Babies, Babies, Babies
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.
A/N-thanks for the kind reviews, Nikki.
Part Twenty Nine
Jacob and Bella sat on the porch swing and looked at the cheque. The $500,000 dollars kept jumping out at them as they stared down at it. It was all so surreal. After Carlisle and Esme had left they had all decided to head back to La Push. None of them discussed the money or what the Cullen's intentions were for giving Bella such a large sum. All Bella could hear in her head was Esme's sweet voice as she whispered for the children before pressing the cheque in her hand. This was such an Esme thing to do; she adored children, especially after she had tragically lost her own child before she was changed by Carlisle. Now she would never be able to have any, Edward and the others had become her substitutes, but that didn't stop her longing for a baby of her own, just like Rosalie. Both of them were fiercely protective when it came to young children and Bella knew that this was Esme's way of protecting Jet and Marlon's future wellbeing. She may not know them but that hardly mattered, it was her way of helping and assuaging her own nurturing instinct.
"What are you going to do?" Jacob asked after a while. It was raining again but luckily they were sheltered under the porch roof.
"I don't know. It's a lot of money." Bella stared down at the numbers again as if refuting that it really stated that she was holding in her hand half a million dollars. "This is life changing."
"Yeah."
"What do you think?"
"It wasn't given to me."
"Essentially it was. Esme told me it was for Jet and Marlon. Are you comfortable with that?"
"Not really….but this is about them and not me."
"You're not helping, Jake."
"Sorry, I don't really know what to think."
"You could extend the house, give Marlon and Jet their own rooms. Billy could have more ramps fitted and the corridors could be made wider to accommodate his chair. This could pay for Jet and Marlon's future education…and…"
"And?"
"And there would be loads left over to make a difference on the res."
"The elders would never go for that. They would think it was blood money."
"That's ridiculous. Perhaps your dad can talk to Old Quil."
"I'm not sure my dad will be comfortable accepting the money." Jacob sighed heavily and ran a hand through his messy hair.
"I know." Bella agreed quietly. She folded the cheque carefully and placed it in the top pocket of her jeans. They both sat in silence for a while looking out at the gloomy horizon. Dark clouds were rolling in which meant they were in for another storm. The rain was beginning to fall harder and the wind was picking up. "We don't have to decide right now. Let's give it some more thought." Bella said eventually.
"Good idea." Jacob sat back and slipped his arm across Bella's shoulders. He could see she was shivering. On the drive back from Forks she had remained a little distant despite essentially declaring her love for him in front of the Cullen's. He was elated that she had done so but he also knew that she was mad at the way he had acted in front of Carlisle and Esme and the fact that he had hidden his meeting with Edward from her. Yet again he had fallen into his old trap of letting his insecurities rule him. He knew Bella loved him, she had literally put her life on hold to be with him and his niece and nephew, that should have been enough proof all on its own, but no he had let the bloodsucker get under his skin and ruin all the progress they had made. "Bells, I'm so sorry about everything. I wish I could take it all back."
Bella swallowed thickly as she wondered what exactly he was apologising for. Was his assignation with Elise mixed up somewhere with it all. What had exactly happened between the two of them? She both wanted to know and wanted to hide from the painful truth in equal measure.
"Bells, say something, please?" Jacob begged. He ducked his head so he could look at her face properly. She was trying to hide behind her hair, he needed to see her eyes, and he needed to see forgiveness and that he hadn't driven a wedge between them because of his thoughtlessness.
Bella stared down at the ground. She was hoping he would bring up the subject of Elise himself but it didn't seem as if he was going to. That meant that she would have to ask him, and she hated having to do that. But she couldn't continue to feel like this, miserable and unsure. She had to know. "Elise…" She muttered. "Are you sorry about her too?"
"Elise?" Jacob couldn't understand why Bella was bringing her up. He had genuinely forgotten all about his run in with Elise. The meeting with the Cullen's had pushed everything out of his mind. "What about her?"
Bella raised her head when she heard the puzzlement in his voice. Her eyes roamed his face as she tried to read his expression, but all she could see was bewilderment. Did that make it better or worse? She didn't know. "I saw you, Jacob. I saw you on the beach with Elise, you were holding her hand."
"When?" Jacob frowned as he tried to decipher what she was talking about. He hadn't held Elise's hand. "I don't know what you mean?"
