Chapter 3: The Call

Nessie

Silence followed and the phone went dead. Well that was really strange. I put the phone down in my bedroom, grabbed a pair of pajamas and underwear and then went to the bathroom to shower and put my pajamas on for the evening. Ellie jumped on the bed and curled up right next to me. I was rubbing her belly when I suddenly felt something strange in her stomach.

I immediately started to worry and made a mental note to take her to the vet the next morning. I hoped that it wasn't anything serious. I couldn't bear the thought of losing my favorite girl. She was only two years old. "You'll be okay girl. Hey, do you want a twinkie?" she sat straight up, wagged her tail, and licked her lips. I laughed. She still had her appetite at least. That was a good thing.

I got out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen to get two twinkies. I unwrapped one and gave it to Ellie who immediately gobbled it up. I turned my TV on and played a movie that I had found on Netflix. A movie in which I ended up falling asleep halfway through.

I woke up after sleeping soundly the next morning. I made a quick breakfast for myself before taking off to the veterinarian with Ellie. I wanted to get there as early as possible hoping that we would not have to wait for a long time in the lobby to be seen. We still ended up waiting in the lobby for two and a half hours before we were called in.

"What seems to be the problem with him?" Dr. Nielsen asked me. He was new here at this animal hospital. I know that because I've already met everyone here.

"Last night when I was giving her a belly rub I felt something strange. So I thought I'd come and get her checked out in case it's something serious,"

"Of course," I'm just going to see if I feel anything unusual like lumps or bumps," I stood back as he gently touched her underbelly several times. I looked at her chart and it seems like she has gained some weight since her last visit. Has her appetite changed?"

"Yeah she has been a lot more hungry than usual," I mentioned.

"Okay Nessie I'm going to take Ellie to the back so that I can conduct some more tests to see if we can find out what's going on with her. Do you mind just waiting here for a few minutes?"

"Sure,"

Ellie looked back at me fearfully as the doctor put a leash on her and took her back. I hated it when she did that.

My, well, Jacob's phone rang about two minutes later. The phone number that appeared on the screen looked oddly familiar. In fact I was 99.9 percent sure that it was my phone number calling.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi Nessie it's Jacob,"

"Oh hi Jacob," I said a little too excitedly. "It looks like we accidentally switched phones yesterday,"

"I know," he said. "That's actually why I'm calling. I was hoping we could switch our phones back today. I kind of need it. Do you mind coming over to my house right now?" he asked. "My family is here also,"

My heart skipped a beat. "Yeah that's fine. I'm at the vet with Ellie right now but I'll come over as soon as we're done here. Just text me the address,"

"Okay I-"

"Jacob, I have to go okay. Just text me the address and I'll be over as soon as possible,"

"Ness-"

I hung up. "What's wrong with her?" I asked fearing the worst.

"Nothing. Everybody is just fine,"

"Everybody?"

"It seems that your dog is pregnant. An ultrasound confirmed it. There's eight puppies in there. What you felt last night is one of the puppies moving around. I'd say she's about a month into her pregnancy.

I was shocked. I guess I shouldn't have been so shocked though. Ellie hadn't been fixed and neither had Bailey. Puppies. Wow.

Ellie and I left the vet with me being in a somewhat state of shock. Then I remembered something Jacob had said yesterday. Something about nine heartbeats. Did he know that my dog was pregnant with eight puppies? I shook my head. That would be insane to think that he somehow knew my dog was pregnant because he heard extra heartbeats. I tried the best I could to push that out of my head. Jacob couldn't have known. It was impossible.

I looked at Ellie. Damn eight puppies. I turned the ignition on and drove out of the parking lot. I was about halfway home already when I remembered that I had told Jacob I'd come over to his house as soon as I was done at the vet. I pulled into a parking lot and punched the address into maps on the phone.

I listened to the directions as Google took me down familiar streets. I was surprised when the directions led me down a road that cut through the forest. The house I pulled up in front of looked like a mansion. It was beautiful and open. I sat there in my car just admiring it. Until Ellie barked. Ellie seemed very anxious for some reason. Which was uncharacteristic of her. I let her out and she took her place at my side. Her body trembled though with each step we took toward the house.

I rang the doorbell when I got to the porch. I waited there anxiously. Ellie's body was still trembling and she whimpered. I jumped when I heard the door opening. I felt as if my jaw had dropped to the floor. The man standing before me looked young, and more handsome than any movie star I had ever seen. He was pale though and had gold eyes.

"Hi, um Jacob asked me to stop by. Do I have the right place? My name is Renesmee,"

"Yes you do. Jacob did tell us that he called you. I'm Carlisle. Why don't you come on in and have a seat? My family is interested in meeting you,"

"Yeah sure, that's fine. But I have my dog here with me. We were at the vet when Jacob called so yeah,"

"That's fine she can come in," Carlisle held the door open for me. I noticed Ellie hesitate for a second before following me in. That was also weird. "Come with me,"

I followed Carlisle as he led me to the living room where I once again felt like I had to scrape my jaw off of the floor. Jacob was there. But it was everyone else who caught and held my attention. Seven pale people, with golden eyes, and inhuman beauty. Eight if you included Carlisle. Only one of the women looked old enough to be Carlisle's wife. Then there was the blonde girl who looked like she just walked off of the cover of vogue magazine. Then there was the big burly guy sitting right next to her with a goofy grin on his face. Next to them was a small pixie like girl sitting next to a blond guy who looked like he was in pain. Sitting next to them was a girl who looked a lot like me. Only she was more beautiful. She had her arm wrapped around a beautiful boy with bronze colored hair that was not unlike my own.

I could feel all of them staring at me. From the tip of my head all the way down to my last toe. I felt like I couldn't breathe the entire time. For which I began to feel dizzy.