After a discomfited hush I remembered something I grabbed this morning before rushing out to meet with Seth. I looked back at Bella and grabbed into my black bag with the La Push High School insignia. I grabbed my baby book and the photograph album. "Here," I said almost reluctant to let them go. "This is my baby book. And this one is a photo album grandpa made."
Bella smiled and grabbed them slowly, as if she could sense my hesitation to give them to her. She opened the first page, and skipped my birth certificate. Did she not want to see the proof of what she missed?
After flipping through about thirty pages of nonsense she opened the page of my earliest haircut. The four inches of black locks curled at the end against the white if the sheet. Bella ran her pointer finger over the hair slowly admiring it.
Bella POVI never guessed it would be so odd, seeing my daughter for a second time. Every turn of the page I would steal a look ay her without her realizing it. She had my size, with a cascade of black hair and the Quilette russet skin. Though those were Charlie's and my eyes that gazed at Edward, Emmett, and me so unnervingly.
I took in everything from that book. I learned every factor possible, taking it in so deeply, I could picture each split second of Rainy's life as if I had been in attendance. Though when I got to the page with her hair cut on it, I was beleaguered. It was the first physical verification I had not been there. I brushed over the curl stunned by the velvetiness, and turned the page. It was a brief moment of motherhood I was able to declare as my own.
I flipped through seventeen more pages, once again taking in all the small things that mattered until the phrase first word was I was glued and a laugh escaped me.
Rainy's POVI watched as her stare continued from page to page. She paused at a page with the caption Second Year. She looked back at me with twinkling eyes. " Was that seriously your first word?"
That was great. Of course she would think it comical. "Yeah." I smiled. "Grandpa always laughed at it but it made Dad sort of heated."
She laughed again. "Look," she offered the book to Emmett and Edward. Most likely with the intention to show them my first injustice to the wolf pack. Edward laughed lightly, but Emmett's voice boomed. "Your fist word was vampire." Emmett chuckled.
It was embarrassing. I was raised with werewolves, but my first word was the absolute opposite. Of course it would not bother them. Grandpa always insisted that it was due to the fact before the pack would leave Dad always told me that it was because they had to go get the wicked vampires. It unnerved me though. Why couldn't have been something ordinary like Dada or Momma? Okay well Momma was out of the picture, so maybe grandpa.
I was distracted from my thoughts. They were laughing again, by something on the same page. "Your second word was Seth." She laughed again.
I nodded with my checks feeling hotter than usual. That was another thing that Grandpa Billy and Grandpa Charlie would laugh about together. God, I missed him.
She passed the baby book to me, and I put in back in my bag. She opened the blue scrapbook from the rear. It seemed as if she wanted to see time from the present to what went before. The most recent picture was at the beach. Seth's arms were open and he faced the ocean while I was just about to hit the water after he had thrown me in. Edward smiled at the picture.
Some more passed of us this summer. In one Quil, Embry, and Dad made faces at the photographer laughing. In the background the kids were playing and if you studied the picture hard enough you could see Kim and Jared sneaking off.
Bella paused at the image; it was the first one she saw of Dad. It must have been odd for her to see him. Did she know that she sent Dad into a yearlong depression after she left? She studied the pictured a bit longer than flipped to the page before?
Next was Claire and I at my eighth grade graduation. It was taken in the gymnasium. Claire had done my make-up and even picked out the dress I had worn under the red graduation gown.
As each page turned my past was reflected before my mother's eyes. She passed the more recent pictures that Claire and I had taken when we went a on photo frenzy, making faces at the camera or doing stupid poses while the other took pictures.
She kept looking and laughed at a pictures of the twins dressed as rabbits last Easter. One was taken off a tree that had fallen on Paul's new car shattering the windshield, and he had not yet gotten insurance in it yet. The one before was of Collin and Brady getting beat upside the head by Paul. Then there was the last picture of grandpa Billy ever taken. It was Grandpa Charlie and Grandpa Billy with me at their beloved fishing spot. Dad had taken that picture.
Bella looked at me. "How are they? Billy and Charlie. I haven't seen Charlie for such a long time." The circumstances were getting more ill at ease but there was not much I could do.
I wanted to offer as much comfort as possible. I wanted her to smile. Was this what it was like for a mother and daughter? It was weird to hear someone, my mother at that, confess to not seeing his or her father. I would not function if I were unable to see my father for an extensive period of time. My dad was one of my key sources of joy. "Grandpa Charlie is fine. He still is the Sheriff. He does a good job, and visits us at La Push about every three days. His hair is graying." The whole time I spent talking about Grandpa I was silently praying she would not inquire about Grandpa Billy.
Then she did. "You missed the picture. I grabbed the scrapbook from her. I turned it ahead about ten pages to the picture of grandpa's gravestone. She looked at me with both shock and sadness. She had known Grandpa too. Though there was no way she had ever experience the way he could tell a bedtime story to a little girl waiting up late for her father to come home. Bella offered another smile. "I am so sorry. When?"
