10
"Sam? Sam who, honey?" Jasper asked, but it wasn't Bella who replied. It was Rosalie.
"Sam Uley," she said, drawing everyone's attention to her.
"You know him?" Jasper asked, shifting his body so he could look at her and Bella.
Rosalie whimpered before saying, "Sam Uley lived in La Push, the Quileute reservation just outside of Forks," she said, shaking her his. "Dad was best friends with Sam's uncle, Billy Black. Billy had been raising Sam since he was little, after his parents died in a house fire. Sam was . . . different."
"Different how?" Carlisle asked.
"Just different," Rosalie muttered. "He was older than me. Around seventeen or eighteen, I think. He just . . . I don't know, he was scary. Dad said to stay away from him, that he was dangerous."
"Dangerous how exactly?" Jasper asked.
"There'd been rumors about Sam," James explained, his arms tightening around Rosalie.
"What kind of rumors?" Jasper pressed, but when neither James nor Rosalie spoke, he said, "I need to know."
James looked down at Rosalie before saying, "Sam was troubled. He got into a lot of fights in school, he was thought of as a bully. Neighbors had reported that their pets had gone missing, later found mutilated in the woods. Billy always chocked it up to hearsay, but . . . Charlie didn't. Said Sam had started showing the girls too much attention. He'd given them toys and candy, let them play with his puppy. Charlie said there was a look in his eyes that didn't sit right with him, so he stopped taking the girls with him when he went to the reservation. And then Sam started showing up at the house. It wasn't normal for a boy his age to be playing with little girls like that. Charlie told him not to come back. Caused a big issue between him and Billy, too."
"What kind of issue?" Carlisle asked.
"Billy didn't believe that Sam was dangerous. He and Charlie fought, and they hadn't spoken for months before the night Charlie and Renee were killed," James explained.
"Had Sam ever acted inappropriately with the girls?" Jasper asked.
"I don't think so," James said, looking down at Rosalie. "Honey, did he?"
Rosalie shook her head. "Not with me, but I never really liked Sam."
"Why not?" Jasper asked.
Rosalie shrugged her shoulders. "I just thought he was weird."
Jasper nodded and turned back to Edward and Bella, but realized they were no longer in the room. He looked at Carlisle, who appeared just as confused.
"He took her out onto the porch," Esme said, wrapping her arms around herself. "She didn't need to hear about him, did she? She's lived it, after all."
"Of course." Jasper dragged his hand long his jaw to the back of his neck. "When Charlie and Renee were killed, when Bella was taken, did anyone question Sam?"
"They interviewed so many people, I would assume so," James said. "But to be honest, I don't know. I'd been out of town, and when they called, my only priority was getting to Bella and Rosie."
Jasper nodded again. "I'm going to call the detectives in Forks, see if I can't get copies of their case files." He looked at Alice. "I've gotta go, Al."
"Of course," she said, frowning. "Just stop this monster, okay? And, um, be careful."
"I will." Jasper walked over to her, pulling her into his arms and placing a kiss on her lips. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she whispered, placing her hands in his cheeks.
Jasper motioned for Carlisle and Emmett to follow him outside, which they did without question. Edward had Bella on his lap, holding her on the porch swing. His eyes met Jasper's and he saw him tighten his embrace around her, holding her together. It surprised Jasper, how Edward had taken to the girl. It wasn't that Edward didn't care about people, but the last few years hadn't been easy for him, for any of them, but especially not for him.
"If she needs me, call," Jasper told Edward. "If you need me, call."
"I will," Edward murmured, leaning his head against Bella's, whose eyes were closed, but Jasper could tell she wasn't asleep.
Jasper led Carlisle and Emmett down to his truck before he turned and looked at them. "What the hell did that bastard do to her?"
"I don't even want to think about it," Carlisle groused, shaking his head. "She was a fucking baby, for fuck sakes."
"No shit," Jasper scoffed, folding his arms in front of him and looked at Emmett, who had been oddly quiet. Emmett was normally loud and boisterous, the guy who tried to keep things light and easy. "You okay, man?"
"No," he admitted, his lips trembling. "Rosalie was up all night, crying over her. She and Bella were close, Jay. Like really close, and when her parents were killed, when she was taken, it almost destroyed Rosalie. If James hadn't taken her in . . ." Emmett shook his head and looked where Edward and Bella were seated. "Find this son of a bitch, okay? Just fucking find him."
"I will," he vowed, hoping like hell he could keep that promise. "Keep your eye on her, okay? She might . . . I don't know . . . She might try to bolt again."
"You think so?" Emmett asked, looking back at him.
Jasper nodded. "She's fucking terrified, man. This Sam motherfucker has a tight-ass hold on her. She'll bolt if she thinks she's put us in danger. We just need to protect her, and Edward."
"You guys see it, too, don't you?" Emmett asked, looking from Jasper to Carlisle.
"Oh, yeah," Carlisle said while Jasper nodded. "She's already everything to him."
"Call me if she gives anything else up, like where he kept her." Jasper opened the door to his truck. "I'll be in touch."
