Honest

Jacob, having seen me cry numerous times before, knew not to freak out. He simply pulled the Rabbit over, turned off the ignition, and moved closer to me on the seat, pulling me towards him in a comforting embrace. He let me cry against his chest while he hugged me securely and slowly ran his fingers through my hair. After crying this way for a good ten minutes, I finally had the strength to pull away from him. I looked into Jacob's deep-set eyes. "Thanks."

"No problem, honey," Jacob returned my gaze a moment before looking downward. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"You didn't, Jake" I said. I hesitated. "But I don't understand… Why did you say that to me, at the reception? What did you know?"

"Uh, know?" He asked, even though he knew precisely what I was wondering. The subject matter was clearly making Jacob uncomfortable; his eyes darted around on the floor of his car. "Uh, I had heard some things around. Vampire legends I was told by some of the guys in the pack. Stuff like that." He was obviously leaving something out.

"Jacob, you're not telling me the whole story. What is it?"

"I guess I'm surprised you didn't hear this from your leech," Jacob admitted, defeated. "Edward told me that he couldn't…well, you know," he said flatly.

That was not what I was expecting him to say. This was not possible. My reaction was extreme. I felt my eyes tear up again, this time out of anger. I squeezed my hands into fists so tightly that my fingernails dug into my skin (and having as short of fingernails as I do makes this feat all the more impressive).

"EDWARD told you that!?" I screeched at him, my voice shrill.

Jacob sighed. "Yes."

"When?"

"The night before the battle. In the tent."

I remembered their voices long into that night, even after I was asleep. I was in absolute shock. Anger, denial, incredible sadness. Another tear rolled down my cheek. "He never told me," I said in amazement.

"Of course he wouldn't. Why would he?" Jacob snorted. "Anything that might make you think negatively of him I'm guessing he would prefer to keep to himself. But I'm not surprised. There were other things he hadn't told you, weren't there?" That was low; Jacob knew that there were. Specifically, when Edward had flown me across the country instead of telling me that Victoria was back. I can't believe that Edward lied to me, again, I thought.

"Well, what ELSE did you two gentlemen talk about at my expense? Anything you might want to fill me in on?" It was difficult to restrain my emotion.

Jacob was trying to tread carefully, but he couldn't help half-smiling at my 'gentlemen' reference. "Not that much, Bells. It's so unfair, he can read my mind when he's close to me, but it's impossible to know what he's thinking. I thought it would only be fair if I could ask him some questions that night. And he was gracious enough to give me some honest answers."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I whispered.

"I tried to, at your reception," he chuckled lightly. "You obviously didn't want to hear it."

"But before that, then? I mean, I married him, Jacob. Wasn't that important enough that I deserved to know?"

"Bella, you didn't even invite me to your wedding. I had to hear about that from Edward, too." He held his hand up to silence me before I could protest. "I actually really appreciated the gesture. He explained to me that you didn't invite me only because you didn't want to hurt me or make me feel obligated. But to answer your other question, Bella, I only had two conversations with you after I found out about his -uh- "condition", and before I saw you at the reception. One of those conversations was when you ditched me after I had been mauled by a newborn vampire, and the other…." His voice started to trail off for a moment, then returned more confidently; "well, let's just say, my mind was otherwise occupied. It didn't come up." He blushed suddenly through his russet skin at his choice of words. "Er, uh, I mean, it did." He gave me a sheepish grin and gazed at me for a moment before looking away.

"Jake…. I'm not sure what to say to that."

I made Jacob drive me home after that. I was just too upset. He understood, just complained cheerfully that I hadn't been to La Push in a while, and made me promise really visit him soon. I agreed. We talked for a few minutes about inconsequential topics- the pack, Billy, Charlie. As the Rabbit pulled into Charlie's driveway, the cocky part of Jacob's personality started to come out. I was relieved that I was so close to home when it happened.

"So, I suppose this might put me 'one up' on your bloodsucker, huh?" He teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Grow up, Jacob."

"I can, he can't. Ha!"

"He's not 'my bloodsucker', he's 'my husband', Jacob."

That silenced him. He became serious. As I went to reach for the door with my right hand, he grabbed my left with his own gargantuan one, dwarfing it. He held it up, examining my ring. "Bella, can I ask you a question? Do you think that sex is important in a marriage? More importantly, do you think that honesty is important in a marriage?" I didn't say a word; I just looked at him. It didn't matter how hard I tried to glare; the uncertainty in my eyes told him everything that he needed to know. He put his hand on his key in the ignition, looked thoughtful. I took it as a sign to leave and jumped out of the car. He called gently after me, chuckling, "You can't lie to me, Bella," before he threw the Rabbit into gear and sped off.