CHAPTER 49: WHERE WE BELONG.
EDWARD
Hearing Bella's squeals of excitement, others came onto the deck to find out what was going on.
"There it is," Bella pointed at Pendleton which was just starting to come into view.
Jasper and Alice came to stand next to us. Clara must have been with Esme who had taken to caring for her when Alice and Jasper needed a break.
Alice grabbed a hold of Bella and squeezed her tight, laughing in excitement. However, Jasper remained silent for a bit.
"You sure we can make it?" he asked only loud enough for me to hear.
I knew what he was asking. Could we make a life on the island? Could we finally be safe after so many years? Could we live out our lives there?
"I hope we can. That's all we have, isn't it? There are no guarantees in this world. But I can tell you that this is the first time I've felt optimistic."
We were going to have to work hard to build a life on the island, but I believed we could do it.
Before I knew what was happening, Masen's six year old Max zoomed past us and was trying to climb the rails of the boat to get a look.
Before I could reach him, Masen grabbed him by the back of his jacket and yanked him back.
"Get off there! The last thing we need is for you to fall overboard," he scolded, but the slight upturn of his lips took the bite out of his words.
Masen was a nice guy, but generally more reserved than the rest of us. I wasn't sure whether it was because he was new or if it was just a part of his personality… sort of like Jasper.
Actually, Masen had been spending a lot of time with Jasper and Alice ever since he'd joined our community. I think it started partly to avoid Gianna who seemed to be stalking him but more now because Jasper and Alice were also young parents. For better or for worse, Masen was a father of three young children. I couldn't imagine how scary that must be.
"Lily, put your boots on," Alice said, letting go of Bella as she looked down at the little girl who had taken her shoes off without anyone noticing and was busy sliding back and forth on the water-slick deck.
With an exasperated sigh Masen pushed Max towards Alice and went to sort out Lily.
It wasn't long before Ben and some of the others joined us as well.
The coastline of our island was brilliant in the morning sun with its chalky white ribbon of cliffs jutting up from the water.
I looked at the others and saw the trepidation that was appearing on their faces.
I'd felt the same way when I saw our island for the first time. It didn't look habitable with its jagged cliffs and rocky beaches.
"Don't worry. Once you reach the top of the cliffs, it levels off into woodland. Down by the lake it's sheltered so we won't even have the wind from the ocean to deal with," Ben said, loudly so the others could hear.
They nodded in understanding, but I could tell that they wouldn't completely believe it until they saw it with their own eyes.
"Where's the beach?" Chris asked, tugging on my arm. "I thought there were beaches near the ocean."
I'd been surprised to learn that Chris had never seen the ocean before. I'd always lived close enough that my family was able to go on day trips, so it hadn't even occurred to me that that wasn't a part of everyone's life. Esme told me from the little she'd been able to get out of Chris about his family that Stefan had been away for a lot of his life doing tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. While he was away, his mother was reticent to go anywhere without him so she kept Chris close to home.
I still couldn't get over the fact that that monster Stefan had been the father of the little boy I'd grown to love.
"Not every island has beaches, bud," I said.
Chris looked unimpressed and left in search of Austin and Isaac.
The waves got choppier as we got closer to shore. Above the white tipped waves, seagulls swooped and hovered, searching for a possible meal.
One of the Sea Wolves named Ian joined us on deck. He was an older man, probably in his mid-sixties. He was short, but solid, all muscle. If I'd seen him in the old world, I might have thought he was from a biker gang in the way he was covered in tattoos and from his gruff mannerisms.
"I don't see a place to land," he said with a frown.
"There's a small stretch of land on the other side of the island where we can land the boat," I responded.
Ian grunted at my words.
"Benito only agreed to us unloading your supplies on the shore. We're not here to help you find a better place to live. That wasn't part of the deal," he said.
"Benito agreed for you to help us take our supplies up the cliff," Ben said, "not just on the shore."
The cliffs were pretty steep, especially for the amount of stuff we had to carry with us.
After a slight pause, Ian let out a deep sigh and said, "Right."
Then, without another word, he left us to go bark orders at the others inside.
