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Chapter 43

Reunion


Bella


"Will you wait here?" Edward asked me.

His eyes glittered with glee.

He wanted to drag this out as long as he could. That served Alice right. Moreover, this would give me yet another moment to calm myself down. I was really excited. I wanted to see them all again. I had missed not only Edward all these years, but also the others.

So, I endeavored to sit down casually on a small sofa in the hallway and forced my body to calm down while Edward walked down the hallway with Jake, Leah, and Becky and then disappeared off to the side into a wide passageway.

I heard general jocularity and friendly greetings.

Instead of calming down, I became more and more restless. Jittery. Exhilarated. Mentally I tried to assign a face to the different voices, but I was only moderately successful. Only blurred images were still there. But I heard the clear and melodic voices of vampires. The more was spoken, the more familiar they seemed to me, and I actually calmed down a bit. It reminded me very of the past.

Then Edward stood in front of me again and pulled me into his arms.

My heart began to race again as his lips lightly touched my mouth and whispered, "Ready?"

I'll go with you wherever you want! I thought, but I couldn't get a sound out.

Instead, I just nodded.

Alice insistence made me chuckle yet again and I felt hot imagining this promised vacation, but then Edward gently pushed me through the doorway to the living room.

It appeared like a modern painting. A still life!

A bright and friendly room, with a huge window facade at the other end of the room, where an extensive terrace adjoined. In the middle of it a large low table on which were arranged very pretty flowers.

Slowly my gaze slid over the vampires.

From right to left.

Standing closest to me was the good-natured Esmé. With her heart-shaped face and caramel-brown long hair, her hands put in front of her mouth in disbelief, she just looked as if she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Carlisle held her tightly.

Next to it began the first sofa, where little Alice sat cross-legged, her arms crossed over her chest determinedly offended. Her black fringy hair spiked off in all directions. But her determination collapsed. Sideways to her, the honey-blond Jasper placatingly held one of Alice's hands. He had probably tried to reason with her. Now his mouth stood open in disbelief.

One couch over, I recognized the bear-like Emmett - casually with his feet on the seat - sitting on the high back of the sofa. The hint of childlike innocence in his face stood in direct contrast to the shock that had just become clearly visible on it. Next to him sat the intimidatingly beautiful Rosalie, with her shoulders already averted from me, her long legs stretched out over the cushion. Bored, she had probably played with her long hair before I had entered, which now slipped from her fingers.

Another sofa was taken by Jake, Leah, and Becky. Just as motionless as the rest, but staring not at me, but at the vampires. None of them stirred, all of them stared back at me, and I felt the distinct heat on my cheeks. The only one who hadn't lapsed into the still life was Carlisle.

Sure, he already knew who I was for a few days.

Pleased, he looked toward me and was surprised at the lack of reaction from the others.

"They are speechless!" whispered my personal angel.

He seemed very surprised by this.

"Well, if no one seems to have anything to say, we can go again!", I turned slightly to him. I almost even meant it. I hated it when people stared at me like that and would have loved to run away.

Edward nodded to me, but would certainly not really grant me this wish right now.

He gave my hands, which were intertwined with his, an encouraging squeeze.

The painting moved. In disbelief, the countless eyes moved from my face to our hands and back again. As if from nowhere, I was surrounded by thousands - that's what it felt like - of cold hands, whirling me around, taking my hands, and all of them talking at me, so intensely and quickly that I didn't understand anything. But I still had recognized the first pair of hands as Edward's.

He had deliberately thrown me into the lio ... vampire's den.

I glared at him angrily, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

I was a little dizzy from all the pale faces. They moved so fast that everything blurred before my eyes and I blinked a few times.

Immediately Edward freed me from the vicious clutches of his family and put his arms around me.

"Behave yourselves kindly!" he threatened warningly, but quite seriously.

I thought I could feel a low subliminal growl under his chest, which immediately made his siblings retreat two meters. His hands pushed reassuringly at my arms and he looked me in the eyes. With distance between our bodies.

Inwardly I grinned.

How long would he be able to hide our love?

"You don't want to scare Bella," he smiled at me and winked.

He took my hand and led me to his parents.

Esmé had barely moved so far. She looked as if she would start crying at any moment and was held by Carlisle.

"Hello, Esmé," I whispered as I stood right in front of her.

"Bella!" she said in a trembling voice.

