Page 25 (1/2)

Tm so sorry, Seth I should have been closer"

Edas still apologizing, and I didn’t think that was either fair or appropriate After all, Edward hadn’t completely and inexcusably lost control of his temper Edward hadn’t tried to rip Jacob’s head off - Jacob, ouldn’t even phase to protect himself - and then accidentally broken Seth’s shoulder and collarbone when he jumped in between Edward hadn’t almost killed his best friend

Not that the best friend didn’t have a few things to answer for, but, obviously, nothing Jacob had done could have ated ? I tried again

"Seth, I - "

"Don’t worry about it, Bella, I’m totally fine," Seth said at the sa you You’re doing so well"

They hadn’t let me finish a sentence yet

It onlythe smile off his face I knew that Jacob didn’t deservesatisfying in it Maybe he was just wishing that he had the excuse of being a newborn so that he could do so physical about his irritation with Jacob, too

I tried to erase the anger fro that Jacob was outside with Renes her safe from me, the crazed newborn

Carlisle secured another piece of the brace to Seth’s ar I’d never get a fully articulated apology out

"Don’t freak, Bella," Seth said, patting ood hand while Edward rubbed my arm fro me sit beside him on the sofa as Carlisle treated him "I’ll be back to nor my knee as if oblivious to the cold, hard texture of it "Anyone would have done the same, ith Jake and Ness - " He broke off ed the subject quickly "IThat would’ve sucked"

I buried ht, at the very real possibility It could have happened so easily And olves didn’t react to vampire venom the same way humans did, they’d told me only now It was poison to them

"I’m a bad person"

"Of course you aren’t I should have - ," Edward started

"Stop that," I sighed I didn’t want hi on hi Ness - Renesmee’s not venomous," Seth said after a second of aard silence ’"Cause she bites Jake all the time"

My hands dropped "She does?"

"Sure Whenever he and Rose don’t get dinner in her h Rose thinks it’s pretty hilarious"

I stared at hiuilty, because I had to admit that this pleased me a teensy bit in a petulant way

Of course, I already knew that Renesmee wasn’t venomous I was the first person she’d bitten I didn’tmemory loss on those recent events

"Well, Seth," Carlisle said, straightening up and stepping away from us "I think that’s as uess" Carlisle chuckled "I wish treating hu" He rested his hand for a moment on Seth’s black hair "Stay still," he ordered, and then he disappeared upstairs I heard his office door close, and I wondered if they’d already ree sitting still for a while," Seth agreed after Carlisle was already gone, and then he yawned hugely Carefully, ainst the sofa’s back and closed his eyes Seconds later, his mouth fell slack

I frowned at his peaceful face for anotherasleep at will Knowing I wouldn’t be able to apologize again for a while, I got up; the htest Everything physical was so easy But the rest

Edward followedalong the river, stopping every now and then to look at the house It was easy to tell when she was looking for her brother and when she was looking for lares

I could hear Jacob and Rosalie outside on the front steps bickering quietly over whose turn it was to feed Renesonistic as ever; the only thing they agreed on noas that I should be kept away from my baby until I was one hundred percent recovered from my temper tantruo I wanted to be sure, too I orried, though, that my one hundred percent sure and their one hundred percent sure , Seth’s slow breathing, and Leah’s annoyed panting, it was very quiet E Jasper had stayed behind to watchnot to be obnoxious about it

I took advantage of the cals Edward and Seth had told me while Carlisle splinted Seth’s ar, and this was the first real chance to catch up

Thewas the end of the feud with Sam’s pack - which hy the others felt safe to coer than ever Or ined

Binding, because the most absolute of all the pack’s laas that no wolf ever kill the object of another wolfs i would be intolerable for the whole pack The fault, whether intended or accidental, could not be forgiven; the wolves involved would fight to the death - there was no other option It had happened long ago, Seth told me, but only accidentally No ould ever intentionally destroy a brother that way

So Renesmee was untouchable because of the way Jacob now felt about her I tried to concentrate on the relief of this fact rather than the chagrin, but it wasn’t easy My h room to feel both eetas the rightful Alpha - had allowed it It rankled to realize over and over again how much I owed Jacob when I just wanted to be hts in order to controlphenoh the silence between the separate packs continued, Jacob and Sam had discovered that Alphas could speak to each other while in their wolf form It wasn’t the saht the way they had prior to the split It wasaloud, Seth had said Sahts Jacob wanted to share, and vice versa They found they could co to each other again

They hadn’t found all this out until Jacob had gone alone - over Seth’s and Leah’s objections - to explain to Sam about Renesmee; it was the only ti eyes on her

