AN ~ I know, I'm on a roll! In honour of the teaser trailer for BD that was released today (EEEEP!) I bring you some lovely familyness from the happy times in Breaking Dawn
(Enjoy them while they last! Muah ha haaaaa)
Chapter Sixty Six: Bella's Birthday, II
Esme:
I held up the next painting and looked to Alice, who was busy aligning Nessie's crib against the wall. Without even glancing at it, she said, "Lounge." I smiled. Exactly what I'd been thinking.
I returned down the hall to hang the painting in the lounge, all the while being extra careful not to scratch the wall or even slightly marr the frame – which I was holding a little tightly in my excitement over my second chance to celebrate Bella's birthday, this time hopefully more successfully. When I arrived, I found Jasper sitting on the lounge, frowning slightly at the floor between his knees. Unusually, his mood didn't touch me. I frowned: he must be working very hard to keep it in after such an emotional few days, few weeks. He had been anxious about Bella lately, but now he had a notable forlorn air which made my heart ache. Resting the painting against the arm of the lounge, I slid in beside him and put one hand on his knee.
"Jasper," I murmured. "What's wrong?" Clearly he had to talk to me, or Alice would have come out here. And yet, I wasn't sure what to say: Jasper was an independent boy, less emotionally vulnerable than Carlisle or Edward or even Emmett – though it made me feel bad that most of that independence had come from his time in the Southern Armies.
"I don't know," he replied after a moment. "It's Bella, but...it's me. What she did this morning – running away from those hunters – I don't know how she did it, but I don't know why I couldn't. I mean I know about Maria, and Bella's psychological preparation, and all those theories Carlisle wants to try to reassure me with. I know. But this level of control is just not natural."
I hadn't considered this yet. With all our hopes and fears about Bella and Renesmee, Bella's extraordinary ability had largely passed us by, and Jasper's warnings about its likely short lifespan had been largely ignored. Before I could reach a point of agreement in my own mind, Jasper went on:
"Think about it," he said, an edge biting his tone as he now glared aggressively at the carpet, his foot bouncing in frustration. "If it was a matter of compassion, why did Carlisle find his transition so difficult? A matter of love and support, of premeditation? I had my army days, but why did Alice find it so hard? D'you see?"
"Carlisle and Edward think it could be her ability," I offered, trying to fight the inclination to be restless and frustrated, which Jasper was no longer reining in with his former efficiency. "It seems plausible; the combination of all those things..."
"On top of the mind-shield?"
To this I had no answer at all. Building theories, speculation, was more Carlisle's specialty than mine, and frankly I was glad we'd got Bella through this in one piece; her control and her abilities were all extras, and should they fall in a heap tomorrow, well, it was good of them to last thus far. But when the matter was causing stress to one of my own – to Jasper, who had done so well to put up with all our fussing and fighting in the last few weeks – I was suddenly irritated that I couldn't come up with a solution.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders instead, and gently hummed a song from my early days until I felt his muscles relax a little. He sighed, reluctantly releasing his obsession, and I smiled to myself, letting the warmth I felt at helping my son fill me up, and hopefully warm him too.
"Some things we must accept without question," I advised. "When the time comes, they will work out for better or for worse, and from there, we will move forward. No-one can ask anything more of anyone. I'll do everything I can to help you make peace with this, Jasper, and I want very much for you to be happy again..." I took a deep breath, and decided to try something. "But it's Bella's birthday and this time around I'm determined to step up on the last."
With one last squeeze of his shoulders, I hopped up from the couch and picked up the painting, then paused as I waited for his response. Thankfully, he took my comment the way I had intended it; as a distraction and invitation rather than a stab at his – at all of our - slip up two years ago. A smile cracked his dark expression and he followed me away from the lounge.
"You're giving her a house, Esme," he said. "Not much stepping up can be done from this point."
"Just hang the painting!" I pressed it into his hands and shooed him towards the chosen wall. "The sun's setting and I want them moved in tonight!"
I busied myself hanging the last few in the dining room and double-checking the arrangement of the kitchen; while I was bustling around the cupboards, Alice stuck her head in, offered me a wink, and then skipped away to find her tall blond shadow.
.o.o.o.
"Oh it looks wonderful!" I declared beholding the front of our marvelous creation, taking in all its vibrant colours and smells.
"She's going to love this," Alice squealed, clapping her hands together in excitement. "C'mon Jazz, smile."
Jasper did crack a smile at Alice's request, and she laughed and leant up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.
"That's better, bro," Emmett commented, slapping Jasper on the shoulder in a brotherly gesture as he passed before we all set off – in a loose formation for instinct's sake – towards the house. When we came in sight of it, glowing like a beacon in the increasingly deep purple of the night, we accelerated.
"Got the key?" Alice asked. I pulled it out of my pocket and tossed it to her. She caught it and wrapped a massive pink bow around it before slowing and skipping up to the door. Carlisle smiled when he saw me, and the rest of the family was soon smiling along. Bella was bewildered.
