Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's Note: Remember to leave me some love. I don't have a good sense of what you, the readers, are feeling if you don't reply. I don't know if you are being led down the path I intend . . . Share your thoughts if you have the time! THANKS!

Chapter 49 Bonding

EPOV

"Ready to go try out that gun I gave you?", Jacob asked me as he walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Jacob."

"Hi Jacob."

"Hi Jake", Bella said as the others murmured their 'good mornings' to him, "Ready for some breakfast?"

"Always Chica", he answered as he walked over to where she stood and gave her a hug before filling his plate and finding a seat at the table.

"I set up a range for us out back, Jacob, just to practice this morning and Jasper is bringing some of his rifles down for us to try as well", I told him as I sat at the table with coffee in front of me, my plate long gone.

"Nice. I didn't know Jasper had rifles", Jacob answered as he smeared butter and jam all over his toast.

"Yes, he collects them. Has quite a collection from the few I saw, mostly old antiques, civil war era", Charlie informed him as he got up to give Bella his plate and refill his coffee.

"Huh. Well I hope he has a few newer ones that we can actually shoot and not just admire", Jacob replied, his mouth full of breakfast.

"So what's the plan for today, Sweetie?", Renee asked Bella.

She was giving Phil a disgusted look for being so engrossed in the paper. Phil had the financial section out and was going over some news reports from Wall Street. He was really into the idea of investing or the idea of being able to support Renee with a better income than just a minor league ball player makes. He had also had some injuries lately and was unsure of how much longer he could play, so an alternate way of earning income was vitally important to him, though he didn't want to tell me that. I had told him not to invest monies that he couldn't afford to loose and he was taking me seriously.

My wife was finishing up wiping the counters, having already put away the cookware used for breakfast that I had washed. She was adorable with the apron tied above her belly and her bedroom shoes on. It was all I could do not to go and stand with my arms around her and breath in the freesia and strawberry scent of her hair, possibly causing me to take he right here on the counter. Nice thought anyway.

"Well, I think the boys are going to practice shooting", she said darting her eyes to me, "then Phil and Edward have a little business to do in the office before they go hunting with Emmett and Jake. Carlisle, Jasper, Phil and Dad are going fishing . . . again". She exaggerated the 'again' and rolled her eyes at her father.

"The rest of us are going into town. I need roomier clothing if I am to wear anything other than sweat pants around here", she said as she came to stand beside my chair and I leaned my head against her stomach with my arm around her and her hand on my shoulder.

I placed my hand full on the front of her belly and asked a question that I already knew the answer to, "How is Masen this morning, love?"

Everyone's ears pricked up at that and they stared at us, waiting for Bella's answer. "He's fine. Not so much kicking this morning, thank goodness. He's been treating my ribs like punching bags the last couple of days", she laughed as I rubbed over where he had hurt her yesterday.

"So, Edward", Jacob said, "How about going with me one day this week to look for a building or some land for Black Swan Racing?"

Bella's jaw dropped as did several others in the room.

"Black Swan Racing?", Bella asked, an eyebrow arched as she waited for a reply.

"Yep", Jacob answered with a huge grin, "I'm naming my new company after the founders, Black and Swan. Sound good?"

"Jake, you starting your own business, huh. Well that's somethin. Congratulations!", Charlie told him

"Sounds awesome Jake, but here? Highlands?", Bella said, still stunned from hearing the company name.

"Yep. Good a place as any. My partners live here and they can be involved if they want to if I'm closer", Jacob told her.

Great. Not that I didn't like Jacob and want him to do well . . . I do. It's just that the idea of him around all the time, knowing that he still had feelings for Bella . . .well, I just wasn't sure how I felt about that. He didn't understand fully about the 'werewolf' that he could be phasing into and he would probably need the pack at La Push to help him through it. I just didn't know how he would react or feel about being with a bunch of vampires once he embraced what that really was, and what he was. We were after all, each others only mortal enemy. Perhaps I could shake him into a deeper understanding that the legends were really true, I mused to myself.

