Chapter 39 – Rosalie – A Second Chance.

"Rosalie? Come in." Dr Cullen held the door to his consulting room open and, leaving Emmett in the waiting room making faces at Jem to make him smile, I followed him in. "How are you?"

"Fine thank you," I answered automatically, adding more honestly, "Not bad. There have been some nightmares and tears, but I'm starting to feel better."

Dr Cullen nodded. "Of course. You've been through a traumatic experience." He gestured for me to sit down and then shone a lamp on my face so he could more closely examine the row of stitches. "It's been five days and these are ready to come out."

I winced and nodded, sitting braced for pain while Dr Cullen got his scissors and tweezers and began snipping and tugging out the stitches. "Ouch."

"What's happening with the case?" Dr Cullen inquired. "They've decided not to charge you?"

"Yes," I answered. "Everyone was satisfied that it was self-defence, once they took into account what I said and what you said. Plus, it was his knife and they found all those photographs of me that he'd slashed to ribbons. Ellen backed up your statements that he used to hurt me too. She was devastated over what had happened, she came to see me and apologised so many times for not doing anything…but there wasn't anything she could have done. There wasn't anything anyone could have done really, except maybe me. If I'd left earlier, or …"

"Even then, who knows what might have happened," Dr Cullen interrupted gently. "It's better not to get too wrapped up in what might have been, Rosalie."

"The police found something else though," I said with a shiver. "A box in the safe in Royce's study. Something I never had access to. It had things in there like an earring, and a bloodied handkerchief, a button and a hatpin. Little things like that. But they were all things that had belonged to girls who had been attacked. The handkerchief had initials on it and they were able to connect it to a girl who had been assaulted, and who had…she had died." I swallowed hard. "So it would seem Royce told me the truth when he said that he had hurt women and got away with it before."

"I'm very sorry," Dr Cullen said sincerely, still working carefully at removing the stitches.

"I can't believe I lived with a killer," I said, my voice shaking. "I can't believe how blind I was…how much I never knew."

"Nobody knew," Dr Cullen said gently. "You can't blame yourself for not knowing Rosalie, Royce was a skilled liar and went to great pains to hide his true self. You were very lucky to have been able to get away from him. And very, very lucky to get away with only the injuries you had at the end."

"I know," I said, once again suppressing a shiver at the thought of how closely I had brushed up against death.

"Royce's father wanted me charged," I said quietly.

"He did?"

"Yes. Until they found the evidence that linked Royce to that other girl's death and some attacks that have happened around town. He knew then that if they charged me and it went to trial I would plead self-defence and it would all come out in court and become public knowledge. He didn't like that idea. So he stopped pushing, and instead has just been leaning hard on all his newspaper contacts to keep the story as quiet as possible."

"That's probably for the best," Dr Cullen said.

"It is. People know what happened, but the details are sketchy and without more scandalous stories being dug up people will soon move on. I don't really care, since I'm going back to Tennessee with Emmett as soon as possible, but Father has to work in town and he and Mother have to live and socialise here…I'm sorry I've made it so difficult for them." I sighed wearily.

"People move on," Dr Cullen said. "Rumours and scandals come and go…even this will be forgotten in time." He tugged a final knot of silk from my cheek, and then began working on the stitches in my hands and arms.

I winced and looked away. Dr Cullen noticed my discomfort and said lightly, "Esme sends her love and hopes you're feeling better. She was very taken with baby Jem."

"Oh Jem…he makes friends wherever he goes," I said with a laugh. "He has my mother and father wrapped around his little finger and I'm going to have to hire a truck to take all the things they've bought him back to Tennessee."

Dr Cullen smiled. "You've made up your mind then? It's still Tennessee and Emmett?"

"Yes. Even being free of Royce, I don't feel like this is home anymore, and it was never home for Emmett. I belong wherever he is, and at least for right now, that's home with his family."

I didn't even hesitate with my answer. Whatever else there was, my belief in Emmett and knowledge that we belonged together was rock solid. Strong enough to sustain me through the nightmare days immediately following Royce's death while the police questioned and the threat of prison hung over my head, and strong enough to keep me going now, as other consequences began to make themselves known.

"When will you go back then?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "The police need to officially close the file on Royce's case before I can leave, and there are some legal matters with Royce's estate." I laughed mirthlessly. "Jem is his heir. I never thought about it, but he was so pleased when I was pregnant and so sure he was getting a son that he had a new will drawn up. There were provisions for me written in, but it was basically all left to his child and that's Jem."

