Chapter 43 - Jared

The morning after the bonfire, I woke up to Bella already gone. I knew that I would be, she had planned to go over to Old Quil's and talk to him about communing with the spirits. She had mentioned while we were gone that she wanted to talk more with Ephraim and Levi. I thought it was a little strange that she wanted to commune with the spirits but then again this is Bella we're talking about, she's extremely good with weird.

After getting up and dressed, I headed up to Forks so that I could talk to Charlie. I had something that I wanted to do, but I was worried about what his reaction would be.

When I pulled into Charlie's driveway, he was outside cutting the grass. I climbed out of the car and made my way over to him. He cut the mower off. "Why didn't you call me? Me or one of the guys could've come up and done that for you." I said approaching him.

Charlie shrugged. "Didn't want to be a burden." He said. "How was the trip?"

I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my shorts. "It was good. She definitely needed it. She seemed more relaxed by the time we came home." I told him.

"That's good. I take it, this isn't a social visit?" Charlie asked me.

I shook my head. "Yes and no. I was hoping that we could sit down and talk. About the future." I said.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at me. "The future, huh?" He asked and I nodded. "Well, why don't we go inside? I think that Sue left some Sweet Tea in the fridge." He said, leading me towards the house.

Once we made it inside, we went into the kitchen and Charlie poured each of us a cup of tea before we sat at the kitchen table. "So, how'd it go with Renee? I heard she flew in yesterday and paid you guys a visit."

"It was definitely interesting. Bella was stressed out by the time she left. I had to leave my patrol early because Renee was determined that she wasn't leaving until she met me. So in exchange, Bella has to make Paul 3 dozen cookies in exchange for him taking the rest of my patrol yesterday." I told Charlie.

He nodded. "Renee is…well she's definitely unique." Charlie said. We sat there for a few minutes before Charlie spoke again. "So, the future?" Charlie asked me.

I nodded. "I know that Bella and I haven't been together long, but I've been thinking about the future. I want to marry Bella. I want to start working towards building a family with her. Sir." I said.

Charlie leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over his face. "You don't think that all of this is happening a little fast? I mean, I understand that the Imprint speeds things up but you guys haven't been living together that long. Why don't you guys just give it a little bit of time?" Charlie asked me.

I leaned back in my chair. "Charlie, can I be honest?" I asked and Charlie nodded. "Bella and I have talked about the future. I've made feelings clear about what I want in the future and so has Bella. Yes, the Imprint tends to speed things up but it doesn't create feelings that aren't there. If I could've married Bella the day I Imprinted on her I would have." I said. "I know that to outsiders it will definitely look like we're moving fast or that Bella's pregnant, and that people will assume as such…but I promise you that is not the case. I want to marry her because I love her. She's the only person that I will ever marry. She's it for me and I'm it for her." I said.

Charlie sat there and stared at me for a minute before he said, "Wait here." before he stood up and went upstairs. When he came back, he handed me a ring box and sat back down. "Then I guess it's a good thing I took that ring to the jewelers to get it clean." I looked at him confused. "This was my mother's ring. When she died, she left the ring to Bella. It was her dying wish that this ring be given to the guy that would propose to her." Charlie said and I had to fight back tears. "I had a feeling that we'd be having this conversation sooner rather than later."

I stared at Charlie for a minute before I came back to reality. "Thank you Charlie. You don't know how much this means to me. I know that it will mean a lot to Bella." I said.

"As long as she's taken care and she's happy…that's all I care about." Charlie said.

The only thing I could do was nod.

On the drive back to La Push, I thought about how I was going to plan the perfect proposal.