She took me hesitantly, carefully, in her arms and then I began to cry myself. For a long time we held on to each other.

"You're back again," she then whispered, pushing me slightly out of her arms. "How pretty you are," she added yet.

I was already blushing again.

"Hello, Bella. It's really nice to have you back with us!" Carlisle pulled me into his arms.

"I am looking forward too ... To all of you!" I stammered.

My tears just wouldn't stop.


With a threatening finger, Edward once again warned his siblings not to be too cocky as I then turned to face them.

Emmett stood closest to me, lifting me high in the air and twirling me around as he gave me a cheery kiss on the cheek.

"Emmett, put me down!" I struggled to breathe.

His arms were a tad too firm.

But Alice was also already standing behind him, pounding on his back and summoning my release, only to hold myself trapped in her stony arms. I embraced her with my own.

No matter how annoying Alice could be - apparently still - she had been my best friend. Hearing her high melodic voice, which only rarely fell silent - as it did also now - was like a long-forgotten music in my ears.

"What the hell are you wearing?" she disapprovingly pushed me away after a while and examined my duds in detail.

"I got all dressed up for you!" I laughed through my tears of joy.

Alice looked towards me with her eyes widened in horror. That this should be my best clothing was too much for her.

"This does not work, Bella. You can't walk around like that. What are people supposed to think. Have you learned nothing about fashion in all these years? Have you forgotten everything I painstakingly taught you? ... We really need to go shopping. That Edward let you out of the house like that! But what can you expect from someone like him? ..." Alice babbled incessantly.

Then she paused, considered for a fleeting moment, turned to Edward, glaring wickedly, and was now pounding him with her fists. She pushed him further and further back into the hallway and raged incessantly.

"... How dare you deprive me of my best girlfriend? Have you taken leave of your senses? How long have you been hiding this from me? Spit it out! How long have you been hiding Bella from us already? ... Your stupid bet is void! You knew exactly that I would lose! You have been my favorite brother for the longest time! ..." she nagged at him.

Lightning fast - too fast for my eyes - she immediately stood in front of the couch with the children.

They were also a bit startled by her sudden appearance.

"And you didn't even think to tell us what was going on either! ... You are so mean! I'm not talking to you anymore!" she stated irreconcilably and turned around.

This time to Carlisle.

"And you! ... You already knew the score! How long? How long have you known Bella is here? ..."

"It doesn't matter now!", Rosalie made her way to me in the middle of Alice's outburst and she also took me in her arms.

Only briefly, but still. However much she hadn't liked me before, I was pleased to see her again today. And she didn't seem to feel any different.

Lastly Jasper stood in front of me. He was more reserved. He reached his hand to me, very long and very warmly and smiled friendly.

I could already think why he was so hesitant. It was only because of him that Edward had come up with the idea of leaving me. But as I found out this morning, it had been the right thing for me.

So, I took his hand tighter, pulled with all the strength I could muster and he let me take him in my arms. But then he looked at me questioningly and humbly.

"I'm sorry, Bella. Just for me ..." he began, but I shook my head.

"If you hadn't attacked me ... you would have stayed ... So those two wouldn't be around today," I said honestly, pointing at Jake and Leah.

Slowly he turned around and looked at them.

The others followed his gaze.

"Then these are really your children?" asked Rosalie now.

I joined my kids behind the sofa and put an arm around each of their shoulder.

"Oh yes ... They are," I confirmed and gave them both a kiss on the cheek.

Everyone stared at my children, motionless.

Carlisle and Edward just smiled.

"Forget about the pickup," Emmett broke the silence in a whisper, though I had no idea what that meant.

"And the shopping trip to 'Tiffany'," Rose followed up, which I equally didn't understand.

"And they're wolves!" stated Jasper afterwards, somewhat incredulously.

"Oh yes ... They are," I said again.

"Not just any wolves," Edward now interfered, throwing Carlisle a somewhat amused gaze. "Direct descendants of Ephraim Black," he explained meaningfully, and the two burst out laughing, which none of the others understood.

"What's so funny?" asked Leah, offended.

Edward's laughter eased and he turned to the twins.