It took all of us to pull the boat close enough to shore that we could lift things off the boat.
Standing in the water up to my knees, the slight push of the tide shoved gently against my calves, urging me toward shore.
Even through my boots, I could feel the sharp rocks underfoot. The beach should have been all rounded stones. The tide washed up on the beach day after day, year after year for eons. But the rocks on the beach were still sharp flint that would cut my feet without shoes.
The kids didn't seem bothered by it. They were too busy running through the water, splashing and shrieking in glee.
The Sea Wolves quickly got down to business and soon we were all lugging our belongings up the cliff and into the woods. The Sea Wolves wouldn't take it any further than the treeline and we didn't want them to. I didn't want strangers knowing where we were going to set up our colony.
"We have peddlers that travel this way once a month. If you need anything and have something to trade, put this sign on the beach," Ian said to Ben and me, holding out a very large florescent green sign which had the insignia of the Sea Wolves on it. "They won't touch land unless they see the sign."
I nodded, taking the sign from him.
"Take this too," Ian said, handing me a small box. Opening the lid, I saw that it was a watch.
"If you wind it, it'll keep time. No battery required. Our peddlers will be passing by on October 31st. One month from today," Ian said.
I looked up at him in shock.
"It's September 30th?"
It had been years since I'd known the time, the day, or even the year.
Looking down at the watch, I saw that it was 12:45 and a small counter at the bottom read 09/30/16.
I was stunned silent at the revelation that it had been a little over five years since the old world had ended.
"Oh my god," I said, hoarsely, feeling emotional for some reason.
"What is it?" Bella asked, coming up next to us.
I showed her and Ben the watch and they were both silent as they stared at it.
Bella cleared her throat and whispered, "Five years…"
"Thank you," Ben said, reaching out to shake Ian's hand. "We'd never have made it here without your help. Make sure you give our thanks to Benito."
"It was a pleasure doing business with you," Ian responded. "Remember. October 31st."
And with that he left with the other Sea Wolves and with them any means of getting off our island. For better or for worse, this was our home.
We dragged our belongings as far as we could through the trees, but it was hard work and we still had quite a distance to go.
Everyone was getting tired and cranky as they stumbled their way through the thick undergrowth, carrying heavy loads. We kept on having to backtrack when we came to a spot where the woods were too thick or the undergrowth too rough, which was driving everyone crazy.
Finally, when it was late afternoon, Ben called a stop to the move.
"Let's wrap everything in tarps and head towards the lake. It would be good to get Emmett and the others help and we need to make sure that they haven't had to move locations."
Everyone heaved deep sighs of relief, having expended almost all of their energy. Well, everyone except the kids who were busy chasing each other through the trees, much to the chagrin of Masen, Esme, and Angela who were watching them like hawks.
We came to the top of a slope where the woods thinned which was a sign that we weren't that far from the lake.
As we walked, birdsong came in lulls and bursts around us. It wasn't only seagulls. We could hear other birds as well.
As I passed under a large oak tree, I heard the trill of a bird above me. The white-breasted bird with its bright orange beak moved its head from side to side like it was a robot which had a switch in its brain that flicked to choose the direction it looked in.
I chuckled to myself when I realized that instead of finding it beautiful with its snow white plumage, I wondered whether it would taste any good.
Shaking my head in amusement, I hurried to catch up with Bella and the others who had wandered ahead. They wouldn't be hard to find. I just had to follow the shrieking children.
However, before I got very far, a deep voice spoke up behind me.
"Hey! When did we get more kids? Have you and Bella been hiding something from me?"
My heart gave a startled leap before I recognized the voice and spun around.
"Emmett," I sighed in relief.
I walked over to him and grabbed his arm and clapped him on the back in what Bella called, "the one-armed man hug."
"Hey, Ed. I was starting to think that you weren't coming. You took your sweet time about it," he laughed, but I could see a look in his eye that told me there was a ring of truth to his words.
"Getting stuff together took longer than we thought and getting transportation was even harder. But we're here now," I said with a relieved sigh.
He was thinner than he used to be and sunburnt, but otherwise looked healthy which meant that they'd figured out what they could eat on the island.
