Chapter 18 - Arrival
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created.
A/N: This was written (all 3,00 words!) while sick. Head cold + cold meds + existing pain meds someone confused person. I'm hoping it makes sense to someone other than me!
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Bella POV:
Traveling in a car for almost 10 hours with two men you adore, but who don't exactly adore each other is interesting. Or crazy-making. Lots of placating and platitudes. I felt guilty for being glad Jacob slept so I could just hold Edward's hand and enjoy the thrills I got when he kissed my fingers.
Now that we had arrived in Utah, my job was to find us a place to live. I don't think I had realized how few houses were for sale in Fort Duchesne. I'm guessing once people settle here they don't want to leave. Looking around the "downtown", I couldn't understand this concept, but Forks grew on me, and it's likely this place would, too. This felt like one of those towns where if you blink, you'll miss it.
I need to change this thinking! I remember how much I dreaded moving to Forks, and look how that ended up! At least the weather is nicer here. Oh, we're finally at the town!
"Bella, I'm going into the town hall. The Elder said that the place across the street is the library. I wouldn't get too many hopes up about the number of books, though - the town only has around 1,000 people in it." Jacob said, pulling into a parking space.
"No worries. I can always get books from Amazon. Right now I just need to walk Mystic and then use the internet in the library." I replied.
I got out of the car and snapped Mystic's leash on her. Once the doors were closed, Jake walked with me and Mystic for a minute. I was about to ask him why he wasn't off with the tribal elder when he took my cool hand in his hot one. I looked up, and he had pulled me close to him, and we were kissing.
"Mmmmmm," I moaned. A moment later I pulled away reluctantly. "You need to go in for your meeting, and I need to find us somewhere to live."
"You're always the voice of reason, Bella," Jake said. He kissed me again, but more quickly, then walked up the stairs to the town hall.
I brought Mystic back to the car and made sure she was comfortable with a bowl of water. Then I snuck into the back seat. "Hey sweetie. You OK under the blanket?" I asked, my voice lower than what humans could hear."
"Yes, I'm fine." Edward answered politely, but I could hear his martyr voice in his tone.
"I know you want to be out here with me, but it'll be OK soon. We'll have a hotel room and a house soon. I need to go look for the house while Jacob is inside."
Edward pulled the fleece off his face, and I was so grateful the Volvo had tinted windows - I melted looking at his butterscotch eyes. "Can I have a goodbye kiss before you go into the library all alone?" he asked.
"You have but to ask," I said, in my best princess voice. I leaned over and kissed him. Now that I was changed, our kisses could become more intimate, and he took advantage of that, kissing me gently, but lovingly. I wanted to melt into him.
As with my kiss with Jacob, I had to pull away long before my body wanted. "I have to go try to find us a place to live!" I said, and got in one last quick kiss before I grabbed my laptop and left the car for the library.
As I walked across the street with my MacBook, I thought about the differences between my two boyfriends. I loved them both so much, maybe because they were so different? They were both loving and attentive, but their personality differences showed in everything they did. Jacob's kisses were hot - filled with love, lust, and heat. He wanted everything now, and his kisses were exactly like that. Edward's kisses were filled with a gentle passion, a softness that comes with knowing he has eternity. Edward still wanted just as much as Jacob did, he was just more willing to wait. At least when Jasper wasn't with us egging him on!
"Hello miss, may I help you?" asked the librarian at the front desk.
"Hello, my name's Bella. I'm moving into town and wanted to get to know the library. I was also hoping to use the wireless internet, if that's OK."
"Of course you may use the internet, dear! My name is Ellie Paka, and I'm the librarian here. Are you looking to buy a house, or rent an apartment, or what?"
Ack, small town nosiness at its finest! Ugh. I must be friendly for Jacob. OK. "Lovely to meet you, Ellie. I'm a big reader, so you'll probably see me here a fair amount. My boyfriend's across the street meeting with one of the tribe Elders, and I'm trying to find us a house to buy."
"I think I might be able to help you more than the internet this time, dear!" Ellie answered. "One of my cousins just passed away, and his wife and children are moving back to her people - she wasn't Ute. They've been trying to sell their house, but they haven't had much luck yet. Maybe it would be a good fit for you?"
"I'm so sorry for your loss, what a heartbreak for his wife and children." I replied. I wanted to get away from the death, though, because if there was a wife and kids, there must be more than one bedroom!
"Thank you, dear. Unfortunately, these things happen."
"Can you tell me more about the house, please?" I said. "My boyfriend and I are starting our lives together, and we know we'll need a few bedrooms and some land soon. We'd rather buy a larger property and grow into it than outgrow a smaller property.
