Chapter Sixty Seven: Too Many Cooks
Carlisle:
Quite out of the blue, a soft hand all but punched me in the nose. I jerked my head away, and Nessie – Renesmee, as Bella wished - wailed and grabbed at my collar. I rocked from side to side, bouncing gently, in an effort to sooth her, but I myself was beginning to worry: Renesmee hadn't acted this much like a normal child since she was only a day old – ever since she had figured out how to project images into our heads, she had been a quiet, if still demanding, baby.
"Lavender's blue..." I murmured as I eased her hand off my shirt. "Rosemary's green..."
I pressed her fingers to my cheek, and my mind was flooded with images of Bella – both bloody and broken, and newborn, happy and violent. Anything to ensure that I knew what she wanted. I smiled down at her; finally, something simple.
"Your mother is busy, darling," I told her. "I'm sure she'll be here soon."
Using skills I had practiced over many years with Edward, I attempted to project this in images, a format I hoped Nes – Renesmee might better understand. Whether she did or not, she was having none of my reassurance. She hammered her tiny fists against my chest with a fury I had never seen in her.
"Carlisle?" Esme stuck her head in, and frowned. "What's wrong?"
"She wants Bella," I explained. Esme swept towards me and lifted our granddaughter from my arms. There was not even a moment's respite from her cries. Esme carried her back into the living room, and I followed, oddly relieved as everybody fussed around this child, trying to belay a simple need of an average child.
"Alice? Any ideas?" Rose requested. Alice shut her eyes – she found it hard to 'see' around Renesmee, and it frustrated her. While Alice tried to think of something, Rose and Emmett offered her niece human food and blood and every toy she had, but Renesmee just wanted Bella.
Alice waved a dismissive hand towards the kitchen. Esme almost immediately followed it, to pull a box down from the top shelf of the pantry. From that, she withdrew a long, flat package. She took a silver spoon out of it and offered it to Renesmee, who instantly stopped wailing. She studied it for a moment, and then reached her hand out for it. Esme willingly surrendered her second-best silver pieces, one after the other, and the family drifted towards Renesmee to watch her. Alice, Jasper, Esme and I sat on the lounge, while Rose and Emmett hovered over their niece. Suddenly, Nessie chucked the mangled spoon onto the floor and pointed towards the doorway, demanding something – Bella, who was just stepping over the threshold. We had to laugh. Bella scooped up her daughter, smiling widely, and Renesmee touched her mother's cheek.
"How long as she been up?" Bella asked, as Edward disappeared into the kitchen.
"Just a few minutes," Rose replied. "We would have called you soon. She's been asking for you – demanding might be a better description. Esme sacrificed her second-best silver to keep the little monster entertained," she explained light-heartedly. "We didn't want to…er, bother you." Rosalie bit back her laughter, and Emmett started silently laughing too. Bella heard, but pretended not to notice.
"We'll get your room set up right away," she said, concentrating on her daughter. "You'll like the cottage, it's magic." She looked up at Esme and thanked her, but before Esme could respond, Emmett's booming laughter drew everyone's attention.
"So it's still standing?" he managed, between snickers. "I would've thought you two had knocked it to rubble by now. What were you doing last night? Discussing national debt?" He howled with laughter, unable to control himself any longer. I allowed myself a smile: perhaps Esme and I would no longer be the most popular candidates for immature jokes.
"Where're the wolves today?" Bella asked suddenly, glancing out the side wall.
"Jacob took off this morning pretty early," Rosalie explained, a crease appearing in her forehead. I had missed Jacob's exit – I wonder what went on. "Seth followed him out."
"What was he so upset about?" Edward effortlessly joined the conversation as he returned to the room. Bella handed her daughter to Rose, not wanting to risk feeding her.
"I don't know – or care," Rosalie muttered, in reply to Edward's question. "He was watching Nessie sleep, his mouth hanging open like the moron he is, and then he just jumped to his feet without any kind of trigger – that I noticed, anyway – and stormed out. I was glad to be rid of him. The more time he spends here, the less chance there is that we'll ever get the smell out."
"Rose," Esme gently scolded. Rosalie flipped her hair dismissively.
"I suppose it doesn't matter. We won't be here much longer."
"I still say we go straight to New Hampshire and get things set up," Edward put in. "Bella's already registered at Dartmouth. Doesn't look like it will take her all that long to be able to handle school.
"I'm sure you'll ace all your classes," Emmett teased. "Apparently there's nothing interesting for you to do at night besides study."
Rosalie giggled. Bella kept surprisingly calm, despite her tense muscles, but Edward growled viciously, his whole expression screaming murderous fury. Alice jumped to her feet, confirming something deeper than banter was going on here.
"What is he doing?" she cried exasperatedly. "What is that dog doing that has erased my schedule for the entire day! I can't see anything!" Suddenly, she stopped ranting and froze, shooting Bella a tortured expression, which melted into a characteristic dramatic pout. "No!" she gasped. "Look at you! You need me to show you how to use your closet."
Edward was not distracted. His hands balled up into fists.
