Chapter Thirteen

Reconciliation

December 2004 La Push, Washington

Christmas preparations were taking place at La Push. We didn't go overboard at the Reservation, not having huge amounts of cash to spend on unwanted gifts. Family traditions and values were more important to us than commercialised trivialities. A few hand-made decorations adorned our living room and we had managed to acquire a turkey, but that was about it.

My father was in a good mood, possibly for the first time in a couple of months. Charlie had phoned to say he was coming for Christmas after all. The rift between them bothered him much more than he let on and this was an opportunity to bury it, once and for all.

Harry too was pleased and promised to drop in after his family dinner. Life in the Clearwater's house was very strained at the moment and I imagined he would be happy to escape for an hour or two. Things had gone from bad to catastrophic since Sam had returned. Leah was inconsolable and spend most of her time hiding away in her bedroom, not wanting any contact with the outside world. Sam had eventually declared his obvious affections for Emily after a few weeks in denial. His hopeless attempts at restoring his relationship with Leah had failed. He had tried desperately hard but he was unable to push Emily from his mind and eventually Leah had asked him to stop trying. A noble gesture on her part, but it had left her broken and bitter.

To make things even worse, Emily and Sam had set up home together in one of the disused tiny houses on the edge of the Reservation. Leah therefore had a constant reminder of what she had lost. Emily and Sam seemed totally absorbed in each other. They tried not to be too open about it, but it was impossible not to notice it.

I was a little puzzled why they had chosen to live at La Push. Surely it would have been better to have lived with Emily's family up at the Makah Reservation until things settled down; not that I imagined Leah would ever get over it entirely. I guess Sam had his reasons, but he rarely spoke to anyone about it. He rarely spoke to anyone about anything for that matter. He still disappeared occasionally, mostly at night, but Emily didn't seem to worry. It was as though she understood, and gave him the space he obviously needed. It was all a mystery to me, but I assumed he was still keeping watch on the Cullens.

Christmas day arrived and the traditional meal was being prepared, Turkey and all the trimmings. I had been preparing the vegetables all morning. Charlie turned up about half-eleven with a Christmas pudding, given to him by one of his elderly neighbours who had been making her own puddings since before Charlie had been born.

"Hey Billy, Jacob, Happy Christmas," He called out as he entered the living room, the pudding in his outstretched hand.

"Oh, er thanks," my father replied. I too greeted Charlie, adding my seasonal greetings. It was good to see him again and I hoped it went well. It had more or less been my idea to ask Charlie, because I knew my father wanted to, he just wouldn't admit it. Anyway, I guess it would be my fault if it all turned out badly.

"I'll just nip out and fetch my microwave," Charlie added.

My father looked and me and shrugged.

Charlie reappeared carrying his microwave oven and seeing my father's bewildered look, he explained "To cook the pudding, it's much faster, believe me. I hope you don't mind, I knew you didn't have one."

"Oh, er, I don't know how to work one of these new-fangled contraptions," my father said, seeming a little disgruntled.

"It's ok, dad, I'll do it," I offered.

"Thanks son," he replied.

Charlie carried it out to the kitchen and asked if there was anything he could do to help.

"No, not with your cooking skills, thanks Charlie. Jacob and I have it all under control. Besides, I remember your last attempt at cooking a meal!"

We laughed, and it broke the tension. I also remembered Charlie's last burnt offerings, which had been so charred we hadn't even known what it was supposed to be. Not only had Charlie ruined the food but the dish it had been cooked in had ended up in the trash.

My father wheeled himself back into the living room and so Charlie and I followed.

"I'll keep an eye on the food dad. You and Charlie have some catching up to do." I offered.

"Oh, ok, thanks Jake. There's nothing to do for a while. Come sit with us."

I hadn't really wanted to. The cooking was an excuse to absent myself. It felt a little awkward and I was wondering which one of them would bring up the subject of their argument first, or would they skirt around it all afternoon? It would be a long afternoon if they did. The air needed clearing.

"Er, no it's ok dad," I began, trying to find a nice way to put it.

"Oh, I understand, you don't want to be stuck here with two old men," my father suggested.

"Hey, speak for yourself Billy Black!" Charlie retorted, jokingly.

I laughed along with them briefly and then added, "No, I just think you two should talk."

Charlie grunted and my father shot me a warning glance. I retreated to the kitchen and shortly after I heard Charlie begin speaking.

"Jake's right Billy, we should talk, but I don't want to argue about it. Shall we just clear the air by saying you have got your reasons, no doubt, and I have mine."

"Yes, I've got my reasons Charlie, but as I have said before, I am not at liberty to disclose them to you. We have been friends for a long time, and I wish you would just take my word for it, but I can see that you won't."

"I can't Billy, I'm a cop. I wouldn't be a very good one if I took everybody's word for things. I need to find things out for myself; seek out the truth. I may well be wrong, I am quite happy to admit that, but from what I have seen so far, the Cullens are decent people, a little unusual and reclusive maybe, but there is no law against that. They don't cause trouble and they are always polite. I can only speak as I find and... most importantly of all, no crime has been committed, so I really don't see what the big deal is."

"Huh, well, yes," my father replied, and then there was silence for a while before he continued, "I take your point Charlie, but there are things you don't know, things you can never know, you just have to trust me on that one."

"And you're not going to tell me." It wasn't a question it was a statement.

"Nope."

"This isn't all based on one of your tribal superstitions or legends is it?"

"Need to know Charlie...need to know."

Charlie snorted and said, laughing, "Billy, you really are the most infuriating man I have ever met!" and to my relief, my father laughed.

