CHAPTER EIGHT

WELCOME HOME


I lay quietly in Edwards’s wet arms as we sat in the bath together watching the sun being to creep over the horizon. We would be back on the road again soon, and in Seward by late afternoon.

“We might need to get a tub like this installed,” Edward said, as he stroked my arm.

“That would be cool,” I said, excitedly, and I turned around in his grip to kiss him.

“We really should get out of this tub though,” he said, “you might get wrinkly.”

I laughed at his joke; diamond skin doesn’t wrinkle. “I suppose your right, I said, “Alice really would miss us if we just stayed here forever.” I got out of the tub, and grabbed a towel to dry myself with.

We came out from our suite to find Nessie and Jacob eating breakfast on the patio that overlooked the city, and I realised that Edward and I would need to hunt when we got to Seward. The fire in the back of my throat began to burn more as I thought about hunting, but I was quickly distracted as Nessie waved to us though the glass. We walked out to them.

“Your lucky we’re in the Penthouse,” I said to Nessie when we reached the patio, “your shimmering ever so supernaturally.” She laughed. The sky was cloudless and the sun was up here.

“Argh!” Jacob moaned jokingly, as Edward and I sat down to join them, “you two are just blinding,” Nessie didn’t glimmer as much as she wasn’t fully vampire.

“Don’t forget that we all think you smell like a dog,” I replied, “and don’t say we smell bad to you! Majority rules.”

We all laughed. It was nice for the four of us to be able to relax together, and it was good to be able to be in the sunlight for once – I was convinced that the Vitamin D did something good for our bodies, but there was no convincing Edward of that, it hadn’t be proven he would say.

Once Nessie and Jacob were finished their breakfast we checked out of the Hotel and continued on our journey to our new home again. The car was waiting for us at the entrance where we had initially left it with the driver; and the entrance to the Hotel was sheltered from the sunlight, so we had no issues with our skin and the bright day. Despite our talkative start to the morning, in the car, we kept to ourselves for the most part of the journey. I was getting more and more anxious as we got closer to our destination, and I could sense that the others were feeling something similar as well.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, as Edward slowed the car down.

“We’re not far from Bear Creek now, we’ve been taking a back road so we won’t be seeing Seward city before we reach the house, but it means we can stop to hunt here first,” he said.

I was grateful of this as I could guarantee that Alice would be very excited by our arrival, which mean that we wouldn’t get to feed for an even longer time – and we were both getting rather thirsty. Edwards’s eyes were black, and the fire was in full heat in my throat.

Edward turned into a narrow gravel road, which led to a deserted opening – a car park I guessed.

“We shouldn’t come across anyone here,” Edward said, “no large game, but plenty of Elk which will do.”

We got out of the car and followed Edward into the surrounding forest.

“Lets meet back at the car in fifteen,” he said.

I followed Edward for a bit until I heard the beating hearts of a small group of Elk nearby. Nessie had followed Edward as well, but had dispersed earlier. She wouldn’t need to feed as much as Edward and I, as she had been sustaining herself with human food throughout the journey with Jacob. Jacob wouldn’t hunt, but he did come into the woods with us; he would have stayed back briefly as we ran off in order to phase – he seemed to enjoy having times where he could free-run in his wolf form.
I crouched low to the ground, and moved silently across the forest floor stopping behind a small bush as I could hear that the Elk were just beyond it. Their heartbeats were out of time with one another, but each Elk’s rhythm was normal, which meant that they hadn’t suspected any form of the lethal danger that I was about to store upon them. I closed my eyes and listened, visualising their positions; there were four of them, three directly in front of me, and the other one to my right. I edged back slightly, and letting my thirst for their blood overtake, leapt lightly with ease over the bush, killing the first three with a single blow and in another bound, snapped the neck of the fourth. Their blood was weak, but satisfied the burning to an extent. Larger prey would have been more satisfying, but considering my thirst, this was sufficient enough. When I was finished drinking I headed back towards the car, coming across another stray Elk, which I feed on too. Alice was waiting with Jacob and Nessie by car, and I could hear that Edward was almost at the clearing to the small deserted area as well.

“Alice!” I was surprised to see her, “how close are we?” I asked. She had obviously seen us coming.

“About fifteen minutes,” she chimed, “but you can run there in five. I’m so glad your all finally here, I can’t wait to show you around!” and at that, she came over and gave Edward and I a hug each; one that I’m sure would have cracked a rib if I were still human.

“Its good to see you too,” I said, not being entirely truthful; I wasn’t quite ready to face the undoubting enormity of what my wardrobe was going to be!

Alice sat between Jacob and Nessie as we drove to our new home, giving Edward directions, despite the fact that she knew he didn’t need them, out loud at least – he was practically a walking GPS system.

“And then it’s the first on your left,” she said, genuinely excited. At first I couldn’t see what she was talking about, then I noticed that there were faint tyre treads in the small amount of visible shingle for the main road that we were on. The driveway was heavily masked by the surrounding forest, the same way it was back in Forks, but more so.

“So where is Bear Creek?” I asked. Alice had said fifteen minutes, and we had only been driving for about ten. I was expecting to come across the odd house before we turned into a driveway, or at least for the forest to become less dense.

“We are right on the outskirts of it,” she said, still excited.