Jasper arrived with several gun bags in hand and a rifle under his arm. "Mornin' all", he said in his typical southern drawl, "Ready for some huntin'?"

"Ready as I'll ever be", I said reluctantly, "I'll get my gun." I left to go to the office and get the rifle and the rounds that Jacob had given me for Christmas. I chuckled to myself at the very idea of using a rifle to hunt with. They had picked up on my lack of enthusiasm and I listened to their banter in the kitchen as I strode to the office.

"He doesn't seem too enthusiastic", Charlie said to Jasper, "Does he like to hunt?"

"What the . . .", Charlie handed Bells paper towels, she had choked on her orange juice and it was all over the table, "You okay, kid?"

"Fine", she said as she composed herself, "I'm good, Dad".

"Edward used to hunt all the time, he just hates to leave Bella", Jasper said with a smirk on his face.

I returned with my rifle and we all headed out to the do some target practice. Jasper, Emmet and I had spent a couple of hours quietly moving tree and brush to make a small, maybe two yard wide clearing into the woods for about fifty yards, placing a target against the side of the hill that my parents house sat on as there was a dirt cliff there before we had gone hunting last night. It would be safe to shoot, even if we missed. The bullets would sink into the soft earth and not continue on to harm something in the distance that we had not seen or intended. Jasper had helped me position the range in a straight line from the front of my house so that from our front lawn we could shoot across the lake, down the range through the woods and to the target, a total distance of about a hundred yards. Emmet and I had pulverized the trees and brush and had made them into a sort of sort of mulch, covering the ground along the range. It looked really nice, if I do say so myself, and it wasn't noticeable that we had just made it, since it was only a couple of yards wide. No one other than Renee had walked down to the other side of the lake and she wouldn't be shooting with us.

Charlie, Phil, Jacob, Emmett, Jasper and I walked out onto the front porch, each with a weapon.

"See there, at the far end of the lake", I pointed out, "there is a small range. Charlie and Phil had to look through their scopes to see it clearly, but the rest of us saw it with the naked eye, including Jacob.

Jasper was a marksman and went first, using his favorite Remington 7mm Magnum, a gun normally used for elk and big game at quite a distance. Though the humans couldn't see it without looking down their scopes, I saw that Jasper had nailed the very center of the target.

"Nice shot!", I complimented him, as did the others once they looked through their scopes and saw the shot he had made.

Emmett took a turn with a Winchester 300 Short Mag, a rifle that had a great deal of kick to it.

"Fuck! I can't believe I almost missed the whole damn target", Emmett exclaimed.

Charlie frowned at his use of language and his thoughts told me that he was glad the ladies weren't outside with us to hear that. He took the gun from Emmett.

"Let's see how those sights are", Charlie said as he loaded and took aim with the gun Emmett had just used.

Charlie's shot was just off where Jasper had hit, dead center in the middle of the target. "Huh. Seems the sights are accurate, Emmett", he smirked, "I guess the old man here can still shoot."

"You best remember that about your father in law, Edward", Jacob said as he laughed. Charlie gave me a stern look and his thoughts told me that he was thinking the same thing Jacob had voiced. Charlie had come a long way towards accepting me and my relationship with his daughter. It had been stressful for him and even more strained once he found out that I had gotten her pregnant, but he was genuinely trying to make the best of it and get to know me better. There was always the underlying threat from him that he would hand me my balls if I hurt his daughter.

I picked up the new rifle that Jacob had given me for Christmas.

"I had it sighted in, Edward, so hopefully it's good", Jacob said as I loaded and drew the weapon to my shoulder. I chuckled to myself at the idea of actually using the scope. My sight was better than any scope we had with us. I hit the target about three inches away from center where Charlie and Jasper had hit. Not a bad shot, but not showing off either. Truth was, I wasn't very good with these things.

We continued to swap off with turns and guns. Charlie and Jasper were the best shots, Emmett and Phil the worst and Jacob and I were somewhere in between. After an hour or so Phil looked at the time and pointed out that the market opened in fifteen minutes and we should go get set up. We excused ourselves and left the rest of them firing, laughing and having a great time in the front yard.