Ellie smiled. "This house might be perfect for you, then! It's a ranch, so it's all one level, but it has 4 bedrooms and a nice sized kitchen, dining, and family room area. What they call a great room, I think. There's at least 20 acres around it, too."
I goggled at her. "That does sound perfect! Do you know who we should contact about seeing it? And who the Realtor is that is handling the sale?"
"Oh, honey, you haven't lived in a really small town before, have you?" she asked.
"I guess not, but I thought where I lived before was small, it was larger than here."
"Well, let me right down the directions to the house, there's a key under the mat, so you can let yourselves in and check around. If you like it, then you just talk to one of the Elders over at the town hall, and they'll talk money and do the paperwork. That's it!"
"Oh, thank you, Ellie! This sounds too good to be true, but I've been due for some good luck! Since you seem to know a lot about the town, do you know if there's a hotel or B and B where we can stay before the paperwork's finalized?" I asked. I was glad I had come in the library - it was clear Ellie knew about everyone.
"Oh, you wouldn't need to do that! There's still some beds and stuff in the house, you can just stay there until everything's finalized. I'm guessing that your boyfriend is the one Parker called in from Washington state to help us out?" My eyes must have widened, because Ellie grinned. "We really don't get many newcomers. Two new men visiting the town elders in one day would be really unusual!"
If I had been human, I would have blushed furiously at this. "Oh, that's true. I just wasn't sure how many people knew about the 'troubles'. Jake's really good at helping people out, and we had wanted to move, so this was a wonderful opportunity."
"Our tribe is so indebted to you and your boyfriend for coming out here, we'd be happy to let you stay anywhere until you were able to find someplace permanent. I'd love it if you wanted to buy my cousin's house - it would really help out his family to have that income."
"We're happy to rent it from them until the closing if money's a problem for them." I said, feeling guilty for mooching off these nice people.
"It's alright dear. Go see the house, and you can work everything else out with the Elders later today. Oh! I see your young man coming out of the town hall, so you should probably go out there and meet him. I'm sure you both have a lot to talk about!"
"I can't thank you enough, Ellie! You're right, I should go out there. I'm sure I'll see you soon." I took the piece of paper where she had written directions to her cousin's house, and walked back out of the library with my unused MacBook.
"Hey Jake! I think I found us a house!" I called across the street. I got a big smile and a thumbs up in response.
We got into the car. "How did your meeting go?" I asked.
"There was a lot to talk about. I need some food, and you said something about a house?" Jake replied.
"Yeah. I've got directions. There are even beds and some furniture left there, and we're welcome to use them until we either buy the place or buy something else. It's a 4 bedroom ranch on over 20 acres. It looks like there's a general store over there, you could get some sandwich fixings, at least."
"Wow - that sounds perfect! OK, I'll get lunch for me, you guys stay here. We can talk about the stuff with the Elders once I've eaten something." Jacob walked out of the car and into the general store.
"I wonder if they are used to werewolf appetites yet?" I asked Edward with a smile.
"He can always pretend he's buying for 2. Though he seems to eat enough for 4 or 5..." Edward laughed quietly.
Since the car was stopped, Mystic bounded into the front seat, licking my face with excitement. "Yes, Mystic, I love you too. You need to go in the back seat, though. Stripes is at my feet, and I don't think the two of you would get along!" Even with vampire strength, it's hard to get a stubborn dog out of the front seat. I didn't want to break the seats on the Volvo by accident, either. I got her into the back seat just in time, Jacob got to the car with 3 big bags of groceries, which he stuffed into the trunk.
"Jake, that was 3 bags of groceries! How are you going to eat that much for lunch?" Edward asked. He must have been peeking out of the blanket.
"Well, there was some stuff that won't go bad right away. We'll have to see if there's electricity at the house before we run to a larger town and do a big shopping trip." Jacob said.
"You do remember that there is only one person in this trio who eats regular food, right?" I asked.
Jake smiled, and it was like the world lit up. "Yeah, I remember. But do you remember how much I eat?" As he pulled out of the parking lot to drive to the house, he tweaked my nose.
After driving for about 10 minutes, we found the house. It was painted a dull brown, but that was easily changed. There was a ton of land around - and most of it was wild. Mystic was thrilled to be let out of the car for a real run. Jake phased to run with her, while Edward and I went into the house to check it out - the key really was under the mat. Wow.
"This is gorgeous!" I said, as I walked in. There was a nice-sized kitchen on the right, and then a large great room, with several large windows and a sliding glass door to the back "yard". I had a feeling that the windows and sliding glass door faced west for the sunset. No one had tried to force a lawn or anything other than native plants, and it was beautiful. Incredibly different from Forks and Phoenix, but beautiful.