"When I saw you last week, you both seemed so familiar, like I had known you for a long time already. The way you move, your whole being, but I just didn't know where from. Even though you have Bella's eyes, Leah, I wasn't thinking of Bella. I supposed your mother far away from here, near Charlie or Renée. After school, I then tapped into the school computer and found out your full names. So, my first thought was Ephraim Black - your great-great grandfather. Moreover, we paid a visit to your house in the evening and found the typical wolf smell, which only strengthened my opinion. The funny thing at it is that Alice and I unknowingly recognized Bella in you - not your ancestor - and still you are related to him. Even Esmé thought you both looked familiar to her right away ... With Ephraim Black we negotiated the contract at that time, according to which you are still allowed to destroy me," he explained to them.

"Like we're going to do that after Wednesday!" Jake made a throwaway hand gesture.

"From the way you looked," Leah also interjected.

"Perhaps you three would then have the goodness to explain to us to what exactly happened in the parking lot. We've been asking ourselves that question all along," Emmett demanded, played offended.

So now it was reported in detail what had happened during the whole last week.

The wolf training in La Push. My phone call to the principal, after which Edward suspected it was me. The following night with Carlisle, when he stood completely beside himself. The revelation of my identity by the twins and that Jake had deliberately wanted to torture him with memories.

The vampires did not understand why Jake was able to do this. That on the one hand there were memories so terrible that they brought Edward down, on the other hand how Jake had gotten to these memories.

So now I told something from my dark time after they had all left. How I had found Jacob then, how Victoria returned and thus I lost Jacob again.

I held on to my children, but those memories no longer touched me.

Not like they did last evening.

The vampires were speechless again.

I smiled a little at that and cast a gaze at Edward, who was looking against me very fondly.

"I'm sorry, Bella ...," Carlisle began to say, kneeling in front of me and taking my hand in his.

But I forbade him to speak further.

"No. I don't want to hear excuses for it ... Not from any of you. Never!" I looked each one in the eyes.

I wasn't mad at them anymore for leaving. Not a bit. Because it was true what Edward had always told me, even back then. Even that time of hopelessness had made me become the human being I was today. And today I was a joyful and happy person, who maybe sometimes only painfully remembered it. I would never experience such a time again. My angel was there. And he was staying forever. Sometimes I wondered if Edward really could not hear my thoughts ... He nodded at me in confirmation? ... Coincidence. Definitely just coincidence.

So, to lift their spirits again, I vividly told how the joy of life had returned to me. On Valentine's Day, when I cradled my twins in my arms for the first time.

"I was stunning!" Edward interjected with feigned arrogance when I told about Wednesday

"Literally!" confirmed Becky, equally chuckling.

"She fainted!" Jake corrected matter-of-factly.

"From the excitement!" Edward wanted to clarify.

"From fright!" insisted Leah against it.

The vampires laughed again.

We continued to take turns telling how he had shown up at my house and had hardly left me alone since then, helping me with everything possible. Up to Samantha's annihilation, which no one seemed to question anymore.

"There's one question I'd like to ask about that Monday! ... When Bella was on the phone with the principal," Emmett grinned mischievously and looked condescendingly at Edward.

The seconds passed.

Edward's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I'm an idiot!" cursed Edward vociferously, hiding his face in his hands in shame.

Emmett laughed boisterously and continued to tease Edward.

"All your guesswork could have been over on Monday! But you're really off course sometimes."

"Are you almost done?" asked Edward, annoyed.

This was embarrassing for him, quite unmistakably. By now I was chuckling myself, even though I actually had no idea why.

"Not quite yet! ... You mean always thinking to EVERYTHING. If only for your great gift of hearing thoughts, you even considered that those two were going to slaughter you ... and of all things, you overlook THAT?" Emmett stood challengingly in front of Edward, who only pushed him away in a huff.

"What did he overlook then?" Becky curiously asked now.

Emmett pulled himself up, still laughing, and stood in front of Edward again.

Grinning. With arms folded in front of his chest. Raised eyebrows. Mocking his brother so much right now.

"It escaped his mind that he couldn't hear Bella's thoughts when she was in school!" he declared emphatically, and everyone - including me - exploded with laughter.

I even had tears of laughter and my cheeks hurt.

Edward could hear everyone's thoughts but mine. The past nineteen years had not changed anything. And this little detail, which had already annoyed him earlier, he had overlooked.


"And now?" Alice asked jitterily after we had all calmed down a bit.

It had taken a while and Edward had fled to the kitchen in the meantime. Allegedly ONLY to get us something to drink.

Of course, I knew what Alice and all the others wanted to know. Neither had all of these stories nor our behavior shown here so far suggested that we were reunited.