We wandered into the house just as Bella and her Mom came down the stairs. Esme, Rosalie and Alice were picking them up momentarily to go into town. Rosalie had to pick up some packages that she had ordered for Masen's room and Bella needed larger clothing from the maternity store. She had changed in size in only a week. The others were just going along for fun and because there was no way in hell I would let Bella go anywhere without at least three vampires with her with Victoria and that other vampire's scent all over town.

I was busy saying goodbye to Bella, wrapped up in her embrace and so lost in her kisses that I didn't notice Esme drive up. Renee actually touched me on the shoulder as she said, "Ahemm . . . can you let go of her long enough for us to go get her some clothing that fits? This behavior is why she needs the new clothes, Edward. Edward . . ."

Bella and I were having a hard time keeping our lips together, we were both about to bust out laughing and we just kept kissing because it was so damned funny to listen to Renee get more and more flustered the longer we stood there. Finally she huffed and walked towards the door, muttering something about just leaving Bella home. As soon as she was out the front door we both laughed hysterically. Her Mom was so easy to exasperate that it was almost criminal to keep doing it to her.

"I'll be back soon, sweetheart. Have fun 'hunting' with Jacob", she said with a twinkle in her eye and a smirk in her voice.

"What's so funny?", Charlie asked. "You're Mom's out here fit to be tied", he said as he poked his hed inside the door.

Neither of us could help it, a round of new laughter filled the room from Bella and I.

"Nothing Dad", she said as she left, "Mom is just too easy."

Easy, Charlie thought to himself, I never thought she was easy at all.

"Phil and I were just about to make some purchases, sweetheart, do you want to make the buys?", I asked my wife.

"No, baby, you do it this time. Esme is already here and I don't want to keep her waiting. I'd like to do the trades for the sale though, okay? And go ahead and do what you will with the account you set up for me to learn with, use it if you have a good lead for us", she said as she left, going up on her tip toes to kiss me one more time.

Phil and I went to the library and fired up my computer, using Bella's as well so that we could get on my acount and Phil's at the same time. I pulled the papers that Phil had given me out of the desk drawer and handed them back to him so that he could see the notes I had made.

"You and I agree on two of the stocks that you picked, Phil. Excellent choices and timing, for that matter. Alice and I have suggested a third as you can see here", I pointed to my notes.

Phil's account came up and sure enough, he had done as I requested and transferred twice his original investment back to his savings account, leaving him twenty thousand or so that he could use to invest. Good. If we split it between two of these stocks, we should do well in the end, and I fully intended to sink a few million into the one Alice had come up with yesterday, showing the potential to gain over 500 percent in the next 3 days.

Phil did his trading first, simply putting half in the best of the two stocks he had picked, and the other half in the stock that Alice and I had suggested. Excellent.

I decided to do the same using the funds in Bella and my account. When I switched to the family account, Phil got a look at the balance and I thought he would pass out.

"Oh my God, Edward! Doesn't it make you nervous handling all that money for your entire family? You're only 19 years old! I would die of nerves and I'm twice your age!", Phil exclaimed.

"My family isn't judgemental, Phil. If I loose money, they never say anything", I told him, but I was unable to resist adding, "Of course, I haven't lost in years."

I purchased twenty million dollars worth of stock as Phil stood beside me, petrified. I lightheartedly logged off, and closed the computer without watching the ticker to see what direction the market was headed in today. Phil looked at me as though I had two heads.

"Carlisle is here and I guess we're heading off to fish", Charlie announced as he and my brothers came into the office with Jacob to get Phil, "You boys will be safe with those weapons, right? My daughter wouldn't like it if Mason's Dad got hurt."

This time Emmett and Jasper about lost it, Jasper chuckling but Emmett in a full fledged guffaw. The idea that a gun could hurt me was apparently hysterical to them.

"We'll be careful. Guys, let's just get what you need and we'll meet on the front porch in a few minutes and walk into the woods from here", I told them all.