"About two years ago." I grabbed the photo album from her. "Listen, I really need to go to the lost and found for a change of clothing." Seth knew me a sufficient amount to know that I would try and talk to them, and Dad would be able to pick up the odor.
Edward and Bella nodded in understanding. "Though you should know that the nurse does not let students look through the lost and found unless they have a legitimate cause." Emmett told me.
"That is okay." I said putting my bag over my shirt. "I am sure I can talk her into it." I grabbed my tray and stood up. There was bound to be at least one white shirt in the lost and found.
I smiled at them. "See you later."
There must have been something on the floor because soon enough my bottom had made contact with the white floor. The contents of my tray lay not on the floor but on my clothes, and the milk had splashed over me leaving a brown stain down the front of my shirt. The tray itself had broken and cut my wrist in three separate places. Though the injuries were insignificant there was still blood.
"Are you okay?" Bella asked as Emmett boomed again.
"She defiantly is yours Bells." Edward offered me a hand to get up. I refused it. As kind as they were, and small as the gesture, it still felt like I was betraying the pack by even talking to them. Dad would be so irritated.
I grabbed my bag and stood. I reached for the tray but Edward got it first. "It is the least I can do. You need to get to the nurse's office, and now you have an justification."
I laughed pushing my bangs out of my eyes, studying the top. "Claire is going to be so angry." I pulled the shirt loose so it would not fasten to my skin. "Thank you." I told Edward.
"Claire?" Bella asked me. She looked as if the name was one she remembered. How would she know Claire? "Quil's Claire?" Yeah she knew about her.
I nodded. "She was the one with me in all the pictures. This is her shirt"
I looked at Bella again. "I'll see you later." I walked out and headed for the office.
The nurse's office was exactly as you'd expect, sad impersonation of am E.R. room with much less equipment and machines. The lost and found was in her care because no one else wanted the job. She had wrapped my arm with the experience of a great nurse.The nurse, Mrs. Price, was pretty with brown eyes. Her eyes were a bit wide but she was still pretty with high cheekbones and full lips. She was large with a pregnant belly, but I supposed if she was not she would have been elfin. She was kind too. She talked to me and got me put of my next class so I wouldn't have to endure the embarrassment on her insistence, which was more than excellent by me.
I ended up picking out a dark green top with a pink undershirt. My jeans were fine but the nurse gave me a new cute pair anyway.
"So," the nurse asked me "do you like Forks High?"
"It is nice, but I miss my old school."
"Why don't you tell me about your friends?" She was in all probability using that as a dialogue starter. Then I realized that besides the Cullens that Mrs. Price was the first individual to ask me on the subject of them. The other people who I was hanging out with here hadn't even asked about Seth.
"Well my best friend's name is Claire. She's three years older than I am. She is a junior this year over at La Push." I kept going on about Claire than started talking about Collin and Brady. "They are pretty moronic, but I love them."
Mrs. Price looked at me suspiciously with a cunning smile. It was the look that Dad got whilst he knew I wasn't telling him something. "What about that boy?"
I smiled and felt my checks burning. "What boy?" That was so lame. It was something you would see in T.V. You wouldn't expect someone to say that on real life.
She laughed at the shyness. "You know whom Rainy" She smiled at me again. "The one on the motorcycle. I saw him yesterday when I was leaving. You guys were talking, and he doesn't go to school here."
I laughed too. "That was Seth. He lives on the reservation."
"So what?"
Oh he is just my soul mate. It was determined by a prehistoric magic of the Quilette tribe. Yeah that would sound just a little outside typical. "Seth is a buddy."
"He didn't gaze at you like he was just a buddy." Mrs. Price said. "Enlighten me about him."
I could feel the blush slink up my checks. He was worth a lot to me. I would die on behalf of him if it came to it. "Seth is happy. He keeps every person happy. He keeps me in high spirits."
"You sound like you really like this boy. I remember my first love."
"What happened?" I asked curiosity taking over.
"We broke up. We never talked after that. I hope things don't end up like that for you and Seth."
"They won't. I know that it is going to last." I said. I loved Seth, and that was all that was needed. Even if I had wanted a different guy, Seth wouldn't be with another girl. Not that I would be concerned but he would never be capable to because he would feel that he would have to be there just in case I would like him afterward if that was the scenario. That was just how imprinting worked.
"That is what I thought. Then my heart got broken. Just be careful with your feelings. If you ever need to talk I am here." She smiled again. Before I start again she started talking again. "Why don't you tell me about your parents?" Oh that was just what I wanted to tell everyone about. Let me run to the rooftop and exclaim in my delight! That was too much sarcasm for one day.
" My father is great. He is forever smiling and he makes me laugh all the time. He is a little peculiar though." I probably would sound a little weird telling her my father was most likely a better friend to me than Claire was.
And then came the unwanted topic. How do you explain something like that? Especially with someone like me. When you know utterly nothing about it. "Well she left us for another man when I was only a few days old. She ran off and married another guy." I told her. I had never told anyone that.
She looked up from the paper she was sorting through, and her hand went to her stomach. "You poor thing."
