Shadows of Love
Chapter Fourteen
A Grande Finale
JPOV
Once Bells had revealed the truth to me our relationship kicked into high gear. We began planning a wedding that would go down in history.
When we had the chance to be alone, which was not near often enough, I pelted her with questions about how she came to be with me. I was
amazed that this beautiful, loving and compassionate girl, upon whom I had imprinted, and with whom I had fallen in love, was the same best
friend I had lost all those years ago. I had always had goose bumps when I looked at Ren and thought of Bells. It unnerved me how much Ren
looked like her mother, especially as she began to look like a teenager, like Bella had been when we lost her. I thought I was betraying Ren
because I couldn't shake the picture of Bella out of my head or heart. I felt like such a failure as a boyfriend and future lover and husband. The
relief that washed over me when I learned the truth cleansed my soul. It was some sort of affirmation that I was not insane to have persistent
thoughts of Bells running around in my mind.
Ren was so understanding and perceptive of that and it finally hit me, because she is Bella. I asked her often how in the hell she managed to keep
from telling me. She explained that at first she was forbidden by my mom and her grandmother to say anything to anybody. The idea that she
had seen and spoken to my mom rattled my cage to no end, but I totally could see why when a Heavenly Spirit tells you to do, or not to do, something,
you comply. There's kind of an unspoken 'or else' in there Ren told me. Then she explained her recent silence with her grandmother's advice and
admonishment. If she had tried to tell just anyone that she was Bella Swan, she would have been fitted for one of those jackets with the extra-long
sleeves that buckle in the back. She was right. The men in white coats would have carted her off in a heartbeat. Nobody, and I mean nobody, would
have believed her. Hell, I wouldn't have believed her if she hadn't come up with that clue.
That song was more than 38 years old. Bells and I had been listening to a classic rock radio station. Someone Ren's age, which was actually only 5
and 1/2, had definitely never heard of Steely Dan and certainly wouldn't know anything about Rikki Don't Lose That Number. That, my friends, was
a stroke of genius. It had long been a favorite song of mine and I think it had once been a favorite of Bella's. It was just that at the time, music only
caused pain and sorrow in her shattered heart. I would come to understand that feeling only too well soon after that day in my garage.
The one thing that Ren did after that night on the beach that really blew me away was come up with irrefutable proof of who she really was. It was
something that Bella had done that absolutely no one had known about. It was an even greater stroke of genius. The song's lyrics came into play
in her decision. This was something Bella had done even before she married the leech and the thought of dying in childbirth, *shudder* had never
crossed her mind. The song told the girl, Rikki, to send off the guy's phone number in a letter to herself. That way she would have it if she ever
changed her mind about the guy. Well, Bella did it. God, I couldn't believe it and hell I loved her even more when she handed that crumpled envelope
to me. I was sitting on the sofa in my living room watching TV when she came in the front door and approached me, her hand held out gripping the
paper item.
"What's this, Honey?"
"Something that might make you smile."
The envelope was wrinkled and dirty and obviously several years old. I turned it over to look at the front and suddenly I couldn't move or speak. The
envelope was addressed to Bella Swan with Charlie's street address on it. The postmark identified the time it was mailed, 2006, March 2006. That was
before she had fetched the leech back from Italy, ripping my heart out of my chest in the process. I looked up into Ren's smiling face with tears in my
eyes.
"Honey, where did this come from? Where'd you get this?"
"I slipped upstairs to my old room the last time I was at Grandpa Charlie's house. He hasn't yet done anything in there, nothing's been disturbed. This
was under a loose floorboard next to the bed. That's where I hid it when it arrived in our mailbox in 2006. I thought you might like to open it."
"But it's addressed to Bella."
"Yeah, that's what the song instructed me to do."
"Instructed you to do?"
"Yeah, so I wouldn't lose the number, you know? 'Send it off in a letter to yourself.' Go ahead Jacob, open it. It's okay, I promise."
"Bells, I..."
"Really Jake, it's okay."
With hands that were trembling so hard I could barely hold onto it, I pulled open the flap of the envelope. I looked up at Ren again and she just smiled
back at me encouragingly and nodded toward what I held in my shaky hands. I looked back down and slowly opened the envelope and looked inside.