I was just about to ask him about it when I heard Bella calling my name. She must have realized that I'd fallen behind.
"Over here," I called out.
Bella appeared out of the trees with a look of concern etched on her face until she saw Emmett.
"Hey, kiddo," Emmett was able to get out just before Bella took a running leap at him, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Oof," he grunted, but then squeezed her tight too.
"Where's Rose?" I asked, looking around for her.
"She's back at the building site with Embry and Katie. I'm out here getting us something to eat to go along with the fish we're grilling," he said, holding out his shirt that he'd been using to gather seeds and what looked like plant bulbs and roots .
I looked at it all in curiosity.
"How did you know this stuff is edible?" I asked, poking at the contents.
"Jack told me. The kid is weird as fuck, but I think we need to keep him around. He knows a shit load about the local plants," Emmett said with a wry grin.
Irritation hit me, but I squashed it. I had to get over my dislike of him.
"I hope you brought a lot of storage containers. When we started trying to preserve stuff, we realized that we really didn't have anything to put it in. Our wigwam is covered in plants and drying seaweed right now," Emmett said.
"We've brought some and we also have the equipment for canning," Bella said.
"Cool… cool… We've been foraging for tons of stuff like mushrooms and drying them too. Jack promised they were edible, but I didn't trust him. There are a lot of poisonous ones around, so I made him try each type first. The kid will do practically anything if you bet that he won't do it," Emmett said with a chuckle.
"Is he living here now?" I asked and I couldn't stop the edge that entered my voice.
Bella sighed.
"No, man. But he has a kayak and drops by every once in a while. He's been just as anxious for you to arrive as we've been," Emmett said with a grin. "He's actually a pretty good guy, Edward."
"We'll see," I said, grudgingly.
"Let's head back. Rose will lose her mind when she sees you."
On the walk back, Emmett talked about the progress they'd made in clearing and building.
They'd done what they could, but there wasn't nearly enough housing for everyone.
Each wigwam fit two at the most three people and they'd only managed to build four because of the effort it took to clear the land. The wigwams weren't the hard part. It was digging up trees and cutting up wood that took the longest.
Surprisingly Owen, the father of the family on Whitehead island, had lent them some of his tools, like an axe, shovel and pickaxe. It seemed like Emmett was a pretty good ambassador and had gone a long way to building a bridge with the protective father.
"He's prickly, but really his only concern is protecting his family. Can you really blame him with the number of assholes running around?"
I nodded in agreement.
"Embry and I helped him with some of the renovations that needed to be done on his house in order to make it warmer in the winter and in exchange he lent us his tools. And thank god for that. Have you ever tried to dig up tree roots? The fuckers are so deep in the ground that you'd never be able to do it without a pick axe and shovel," Emmett said with a shrug. "Anyway… I think Owen and his family will make good allies as long as we keep our visits to a minimum."
It was then that I heard splashing and squealing, which meant that the rest of them had made it to the lake and the kids were already in the water.
"When did we get more kids?" Emmett asked again.
"It's a long story, but the basics are that we've adopted another family," Bella said.
"Don't we have enough people to feed?" Emmett grumbled, but there wasn't much heat behind his words. Emmett was the last person who would be able to turn away a family.
"Masen has saved our asses in more ways than one," I said. "Without him, we wouldn't have enough seeds to begin planting in the spring."
Emmett tilted his head in confusion.
"Let's get back to camp and we'll talk about it. There's so much we need to tell you," Bella responded, tugging on his arm.
When we stepped out of the forest, I was amazed at the sight in front of me. Despite what Emmett had said, they'd cleared a good chunk of land and built four sturdy-looking domed huts.
I looked up the hill towards the land that Bella and I had claimed and saw that Emmett had begun to clear it, but there was a lot left to be done. I didn't mind. I kind of wanted to be the one to do it. I wanted to build our home myself.
I didn't notice Rosalie rushing towards us until she and Bella tumbled to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.
Giggling, the two of them climbed to their feet with their arms thrown around each other.
"Give a girl a little warning, Rose," Bella was barely able to get out through her laughter.