"Happy Birthday!" Alice squealed, dropping the key into Bella's open hand. Bella rolled her eyes.
"No one starts counting on the actual day of birth," she said. "Your first birthday is at the year mark, Alice."
"We're not celebrating your vampire birthday. Yet," Alice explained, her grin turning smug. "It's September thirteenth, Bella! Happy nineteenth birthday!"
Her face went as white as a sheet.
"No. No way!" Bella objected, shaking her head vigorously. "No, this doesn't count. I stopped aging three days ago. I am eighteen forever."
"Whatever," Alice shrugged. "We're celebrating anyway, so suck it up."
Bella sighed, admitting defeat, and Alice's grin widened even further.
"Are you ready to open your present?" she asked.
"Presents," Edward corrected, pulling a key from his own pocket.
"Mine first," Alice insisted. She stuck her tongue out in indignation, having foreseen Edward's answer.
"Mine is closer," he said.
"But look at how she's dressed!" Alice moaned dramatically. "It's been killing me all day. That is clearly the priority – I know, I'll play you for it. Rock, paper, scissors." Jasper chuckled and Edward sighed.
"Why don't you just tell me who wins?" Edward suggested reluctantly, making Alice grin.
"I do. Excellent."
"It's probably better that I wait for morning anyway," Edward said, smiling crookedly at Bella. He nodded towards Jacob and Seth, both fast asleep on the lounge. "I think it might be more fun if Jacob was awake for the big reveal, don't you agree? So that someone there is able to express the right level of enthusiasm?"
Bella grinned back at him as though the two of them were sharing a private joke. This just made my smile bigger – I think I was purring as Carlisle wrapped his arms around me. In that moment, I felt more alive and carefree than I had in months!
"Yay!" Alice sang gleefully. "Bella, give Ness- Renesmee to Rosalie."
"Where does she usually sleep?" Bella asked. Alice shrugged.
"In Rose's arms. Or Jacob's. Or Esme's. You get the picture. She has never been set down in her entire life. She's going to be the most spoiled half-vampire in existence."
"She is also the most unspoiled half-vampire in existence," Rosalie pointed out. "The beauty of being one of a kind."
"Let's go, let's go," Alice begged, shoving the key into Bella's hands and pulling her towards the back door.
"Is it outside?" Bella asked, a little flustered.
"Sort of." Alice pushed her forward.
"Enjoy your gift," Rosalie said, honestly cheerful. Apparently things were patching up between those two. "It's from all of us – Esme especially." I squirmed in Carlisle's arms at this compliment; I felt like I should have been blushing.
"Aren't you coming too?" Bella wondered.
"We'll give you a chance to appreciate it alone," Rose said. "You can tell us about it…later." Emmett couldn't hold in his snort of laughter any longer, but Bella didn't seem too suspicious: she just grinned as Alice dragged her out the door. Edward followed them, and once he was clear of the house, we all burst into laughter.
"Rest in peace, little cottage," Emmett said with mock solemnity, saluting in the general direction of Bella and Edward's new house.
"Just because you wrecked all the houses I ever built you…" I grumbled, lifting Renesmee from Rosalie's arms and settling into a gentle rocking motion as I spoke.
"If that house is still standing in the morning, I'll give you a million bucks," Jasper put in.
"My island house was almost unscathed," I pointed out.
"There are three reasons that's void," Rosalie pointed out. "One: it's your house – Edward would have been extra careful. Two: Bella was still human – now she's less destructible than the house, and three: I highly doubt that's still the original house." Her suspicious eyes flicked from me to Carlisle and back. Carlisle cleared his throat and Emmett and Jasper tried to restrain – or at least muffle – their laughter. Even I struggled not to grin at my poor husband.
"Yes, well…" he started. He couldn't finish, though. It was totally true: we had indeed broken a house. We hadn't completely demolished it, as Emmett and Rose had developed the habit of doing, but one side had been left damaged quite beyond repair. It had been a really lovely design too.
"My point exactly." Rosalie nodded, and then leaned up to kiss Emmett. Just before their lips met, Jasper cleared his throat loudly.
"On the subject of wrecking houses!" he interrupted. Rose and Emmett broke away laughing, and disappeared from the room to do God-knows-what. Frankly, I was more preoccupied by the warmth that was Renesmee – my very own grand daughter - settling herself against my chest and yawning quietly. I rocked her gently from side to side, murmuring a lullaby under my breath as I wandered into the next room.
Carlisle followed a few seconds later, watching me walk around the room in circles with Renesmee in my arms, not interrupting. I shot a glance at him every now and then, and I could tell he was wishing he could let me do this with my own child. Now the longing was not just for my sake though: he wanted to know what it would have been like to have a child. I stopped when I reached him, and offered up the sleeping Renesmee. He half-smiled at me, and rested Nessie against his own chest. He leant forward slightly and I came up the rest of the way to meet his lips. When we parted, I drifted from the room with the kiss lingering on my lips, leaving my beautiful husband alone with his granddaughter – a term I'm not sure he was entirely familiar with yet.