There wasn't a letter in there, just a small slip of paper that didn't come near filling the space. I turned the envelope upside down and the slip fluttered
out and down, landing on my thigh. It landed with the side up that contained some faded writing and I sucked in a breath so deeply that it made me
woozy. My eyes didn't want to focus at first and I shook my head to clear my vision and get some sense going on up there. I shouldn't be afraid of a
little slip of paper. This was crazy.
I stared down at the paper on my leg and the writing suddenly just jumped out at me. It was my cellphone number from 7 years ago and it was in my
handwriting. I'd torn a piece off the back page of an old maintenance manual I had in the Taj and put my number on it. I'd folded it and sneaked it into
Bella's pocket on one of the last days that we were together riding the bikes. I didn't have that phone anymore. I had crushed it and flung it into the
wall of the garage when I had gotten word that Bella and the bloodsucker were back from their 'honeymoon' and she was 'sick'. I had changed the
number when I finally got a new phone several weeks later.
As if Ren's mention of the song on the radio wasn't enough (it totally was) this clenched it. I looked at my old phone number. I thought of the song lyrics,
'And you could have a change of heart'. I turned my gaze up to the beaming face of my fiancé. What a stunningly beautiful and intelligent woman she was.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am one lucky bastard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SOL~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six Months Later
Ren and I married on the beach at sunset in September just before her sixth birthday. God that sounds weird! My bride appeared to be about 20 years old,
plenty old enough to marry. And she was more mature than most adults I knew. In her soul, her spirit was 24, which was good enough for me. And I loved
her deep in my soul. I loved her as Renesmee. I loved her as Bella. I called her 'Honey' a lot.
So far, nobody but me knew the truth. Ren hadn't yet figured out how to tell Charlie, much less if she should. She wasn't sure about telling anybody else and
to be honest, I didn't have a clue how to advise her. I don't know what I would have done in the same situation. It was a quicksand pit for sure. Charlie and
Renee and even my Father and the Pack had all been doing so much better coping. They all loved Ren so deeply and it was as if they trusted her to ease their
minds about the loss of Bella. That's what she had done for everyone who had known and loved Bella. She had kept her memory alive but salved the deep
wounds we had all suffered. But we had some time still to decide whether or not to reveal her secret. Tonight we had a reception to attend and a wedding
night to get underway. We were both so excited I think we could have jumped over the roof of our hotel.
I carried Ren over the threshold of the honeymoon suite at the hotel in Port Angeles. The parents had splurged on a honeymoon trip for us, to England. Bella
was beside herself. Our flight was scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon so we booked this suite for one night of wedded bliss before we left the country.
Once inside, I set Ren on her feet and pulled her close for one more passionate, hungry kiss like the ones we'd been sharing most of the afternoon and evening.
The suite was huge. There was a sunken living room area with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the water where sailboats rocked at anchor and every
little light twinkled as a reflection. There was a bottle of champagne iced down in a bucket, compliments of the hotel management the card read. Ren headed
to the bedroom to change and I began peeling back the foil to pop the cork on that bottle. My cork was about ready to pop all by itself when Ren returned to
the living room. I was just pouring the champagne into the two glasses that were sitting next to the bucket on the tray on the coffee table. I barely had the
wits to lift the bottle and not pour the champagne all over the table and the carpet.
She was a vision. Her hair was down and fell in soft waves around her shoulders. She was wearing something made out of a cloud. It was wispy and white
and barely there. She looked angelic. Her skin was luminous and rosy and I could see more of it than I had ever seen before. My mouth went dry and my
ability to speak left me. Her eyes were shining and glittery. She floated toward me and got all the way across the room standing right in front of me before
I was able to move a muscle. She had been beautiful as a bride this afternoon. She was simply stunning now. The blush on her cheeks reminded me that I
had just married my best friend. She just had a new name.
Black.
I handed her one of the glasses and picked up the other and took her other hand in mine. I kissed the back of it and then her palm and then placed it over my
heart.
"Ren, Bells, Honey I love you. Thank you for coming back for me."
"I love you too, Jacob. With all my heart. Always."
"You've made me the happiest man in the world and here's to the next hundred years that I'll spend trying to make you the happiest woman."