"I'm just so happy to see you guys," Rose said with a laugh and then she pounced on me, yanking me into a hug too.
"We missed you too," I said, squeezing her tight.
She pulled back to glare at me. "You guys took long enough."
"A lot of shit got in our way, but we made it. We're finally here," I said.
Patting my cheek gently, she let me go only to grab Bella again and drag her towards the others in the center of the clearing.
It was fairly quiet at first.
While we caught up with Emmett, Embry, Katie, and Rosalie, the others in our group stared at their surroundings in silent amazement.
I hoped that they felt the same sense of home when they looked at where we were as I did.
"So there are no other settlements on this island?" Jane asked. "No people, no dead?"
"Nope," Embry said. "We've searched every square inch of this island and it's just us."
"Wow," Jane said. "I didn't think I'd ever be in a place where I didn't have to constantly be on the lookout for the dead. This is just… It's surreal."
The others nodded in agreement.
While we continued to talk, I noticed that Masen stayed silent, clearly unsure how to interact with people who had known each other for a long time. However, his kids didn't have any reservations.
"You're huge!" Max exclaimed as he stopped directly in front of Emmett.
Lily joined Max as they stared up at Emmett in fascination.
"My father was a bear," Emmett said with a straight face. "Can't you tell?"
"Well, you are pretty hairy," Lily said as she reached out and yanked on the hair of Emmett's leg.
With a yelp, Emmett danced away from her.
"Excuse me, little lady. It's only polite to introduce yourself before you start tugging on a bear's fur. Manners are important," Emmett said, looking down at the little girl with an exaggerated serious look on his face.
Suddenly shy, Lily scurried away to hide behind Masen's leg.
That was Masen's cue to introduce himself.
"Hi, I'm Masen," he said, reaching out to shake Emmett's hand.
"Are these rugrats yours?" Emmett asked with a grin.
"Guilty as charged," Masen said with a smile, seeming to relax a bit from Emmett's easy going personality.
However, I could tell that under Emmett's friendly greeting, he was assessing Masen. He saw his young age and the lack of resemblance to the kids. It went a long way to showing Masen's character that he was caring for three kids under the age of eight that weren't blood relatives
"Well, welcome to the family, man. I hope you're ready for some fucking hard work," he said with a grin.
"I'm ready," Masen said.
Clapping him on the back, Emmett ushered us to a fire pit where Katie was grilling slabs of fish on skewers.
"We're going to have to go out fishing again," Emmett said. "We only have enough for us."
"We brought fishing equipment," Ben said. "You just need to show us where to go."
"Katie can take a few of you. She's the best out of the four of us. There are trout in the lake for a quick meal. We can take the rowboat out in the ocean tomorrow for more fish. I don't want us to overfish the lake."
"How do fish end up in lakes? I mean… how did the first fish end up in a lake?" Chris asked out of the blue.
"Do you mean the first fish ever or the first one in this lake?" Austin asked.
"Well…" Chris continued, but I tuned him out in order to focus on Carlisle who had begun speaking intensely.
"So what have you been eating? You all seem to be getting enough to eat."
"There's actually quite a lot to eat here, but the trick will be to preserve it. It's all well and good to have the food in the summer, but it's the middle of the winter when we'll need more food than just fish," Embry responded.
"We've brought a lot of books about how to do that kind of stuff," Bella said.
"I've made a list of all the food we need to look for. We need to make sure that Angela and Esme are getting enough nutrition," Carlisle said with a quiver of tension in his voice.
Noticing his tone, Emmett looked questioningly at him.
However, before Carlisle could say anything Esme spoke.
"I'm pregnant and Carlisle's worrying himself sick about it," she said with a smile.
However, no one smiled back. Esme didn't look well. While Angela was blooming with health at eight and a half months pregnant, Esme seemed to be wilting. Her color wasn't good and she seemed to have morning sickness all the time. It was still early in her pregnancy, but I didn't think her gaunt appearance was normal.
Emmett stared at her for a moment and then let out a long breath as if preparing himself for battle and nodded.
"I think we need Jack for that. He knows what he's talking about and can find the stuff on your list a lot more efficiently than any of us could. We'll go pick him up in the morning," he said.
