Chapter 8: Baby
Nessie
I clutched my daughter as close to my body as I could, just simply happy to have her back in my arms again. Hunter was fast asleep right next to me on the bed. Faith was wide awake as I nursed her. I loved to look at her face during feeding time. It distracted me from the somewhat painful task that was breastfeeding.
Overall though I was just happy that my children had been returned to me in one piece. Esme had returned them to me this morning. As soon as Hunter and Faith saw me they both started crying and reaching their arms out toward me. I was very surprised by that. These babies were only a few weeks old. Could they possibly recognize my face that quickly? Was it possible that they really had missed me? Was a baby even capable of missing someone?
I was brought out of my thoughts when Faith started coughing. Milk dribbled down her chin as she coughed. I got a wipe and cleaned the milk off of her face. Tears formed in her eyes. "It's okay baby. You're okay," I tried to rock her as gently as I could do so. She seemed to settle down a little bit. Then she insisted on feeding again.
Footsteps could be heard walking down the hallway. I supposed that in a house with seven other occupants there was bound to be noise. Back home we had a huge staff that consisted of cooks, maids, personal trainers, and of course nanny Anna, yet, I rarely heard a peep from them. Perhaps it was because the mansion was so large that we were spaced out well enough that we never heard each other as we all came and went and just did our own thing.
A shallow emptiness feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I thought about how drastically my life had changed in the last month. Giving birth to twins, losing my parents, losing my home, finding out my aunt and uncle want my kids and I dead. It was way too much for someone to handle.
I heard a knock on the door followed by a voice asking "Can I come in?" It was Edward.
"Yes,"
"Oh," he said when he realized that I was breastfeeding Faith. "I'm sorry I can come back later. I didn't realize,"
"No. It's okay. I don't mind," I said as I double checked that my body was sufficiently covered still.
Edward looked uncomfortable. Maybe seeing women breastfeed their babies was something that made him uncomfortable. Or maybe just seeing me breastfeed made him extra uncomfortable for some reason. I had a feeling it was the latter but I was not about to ask.
"I just wanted to talk to you. If that's alright with you,"
"Sure, that's fine with me. What do you want to talk about?" I was confused now. We hadn't spoken much since I arrived here and now he wanted to talk to me?
"Don't leave," he said. "I know you have been thinking about leaving and I just want to say that, well, we don't want you to leave,"
I could feel my eyes narrowing in confusion. "What?"
"I can just tell that it has been on your mind. My family and I, well, we want you to stay,"
I shook my head. "Why do I feel like you're speaking in riddles or something?"
He smiled a crooked smile. I was struck by how similar it was to my own crooked smile. It was also a bit unsettling as well. Edward looks almost exactly like me. It was like I was looking at a male version of myself. It was so weird. "I know you're running from something or maybe even someone. I don't know. But I just want you to know that you and your babies are safe here,"
"I don't understand," I admitted.
"What don't you understand?" he asked me curiously.
"I'm a complete stranger. Why do you all even want me to stay here? Hunter, Faith, and I, well, we're nothing to you all. So why do you all care so much about what happens to us?"
"You're not nothing to us,"
"But we are,"
Anger flashed across Edward's face. He ran his hand through his hair. Interestingly, that was something that I also did when I was frustrated or angry. Or frustrated and angry. He sighed. But he didn't say anything else. He just got up and left.
Hours passed and not much happened. I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air. I grabbed both Faith and Hunter. I let the family know where I was going before I left. Since they were being so hospitable to me it was only fair.
I sat down and leaned against a tree trunk after I had been walking in the woods for maybe half an hour or so. Then I saw something that caught my attention and put me on high alert. From a distance it looked like a reddish brown bear cub was playing all by itself. I froze. If this was a bear cub then it's mama was close by. That was not good. My heart started beating very fast when I saw that it was running towards us. I grabbed Hunter and Faith. I looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon. The animal slowed down and then I realized that it wasn't a bear cub at all. It was a wolf pup. I closed my eyes and opened them again. Not quite believing what I had just seen. This was a wolf. Not only that but it had definite pup-like features. This was a baby wolf. One that was easily the size of a bear cub. The pup squatted down and peed. So it was a female wolf pup.
She approached us cautiously. Instead of trying to get away like any sane person would do. I just remained frozen. I watched as she looked at me with intense curiosity. She looked at Faith and then her eyes landed on Hunter. It was as if something shifted inside of the wolf. Her eyes widened. A sense of pure devotion in her gaze. Then she bowed down. But not once did she ever break eye contact with my son. She stood up slowly and approached him curiously. My son wasn't even afraid by her approach. He had the same look of curiosity on his face that the wolf did. She licked his cheek and he giggled. Her tail wagged.
Loud growling erupted nearby. My heart dropped when I spotted the massive reddish brown wolf standing not too far from where we were. This wolf was easily the size of a horse or at a full grown bear. But this was definitely a wolf. A large, reddish brown, male wolf. He growled angrily once again.