Once Saed, he’d come back with Jacob to talk to Carlisle They’d spoken in human form (Edward had refused to leave my side to translate), and the treaty had been renewed The friendly feeling of the relationship, however,worry down

But there was another that, though not as physically dangerous as an angry wolf pack, still seeent to , but that hadn’t kept hio while Carlisle treated Seth Carlisle and Edward had let the phone ring

What would be the right thing to tell hi him that I’d died the best, the kindest way? Would I be able to lie still in a coffin while he and ht to er of the Volturi’s obsession with secrecy was clearly out of the question

There was still my idea - let Charlie seeassumptions Technically, the vampire rules would remain unbroken Wouldn’t it be better for Charlie if he knew that I was alive - sort of - and happy? Even if I was strange and different and probably frighteningtohiht no long before my self-control and my eye color were ready for Charlie?

"What’s thetension "No one is angry with you" - alow snarl fronored it - "or even surprised, really Well, I suppose we are surprised Surprised that you were able to snap out of it so quickly You did well Better than anyone expects of you"

While he was speaking, the roo slipped into a low snore Ifelt etabout Charlie, actually"

Out front, the bickering cut off

"Ah," Jasper murmured

"We really have to leave, don’t we?" I asked "For a while, at the very least Pretend we’re in Atlanta or soaze locked on my face, but I looked at Jasper He was the one who answered rave tone

"Yes It’s the only way to protect your father"

I brooded for ato miss hiht, despitewas both vanished and defined - and I was vastly relieved that it was - he was still my friend Someone who knew the real ht about what Jacob had said, pleading with ed in each other’s lives, right? That ere family You said that was how you and I were supposed to be So noe are It’s what you wanted

But it didn’t feel like how I’d wanted it Not exactly I remembered further back, to the fuzzy, weak memories of my human life Back to the very hardest part to remember - the time without Edward, a time so dark I’d tried to bury it in ht; I only re that Jacob were my brother so that we could love each other without any confusion or pain Fahter into the equation

I remembered a little later - one of thealoud who he would end up with, ould ht after what I’d done to it I had said soood enough for hily I just shook ht er probleone a whole day without seeing the objects of their fixations, Emily, Kim, and Claire? Could they? What would the separation from Renesmee do to Jacob? Would it cause hih petty ire in lad, not for his pain, but for the idea of having Renes her belong to Jacob when she only barely see to me?

The sound of hts I heard theh the door At exactly the same time, Carlisle cas - atape, a scale Jasper darted to nal I’d h the ith an expression like she was expecting so

"Must be six," Edward said

"So?" I asked, my eyes locked on Rosalie, Jacob, and Renesmee They stood in the doorway, Renesmee in Rosalie’s arms Rose looked wary Jacob looked troubled Renesmee looked beautiful and impatient

"Time to measure Ness - er, Renesmee," Carlisle explained

"Oh You do this every day?"

"Four times a day," Carlisle corrected absently as he ht I saw Renesrowing quickly," Edward murmured to me, his voice quiet and strained He squeezed my hand, and his other arm wrapped securely around my waist, almost as if he needed the support

I couldn’t take my eyes off Renesmee to check his expression

She looked perfect, absolutely healthy Her skin glowed like backlit alabaster; the color in her cheeks was rose petals against it There couldn’t be anything wrong with such radiant beauty Surely there could be nothing erous in her life than her mother Could there?

The difference between the child I’d given birth to and the one I’d o would have been obvious to anyone The difference between Reneso and Renesmee noas subtler Human eyes never would have detected it But it was there

Her body was slightly longer Just a little bit slimmer Her face wasn’t quite as round; it wasa sixteenth of an inch lower down her shoulders She stretched out helpfully in Rosalie’s arth of her and then used it to circle her head He took no notes; perfect recall

I are that Jacob’s arhtly over his chest as Edward’s arether into one line over his deep-set eyes

She had le cell to a normal-sized baby in the course of a feeeks She looked well on her way to being a toddler just days after her birth If this rate of growth held

My vampire mind had no trouble with the math

"What do we do?" I whispered, horrified

Edward’s ar "I don’t know"

"It’s slowing," Jacob h his teeth

"We’ll need several more days of measurements to track the trend, Jacob I can’t reo inches Today it’s less"

"By a thirty-second of an inch, if my measurements are perfect," Carlisle said quietly

"Be perfect, Doc," Jacob said,Rosalie stiffened

"You know I’ll do hed "Guess that’s all I can ask"

I felt irritated again, like Jacob was stealing

Renesmee seemed irritated, too She started to squirm and then reached her hand imperiously toward Rosalie Rosalie leaned forward so that Reneshed

"What does she want?" Jacob deain