A/N: It's been a while. Let's get back to our love story, shall we?
Most characters belong to S. Meyer. Major story and plot line belong to J. Austen.
"I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love," said Darcy.
"Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away."
– Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Pride & Prejudice, Chapter 9.A&A Chapter 9
Bella spent most of the night in Alice's room, and was happy to be able to report to Jasper the next morning that Alice did indeed appear to be getting better. Nevertheless, she called Renee and asked her to come over, so she could judge for herself what sort of condition Alice was in and decide what would be the best action.
Renee, eager to pay a visit to Netherfield Estate – she'd heard so much talk about it – complied quickly and reached the estate soon after breakfast, with both Lauren and Jessica in tow.
If Renee had found Alice in any real danger, she would've honestly been very upset. But she was perfectly satisfied upon seeing her that Alice would indeed recover nicely, and was therefore less than eager for the recovery to take place quickly, since her recovery would probably end her stay at Netherfield. She refused to listen, therefore, to Alice's pleas to come home and finish recovering there, and Edward quickly agreed that she should probably just stay put for the next forty-eight hours or so.
After sitting with Alice in her guest-room for a while, Renee and the rest of the Swan girls all joined the rest of the group, in the formal living room, at Tanya's request. Jasper had been standing by the large windows, staring at the storm which was still battering around outside. He turned quickly when the women walked in.
"I hope you didn't find Alice worse than you expected," he exclaimed anxiously, moving towards Renee.
"I sure did," Renee answered with a convincing frown of concern. "She's still too weak to move. Even your friend Edward agrees," she claimed, looking at Edward for his agreement. Edward, who'd taken a seat at the far end of the room, nodded slightly but kept his face blank.
"I'm afraid we'll have to take advantage of your hospitality a little longer," Renee confirmed, in an apologetic tone.
"Moving her," cried Jasper, "is not even an option. "I'm sure my cousins Tanya and Irina will agree with me that moving Alice is absolutely out of the question."
"I assure you, Mrs. Swan," Tanya replied coolly, that Alice will be well taken care of while she's with us."
"Why thank you all so much," Renee gushed. "You've all been so good to Alice, and to Bella also." – Bella smiled tightly, but otherwise remained expressionless as her mother continued – "I don't know what she would've done without such good friends as you all! The truth is, she really feels like hell, but she bears it all so well. But that's usually how it is with Alice. She's got the sweetest disposition of any girl I've ever met. I tell the rest of these all the time," she exclaimed, waving a dismissive hand towards Bella and her cousins, "that they could stand to be more like Alice. You've got one heck of a house here Jasper, and your landscape is simply amazing! I don't know another house in all of Forks that's equal to Netherfield. I hope you don't plan on leaving too soon, even though you've only leased it for the summer." Renee finally stopped talking, breathing in deeply to collect some air.
"Whatever I do, I do in a hurry," replied Jasper with an amused smile. "Therefore whenever I do decide to leave Netherfield, I'll probably be off in five minutes. Right now though, I'm perfectly happy where I am."
"That's exactly what I would've thought of you," Bella said, smiling at Jasper.
"Oh, so you're starting to understand me then, are you?" Jasper teased, turning towards Bella.
She laughed. "I think I understand you perfectly."
"I wish I could take that as a compliment. But to be so easy to read is sort of sad." He pretended to look embarrassed.
"Don't feel bad. Compared to guys who should come with an instruction manual, I think you're pretty cool," she teased him back.
"Bella, stop flirting like a little hoochy," Renee reprimanded, causing Bella – who'd only been acting like her normal, teasing self – to turn beet red.
"I wasn't aware," Jasper cut in quickly, embarrassed for Bella, "that you liked to study people's characters. That must be fun."
"Yes," responded Bella, who refused to let her mother's remark get to her, "but complicated characters are the most amusing. They at least have that advantage."
"I'm sure Forks," said Edward, "can only supply you with a few subjects for that kind of study. In such a small town, you're bound to always meet up with the same sorts of people."
Bella gave Edward a challenging look. "But people tend to change so much that there's always something new going on with them."
Renee was a bit less reserved than her daughter in her response. She'd been truly offended by his dismissive attitude towards Forks. She glared at Edward as she said, "Yes, indeed. Forks may be a small town, but we do have our fair share of complicated and shady characters. Why just the other day, my husband was telling me of a summons he had to give out to two kids out in the woods for public indecency. See? Forks can be just as exciting as Seattle!"
Everyone was shocked at Renee's outburst, and Edward, after staring at her for a few moments, turned silently away. Renee smiled smugly, thinking she'd won some sort of victory over him.