It was moments later when Carlisle pulled away with the fishing crew and I headed off into the woods to hunt deer with Jacob and Emmett. It was one of the last weeks of deer season, if I paid attention to such things.

Emmett and I smelled the deer, of course. A small heard was just over the next rise and we were downwind. We all took a shot and no deer fell, Emmett and I shooting high on purpose. We really didn't want to kill one this way and waste it. The herd scurried away rapidly into the trees.

"Plenty more, not to worry", Emmet allowed as we walked over the rise and further into the forest.

Jacob and I hadn't had a real chance to talk about what Bella, Carlisle and I had revealed to him on Christmas night, and I thought this might be a good time since no one other than another vampire was around.

"Jacob", I said as we walked, "Have you given any more thought to what we talked about Christmas Eve?" His head whipped around to me and he stopped cold, looking at Emmett.

"You mean about the Quillette legends?", he asked.

"Yes."

"I have a million questions", he responded, "like why do you believe that shit anyway?"

"Because it's true", I answered, looking him straight in the eye. He chuckled to himself and smacked my shoulder, continuing to walk into the woods.

"Jacob", I called to him, "stop for a minute. Grab my hand." Jake turned to me and looked at me like I was nuts.

"Okay dude, what gives?", he asked.

"Try to bend my fingers, Jacob", I told him. He scoffed as he grabbed them, intent on bending them double if I wanted to be so stupid as to go toe to toe with him. He couldn't budge them, and the temperature of my skin registered with him, finally. He looked up at me, shocked. We had discussed my family being some of the cold ones from his tribe's legends with Carlisle and Bella on Chrisms eve, but he still did not believe them.

"The legends are true, Jacob. Edward and I are both vampires", Emmett told him with a stupid arsed grin on his face. Emmett embraced everything about this life and loved it.

"You know about this?", Jacob asked, astounded.

"Yep, I was there and met your grandfather as well", Emmett told him.

"Fuck. What the hell am I supposed to do with this information? This just isn't real. I thought my Dad was full of shit all those years, doting on old legends and wives tales", Jacob mused. "Dad was right? He was right after all . . .? Edward, my Dad hated the Cullen's."

"I know, Jacob and we vowed to remain friends, remember. I refuse to be your enemy, whether the hatred in bred into us or not", I told him.

"So hunting", he looked at his gun, "with these. It's just sport to you?"

"Yes. We could catch the deer far easier by hand. You will, too, once you phase into your wolf form, Jacob. Running after them is child's play", I told him.

"Show me." He looked up at me, his mind reeling.

"Show me, Edward. This is all unreal to me, I need proof", he said, forcing the words out and straining to maintain eye contact with me.

"Are you sure you can handle seeing that?", I asked, "You sure you won't freak?"

"Yes. I'm sure. I need to know. I have to know that this is real, vampires and were wolves and since there isn't another werewolf here that I know of", he looked at me as if he were asking a question. "I guess the vampire part will do."

"You understand that the humans, other than Bella, can't know anything about this", I said solemnly.

"Agreed", Jacob declared.

I looked to Emmett and his mind was clear, he thought we should show him as well. He needed to know and we wanted to keep him as a friend.

"Follow me", Emmett said as he took off at vampire speed.

Jacob just looked into the thin air where Jasper had been, standing there with his mouth open, his mind completely blank.

"Come on, let's catch up", I said and started off into the woods at a fast human speed. Jacob matched me stride for stride, coming along beside me and asking, "Can you do that as well?"

I was gone before he finished his question, racing ahead and then back to him, stopping in front of him.

"You disappeared", he gasped.

"No, I just moved faster than you could see, that's all. Come on, let's find Emmett", I said.

We came up to a clearing and Emmett jumped nimbly down behind us from where he had been perched in a tree some 30 feet above us, eliciting a small gasp from Jacob.

"Are you sure you want to see this, Jacob? I don't want you to go into shock or be afraid of us, you have nothing to fear from us. You're one of my best friends", I told him.

"No, I need to see. If I belong to this mythical world, then I need to see", he said determinedly.