We had reported all this quite factually and also did not sit together. On purpose!

In the course of the narrations, I was sitting on one of the sofas, with all the vampires except Edward and Carlisle surrounding me.

It was so good to see them all again and also to have been received so nicely by them. I had not admitted it to myself, but I had been a little afraid of this reunion however.

"Don't be so nosy!" rebuked Esmé, but with the same gleam of hope in her eyes.

The only one who didn't seem curious was Jake. He smirked to himself. Then his gaze suddenly turned serious as he looked at me. As if his world was about to collapse just now.

"Jake?" I inquired, standing up to walk towards him.

He also got up.

His eyes virtually fixed me. Furious. Vicious. Contemptuous. He was trembling. He frightened me, and I backed away. What had made him so angry all of a sudden?

Jasper noticed my fear, and almost certainly the emotions Jake was experiencing as well, and carefully and deliberately moved slightly in front of me.

"Jake!" said Edward very gently.

As if in a trance, he turned to him and glared maliciously at Edward.

Edward put his hands to Jake's neck, probably to calm him down perhaps.

"Jake, it's not like that!" Edward spoke now emphatically, but Jake didn't seem to hear anything.

Without further ado, Edward pushed my son through the living room, across the patio, and down the wide stone steps until they were about twenty yards from the house.

"What's going on now?" asked Becky uncomprehendingly, having also jumped up like everyone else.

"I don't know," I said, involuntarily taking her hand reassuringly.

I had no idea what had gotten into my son. What was going on in his head. It had to do with Edward and me, otherwise he wouldn't have looked at both of us like that. But what was it?

Uncertainly, I walked toward the windows.

"He's phasing," Leah stated behind me, running through the patio door.

She disappeared from my field of vision.

Then Jake transformed. His clothes flew to the ground in shreds around him. He towered over Edward, growling at him and baring his teeth, while Edward was still trying to talk insistently to him.

I didn't understand a word. As Jake was about to jump toward Edward, Leah appeared.

At least I suspected it was Leah.

Only now did it occur to me that I had not yet seen my own children in wolf form. Neither in La Push, nor the last few days, nor on Friday, when Samantha had shown up. In La Push they always came back to the house dressed, at home they undressed in the garage and ran out the small back door, and on Friday as well as Edward's arms and my anxiously closed eyes had blocked my gaze on them both. But what other wolf would appear here so suddenly?

Leah had all white fur and looked graceful, but she stood in her brother's way and growled at him. A cry of terror echoed in my ears. It was my own.

"Wow ... are they big!" marveled Alice next to me, but I hardly paid her any attention.

My eyes were glued to the events in front of me.

The wolves wrestled with each other. They bit each other, hit each other with their huge paws. Again and again, one of them howled. And in the middle of it all stood Edward, who had just instructed Emmett and Jasper to stay out of it.

"Ouch ..." Becky yelled next to me, causing Jake and Leah to turn their heads in our direction.

I hadn't noticed that I was still holding Becky's hand and squeezing it tightly from the tension. I nervously mumbled an apology when I realized that she had yelled like that because of me.

"It's okay," she said immediately and put an arm around me.

I looked back at my predators and my heart stopped in shock.

Leah was ... I didn't know. She was lying on the stone steps of the terrace. My baby was hurt!

Immediately I ran toward her. By the time I reached her, my cheeks were wet with tears.

Three vampires shielded me from the fighting that was going on now as before. Carlisle, Jasper, and Emmett.

Leah lay there only as a naked person and Carlisle immediately surveyed her injuries. Blood slowly spread under her head.

"Leah!" I mumbled between my tears, but she didn't respond. Whatever was going on inside Jake, how could he attack his sister?

My gaze lifted to Jake and Edward. I stood up - any hands tried to stop me, but I shook them off - and walked with a firm step towards the big wolf.

"Jacob ... William ... Black ... Look what you've done!", I summoned my son in a raging voice.

I was shaking with anger and my heart was racing. I stood right in front of Edward, pointing at Leah, and glaring angrily at my son.

Jake backed away from me. With his head crouched. He trotted past me guiltily, brushing me with his rusty brown fur.

"Jacob," I whispered suddenly, faintly, as my hand involuntarily rose to his fur. "He looks ... like Jacob."

All my strength left me all at once and a calming darkness surrounded me.


Thank you for reading!