Thank you all for your condolences, it is much appreciated. Megan39 I'm sorry for you loss. My all my sisters, mother, and his fiance are doing okay. Talking about him helps, remembering all the good times. Growing up in a house with five older girls and no boys made him quite the goofball. My youngest sister said "Every time we start to cry I hear him yell at us."What are you crying for? Stop it! And then imagine one of the many things he would do to make us laugh." Then we all laugh at the memory of his antics.

Megan39 I think your right about Bella not realizing her feelings, Edward does seem like a ticking bomb. Edward seems to think he controls the world sometimes, Its a big house, Alice doesn't nesaseraly know what her brother is doing or that Bella saw.

4Grace04 I am so glad you enjoyed the chapter, the day wasn't as bad as I thought it would be there was a lot of crying but also laughing. A cousin put together a video with pictures and video clips of my brother. it was good to see him how he was, happy, dancing, goofing around, and playing with his nieces and nephews. His life might have been short but it was good.

Echo58 untangling a web might be messier then the web itself.

Chapter 31

Jacob

Seven years ago

He could remember that day in court. He remembers sitting in the front row bench between his father and sisters. He remembers his father's sigh of relief when the judge's conviction was guilty, then hearing the sentence given to the man, he remembers how his father cried. And though he was only nine-years-old. He remembers the look on the man's face, the anger in his eyes, and the smirk on his lips as if he just got away with something.

This man's face would star in his nightmares. As the man looked at his family with no regret he knew this was a face he would never forget. The face of the man who killed his mother.

Six years later

Today was a day like any other. There was nothing significant about it. Like every Friday, Jake went to school, then went home to do his chores, and was now hanging out with his friends in town.

"Look at that dumb ass drunk." One of his friends laughed.

He expected to look up and see someone not being able to walk straight, or making a fool of themself somehow. That is exactly what he would have seen if he didn't recognize the man stumbling toward a car.

But he did recognize him. He would know his face anywhere. This was the man that changed his life, the man that ripped apart his family and destroyed his childhood. The man whose fault it was that he would never see his mother again. Yet there he was, walking around free.

The man that could barely walk thanks to his inebriation. Now he was getting into the driver's seat of a car. His mother's face appeared in his head. The way she looked in her coffin. How she had to wear long sleeves to cover up the gashes on her arms. How even though they put so much makeup on her that she was unrecognizable; you could still see the puckered skin on her face where they had to sew her back together.

Watching this man climb behind the wheel of the car. The thoughts he's going to do it again, assaulted his mind. He's going to rip apart someone else's family, someone else's life.

He was halfway to the man before he even realized he moved. His intention was to stop the man from driving.

Before he knew what he was doing he had grabbed the man and was pulling him out of the car.

The man was slurring curses at him. "How dare you, you little punk." He stammered as he took an unfocused swing at Jake.

It didn't take much for Jake to avoid the blow but the man's words set him off, he felt rage like never before. He grabbed the man.

"How dare I? How dare you." He heard himself say. "How dare you take her from us." Slam! He vaguely realized that he had banged the man's head into the roof of the car. Jake had no control over his actions "How dare you not care." Slam! They fell to the ground. "How dare you be allowed to walk free when she can't." Slam! The man's head hit the ground. "How dare you be willing to do this to another family." Slam! His head hit the ground again and again and again. Jake was barely aware of something warm splattering across his skin.

He didn't feel the hands pulling at him. Nor did he feel his body crash to the ground as his hands were restrained behind his back. The next thing he could remember was someone taking pictures of him. Some were of his face, others were of his hands; that he was just now realizing we're no longer restrained.

Another person was now sweeping long cotton swabs across his skin. One ran over his knuckles, another across his face. They swept one under his fingernails, and then one more inside his mouth against his cheek. Each swab went into individual tubes.

He could see all these things happening, yet was not comprehending a single thing. Wasn't he just hanging out with his friends? He couldn't move. His body wouldn't work, so he just sat there like some kind of puppet.

