When they were safely in a removed room of the mammoth house, Bella turned on Edward. He was looking much better, she noted, and physically she felt the same way, but her eyes were filled with anger as she asked, "Edward, did you kill someone?"
"Bella," he began softly, "you have to believe that it was an accident." Her eyes widened in disbelief, rivaling Alice's with the size to which they grew.
"Oh God. You did! You—" She stopped when her eyes met his, seeing there the same warm, golden colour she'd always known them to be. "You didn't, Edward. You haven't killed anyone. So who did? And who's dead? Was it Charlie? Oh God, Charlie's not dead, is he?" She began to breathe rapidly, feeling something that felt like hyperventilation coming on.
"No, Bella. Not Charlie. Jacob."
"Jacob. Jacob," she repeated, staring no longer at Edward, but through him. "Blood…all that blood…Jacob's blood?"
He nodded, looking at her with worry in his eyes. "He came by while you and Alice were out, Bella. Looking for you. He was quite upset. I could hear his thoughts, Jasper could feel it…he said something about 'not letting Bella go like this.' He said that he'd stayed away too long, and so when Charlie told him that you were here, he couldn't just sit around and wait for you to go home. He said…" Edward trailed off, stopping himself. "He was upset, Bella, and he was on the verge of a change. Jasper…he acted out of impulse, but what he did may have saved us all. No, he most certainly saved us all, Bella. Jacob would have killed us."
"She was shaking her head numbly, eyes blank. "Jacob. Jacob."
"Bella," Edward repeated, "Jasper saved us." She continued shaking her head and looking at nothing as he pulled her close, crushing her in his frigid embrace. "I'm sorry, my love. I truly am. I wish it hadn't happened like this."
"Jacob," she murmured again into his freezing chest, her arms hanging limply by her sides. "Jacob."
"You should be glad that you chose to break things off with him when we returned. I cannot imagine how much harder this would be on you if the two of you were still so—"
It was then that she began to push against him. He could not be moved by her own efforts, of course, but he let her go at her request. "You…you…" she began, lost for words, tears streaming down her cheeks in two angry streams. "You monster!" she screamed finally. Edward recoiled from her, hurting in a way she had never seen him before. She immediately felt guilty; but no, she realized, it was only the expectation of guilt. Something broke inside her, something that had acted for so long as a gauzy blindfold, something that had blurred her vision just enough. The part of her that knew to feel for him, to pine for him, lay dying on the floor in a room just out of reach with Jacob, her Jacob.
"Bella, please. You don't know what you're saying."
"Yes I do, Edward! You've talked yourself out of so much, but you can't talk yourself out of this. You can't possible dazzle me enough to make me forget that Jacob—that Jacob is gone!"
"Bella, Jasper lost control He did not do what he did intentionally. We have always been dangerous, you know that. But what he did saved us all!"
"You're right!" Bella screamed suddenly. "You are dangerous! You've been trying to tell me all along, and I finally believe you. Are you happy now? I finally believe you, so stop trying to defend him!"
"Bella, calm down. He—"
"Do not tell me to calm down!" she screamed with all she had within her. "He killed Jacob, Edward! He killed him!"
Edward pursed his lips tightly, and nodded. "Yes. You're right."
"I'm going down there." She spun to walk back out the door, and found herself facing Edward once again.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Bella."
She met his eyes fiercely. "I hope that I'm being very clear when I tell you that your opinions no longer matter to me, Edward. At all." He nodded, and stepped out of her way. His body let her pass, but his eyes displayed too clearly his belief that she would repent of her words. She wished strongly that he could gain entrance to her mind, if only for an instant, to understand her seriousness.
"At all," she repeated softly, taking it upon herself to be sure not to brush him in the slightest as she walked by.