"Already done, Jacob. Already done."
We wrapped our wrists and sipped the champagne together. Our eyes never parted. Once we had tasted the golden liquid, I set my glass back down on the tray
and took Ren's and did the same with it. At first there was a puzzled look on her face, until I reached down and lifted her once again into my arms, cuddled her
close and carried her into the bedroom.
When I reached the side of the bed, I set her down once again. I cupped her sweet face in my hands and pressed my lips to her mouth. Her lips were warm and
soft and silky and she rose up on her tiptoes and moved her mouth against mine. She had wrapped her arms around my neck but I pulled away and reached back
to pull her arms back down to her sides. I pulled on the ribbon that would release the gossamer robe that covered the gown she wore.
"I want to see my new wife."
With the ribbon untied, I pushed the robe off of her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. The tiny straps of the gown were also ribbons, tied in bows at the tops of
her shoulders. I slowly pulled each bow undone, one at a time, with just my thumb and index finger. When her gown floated down to land on top of the robe, she
stood before me in all her naked beauty, blushing furiously and looking up at me through her lashes. How adorable could one woman be? My skin began to overheat
and my whole body reacted to her loveliness and her alluring scent. She was drawing me in and setting me alight.
I reached down again and lifted her into my embrace and gently laid her onto the bed. I took only one step back and began to pull off my tie as I shoved off my shoes.
I held her gaze with my own as I unhooked my cuff links and unbuttoned my shirt. I quickly dropped them to the carpet and went for my belt and the button and
zipper of my pants, lowering them together with my boxer briefs and pushing off my socks as I knelt down next to the bed to look at my angel. She reached for me
and all thoughts of a slow, romantic seduction went out the window.
I crawled up onto the bed and stalked up her body like the predator I am. She scrunched herself up against the pillows with a soft giggle when I started at her belly
button with my tongue and licked my way up to her luscious mouth. I devoured her as a starving man would consume his first meal. Sliding my hands up underneath
her I smoothed my way up past her soft ass cheeks, over the swell of her hips and up her back until I gently clasped the back of her head, my fingers threading through
her luxurious hair. I kissed her eyelids, her nose, her chin and then nipped my way up her jawline until I nuzzled my face into her neck just below her earlobe. I let out
a slow, hot breath against her ear and raked my lips around the shell of it.
"You are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. I want you Ren."
"I want you Jacob. I need you. Now."
Propping myself on one elbow, I reached for the nightstand where I had placed the condoms I'd packed for our trip. Ren reached out her hand and stopped me,
placing her fingertips on my chin, pulling my face back to see her glowing cheeks. She spoke in the tiniest of whispers.
"I got my first depo shot right after you proposed Jacob. The third one was last week. You don't need those, Baby."
My mouth dropped open at her revelation.
"Have I mentioned how much I love you, honey?"
I gazed down at my angel with what must have been a goofy teenage grin but she looked back with a sultry fire burning in her eyes. Our lips met again as she
reached her arms around my shoulders and wrapped her legs around my hips. Moving my mouth down her neck, I pulled my tongue down the valley between
her creamy breasts. I gently grasped each soft mound in one hand and stroked her rosy buds, suckling as they pebbled between my lips. She let out a soft
whimper when I left them behind to move lower. Easing down until my chin rested in the patch of soft curls above her tender folds, I glanced back to her face
that was flushed and languid. Slowly, I pushed her thighs apart and buried my lips in the middle of the heavenly-scented moisture that was calling to my body,
pulling my tongue up through the heat of her arousal. She tasted like morning dew and honey and I would never be able to get enough of it if I lived to be a
thousand. Flattening my tongue, I began licking her from bottom to top guiding my lips to her swollen bundle of nerves over and over. She gasped a quick
breath at the touch of one finger and I added a second and soon a third to gradually stretch her passage. Before long, moving my fingers in and out, her walls
clenched around them and she cried out my name, arching her back as I lapped up her sweet nectar.
Turning my hand palm up, I curled my digits and sucked her clit harder and begged her.
"Please, baby, come for me again. I want to feel you."
Making contact with the spot I sought caused a low moan to come from my bride's throat as her body gave in to me again and again. After some moments for
her to calm while I held her placing many kisses on her belly and her breasts, she pulled my face to hers and kissed me deeply.
