60
She sat in the middle of her bed, once again, and stared at the phone in her hands. Angela had sent her a video of her and Vanessa, and she'd played it over and over, at least dozen times. Every time, she found herself smiling, and crying.
Biting the inside of her lip, she pressed the play button again.
"Say good morning, Bella," Angela sang with Vanessa sitting on her lap.
"Good morning, Bewa!" Vanessa squealed, reaching for the phone.
A cleared throat pulled her attention to the doorway of her bedroom, where Jasper was standing with his arms folded in front of him and his legs crossed at the ankle. There was a small red and white stripped gift bag hanging off his fingers. She hadn't heard the door to Rosie's apartment open.
"Hey," she murmured, scrambling off the bed, shoving the phone into her pocket. "I didn't hear you come in."
"I just got here," he said. "Can I come in?"
She nodded, and watched as he stepped into the room and sat on the end of the bed.
"I brought you a present."
"A cupcake?" she asked, her eyes widening as she looked from him to the gift bag in his hands.
Jasper laughed. "Not this time. Maybe we can go get one after court, though. If you want, of course."
"Okay." She bit the inside of her lip. "So what did you bring me?"
"Why don't you open it?" he laughed, holding the bag out to her.
She inhaled a deep breath before she walked over and took the bag from him, but instead of going back to the other side of the room, she turned and sat next to him on the bed. She pulled the two sides of the bag apart and dug through the white tissue paper, pulling out a small white box. She gave him a look before she dropped the bag on the floor and pried open the lid off the box, feeling her eyes fill with tears.
"Oh."
"I just . . . I just thought you might . . ."
She brought her hand up to her mouth as she looked down at the picture of her and Vanessa that had been placed in a small white frame. She hadn't even realized anyone had taken the picture of Vanessa seated on her lap, Blue in their arms. They were smiling, laughing at the story Vanessa was telling her, a story that Bella remembered word for word, of course.
"Honey, are you okay? I . . . I didn't mean to make you cry," Jasper fretted, and she saw him reaching for her, only to pull his hand back.
"They're good tears," she whimpered, trying to smile. "Thank you, Jay. I love it."
Jasper smiled wider. "You called me Jay."
"Is that okay?" she asked, frantically. "Everyone else calls you Jay, so I thought . . . I thought I could, too."
"Of course you can," he laughed, nudging her with his shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Bella."
"You are?" she asked, and when he nodded, she added, "Why?"
"Because you're fighting back. What you went through. . ." Jasper sighed, shaking his head. "A lot of girls, women, that went through even a little of what you have wouldn't have the strength, the courage to fight back, to stand up and tell Sam Uley he doesn't get to hurt you anymore. That makes you pretty amazing in my book."
She frowned, pulling her knees up and looking back at the picture of her and Vanessa. "I just want to be someone she can be proud of."
"You're a good mom, Bella," he murmured, placing his hand on top of hers.
"Thanks," she whispered. "I can't be the mom she needs, but I will never stop trying, never stop loving her. You are fighting for me, but I'm fighting for her, her and Edward."
Jasper's grin grew. "Edward, huh?"
She smiled, feeling her cheeks warm. "I love him, Jay. I love him so much."
"I know you do, honey." Jasper leaned over and kissed the side of her head. "Like I said, you're pretty amazing."
Jasper grabbed the trash before he walked out of her bedroom. Bella placed the picture of her and Vanessa on her nightstand, next to the photograph of her, Rosie with her parents. The people who fought for her, and the one she's fighting for, she thought.
An hour later, they were seated back inside the same courtroom as they had every day for the last two weeks. As usual, Edward was on one side of her while Rosie sat on the other. Emmett was next to her, James next to him. He'd refused to tell her and Rosie about his date. Just smiled, blushed, and said, "It was good. It was really good." She had yet to meet James' boyfriend, of course, and when she pressed James on it, he just said, "He wants to make sure you're comfortable first."
She didn't really understand, but if she were honest, she was thankful. The last several days had been difficult, listening to every detail of her parents murders. The detectives from Forks, Newton and Crowley Jasper told her, had walked the jury through the crime scene, and more than once, Edward had suggested that she skip court, but she refused, needing to close out that part of her life, to face her monster.
The day before Kate had rested the State's case, and today, the defense she said would get the chance to present their side. And that scared her, because if Sam Uley won his fight, her life would be over. She had no doubts that he would kill her for betraying him.
