Chapter 14
Back in Olympia, Edward and the rest of the family continued to wait for any word. Upon the arrival of December with no word from Carlisle and Esme of Renesmee returning to Chicago or from Emmett finding her, they were getting extremely restless. They hadn't heard from Emmett since he left. Alice knew from her visions that he was alright, but she also knew that he'd yet to find Renesmee and Caevia. He was still looking all over Montana coming up with nothing. No tribe in the region had so much as heard of Renesmee or Caevia. Some tribes had indeed been involved in the kidnapping of white women, but they were all from their own region. Edward had paid good money for Renesmee's picture to be plastered all over Washington, Idaho and the Canadian border but even that brought up nothing.
"I don't know what more we can do," Edward said while he was staring out the window, watching the snow collect on the ground. All the pigs were inside their large warehouse protected from the cold, so the field was completely empty with only snow and a fence in sight. "I don't understand why no one is coming forward with any information about Renesmee."
"If they don't know anything, then they can't help," Bella whimpered. No one dared utter the possibility that Renesmee and Caevia might never be found. No one could help the thought coming across their minds and Edward could hear those thoughts, but no one dared say it out loud.
By this time, they would usually start putting together the Christmas tree. Bella was beginning to sing Auld Lang Syne for comfort. She could still remember their first Christmas as a family with Renesmee. She remembered putting the candles in the massive evergreen they'd picked from the woods of Wisconsin and decorating it with expensive glass ornaments Esme had handpicked herself. She would start crying dry tears the more she thought about it. Edward would look at Bella as she mumbled the song to herself but never said a word. He only waited in the hopes that some word of Renesmee would come, whether it be from town, from Emmett or even the pig farmer that called himself his son-in-law.
As in Olympia, Renesmee was aware that Christmas was approaching. The snow was sticking and getting deeper. The evergreens held the snow gracefully and she'd kept a mental note of the calendar she'd seen last they were in Seattle. Christmas was only five days away now. It had been nearly a fortnight since Renesmee and Jacob were first together. With the village well aware of their relationship, no one took a second glance whenever Jacob took Renesmee in his arms and kissed her. It still made Renesmee uncomfortable regardless. She simply wasn't one for public displays of affection and she couldn't help but blush every time Jacob came up behind her to kiss her neck and hug her while she was talking with other women of the tribe. Granted she'd seen other husbands do as much with no ill looks from others. She'd seen Embry show such public affections towards Caevia without her so much as batting an eye. Renesmee was still trying to wrap her head around such things being completely acceptable public behavior. When Renesmee realized how close it was to Christmas, she knew she wanted to do something to celebrate. The day she'd decided she'd bring it up to Jacob, she came out of Sokajili's tent having finished their morning training only to see Jacob approach her with a bright smile.
"What has you so happy?" Renesmee asked when Jacob was standing before her.
"You've told me so many stories since you've come here," Jacob started. "So far all I've told you is our story of creation. I thought I'd tell you another story and take you where the story happened."
"What's the story?"
"I'll tell you when we get to the cave." Jacob took a hold of Renesmee's hand and led her to the mountains. On foot and with their speed, they managed to reach the mountains in roughly an hour. They slowed so Jacob could locate the cave he'd been talking about. When they found it, Jacob led Renesmee inside. It was pretty barren. There was one section of the cave that had a circle of rocks and rotted wood, but that was really all there was.
"What's special about this cave?"
"This is where Dask'iya' used to live."
"Who's Dask'iya'?"
"She's the creature that would use her huge basket to carry away children and eat them for dinner. She would broil the children and put gum on their eyes so they couldn't see. It's said that one day when Dask'iya' kidnapped many children, among those children was an older Quileute girl. That older girl warmed her hands against the fire to warm the gum off her eyes while Dask'iya' danced and sang about the fire getting hot and the stones being ready to cook the children. When the girl was behind Dask'iya', she pushed the creature into the fire and she burned and died. The girl warmed her hands again and helped the other children get the gum off their eyes and they all went back home." Renesmee laughed a little. "What's funny?"
"The way you're saying it makes it sound like the children are just coming home from a friend's house," she giggled. She looked around again as her light laughter calmed. "How do you know this was her cave?" Renesmee asked. Considering Jacob could turn into a wolf and there were such a thing as vampires, she couldn't claim there was no founding to the story of an evil monster living in the mountains. Jacob pointed out the large circular collection of rocks and several pieces of rotting wood where one would acquire gum or sap to put on children's eyes.