"I want to taste myself on you, Jake, and then I need to taste you."
My blood began pumping in overdrive at her sexy declaration and then skittered into the stratosphere when she reached between us and stroked her hands
around either side of my rock hard erection. She lifted against me and pushed me over onto my back as she knelt between my thighs and glided her thumb
across the glistening clear drop on my slit while her other hand delicately cupped my balls and softly squeezed. My muscles began to twitch and tremble and
I had to lie back on the pillows, keeping my eyes closed while she worked her magic. My eyes rolled back to the front and the lids flew open when she gently
closed her lips around the head. Her tongue slowly moved around my tip, making my stomach muscles seize up and my hand plunge into her hair. More
slowly than continental drift, she moved her lips down my shaft until her nose nestled into the hair at the base and the head of my cock pressed into the back
of her throat. She was killing me. And I loved it.
She continued to slide her lips up and down, swirling her tongue around and around with each trip. Her hands were still caressing and fondling my balls and
I knew she could feel them tightening as she relaxed her neck muscles and took the head of my cock down into her throat. Fireworks burst behind my eyelids
and I cried out what I think was a couple of curse words along with her name; I couldn't tell you which one. She drank every drop down and when she pulled
it from her mouth, she placed a tender kiss on the head.
I reached down and took her gently by the arms and pulled her up to me to place a fiery kiss on those magical lips. She moaned softly and my cock twitched
back to life as I rolled us over and she lifted her legs and placed her heels on the backs of my thighs. She held tightly onto my shoulders, digging her fingers
into my skin as I lined up my re-awakened erection with her smoldering, wet center.
"Try to relax honey. I'll be as gentle as I can. I love you, Bells."
She looked a little surprised that I would call her by that name at a moment like this.
"I know who you are; and I love all of you. But I know who I've dreamed of being with like this my whole life. I can't pass up this chance, Bells."
She smiled at me once more and pulled my face to hers to kiss me softly. Then she whispered into my ear, "do it quick, okay?" I looked into her eyes and saw
that she was certain. I nodded slightly.
I firmly pushed the head in just an inch. Bells sucked in a little breath and I stilled and waited. After a few moments, she gave her head the tiniest of nods.
I placed my lips to hers, pushed my tongue deeply in to tangle with hers and snapped my hips forward fast. She screamed into my mouth and dug her nails
into my shoulders as she lowered her chin to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. I went stone still and watched a single tear trickle from the corner of one
of those beautiful eyes. I kissed it away and went back to her lips with my mine. As slowly as I could manage with my own trembling muscles, I pulled back
until just the tip remained inside her.
She opened her eyes, watery and overflowing with love and passion. I held her gaze as I began to move back into her, rocking my hips with a steady and deep
rhythm. She lifted her legs further and locked her ankles at the small of my back pulling me deeper into her body. At first I kept it slow and as she began to
flex her legs to meet my thrusts, I added a little more to my pace and a little twist to my hips. She sucked in another hissing breath but never broke eye contact.
We had already talked before how we wanted our first time to be with eyes open the whole time, so we wouldn't miss a moment.
It didn't last as long as I would have liked, but she probably couldn't have taken much more for this time. I sped up and, propping my weight on one arm,
reached under her hips with my other arm and lifted her body off the bed, holding her tightly against my chest and abdomen, my arm spread up the center
of her back and my face buried in the crook of her neck. I whispered in her ear.
"God, Bells, you feel so good, like a glove made just for me. I love you so much baby."
I moved to look again into her eyes that were glowing in ecstasy and leaned in for one more kiss when I felt her velvet walls begin to clench around me. My sack
tightened and tingled and as she clamped down on my cock with the force of a vise, I exploded into the deepest recesses of her body, hot and long. We each
shouted out the other's name as we watched each other come undone and fall over the edge.