Then, he walked over to Esme and kissed her on the cheek.
"Congratulations, mama," he said softly, pulling her into a hug.
"She can't be your mama," Lily said, wandering over to us. "You're too old."
"You're being a little hard on me, aren't you little girl?" Emmett asked, letting go of Esme and crouching down in front of her. "First, you pull on my fur and then you tell me I'm old. You haven't even introduced yourself to me yet."
Lily huffed.
"I'm Lily and Masen told me to always tell the truth, so that's what I'm doing," she said.
"Well, I can't argue with that logic," Emmett said, standing back up and stretching.
"Let's get a snack and then Katie can take a couple of you fishing while we go get the rest of the supplies."
That night after we settled Max and his three kids in one wigwam, Angela, Ben, and Isaac in another, and Esme, Carlisle, and Chris in a third the rest of us got ready to sleep under the stars.
There was a slight chill in the air, but under our blankets Bella and I were warm enough.
It was hard to settle down enough to sleep though. There was still a thrill of excitement coursing through me every time I remembered that we'd finally made it. This was our home and we were going to live here permanently.
For once the conversations around the fire weren't about life and death things. We all knew that the next morning would bring hard work, but we weren't dreading the next day as we'd done many times in the past.
My stomach was pleasantly full with trout and a strange assortment of vegetables. Instead of using any of the vegetables that we'd gotten from the Sea Wolves, Embry had taken us to the lake to dig up arrowhead tubers which were the roots of a kind of water weed. They didn't look that appetizing, but they weren't bad, kind of like a really starchy potato. Flavoured with sea salt and wild leeks it was actually pretty good. We also had wild rice mixed with pine nuts to round out the meal.
For dessert, Emmett hauled out a small container of nuts that looked a lot like pecans.
"We found a hickory tree and we've been harvesting the nuts. They're awesome, especially when you roast them and then drizzle maple syrup on them. Jack gave us a little bit of his syrup, but I think we could tap some of our own trees."
I took a couple of them when he offered and popped them in my mouth.
I practically groaned at how good they tasted.
"Now, remember Em. We're going to use them to make flour, not candy. There's not an unlimited supply of them," Rosalie admonished. "Jack says it's the only hickory tree he's seen between the two islands."
Emmett nodded sadly as Rose took the container away from him.
I smiled at her chastisement because Emmett was such a little kid sometimes.
Eventually, drowsiness washed over me, so I burrowed closer to Bella who had already gone to sleep a while ago. It wasn't long before I fell asleep listening to the sound of the crackling fire and soft conversations.
The next day Emmett and Carlisle went to pick up Jack from Whitehead island while the rest of us took the morning to explore and gather food.
Everyone agreed to return to the lake when the sun was directly overhead which would be around lunch time.
At first the whole group stuck together, still following the instinct of safety in numbers, but eventually people started splitting off to the explore.
I decided to return to the lake to wash clothes and play in the water with the kids. Masen, Esme, and Angela needed a break from them so I volunteered. Bella stayed with me to keep Clara entertained. She was currently sitting in the shallow water near the beach letting Clara bat at the waves and squeal at the splashes.
Even though it was early fall, the water was still relatively warm in the lake. The air was a lot colder than the water itself, so I wasn't worried about the kids being in the water. They all needed a bath anyway. I planned on getting them dry and near the fire as soon as they got out.
It was around mid-morning when Emmett and Carlisle returned with Jack and his sister Caroline.
A lot of people had returned already and were milling around camp. However, the two of them stood out. Their hair had bleached even more in the sun until it was so pale it almost looked white. It was all you could see at first because it contrasted so sharply with the surroundings. They hadn't tried to dull it with dirt, liked they'd done when they stole our boat and kidnapped Bella. Actually, it looked like they'd made an effort to get cleaned up.
Jack was scanning the crowd, seeming to catalogue everyone.
I sighed loudly, preparing myself to try to get along with him.
"You promised, Edward," Bella said, before I'd uttered a word.
"What did I do?" I asked, looking at her. "I didn't say anything."
But instead of responding, she just repeated. "You promised."