"I don't see where Seattle has any sort of advantage over Forks, except for maybe the shops and theaters. Forks is much more pleasant though, wouldn't you agree Jasper?"
"When I'm in Forks, I never want to leave it. And when I'm in Seattle, I feel pretty much the same. They each have their advantages, and I can be perfectly happy in either."
"Well," huffed Renee, "that's just because you're such an easygoing, pleasant sort of fella." She turned her eyes to Edward, giving him a smirk. "But that guy over there seems to think Forks is nothing more than a Podunk, one-horse, backwards town with nothing but simple-minded idiots."
"No, mom. You're wrong," Bella insisted, burning hot with embarrassment. "I think you misunderstood Edward. He only meant that there isn't such a large variety here in Forks as there would be in a city such as Seattle – which you must admit is true."
"Sure, it's true. I'm not freakin' blind! But that doesn't mean we don't have a large variety of friends. Why, just the other day I had to go pick up a refill for my Rolodex!"
Only a true desire to keep Bella from dying from shame kept Jasper from laughing out loud. Tanya however, had no such concerns about Bella's well-being, and directed her eyes towards Edward with a mocking smile. Bella quickly tried to think of something to change the subject.
"Mom, has Leah called since I've been here?"
"Actually, she stopped by yesterday with Seth. What a sweet young man that Seth is, don't you agree? Always polite, always a nice thing to say about everybody. That is my idea of good manners. And those young men who think they're so important, and too high and mighty to talk to anyone, well, they've got another thing coming to them."
"Did they stay for dinner?" Bella asked quickly.
"No, they went home. Something about Leah wanting to get dinner ready for her mother. I, for one, don't understand why they can't just order out like the rest of America. All this nonsense about home cooked meals and family time. I tell my girls all the time to leave the menial work like cooking and cleaning for those who have nothing better to do. Lauren and Jessica, at least, know the value of keeping one's manicure intact. But the other two, especially Bella, you'd think she has a Cinderella complex or something. Always making sure the furniture's dusted, and forever preparing new dishes for her father to try. She spoils him. But anyway, the Clearwaters are good people. Too bad that Leah's always in such a snarky mood.
"She seems really nice," Jasper hedged.
"Oh, she's alright I guess. But you've got to admit she's nothing compared to Alice. Why, her own mother's told me so on more than one occasion. I don't like to brag, but you can't deny that Alice – well, it's not very often you meet someone as beautiful. Everybody says so; it's not just my opinion. Why when she first started college back in Seattle, there was a young man working for my brother Jay who was so crazy about her I was sure he'd steal her away. Would've been one less college tuition bill to worry about," she chuckled. "But, he didn't," she continued, sounding disappointed. "He did however write her some pretty poems, whatever that's worth nowadays." She shrugged. "They rhymed nicely at least."
"And that was that," said Bella quickly. "It's not the first time bad poetry ends a relationship. I wonder who first thought of the value of poetry in driving away love."
"I always thought poetry was the food of love," said Edward.
"Of a good, healthy love, it might be. Everything nourishes what's already strong. But if it's merely some passing fancy, I'm sure one bad verse will kill it dead."
Edward just smiled, and the pause in conversation that followed made Bella nervous that her mother would find a chance to say something stupid again. She wanted to speak but couldn't think of a thing to say. And after a short silence Renee repeated her thanks to Jasper for his kindness and hospitality, and apologized again for burdening him with Bella also. Jasper's graciousness shone through in his response, and he gave Tanya a warning look, requiring her to be civil also. And although she was, she completely lacked Jasper's graciousness. Renee, being Renee, completely missed this though, and soon was ready to leave.
Once Lauren and Jessica saw that their aunt was ready to leave, Jessica walked over to Jasper with a bold determination.
"Jasper, Lauren and I were just remembering that when you first came to Forks, you promised to have a party here at Netherfield. It'd be awfully rude for you not to keep that promise," she giggled.
Jasper smiled easily. "Oh I wouldn't think of breaking my promise. I'd be perfectly happy to throw a party here, and when Alice is all better, you can name the date yourself. But I'm sure you wouldn't want to be dancing while Alice is upstairs sick, would you?"
"Of course we'll wait until Alice is better," said Jessica with feigned concern for her cousin. "It'll give us time to spread the word around the Port Angeles Campus!" she finished excitedly.
Bella groaned and lowered her head into her hand. And soon Renee and her nieces left, and Bella quickly excused herself and went back to Alice's room, leaving her behavior as well as that of her family to the remarks of the two ladies and Edward; but unfortunately for Tanya, the latter couldn't be convinced to join in ridiculing Bella, despite all of Tanya's smack talk about beautiful brown eyes.
Write me a pretty review and try to make it rhyme. Thanks!