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Chapter 15
Golden Eyes
Bella
Becky was very nice and fit with Jake like no other. They would definitely be very happy together. But as far as the legends, and especially the veracity of those legends, Jake should hold off for a while. That world, known only from myths and fairy tales and, of course, from Hollywood, was simply terrifying.
"Nervous?" Peter brought me out of my thoughts.
"Should I be?" was all I replied.
Our report was absolutely credible, even if it did not contain any valid evidence. Only sufficient circumstantial evidence that could explain the behavior of wildlife. After all, they weren't fake results either. I had attributed a quite plausible cause to the various results in the report. Our success proved me right. Our clients were quickly convinced.
Satisfied, we went to a restaurant for lunch and celebrated a little that we had finally put this relatively boring job behind us.
We had the rest of the afternoon free and Peter wanted to arrange and get some things for his wedding.
Actually, Stan had threatened him under penalty of death if he didn't get it done.
I accompanied him and got a few odds and ends for Jake and Leah, which they rarely had in Saco. Their favorite ice cream, a very special kind of waffles and - very important - licorice-flavored candy canes.
I had just gotten everything together when it finally happened.
The whole day I had already congratulated myself inwardly, but one don't count one's chickens before they hatch!
I twisted my ankle. Because of the high heels.
Now I wish I had put my other shoes back on right away!
I was able to stop some concerned passersby from calling an ambulance. Instead, Peter quickly got his car and collected me.
Who needed doctors? Put ice on it, done.
Jake and Leah started laughing when I drove up. Becky was also there, but was worried about me.
Nimbly Peter lifted me out of the car and carried me into the house. Leah followed with my groceries.
I protested loudly, but no one was interested.
I gave my kids a mock angry look when we arrived in the living room.
There, on the sofa, various pillows were already lined up so that I could snuggle in comfortably - but upright -, and another lay in front of it on the table. Jake was coming out of the kitchen with an ice pack.
I rolled my eyes.
I love my children!
Peter stayed only a moment and then quickly left. Stan was expecting the urgently boughten items from him.
The kids spread out around me and all three already had a candy cane in their mouths.
Before the dinner! Sometimes I was such a bad mother, I thought, criticizing myself.
"How was school?" I asked cheerfully. I'd asked without ulterior motives.
Well, not quite. I wanted a distraction from my ankle, from which all three were currently trying to mother me. It had been such a trivial question that I was taken aback for a moment as the three teenagers around me froze.
"Edward knows who you are," Leah admitted.
I tensed up inside, but I couldn't put my finger on why. He wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't be coming here.
"I apologize, Mrs. Black, for asking you so frankly ... But did you really fall in love with a vampire?" Becky looked at me curiously.
And I was flabbergasted. And intimidated. Like every time one of my kids' friends seriously called me Mrs. Black. It made me feel so old, like I should be an adult by now. I had no problem with getting older. I just didn't feel like an adult yet. When my own parents were my age, they were in the middle of life, behaving responsibly, and hardly wasted a thought on silly things others around them would deem them too old and mature for. Riding motorcycles, for example. Or play 'Laser Tag' with their kids.
"Becky knows everything," Jake replied to a question that I was just about to ask. He gently took her hand in his and looked into her eyes with love and gratitude. "She's already seen me and is not afraid of me!" he continued to explain.
"You sound kind of offended by that!" I noted.
"A little bit of fear wouldn't have been that bad," he admitted with a laugh.
"Jake is still waiting for me to run away," Becky teased him. "But I won't. Right now, I find it cool. I'll get scared soon enough."
I smiled sentimentally.
"That's what Edward was always waiting for with me, too." I wiped the thought of Edward away again and turned to Becky: "You don't have to apologize for asking, Becky. I know how all of this must sound to outsiders ... Yes, I was in love with a vampire. And afterwards, with a wolf."
"With a wolf I can understand ..." she began to say, looking my son in the eye, "... but with a vampire. I mean, what about the blood?"
"His family only hunts animals. So, they have less difficulty moving among us humans. I never cared about what they were. Wolf, Vampire, Witch, Troll. It didn't matter. All that ever mattered to me was WHO they were," I tried to explain and Becky seemed satisfied with that answer and smiled. "So? What happened?" I now asked calmly and the children started talking.
They had knowingly let him see some memories so that this game of hide and seek would finally end, but they didn't say what Jake had shown him. But they did tell me about the subsequent confrontation with Samantha.
