"He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. When he lifted the lid I was surprised to see this beautiful bracelet with a small handmade wooden wolf charm" I say, lifting my arm to show Emily my new bracelet from Jacob.
"Wow Bella it's beautiful! Did you hide your expression from Jake better than you did while telling that story?" She asks with a laugh.
"What?! I love the bracelet!" I say defensively.
"I have no doubt that you love the bracelet, but let's be real you thought it was going to be a ring"
"Did not!" I try, but I can't say it with a straight face.
"Okay, fine I thought it might be a ring… but just because of how he presented it."
"I knew it!" Emily says with pride in her voice.
"There is no way he'd propose so soon, we haven't even been together six months. Just because we're pretty much living together doesn't mean he wants to marry me"
"Bella! Are you serious, you're his imprint and I've heard him talk about you. I swear he would take you to City Hall and the elders tomorrow if he thought that what you wanted. He loves you so much, you're his soulmate. Trust me! He looks at you the same way that Sam looks at me, it's real!"
"You really think he wants to marry me? Even after just a couple months?" I ask.
"I don't think. I know. But forgot marriage, tell me about the mark!" She says excitedly.
After showing her the quickly fading bruise that holds the indentation of Jacobs teeth, I run my fingers over it as I tell her about our first time and the experience of being marked. At first I'm worried that she'll be jealous that Jake marked me the first time and Sam hasn't marked her yet, but my worry was unnecessary.
"I shouldn't have been surprised that Jake couldn't resist marking you. The alpha wolf is said to be more aggressive and powerful than the others. But I'm sure I can wear down Sam eventually, I'm taking it as a sexy challenge" she says with a smirk.
When I get back to the house Jake is pacing back and forth in our bedroom, he looks focused. I worry that something is wrong, did something happen at work, is the pack okay, I think to myself before speaking.
"Jake honey, is everything okay?" I ask timidly.
"Where should we put Zeke's crib?" He asks.
"That's why you're pacing? I thought something was wrong!" I say, breathing a sigh of relief.
"You see if he's on my side of the bed then you might feel like you can't help, but if he's on your side of the bed, I don't want you to think that I expect you have to do all the work." He says with a huff.
"You're so sweet to think of me. I am happy either way, you know I'll get my share of baby cuddles no matter which side he's on and I'm not afraid to ask for help, but if you're really worried about it, we could always put the crib at the end of the bed and then we don't have to pick sides."
"Now why didn't I think of that?" He asks, pulling me into a hug.
"You were too close to the problem, I've fresh eyes" I say, giving him a kiss.
"Guess I'm lucky to have such a smart girlfriend" he says before returning the kiss.
"Do I need to babyproof the house?" Jake asks.
"Not really, you lucked out this time. Zeke isn't crawling much yet. We just need to make sure there isn't anything small or sharp laying around that he could grab and put in his mouth"
"Jake, are you nervous?"
"Umm well a little, I'm used to having Billy down the hall if I need anything and after what happened with his breathing last time, yeah I am a little nervous about having him for the whole weekend just the three of us." He says shyly.
"It's okay to be nervous, I'm a little nervous too but I know we can do it." I say reassuringly.
"Yes we can, and it will be good practice for when we have our own someday."
"Already thinking about kids are we? I'm pretty sure you owe me a ring before we start our own pack"
"I like the sound of our own pack" he says, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
The rest of the week flies by. I'm busy at the clinic, this week we had a little one with a broken arm courtesy of the monkey bars, a first time mom who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and an older gentleman who was having a myocardial infarction who we ended up sending to Port Angeles to be hospitalized.
When Friday afternoon rolls around Jake and I are anxiously anticipating Zeke's arrival. Even after insisting that the house required little baby proofing Jake is still checking and double checking the mechanisms he put in place. I am in no place to judge as I have vacuumed the rug twice, obsessively wiped down the counters and made two different types of baby food. Just as we're both about to go crazy, there is a knock at the door.
Rebecca, Solomon and Zeke are waiting at the door. Quickly recognizing Jacob, Zeke reaches for him with an excited screech! I guess Jake really is the fun uncle.
"We can't stay long, we're hoping to get to the hotel before dark, but thank you so much for agreeing to watch Zeke it means so much to us. Please don't be afraid to call if you need anything, his diapers are in the bag. Sol has a cooler with pre measured bottles of milk, his schedule is in the folder with all of the other important documents and numbers. Although you shouldn't need to call the doctor" she says with a laugh and flashes me a smile.
After a few more reminders and lots of hugs and kisses for Zeke, Rebecca and Sol are back on the road, and it's just the three of us in the house. Jake carries Zeke to the living room and I start some dinner. After setting the salmon to marinade, I go to join the boys. I stop in the hallway and watch them.
