Chapter 1: Offices and Family Meetings
Esme
Esme smiled to herself when she heard the poor boy grumbling out in the yard. Almost two months in, and Jacob still protested Carlisle's decision.
She had sat beside her husband when he first called Bella and Edward into his office, carefully keeping his thoughts on other matters until his son was seated in the chair in front of him. When Carlisle made his proposition, Edward had been wary. But his protests had been light and a gentle squeeze of hand from Bella was all the assurance he needed to cede. Their newest daughter had been in agreement from the moment the proposal left Carlisle's lips.
Their oldest daughter, however, was a different case altogether. Rosalie had burst into the study when she heard of the plan, raging. Esme had sat beside her husband once again as he spent a good part of the evening struggling to make their daughter understand why it was important. This time, Esme had to step in, and whisper other reasons into Rosalie's ears. Reasons that might not have been the best or the most…polite and chaste. Reasons her kind-hearted husband had balked at while the two women sat in front of him and discussed.
Esme chuckled when he had reached for the small, golden cross that dangled over his chest. The more mischievous of the reasons were what made Rosalie come around. And the fact that it would drive Jacob mad.
And it did.
Carlisle had called a small family meeting a few months before they moved to their current home. Jacob had stood there, a little awkwardly but Carlisle had assured him that this particular issue concerned him too.
Jasper, Alice, Bella, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett, all sat at the table in front of Carlisle. Esme chose to sit beside her granddaughter at the top of the staircase, looking at the dining table from their private perch. Renesmee leaned into her and Esme wrapped a comforting arm around her. The older woman knew with Bella, Edward and Rosalie in agreement, they were more than half the way already done. Alice hadn't come raging into Carlisle's office either so she either was in agreement as well or knew about this meeting and would voice her concerns here.
"As you know, we will be moving soon," Carlisle started. And he continued despite Jacob's disgruntled reaction. That was an already hard-won fight. "And now that Renesmee's growth is reaching its end, it is time she joins the society with us."
He had taken a pause here. But none of his family had any input on that topic so he continued. "In that regard, I believe it is in Renesmee's best interest if she joins the high school by herself."
A beat of silence and then the cacophony of disagreement erupted. A strange warmth developed in Esme's cheeks when with a single upheld finger, Carlisle silenced the room.
One-by-one. His command was not voiced but all present understood it.
He fixed Alice with a look first. "I can't see her, Carlisle," she said. "I will not be able to see any danger. How will we know if she is safe?"
He looked at Jasper next. "Humans are unbelievably cruel to each other. Even young ones…especially young ones. What if she is bullied or harassed? Human high schools are not safe."
Carlisle acknowledged Jasper's words too and turned to Emmett next. Their son was looking at his wife, a little confused that she made no move to protest. Eventually he turned to Carlisle. "I don't like this," was his simple statement.
Her husband looked at his other three children, giving them an opportunity to protest if they still wished too. Rosalie sat with her arms folded, unhappy but in agreement. Bella smiled her assent. Edward absently pulled at his hair as he nodded.
At last, Carlisle turned towards the agitated wolf.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Esme wasn't sure if Jacob had intended to explode at Carlisle or not but he nevertheless did.
His shoulders moved under the strain of his breathing.
Carlisle's demeanor did not change. "Jacob, I can address your concerns only if you phrase it in a civilized manner."
Esme looked at the young boy towering over her husband's seated form, his entire body shaking with small, incessant tremors. Her limbs tightened. She might be docile for a vampire but her instinct to protect her mate still raged within her. She would not let Carlisle be harmed, even if the most she could ever do was interrupt the wolf's trajectory. Jasper sat beside Carlisle, his muscles coiled too.
But their worry was for naught. As angry as Jacob might be, he was a well intentioned child. He wouldn't harm one of them.
Instead, the boy took in a few deep breaths and rephrased his question into a single word, "Why?"
Carlisle accepted the question. He glanced briefly in their direction, throwing a reassuring smile to their granddaughter before he started addressing his children's concerns.
"Alice and Edward will watch the school for a week to rule out any possible supernatural being's presence before we get her admitted there. Assess the place for any complication just as we assess any new town we move to. Beyond that, keep a general watch on the town. Renesmee might not appear in Alice's visions but others of our kind will," Carlisle told the room at large, answering Alice's question.
He took a brief pause before he moved on to Jasper's. "Renesmee is a strong, young woman now. She is physically stronger and faster than any human she will meet in the school. And if anything does aggrieve her, we are all just a call away."
