Chapter 10
A/N: Thanks to all my readers, especially those who reviewed. A review can make an author's day. So, yeah, anyway, getting back to the story, I hope you're liking it so far. As you've hoped and guessed, the ending couple will be Jake and Nessie, but whether it's happy or sad, I'll leave that to later.
Enjoy!
As I entered the clearing I could see both Leah and Jacob checking me out. Leah looked at me and my outfit with scorn and contempt. Jacob's expression was unreadable but I had hoped he would view me and my new taste in fashion in a positive light. His black eyes held an amount of interest in them, and his lips were set in a tight, rigid line, as though in firm determination.
Leah looked stunning, as usual. Her jet-black hair had been re-straightened and the strands fanned out behind her shoulders in an alluring style. She wore a one-piece dress, like me, but hers was slightly longer and fell to her knees. It was an empire cut turquoise wave dress with silver sequined patterns along the high waistline, somewhat fitted in parallel with her naturally high cheekbones. Her shoes were sapphire peep-toe heels, which seemed too high and teetering on the balance between falling and walking, not something you'd expect a woman to wear on a rocky cliff. Silver hoop earrings and a posh white leather clutch completed the look.
"Nessie!" Jacob exclaimed, jogging up the path to greet me. There was something in his voice I couldn't quite detect…relief?
Behind him, where only I could see, Leah rolled her eyes at me, but I saw an undercurrent of panic. I didn't know why I could detect Leah's feelings quite well but couldn't quite grasp Jacob's. Was it because it was a "female thing"? Was it because Leah always made her negative feelings for me fairly obvious?
Anyhow, Jacob promised he would make his feelings clear today and I was too impatient to ponder over Leah's reactions and emotions. The only fear and worry I kept inside me, preventing me from knowing the answer, was the actual answer itself. How would I live if what Jake meant was that he loved Leah and wanted to make his intentions clear to me, in other words wanting me to back off? I wasn't concerned about the snide remarks Leah would surely make. I was far more concerned about my life without Jacob. I had somehow managed to survive a few years without him, and now that I'd finally found him back, I wasn't about to let him go.
Jacob motioned for Leah and I to follow him into the tent he'd set up earlier, and we made ourselves as comfortable as possible on the slouchy beanbags strewn about the tent. I could see Leah's distaste for the slouchy beanbags as she had clearly expected something better from the man she loved deeply.
Jacob cleared his throat. "Do make yourselves comfortable, ladies," he said with as much gentlemanly poise as he could muster. The irony of that sentence almost made me laugh. How comfortable could we possibly be in this tense, highly competitive environment? Leah clearly didn't think much of me as her rival, but in truth I was. And since Jacob's intentions were to make clear the woman he truly loved today, neither of us were taking any chances.
All attention was focused on Jacob now as he began to speak again. "Okay, Leah, Renesmee, my reason for asking you both out here today is for me to make things clear to you. Both of you, as I'm sure, have received a personal note from me. And as I've observed over the past weeks ever since Renesmee's moved into your house, Leah, you two haven't exactly been on good terms. I know the reasons, but I shall not speak of them, as it might unintentionally cause either of you unnecessary pain."
Jacob paused to take a breath, and Leah said in a bored tone, "Cut the whole speech, Jake. Just get straight to the point. You know what we want to know and there's no point delaying that fact because the sooner you get over it, the better." Leah stopped to shoot me a smug smile, as though she knew she was already the winner. I was pained to say that she probably was, with all her beauty and allure and everything, but the stubborn yet optimistic part of me was thinking, Beauty isn't everything, you know. Give yourself a chance. Never admit you've lost until the last moment. Remember, it takes two to love.
Jacob stared across the tent at Leah, and then back at me. I sighed inwardly and shrank noticeably, allowing my purple beanbag to devour me within its slouchy depths.
"So…Leah?" Jacob said, his eyes trying to focus on something but not quite succeeding. His eyes, darker than ever now with their intensity, kept on drifting between Leah's dark irises and my brown ones, as though contemplating…deciding…two women both equally eager to meet his gaze and have him affirm that she was the winner…
I braced myself for Jacob's words. "Leah, I know these might not be the words you want to hear right now, and I'm sorry for this, but I can't force myself to love someone I can't. I love you like my own sister, Leah, but that's not enough. I need you to back off because I love Renesmee. You are a woman of worth, with desirable qualities; you'll find a good man who can love you and cherish you forever. Nessie, please forgive me for all the wrong I've done you in the past, and say you'll be mine forever."
Leah and I both stared at Jacob and then at each other in shock; complete, utter shock, just not the same kind of shock.
"I don't believe it," Leah said slowly, standing up and backing to the edge of the tent. Then realization sank in and she exploded in a wild fury. "You bitch, slut…" Leah was lost for words as she catapulted herself violently at me, clawing at my hair and chest.
I struggled to pull away from her cold iron grasp, and through my peripheral vision, I saw Jacob rushing anxiously to pull Leah off of me. Leah staggered back as though in a daze and picked at her own hair breathlessly. Jacob held me by my shoulders, subsequently moving to put a safe distance between Leah and I as far as the spacious tent would allow.
"You're right," Leah gasped, staring straight at Jacob. "I should have deserved better than a man who gets so easily influenced by a random street slut! Seth has created a chocolate empire with the money Father left him when he died. The empire has expanded across America and Europe. I'll move back into my house in Copenhagen and start over with a new life to help Seth with his business. You can go ahead with your beloved Nessie but you'll never get a happy ending."