"My mother would tell me that story whenever I misbehaved. Long ago when my wolf awoke, I came across this place and knew I'd found the home of Dask'iya'. I came home and told my mother about it. She said it was only proof that young children must behave themselves because otherwise, Dask'iya' might return."
"If Dask'iya' is dead, I doubt she'll come back just because children are misbehaving," Renesmee said with a giggle. Jacob laughed too and came back over to Renesmee to hug her.
"Do your people have a story of an evil monster that comes for children that misbehave?"
"There are several," Renesmee said. "Every culture has a version of a child stealing monster. The two I know of are the Bogyman and the Bean Sith. The Bogyman is in a lot of cultures, but it's the one my father told me. He never told me the story to push me towards good behavior. I only asked when some children I'd spoken with had mentioned the Bogyman. He has no specific look or anything, he's just an embodiment of terror that punishes children for bad behavior. My mother then told me about the Bean Sith creature that wanders along streams cleaning blood from gravestones of women that died giving birth since they'd died in childbirth themselves. The Irish call them Banshees and they have also been seen as creatures that kidnap naughty children. My mother's Scottish, though, so she's more familiar with the Scottish version. Fairies are also said to be children thieves. They're small magical creatures known for being extremely mischievous and it's said that when a child ever went missing, it was because that child was swept away by fairies and taken to their faraway land."
"I assume you were always a well behaved child?" Jacob joked. Renesmee smiled and held her head high.
"I was always a perfect little angel," she replied. Jacob chuckled and tightened their hug. "There was actually something I wanted to talk to you about, speaking of other cultures."
"What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well," Renesmee began, "it's almost December 25th."
"Okay," Jacob said, raising an eyebrow clearly unaware what significance there was in December the 25th. As it was, he'd only started getting familiar with calendars just the month before.
"Well, its common in Christian culture to celebrate something called Christmas on December 25th."
"What's Christmas?"
"It's a holiday commemorating the birth of Christ. You decorate an evergreen tree with candles and ornaments, you go to church early in the morning for Christmas Mass if you're Catholic, which my mother is, and you give presents to loved ones and sing songs together. Everything culminates in a huge feast of Turkey and other things. We didn't really do that part though. None of us really eat except Caevia and we'd just make her a huge bowl of mashed potatoes, a pheasant, some green beans with mushroom soup gravy and a baked sweet potato with brown sugar."
"I know what the potatoes are," Jacob joked. "I take it you wanted to celebrate Christmas?"
"I was hoping we could do that. I don't mind if it's only you and me or me and Caevia or something, but I would like to bring in the New Year with a celebration."
"The New Year? I don't follow."
"Remember how I was showing you the Calendar has twelve months?" Jacob nodded. "Well the first month, January, marks the beginning of the year and the last month, December, marks the end of the year. December 25th is Christmas and December 31st is always New Years Eve. New Years Day is January 1st, but all the celebrating happens New Years Eve. My family and I would gather round the grandfather clock and countdown to midnight, then yell Happy New Year." Renesmee brought her hand to Jacob's face and showed him the memory. She also showed him her, her mother, Esme, Alice and Rosalie gathering around the tree singing Auld Lang Syne: a song her grandmother had sung to her mother since she was a girl every year until her 'death'.
"What does Auld Lang Syne mean?"
"It means Times Long Past or Times Gone By. The song is technically in a language called Scots. It's a language similar to English but retained more of its Celtic base language while English had evolved more rapidly through extensive language exposure from German, Scandinavian and French. English has a remarkable ability to steal bits and pieces of other languages," Renesmee said with a smile, amused. "Scots is a southern Scottish language while Northern parts of Scotland tend to speak Scottish Gaelic."
"You said your mother is from Scotland?"
"No, my mother was born in America. My grandpa and grandma are both from Southern Scotland, though. They're from Glasgow. My dad is English. He and my grandpa Carlisle came to this country from England in 1800 I think it was. My father is actually Carlisle's second cousin. Carlisle was raised in London, but I think my dad was raised in Brighton. After Carlisle was changed, he'd begun traveling and he came upon my father, who happened to be his little cousin Edward, and realized he was dying. My grandparents had already died of disease, so Carlisle could only help my father."
"It seems strange to help someone by changing them into a vampire."
"My father had begged for help. My father hadn't meant to be changed into a vampire I suppose since he resented the change at first. But he eventually embraced it as his lot in life and continued to accompany Carlisle. Technically, Carlisle isn't my grandpa, he's my cousin. But then, such technical details are irrelevant. My father sees Carlisle like his father and I see Carlisle as my grandfather."