"Alright, but we don't waste our kills. Emmett will catch it, feed from it and we can take the deer back home after we clean it and claim we shot it, agreed?", I asked.

"Agreed. But if we're taking it home, at least get a big one, we don't want to look like a bunch of losers coming back with a baby or something", Jacob added.

"Emmett, they'll be coming into the clearing on the other end. We'll watch from here", I told them.

Emmett disappeared into the woods to go outside and come from the woods toward the deer so that they would run past us and Jacob could watch.

It was all over in less than a minute. Jacob and I watched from the edge of the clearing as a small herd, along with a huge buck emerged from the forest into the clearing to our right. It must have been at least a 10 point buck, to use hunter's terms. As they bent their heads to eat grass, all of a sudden the wind shifted and they froze, bolting across the meadow and away from an approaching Emmett.

It wouldn't have really been possible for Jacob to see Emmett chasing the buck, but he saw the buck go down and he saw Emmett bending over the animal. We walked closer, careful to maintain distance from the now feeding vampire. My brothers and I had fed fully last night, knowing we were coming hunting this morning and that there would be a good chance that blood would be spilled. The fuller we were, the easier it would be to maintain control once the scent of blood was in the air.

Jacob's thoughts were wild when he was close enough to clearly see Emmett's mouth on the buck's neck and Emmett drinking. "Fuck", was all he could say as Emmett finished and stood to face us, not a drop on his shirt.

I walked over to him. "How should we do this?", Emmett's thoughts were brilliant.

"Jacob, go back up into the woods and shoot this deer, anywhere you like", Emmett and I said as he moved to hold up the end with the horns, leaving me the butt.

"I'm not shooting with you both that close, are you insane?", Jacob yelled as he turned to us from the edge of the clearing.

"Do it. Just hit the deer, if you miss it's alright, we're bullet proof anyway", I told him.

He was stunned, but he aimed and shot the chest of the buck.

"Alright, I said as I saw Jacob taking out his knife to field dress the animal. We can truthfully say that Jacob shot him", I said as Emmett and I laughed and Jacob stared at us in shock.

"Bullet proof?", he asked.

I answered any questions Jacob had for me, that I knew the answers to anyway, as we walked back to my house, Emmett carrying the buck out from him with one hand so as not to get blood on his clothes. When we reached the house, Jacob opened the tailgate of his new truck and Emmett laid the buck across it. He wanted to show Charlie and Phil as well as the girls what the mighty hunters had brought down before we took the carcass to the processors.

"Well guys, that was quite an adventure", Jacob said, still somewhat stunned from watching Emmett drink blood as well as carry the buck all the way to the truck with one hand. "I have to say, more of this deer got used for food than I have ever seen. I guess we all have different ideas about what part of it tastes best", Jacob tried to show that he really was alright by making a joke.

"Friends, Jacob. I refuse to be your enemy. You took care of Bella when I didn't, and for that I will always owe you", I told him as I put a hand on his shoulder and he didn't flinch away. "Let's go talk about Black Swan Racing while we wait for the girls to get back. I can't wait to hear what you have planned!", I said as we walked into the house to clean up.

~oooOooo~

BPOV

I insisted on sitting in the back seat with Rosalie and Alice, not wanting my Mom to be squished next to them and have too much opportunity to notice their cold, hard bodies. Up front there would be no reason for her to have contact with anyone. We drove to the post office and picked up several parcels that Rosalie had ordered for Masen's room.

"Are we moving Jacob to Phil and Renee's room when they leave tomorrow so that we can start work on the nursery?", Rosalie asked.

"I had thought so, Rose, but I just realized we need it for Sue. I just don't think my Dad would sleep in the same room with her at my house, or even if they share a bed anyway", I realized as I said the words.

"Well, sweetie", my Mom said, "You could ask Charlie, or you can just assume she needs her own room and wait till next week to do the room after she leaves."

Rosalie frowned at the idea of waiting, but Esme told her to cheer up, "The supplies are already here for the room at our house and we can start on it and still switch and finish the one at Bella's house first, after Charlie and Sue leave on Saturday!."

