That same snowy day of the Volturi's attack, Jasper suggested we give her to them. "Rosalie, you saw yourself what she can do- she's a danger to us all," he argued. "Now the Volturi will be after us, too. She's endangering our safety."
"No! She wouldn't hurt us- we're her family," I protested.
"We don't know that, Rose," Emmett said quietly behind me. "I don't want anyone- I don't want you hurt. What if she can't control... it?" Speechless, I whirled around, shocked he would agree with Jasper. He turned away from me, instead looking down at the beige carpet and cracking his knuckles anxiously.
"Let's think this through," Carlisle said, clasping his hands together. "We aren't giving her to the Volturi, Jasper, don't think of it. You did kill Demetri- it will take them much longer to find us. We shall simply have to split up and-"
"And what, Carlisle?!" bellowed Jasper, cutting him off and startling almost all of us. "We can't hide forever! Are you expecting the Volturi to abandon their hunt for us now? Do you expect Aro to let us get away? We killed two of his precious guard! He will be looking for replacements, and you know who he wants. I won't allow Alice to be harmed." His voice trailed off as he glanced at Alice. She put her small hand on his shoulder, a gesture usually reserved for comfort; this time, it was in support. "I agree," she said. "We can't get ourselves killed because of a child. We can't run forever."
I felt my body go stiff. Looking at the faces of my family, I knew exactly how this would end. Edward would choose to follow Carlisle, and Bella, incapable of enduring separation from him, would trail after. Jasper and Alice would leave. Emmett already seemed to be on Jasper's side. His betrayal felt worse than Royce's. Our clan would be divided, and I would be forced to make a choice. My daughter or my family. Diana or Emmett.
They all looked at me now. Carlisle's face was pensive and I could tell he was torn as well. Instead of speaking, I chose to flee the room, gathering Diana up in my arms and running up the stairs. I slammed the door of my room and curled up on the window seat, Diana still in my arms. She traced her little finger over the window making shapes and paused now and then to smile at me. How could they not want to protect something so innocent? It felt like my stone heart was cracking into a million pieces. If my marble body could produce tears, they would be rushing down my face. Sensing my distress, Diana wrapped her soft arms around me and hummed a lullaby I had sung for her every night. We stayed this way, clinging to each other until nightfall.
"Rosalie," Esme's voice said from the doorway, "may I come in?"
I turned my face back to the window. The panes of glass reminded me there were monsters out there, made of pure evil, who wanted to hurt Diana.
"Rosalie," Esme began. I tilted my head away, trapped between her and the window. During the entire argument, she had not said a word, her heart-shaped face betraying none of her emotions. She had probably turned against me as well. I tightened my grip on Diana, terrified she had come at this moment to wrench my child from me.
Ignoring me she continued, "We decided that clan should split up. You and Emmett will have to leave and go somewhere far away, where the Volturi won't suspect. Edward and Bella will try and throw them off your trail. Carlisle and I are going to find our old allies and hope they will help us a second time. The Volturi will see the deaths of two of their guards as a declaration of war, their only objective now is to wipe us off the face of the planet."
My voice was desperate when I said, "Can you be sure of that? Perhaps they will-" I stopped, realizing my naiveté. As long as both they and we were alive, the Volturi would never stop.
Esme gently nudged me over and I scooted to the left to make space on the window seat. Settled beside me she said, "Rose, I'm worried about you. Since Diana entered your life you haven't been acting like the Rose I- we- knew before."
"Of course not," I interjected. "I'm a mother now- I can't be the silly child I was before."
"Rosalie, you aren't acting like a mother! If you were, you would have stayed and tried to argue them down, or fled completely with Diana. I'm worried of what you might do, and for the people who might get hurt in the process. Since you got Diana, I feel you've lost parts of yourself, and you're going to lose more." I lowered my head.
Before I was reckless and pig-headed, but I had so much more to live for now. I had Diana, and with one mistake, I could lose her. The only person who seemed to truly care for her was me. Without the support of my family, I wasn't sure I could protect her myself. I was alone again.
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I watched Diana closely, peering into her face for a glimpse of the girl who had saved us all. Thinking of how she took down Felix still gave me chills down my back, even though it had been three days. She seemed to be back to her normal self, scrambling around the Christmas tree for more presents with Romo chasing after her, chewing on wrapping paper and tinsel.
Absentmindedly, I handed her another box. Diana's porcelain face lit up with joy as she extracted a snow globe with the figurine of a ballerina inside. Emmett gave her another box, this one containing a small carousel, its horses and their passengers painted vivid red, blue, and gold. He tried to catch my eyes, but I quickly averted them. Since Diana had revealed her true power, everyone treated her differently but me.