We were drenched and slick and wasted and I couldn't have been any happier. When we caught our breath, I eased out of her and scooted off the bed, reaching
down to pull her into my arms once again and heading for the bathroom. In the deep warmth of the tub with a steamy waterfall cascading over us, I bathed my
girl and soothed her body, washing her hair and luscious skin with scented soaps and conditioners. She turned and snuggled against my chest and between my
legs as she rubbed me down with a lathered sponge. It wasn't long before I reached around her, grasped her by the waist and lifted her up until she was poised
over the tip of my straining shaft. I had to have her again and I had to have her right now. I knew I would have her for the rest of our lives but at that moment,
all I knew was that this beautiful angel was warm and ready in my arms, waiting for me to love her and she was mine.
BPOV
I closed my eyes and ran my hands over Jacob's shoulders as he held my hips. He pressed forward and stroked his lips across both of my breasts, his tongue
darting in and out for little tastes. He moved his mouth up until his nose was nuzzled into my neck and he raked his teeth around my earlobe. As I drew in a
sharp breath, I lowered myself fully onto his steel hard shaft grasping handfuls of the hair at the nape of his neck. Our groans of pleasure mingled and I rested
my forehead on his as his dark eyes opened to meet my hungry gaze.
"Oh God, Jacob. You feel so good. I want...I need..."
He lifted one large, warm hand to my cheek, pushing my wet hair back from my face, placing soft kisses to my lips and then turning slightly to breathe into my
ear.
"Tell me Bells. Tell me what you need, what you want. Tell me how to love you, Baby."
At first I couldn't find the words. This was the very definition of all my dreams coming true. I was Jacob's wife, he was my husband. Husband. What a solid and
comforting word. And he loved me from the depths of his soul. He knew who I was and he had waited for me and he loved me. He moved his hands to my back
and pulled my body flush against his chest, wrapping one arm around my waist and threading the fingers of his other hand underneath my hair, cradling the back
of my head and pulling my cheek to his shoulder. When he spoke, his voice rumbled up through his chest and pierced straight through my bones and into my heart.
"I'll hold you right here, Honey. I'll keep you safe and warm and I'll wait for you. I'm yours and you're mine."
He slowly flexed the muscles in his back, hips and legs and lifted himself into my body more deeply than I thought possible. Oh so slowly, he lowered back down
into the steamy water while gently pulling up on my hips with the arm wrapped around me. Releasing the pressure on my body, he pushed up again with his hips
and met my descent onto his cock halfway, pulling another moan from his own lips as well as mine.
"Talk to me, Honey. Tell me what you want me to do."
I turned my head on his shoulder until my lips were pressed to his ear where I managed to mumble through my foggy, hazy thoughts.
"I need you, Jake. Make me feel you all the way through. I need you inside me to love me so hard I never forget how it feels in this moment."
He held his breath for just one more second and then leaned his head back to look at me, his eyes grown dark and fiery with lust. Almost before I could blink,
he tightened his arm back around my waist and his other hand suddenly left the back of my head even as his strong thighs moved up under my bottom. Bracing
on the side of the tub with his free hand and never budging our tight connection, Jacob stood as he held me close turning and pushing my back into the tiles of
the wall. He pinned me there with just his hips and his hot thickness impaling me, reaching under me to push my legs further around him urging me to lock my
ankles behind him.
The warm waterfall was behind him now and flowed heavily over his broad shoulders warming both of us in its cascade. With my arms wrapped around his neck
and his arms securing my hips, Jacob began to thrust into me with such force I thought my mind might just let go of its tenuous grip on consciousness. He pounded
deeper than ever watching me with those dark eyes as if he half expected me to beg him to stop. I never wanted him to stop.
When he felt my walls begin to flutter and grip down on him, he lifted one foot to the ledge of the shower and angled his shaft into my sweetest spot. My stomach
clenched as my core convulsed around him and I screamed his name into the mist-filled air. With one more wild push my untamed beast joined me in our journey
to blissful oblivion.
"Bells! That's it. Take me Baby, take all of me. Give me all of you."
With the muscles in my arms and legs screaming, I held myself wrapped around Jake tightly as his body jerked and twitched with his final bursts within me. He had
braced his hands on the wall behind me once he was sure I wouldn't falter in my grip on him. The only sounds with the softly flowing waterfall was our gradually
slowing harsh breathing and my quiet whimpers that answered Jacob's rough murmurs of love.
"Jacob. My Jacob."
"My sweet Bella. Ren, my angel."