Edward slipped his hand in with hers, drawing her attention up to him. They still hadn't gone on a date. She was scared. Not of him, but of being vulnerable, where people could see her, touch her, hurt her. Her picture had been all over the news as they were detailing what they were calling the trial of the decade, though Rosie and everyone were careful not to let her see. Why people cared so much about her was something she would never understand. She was just a girl, who fought to survive. That didn't make her special.
"I love you," Edward murmured.
She smiled and said, "I love you too."
The door to the back corner of the room opened as it had every day and two guards led Sam Uley into the room. And like the days before, he had bruising on his face and neck, his left eye was swollen shut, there was dark bruising on his jaw, down his neck, and his right arm was in a sling. As the guards nearly dragged him toward the table, she noticed him limping more than normal, and when he went to sit down, he flinched, like sitting hurt.
As he had done every day, he turned and looked back at her, his lips pressing into a thin line, his eyes full of hate and malice. She simply stared at him until he turned away, refusing to give him power over her anymore. Sam Uley didn't scare her anymore. Losing her family scared her, but not him.
Judge Dwyer waltzed into the courtroom, sitting behind the bench, and as he had done every day, he turned and looked at Sam Uley, his eyebrow raising. "Fall down again, Mr. Santiago?"
Eleazar glanced at Sam, who shook his head, before standing. "Yes, your honor."
"Might be time to get his inner ear check, seeing as he's . . . extremely clumsy," Judge Dwyer quipped. "But seeing as medical has cleared him to continue, let's get started. Mr. Santiago, call your first witness."
Eleazar inhaled a deep breath before he shifted his eyes back to her, and then said, "The defense calls Samuel Uley to the stand."
She wrapped her arms around herself as Sam stood and limped over, sitting in the same chair she had just two weeks ago. Maybe, she should have stayed home that day, she thought.
—SfH—
It took a lot of effort, but Sam Uley tried not to let his . . . discomfort show as he settled in the witness box. His eyes flickered to her, for just a moment. She was beautiful. She'd always been beautiful to him, though even he could admit she looked better with his handprint on her face. He stopped himself from telling the bastard holding her hand to let her go, but he had to play the victim, play the poor bastard if he wanted to fool the jury, and he would. He'd win. He always won. Even when it cost him everything.
His attention was pulled away from her as the bailiff walked over. "Raise your right hand."
He simply stared at the man, seeing as his right hand was in a sling thanks to the broken bone he'd received when he 'fell down' the night before.
"The left hand will do, Mr. Uley," Judge Dwyer said, his tone dry.
Sam raised his left hand.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and only the truth?"
"I do."
The bailiff turned and walked back to the other side of the court, and Sam looked at her before turning his attention to his lawyer. The man had taken his case, saying there was no way she would be able to testify against him, that she was too weak, too pathetic. Of course, he had known first hand just how weak and pathetic she was. She'd been his for so long, well before he took her for himself, too. She'd been his since the moment he first saw her. So imagine his surprise when she sat in the very chair he was sitting and lied about him. She would pay for that, of course. Sooner, or later.
"Mr. Santiago, you may ask your first question."
"Thank you, your honor." Eleazar turned and looked at him. "State your name for the record, please."
"Samuel Jared Uley."
"Mr. Uley, can you tell the court the first time you met Miss Swan?"
"Her father had brought her to the reservation where I lived with my uncle and cousin. She'd been running around when she threw a rock and broke a window at my uncle's house. Her father became angry, and he hit her."
"He spanked her?"
"No," Sam said, frowning. "He slapped her across the face. Several times in fact. She was crying and ran away from him. I followed, wanting to make sure she was okay. She told me he hit her a lot when he was angry, or when he'd been drinking. Since I knew firsthand how that felt, I wanted to make her feel like she wasn't alone, I guess."
"What do you mean you knew firsthand?"
"My own father was physically abusive," he said, which wasn't a lie.
Of course, he took care of him, too. Him and his worthless piece of shit mother. She was going to leave them, she had had enough he heard her say, and he couldn't let her leave, and if his father wasn't man enough to stop her, he would, and he did. After he made sure Gianna was safe, he strangled them both and then lit house on fire. It was too easy, too fun, but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone.
"I worried about her and Rosalie, but especially her."
"Why her more than her sister?"
