Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jasper is in the kitchen with Christine in a sling across his chest. The twins have grown in the past few weeks and are very big now. Manny is starting to grow quickly as well. It worries me to see the three of them starting to grow faster than most babies, but then again they are not like most children. I smile at Jasper when he puts a warm cup of tea on the counter for me. Manny is seated at the kitchen island eating his breakfast while Christian is playing in his little highchair. I kiss my two little boys and they both smile at me. Christian holds his hands up to my face and I kiss his cute little hands sweetly.
"Mama," Christian babbles happily. The doorbell rings and I frown at the sudden interruption to our usual morning. Jasper lets me go and answer the door to find Carlisle, Bella, and Edward at the door. Reneesme is not with them this morning.
"Hi, what are you three doing here?" I ask them.
"We are here to check on you and the twins," Carlisle says. Edward seems a little nervous about something.
"What is going on?" I ask quickly, once I realise what is wrong with Edward.
"May we come in?" Bella asks. I move aside to let them in just before Jasper comes around the corner. Bella giggles at her brother-in-law with an apron around his waist and a baby strapped to his chest. "This is something I thought i would never see."
"What is going on?" Jasper asks, completely ignoring Bella's comment. I walk over to him and I take Christine from him.
"I would like to take a look at the children again and see how far they have progressed since the last time I checked on them," Carlisle says. Christian whimpers and then starts to cry. I go to get him to see he is upset at being alone. Manny coos to his brother and kisses his brother's forehead. I smile at my big boy and put Christine next to her brother. Carlisle walks in and he smiles at his grandchildren.
"Hi, grandpa," Manny says. My sweet boy hops down from his chair and runs to give Carlisle a hug.
"Hello, Manny, you being a good boy with your siblings?" Carlisle asks happily. He is checking Manny while he looks down at him. My sweet boy is taller and looks about seven now. Christine and Christian babble a bit as they watch me get their baby food. "Marinna, how long have you been feeding the twins baby food?"
"A few days now, they were not full with just formula," I say. "Why do you ask?"
"We did not do that with Reneesme is all. They have gotten bigger," Carlisle says with a hint of worry. I go to get a bowl and start to pour in some Gerber rice cereal into a bowl before pouring the baby food in the bowl to mix it. Christian gets excited when he sees the bowl in front of him and he reaches for it happily. Edward, Bella and Jasper turn the corner and they seem to be a little upset about something. Jasper walks over and he puts his arm around my waist.
"Manny, why don't you go upstairs and play for a bit?" Jasper says. Manny nods and hurries up the stairs to play with his toys. I sit on a stool to feed the twins.
"So, we have come to talk about the twins and their growth so far. Also, I wanted to speak to you about Manny," Carlisle says.
"What about them exactly?" Jasper asks on the edge. I take his hand on my shoulder and kiss his palm softly.
"It would seem that Manny is finally experiencing what Reneesme went through and the same is going on with the twins. But, since the three of them have a bit of wolf in them, there may be a chance that this will not last very long. I am bit concerned with Manny mostly because his growth will be noticeable by everyone around town and he is growing quicker than I expected. A week ago he looked five and now he looks seven or so," Carlisle says.
"What are saying we do?" I ask. Bella steps up to give her opinion.
"It is time you guys moved somewhere else for a bit to get people to not notice Manny growing so quickly," Bella says. I drop the spoon in my hand and I stare into space. I have never left this state except to go to Italy for a bit. My heart begins to beat widely at the thought of being so far from Billy and Matthew and even Jacob. When I left I always had Matthew with me and not having him go with me now is a big step for both of us. Jasper leans over to whisper something in my ear to make me come back to the present moment.
"Marinna, it will not be forever," Edward says. I spin around and growl at him.
"You have no idea what I am feeling and whether I am worried about it being forever! I have never left my family to a far place! Matthew was always with me! I just got Sam to accept my marriage to Jasper and the pack is.." I stop in the middle of my sentence. "Embry will not let Manny be far away from him."
"He will not know, because I was hoping you would not tell anyone. Embry has not seen Manny in awhile and I am sure he would not notice you all being gone," Carlisle says. I look back at Jasper and we share the worry about Manny in our eyes.
"I will have to see what I can do first. It is going to be hard to decide on the best option, but we will let you all know when we have decided," Jasper says. He leads our guests out to the door and I go to get another spoon for the twins to finish eating. Jasper comes back to the kitchen, but he remains by the doorway while he watches me.
"Jazz, we cannot just leave. Embry will file a kidnapping report to the police," I say.
"What else is there to do? Carlisle is right and we need to keep the family secret hidden from everyone here," Jasper says.
"Well, why don't we go on a vacation? I mean, we have not had our honeymoon and the kids should be able to travel while they still can. Manny can do online schooling while we are gone and I can do the same. We cannot just leave our life here when we just started it and we love our life here," I say. Jasper comes up behind me and he wraps his arms around my waist while kissing my neck and then my cheek.
"Let me call someone to see what he can do to allow us to disappear with a just reason and then we can start anew with a new name and nothing keeping us from worrying about the children so much," Jasper murmurs.
"So, this is what is going to happen every few years now? This is what I have to do to keep my family safe?" I ask softly. Jasper sighs, but pulls me closer against him, as we look at your two smiling babies.
"We will get through this together and we will make it an adventure every time we have to move, no matter how many children we have," Jasper says.
"Oh, is this your way of telling me you want more children?" I giggle to lighten the mood. Jasper chuckles and kisses the spot behind my ear. He is right, we will all get through this and it will be a wonderful adventure.