"I guess", Rose said dejectedly, "I just keep seeing my design in my head and I want to see it in the room for real."

Esme laughed as she pulled into the boutique parking on Main Street, "Now you see how I feel every time I have to wait to start a new project!"

We got out of the car and went into the maternity store. Jessica, the girl that had helped us last week remembered us and greeted me by name. It felt odd to use that name now that my high school classmate of the same name had been killed, but there had to be thousands of people with that name. I would just have to get over it.

"Has that new line you were expecting arrived?", Alice asked as we walked in.

"Yes, I'll get a selection for her to try on and put them in the dressing room", Jessica offered.

"Please get a size larger, at least a 6 if I'm going to have any chance of fitting into them", I told her, "the tops can still be a small". I hope, I thought to myself. I was huge already. It felt like my stomach should almost have it's own zip code.

Esme, Alice, Rose and my Mom all handed me things while I stayed in the dressing room. Well, it really wasn't much of a dressing room, just one of two small rooms adjacent to the storage area in the back of the store and the back door, the other small room being the bathroom.

Luckily.

It seemed I was always in the bathroom these days, peeing was one of the things I did most often during the day . . . and night as well lately. I smiled to myself. I knew Edward hated any discomfort that carrying Masen caused me, but I think he secretly loved the fact that I was waking up at least one time every night to go to the bathroom. He would never wake me or disturb my rest on purpose, but if I woke up on my own we always managed to make love before I went back to sleep. I don't know if my need or his was greater, he seemed to worry so about hurting Masen with our shenanigans, or being too rough with me. He had seemed fine since that night in Orlando at the Hard Rock, he had been able to keep his strength and need under control, rocking gently into me the better part of each night as I slept, anyway.

"Bella", my annoying little pixie sister called, "Let us see the outfits on you! How do you expect me to know how each one looks, it's not like I can read your mind and see them in the mirror you're looking into you know?"

"Oh, I love that shirt", Mom offered, "baby blue and purple always did look wonderful on you, sweetie. Let's get that one and the jeans to go with it, those look great."

"They're comfortable too, Mom", I pulled up my shirt to show the elastic area in font and how much more room for expansion there was.

"Bella!", my Mom almost shrieked, "Has Carlisle seen those bruises?"

Woops. Pulled the shirt up too far. Damn. Now my Mom had come over and lifted my shirt, cringing at the blue marks and worrying.

"Maybe we should go have Carlisle look at you", Renee said,

"Settle down, Mom. These were already forming yesterday when we did the ultrasound, Carlisle knows about them. Remember Edward asking Masen to stop kicking me, when he put his hand on my belly . . . remember?", I asked them.

"Well, these weren't this blue, Bella, I had no idea", Esme said, "Has he settled down any?"

"Actually he has", I told them, laughing. "Maybe he's doing as his father told him!"

They all laughed, my vampire family trying to help me discount the seriousness of the bruises and calm my mother down.

"Oh, those jeans are perfect, except that they have a tear in them in back!", Alice noticed.

"These are the new line that you ordered, sort of at my request, right", Alice asked Jessica.

"Yes, they are", Jessica answered, "and I wish I had ordered extra, they are amazing, Alice. You should be doing the buying for the store you're so good at judging these things. Everything you had me order is just beautiful!"

"Thank you, Jessica. We will need to order a couple of pairs of these jeans in this size, though. This one is ruined and Bella and I both love them."

"Not a problem. I want more for the shop anyway, let me make a call", she replied.

I tried on a few more things, and Rose loved a pink shirt on me so much I agreed to get it and I don't even wear pink . . . ever! I gathered all the clothes and headed to the front. Alice, Rose and my Mom sorted the pile, deciding what I wanted and what I didn't as Esme and I looked on and laughed.

"Bella, you have made it clear that you have no need for nightwear", Mom said with an understand twinkle in her eyes, "but what about after the baby is born. You may not feel like getting dressed and other people may be around when you want to breast feed the baby. Maybe a nursing gown?"

