Moonlight in Forks
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Celebration
Bella twisted the ring pull around and around nervously. Jacob had bent the soft metal into a more circular shape so it hugged her slim finger comfortably. It was only meant to be a temporary solution until he had time to save up for a more suitable replacement ring, but Bella found she was already becoming quite attached to it.
"Calm down, honey." Jacob said soothingly. "Its only Charlie."
Outside Bella heard her father's cruiser pulling into the driveway. The ring suddenly weighed a hundred pounds on her finger. Her anxiety ramped up a few octaves, making her want to shove her left hand in her pocket, or maybe sit on it, but Jacob's warm grasp kept it front and center.
"Aren't you nervous at all?" She whispered.
"Nope." Jacob squeezed her hand gently. "It will all work out fine, you'll see."
"I wish I had your confidence."
Bella listened to the ominous sound of her father's boots clomping up the sidewalk. He seemed to take an age to reach the door. Then there was the sound of his key rattling in the already open door. The sound reminded Bella of a horror movie when the victim realized she'd forgotten to lock her deadbolt.
"Jeez, honey, you're shaking." Jacob drew her closer, pressing a kiss into her hair. "Just take some deep breaths."
The door slammed against the wall, and Bella let out a loud yelp of surprise like she had been tasered.
"Hi, Charlie." Jacob called, sounding completely relaxed.
"Wait." Bella hissed under her breath.
"Why?" Jacob whispered back.
"Wait until he hangs his gun up!"
Jacob tried not to laugh at her overreaction. "You're being ridiculous."
Charlie came around the corner, still in his uniform, still armed. He smiled tiredly when he spied them sitting together on the sofa. "Hey, kids." He greeted them causally. "What's up?"
"We'd like to talk to you." Jacob said calmly. "You and Renee, if possible."
Suspicion flared in Charlie's eyes at this pronouncement. "Both of us? Together?"
"Yes." Bella spoke this time. She was surprised that her voice sounded as calm as Jacob's.
"Where is your mom?" Charlie's eyes narrowed.
"In the kitchen making dinner." Bella said quickly. "Mom!" She called out. "Can you come in here for a sec?"
"Coming!" Renee sang back. She suddenly appeared in the doorway; her hands covered in flour. "I'm baking a cake." She explained to Charlie when he clocked the white powder on her fingers.
"Why don't you both sit down?" Bella suggested.
Renee glanced at Charlie's hard face then back to Bella and Jacob. "What's going on, baby girl? You're being all mysterious."
"Just sit down, Mom." Bella pleaded. "Jake and I have some news."
"What news?" Charlie growled as he stomped over to his recliner and sat down heavily. Renee followed, perching on the arm beside him.
"Don't get worked up, Dad." Bella said after a moment of loaded silence. "Everything is okay."
"She's right, Charlie." Jacob added, still completely at ease. "Its good news, I promise." He turned his head toward Bella, looking at her tenderly. She looked back at him, smiling nervously.
"If its good news, Bells, then why are you sweating bullets?"
"I'm not sweating."
"Oh, Charlie, pipe down." Renee scolded him. She hit him playfully with her flour encrusted hand, setting off a cloud of white powder in his face.
Charlie sneezed two or three times, glaring at his ex-wife resentfully. "I won't have you telling me to pipe down in my own house, woman."
Renee rolled her eyes, well used to Charlie's moods, she ignored his sniping and turned her full attention onto Jacob and Bella. She had a vague idea of what was coming.
Bella touched her forehead with the back of her hand, wiping away all traces of the perspiration coating her skin. Why did her bodily functions always give her away? Jacob remained cool and collected. It wasn't fair.
Charlie scowled at the discreet movement. His suspicions were completely aroused. "Come on, out with it! You're pregnant, aren't you?"
Though the question was clearly meant for Bella, he turned the full force of his glare onto Jacob.
"No! I am not pregnant!" Bella cried defensively. She knew Charlie would immediately jump to that conclusion! What other possible reason would sane people have for getting engaged so young these days?
Charlie's glower lightened a shade. It was usually pretty clear on Bella's face when she was telling the truth, and he believed her now. "Sorry." He apologized grudgingly.
"Apology accepted."
There was a long pause. After a moment, Bella realized that they were all waiting for her to continue. She looked at Jacob, panic stricken. There was no way she was going to get the words out.
Jacob gave her one of his sunny smiles, not the least bit intimidated by Charlie's scowl or Renee's curiosity. He squeezed Bella's hand again comfortingly.
"Charlie, Renee." Jacob began, acknowledging both of them. "You know that I love Bella more than anything in the world, more than my own life, and-by some miracle-she loves me that way, too. I asked Bella to marry me, and she said yes. We're engaged!"
Renee let out a loud gasp of surprise. Her guess had been right. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes shining with an emotion that was hard to define, as her eyes locked on the makeshift ring christening her daughter's left hand.
Charlie looked like he was going to be sick. His skin changed colors-fair to red, red to purple, purple to blue. Bella started to get up-not sure what she was intending to do, maybe use the Heimlich maneuver to make sure he wasn't choking-but Jacob pulled her back beside him and murmured. "Give him a minute." So low that only she could hear.
The silence was much longer this time. Then, gradually, shade by shade, Charlie's color returned to normal. His lips pursed, and his eyebrows furrowed. Bella recognized his "deep in thought" expression. He studied the two of them for a long while. Bella slowly started to relax now that the worst was over.