The patriarch of her family once again gave people enough time to raise a rebuttal if they had any. When none came, Carlisle continued.
"I know not all of us like it." He looked at Emmett before his eyes went to Rosalie and then to Edward. At last, he turned to Jacob. "But we must understand this is what is best for her."
"How?" Jacob snapped. "How is throwing her into the human life's equivalent of hell, all by herself, best for her? She hasn't ever gone without one of us around for that long. Her first venture into the human world would be high school?"
Esme pressed her lips into a thin line as a giggle threatened to escape through. Jacob's words were comically similar to Rosalie's and the fact was not lost on her irate daughter. Carlisle, bless his heart, was more gracious than Esme and he kept his amused eyes carefully peeled away from Rosalie.
When he spoke next, Carlisle said it for the benefit of the entire family. "High school is tedious for all of you, I understand that. After graduating so many times, I know it has turned into naught but a redundant pretense. A cover for our family and our lifestyle. But that is not so for Renesmee. This is her first venture out of the sheltered life she has led so far. It is not right of us to deny her the experiences of 'firsts.' High school. College. These things change humans. It may not affect us, but these things are crucial for Renesmee to experience for the first time in an unhindered manner so that she may develop her skills and experiences. Charlie and some of the Quileutes are the only humans she has ever interacted with. It is time she goes out, makes friends, and speaks to young men and women her age. Friendships, love, heartbreaks, rivalry, petty fights, all of these build character. We must allow Renesmee to experience it all so that she may develop into her own person instead of molding her into something we want her to be."
Jacob had been shaking his head halfway through Carlisle's statement and his vehemence only increased once he was done speaking.
Esme looked on curiously, wondering what possible rebuttal Jacob could have. The boy struggled only for a second. "Have you even asked her what she wants?" His voice was once again loud.
Renesmee froze up beside her. Esme tightened her arm around her in reassurance.
Then she looked at her husband. He still sat in his seat, in the middle of the living room. With the entire family present around him. But that was not what she saw. She wondered what he would look like with tattoos. All over his arms and chest. The way she saw one of the boys on Renesmee's…Instagram page. Her pious, kind-hearted husband, bare-chested and tattooed. With perhaps a black leather jacket and a bike. Maybe a cigarette between his lips. She considered Carlisle with piercings and then discarded the thought just as quickly. No, not piercing. It was not difficult for Esme to place the Instagram boy's sultry, cocky expression on her husband's face. She had seen it contorted in so many expressions of desire, seduction and pleasure, it was not difficult at all.
All eyes in the room were on Renesmee but it was not she who answered.
"She asked Carlisle and Esme for this," Edward's voice was laced with disbelief.
Esme's gaze immediately snapped to him. He looked surprised but not angry as he gazed at his daughter. Perhaps a little sad too. Then her son looked at her. "Seriously Esme? That? You know Carlisle was reciting the bible in his head to keep me out."
His exasperated look made her chuckle. After almost ninety years with her son, Esme was long past apologizing for her wayward thoughts. She turned to her granddaughter who clung to her so hard, she would have opened up her side and burrowed her head inside if she could.
"It's going to be okay," Esme promised her, her faith in Carlisle steady. He would handle the uproar that just erupted.
As Jacob and Rosalie got into an angry shouting match, Esme paid only half attention to what was going on. Instead she scooted a little to the side, pulling Renesmee with her. Edward untangled himself from the discussion and climbed up the stairs to sit on his daughter's other side.
"You know, if you really wanted this, you could have come to us," Edward whispered, brushing tiny bits of hair back from her forehead.
Renesmee smiled up at him through pressed lips. "It was easier to convince Papa Carlisle. And he can talk to the others better than you could."
Esme once again, held in a giggle as Edward looked down at his angry family and gave a mock shudder. "That, I certainly will agree with."
There was a time when arguments like these would distress her. But with the frequency with which Rosalie and Edward butted heads in their early days, she grew to accept that disagreements were a part of being a family.
"Carlisle was thinking about it since before you went to him," Edward sighed. "And he is right. You should get to experience your firsts without us hovering over you."
His words warmed Esme's heart. Her son had grown so much as a man and a father, it was wonderful to see. She made a mental note to thank Bella. Her newest daughter's strong will was the reason he was now a better man.
Edward lightly nudged her and Esme swatted his fingers away. "You know it's true," she said and Edward had to give a conceding smile.
People could grumble all they want but it would turn out wonderfully. And if not, Alice would see it coming.