"Um . . . not now, at least, Mom. I don't even know if I'm going to breast feed. Edward and I haven't decided yet", I said looking at Alice to see if she had seen anything. I don't think even Carlisle would have an opinion on that topic yet and by adding Edward to the decision making process, I threw my Mom off. She wandered off muttering things about it not being any of his concern and what was the world coming to when women had to consult their husbands to know if it was alright to breast feed.

If she only knew.

We left the shop and browsed through Rose's favorite store, Spoiled Rotten, with Rose deciding to try on a few things. Alice and Esme found some things s well, and my Mom kept looking at a particular rack of shirts.

"Try one on, Mom, it there is something you like!", I urged her.

"Honey, have you seen these prices?", she said, shaking her head.

"Okay, now I insist. You can at least see if it looks good on you. Stocks. This morning. remember? I;m sure one shirt won't be a problem, Mom. I had to get used to it, now it's your turn if you're going to hang with the Cullen's!", I chided her.

Two shirts and a pair of jeans later, I happily walked out of the store with my Mom with a bag under her arm.

"See, Renee. It wasn't that hard, was it", Alice told my Mom.

"I have never spent over two hundred dollars on a pair of jeans and a couple of cotton knit shirts in my life!", Renee almost gasped.

Esme moved to walk beside Renee and put her arm around her, hugging her briefly. "It takes some getting used to", she told her, "but you have to remember, we have all been exposed to Alice for years . . . and she almost thinks of clothing as 'for one time use'!"

We all broke out in laughter, even the corner of Alice's mouth dipped up into a half smile!

We put the bags in the trunk and headed for our last stop, the grocery store. Two carts full and the trunk overflowing, and we were headed for home with our treasures, anxious to see what fishing and hunting tales the men had to spin.

~oooOooo~

Victoria POV

Damned sap, I thought as I jumped down to follow their car into town. I was sick and damned tired of my perch in the tree atop Satulah, the mountain that stood between the town of Highlands and the knoll that the Cullen house sat on in Blue valley. I could see for miles and miles from my perch and not be seen.

It seemed that all the ladies had gotten into one car to come into town today, I had to find a place that I could snatch her from, take right from under their noses, but an opportunity had not presented itself . . . yet. They always had at least two if not three of them with her and all the other humans that were staying at their house for that matter. No matter. I had time and all I needed was one slip on their part.

They parked on Main street and went back into the maternity store after going to the post office. I was sure they had all smelled me, especially since they were making such a point of not leaving the humans alone. My car was parked in town, just waiting for the chance, the slightest opening. They couldn't track me if there was no scent and after a few miles in a closed car, I would be extremely hard to follow. And so would her scent.

Riley was usually close by, but he needed to feed this morning and would be a couple of hours or more before he returned from Atlanta. It was just easier to run to the city than to try and hunt here and raise more suspicion. Too bad, this might have been a good time, except that she had three of them with her.

I moved around to the rear of the shopping mall, in the alley where all the back doors opened and the dumpsters sat. I could hear them inside talking. Laughing. Where the fuck did she get off being so damned happy, giving him a child. He took my mate and he gets to keep his and have a child? I don't think so, I snarled to myself.

Bitch. Just wait.

They moved down the street to another store, again the same as last time, and I hung by the backdoor listening to them trying on clothes and discussing them with each other. How long had it been since I had a girlfriend to try on different clothes in a store with. hell, how long had it been since I didn't just run in and out, stealing what I needed and not taking the time to primp and look and decide. Damn it. I wanted to be with a gtoup of women again, just our shopping.

If the Cullen's could do it, so could I.

I heard them leave, heading to the grocery store by their own admission. I knew the layout of that disgusting smelling place by heart and I had no need to go there and hear anymore of their mindless banter. I was done. I heard Riley approaching, and all I wanted to do was leave.

"Get in the car", I told him.

"Baby, is that how you greet me?", he asked. I had to think of something fast.

"Yes, I just want to get you home and get you out of those clothes. Now."