Story time over, Bella sensed the others wanting to ask more questions or talk over her revelations amongst themselves. She reluctantly pulled away from Paul and stood. He watched her suspiciously as she walked over to Billy and Charlie.
Others began moving around, slowly falling into their usual routine. Some of the younger wolves descended on the many packages of hotdogs and marshmallows, shoving them onto long wooden-handled metal roasting skewer prongs before sticking them into the fire.
"Zack. Devon. Taylor… hurry, eat, and get on patrol," Seth hollered. Bella watched as two younger wolves looked up at Seth and nodded.
"What the hell," Devon grumbled. "I'm supposed to be off tonight."
Seth laughed and teased, "Yeah, well, since you've got nothing better to do than pick on women and kids, I figured you might need something else to keep you busy."
Devon laughed and shook his head as he pulled his blackened hotdogs from the fire.
Bella said, "Wow, Seth. The younger ones don't even argue with you, do they?"
Grinning, he teased, "Nah. They know better. Watch this." In a deep, commanding tone, Seth growled, "Brady. Sit!"
Brady instantly obeyed, letting go of the skewer he was holding and dropping straight to the ground on his ass beside the fire with an 'oomph!'
Laughing, Seth looked at Bella and asked, "See?"
Brady laughed, leaning away from the heat of the fire, and yelled, "Dick. You trashed my dogs."
Giggling, Bella shook her head at them as Seth said, "Nah, you Pups like a little dirt on your food. Get up." Chuckling, Brady stood and tried to rescue his hotdogs from the fire.
Bella turned to look at her husband, expecting to find him laughing at their antics. Instead, he was leaning back, bracing himself with his hands behind him, and staring at her. He appeared almost shy as he smiled and dropped his gaze before turning to watch the others.
Bella's heart skipped a beat as she looked him over, appreciating the view for countless reasons. His face was half-hidden behind his hair, but the firelight made the warm skin of his neck and shoulders almost glow. Paul's abdomen, always a fascination for her, pulled her attention to his low-sitting blue jean cutoffs. Bella's eyes swept over his groin and thighs as she recalled how he'd appeared in her dream, and she subconsciously licked her lips.
Realizing how blatantly she was ogling him (again), she finally forced herself to look away.
From beside her, Seth whispered, " Friends, huh?"
Bella rolled her eyes and whispered, "Not you, too, little brother. I'm about to cancel my family membership."
He cackled and slung his arm around her shoulder, guiding her to turn toward Billy and Charlie, who appeared to be packing up to leave.
"Are you guys heading home?"
Charlie glanced toward her but stayed silent as he continued folding the blanket he and Sue were sitting on. Meanwhile, Billy reached for Bella's hand and squeezed it.
"Bella… Thank you for coming. Thank you for talking to the wolves, too. I hope you won't mind that we recorded the stories for Emily. She's still working on records for the Pack, ensuring they're correct for the later gen…" Billy let go of her hand to cover his mouth with his forearm, leaned forward, and coughed repeatedly for a few seconds. His face reddened, and Charlie leaned over to rub his back. Billy sighed as the coughing finally ceased and sat back.
Bella waited for him to catch his breath before teasing, "I don't mind, Billy. That just means I don't have to answer those questions ever again. I'm fine with that."
"Well, I hope that doesn't mean you'll disappear on us again," he said. "We'd sure miss you."
Bella jumped as Jacob spoke behind her. "I'm sure that Dad would love for you to make that famous lasagna before you go."
She laughed as she turned to face him. "You would, you mean."
He grinned, and it almost felt like déjà vu as his familiar sunshine smile seemed to warm her from the inside out. Bella surged toward him, winding her arms around his waist to hug him tight. Jacob leaned down to hug her back. They stayed the way for a moment, appreciating the other's presence.
Her cheek buried against his chest, Bella asked, "Does Sanna like Lasagna?"
Jacob laughed, and the rumble reverberated through her entire form, making her shiver as she grinned. Bella hadn't felt that sensation in ten years, and it bothered her, realizing she had genuinely forgotten how it felt.
"Seriously. I can't cook from my hotel room, but if you really want it…"
Billy laughed and offered, "We have a kitchen."
Finally pulling away from Jacob, Bella nodded. "Well…I still know my way around one, but I might be a little rusty with the lasagna. I don't make it often since I only have to feed myself or Jack."
Charlie scoffed, and Bella glanced toward him suspiciously. Something she'd revealed obviously bothered him, but he was acting as though he was mad at her.
She asked, "What? What's going on with you?"
As Charlie lifted his cooler, he said, "I need a little time to digest all of this shit, Bells. I'm not mad at you, but…" He shook his head. "It's a lot of shit to take in. You could have fucking come to me, you know? At any point in time, you could have told me what the fuck was going on."
Bella tried to control her tone as she argued, "And you know why I couldn't."
Lowering his voice, he said, "You could have. You just… didn't. I'm your father, Bells. I don't give a damn about any prissy-ass Italian vampire fucking royalty. You could have come home!" He turned and stomped away, heading toward the parking lot.
Bella sighed as she blinked away frustrated tears, hurt by his anger and lack of understanding. She'd expected some of the pack to be upset with her. But not Charlie. Billy glanced between them sadly, watching Charlie disappear into the dark.
"Just give him a day or two, Bella," Sue said, wrapping her arm around Bella's waist.