"I told you. I'm going to try, Bella," I said, annoyed.
With a smile and then a laugh, she splashed me in the face before getting out of the water and grabbing her towel.
Attracted by the sound, Jack looked over at us.
When I saw his eyes widen at Bella in a bathing suit, I narrowed my eyes in warning.
The minute he noticed me, his eyes quickly looked away and towards the people he had yet to meet.
"Okay, kids," I said, standing up. "It's time to get out of the water and have lunch."
"Noooooooooo," they all whined.
"I'll eat your food and you'll have to go pick your own if you're not out of the water in five seconds," I said.
The chaos created by my countdown was hilarious. Did they really believe that I'd eat their food?
Masen, Esme, Angela, and Alice were waiting on the shore with towels for the kids.
When the kids had run off to get something to eat, Masen stayed behind with me.
"Hey… Is that Jack guy for real?" he asked, quizzically.
"Yeah, why? What did he do?" I asked.
"He hasn't been here more than ten minutes and he's already quizzing all the women like it's a job interview. He actually introduced himself to Jane by saying 'Hi. My name is Jack. Do you have a boyfriend?"
I snorted at the ridiculousness of it.
"Well, at least he didn't kidnap her, like Bella," I said.
"What?!" Masen asked, alarmed.
"No… no… He's not going to kidnap anyone. Well, he did kidnap Bella, but he's learned his lesson," I tried to explain, but it didn't sound convincing even to my own ears.
"So… he's a weirdo…" Masen said.
"A useful weirdo…" I added.
"Okay," he said, watching as Jack walked up to Leah. "We'll keep an eye on him."
"Yes, we will."
Whatever Jack said to Leah got shot down immediately as she stared at him incredulously and then burst out laughing.
Jack didn't seem fazed. He just moved on to the next.
The rest of the day, Jack taught our group what plants to look for and where to find them. He even brought with him the types of plants that people needed to look for so everyone could see them, touch, them, and even smell them. It would make recognizing the plants a lot easier.
He was smart. I had to give him that.
The plan was that tomorrow, while some of us cleared land, Caroline, Jack, and Rosalie were going to take teams foraging. Rosalie had picked up a lot of knowledge from Jack over the last month and a half.
I was going to begin clearing the hill tomorrow because I couldn't wait to begin building our home.
I'd never been in such pain in my life which was saying a lot considering that I'd spent the last five years in a zombie apocalypse.
I could have been on one of the gathering teams who were scouring the island for food and medicinal plants. But no. I decided to be all noble and volunteer for a job that others had to be forced into doing, digging up roots, cutting down trees, and clearing brush.
In principle, I knew that the pain I was suffering was worth it, but that didn't stop me from feeling sorry for myself. We needed three more wigwams to fit everyone comfortably, so my misery wasn't going to end any time soon.
I was sure our group would get them all done before winter, but I wasn't sure I'd be there to see it.
Jasper told me to stop whining with a smirk on his face. Because of his leg, Jasper's job was to strip branches and bark from wood that we needed for building. He was also part of the fishing team. The bastard should at least have a little sympathy since his work didn't require manual labour... asshole.
Emmett had laughed at the way I was all hunched over and said, "Suck it up, old man."
I knew that Jack probably knew of some herbal concoction that would help. He'd been spending a lot of time with Carlisle over the last month, telling him about all the vitamin rich plants and herbal remedies that could be found on the island. It was a relief because Esme was already starting to look better, but I would die before I asked him for help. I knew he'd get that little smirk on his face when he knew something I didn't and I'd want to punch him in the throat.
I didn't whine to Bella about the never ending cycle of pain that I'd been in because she was busy enough running around trying to preserve food that the foraging teams were bringing in.
However, I finally admitted defeat after I'd spent a gruelling day digging up a particularly difficult couple of oak tree stumps. My hands burned with new blisters. My head ached from being out under the direct sun too long and probably from not drinking enough water.
I was wallowing in self-pity when Bella got home.
"Edward, this is ridiculous. I know that you've been hiding how much pain you're in. Let me talk to Carlisle," she said with a deep sigh as she plopped herself down next to me on our bed, causing me to flinch.