"Does Billy know?" He asked eventually.
"Not yet." Jacob admitted. "We wanted to tell you two first."
A smirk lit up Charlie's face at this little bit of information. He was already imagining the look on his friend's face when he found out. Usually, he was the last to know anything, it made him feel better that the roles would be reversed this time.
"I need a drink." He declared, getting up from the recliner. "Do you want one, Ren?" He offered as an afterthought.
"Yes." Renee said faintly.
Once Charlie had left the room, Renee decided it was time to have her say. She gazed at them in concern. "I guess I'm not surprised." She confessed. "But are you sure about this?"
"I am, Mom." Bella rushed to reassure her. "Even though we're engaged. It's not like we're getting married tomorrow."
"I know that, baby girl" Renee's expression didn't change. She was worried. "Getting married is a bit commitment. What's the rush?"
There was so much that Bella couldn't put into words, not without revealing things that had to be kept secret out of necessity. So, she went with the simple truth. "I love Jacob." Still gripping his hand tightly, she looked pleadingly at her mother, longing for Renee's blessing. "I'm one hundred percent sure about this. Can't you just be happy for us?"
"What about college, though?" Renee asked. "I know you delayed it for a year because of your injuries, but at some point, in the future, you'll still be going away. Jacob's business is here. Long distance relationships are not easy."
"We know that." Jacob's eyes met Bella's again and he smiled. "We've talked it all over and we're prepared for that. I am as committed to Bella as she is to me. We'll make it work."
Renee frowned slightly, looking for another angle to argue from, but found there was nothing more to say. The love the two of them had for each other was without question. You only had to look at their faces to see it. It shone from their eyes, in the way they touched, the way they even finished each other's sentences on occasion. It was like their every thought was in tune. It was uncanny. She had never seen anything like it.
Renee had the sense to realize it was her own insecurities talking. After her doomed marriages to both Charlie and now Phil, early marriages were higher up on her blacklist than boiling live puppies.
She hadn't told anyone she was splitting up with Phil. She was too embarrassed and ashamed. Their age difference had finally sounded the death knell on their hasty marriage. He had met a younger woman, not much older than Bella was herself. It was true love this time, apparently.
"Well, then I guess, I should congratulate you both." Renee said, wiping a discreet tear from the corner of her eye. "Come here, baby girl, so I can give you a hug."
Bella let go of Jacob's hand and leapt up from her seat. She rushed over to Renee, flinging herself into her mother's arms, nearly knocking the older woman off her feet. The two of them burst into tears at the same time, as happiness overwhelmed both of them.
Jacob watched them with a wide grin on his face. He wanted to join in the hug, but held back, letting mother and daughter have their moment.
Renee stepped back; her eyes glossy as she looked with pride at her only daughter. "I know I've said a lot of things about marriage and stupidity-and I'm not taking them back-but those specific things only really applied to me. You're a completely different person than I am. You make your own kinds of mistakes, and I'm sure you'll have your share of regrets in life."
"Mom!" Bella whined.
"No let me finish, baby." Renee gushed. "I know commitment was never your problem. You have a better chance of making this work than most forty-year-olds I know." She laughed, wiping away another tear. "My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have met your perfect match." Looking over at Jacob, she waved him over. "Come here, you."
Jacob didn't need any more urging than that. He joined them in one stride, reaching out and clasping both women in his strong arms. They all huddled together and formed a group hug, talking over each other and laughing.
Charlie chose that moment to walk back into the room, two beers clutched in his hands. He stared at them all clustered together, misty eyed, as they enjoyed their mini-celebration.
"Ah, knew this was coming anyway." He muttered under his breath.
Abandoning the beers on the nearest surface, Charlie walked over to his little family and shoved his way into the midst of the group, reaching for his daughter first and hugging her fiercely.
"I could never let you go to anyone else." He said in a choked voice to Bella. "And you, my boy." He jabbed Jacob in the chest. "You look after my little girl, do you hear? Otherwise, you'll have me to deal with." He threatened with a mocking smile.
"Sure, sure." Jacob laughed, as he shocked the hell out of his future father-in-law by lifting him up off his feet in a tight bear bug.
Outside, crouched in some thick foliage downwind from the Swan house, Edward Cullen had overheard everything.
The news of Bella's engagement to the dog hit him with the force of an explosion. A bomb detonating in his body and his mind. The thought that she would so willingly tie herself to someone such as Jacob Black, a werewolf, his mortal enemy, severed what remained of his sanity.
Edward had never felt pain like it. It couldn't be borne.
He would put a stop to it. Yes, he would. This engagement. This marriage must never be allowed to happen. He would save Bella from a fate worse than death.
Edward remembered the one and only time he had drunk Bella's sweet blood when he sucked James' venom out of her veins to stop her turning into what he was.
He recalled how her intoxicating blood had erased every burn he had ever suffered. It was so much more than the absence of pain. It was satisfaction. It was bliss. He had been suffused with a strange kind of joy-a joy of the body alone. He was healed and alive, every nerve end thrumming with contentment.
Edward waned to feel that rapture, that elation again.
Bella had wanted him to change her. He would now give her the gift she had always been seeking.
Decision made, Edward smiled, already feeling her blood flowing steadily, coating his tongue, his throat. Yes, he would do this for. They would be together, just like she had always envisioned, for eternity.
Once it was done, they would never be parted again.
A/N-thanks for reading!