"I never realized Cold Ones had such complex family dynamics." Renesmee raised an eyebrow at Jacob. "Was that offensive?"
"No," Renesmee smiled. "I'm just impressed with the way you worded it."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "But for the record, vampires are capable of having family dynamics. A family unit like the one I grew up in is uncommon but it's not uncommon for a vampire to have a mate."
"Why bother, though? You said your mother was human when she had you, but that was a rare outcome. Cold ones can't have kids right?"
"No, two vampires can't reproduce." Renesmee hurried to clarify when she heard the concern in Jacob's voice. "It's not about reproduction, though. It's about having companionship with someone worth being around."
"One might call that being human," Jacob said with a shudder.
"Well, all vampires were human once too. Is it so hard to believe some of them retain that humanity? My family holds onto their humanity as best they can. It's why they drink the blood of animals rather than the blood of humans."
"I never thought vampires were capable of such a thing," Jacob admitted honestly.
"I suppose if you've only seen them as hunters, it might be hard to see them as any more than monsters. I can't speak for all vampires in the world, but I can speak for my family. They're good people."
"Anything that led to you can't be all bad I suppose," Jacob said and kissed Renesmee tenderly. "So what do we need to do to celebrate Christmas?"
"Caevia's made ornaments for our tree before. She showed me how to do it, so she and I can make some and put them on any one of the trees near the village. We'll have to shake a little snow off the one we use, but it'll look nice to have a little snow in place of lit candles. We could even get some shells from the shore to string and lace onto the tree branches. Caevia and I did that when we'd lived in Maine."
"She can show everyone else how to make ornaments. Everyone will be happy to have an excuse to celebrate, especially if it includes a huge feast." Renesmee smiled at Jacob and hugged him tightly right back. "Would you show me what your trees have looked like before?"
Renesmee smiled and pulled away enough so she could look up at Jacob and hold her hand up to his cheek to show him Christmas of 1900. The tree they'd had was massive, reaching up to the ceiling of their sizable drawing room. It had been strewn with small candles that the tree's branches could carry the weight of and they'd only been lit the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning when they were opening presents together. There were several ornaments hanging from the branches: reds, greens, light and dark blues, gold and silver. Some ornaments were the single color and others had images of Christ's birth, mistletoe, nuts, and other images. At the top of the tree was a blonde angel with a light blue dress wearing a white fuzzy cloak. Underneath the tree were piles of presents labeled with small snippets of parchment paper tucked in the bow.
"That's quite a sight," Jacob said after Renesmee took her hands away.
"If any friends or family come to visit, it's always during Christmas. I have a lot of fond memories of that time of year."
Jacob smiled at Renesmee and she smiled back. With the image of Renesmee fresh in his mind with family and friends and how happy she seemed, Jacob wanted desperately to recreate that for her. He recalled she'd mentioned food she had made for Caevia. He suggested that maybe she could make some of that stuff for the village on Christmas, which meant another visit into Seattle for anything she would need. Since they would be doing that, Renesmee decided they should go back to the village and get some sleep before going into town. Upon coming back from the mountains, everyone was already getting ready to make dinner. Rather than wait for a cooked meal, Jacob grabbed some salmon jerky from his basket in his tent and ate a few of those.
"I have to say," Renesmee started, "that smells awful. It's so fishy."
"It's fish," Jacob said jokingly. "What else would it smell like?" Jacob finished a few more pieces of salmon jerky and Renesmee was already under the covers by the time he'd finished eating. Jacob crawled over to her and invited himself under the covers and took her into a hug with her back to his chest. She groaned sweetly when he pulled her to him, but ultimately ignored him so she could sleep. Jacob smelled her hair and tightened his hug, suddenly aroused and eager. Despite Jacob's growing erection, she continued to ignore him until he started kissing her neck and letting his hand travel down to grab and bunch her dress so he could pull it up.
"Jacob, we need to get some sleep," Renesmee protested, though she was smiling a little.
"We'll get sleep," Jacob said as he continued to pull up her dress until his hand could finally touch her bare thighs. "We can do this first, though."
"Jacob," Renesmee sighed attempting to protest further, but they fell flat when his fingers made their way between her legs. They eventually went to sleep, but only after they'd both come down from their climax.
