Chapter Seven - At Home
Juliet POV
Jasper led me down the hallway to Carlisle's office. I felt nervous being in there - it seemed like forbidden territory, but Jasper sank easily into Carlisle's desk chair and motioned for me to take the seat across from him.
I perched on the comfy brown chair, trying not to examine anything in the room too closely. Just out of politeness. What did catch my eye were the photos. He had a million photos of Renesmee at different life stages all over his office. Here was a man who loved his granddaughter.
"So," Jasper said smoothly. "We'll contact the foster service and begin the adoption. It won't take long - the Cullens have ways to grease the wheels. Okay, so don't worry about the adoption. Alice has taken the liberty of purchasing your cellphone."
"Cellphone?" I repeated weakly. He pulled a shiny new phone complete with headphones and charger out of the desk drawer, placing it in front of me.
"So to ensure we can contact you easily," he smiled. "I'm the financial head of the family, so I'll explain your bank account. The Cullens are very talented investors. We seem to have a real knack for the stock market."
"Right, future-seeing," I managed a half-smile. "Great."
"The Cullen minors, currently being you, Renesmee and Seth, have a trust fund, so to speak. You have a credit card that's limited to ten thousand dollars a month. The rest of your trust fund is being added to constantly while we shift around our funds. When you turn eighteen, or in Nessie's case when she's physically and mentally an adult, we unlock the account and you have more control and an unlimited card. There's also an emergency family card that leads to our biggest account, in case anything incredibly pricey happens. But that's just a failsafe, so Esme and Carlisle rest easy," Jasper explained. I nodded along with what he was saying. Basically, the Cullens were just loaded.
I was a Cullen now. It would be hard to get used to having access to what I needed for once.
"Harper still has my old phone," I said suddenly. "I wouldn't care, but that phone has pictures on it and phone numbers I need."
"We'll take care of that tonight," Jasper had a malicious glint in his eye. "Anyways, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Oh, I almost forgot. We change our family's cover story everywhere we go. We move around a lot to avoid suspicion. Right now, we have to say you're a foster kid we adopted, but next time we move you can be Esme and Carlisle's biological daughter if you want, or a cousin or niece or something."
"That would be nice," I smiled. After I was dismissed with my new cards and phone, I wandered back up to Nessie's room, passing mine in the process.
"This is my room?" I asked, peering in. The walls were already a purply-lilac color. I remembered Alice asking me about color preferences earlier in the week! The floor was a thick white carpet, across the room was a window that overlooked the forest. Alice and Esme were in there, just finishing the bed. They'd fitted the large bed with white sheets, a pinkish quilt with blue flowers on it, a smaller white blanket over top and pillows with blue or white cases on them.
"Humans get cold awfully easily," Esme fretted, adding one more blue throw blanket to the end of the bed. "If you get cold, just holler."
"Thanks, Esme," I laughed to cover up how touched I was. I was usually cold in my foster houses. The bed was in the far left corner of the room. In the right corner was a glossy white desk, a small lamp and a desk chair. Alice pulled out a laptop from a box and plugged it into the outlet next to the desk.
"You can set up your laptop whenever you're ready," she waved a hand. "Not important."
Esme set to putting up curtains. They were the cool, translucent white curtains that let just some light into your room. Enough to keep it dim but not dark. On the right wall, closest to the door was my closet. Alice had bought a white stand-up closet with doors, and drawers underneath. It stretched from right next to the door to the other right wall.
"It looks beautiful," I said, leaning against the doorframe. "Really, it does."
"I already unpacked your clothes," Alice faced me. "I think I nailed your style, but let me know if I didn't and we can go shopping. Shoes are in the bottom drawer. You and Nessie share a bathroom, your door is right there."
She pointed to the white door on the left wall. I nodded. That wasn't a problem at all.
"I left you a tray of things like lotions and soaps and shampoos on the counter, if it's wrong or there's something else you want we can easily get some. That okay?"
"That's more than perfect," I ran forward and hugged Alice. "Thank you!"
"I think we're all set, then," Esme brushed off her hands. Alice looked around, squinting.
"This room needs more personal stuff - like photos," she decided. "Do you want to go to your foster house and get your things?"
I cringed visibly. "Not yet."
"Take your time, love," Esme patted my cheek easily. I leaned into the affection, smiling. That was something I could get used to, being touched affectionately by someone other than… Harper. I guess going back to school had to happen sooner or later, I had to face him. Right now, though, I was focused on family. My family.
"Juliet, can I talk to you?" Seth said from the doorway. Esme and Alice quietly excused themselves, grinning. Alice leaned into my ear as she passed and told me she was taking Nessie's parents hunting with Jasper. I steeled myself. I was alone for the first time with my soulmate.
"What's up, Seth?" I leaned against my desk, trying to act natural. He ran a hand through his cropped black hair.
"I just, uh, wanted to know if it freaked you out, the whole imprint thing," Seth peeked at me from under his long, dark lashes. I looked into his impossibly deep eyes.
"It doesn't," I told him confidently. "It doesn't."
He nervously took a few steps forward to where I was.
"We don't have to be in a relationship now," he whispered. "We can take our time. Be friends. It's so soon after Harper, anyways. You need time."
I nodded, looking up at him. He was taller than I was, although I wasn't particularly short. I could smell him, he was so close. He smelled like warm laundry, like rain hitting the window while you're inside surrounded by blankets, if that made sense.
"We don't have to… If you don't feel that way, we don't have to be together," Seth said. "I'm whatever you want, whatever you need."
I took a risk. I leaned in, up to him. Our faces were slightly closer, but I wasn't tall enough to fill the gap myself.
"I want to," I whispered. He closed his eyes, looking positively drunk. Before I knew it, his lips where a millimeter away from mine. We lingered there, not in a hurry to kiss, not in a hurry to pull away. Just existing, close to one another. His lips softly brushed against mine once before he pulled back.
"Take all the time you need," Seth smiled. I nodded, in a daze. His presence was intoxicating. Seth excused himself to join Jake for some back business. The first thing I did was run straight to Nessie's room and throw myself onto the bed.
"You're chipper," she didn't look up from her book, perched on top of her desk cross-legged.
"You're wearing glasses," I pointed out, pulling one of her pillows into my arms and looking up at her.
"They don't have lenses," she explained. "Carlisle gave them to me. They make me feel smart."
"You are smart," I looked at the book she was reading. It was something medical.
"I want to be a midwife, I think," Nessie tossed down the book. "Or work in pediatrics. That's neither here nor there, dearest sister. What happened with Seth?"
"He's so perfect," I rolled onto my stomach, wrapping a loose lock of my hair around my finger. "We're going to take our time."
"That's smart," Nessie said thoughtfully. "Jake and I are taking our sweet, sweet time…"
"Just kiss him," I looked at her. "Why not?"
She sighed, resting her head against the wall. "I would, but I don't know if he has feelings like that for me yet. I'm basically a baby in their eyes."
"But you have feelings for him."
"Yes."
"So kiss him!"
She laughed. "No."
We bantered back and forth until dinner. I had the shocking realization that if my foster parents had tried to contact me - they would have called. Called my phone, which coincidentally was wherever Harper had chosen to hide it.
"Nessie, we have to get my old phone back tonight," I grabbed her hand. She nodded and led me downstairs to where Emmett and Rose were.
"Em, Rose, we need a favor," Nessie said. They both stood up, ready.