"I would imagine that's a fairly substantial amount then," Dr Cullen observed.

"Very much so," I admitted, wincing slightly as more thread was picked out of my arm. "Most of it will be held in trust for him until he's twenty one, with my father and Mr King managing it for him, but it will be used to pay for any educational or other expenses before then…Jem isn't going to want for anything."

Dr Cullen pulled out the last blood-stained bit of thread from my skin and dropped it into the dish with all the others. "All done," he murmured, wiping my hand and arms with a stinging alcohol wash. "Continue to be careful with the lacerations. And don't fret about the scarring," he added, seeing my attention go almost immediately to the mirror. "They will start off red and raised, but in time they'll flatten and fade and become much less noticeable."

I stared at myself for a long moment. The scar on my face stood out, long and vivid red against the paleness of my skin. I thought how even a year ago I would have viewed this marring of my perfect beauty as a tragedy, but now I was able to look at it with much more equanimity. It was a scar, just a scar. Nothing compared to the scars Emmett bore from his bear attack, and nothing compared to the scars I bore inside from what Royce had finally forced me into doing.

"Thank you Dr Cullen," I said at last, and we went back out into the waiting room. Jem flapped his arms and I took him from Emmett, who reached across and shook Dr Cullen's hand.

"Thanks for looking after my girl, doc," he said cheerfully. He looked at me and traced a finger along the scar line. "You've got her looking just as beautiful as ever," he added softly, more to me than Dr Cullen.

I held his hand tight against my face for a moment. Sure, it was only a scar…but it helped to know that even then Emmett was happy to look past it.

"You're sure?" Emmett asked, yet again. "Because we can always wait…"

"No," I said impatiently. "I don't want to wait anymore. Mother and Father have finally agreed to come along…Mother will probably cry for all the wrong reasons, but I don't care. This is my choice this time, and I've chosen you. I want to start the rest of our lives right now."

Emmett grinned at me blissfully. "Then let's go get married, Rosa-girl."

I let him leave the room before me, and I paused at the mirror, brushing a stray tendril of hair back behind my ear. The scar was red and obvious, and just for a moment I wished it was gone. But then I remembered Royce's voice, taunting me about making me ugly, and I shook my head. I couldn't let the memories of what had happened with him rule my life. I couldn't let his darkness shadow the beautiful light of the life I was making with Emmett.

I paused for a moment, halfway down the stairs leading to the front hall. Mother was there, fussing over Jem in the baby carriage, and Emmett was standing a little awkwardly as my father talked to him. As I watched I saw my father reach into his pocket and withdraw a small box, handing it to Emmett.

"I don't suppose you've been able to get a ring," he said gruffly. "I thought you might want to use this…it was my mother's, you know, so it was always going to be Rosalie's in the end. I know she likes it."

Emmett blushed red, but took the jewellery box with a steady hand. "Thank you sir, I would. It means a lot that you'd give it to me to give to her today."

My father shrugged a little ungraciously. "Well, you're what my Princess wants!"

I laughed at that and they turned to look up at me, both men smiling at me.

"Thank you Father," I said sincerely, giving him a hug. "I've always loved Grandmother's ring, and like Emmett said, it's means a lot that you've given it to him to use today."

"If he makes you happy Princess, then that's what matters in the end," Father said with a sigh, and I kissed his cheek and turned to Emmett.

"Ready?"

"Absolutely." He beamed at me.

"Then let's go."

Vera was at the church with Henry, who looked absolutely enormous compared to Jem. Emmett's uncle Lachlan was also there, as well as Ellen. Much to my surprise Dr and Mrs Cullen had come too, with a younger man I recognised as Mrs Cullen's brother.

"Emmett invited us," Mrs Cullen said with a smile, giving me a hug and handing me a stunning bouquet of flowers.

"What's a wedding without guests?" Emmett said cheerfully, shaking Dr Cullen's hand and then sneaking a kiss behind my ear.

I laughed as my father came and took my arm, scowling threatening at Emmett as he did so. "Enough of that now!"

Emmett took no offence, but winked at me in a way that sent warmth flooding through me, and turned my cheeks pink with a kind of anxious anticipation. A wedding was only the beginning of a marriage, after all.

My father squeezed my arm. "I hope it all works out for you, honey."