They woke up late at night. The pack would hear why he wasn't on patrol when he and Renesmee were on their way to Seattle. By the time they arrived in the city, it was certainly after midnight. It was freezing. Renesmee had on her scarf, mittens, and winter shoes Jacob's mother had given her as well as a dress with more layers to allow more warmth. Even now, Renesmee couldn't believe that Jacob could stand to walk around shirtless in below zero weather. She had a higher body temperature similar to him, yet she couldn't stand the cold. They entered the city through the same route as always, bringing them to the docks of the bay. Even from the bay, they could see the city's bright Christmas decorations. To Renesmee's surprise, Janette was nowhere to be found. She was usually always out through all hours of the night. Perhaps she'd taken her business indoors given the recent drop in temperature, so the two started meandering through the city. Renesmee assumed there was certainly a grocery store of some nature in the immediate vicinity. They got deeper and deeper into the city, but found only a general store initially. They snuck into the store and did find several bags of sweet potatoes. Renesmee grabbed four bags and handed them to Jacob to carry. Then she located and grabbed two bags of brown sugar. However, there was no large bird to speak of in the store. Jacob suggested they just have deer, to which Renesmee agreed the village would probably appreciate that more than they turkey.
Renesmee grabbed several miscellaneous warming spices. They already had plenty of regular brown potatoes at the village, so there was no need to grab more of those. The store, unfortunately, did not carry fresh green beans, only canned green beans. She found another bag in the store and stocked it with canned green beans and canned creamed mushroom soup. If she didn't make green bean casserole for Caevia, she'd throw a hissy fit. Then Renesmee grabbed onions that she'd top on the green beans. Then she realized as she was gathering everything that she had no dishes to put the food in and no stove to bake it in. She could fix the 'no pans' issue easily enough. It was the oven matter that was more difficult. Jacob suggested just putting everything together once it's heated and calling it a day. Renesmee nodded, agreeing that would be easiest, and began rummaging the store for baking dishes to use. By the time they left the general store, they had food and supplies on their backs to ensure the whole tribe ate very well on Christmas day.
As they made their way, talking quietly as they went on, Renesmee looked forward and saw Janette, but she wasn't alone. Her arms were laced with that of an officer, or a military man of some sorts, laughing and smiling pleasantly. Renesmee went pale, sure they'd been caught. But then Janette did the unthinkable. At least, it was a bit unthinkable to Renesmee. Janette spotted Renesmee as well. Renesmee's heart stopped when Janette smiled mischievously, yet then she winked and suddenly forced the soldier to look at a window display, giving Renesmee time to push Jacob into an ally and out of sight.
"Oh Sergeant, look! I want it, I want it!" Janette squealed to the Sergeant.
"Damn it," the Sergeant moaned with a heavy, clearly southern, drawl. "What in the hell's a woman like you gon' do with a toy train set?"
"Not that, you silly boy," Janette giggled. "I want that," Renesmee heard Janette say. The two of them stayed dead silent as Janette did her best to distract the Sergeant.
"You want a Tea Gown? Who's inviting you to afternoon tea?" The Sergeant laughed at his joke and Janette made a small whimper that sounded very flirtatious.
"You're so mean, Sergeant. A Tea Gown is lovely regardless of a tea party to accompany it. Besides, you'll be in Washington a long time, won't you? Wouldn't it be nice to pick out a Tea Gown for me that reminds you of your lovely Southern Bells back home?"
"It takes more than a dress to make a Southern Bell, Miss Janette."
"Then buy me that Tea Gown just because you've enjoyed my company so much," Janette responded in a low, guttural voice.
"Another day when the store's open," the Sergeant responded. The conversation ended and it was a moment before Renesmee realized they weren't talking anymore because they'd proceeded with more intimate activities. Rather than poke her head out to check, Renesmee softly told Jacob to follow her and they walked to the other road across them at the end of the ally and proceeded home from there without being spotted again.
"That was close," Jacob said when they'd reached the mountains, clear of the city.
"Too close," Renesmee answered. "I'll have to find a way to thank Janette some day."
"We should invite her to our Christmas feast."
"No," Renesmee shook her head. "We can't bring her to the tribe. I don't doubt she'd keep our whereabouts a secret, but I don't want her figuring out we're….different for lack of a better word."
"Just by us taking her to the tribe?"
"She probably assumes the tribe is in the mountains or something. That would make it reasonable for us to come into town from time to time. If you and I were to go back to the tribe the way everyone else would, it would take us days to get home. You and I usually manage to get to the city in a matter of hours. She might not figure out you're a wolf and I'm a vampire, but she'll figure out something's off about us."
"I guess I see your point," Jacob answered. "We should still thank her somehow."
"I know, and we will."