Bella turned into her Stepmother's embrace and hugged her tight. "Yeah. He gave me ten years. I think the least I can do is give him a few days."
"Why don't we have our family and the Blacks all come to our house on Sunday? Hmm? I'll help you cook, and we can all have dinner together. Maybe that'll help Charlie calm his tits."
Bells snorted at the unexpected choice of words. "Calm his tits?"
Sue grinned. "Yeah. Leah said it frequently for a while, and I usually just say it to embarrass her. You know, because I'm old. It's become a bad habit."
Bella laughed as she stepped back to look Sue over. She winked at her and teased, "You don't look a day over thirty-five to me. We're practically the same age. Did Carlisle give you some kind of vampire youth tonic or something? Are you keeping secrets, too?"
Sue pulled Bella into another hug and patted her cheek. "Bless you, child. I knew I liked you."
From the other side of the fire, Leah yelled, "Quit flirting with my mom, Swan!" Seth started cackling again and waved at them as he walked away from the conversation.
Once he was out of earshot, Sue kissed Bella's cheek and whispered, "Thank you for what you did for us, Bella. All of us. I haven't said a word, not even to Billy."
Bella eyed her stepmother curiously as she pulled away. What was she talking about? "I don't understand."
Sue glanced toward Billy and pulled Bella a few feet away before whispering, "The donation you made. It was a great deal of money, Bella. You know the council determines housing for the pack. Many needed repairing. We fixed those and built apartments for those who live alone, like Devon, Zack, Brady, and Embry."
"That's amazing," Bella said, grinning. Helping the pack had always been her intention with the donation. "But how did you know it was me? It was supposed to be anonymous." Not to mention having forgotten about it, tucking it away with the rest of her repressed memories.
"And it was until right now," she said and laughed. "I assumed it was you because of the timing. Either that or a guilt donation from the Cullens."
"Argh," Bella grumbled, but she couldn't help but grin. Had her donation been responsible for repairs to Paul's roof and siding? Did Billy's house have a permanent wheelchair ramp and the handicap updates it desperately needed? She hoped so.
Whispering again, Sue said, "I won't tell. Your secret is safe with me."
"Thank you."
Bella had wanted the donation to remain anonymous. Mainly because she thought they'd refuse it. It was leech money, after all. The sad thing was that the donation had barely dented the massive 'Sorry We Almost Killed You Again' fund. She'd earned more than that back in interest within a few years. A larger donation would have been too obvious, especially with the coven's departure from the area.
She asked, "Would the council accept another one before I leave? Or a trust of some sort to access when needed?"
Sue's mouth dropped open in surprise. She whispered, "Bella… Do you make that kind of money?"
"No." Bella chuckled. "But I live off my income like normal people, Sue. I didn't want Edward's money, and I never did. I've given so much of it away, enough to lower my tax bracket twice… but we'll just say that I also made a few well-chosen investments. Seems a shame to waste it when there are over a dozen wolves to house, clothe, and feed. A trust could come in handy if more phase later. Maybe we can set aside some funds for the schools and childcare? Lots of kids around here these days."
Sue chuckled in disbelief and shook her head. "I… will discuss it with the Council, Bella. I can't just make those decisions on my own. We'd have to hire legal counsel to put everything in place."
Bella said, "My best friend and neighbor is a paralegal, and I have his boss on retainer. If the tribe needs representation specializing in tribal issues, I'd be more than willing to pay for that."
Sue reached for Bella's hand and squeezed it. "Bella, that's an incredible offer, but… it's just so much. Honey, you don't owe us anything like that."
"Don't I?"
Bella glanced around the space, taking in the many pack members as they joked and talked together. These men had all nearly died for her once. Even if they had made her feel unwanted, they would forever be special to her. That's why their rejection had hurt so much. They thought she'd abandoned them, and she had certainly tried to in her mind. However, the wall she'd built had only stored her memories more effectively. As more of those memories resurfaced, the weaker her facade became.
Eventually, she turned her eyes on her husband, who carefully rotated marshmallows in the fire while bantering with Quil and Sam. Paul glanced toward Bella and held her stare for a moment. He winked at her before laughing and nodding at something Sam said before looking away.
When Jacob and Seth walked over to help carry Billy to the parking lot, Bella rushed to hug Sue and Billy goodbye. She could hear Sue explaining her idea for a family dinner at her and Charlie's house on Sunday as they walked away.
Bella searched Sam's beer cooler for the rest of her Merlot before returning to her prior seat on the quilt she'd shared with Paul during story time. Instead of reusing another glass, Bella drank straight from the bottle and grinned as Leah plopped beside her, laughing.
Leah handed Bella a hotdog. "Here. Before those fools eat everything. You barely ate earlier."
"I ate plenty. I was just nervous about the impending storytime." Despite that, she took a large bite from her hotdog, and Leah laughed as she snatched the bottle of wine from Bella's hand. Bella laughed when Leah took a long swig and handed it back.
Bella washed down her bite with another drink and sighed. "That's an oddly tasty combination."
"I thought so, too." Leah snickered. "A little less bougie, but…"
"Oh, shut it," Bella teased before taking another bite.
They sat in silence as they ate, watching the others as they shared the last of the wine. Eventually, Quil and Embry gave Leah shit, and the she-wolf hopped up to join in their antics, appearing every bit the rowdy pack mates Bella had once left behind.