They are snuggled up on the couch and Jake is reading Zeke an alphabet book, but it's not any alphabet book it's the Quileute alphabet. The pictures are stunning drawings and Jake's pronunciation is beautiful. The Quileute language isn't spoken regularly, and I'm not sure how many people on the Rez speak it fluently. I'm not even sure how much Jake speaks, with the ease that he is reading the children's book, he may be more fluent than I realized.
I make myself comfortable on the couch next to them, when zeke notices me he wiggles out of Jacob's arms and make and makes his way over to me. I pull him up into my lap and hold him close. This little boy is one of the reasons Jake and I got together. It's possible we would have imprinted during the follow up on his shoulder, but maybe to make myself more comforate I would have passed it off to our medical assistant, as suture removal isn't difficult. It's hard to think about not having Jake in my life, so I usually don't. I give Zeke another squeeze before lifting him into the air and blowing a raspberry on his exposed belly, causing him to squeal with laughter.
After dinner, the three of us play on the living room floor for a while. When Jake offers to clean up the kitchen, I take Zeke into our room to get ready for bed. After he's in his Pjs the two of us rock quietly in the rocking chair until he is sound asleep. Even after his eyes have been closed for a while I continue to rock him, as nothing is more peaceful than a sleeping baby. I silently stand from the rocking chair and place him in the crib we've set up for him.
The sound of Jake doing the dishes is soothing. I make myself comfy on the couch and pick up the alphabet book from the end table as I wait. The pictures are truly works of art, I do my best to replicate the sounds that Jake was making but I'm sure they're wrong. Stumbling over the simple sounds makes me realize how much I still have to learn about this culture that I am quickly becoming immersed in, the culture that if things go as planned, my children will be a part of. I don't want their father to be the only one who knows about their heritage.
I am still sounding out the first few pages when Jake makes his way into the living room. Quickly I put the book into his hands and insist that he reads to me. His deep voice is slow and smooth as the unfamiliar sounds roll off his tongue. As he is reading the last few pages, I lose the battle with my eyelids and slump into a light sleep against his chest. He lifts me off of the couch and carries me up the stairs, ever so slowly in an attempt to not wake me he slides his hands underneath my shirt and lifts it over my head, replacing it with my nearby sleep shirt. That is really just one of his old t-shirts. He slips off my pants and I mumble a soft thank you against his lips. Jake slips into bed next to me and wraps his arms around me. He kisses the top of my head and a sigh my I love yous back to him.
I wake with a start when Zeke begins to cry. It's 2:30am and I crawl out of bed and Jakes arms. I tiptoe across the room and scoop Zeke from the crib at the end our bed. He calms slightly but it's clear he is hungry. We rock gently in the dark kitchen as his bottle warms in the warmer. Once the bottle is warm we sit on the couch, as he drinks I sing quietly to him. At the moment I'm wishing I knew some traditional Quileute songs, but Zeke doesn't seem to mind my choices. I'm burping a very full Zeke when I hear soft footsteps in the hall.
"Bella, is that you? I woke up and the bed was empty."
"Zeke was hungry so I made him a bottle. We're on our way back to bed as soon as he burps." I say, reaching out to Jake in the dark.
He takes my hand and moves to stand behind the couch. Kissing both Zeke and I on the head. Almost simultaneously Zeke let's out a loud burp. We both laugh. He takes the bottle from me and puts it in the sink while I'm changing Zeke's wet diaper, before following Zeke and I into the master bedroom. After Zeke is back to sleep, Jake and I lay in each other's arms for a moment.
"Bells you should have woken me up. It's not fair that you had to get up with him." Jake whispers.
"I'm happy to do it, I like the quiet moments with him and you were fast asleep. I couldn't bring myself to wake you."
"Well I'll get up next time" he says, before we both fall asleep.
The sound of rain on the roof mixed with Zeke's cooing wakes me from my light sleep. Jake is stirring next to me as I climb out of bed and scoop up Zeke. As it's morning I bring him back to our bed, and put him down on top of Jake. Zeke squeals with joy and grabs onto Jake's hair! I watch the two of them tossil for a while and snap a picture for Rebecca.
After breakfast the three of us sit on the porch and watch the rain. Zeke crawls in between the two of our laps, giggling softly as he topples onto Jake. I love watching the two of them play. Zeke loves all the attention when Sam and Emily stop by, Sam and Jake talk about the pack. He steals Emily's heart right away, his big brown eyes are hard to resist.
When Sunday rolls around I begin to feel sad when I think about Zeke being picked up. This weekend has been a nice taste of what our future might look like. I give Zeke extra cuddles before Rebecca and Sol knock on the door. Jake and I clean up the house from the busy weekend. When we fall into bed later that night we are both exhausted from the weekend but filled with excitement and hopes for the future.
AN: Sorry I suck at updating! I will try to be better but I can't make any promises. I kept getting stuck with the chapter, and I couldn't figure out how I wanted to end it. During my writers block for this story I did write a couple one-shots that I may post eventually. Happy Thanksgiving! 3