By the time Jacob and Renesmee got back to the tribe, people were beginning to come out of their teepees to start their days. When those awake saw all the large bags Renesmee and Jacob were carrying, everyone came over to help them carry some of the bags, asking what they'd gotten. Renesmee told everyone about the feast she was going to make on Christmas. She mentioned that she wanted to decorate one of the trees and Claire, who'd listened intently the moment Renesmee mentioned a feast, jumped up and down with delight and excitement. She was the one that ultimately picked out a tree they should decorate. It was one of the bigger pine trees lining the village. She'd decorated trees about this size, but she'd never done it without a latter. Claire asked Renesmee what they could decorate the tree with. She suggested they make their own ornaments and told her how Caevia had shown her how to do that when she was a little girl.
When Caevia finally came out of her tent, Claire ran over and begged her to help start making ornaments to put on the tree. With Claire running around excited to celebrate, all the women gathered around and started weaving ornaments using thread, left over yarn, rocks, and other items they found in the woods. Renesmee had the idea to make ornaments out of shells from the shore and was working on those, Claire watching intently.
"I see you got everyone excited for Christmas," Caevia chuckled after starting her first ornament.
"I don't know if it's Christmas they're excited about as much as the food."
"Well, aside from the presents, that's what everyone's always excited about isn't it? They're certainly never excited to wake up for eight a.m. Christmas Mass at the local Catholic Church," Caevia joked.
"Don't say that, Caevia," Renesmee smiled back.
"You're making green bean casserole right?"
"Yes, Caevia," Renesmee sighed heavily.
"Good," she answered. "Otherwise Christmas would be ruined."
Renesmee and Caevia laughed as they continued making their ornaments. By early afternoon, the women had managed to make enough woven ornaments to cover the tree from head to toe. Claire tried to suggest they put the ornaments on immediately, but everyone insisted that it could be done tomorrow and they dispersed to do other things. Claire did, however, put the ornaments she'd made on the tree right away, placing each of them on the lower branches that she could reach. She insisted Quil lift her up so some of her ornaments could be on higher branches as well. She was very pleased when she placed her favorite ornament, the one Renesmee showed her how to make with three clam shells descending on string, on a branch eight feet off the ground.
"I was thinking," Renesmee said when she and Jacob were in the tent that night. "Maybe you and I should read A Christmas Carol."
"What's that about?"
"It's about a mean-spirited old man that hates Christmas and he's visited by ghosts on Christmas Eve to help him get over his hatred of Christmas and make him change his cruel ways."
"What is there to hate about a holiday that revolves around eating?"
"He has his reasons," Renesmee said with a light laugh. She grabbed the book from the corner, crawled over to the blanket and patted a spot next to her telling Jacob to sit. "It's a short one, so we should be able to finish this by Christmas."
"We'll read it tomorrow. Quil and Embry have been getting fed up with me not going on patrol so often."
"Oh," Renesmee said. "That's fair I suppose."
"I promise, we'll start tomorrow," Jacob said as he went closer and kissed Renesmee's forehead, sensing her disappointment. "I'll take a nap here and there so I'm not tired tomorrow." Jacob gave Renesmee a kiss on the lips and told her he loved her before walking out of the tent for nightly patrol. But in truth, there was something he wanted to surprise Renesmee with. He'd be in the woods with the pack ready to help if they needed him, but he'd be spending the night making a few things. One he was sure she'd love and appreciate. The other he hoped very much she would accept. The next morning, it wasn't Jacob that came into the tent to wake Renesmee. It was, instead, Claire and the other children clamoring for progress to be made on decorating the tree even though barely any of the adults were even awake.
Jacob, Quil and Embry came back into the village to the site of Renesmee being dragged groggily out of the tent by several chattering children. Jacob couldn't help but laugh. The children all tried waking up their parents, though some simply refused to get out of their tents just yet. Claire ran over towards Quil with a big smile and started pulling him along.
"Help make the tree pretty, Quil!" Claire yelled in a chipper voice. Quil allowed her to lead him towards the tree and volunteered himself, Jacob and Embry to be the ones that would climb up to put ornaments on the highest part of the tree. Jacob went to the highest point, holding what he'd made for Renesmee using wood he'd carved into the angel shape he remembered Renesmee showing him. He jumped back to the ground and went right to Renesmee, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention from hanging ornaments on lower branches.
"What do you think?" Jacob asked her, pointing at the angel on top of the tree.
The Christmas Angel she remembered growing up was an extravagant thing. It had fine fabrics, porcelain skin and real human hair with a hand painted face. Jacob's angel was not so extravagant. Yet even with it being so high up, she could see all the detail Jacob had put into it. It only had the wood color, yet she could see every carved facial detail, the detail in her dress and wings: it put the angel she grew up with to shame for the simple reason that Jacob had worked so hard on it and all for her.