"Because she seemed to get the brunt of her father's anger. Rosalie was the good girl, and she wasn't. He told her all the time how bad she was, how much he hated her. I wanted to protect her, I guess, but I was just a kid. I didn't know what to do, not until that night."
"Tell what happened that night?"
Sam put on his most redeeming smile as he shifted his eyes to her. She was glaring at him, her knees pulled up against her chest, her arms wrapped around them. That bitch Rosalie was facing her, whispering in her ear. He had an idea what she was saying, of course.
"She called in tears. Said her father had started sneaking into her bedroom at night, touching her inappropriately," he said, watching as she shook her head, denying what he was saying. "She said that night he . . . Well, he'd done more than touching."
"You're testifying that Miss Swan's father, Charlie, had raped her that night?"
"Yes," Sam said. "When she called, she said after he was done, she had pulled a knife from under her bed and followed him. She killed him and her mother, who had known what he was doing to her, and she needed me to come help her. I should have called the police, but I didn't want her to get in trouble, so I made the decision that we should leave town."
"Miss Swan was eight years old. Why did you think going on the run with an eight year old was better than calling the police?"
"Her father was close to the police department. Probably to cover his abuse of her, and she said she was afraid that the police would hurt her. She insinuated that her father had shared her with other men. For all I knew those men were police officers."
"Where did you and Miss. Swan go?"
"We traveled a lot, kept on the move. She was delicate, and fragile, and I knew she wasn't in any position to be around people, so we stayed off the grid as much as we could. I never expected to . . . to find myself developing feelings for her, but after a few years together, I . . . I realized I had fallen in love with her."
"She was a child."
"Physically, maybe, but my heritage was built on a spiritual connection with your partner, and ours spirits were connected. Age was never a factor to my people. I didn't understand that until her. Maybe I shouldn't have given in, but I did. I gave into my feelings, and I let myself love her."
"When was the first time you were intimate with Miss Swan?"
Sam smiled, his eyes shifting to her again. "The night we were married. She wanted to become a member of our tribe, and I wanted to connect my life to her, forever. It was perfect and amazing. Sure, we've had hard times, but who doesn't?"
"What kind of hard times?" Eleazar asked.
"I found it difficult to provide financially for her. We ended up living on the street. I'm not proud of it, but we were happy. And then one night she disappeared. I was frantic, of course. She was my life, and I searched everywhere for her. It wasn't until I saw her Uncle James outside a strip club that I wondered if they had found her. She had always begged me not to let them find her, and I was scared. I'm not proud, but I approached him, thought maybe he knew where she was. I knew of James'," Sam cleared his throat, "penchant for men, and well, when he offered to take me to his house, I agreed hoping maybe she was there."
"What happened when you got there?" Eleazar asked.
"He was on top of me the minute we were inside. He was touching me, groping me, and I realized that he wanted . . . he wanted to have sex with me. I pushed him off me, and he started hitting me, calling me . . ."
"What did he call you?"
"He pulled a knife on me and called a tease, said he would teach me what happened when I teased him like I had. I was scared, and I just wanted to get back to finding my wife. I fought back. I managed to get the knife from him, and I stabbed him. I turned to run, but he was on me again, dragging me into his bedroom. He threw me on the bed and pulled a gun on me. He told me to take my clothes off. I refused, so he shot me. He locked me in the closet, I'm sure to hold me until he could attack me again, but someone must have heard the gunshot, and thankfully the police were called. Next thing I know I am being arrested, charged for hurting my wife, when I've done nothing but love her," he said, looking over at her. "And I will always love her. No matter what. She will always be the love of my life."
Eleazar looked at him for a moment before he turned toward Judge Dwyer. "I have no further questions for this witness, your honor."
"Let's take a twenty minute recess before your cross examination, Ms. Denali."
The minute Judge Dwyer slapped his gavel down, she was on her feet and out of the courtroom, that boy and the rest of them followed. Sam climbed out of the witness box and walked back over to his table, pulling his chair back and sitting, wincing just a bit. The pain he went through would be worth it, when he got her back. And he would get her back. One way, or another. She would always belong to him. Always.
Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! I am going to go throw up now that I've been inside that sickos head. I debated it a lot, for a while knowing we would be leading up to this chapter. I would say we have maybe a handful of regular chapters, but we will most likely have a handful of outtakes/epilogues, too.
