CHAPTER THREE

NEWS

I pulled myself out of his embrace, and distancing myself slightly, I stared at his now blank and yet somewhat puzzled expression; “what did Alice see!?” I asked again.

He turned his head away from me slightly; probably struggling with whatever the news was he was trying to keep to himself. I waited, staring at his perfectly sculpted marble profile, trying to read something from his still and statue form.

“She saw Renesmee – “ he said in a detached tone, pausing for a moment. My eyes stayed fixed on him as the anxiety began to flood through as my brain instantly kicked into action at the slightest thought of Renessme in danger; I wondered what danger she could face. Did Alice see that she blows her cover at school? Will the Vultori come for her as a result?

“With someone else.” Edward continued, causing a sudden jolt to my whrilwinding thoughts. It wasn’t what I’d expected to hear; how could this be? Jacob had imprinted on her! I didn’t know how I should feel. Angry? Happy? The thought of Jacob being with Renesmee made me angry, but I had accepted that it was their destiny. This just threw everything into confusion. I was speechless. I looked over at Edward, he was still lifeless.

“Edward!?” I managed to force the words out. “What does this mean? Is this even possible?”

A flicker of life entered his face. “Alice had the vision this morning, but we can’t make sense of it, he’s not someone we know,” he murmured. It was the not-knowing that was causing him frustration, Jacob’s imprinting seemed so real, so sure and destined to be.

“Bella – “ he came over to me, grabbing me by the shoulders and looking into my eyes, I was obviously the statue now, “everything is going to be ok; no-one is going to let anything happen to her.” His voice was soothing, but the soothing only masked my feelings. He kissed my forehead.

“But Jacob imprinted – “ I began.

“I know – I don’t understand either. I don’t know what it means, but we can’t be worrying about it, not at least until we know who he is. Renessmee is basically one-of-a-kind, so we can’t determine what will and will not affect her. Perhaps Jacobs imprinting doesn’t necessarily effect her in the way it would for others.” His tone was reassuring.

“I guess your right” I sighed. I lent into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. I still didn’t like the uncertainty that Alice’s vision brought.

“We can’t know everything every step of the way,” he murmured.
I hated that thought of not-knowing, but he was right. We figured out why Renessmee was growing up so fast extremely early six years ago, and life had been so blissful, so ordinary and mundane from then on. Even now it was the same, the only change was our thoughts; the fact that we had to move on meant uncertainty entered our lives for the first time in six years.

I felt his arms loosen slightly and his body shift, and before I knew what was happening I could feel his soft warm lips against my neck. This sent instant warm, electric shocks all throughout my body, almost evaporating my feelings about what Alice had seen. I felt him move up my neck, then I turned my head towards his to kiss him.
He kissed me once, then broke away and laughed, “I really do know how to distract you don’t I.” He was grinning at me, but I didn’t understand why. He chuckled to himself, “Nessie and Jacob are almost home, can’t you hear them?”

I quickly focused on this, “you really do distract me!” I said, amazed at the effect he had over me.

“Lets just relax for now. We know for certain that we will be leaving forks soon, and that we need to talk to Jacob about his options first.”

“When should we do that!?” I asked.

“Tonight” he said. “We’ll get him to come back when Nessie’s asleep, which won’t be long as its late.”

“Okay,” I said. I was anxious again, but not because of what Alice had seen, it was because I knew we couldn’t tell Jacob about it, and I knew I might have to see him get hurt later on. I hated the way I had hurt him before Renessme was born, and hated to think how much worse it would be if Renessme hurt him too.

I felt his arms wrap around my waist again, he kissed my forehead “relax, we’re in this together. One step at a time.”

I looked into his eyes, they were warm with the love he felt for me; “I love you,” I said. He kissed me again, but not for long as the door opened. Renessmee was home.

“Hey guys,” her voice was bright and colourful, and I couldn’t help but smile because of it. She had obviously had a great time with Jacob. Edward and I walked into the entryway to meet them.

“Did you both have fun?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Jacob said. “Nessie was teasing the guys though as she waisted her marshmallows by being so fascinated by watching them burn.” She had always enjoyed just observing things, and watching how certain forces could overrule each other, something simple as a marshmallow and flame.

Nessie poked her tongue at Jacob in a playful way, Jacob laughed.

“You must be tired with all your adventuring over the last few days,” Edward said, chuckling to himself.

“Yeah! I am” she replied. “I think I’ll go straight to sleep.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said, “we’ll go hunting together when you wake up.”

She smiled back at me, and said goodnight to us all.

“Thanks for taking me to the bonfire Jake,” she said, still in an enthusiastic tone, but I could tell she was tired.

“Your welcome Nessie,” Jacob grinned as he replied.

“Well, I’ll might see you guys tomorrow?” Jacob said to Edward and I.

“Jacob,” Edward said, as he started to turn out the door, “we have some news for Nessie, and we don’t know how she will take it. So, we will probably be spending the day with her alone as she will have lots of questions. It involves you too though,
so could we talk about it now?”

Edward had obviously figured that Nessie was to tired to notice that Jacob was still here.