"It's beautiful," Renesmee answered, then looked up at Jacob with a bright smile. Jacob hugged Renesmee and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you for this."
"Thank you for suggesting we do this. The kids are certainly having a great time." Quil and Embry were climbing down the tree, placing ornaments where the children commanded. By the time they got down and all the ornaments were in the tree, it looked like a beautiful tree. All the children were very proud of it.
"I haven't seen one of these in years," Leah said from behind Renesmee. She looked around at Leah and saw the sad, reminiscent smile. "I remember when we were little, Grandma Hilda had come to live with us since she was ill. She passed away two years after she came to live with us. But those two years she was with us gave us the best Christmases Seth and I ever had."
"Remember what she made both those years?" Seth said, overhearing Leah and coming over to share what he remembered despite being so young.
"Sauerbraten with spätzle noodles and gingerbread cookie gravy," she answered. "That roast took three days to marinate."
"I've never made Sauerbraten I'm afraid."
"It's alright," Seth said. "No matter how good a cook you are, it would never be as good as Grandma Hilda's." Renesmee laughed a little at Seth's comment.
"You're a loyal grandson indeed," she answered.
"What are you making?" Leah asked. "I heard you're making us all a huge feast."
"I'll be making sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. Jacob suggested he could catch a deer in place of a turkey."
"I don't think we ever had turkey for Christmas. Mom liked Christmas, though. She would make so many potatoes."
"You'll get plenty of potatoes this year," Renesmee said.
Renesmee chose then to tell Jacob to grab something to eat and bring it back to the tent so they could start A Christmas Carol. It was one of Charles Dickens's shortest books and Renesmee was confident they'd finish it in the three days before Christmas. Her confidence waned mildly when she had Jacob start reading, though.
"'Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.'" (A Christmas Carol, Dickens)
He read the paragraph very slowly and then reread it a second time. He seemed less confident reading this. Renesmee expected that slightly. Dickens wasn't the easiest collection of books to read given the man's infuriatingly heavy use of commas, albeit grammatically correct, to create paragraph long proper sentences. It would be a great way to improve his reading skills, though. Dickens did force the reader to really think about what was on the page and to take it slow. It was not an author that allowed you to just breeze through. Renesmee was still confident they could finish it quickly, though. It was only about 77 pages. The rest of the book was other Christmas stories. They could always save those for later.
"'Mind!'" Jacob continued still slowly. "'I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.'" (A Christmas Carol, Dickens) "I don't get it," Jacob said after finishing the second paragraph.
"He's just saying he doesn't know where the term, 'dead as a doornail' came from. If you have to reread anything, feel free to. I know Dickens is more difficult."
Jacob looked at Renesmee a moment before taking a deep breath and continued to read. On the bright side, the next paragraph finally explained that Scrooge and Marley were business partners, though Renesmee had to explain what exactly that meant. Near the end of Stave 1 when Marley appeared before Scrooge, Jacob sighed heavily.
"His name was Jacob Marley?" Jacob asked, exasperated.
"Well, sure, why not? Jacob's a popular name."
"I guess I just don't care for sharing a name with a ghost that never moved on."
"At least he's coming back to warn his friend to change his ways. He could be an evil ghost." Jacob shivered at Renesmee's remark. "Your people don't believe in ghosts do you?" Renesmee asked with a light giggle before realizing that laugh might've been highly insensitive, though Jacob didn't make an issue of her remark.
"We believe when we die, we're to move on to the underworld with family. It's only when the dead are disturbed that they inflict their wrath. I take it your people don't believe in such things?"
"Not especially." Jacob just shrugged and returned to reading. With her assistance, Jacob managed to read up to the third Stave by late afternoon. "How do you like it so far?"
"I'm intrigued," Jacob answered. "The writing is difficult."
"I know, but you're getting used to it right?"
"I'm starting to." Jacob took a deep breath. "Can we stop for tonight? This is exhausting."
"Sure," Renesmee said. "We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow." Jacob laughed and moaned at the same time while rubbing his face. "You don't like it do you?"
"I preferred Othello," he said with a kind smile. "But I want to know what happens, so we'll keep reading tomorrow." Jacob closed the book and pushed it to the side before going closer to Renesmee and giving her a kiss. "I'm getting hungry."
"You're always hungry," Renesmee teased after Jacob kissed the tip of her nose.
"How are you feeling? Did you need to hunt?"
