A World Full of Strangers

Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.

Chapter 6: The Walk

After the family told me that we were going to Whitehorse, I wanted to go for a walk. I needed to clear my head and think without Daddy being able to hear me. I wanted to go alone, so that I could find my Jacob and ask him what he thought about all this.

But Daddy saw that I wanted ask him if it was okay to go, and he wouldn't let me go alone. So right now, Grandma Esme and Auntie Rose are walking with me through the dark forest. It really is beautiful in the moonlight. But the tranquil beauty does not reflect my inner state of mind.

"Do you really think that my Jacob will follow us when we go?" I ask them.

They look at each other.

"That's up to Jacob," says Esme gently.

"He says that he can't live without me," I explain. "He says that no one can ever protect me the way that he can. He says that we will be together forever."

"What exactly did he say about that?" asks Esme very carefully.

"He said that when I grow up that we are going to get married," I reply. "He says that until then, he will be my best friend in the whole world. He says that no one can ever protect me the way that he can. Emily told me that I am very lucky to have Jacob for my own."

"Emily Uley?" asks Esme.

I nod.

"What else did Emily tell you?" prompts Auntie Rose.

"She said that he is my man, just like Sam is her man," I answer honestly, knowing that they would find out anyway. "She said that wolf girls always marry their men, just like she and Kim and Rachel did. And Claire will marry Quil when she is old enough. That is why she lives with her and Sam instead on the Makah res with her parents. Quil needs to have her close so that he can protect her."

Auntie Rose and Esme stop suddenly. They look very upset about something. Then Auntie Rose finally finds her voice.

"Renesmee," she says slowly. "I want to make sure that I just heard you correctly. Sam and Emily are raising another family's child so that she can be near her imprinter. That seems very odd. She is very young to be thinking about marriage and so are you."

"I know," I say. "I told Jacob that I was too young to get married and he agreed. He is waiting, just like Quil is . . . for me to grow up, you know. But he said that I will be old enough soon because Nahuel was full grown at seven."

Auntie Rose hisses.

"Hush, Rose, you'll frighten the child," says Esme gently. "Renesmee, do you realize that Jacob can't marry you without your father's permission?"

"I told him that, but Jacob said that my Daddy is just old-fashioned," I answer. "He said that whenever a wolf imprinted the girl and her family were happy when she married him. Emily said that Sam didn't ask her father for permission to marry her. He just did."

"Not this family!" says Auntie Rose vehemently. "We aren't a bunch of superstitious natives who don't know any better! Better an old-fashioned father than an ignorant one!"

"Rose!" scolds Grandma. "Not in front of the child. Jacob doesn't realize that his traditions are not the same as ours. We have to respect the differences."

"The hell he doesn't. And we don't have to agree with them, or abide by them," she replies. "And Jacob knows damn well about our traditions. He spends half of his life, here for crying out loud."

"No we don't have to agree with them and we shouldn't make assumptions about Jacob," says Grandma. "We will educate Jacob about the way that these things are properly done in our world. Renesmee is not a Quileute. She will not be treated as such."

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"Renesmee," asks Auntie Rosalie, avoiding my question. "How do you feel about leaving Jacob? I mean, if he should choose to stay here."

"I think that he would be very sad if I left," I say. "I'm not sure if he can leave. He's the Alpha in his pack."

"I don't care how Jacob feels," she says. "How do you feel?"

I don't know about that. Does it matter how I feel? Jacob is always going to make sure that I am happy. Emily told me that. She said that I don't have to worry about anything anymore. Jacob will take care of all my worries. But when I think about it, how can I ever be separated from Momma and Daddy?

They love me so very much. My Momma almost died before Daddy could change, just so that I might live. And Daddy faced down the Volturi to save me. They both would have died to save me. Isn't this love just as powerful as Jacob's love for me? They take care of me too.

Everything that I have came from them. They buy my clothes, books, and toys. They give me a house and make sure that I have the human food that I want. They teach me everything in the books and Daddy teaches me to play the piano. There are so many things that I want to know. There are still so many things that they have promised to teach me that I want to learn.

I've never thought about leaving Forks before. It never occurred to me that we all wouldn't live here forever. I thought that everyone was as happy as I was. But what Carlisle said makes sense. If we stay here any longer then we have to hide. And poor Carlisle can't practice medicine to help people.

I know about all the different places that they have traveled because of the pictures and the souvenirs. Sometimes I have even dreamed that I could go to those places too. But lately, I have thought that it would never be anything more than a dream. I don't know if my Jacob could go with me. He always talks about staying on the land, his land: his tribe's land.

"When Daddy said that I was one of you, or of us," I ask. "What did he mean?"

"He meant that you are a Cullen," explains Esme. "We are all Cullens. We are tied together by the venom that created us or in your case, the blood that ties you to your parents. Alice and Jasper came to us by choice. As you know, there are not many like you in the world. As far as we know, there are only five half-vampire humans."

"And we all live with vampires?" I ask.

"That's the way it is," she says. "One of the concerns that we have with you and why you really need to stay with us is that we don't know what kind of human illnesses that a half-vampire might contract. If you were to get sick, the best person to treat you is Carlisle.

"He has been caring for you since you were born. He studied Nahuel and his sisters when we were in Brazil. If you got sick and he wasn't near, you couldn't go to a human doctor. Your normal body temperature alone would throw him off. He might even guess that you were not fully human. It could be very bad."

"And we can't leave you to the mercy of the local medicine man," puts in Auntie Rose.

"What's a medicine man?" I ask puzzled.

"Rose!" Esme reproves.

"I just don't know what to think," I finally admit. "I never thought that I would ever leave here, leave Jacob. But I never thought that you would leave here either. I didn't think that there would ever be another place that we would go."

"Honey," says Auntie Rose. "That is all the more reason that you need to leave here. There's a big world out there for you to explore. You're old enough now to see more and do more. Don't you ever wish that you could go to school with other children?"

I look down. I feel disloyal to Jacob, but I really do wish that I could go to school with other children. Even Claire gets to do that. But he once told me that he is the only friend that I will ever need. He said that someday, I wouldn't need my parents anymore. I would only need him. And Emily said that the only person in the world that matters to her is Sam. It will be like that for me too.

But I don't always feel that way about Jacob. I feel like I need my Momma and Daddy too. That's why I need to see him. I need to know if this is okay. But as I look at Auntie Rose and Gran, I have a feeling that it is a very long time before they will let me be alone with him again.