Someone was now pressing his fingers to some kind of tablet.

"Did you all get what you needed?" A familiar voice asked.

Charlie? His dad's best friend and fishing partner. He blinked but still couldn't focus. Charlie had what looked like a bowl of water with a rag in it.

"Hey son, your dad will be here soon. What do you say we get you cleaned up before he gets here, huh?" He said gently.

Jake couldn't answer. He just sat there and blinked. Charlie took the washcloth and started to rub it across his face. The water was warm. He wiped it down his arms and over his knuckles. Jake winced. Was that pain there before?

"Come on son lets change this shirt."

Charlie pulled Jake's shirt over his head. There were dark red stains all over it. Someone with gloves took his shirt and stuck it in a large baggy.

"Listen, son, Things are going to work out. There's an attorney I know, she is really good. I'm going to call her. She is going to take real good care of you."

What the hell was Charlie talking about?

"Has he said anything?"

Pastor Webber?

"No, I think he is in shock."

Charlie was pulling a new clean shirt over Jake's head.

"I'm going to get a doctor in here to take a look at him. I'm also going to stay here with him till we can get him in front of a judge. Do you think you could let Bella stay with you for a few days?"

"Of course, Charlie. Anything I could do to help."

"Thanks, Pastor. Could you do me another favor and not tell her what's going on?"

Jake wanted someone to tell him what was going on.

"Of course, I will keep things vague. Call me if he wants to talk." The pastor assured him as he took his leave.

"Jake, son, your dad is here. I'm just going to go get him. We will be right back, okay?"

Jake didn't answer, he was sitting there still trying to figure out what happened. Charlie reluctantly walked away leaving him alone in the room he was in. He looked down at his hands trying to remember.

He recalled being out with his friends. Then the drunk guy. Everything came flooding back.

Oh no! What had he done? The realization brought him to his knees.

His father got into the room just as he started to break down. He wrapped his arms around his father and started to cry hysterically.

Now

"I don't know how long I cried like that, it felt like days." Jake told Bella.

"That lawyer lady came around as soon as Charlie called her. I think she was an ex-girlfriend of his, but she was really nice. She explained the situation to the judge and kept the trial short."

Jake swallowed thickly.

"The judge sentenced me to a mental institution for six months. At the end of that six months a new decision would be made pending a doctor's opinion. When I got out it was too late to go back to school.

I would have refused to anyway. Just walking around the rez gets me sympathetic looks, I hate people feeling sorry for me. Dad said I had to go to school. In forks they might know me as a killer, but I prefer fearful stares over pitying ones."

He looked over at Bella, she was standing there staring at her shoes. His coat wrapped snugly around her tiny frame. He couldn't help but think how cute she looked. All you could see sticking out of that big coat were her head and her bare legs leading down to a pair of sandal heels. She made him want to smile, even now after everything he just revealed to her.

He was sure he wouldn't feel that way for long. As soon as she gave him a reaction the comfort he felt around her would disappear

"So, do you have nothing to say to me now that you know I'm the monster everyone claims I am." He tried to keep his tone scornful. He was surprised how difficult that was with her.

Bella bit her lip. Here it comes, he thought. The judgment, the looks of fear, disapproval, hate, or pity. Her forehead crinkled. She still hadn't looked up from those damn shoes.

"My legs are cold, and these shoes hurt my feet. I'm not looking forward to that walk back to your truck."

She looked up at him then, her eyes were still soft but not pitying. There was no fear or hate, nothing he expected.

She said she was cold. Shit, he needed to get her inside. He walked over to her and swiped her up in his arms. With one arm under her knees and the other behind her back he started the walk to his truck.

"You can't carry me all the way to your truck Jake, I'm too heavy." She protested.

He couldn't help himself; he chuckled, pulling her in so he could nuzzle the top of her head and take in her scent. Before he placed her on her feet by the truck, he pressed his lips to her forehead enjoying the feel of her in his arms and the peace only she seemed to bring him for just a little longer.

Thank you for reading.