"You said you were going to hunt down a buck for Christmas dinner right?" Jacob nodded. "I'll wait until you bring that. Would you mind terribly if I did that?"
"I don't mind."
The next day, Renesmee spent the morning helping Sokajili while Jacob got some much needed rest. It was only in the afternoon that she roused him so they could continue with A Christmas Carol. After finishing Stave 4, Jacob begged they stop and save the ending stave for the next night. That would be Christmas Eve, so that was perfect. The next night, they continued and finally finished the novella. After reading "'And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!'" Jacob closed the book, fell onto his back, and took a deep breath as if he'd run a marathon.
"That was exhausting," Jacob said. Renesmee smiled and went to the floor beside Jacob and kissed his neck.
"I'm pleased with how you read that. You got used to the language rather quick. By the end, I hardly had to explain any of it."
"In truth, I just wanted to get through it."
"Did you hate it that much?" Renesmee pouted.
"I didn't hate it. It's just a much harder read than anything else we've read together."
"Even Shakespeare?" Renesmee asked skeptically.
"Alright, Shakespeare was harder, but that had me more engrossed."
"Fair enough," Renesmee smiled. "Still, I'm very proud of you." Jacob smiled back and pulled Renesmee closer to him in a hug.
"So tomorrow's Christmas?"
"Yeah. I think it would be nice to have a big bonfire closer towards the middle of the village so we can all eat dinner near the tree and keep warm. I'll start cooking in the afternoon. Your mother said the deer would take all day."
"It will," Jacob affirmed. "It'll be more work once we finish eating it. There's fur to clean and use, bones to craft, there's a lot to do when a meal like that is done."
"I admit, I admire how you use every piece of the animal."
"What's to admire?" Jacob asked honestly. "It's only respectful to utilize every part of the animal after killing it. It would be disrespectful not to."
"We tend to be rather selective of what we use," Renesmee admitted. "Caevia's the only one in my family that ate, so I suppose we didn't waste as much as other families, but we only used what the butcher gave us and threw the bones away."
"It's a waste to not use the bones," Jacob said bluntly.
"Chicken bones are rather hard to utilize, though. We make stock with it, but other than that, we don't use it."
"What's stock?"
"Its water that bones have been boiled in to extract flavor."
"Well that's better than nothing," Jacob said. "I'll catch a deer while I'm on patrol tonight. One large buck should be enough for everyone so long as you make plenty of those potato dishes."
"Don't worry, there'll be more potatoes than any of you will know what to do with," Renesmee joked. Jacob looked at Renesmee and raised an eyebrow.
"Is that a challenge?"
"It could be," she answered with a smile.
"I'll take that challenge."
Jacob eventually left that night to go on patrol and search out the biggest buck he could find for the village. He brought that back to the tribe immediately so Renesmee could drink its blood as soon as she woke up. She made sure to wake up early for that very reason. She finished off the buck before anyone came out, but assured it was ready to be prepped when they did. Jacob and the back returned shortly after that and helped with the buck while Renesmee stayed with Sokajili for most of the morning, only returning when it was a good time for her to start working on the potatoes and casseroles. As she'd requested, wood had been piled in the middle of the tribe near the Christmas tree they'd prepared and Caevia had already taken the initiative to get water boiling for the potatoes. One pot, however, was left dry, designated for the green beans and the cream of mushroom soup. By that time, the buck had been cooking for an hour. It would be ready by that night.
Jacob stayed with Renesmee the whole time she was cooking, hovering over the food anticipating when it would be ready. Renesmee never realized until he was doing it to her how irritating it was. Now she knew how Sara felt. Renesmee said as much and Sara just laughed. With Caevia, Sara and a few other women helping her, Renesmee managed to finish four dishes worth of sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. She had cinnamon and brown sugar left over, so she suggested they make something with apples so they would have a proper dessert. That was really the only thing that was missing. Jacob agreed to get apples and gathered as many as two baskets could carry. They all peeled the apples and threw them into a pot with water that Renesmee spiced with the cinnamon and brown sugar. It was hardly an apple pie, but upon tasting it, everyone in the village gave it a seal of approval.
By that night when the buck was done, there was enough food to reasonably feed everyone for two days. William and Sokajili lit the bonfire when it was time to eat and everyone enjoyed dinner around the bonfire, very pleased with all the food that was available.
"Thank you for this," Renesmee said after a moment of silence passed between her and Jacob.
"For what?"
"For letting me share a holiday with all of you."
"If anyone deserves any thanks, it's you. Everyone is extremely happy with all the food."
