arms and held her as if the two of them were the only ones in the universe. That is until the annoyed airport security fellow blew his whistle, insisting we move along and stop blocking traffic.

Nodding toward the road, I muttered, "I guess we better…" Then I, first, opened the passenger door for my Bella, then made my way around to the driver's side, leaving Nahuel and the kids to sort out their own seating arrangements in the backseat.

Both Nahuel and Jacob seemed to think to open the car door for Nessie at the same time but Nahuel, of course, was faster. Nessie slid into the backseat, choosing the middle seat. Jake slid in next to her, leaving Nahuel to dart around to the other side of the car and claim the seat behind me.

It didn't escape my attention how close Renesmee was forced to sit next to Jake (and Nahuel) due to the cramped quarters of the backseat. If words were exchanged and he lost control of himself sitting so close to her…

"Are you in control of yourself?" I asked in a pointed tone, making eye contact with Jacob in the rearview mirror.

Jake snorted defensively. "Give me a little credit, would ya? It's been years since I've phased involuntarily."'

"Had to ask," I shrugged, and merged into oncoming traffic.

The wolf speaks with such insolence to her father, Nahuel observed judgmentally. If she were mine, I would never disrespect her parents, he thought with superiority.

My lips pursed thoughtfully. I was starting to like Nahuel more by the second.

After a short, uncomfortable silence, Bella turned around in her seat to ask in an artificially breezy tone, "So is someone going to tell me the story of how you two reconnected?" she inquired, looking from Renesmee to Nahuel.

"Ah, yes, well," Nahuel began in his rich, softly accented voice, "Huilen and I returned to Brazil with Zafrina and Senna after meeting them at the uprising those years ago. We became quite close to them and Kachiri, as well as their beloved Encontro das Águas," Nahuel thought of the sisters' pristine pocket of jungle territory, right where the two rivers meet, "And eventually we merged our covens."

"Interesting. I had no idea," I murmured, mostly to myself, eyebrows raised.

"So Huilen and I were there when Renesmee appeared like a beautiful angel who had fallen out of the sky. We shared a beautiful few days exploring the jungle and showing her our ways. And when she said she had to go home so soon, I thought of how nice it would be to catch up with your family, since you were so gracious and hospitable the last time we met," Nahuel explained, nodding with deference toward the front seat of the car.

Then, turning his head to look down at Renesmee, he mused with a warm smile, "I suppose I have you to thank for introducing us to such wonderful friends."

Renesmee blushed and looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap. "It's the least I could do for the person who saved all our lives that day," she fawned, sounding almost starstruck.

Jacob harrumphed and snaked one of his large copper hands in between hers, taking her slight hand in his own. In Jacob's thoughts and with my eyes still on the road, I could see Renesmee turn and smile at him adoringly, in that way that made Jacob's innards turn to mush.

"God, I've missed you, Ness," Jacob uttered in a husky whisper. "I'm so glad you're home. I have so much to tell you. "

Using her free hand, Renesmee reached up to gently cup his face. She showed him a live-action slideshow of waterfalls and brightly colored birds and flowers and other exotic wildlife she observed, all the while, homesick and wishing he was there to explore it with her.

Jacob thought with irritation how he could've been there if she'd just talked to him, but thought better of voicing his frustrations. She was, after all, Bella's daughter. It was in her DNA to run first and think it through way after the fact. I fought a smile at the accuracy of that sentiment, but otherwise made no outward indication that I'd heard any of it.

On the other side of the car, Nahuel's thoughts were in an unfamiliar dialect of Portuguese, but I could interpret them easily enough with my own understanding of the language, especially when paired with the images in his thoughts. He was subtly watching Renesmee's interactions with Jacob, trying to ascertain the nature of their relationship. Nahuel remembered Jacob being Renesmee's fierce protector from the time when she was a small child. But a blind man could see the depth of Jacob's feelings for her now, but it wasn't immediately clear to him if her feelings were friendly or romantic.

Renesmee had confided in him that she had left home because she'd needed a break from her family who couldn't seem to accept that she wasn't a child anymore. Nahuel, of course, could relate to this completely, though it had been quite some time since his own coming of age. She'd made no mention of a beau back home, which left him with a feeling of optimism.

Nahuel watched Renesmee with covetous, teak-colored eyes as she conversed happily with her mother who was interestedly asking questions about her time away from home. Nahuel had never met a female of his own kind that wasn't his own blood sister. He had often wondered if he was destined to walk this earth alone because human women were too fragile for the lifestyle he enjoyed, and unfortunately, he held no attraction for vampires, as cold and hard as we all felt to him. And then there was Renesmee, with her lustrous auburn hair, her big brown doe eyes, and a kindness and warmth that she seemed to exude from within, and a big loving family that he envied to boot.

To Nahuel, there was nothing childlike at all about Renesmee, and if she wanted to be treated like a woman, well, he was more than happy to oblige.

Jacob was watching Renesmee very carefully, too. Though he knew nothing physically had changed about her (as it never would again), there was definitely something about her, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, that was noticeably more grown up and sophisticated than the girl who'd left him without a word six hellish days ago. He tried not to think too hard about what–or who–might've been responsible for the change.

All Jacob knew was that Rico Suave needed to go back to wherever the hell he came from and stop looking at his Nessie like she was the only woman on the planet. Because for one thing that was his job, and for another, he was doing it all wrong.

A feeling of hot, red-blooded determination welled up in Jacob's chest. He'd lost Bella to another man, and of course, he could never regret that. But he'd be damned if he was going to lose the girl again, this time when the stakes were so high. Renesmee was his everything, and he would fight for her with everything he had.

A/N: Apologies for the long wait on this one. The last two weeks have been chock full of Halloween festivities, kid's birthday parties, Parent-Teacher conferences, IEP meetings, and a bonus windstorm that knocked out power for most of my county for the last few days. Never a dull moment. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to hear what you think! Team Jacob or Team Rico Suave? Drop me a line and tell me why! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Til next time, lovelies!