Chapter 6: Changes
I didn't tell him. I was afraid of what he would say. I lied to his face.
"Junk mail," I looked in his eyes this time, daring him to say I was lying. To my surprise, he believed me! I guess I really had that magical convincing power most vampires use to lure their prey.
"Oh," he shrugged. "That sucks. Nothing cool."
"Nope," I laughed nervously, but he didn't notice.
"Um. By the way," he said slowly. Ness woke up while you were gone and came to sleep next to me. If—that's okay? With you. That she's—yeah," he finished lamely.
I eyed him cautiously. "Just don't play with me, Jake," I warned. "Nothing silly."
"Sure, sure, of course Bells, 'course," he replied quickly, with some relief.
There was dead silence for a moment. Then we both burst out laughing. "She's—haha—just—(gasp)—a kid!" he guffawed. We both rolled around laughing our stomachs off. Tears were streaming from his eyes.
"But not for long, Jake, not for long." He stopped laughing and stared after me as I walked away.
The next day, when it was naptime for certain people, Renesmee slept in Jake's bed again. And the next day. And the next. For the entire next year. For four years. In fact, it had come to the point where she was uncomfortable sleeping in her own bed at home. And I noticed that whenever Jake wasn't around, she would become crabby and irritated.
So we were at his house more than we were ever at home! His small house had become more of a home than our large, fancy mansion. Funny how that happened. One day we were sleeping in our own beds, the next it was Jacob's every night. Eventually he had to buy a larger bed. Renesmee was growing steadily every day.
I didn't want to crowd Billy. There wasn't enough space in this cramped little house for four of us to live comfortably. "Why don't you and Billy move into our house?" I suggested to Jake one day.
"I'll ask," he mumbled in a strange tone. Then I remembered that Billy had lived in this house, and on the reservation, for his whole life. He wouldn't want to leave it now. I wasn't sure about Jake…
Although Jacob phased less nowadays for Renesmee's benefit, he still did have to do it every now and then. It was his duty as an alpha and protector. And he didn't want to grow old. Ever. I knew he would rather do anything—anything at all—to stay alive forever and live with my daughter.
I rarely thought of Edward anymore, at least not with romantic feelings. I didn't have daydreams, or rather day-mares, about him either.
Then one day, Renesmee and Jacob were napping together. I was just sitting absolutely still. My instincts were still partly human, though, which was caused by spending so much time with humans, or half-humans anyway. So I had to pace around the room, for lack of a more interesting distraction.
I was thinking about how big my daughter had grown. Now, in reality only 5 years old, she had grown to the size of the average 13-year old. But just last week she had "become a woman." It seemed she was racing though puberty faster than a normal 13-year-old, too. She had an almost full bust, an almost matured body, and her face could have passed for a 16-year-old's. Her features were perfect in every way, and she learned unbelievably fast. Although I had home schooled her at first, I had placed her in school about two weeks ago. In the 9th grade. She could probably pass for older, but I kept it on the safe side.
…The first day she had come back home, I could tell there was something she was trying to hide from me. She avoided touching me so I couldn't see her thoughts or memories, but she gave in at last. She came up to me and said shyly, "There's something I want to show you."
When she touched my hand, I saw an attractive (in a human's eyes) young man flirting with my daughter. "Hey, baby," he smirked at her, trying to impress. When Renesmee resisted talking to him, he tried to grab her, to pull her closer. But of course I knew, and she knew, that this must never happen. She must never let anyone touch her besides people in the know.
My daughter was faster than the normal human, being half-vampire and all. She sped out of his approaching grasp and ran away.
Renesmee let go of my hand and looked at me ashamed, for some unexplainable reason. What, did she think it was her fault for being so beautiful?
"Oh, hon'," I comforted her. "It's alright. It's normal for immature boys that age."
Inside I was cursing that boy, whoever he might have been. How dare he?!
"Momma, I told all the other ones—I told them—" she burst out, then stopped.
"Told them what, dear?"
"That I have a—a boyfriend. A sixteen-year-old boyfriend," she confessed.
I stared. I didn't know what to say. "Well, that's—okay, honey, as long as you only say that for your own protection," I assured her nervously. "I mean, it's not like you're romantically involved with Jake, right?"
She smiled and nodded. "Right."…
I lapsed out of the flashback of that rather frightening day, then sighed just thinking about it. I sat down again and tried to relax myself. There was nothing to worry about, right?
Then I heard a piercing scream. "Renesmee!" I shouted, racing up the stairs to Jacob's bedroom. The door was open. My darling was sitting up in bed, moaning softly. And Jake was—kissing her?