"Everyone!" Renesmee and Jacob were interrupted by the booming sound of William's rather chipper voice. She'd never heard the man sound so pleased before. "It is, as you all know, tradition to sing and tell stories when there is a celebration at hand. Unfortunately, neither my brother nor I know any songs that are right for this." William looked at Renesmee with a smile. "Which means, Renesmee, it's up to you to sing for the celebration."
Everyone began to clap in agreement as Renesmee blushed heavily. She glanced at Caevia, who clapped and smiled along with all the others but a moment before resting her hands upon her bump.
"You're singing with me," Renesmee said.
"Fine," she said. "Just name the song and I'll join." Then Renesmee looked over at Seth and Leah, but Leah shook her head.
"Any Christmas songs I knew I forgot a long time ago," she answered.
Everyone continued to clap and demand a song, so Renesmee took a hold of Caevia's hand so she could push the song she was going to sing into her head and make sure she remembered all the words as they sang Oh! Come All Ye Faithful. She knew virtually no one knew what she was saying. They didn't know it was about the birth of Christ, or what relevance that had to the holiday, but they all listened intently regardless. By the end of the song, everyone clapped and demanded another song. Upon their request, Renesmee and Caevia continued with Deck the Halls. After that was Joy to the World, Hark! The Harold Angels Sing, and finally God Rest Ye Marry Gentleman. No one knew the words, but several had already picked a song they preferred and were humming to themselves.
"That was beautiful," Jacob said when Renesmee let go of Caevia's hand and they finished caroling.
"I admit I'm used to playing a piano when I sing carols, so I'm happy it sounded nice."
"Would you show me?" Jacob asked, curious of what a piano sounded like. She'd told him about it, even shown it to him, but he'd never heard the sound it made. Renesmee brought her hand to Jacob's cheek and showed the memory of her playing God Rest Ye Marry Gentleman on the piano while she and her family sang together. "So that's what a piano sounds like."
"Daddy was teaching me how to play the piano before I was even walking. Some of my fondest memories are from when he was teaching me."
"Perhaps one day I'll get you a piano." Renesmee laughed just a little at Jacob's optimism.
"One day," she simply agreed.
"Why don't you sing that other song you showed me? You know, the song your mother sang to you?"
"You mean Auld Lang Syne?"
"Yeah," Jacob nodded. "That's a song you would sing today, right?"
"No," Renesmee shook her head. "That song is for New Years. I'll sing it for everyone then."
"Do you promise?"
"I do," she answered.
When New Years came, she suggest that, when it was midnight, they go to the mountains and see if they could watch any fireworks. Upon being told what fireworks were, he agreed and the two went to the mountains and found a great view of a fireworks show going on near the docks in Seattle. While they went off, Renesmee sang Auld Lang Syne and even taught Jacob the words so he could sing along with her. But the true highlight of the night came when he overheard people in the distance counting down. Caevia had told him before that was the part of the night that was most important. He and Renesmee counted down together, but Renesmee stopped abruptly when she felt Jacob rest something on her wrist. People in the background continued to count down as Renesmee looked at the woven band. She realized it was thicker than others she'd seen women wearing around the tribe. Usually it was one row and a simple leather band. This was three rows of woven leather with a small clamshell in the center to make it special.
"Renesmee," Jacob went on as the countdown continued. "Will you marry me?" They heard "Happy New Year" be yelled from the city indicating it was finally January 1st, but Renesmee focused on the band on her wrist. Then she looked at Jacob, tears beginning to form in her eyes and all she could manage at first was a simple nod.
"Yes," Renesmee finally managed and the genuine smile Jacob gave her while he finally tied the bracelet to her wrist made her heart flutter. Then he kissed her, immediately pushing her onto the cold ground. It was freezing, but Renesmee didn't feel any cold. All she felt was Jacob's strong arms around her while kissed every part of her tenderly. He only exposed her breasts long enough the kiss and lick them before he immediately covered them from the cold again and returned to kissing her.
When he was inside her, all she focused on was the feel of him as the sounds of fireworks drowned out their moans of pleasure. Their lovemaking was brief, but passionate. By the end, she felt like jelly and she couldn't bring herself to move at all. So Jacob lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the village. He rested her on their bed and slept soundly beside her, holding her close. She was already sound asleep when Jacob looked at the woven band he'd just tied to her wrist and it made him smile. He would have to speak with Sokajili in the morning. He wanted to marry her as soon as possible and spend their lives together, however long that would be. From what he could tell, they would have an eternity together, and he looked forward to every day of it.