"No," I said, trying to turn my head to look at her but freezing when my neck tensed up. "We can't waste the medicine."
"Fine," she growled. "Then, I'm going to give you a massage."
"No… no… I'm good. I'll just lay here. You don't need to worry about me," I said, hastily. The last thing I wanted was for Bella to begin digging away at my muscles in an attempt at a massage.
Bella sighed in exasperation.
"I used to give my mother back rubs all the time. I was pretty good at it."
"I just need to rest," I said, warily.
"Shut up," she said. "Resting doesn't seem to be doing any good, so I'm helping whether you like it or not."
I yelped in pain as she tugged at my shirt, pulling it up and over my head. I tried to move away from her, but my muscles locked up and I was suddenly at her mercy.
"Jesus, Bella. It's too cold out to strip me down," I whined.
She stood back up and pulled the tarp for our door closed, which blocked out the wind, but also plunged us into darkness.
Before coming back to me, she stirred up the fire until it gave off an orange glow that filled our home.
"Okay now, just relax," she said, kneeling next to me.
Suddenly, I felt something cold smeared across my shoulder blades.
"What the hell is that?" I demanded. "It's fucking cold."
"It'll warm up soon," she said, smoothing it over my back. "It's pine nut paste that Rose gave me when I told her about your back pain. Now, just relax."
"OW, fuck!" I cried, as Bella used a heavy hand to knead the back of my neck.
"It's got to get worse before it gives better. Your muscles are like rocks."
I groaned as she continued to grind into my muscles in tight little circles, but the knots didn't seem to want to loosen up.
A second later, she moved from her sitting position next to me to straddling the back of my legs in order to really put her weight into it.
I yelped again and then cursed.
"Ow! Fuck! Stop it, Bella!"
"Sorry, sweetheart," she said, leaning forward to kiss the side of my head.
Regardless of my begging her to stop, she continued to knead the muscles until I slowly felt the lumps begin to give way under her fingers.
Bella moved her way down my back, grunting at the effort she was expending to massage my tensed up muscles.
It was like a poison was being leached out of me with each firm press. It was the best I'd felt in weeks.
With my body finally beginning to loosen up, I drifted into a drowsy trance that eventually lulled me to sleep.
Something woke me close to dawn. Not wanting to wake Bella, I lay still and listened for what must have woken me.
At first, there was nothing but silence, but then I heard sounds coming from down the hill.
With our house being a little separated from the others, I couldn't quite figure out what was happening. I was pretty sure I was hearing voices, but why were people up so early?
Quietly, I slid out from under our blankets and pulled on my clothes.
Bella muttered something in her sleep a moment before she curled herself into a ball, compensating for the loss of my body heat.
I smiled at the sight. Bella always called me her furnace and in comparison to her I was. She loved to press her ice cold feet against the backs of my legs when she'd creep back into bed after using the outhouse.
Pulling the tarp back from our door a crack, I slipped out into the pre-dawn morning.
It was chilly outside, but the air was fresh; so fresh I nearly coughed when I took a good lungful of it.
Down the hill, I saw that several people were awake and standing around the clearing which was strange for this time of the morning. It made me worried, so I rushed down the hill to find out what was happening.
Rosalie, Alice, Masen, and Leah were gathered together talking to each other in quiet voices.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Angela's in labour," Rosalie said. "I woke up to her crying and moaning."
Almost to prove her point, I heard Angela cry out from her hut.
I winced in sympathy, not able to even imagine the kind of pain labour must be without drugs.
"Who's in there with her?" I asked.
"Ben and Carlisle," Leah said, but then laughed. "Although I'm not sure how much help Ben is being. He's already been out once to throw up. He looks like he's about to faint."
"Can you blame him?" I asked, defensively.
I knew that I'd be the same way if it were Bella. Probably worse.
"She's his wife. She's in pain and he can't do anything about it. I think we need to cut him a little slack," I continued.
"Leah didn't mean it that way, Edward," Masen said, coming to her defense. "Give her a break."
That pulled me up short.
I looked at Masen and then at Leah in surprise at the strength behind his words.
Leah looked surprised herself.