I noticed that the driveway was slowly opening up more as Edward increased his speed gradually. After a few minutes the narrow driveway presented what appeared to be a sharp bend. “Just around the corner,” Alice said in a slightly higher pitch. A wave of anxiety rushed through my body, we were so close now, and the surrounding bush was so dense that I couldn’t have even caught the slightest glimpse of the house. As we turned the corner however, I let out a soft gasp. The house was stunning. It was old, and looked full of history – a quality that I dearly loved about the small cottage that Edward and I were given. It was made of a combination of materials, rusty red weathered bricks, wooden panels and plaster; and parts of the house were covered in creeping vines. It looked authentic, and old – but simply spectacular at the same time. As we drew closer I could see the attention to preservation, as the skirtings looked freshly painted. The house was less submerged in the forest as the other in Forks was, with a lot more open land that surrounded it, including immaculately presented gardens and a large natural lagoon. I felt as if I was entering a wealthy estate in an old fashioned film – the house not only looked historical, but it was big, very big. I wondered how many rooms it had, considering it was an old boarding house.

We crossed the small brick bridge with the stream that connected to the lagoon, and parked at the front of the house. As I was getting out of the car I stopped as I noticed the tall, very dark, green double front doors – they were truly spectacular. “Welcome home,” Esme called out as she emerged from them. She ran over and gave each of us a hug.

“Its good to see you,” I said as she hugged me, “the house looks amazing!”

She smiled graciously, “thankyou Bella.”

“Stop being so modest!” Rosalie called to Esme, appearing from the front doors too now. “Wait till you see the before photos, this place was a mess!”

Esme just smiled, “come inside, let me take you on a tour.”
We followed Esme through the double doors, passing through a gorgeous entranceway. The interior trimmings were a dark red maple colour, and the tiles on the floor were rustic shades of grey, and by the looks of them, probably the originals. The walls were a light, textured grey wallpaper, that was modern but didn’t clash with the age of house. The entrance was about seven meters long before opening up to two hallways to our left and right, as well as another set of large double doors, in the red maple colour, directly in front of us; above us was a fantastic, dazzling chandelier that was at least two meters in diameter. I could have kept taking in the entryway, but Esme opened the other set of double doors, revealing a large, bright living room.

“This is the main living area,” she said, “but there are three more, which are substantial in size too.”

The first thing that I noticed was that like our house in Forks the walls facing out towards the back of the house had been almost completely removed and replaced with large panels of glass. The room seemed to blend in with the outside, and the view of the lake and extensive garden area was magnificent. The furniture, and walls were slightly more modern than the entranceway, a more obvious connection to what was new and what was authentic and original. I admired the magnificent old chandeliers as they contrasted with the modernity of the glass windows and off-white walls.

“Lets show them their rooms first,” Alice chimed excitedly.

Esme smiled, “okay.”

We followed Esme back out of the living area and took the left hallway. It led to a set of large stairs that seemed to curve around the wall, opening up to a small mezzanine floor that again contained a set of double doors.

“We thought that whilst we were all living in the same house, you guys should still continue to have your own place of sorts, so this wing is your,” Esme said, smiling her radiant, caring smile.

At this she opened the doors, which revealed the same glass panels as downstairs, but with a higher view of the outside area. The room was similar to the main living area, except that the walls were a deep cool grey colour, in a textured wallpaper, and it felt more homely as it wasn’t as large. The furniture wasn’t modern like downstairs either, apart from a television screen, it was old fashioned, but seemed to have been re-upholstered in a deeper shade of the grey.

“Wow,” I said, almost sheepishly. I had thought that our main house in Forks was flash, that Isle Esme was flash, but this place simply outdid the others. I was speechless.

Esme chuckled quietly and replied modestly, “I’ll show you and Edward your room, and Alice can show Jacob and Nessie theirs. Your all in the same wing.”

I felt Edward give me a gentle push as Esme moved. Our room was more like a honeymoon suite, but better than any honeymoon suite. Unlike our bedroom in the cottage at Forks, there was no bed. Instead, to our left, there was a re-upholstered, vintage cream loveseat that faced a shinny black grand piano in the corner of the room – which had two walls of glass facing out to the backyard. On the interior wall to our right, was a wooden bookshelf, and another door. I moved towards the door, then hesitated. “May I?” I asked Esme, softly as I was in a complete state of awe.

“Of course, she said. This is Edwards request.”

Edward's request? I wondered what she meant by this. I had assumed it would have been the extensively large wardrobe customised by Alice. I continued in curiosity though, and when I opened the door I was met with smooth, black shiny tiles, and a large white, contemporary square bath tube.

“Just like the hotel,” Edward said, making me jump slightly as he whispered in my ear. If I could create tears I would have been crying. I loved the previous night with Edward in the Hotel. It was so romantic siting in the water with him. The bath faced another wall of glass, which this time continued into the ceiling – we would be able to feel as if we were outside even more than when we were in the other rooms with glass walls, we could gaze at the starts all night. “The hotel was a taste,” Edward continued.

I turned around to face him, “its beautiful,” I said, feeling a sudden rush of love for him as I was still trying to process it all.

“Yeah, yeah,” Alice interrupted suddenly as she came in. “Thanks to Edward I’ve had to cut down on your wardrobe space.”

Edward and Esme laughed, and I turned around to look at the bathroom again. On the other side of it was a set of glass doors with a brightly lit white, walk-in wardrobe behind them. “Wow,” I said, feeling bad that I hadn’t noticed this before the bathtub.

“Well go check it out,” Edward said, slightly sarcastically. “You still can walk into it,” he was cheekily directing this at Alice, rather than me.

I walked in to the wardrobe and it was just as overwhelming as in our cottage. I pretended to be more interested, and excited as I continued to look around the wardrobe, but in my mind I was really only thinking about one thing – my bathroom, and sharing it with Edward.

“Thank you so much,” I said to Esme and Alice, giving each of them a hug; “you are both so talented.”

“There’s still more to see,” Alice said, grinning at me.

We followed Esme and Alice out of our bathroom to continue the tour of our new home. Edward grabbed my hand, and I squeezed it affectionately in return, and looking up at him, I mouthed the words, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he mouthed back.


© Copyright to Jonathan Cameron