"Don't take me for a fool, Jake." Bella snapped as she suddenly lost her temper. "I saw you, today on First beach holding Elise's hand. There was me fretting about Marlon and you were hooking up with some random because you were pissed at me." She stood up and began to pace, having a sudden need to put space between them. Instead of looking guilty as she expected Jacob looked angry.
"Here I am apologising for not trusting you enough and there you are doing the same damn thing." He retorted. "I went to First beach to clear my head. Elise was there with her stupid friends and she tried to flirt with me. I wasn't interested. She put her hand on me and I grabbed it and pushed it away. I was not hooking up with her or doing anything wrong."
Bella's hand flew to her mouth as she realised how mistaken she had been. Of course that was the simple truth. Once again she had read something into a situation which wasn't there. Like Jacob she was falling into the same old trap. Her lack of faith had hurt them both. She sat down next to him again and put her head in her hands. "I keep screwing up. I'm sorry. I trust you, of course I do. I was jealous…." She began to cry quietly.
Jacob's anger faded as quickly as it arrived. They were both guilty of the same thing. They were letting their past hurt impact on their future. They had rebuilt a lot of bridges between them but there was still a long way to go. He loved her and she loved him, but the endless fight to be together had driven from their minds the one factor that bound them. "We both screwed up, Bells. We're human; it kinda goes with the territory."
The gentle teasing in his tone made Bella raise her head, she saw with relief that he was smiling at her, he was smiling her smile. "Yeah, we're both human." She echoed him as she wiped her tears away with the back of her hands. "I am sorry. Can we start again?"
"Definitely." Jacob leaned across and kissed Bella gently on the mouth. Her arms slipped around his neck and she pulled him closer as she threw herself into the kiss. After it was over Jacob rested his forehead against hers. "I love you, Bella Swan." He said huskily. "I always have."
"I love you too." Bella closed her eyes as they kissed again feeling relieved that they had finally managed to talk candidly with each other. It was another small step forward in the right direction. They stayed out on the porch for a long while, just kissing and enjoying the rare moment of peace until the bad weather finally drove them inside.
"Mom!" Jet held out her arms to be picked up as soon as she caught sight of Bella. Her pretty little face lit up as Bella bent down and cradled the little girl in her arms. She felt her face heat up as everyone looked at her. Jet was still babbling mom over and over. Bella didn't know what to say. She felt Jacob's warm hand on her lower back and immediately she felt calmer.
"Hey, little one." Jacob ruffled Jet's hair and grinned at her. "Been a good girl?"
"Hey….goog gull." Jet mumbled. "Mom, mom, mom." She tugged on Bella's hair as she tried to get her attention.
"You two okay?" Billy asked warily as he looked between them.
"We're fine." Jacob drew Bella closer to his side. "It's all good. Right Bells?"
"Yeah." Bella smiled at him before turning her full attention onto Jet.
"How's Marlon?" Jacob asked Sue who was in the kitchen cooking. Leah was helping her mother while Seth sat in front of the television watching a sports show.
"Oh, he's been a bit restless but mostly fine." Sue called back to him.
"I might go check on him." Bella said as she carried Jet toward Jacob's old room. Before she got far the front door blew open and Rachel followed by Paul came into the house. They were both drenched. Rachel's hair was plastered to her head and Paul's bare upper torso was glistening with droplets of water.
"We're going to be in for quite a storm." Paul said as he ran a hand through his wet hair.
"We wouldn't be so drenched if you had a car." Rachel grouched as she squeezed her own long hair with her hands. "I'll probably get pneumonia after this."
Paul's mouth thinned as he ignored her complaints and went to join Seth on the couch. Sue threw him a towel and he rubbed his wet skin down. Rachel glared at everyone before she pushed past Bella and marched toward the bathroom.
"Mom… mom…mom." Jet patted Bella's face when she saw her throw Rachel an irritated glance.
At the sound of Jet's voice Rachel stopped and spun round. She was frowning and her dark eyes bored into Bella as she looked her up and down. "I don't believe you." She snapped. "She is Becca's child not yours. I can't believe you've been forcing her to call you mom. What is wrong with you?"
Bella felt anger rear up inside at Rachel's unfounded accusation, but she was very aware she had Jet in her arms. Now was not the time to fight. She didn't bother to respond but just swept past an aggravated Rachel and into Jacob's room, shutting the door firmly behind her.
A/N-thanks for reading! What did you think of J/B's talk and would you accept the money?