"He talked to Charlie," he snarled darkly. "He thinks Charlie is following after him. Coming here. Today."
Esme's hands flew to her mouth, and Alice swore in her soprano octave before flying out the back door.
"He told Charlie?" Bella gasped, horrified. "But doesn't he understand? How could he do that? No!"
Panic spread. I took a deep breath in, and forced myself to control my expression. If Charlie did know about us, the Volturi would take care of him too. We wouldn't be able to save him, even if every one of us died in the attempt: rules are rules. I closed my eyes for a moment and prayed with all my heart that Jacob hadn't told Charlie everything.
"Jacob's on his way now," Edward warned through clenched teeth. Sure enough, Jacob arrived within the next minute or so. He jumped through the doorway, shaking his head vigorously. Droplets of water flew around the room from his wet hair. He was grinning victoriously, and moved jerkily, as if he were tremendously excited by something.
"Hey guys," he greeted us.
He honestly had no clue what he had just done.
Leah and Seth slipped into the room, in their human forms but prepared to defend their still-smiling leader from any attack.
"Rose," Bella demanded, jaw clenched. Rosalie surrendered Renesmee without objection. Bella clutched her daughter tightly to her chest, a constant reminder to keep her behaviour under control.
"Charlie'll be here soon," Jacob said casually, apparently oblivious to the fury on Bella and Edward's faces – not to mention, the rest of our eyes like rifle sights, trained on him. Though she stood a foot away from me, I could feel Esme bristling with rage and shock and fear. How could Jacob be missing this?
"Just a heads up," he continued cooly. "I assume Alice is getting you sunglasses or something?"
"You assume way too much," Bella spat through clenched teeth. "What. Have. You. Done?"
I ground my teeth together. Don't be mad, he didn't know. It's too late now anyway – be practical.Edward shot me a worried glance as I flipped through possible explanations. I couldn't think of anything Charlie could even possibly fall for, even if he knew nothing about vampires.
"Blondie and Emmett woke me up this morning going on and on about how you were all moving cross-country. Like I could let you leave. Charlie was the biggest issue there, right? Well, problem solved!"
"Do you even realise what you've done?" Bella demanded. "The danger you've put him in?"
I was impressed at how controlled she managed to keep herself. I was even more surprised at Edward's restraint though: he had a clear path to Jacob, who snorted and rolled his posture from one hip to another.
"I didn't put him in danger," he said casually, still talking to Bella. "Except from you, but you've got some kind of supernatural self-control, right? Not as good as mind reading if you ask me. Much less exciting."
Edward stormed across the room and bared his teeth in Jacob's face, somehow managing intimidation though he was at least ten inches shorter than the Quileute.
"It's just a theory, mongrel!" he snarled. "You think we should test it out on Charlie? Did you consider the physical pain you're putting Bella through, even if she can resist? Or the emotional pain if she doesn't? I suppose what happens to Bella no longer concerns you!"
Jacob's face dropped slightly, then lifted again, and then his mouth dropped into a frown, the cheery mood of a moment ago having vapourised at Edward's words. He shrunk in that moment, and his eyes flitted around the room over the rest of us, and I could hear his heart accellerate.
"Bella will be in pain?" Jacob squeaked.
"Like you've shoved a white-hot branding iron down her throat!"
"I didn't know that."
There was a metallic screech as Edward ground his teeth together. "Then perhaps you should have asked first."
"You would have stopped me." As if that was a justification?
"You should have been stopped-"
"This isn't about me," Bella interrupted, voice trembling on the line between screaming and tears. "This is about Charlie, Jacob. How could you put him in danger this way? Do you realise it's death or vampire life for him now, too?"
"Relax, Bella. I didn't tell him anything you weren't planning to tell him," Jake assured us.
"But he's coming here!"
"Yeah, that's the idea. Wasn't the whole 'let him make the wrong assumptions' thing in your plan? I think I provided a very nice red herring, if I do say so myself."
"Say it straight, Jacob. I don't have the patience for this."
"He phased in front of Charlie," Edward hissed.
"You what?" Bella whispered, horrified.
I hung my head. How – how – could we ever get out of this? Aro would wring my neck. Please God, give him no reason to come here.
"He's brave," Jacob went on. "Brave as you are. Didn't pass out or throw up or anything. I gotta say, I was impressed. You should've seen his face what I started taking my clothes off though – priceless."
"You absolute moron!" Bella roared. "You could've given him a heart attack!"
"Charlie's fine," Jacob continued. "He's tough. If you'd give this just a minute, you'll see that I did you a favour here."
I watched his blasé expression with horror. In my head, I could only see Aro, and Marcus, and Caius.
"You have half of that, Jacob." Bella's tone reflected the ice I could feel seizing my long-empty veins as Esme haltingly backed into me, seizing my hand with the force of a Boa Constrictor. Her eyes were locked on Bella as the raven haired newborn stalked towards her Quileute friend, pure vampiric fury almost crackling in the air between them.
"You have thirty seconds to tell me every single word before I give Renesmee to Rosalie and rip your miserable head off. Seth won't be able to stop me this time."