"I'm happy as long as I'm with her," Jacob replied defiantly, and I felt instant joy surging throughout my whole body, charging me with a 1000V electrical power.
"Fine. Have your way," Leah spat as she exited the tent swiftly, but immediately stumbling over the rocky surface on her sapphire studded heels.
"Did she hurt you?" Jacob asked quietly when Leah was gone, smoothing a hand down my shoulder and then running it down my back. My skin tingled at his touch.
"No, no; I'm fine." I wasn't going to ruin this moment with Jacob with any injury; how unromantic. Apart from the pain still in my chest, I wasn't hurt. For a moment I could empathise with Leah, catching a glimpse of how it felt like to be unwanted, rejected. But I refused to empathise with her now that I'd finally had my turn at happiness after all the sadness and anger she'd caused me.
Jacob held me tight to his chest and pressed his warm lips to my hair and my forehead. "Jake?"
"Yeah?" He mumbled softly into my hair.
"May I know what you meant, all those weeks ago when I first moved into Leah's, and you said something to her about "as long as they are alive, I shall not rest"? And…and…if you truly did love me, why were you doing all those things with Leah? Why did you leave me, right from the start? Oh…" I collapsed onto his chest, and he collapsed onto the tent floor. "There are so many questions you left unanswered!"
"Firstly, Nessie, you must understand that I left to protect you from further harm." Jacob sighed and cuddled me tightly on his broad chest, not wanting to let me go. I, too, did not want to let go of him, either. Every single inch of my body was touched by an inch of his.
When I didn't speak, he continued. "I left right after you told me your story about your family abuse. I left to stop them. I committed murder for you, I killed their leader. I shot your grandfather Carlisle through the head for all the pain he caused you, both emotionally and physically. Even the wrestler Emmett didn't bother me then. He, Rosalie, and Jasper took the next plane into Apeldoorn, Gelderland, Holland.
In Apeldoorn, I found Leah Clearwater, helping Seth out in the making of the family business, Chocolate Fantasy. Apparently, Leah had several houses across Europe and America at the time, one of which was in Apeldoorn. I recognized Leah as one of your friends from Forks at the time. Realizing that you would hate me for leaving you, I took Leah back to Forks and went out as a couple. My dad, Billy, was also nagging me about the time to find a girlfriend and all, you know. By then I'd discovered that Leah loved me just like how I loved you, past the sister-brother love I could give her. I decided not to let Leah in on my secret, on the pretense that she and I were not a real couple. I wouldn't have liked to hurt her, even then.
Meanwhile, I found myself a simple job being an office clerk. One day when I came back home to Leah's, where I had my own rooms on the second floor, I found your name in the classified papers looking for a suitable home. I suggested that she take you in then, and she was reluctant and hesitant at first, knowing you had once been my girlfriend, and feared that our feelings for each other would ignite once more. She was the only one in the world who knew about my other secret then, the one about murdering your grandfather Carlisle, and she was living under the false name of Leanne Willow MacKenzie.
The rest you know, but what I have to tell you is that I've never stopped loving you, Renesmee, ever. Even if you hate me and refuse to accept me after all the truth is out, I want to be rejected knowing that you know I left to protect you, and I will always be here for you."
Jake took a deep breath and stared deep into my eyes. His burned with passion and love, and were as intense and liquid as ever. I saw my own eyes reflected in his, and there were no words, just a streak of tears running down my cheek silently.
I looked away from Jake, our hands still on each others' shoulders. Jake placed his fingers carefully under my chin and tilted my head up, forcing me to meet his gaze, and brushed away the tears from my face. The stray strands of bronze hair, which had come loose from Amber's carefully-styled updo, Jacob brushed them away as well and tilted my face closer to his, closer…
I inhaled his deep, heady scent of manly pine and fresh wood and smiled subconsciously to myself. Trying my best to be seductive, as I had seen in the movies, I blew gently through my lips, letting the soft gush of air brush across his face. Then I leaned forward as though to kiss him, and "accidentally" leaned in such an angle that he could very clearly see down my minidress, which Rachel had so carefully picked out for me. Going with my old-girl style was going to ruin this romantic moment and I couldn't afford that kind of mistake.
Jacob blinked and edged himself ever closer to me, his lips moving just slightly in a silent movement. Impatiently, I yanked the bottom part of my dress out from behind me and my ankle edged around his waist in a suggestive pose.
Jake reached around to grasp my neck and hair, pulling me closer again. His other hand wrapped around my waist and tugged me straight towards him. I, too, eagerly placed both my hands in a hold around his neck.
Finally, our lips met in that one and magical moment, like one of my impossible fantasies come true, something you'd expect only to see in a fairytale. When Sleeping Beauty finally finds her Prince Charming…not only her eyelids open, you know. Her heart opens as well and she's his from that moment on.
He tasted sweet, like cherries and peppermint. There was a refreshing thing about his lips, soft and warm. I thought back to the time, the only other man I'd kissed (reluctantly), Sebastian. The enormous difference between then and now…I sighed to myself in content, wanting only to focus on this moment.
Our lips parted on accord, two beings forming into one, lips moving in sync. This moment was one of perfect bliss, possibly the best in my life.
I felt Jake begin to smile against my lips as we fell back kissing, deeper and deeper…
So? How was it? Personally this has been my favourite chapter so far. Nessie finally gets her Jake! End of story? Nope!
Oh, and…
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