I shook my head. "Actually she is trying to get to know me at the moment. I met her a small number of days ago. She is pretty nice. Her husband isn't terrible either. I just wish she had been there with me the complete time. Then I apprehend that I wouldn't be the same if she had.'
Mrs. Price still had her hand on her swollen stomach. Did she have suspicions that she was going to make bad mother. That was an entirely inaccurate judging by her manner, but you couldn't always trust first impressions. Yet, I knew that my first impression of Mrs. Price was completely factual.
"Don't fret. You are going to be a great mother. You're a nurse so already know all that medicinal stuff." Just as I finished the bell rang, signaling final period. "I had better get going."
"Come visit me later." She waved. I told her I would. I knew that I had a companion, as weird as it was she was an instructor, here in enemy terrain.
P.E. passed rapidly. It was indoor soccer so all I was required was to kick the ball when it came to me. After awhile no one even dribbled the ball in close proximity to me after I kicked the ball into the coach's face. It must have been karma. He was a jerk and deserved it.
I walked out of the school with the twins and Brandon. They were planning to go to Port Angles this weekend and where inviting me to go. I really didn't want to.
I forced an apologetic smile across my face. "Claire and I are going to spend Friday out of town. We are going to Seattle."
"Maybe she could come." Alex suggested. She had mentioned wanting to meet some of the Quilette people.
"Claire isn't one for strangers. Actually she is pretty shy." I lied. If Claire was anything it was the opposite of shy. Once in a dare she went up to a random house in Forks and pretended to be traveling coat hanger saleswomen who forget the catalog. She loved people and was probably the most liked girl in our school.
"Well than maybe another time." Heidi said regretfully. She and Alex made their way to a green Focus. As they pulled away Seth pulled in. I waved bye to Dustin and Brandon and got to the spot were he habitually parked now was before he was. He didn't even get off the bike, but gestured to the back.
I got on with the helmet secure and we zoomed off toward home. We passed the road to get to my house and went to Sam and Emily's. The wood house was now paling, but Emily kept the flowers in front and in the window boxes magnificently maintained.
When we got off the bike I noticed I had forgotten to shove the sleeve down, and Seth noticed the dressing wrapped around my forearm. He grabbed it calmly. "What happened?" He asked, his gaze was studying it simply, caring and concern dripping in his pitch.
I laughed. "I tripped at lunch. The tray busted and it slashed up my arm. The nurse was nice." Seth laughed. "Of course you would manage that."
I was glad to have the happy Seth today. It was abnormal yesterday seeing him be so solemn. It was better when he grinned. It made my heart beat faster and my mind would feel at ease and right. I felt like hugging him, and as usual I followed through on an impulse.
Julia, Embry's three-year-old daughter, ran up to us and heaved on my shirt. She was the biggest bundle of liveliness of all the kids. She had the customary black hair of the Quilette, but her eyes were the only one of its kind thing about her. Her mother had been a Caucasian with sea green eyes. Julia had one green eye and another chocolate.
Her mother had departed this life while Julia was still a newborn. Though, I committed to memory Savannah. She was always all over the place and in high spirits. Julia, who had shy Embry as a father, had the same outgoing personality as Savannah.
She pulled in my shirt again. I looked down at her. "You're going to kiss?" She asked in the voice of an innocent child. I let go of Seth and drew Julia into my arms. She was heavier now than she had been a few months ago. Julia tucked her hands around my neck. "So no kisses." She stated.
Both Seth and I laughed at the question. That made me speculate when Seth and I would kiss? Would it be awkward?
Before I could really register the question a flash went off. The click of a developing Polaroid was heard. Collin stood before waving the now developing picture.
"That was ideal. Do more." He ordered. I laughed again. That was another thing about Collin. He would go on about stuff no one had a clue about. He was strange like that.
Julia put her hands put to Seth and he reached out to capture her. I leaned to make it easier for him. Collin took another Polaroid. "That was flawless. Continue please." He demanded. I looked at him puzzled. What was wrong with him?
Julia looked up at Seth. "I want to get on your shoulders." She demanded. Seth began to elevate her to his shoulders as I reached up to prop up her. I did not want her to fall from that far above the ground. She was really petite. As I was bringing my arms down with a smile on my face and a glee filled laugh escaped from Julia Collin snapped an additional Polaroid.
"You guys are astonishing. That was just what the doctor ordered." Collin applauded.
"What in the world are you talking about?" I asked him. He looked at me like I was insane. "Are you serious? That was the most perfect modeling ever. Here you can have these though. Can you do it again later?" he thrust the pictures at me.
Brady came out of nowhere and explained. "Collin is entering another photo contest. The object is to capture the soul of family." Brady grabbed the pictures. "This roars family out at me. You did a grand job."
"Okay well later." Collin and Brady got into Collins car and drove off. I remembered that they had a double date with some girls from Port Angles. I looked down at the pictures and blew it off. They were endearing though, and my locker needed some ornament so I decided to hang them in my locker tomorrow. I put the pictures in the book in my bag so I would not fail to remember them. Then I ran off to play tag with the kids, Claire, Seth, Dad, Sam, Paul, and Quil and Julia.