Emmett and I had yet to decide where we could go to escape the Volturi. We still hadn't spoken to each other, and I wasn't anxious to do so. Tired of this unhappy holiday, I got off the leather couch and turned towards the staircase.
Jacob, dragging a large burgundy suitcase down the steps, paused. Assessing the tension in the room, he called to Nessie, "Let's get going, I want to be off the road before it snows again." He gave me a small wave and I nodded in return. By some twist of fate, the dog and I now agreed on something. Jacob was the only person who was vocal on protecting Diana. However, as extended family, his opinion didn't matter very much to anyone besides Bella, and he often got scathing looks from Jasper.
I trudged up the steps, feeling the eyes of my family members bore into my back. Reaching the top of the stairs, I sighed, stretching my arms. The anger and fear I felt was exhausting. Cool hands wrapped around my waist and I instinctively curled towards them, recognizing the hands as Emmett's. "Emmett, I-"
He put his fingers to my lips to silence me. "I need to talk with you," he said, pulling me into our room. Shutting the door softly behind him, he sat down, looking out of place on the pink bedspread. Drumming his fingers on his knee, he smiled at me wryly. I held my ground warily, standing by the door.
Part of me wanted to throw myself into his arms. The other part wanted to beat him dead. I wrapped my arms around my body, hoping I wouldn't forgive him, even though in my heart, I knew I would.
"Rosie, I know what you're thinking, and what you're feeling. It's not that I don't care about Diana, I'm just...afraid." He looked down at his large hands before continuing. "I love Diana just as much as you- you never let me finish what I was saying that day. I was worried she wouldn't be able to control her power, but these past few days she's proved me wrong. I was going to say I'd stand by whatever decision you'd make. Even if I had wanted to give her to the Volturi, though- wouldn't your keeping her with us just be selfish? I mean- ignoring everyone's wishes? What am I saying? I guess I'm just jealous," he laughed bitterly.
"Selfish?" I echoed. Emmett raised his head to reply. "You haven't thought of anyone but Diana. I feel like you would happily sacrifice me or even yourself for her. The hardest part is that it's probably true…"
His voice trailed off and he flopped backwards onto the bed, making it creak softly in protest. I contemplated what he said. I had never even considered his feelings, in my belief that he wanted to tear Diana from me. Why couldn't he see that I could never choose between the two of them?
When I married him, I knew he wasn't a man of many words. That had simply been a trait of his I loved dearly. It gave me the chance to talk about myself while he listened. I had been selfish.
I walked slowly to the edge of the bed and touched his face with my hands, dipping my head down slowly so that my golden hair made a curtain round us. I pressed my lips to his gently as he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm sorry," I murmured, falling beside him on the bed. Tingles of pleasure ran up and down my back as he rolled himself on top of me and we made love, speaking with our bodies, saying what words couldn't say.
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Hours later, Emmett and I still had not left the bed. I reached over to open the dresser to give him his Christmas present. Rifling through the drawer to find it, I picked up a postcard with gold Russian script and pictures of different foods on it. I turned it over in my hands, struggling to translate it. I held the postcard towards Emmett looking for an explanation. Maybe I found my Christmas present early- though Russia wasn't exactly my idea of a vacation…
Emmett glanced at the picture in my hand and absentmindedly twirled his fingers through my hair. "Seth sent it- he got some job as an apprentice chef over in Russia," he said.
I imagined the cold and wide-open space of the frozen plains. You could see an attack for miles. Our clan probably had a home somewhere in the desolate terrain of northern Russia. My thoughts were interrupted by a small gasp of surprise and I looked up to see Diana at the foot of the bed, with Romo stuffed in a frilly blue dress behind her. Her chestnut eyes widened at the sight of our entangled bodies and she quickly ran out of the room. Seconds later, I heard Edward's chuckle come from the floor below. I rolled my eyes and reached over once more to find Emmet's present.
Finally locating it at the bottom of the drawer, I handed him the photo, knowing he would love it. He stared at the picture for a moment and stared at me. "It's a picture. Of two monster trucks," he said. I nodded my head at him grinning. "I don't understand," he said, scratching his head in frustration. I sighed and dragged him towards the window, pointing towards the garage. "One is for you- the other is for Diana when she grows up," I said with a laugh. His face lit up like a Christmas tree and he jumped up, tugging on his clothing and rushing to get outside and cause destruction with his new toy. Emmett paused at the door, then ran back to kiss me on my cheek. "Everything will be fine," he said squeezing my hand. I glanced at the postcard from Seth still in my hand. "Yes," I replied returning his smile. "Everything will be fine- we're going to Russia." An idea was already forming in my mind. If it was a war the Volturi wanted, then they would get it.