“Ah, sure” he said, “what’s up?” His voice was suspicious; he had obviously guessed it was somewhat big news.

“Shall we sit down?” Edward gestured to our living room.

“I’m fine standing!” Jacob replied, in a cold, defensive tone. This was typical of Jacob, but I hadn’t seen this aspect of him for a while.

“Suite yourself,” Edward said. “Carlisle has been in Forks too long, people really will start to notice that he is not aging – us included.”

“So, what are you saying” Jacob asked.

“That we need to leave Forks.” There was a slight tone of sadness in Edward’s voice. He had really gotten comfortable since life had settled down for us. I grabbed his hand.

“And?” Jacob was getting impatient.

“You need to decide whether your going to come with us or not,” Edward said.

Jacob was quite. Trying to process Edward’s words.

“Jake” I said. “None of us want to leave either, but we have to.”

He didn’t look up, but I knew he was listening.

“Nessie needs to experience the real world,” Edward said. He must have been replying to what Jacob was thinking. Probably wondering why we just couldn’t hide in the woods.

“How long?” he asked.

“Carlisle says no longer than four months,” Edward said.

“Well what are you going to tell Charlie?” Jacobs question was directed at me, and it hit hard. I hadn’t even thought about Charlie. What would I tell him? Would I ever see him again? Whilst I felt sad about leaving Charlie, I also knew that it was inevitable.

Edward answered, “we will come back from time to time. We just can’t stay here on a permanent basis.”

“Where are you going to go” he asked.

“Carlisle is considering a few places, Canada looks like a possibility. But that’s not important right now. What is important is your decision” Edward said. “Will you come with us?”

Jacob was quite. “We can’t go to school with Nessie yet, she treats us too much as parents and could blow our cover,” Edward’s tone was clam and rational. “Besides, the pack is phasing a lot less than they use too. They are beginning to settle down to live their lives with their loved ones. Surely you can’t live an immortal life among them as they choose to grow old.”

Jacob’s face looked pained. He had probably never thought about his life this far ahead. “I guess your right,” he said, sounding somewhat defeated.

“It’ll be okay Jake,” I said. “We will be visiting Forks for Charlie all the time, you can see Billy then too; and we will have each other.”

Jacob looked up at me now, and smiled, “count me in!” There was a sadness to it, but I could tell he knew it was what needed to be done. This was our life now.

“We will keep you updated,” Edward said, in a serious tone. “But we have a lot to talk through with Nessie tomorrow, the very thought of this way of life is new to her.

Jacob nodded, “I’ll come by after tomorrow then.” He turned around and left the front door. I walked over to close it, catching a glimpse of his wolf form as he entered the thick of the forest. Just before the door reached its catch to close I felt it push back open again, I pulled it back open to see who it was, and Alice barged in.

“Alice!” I said, surprised that I hadn’t heard her come at all. “What are doing here?” I closed the door as she was in the room.

“We’re leaving by the end of the week!” she exclaimed.

Edward was silent, still as a statue again as he un-doubtfully read her thoughts.

“What!? Why?” I asked, in an unusually higher pitched toned as the shock began to hit me.

“Carlise heard a group of staff at his work discussing his age, and the way he looks” she said. “It was harmless, but it won’t be long before people dwell on it more.”

“What about Charlie?” I asked. I had know idea what to tell him, I was counting on having the next four months to figure that out with Edward. “Where will we be going?”

“Alaska” Alice said. “Seward to be precise, Carlise has an old place for us there.”

“Its too much of a risk,” Edward exclaimed. I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Edward!” I said anxiously. “What are you talking about?” I hated it when I felt like I was the last to know about things. Edward and Alice used their gifts to their advantage, so had a confusing way of communicating.

“Renessmee could blow our cover, it’s a small place” he said, glaring at Alice.

“Edward, she won’t!” Alice glared back.

“I was hoping that we would be somewhere with more of a population, a city where we could be more separated,” Edward said, softening his frustration slightly.

“Bella, its going to be fine,” Alice said. “Carlise thinks we need to be in a more secluded place, where people will be less suspicious, and besides, its one of the few places that actually had a job for him.”

“Fine!” Edward said. “But if something goes wrong –“

“It won’t!” Alice interrupted. Edward was probably worried that Nessie would blow our cover; that she wasn’t ready to act as an adopted child of Carlise and Esme Cullen that was believed by the residents of Forks. But if Alice felt that everything would be fine then I believed her.

“Rosealie, Emmet and Esme have left already. They are preparing the house, it hasn’t be used in over one hundred years,” Alice said. “I’ll see you both tomorrow night, once you’ve spoken to Nessie; and Jacob again.” She pranced out the door, leaving Edward and I standing in silence.

One week! It was such a short time. I looked over at Edward, standing still like one of Michel Angelo’s sculptures. He didn’t move a muscle as I walked over to him, “Edward, everything will be fine” I said. As I touched his face I felt him breath again. He pulled me into his arms and we just stood together like this for the rest of the night, lost in our own thoughts.

© Copyright to Jonathan Cameron 2010