As far as I knew, Leah and Masen were only acquaintances.
Under our scrutiny, I could see even in the faint light that he was blushing.
I looked at Leah again and saw that her eyes had softened, losing the hard edge that she seemed to always have.
She was quite beautiful in an exotic way with her copper skin, glistening black hair, and dark eyes. However, I'd never been able to see it before because we'd never quite warmed up to each other. She still associated me with her mother's death and I guess in a way I did too.
Slowly, others began to wake up as the sun rose in the sky, drawn by the noise and the internal clock we'd all developed over the years. Without clocks or any other way to tell time, we'd all began to rise with the sun and go to bed with the dark.
It wasn't hard to hear what was being said in the hut. The walls of the wigwams weren't all that thick.
"Ben," Angela whimpered. "I can't do this. I can't have a kid. I'll screw it up. I'm too young and too stupid to be a mom."
"Ange," Ben said, "We're going to be fine. Our baby's going to love you."
I ushered people away when I heard these words shared between them. None of us should be listening in on such an intimate moment.
However, about two or three hours later, Angela had drawn a crowd.
The normally sweet daughter of a Lutheran minister was tearing a strip off Ben.
"I need an epidural. Why the hell didn't we think to bring a machine that will give epidurals, Ben?" Angela growled.
"You can't have something like that without electricity… And… and… even if we could we'd need an anesthesiologist to-" Ben babbled, the stress clearly getting to him.
"Shut up, Ben!" Angela yelled. "You have no fucking right to correct me! I'm the one in pain. I'm the one trying to squeeze your baby out of my hoohoo. You're such a…. such an asshole!"
"Ange-" Ben tried again, but again she cut him off.
"If you want to keep a very important piece of your anatomy, you should stop talking now."
People couldn't help but chuckle at her words before going to get something to eat for breakfast.
Despite the fact that Angela was having the baby, the rest of us had to get back to work. The days were counting down to winter, so we couldn't get slack now.
Angela's labour went on for the rest of the day and showed no signs of being over as night came.
Everyone stopped by at least once during the day to check in with Esme who was staying nearby in case Carlisle needed anything. She told us that Angela was making progress, but it was still going to be a while. Rosalie asked questions about dilation and centimeters, but I quickly got out of hearing range. I was pretty sure I knew what they were talking about and it was something that I didn't want to know too many details about.
Many of our group decided to keep vigil by the fire that night, wanting to be nearby when the baby arrived. Masen even hauled out his guitar that he'd brought with him as his one luxury item. It was amazing to hear music again, especially when we sang along with familiar songs.
I was itching to borrow his guitar from him. I couldn't play it as well as I could the piano, but I missed playing music in any form.
"Do you miss your piano?" Bella whispered in my ear.
I simply nodded.
I knew I'd never play piano again, so there wasn't any reason to dwell on it.
Instead of saying anything more, Bella turned my face to her and kissed me on the lips before burrowing under my arm so that I could keep her warm.
Most people had drifted off to sleep next to the fire as the night grew later, but I couldn't sleep.
Angela's cries of pain were hard to listen to. Her cries had grown in intensity in the last hour, so I prayed for her sake that the baby was almost here.
Emmett and Rose were still awake too.
Just like with Alice, it felt like it was our duty to stand watch for the birth of one of our family.
I didn't know how late it was when we suddenly heard Ben say, "Push, Ange! You can do it, honey!"
The three of us sat up in excitement, knowing that we were approaching the end.
Jostled by my movement, Bella who had been asleep with her head pillowed on my leg sat up too.
Together we listened to the words of encouragement that Ben crooned to Angela as she fought to bring their baby into the world.
It couldn't have been more than a half an hour when everyone else was startled awake when Ben shouted.
"I can see the head! Just a few more honey. God, you are so strong Ange," Ben said and this time there was awe in his voice.
Bella squeezed my hand in nervous excitement as we waited for the sound of the baby's first cry.
"It's a boy!" Ben suddenly cried out. "Oh my god, Ange. We have a son!"
The cry of their baby brought tears to my eyes because I suddenly realized that for the first time I didn't dread the idea of bringing a child into the world.