I walked through the great room on the right to a door, which led to a large 2 door garage. "Jake will love this garage. And look - there's the perfect spot for your piano!" There it was - a spot on an indoor wall, set in what looked to be a reading nook or music nook between the kitchen and garage. Across from the music nook there was another nook, which would be perfect for bookcases and a couple of reading chairs.
"That will be just right for your books. Now you have to let me buy you new copies!" Edward smiled, and kissed me sweetly before taking my hand.
"Are all the bedrooms on the other side of the house, then?" I wondered aloud, and we walked past the kitchen to find that couch and a couple chairs had been left behind in that area of the great room, along with an older TV.
"That'll be handy until we can get new stuff in." Edward said, and then we walked to the end of the house. There were five doors set into a U shape. The first one on the left appeared to have belonged to a young girl, as it was painted pink with a purple butterfly border. The basic bed frame and mattress was there, but the rest of the furniture had been moved.
"Um, not my room!" I exclaimed, but Edward just laughed at me. The second door on the left wall was a boy's room, blue walls with a car theme. "Now, this one is for Jake!" I smiled. Thankfully, there was a bed frame and mattress there, too.
"I think you're right." Edward said.
'The next door was a bathroom, medium sized with a nice shower/tub combo. I guessed from the duck shower curtain that it was likely the kids' bathroom. "I love duckies!" I squealed, laughing more when Edward found me a squeaky ducky that had been left behind. "Thank you!" I exclaimed, and kissed him on his nose.
"Let's see what the other two rooms are." Edward said. "You might well be staying in the pink butterfly room!"
"Noooooo!" I replied. "Wait, Jacob's the only one who needs a bedroom!"
"I was wondering when you'd realize that!" Edward said, laughing. "But it is nice to each have our own space."
"That's true. And wow, look at this room!" It had clearly been made for a teenage boy - lots of grays, with black paint below a chair-rail border of musical notes. There was a bed here, too. I knew it would soon be replaced with a black leather couch, though.
"Yep, I dibs this room!" Edward said, a real smile on his face.
"Then I think I get the master bedroom!" I said, and opened that door. It wasn't exactly the way I'd decorate, but it wasn't overwhelmingly girly like the little girl's room. Rather than paint, this room had wallpaper of small green vines with occasional red roses. It looked like there had been curtains, but those were gone. There was a queen size bed on a basic bed frame, and an en-suite bathroom. Sadly, no jacuzzi tub, but it looked like the room would be big enough to put one in.
"Yep, this one's all mine!" I exclaimed. "You boys can share the other bathroom, I get this one and the bedroom. The girly room can be for an office or guests. Or both. As the only girl, I should get special privileges." I smirked.
"You already do get special privileges." Edward retorted.
"Oh really? What privileges do I get?" I asked, mildly confused.
"You're the only one who gets these kisses." And with that, Edward started kissing me passionately enough that my knees went weak, and I almost fell over.
I moaned as his hands traveled up my back, then moving gently to touch my stomach. His hands were starting to travel upwards when the door slammed.
"Hey! This is great - where are you two?" Jake asked over Mystic's barking.
"We were dibsing rooms." I answered, quickly and quietly moving out of Edward's embrace with a reluctant look at him. He kissed the top of my head in understanding - it was hard to juggle two relationships at once!
"Oh, Bella, that's not fair! I bet you took the master suite." Jacob moaned.
"Yep! But look, there's a cool car room, too." I said, and his eyes perked up.
"I'm going to get our bags and Stripes." Edward said. "Then you should eat, and we can talk about the house and your meeting with the Elder."
"Sounds good." Jake replied. "I want to see this room that you've stuck me with."
"I'll show you." I said, and gently led him over to the bedrooms.
"So, we have here: SuperPink; Cars Galore; ducky bathroom; Music Guy; and Master bedroom for Bella so she doesn't have to share a bathroom with two guys." I said, summarizing.
"OK, I'll take Cars Galore. Edward's more the music guy, and I'm secure in my sexuality, but I don't need to prove it by sleeping in a room that girly!" Jake laughed. "Hey, is my new bed bouncy?" He pulled me down with him, and we bounced.
"Gentle! We could break it!" I admonished.
"Fine, gentle it is." And then he kissed me much more gently than usual. His hands caressing my face, and trailing down my hair. "Mmmm... I want to brush your hair later." He smiled, and just held me against him.
We could hear the thuds of bags coming in, so Jacob and I went into the Great Room to help Edward and talk more about our new life with the Ute tribe in Fort Duchesne, Utah.
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A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews make me so happy!