"... Edward is not together with Samantha," Leah finished after some time.
Becky sat next to me and I put an arm around her shoulders, trying to reassure her after she got tinier and tinier next to me as the recounting went on.
It must have been a very intimidating spectacle in the parking lot, this morning.
I studied my daughter closely.
She had said this last sentence with a strange undertone and I was still searching for the precise meaning. Without success.
"Edward seems to be responsible for her transformation. That's the way it sounded, at least. It was a mistake he made. But he doesn't want to lose Carlisle's respect. No idea what that is supposed to mean," Jake added.
"A lot has to happen to disappoint Carlisle," I said, lost in thought, remembering him back then. I remembered that my first thought at the time was that he looked like a movie star, however I could barely remember him now. He was blond, but everything else was gone. However, I could still remember how he held this family together with a loving hand and was like a father to everyone. "Like any parent."
"This Carlisle really makes me curious," Jake admitted.
"You would like him. All three of you," I smiled encouragingly at Becky. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you went to see him," I added, completely sure of it.
Jake cooked us dinner, and was helped, and distracted, by Becky.
The only thing Jake got right better than Leah or I did was 'Chili Con Carne'.
I smirked.
He had had a very good teacher for it. My best friend David. Unfortunately, he lived in Philadelphia, so he was rarely here.
I was already bracing for the worst: When Jake picked up the salt shaker, Becky had kissed him. And there had been a few more kisses while he was adding the chili powder.
I was curious how it would taste tonight. Whether it was edible ...
We needed a lot of bread and milk to eat it.
The children were cleaning up the kitchen when there was a quiet knock at the front door.
I was not expecting any more visitors today. Nevertheless, I hobbled to the front door while my kids were obviously having a lot of fun together.
The pain in my ankle had eased up, but I didn't want to step on it too much. The ice might have only numbed my foot.
I was only six feet from the door when a note was slipped under the door. Holding onto a side table, I picked it up and looked at it, swaying slightly.
The handwriting. As if from another world.
Bella.
Please open the door only if you are truly willing to see me.
If it remains locked, I will make sure that you will never see me again.
Edward
My heart clutched up.
Had the floor moved slightly? HE stood behind the door! Edward. Who I hadn't seen in nineteen years? My first love ... Until right now, I had been sure I never wanted to see him again.
Reverently, I put one hand against the wood of the door and closed my eyes.
Distant, hazy memories surfaced.
A classroom, a silver car, a clearing, a rocking chair, a drop of blood on my finger. Darkness and suffering.
I remembered, all too well, the pain in the months that followed and began to tremble involuntarily as a lone tear from the past rolled down my cheek.
"Edward," I whispered tonelessly.
I no longer had a picture in my head. It had been too long. All I remembered was that he was handsome. Or I thought he was. Back when I was young and naive. Pale, hard, and cold. With amazing eyes. Yellow eyes ... No. The color was not right. I could open the door and check. Would I recognize him? Did I want to see him again? Why was he here? Why didn't he keep his promise? He didn't want to touch my life anymore! It should be as if he had never existed.
"Yes, Bella. I'm here," I heard a softly enchanting voice through the door, directly affecting my sense of balance.
And to my memories. Whereas before it was only images in my head, now I was listening into times gone by. Single words and snippets of conversations. An adorable laugh overlapped everything. I would only need to put my hand on the door knob, turn the knob, and pull the door open. A very small movement. Any small child could do that. But what would happen then? I was afraid of it and just held my position. Fear that right behind the door my abyss would be waiting for me. I weighed the pros and cons. Undecided about what I should do. What I wanted to do. I was curious to see him. To remind me of his face. But what then?
"Bella ... please," he implored through the door after a few minutes, when my children began to look for me.
His voice. So gentle, and fragile at the same time. As if it cost him everything. As if it tormented him to be separated from me by the door. A torment that hit me straight in the heart. And it was in my power to end his torment.
I braced myself more energetically with my hand on the dresser, let my hand that was against the wood of the door slide to the knob, and held my breath as I turned it and slowly opened the door.
"Edward," I whispered in a daze as I looked into the face of a living Michelangelo angel. An angel with golden eyes.
I lost myself in those eyes as everything began to spin around me and go black.
"Mom," I could hear Jake and Leah worriedly call behind me, but it sounded so far away as I felt a familiar coldness around me.
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