Carlisle and Emmett stepped away from the truck as Jasper climbed in, blew out a heavy breath, and drove away. He pulled out his cell phone and found the number for the detective James had given him last night, and pressed send. The call went straight to voicemail, which had him cursing as he left a message for him to call him back. However, he wasn't about to wait, so he turned and headed directly to Forks, Washington. He was going to stop Sam Uley, one way or another.
—SfH—
She shouldn't have named him. She knew she shouldn't, but when they called her their family, she hadn't been able to stop herself. It had been too long since she had a family, people who cared about her, instead of someone who wanted to hurt her all the time. And that's all he wanted: to hurt her, to make her cry, to keep her to himself.
"Are you cold?" Edward asked.
She shook her head, unsure if that were true or not. She watched as Emmett and Carlisle talked to Jasper, about her, she knew. She had heard them inside the house, talking about him, asking questions about him. She didn't want to talk about him. She hated him. Hated everything about him, and how he had taken her away from her Rosie, her mommy, her daddy. He had hidden her away, locked her away for so long, too long.
Jasper climbed into a big, black truck, one like her Daddy used to drive, and left. Emmett and Carlisle turned and looked back at her and Edward before walking back onto the porch.
"Did you eat all the pancakes?" Carlisle asked.
She bit the inside of her lip before she nodded.
"You didn't save any for me?" he teased, giving her a wink.
"I like pancakes," she whispered.
"Me too," Carlisle said before grabbing Emmett's arm and dragging him into the house, leaving her out on the porch with Edward.
"Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper are your brothers," she whispered, tilting her head back and looking up at Edward.
"Yeah, my older brothers. I'm the youngest," he explained. "Rosalie is your sister."
"Rosalie," she murmured. "Rosie. We called her Rosie. My Rosie-Posy."
"Rosie is it then." Edward lifted his hand to her face, pushing her hair back behind her ear. But before he could say anything else, the door to the house opened and Rosie, James, and Emmett came back out. "Oh, um, hey."
"Bella," Rosie whimpered, putting her hands up in front of her as she walked toward her and Edward. "Oh, Bella."
"Rosie," she whispered, her eyes shifting from her to James. "Uncle James and Rosie."
"That's right, honey," James said, smiling. "I'm Uncle James."
She bit the inside of her lip as she twisted out of Edward's embrace and stood up. Her heart was racing as she walked up to Rosie, lifting her arm and placing her hand on the side of Rosie's face.
"My Rosie-Posy," she wept.
"Bella," Rosie cried, covering her hand with her own. "Oh, how I've missed you."
"I thought . . . I thought he'd killed you, too," she sobbed, her knees buckling under her. She crumbled to the ground, immediately finding herself in Edward's arms once again. "He said you were gone, Rosie. He said you were gone!"
"Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry," Rosie cried, kneeling next to her and Edward.
Before she could say anything else, she heard a baby cry. She smiled and scrambled to her feet, hurrying back into the house. Esme was sitting on the couch with Beth again. She bit the inside of her lip as she walked past Carlisle and Alice and sat next to Esme.
"Can . . . can I hold her again?"
"Of course you can," Esme said.
She held her arms out and waited for Esme to place Beth in her arms. Just like the night before, Beth yawned, her mouth making a large O before she settled, her eyes locking on hers.
"Would you like to feed her?" Esme asked.
Her eyes widened and she barely nodded. "Pancakes?"
Esme laughed. "No, Beth can't eat pancakes yet. She just drinks formula out of a bottle."
"Oh, yeah, duh," she mumbled, feeling like an idiot.
"I'll be right back, okay?" Esme asked, standing up.
She nodded quickly and was careful not to drop Beth while Esme walked into the kitchen. Esme came back into the living room a moment later with a bottle in her hand. She settled back on the couch next to Bella and held the bottle out.
"Just place the nipple into her mouth. She'll do the rest."
"Okay," she whispered, placing the tip of the bottle into Beth's mouth, who clamped her lips around it and began suckling hard. She smiled and looked up at Esme. "I'm doing it."
"You're doing great, Bella," Esme laughed, her hand coming up under Beth as she shifted on the couch. "You're a natural."
"A natural?" she asked, but noticed the way Carlisle, Alice, Rosie, Emmett, James, and Edward were watching her. "What does that mean?"
"It means you already know what to do when it comes to Beth," Esme explained. "You said last night that you'd held a baby before, right? Just once?"
She frowned and looked back at Beth. "Yeah."
"You said he took her away from you," Esme pushed. "Bella, whose baby was it that you held?"
But she shook her head, placing Beth back in Esme's arms before she stood up, scrambling away from her.
"Wait, I'm sorry," Esme said, cradling Beth against her and placing the bottle back into her mouth. "You don't have to tell me."
"He said I can't talk about her anymore. He said it makes him angry, and . . . And he isn't very nice when he's angry."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," Esme said, gesturing for her to sit back on the couch.
She shifted her eyes between everyone before walking over and sitting on the couch next to Esme, who slowly placed Beth back into her arms. "Finish feeding her, okay?"
She nodded, feeling tears burning her eyes. She knew you had to be gentle with babies, or you'd hurt them. She'd always loved babies, but he wouldn't let her keep hers. He'd taken her baby away. Said she wasn't good enough for a baby. He took everything away from her, though. He said she wasn't gentle enough, that she was stupid and stupid people couldn't have babies. That's why he hadn't let her keep hers.
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