Chapter 13:
Bella's POV:
1 week later...
I paused with my hand on the doorknob, smiling. The ultimate doom: telling Renee. Early marriage was higher up on her blacklist than boiling live puppies. Who could have foreseen her response? Not me. Maybe Alice, but I hadn't thought to ask her. "Well, Bella." Renee had said after I'd choked and stuttered out the impossible words: Mom, I'm marrying Jacob. "I'm a little miffed that you waited so long to tell me. Plane tickets only get more expensive. Oooh." She'd fretted. "Do you think Phil's cast will be off by then? It will spoil the pictures if he's not in a tux-"
"Back up a second, Mom." I'd gasped. "What do you mean, waited so long? I just got en-en..."-I'd been unable to force the word engaged-"a littleness than a week ago."
"Really? That is a surprise, I assumed..."
"What did you assume? When did you assume?"
"Well, after Charlie called, it sounded like things were pretty much sewn up, if you know what I mean. You're not very hard to read, sweetie. But I didn't say anything because I knew it wouldn't do any good. You're exactly like Charlie." She'd sighed, resigned. "Once you make your mind, there is no reasoning with you. Of course, exactly like Charlie, you stick by your decisions, too." And then she'd said the last thing that I'd ever expected to hear from my mother. "You're not making my mistakes, Bella. You sound like you're scared silly, and I'm guessing it's because you're afraid of me." She'd giggled. "Of what I'm doing to think. And I know I've said a lot of things about marriage and stupidity - and I'm not taking them back - but you need to realize that those things specifically applied to me. You're a completely different person than I am. You make your own kinds of mistakes, and I'm sure you'll have your share of regrets in life. But commitment was never your problem, sweetie. You have a better chance of making this work than most forty-year-olds I know." Renee had laughed again. "My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have found another soul."
"You're not... mad? You don't think I'm making a humongous mistake?"
"We'll, sure, I wish you'd wait a few more years. I mean, do I look old enough to be a mother-in-law or a grandma to you? Don't answer that. But this isn't about me. This is about you. Are you happy?"
"I don't know. I'm having an out-of-body experience right now." Renee had chuckled.
"Does he make you happy, Bella?"
"Yes, but-"
"Are you ever going to want anyone else?"
"No, but-"
"But what?"
"But aren't you going to say that I sound exactly like every other infatuated teenager since the dawn of time?"
"You've never been a teenager, sweetie. You know what's best for you." She at him Jacob who was sitting inside, letting us talk, but refusing to let me out of sight. "The way he watches you, it's like he's willing to leap in front of you and take a bullet for you or something." Immediately, pain shot through me, at the thought of Jacob getting hurt. The pain went from my chest to my stomach, I gasped and grabbed my stomach, and looked to Jacob, who was already standing up from the table in alarm. Then cautiously sat down before Renee freaked out. She looked alarmed. "Are you okay sweetie?" I calmed myself down.
"Yeah..." I breathed.
"Sorry... an Imprint thing?" I smiled.
"Yeah... it's okay. But... is that a bad thing? That he'd be willing to jump in front of a bullet for me..."
"It's an intense thing. Your different with him. He moves, you move... like magnets."
"Were imprints. And, I don't know, we're just..."
"In love. I get it. I just want to make sure your making the right choices for you. You know, cause your the one that's gonna have to live with him." I smiled at the thought. For the last few weeks, Renee had unexpectedly immersed herself in wedding plans. She'd spent hours every day on the phone with Esme. It let me right off the hook. Jacob and Edward's family and my family were taking care of the nuptials together without my having to do or know or think too hard about any of it. Charlie was furious, of course, but the sweet part was that he wasn't furious at me. Renee was the traitor. He'd counted on her to play the heavy. What could he do now, when his ultimate threat - telling Mom - had turned out to be utterly empty? He had nothing, and he knew it. So he moped around the house, muttering things about not being able to trust antone in this world...