"I think it will," I said confidently. "I know Emmett, I've seen him in all kinds of situations and I know how he reacts to thing. This is going to be a good thing Father. I know you and Mother don't exactly approve…"

"It's not so much that we don't approve," Father began, "I will say he seems like a good man- he treats you like a lady and he's ga-ga over that baby! But Princess, he doesn't have any money and he's a bit rough around the edges." Father looked pained.

I giggled. "But that doesn't matter Father, not really. Emmett has a heart of gold and he's going to get work and make a living. Until then we've got his family's help and we'll manage."

"Yes, yes," Father sighed. "Anyway, we might be able to do something about that. As trustee of Jem's money I can release it to provide for his needs, and I don't think his other grandfather is all that keen on him growing up in poverty either. Might be that I'll sit down with Emmett and have a good talk about setting him up in business so that he can see to Jem. So we'll see."

I rolled my eyes a little. Growing up in poverty, at least the kind of poverty of Emmett's family, wasn't the worst thing in the world. All the same, it lifted my spirits even more to think of the possibilities that the future held and I briefly hugged my father tightly.

I had expected my wedding to Emmett to be quiet and almost businesslike, in stark contrast to the lavish affair that had marked my marriage to Royce. Certainly it was tiny in terms of guests. But everyone there was smiling at us and genuinely wishing us well, even my parents, and when we were wed and turned to walk down the aisle I was surprised and touched to have Edward, Mrs Cullen's brother, play us out with some beautiful music on the organ. I gave him a bright and grateful smile and he grinned and nodded in return.

There was no reception or party, and there would be no honeymoon. Instead Emmett and I went back to my parents' house and ate dinner, and then retired to my childhood bedroom with a cranky baby who simply refused to settle down and go to sleep!

"Is this what married life is going to be like?" I asked in exasperation as Jem pulled off the breast, arched his back and screamed. I rolled over on the bed we were lying on and pulled down the other side of my slip to offer the other breast.

"Pretty much." Emmett shook his head ruefully. "At least until little Jem grows into a big Jem."

I got the baby latched on again, and this time he managed to grab a hank of my hair. Holding the silky strands up near his face seemed to settle him a little more, and he began suckling more easily. Soon I felt his little body relax against mine, and I sighed and slowly stroked his spiky hair. "Good boy little Jem." Emmett fitted himself against my back, softly kissing my neck and caressing my side. I relaxed into his warmth, feeling a drowsy sense of well-being flood me.

"You said we might have some time to ourselves when Jem gets bigger," I whispered a little hesitantly, adding, "I thought you might want me to get pregnant again right away. So that you'd have a baby that's really your own."

Emmett smiled at me gently. "I have a baby that's really my own, and that's Jem. Truly, I don't think of him as anything less than mine no matter who actually put him in your belly. And sure, one day in the future it would be good to give him a baby brother or sister, but for right now I'm happy with the three of us, Rosa-girl."

Eventually Jem nursed himself into a milky stupor and, planting another kiss on my bare shoulder, Emmett gently lifted him and carried him over to the cradle. He swaddled him firmly and both of us held our breath as Jem gave a tiny snuffling whimper. But all the baby did was sigh, and then his breath eased back into the rhythm of sleep and we relaxed. "Goodnight little buddy," Emmett murmured.

He slid down onto the bed beside me, and wrapped me in his arms with a sigh. I could feel his heartbeat, fast and strong, and I closed my eyes and listened to it. My own heart was pounding, and I wondered if he could feel it too.

"Are you scared?" Emmett asked quietly.

I thought for a moment, and then shook my head. "No. Not of you…I could never be scared of you."

"Good." And Emmett kissed me, and in the two of us being together I found a whole new world I'd barely imagined was even possible. Love and tenderness and bliss, all bound up in this man that was now my husband and the love of my life. And I knew that whatever challenges we faced and problems we might encounter, nothing would be too hard as long as we faced it together.

We slept curled around each other, and the dreams were good.

A/N – Well, challenge complete…could Rosalie and Emmett ever have worked out if they'd stayed human? Hopefully in this story I've answered the question with a plausible 'yes'! I do love Emmett and Rosalie, even without the vampire magic. I hope everyone who read it enjoyed it, thank you as always for taking the time to give my stories a try and thank you for all the lovely kind comments and reviews. Of course there is also a big thank you to Stephenie Meyer for writing Twilight and inventing my favourite characters in the first place!