"Hey, come on Charlie, its Christmas. Let's just enjoy the day. Besides, I've said too much already. The food should be ready soon and I'm getting real hungry. I hope you are? Hey, Jake, how long before dinner?"

"Another twenty minutes," I replied.

"Time for a drink then, to friendship and family?" my father asked Charlie.

"I thought you'd never offer." He replied.

I heard a bottle being opened and glasses being poured. I pulled a can of soda from the fridge and joined them in the living room. The atmosphere was considerably lighter; the two old friends had seemingly put their petty quarrel behind them.

We toasted family and friendship, agreeing to disagree, and conceding that whatever our differences were, it didn't really matter. Charlie had finally accepted that there were things Billy couldn't talk about, things that Charlie was better off not knowing, or maybe Charlie just thought my father was a silly superstitious old fool. Charlie was too down to earth to believe him if he told him the truth anyway. Vampires and werewolves? To be honest, I didn't believe it either.

"Hey Jake," Charlie suddenly announced, "Bella's coming to live here soon."

"Really? You're kidding right? I thought she hated it here?" The last memories I had of Bella Swan was one of a sulky almost-teenager complaining bitterly that this was the worst place on earth and she never wanted to come here again. I had been a little hurt at the time, because this was my home and I was only young. I had taken it as a personal insult. I had not realised that there was a whole wide world out there, that there were places where the sun shone for more than three days a year. She had struck me as being a little spoilt and ungrateful, but I kind of understood now.

"Well, yeah, she did hate it here, but things have changed at home. I'm hoping she will be ok with it here now."

I remembered Charlie telling us that Renee had recently remarried so I presumed that Bella wasn't happy with the relationship. Maybe she didn't like her new step-father too much. I seemed to recall that Renee hadn't known him for too long before they had married. I hoped she hadn't made a huge mistake.

"When is she coming?" my father asked.

"Nothing definite has been decided yet, a couple of months maybe. She only told me a couple of days ago."

"Is she ok?" I asked, suddenly imagining all sorts of violent struggles and arguments at home and Bella being desperate to get away.

"Yeah, sure she is. She just needs to give Renee and Phil a bit of space to do whatever it is they need to do; travel or something. Phil is a baseball player, he travels a lot." Charlie told me.

"Oh, ok," I said, relieved. "Will it be permanent then?"

"Well yeah, if she doesn't hate it too much. I need to sort out some transport for her, so she can get about. I don't want her feeling trapped indoors with a grumpy old man all the time, or worse still, having to ask this grumpy old man to take her anywhere."

My father was laughing "So, now you are admitting to being a grumpy old man?"

"Yeah, I guess," Charlie replied. "Anyway, I know you are handy with cars, Jacob, and I just wondered if you could keep your ears to the ground for some wheels for her. You know, if anyone you know is doing anything up. I haven't got much of a budget though. Oh, and it needs to be something fairly sturdy. You know how accident prone she is."

"What about the truck?" I had just had the most amazing idea. If I could palm the truck off on to Bella, I could find myself another little project, something a little faster and modern. A plan was forming as I spoke.

"Truck? What truck?" Charlie asked.

"The chevvy. My dad's old truck. I have rebuilt the engine on it and it runs real sweet now. Dad was keeping it for me for when I was old enough to drive, but that is another year or so away. What do you think dad?"

"Well yeah, it's an idea. Maybe you could buy it back when you are ready Jacob?"

"Well, I was actually hoping I could use the money to buy something a little more...er...well, a little less ancient."

"You mean a little faster?" my father laughed. He had seen through that one.

"Well yeah." I replied feeling a little relieved that he hadn't ruled out the idea completely.

"Ok, sounds like a good idea, if it's ok with you two," Charlie said. "Even Bella ought to be safe in that old tank. They don't make them like that any more."

"Well ok then Charlie," my father said. "You've got yourself a deal."

"Cool, thanks dad!" I exclaimed.

"Now, don't you get carried away Jacob. I haven't made any decisions yet about replacing the truck. It's over a year yet before you can legally drive so there is no rush."

I thought it was too good to be true but I couldn't give up just yet, not now that he was in such a good mood. "Well, if I am going to buy an old wreck and do it up, I will need some time."

"Yes, and I need some time to think about it." My father held his hand up to signal that was the final word for the moment. There was no point in arguing with him once he had made this signal, it just made him angry and stubborn. In any case, I had planted the seeds, and I knew of just the car that I was going to buy when I could eventually persuade him to agree to it. I would bide my time for now and in the meantime, I would contact the young lad in Forks who was selling his VW Rabbit after wrecking the engine, just to make sure he still had it for sale. Perfect!

I sauntered casually into the kitchen to check on the dinner, still thinking of my VW rabbit and wondering how best to broach the subject, how long to leave it, how much we could get for the truck, would it be enough, where would I get the rest of the money from...In the meantime, dinner was ready so I began dishing it up, whistling a little tune to myself.

"Don't forget to use the serving dishes Jacob. Don't slop it on the plates like you normally do!" my father called out from the living room.

"Already on it dad." I called back. I may have forgotten if he hadn't taken the serving dishes out of the cupboard earlier. We didn't normally bother, but it was a special occasion, and today was turning out much better than I had hoped for.

I then heard my father telling Charlie in a low voice, hoping it was too quiet for me to hear, that of course he would let me buy another car. It just didn't hurt to make me stew for a while. "They become spoiled if you give in to them right away."

"Yes!" I said to myself quietly and I joyfully punched at the air. I walked into the living room with the first tray of food, probably grinning a little more than I should be.

"Dinner is served," I announced. "Tuck in, I'll fetch the rest and then I'll join you."

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