Sam lay, practically frozen in place, for what felt like hours after Bella drifted asleep. Her breath puffed softly against his side where she clung to him and his heart fluttered in his chest. As he laid there he found his gaze, which had originally been locked to the ceiling above, drifting in her direction. His hand itched to reach out and stroke her hair, but he held back not wanting to wake her.
He scanned her features and he was drawn to the spattering of light freckles across her nose, the crinkle of it as her hair tickled her cheek, the way her lips parted softly as she breathed sleepily though her mouth. He was transfixed. He hadn't known her before, not really. He had heard all about her from Jacob of course, they all had, but he had never given her so much as a second glance. Now, he wondered what life might have been like had she stayed.
He shook his head softly to repel that stream of thought.
Looking again to the ceiling he turned his thoughts to his daughter. In just a few days she had begun to open up and bloom and his heart swelled with affection. He had loved her from the very first moment he held her. He had looked down at the tiny bundle and had weeped with all the love he felt pour from inside himself. He had sworn to her, in a hoarse whisper, that he would be the very best dad that he could.
For years he had felt like he was failing in that promise. First was when Emily had left and he spent the first several months of her life barely sleeping, barely eating, and refusing the help that his pack had offered. Then as she grew and they noticed her lack of speech he again felt like he was doing this all wrong. He had visited specialist after specialist, he had read book after book, and still his little girl's words absent. He had finally begun to lean on his pack for support and it had been Sue who told him that Annabelle could speak and that she would when she was ready. The first time she had spoken to him, "no" of course, he had showered her with praise before sneaking away to his bedroom to sob with relief. His fear returned in full force only 6 months ago, when Annabelle began to have night terrors. She would scream and cry and his heart would break in his inability to help her. He had spoken with Sue several times over the last few months and just a week ago she had asked him to consider children's therapy for the girl. He had assured her that he would think about it and he knew it was mostly his own pride that kept him from conscenting.
He feared now that he was making a mistake again. Though he was amazed at how quickly his daughter had latched to Bella, he feared what would happen when Bella was well enough to leave. He feared that any progress that the little girl would make in her presence would be lost and it was this fear that helped drown out his wolf in Bella's presence.
From the moment that she had collapsed in his arms in the grocery store his wolf had been intrigued. His wolf had, on several occasions now, lingered close to the surface in order to watch her. He watched as Bella embraced his pup, how she had saved his pack mate, how she prepared food and how she clung to him. His wolf was wary. He knew that this human had brought trouble close to his people in the past, and yet his wolf yearned to get closer.