While Charlie was panicking, I whispered in Edward's ear, "Where's Jacob?"
"He ran after he saw that both you and Charlie were all right. I have no idea where he went."
"I'd better call Billy." I was going to walk inside and use the house phone, but Edward handed me his cell phone. I remembered, too late, that the ceiling was caved in in the kitchen where the phone was. I blushed as I punched in Billy's number.
"Hello?" Billy didn't sound upset…
"Hi, Billy, it's Bella. Has Jake come home yet?" I asked, careful.
"No, he was going to talk to you. What happened?" Jake obviously hadn't told him about the Cullens coming back. Over these past few months, Billy had kind of become somewhat like an uncle to me. But I still couldn't tell him what I had done to his son.
"Um…Well, Jacob phased and…" I trailed off, hesitant.
"Was anyone hurt?" Billy was worried now.
"No, we're okay, but, um, Charlie saw him."
"…Oh." Billy got really quiet, his voice unreadable.
"What should we do?"
"Why don't you and Jake bring him down here, and I'll talk to him."
I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't know where Jacob was. "Okay."
"See you in a few minutes, Bella." He evidently was done talking.
"Bye." I hung up.
I looked up at Edward, and he looked upset. "What's wrong?"
"Are you sure you'll be safe down there? Can't you just drop Charlie off and come back?" He was worried about me getting hurt by the wolves.
I nodded. I didn't want to be away from him, plus I didn't want to have to face Billy, Kim, and Emily when they found out what I had done. I knew enough about the wolves and their relationship with them to know that I couldn't be their friend and the Cullen's at the same time.
He kissed me on the forehead, relieved. I whispered weakly, "See you soon," and walked over to Charlie.
My dad had been talking to Alice this whole time, trying to make sense of what was going on. It took some effort, but I convinced him to come to Billy's with me in my truck.
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Edward's Point of ViewBella drove away with Charlie, and if she wasn't back in twenty minutes, I was calling the dog's house and possibly going after her. She had left the number on my phone, and it's not that hard to look at "Call History".
After she was out of sight, I noticed that Alice was staring at me, a grin on her face.
"What?" I demanded, irritated.
She didn't say a word. She continued smiling. It was annoying the heck out of me.
"What?" I wasn't in the mood to deal with this. I had no idea if Bella would decide to chose the werewolves while they had her alone. I checked my cell phone for the time. Barely two minutes had gone by.
I was getting impatient, so I looked into Alice's mind and noticed that she had had a vision when I wasn't paying attention.
She displayed the vision in her mind, and I warily looked to see what had made her so happy.
Bella and I were getting married. We both looked incredibly happy, and she had my mother's ring on her finger. Emmett was performing the ceremony, and Bella seemed to have a hard time keeping a straight face throughout the vows.
The vision cut out, and Alice looked at me. She grinned again. "You don't need to be so insecure. She's chosen you, and it doesn't seem like anything will change her mind. Ever."
I frowned. "I've made things awful for everyone, haven't I?"
She wouldn't let her spirits be dampened. "It's about to get a whole lot better, Edward. You'll see."
I smiled, hoping, then thought of something else. "Red-haired vampire?"
My sister looked upset that I remembered, but tried to distract me. "Actually, the word the dog used was 'bloodsucker'. And apparently I can't see them. We may have to ask Carlisle about that, why do you think—"
I sighed inwardly and then cut her off. "Like you didn't see Victoria coming back for Bella because there was a werewolf there?"
She gritted her teeth. "Edward, I wouldn't bring this up with Bella if I were you. She was pretty traumatized after the event, and if you remind her of it she might get really upset and—"
I cut her off again. She talked entirely too much when she was nervous. "And when were you planning on telling me, Alice? Don't you think I should know, as I was tracking Victoria down anyway?"
She gasped. "You were doing what? Edward, you could have gotten hurt! Or killed! Think of Esme and Carlisle and—"
"Alice, I know that you were already aware of what I was doing. Quit trying to change the damn subject!"
"Fine! If you won't let me finish a sentence, and you want to keep being like this, the reason I didn't want to tell you is that I knew you would react this way! Why can't you just accept the fact that Victoria is dead, and that somebody besides you killed her, and be happy that Bella is back and now you two can be together?"
"Oh, yeah, this is wonderful! Finding out my sister lied to me for the past few months, and not just about your recent 'plan' to get Bella and I back together. I saw in the dog's mind that Bella jumped off a cliff and you thought she was dead. And you didn't tell me anything about it!"
"You were happy until you brought all this up! You always have to pessimistic about everything! That's what got us into all this! You thought you would ruin Bella's life. You thought about how you would feel if she was changed. You didn't even stop to think if that might be the only life she wanted, which it is. You didn't think about how she had become part of our family, how we loved her too! All you thought about was how miserable you were without her! You didn't think once about what she felt, or what the rest of us felt when you wouldn't even associate with us!"
I had heard of people being so wrapped up in a conversation that they didn't pay attention to their surroundings. It had never happened to me, and I didn't think it was possible. I thought that if their minds didn't penetrate mine, then I would surely hear them approach.
How the hell I didn't hear Bella's truck, I have no idea. Either Alice didn't see it, or she didn't care. Now I'm left wondering how long Bella has been listening to our argument, and hoping she didn't hear anything she shouldn't have.
Bella acknowledged that I noticed her, and whispered, "Tracking Victoria?"
Alice spun around, surprised. Apparently, she hadn't noticed her.
"How is Charlie?" I asked quickly.
She knew what I was doing, but answered my question anyway. "Billy's telling him all the werewolf legends."
I tried to focus on something that would sufficiently distract her. "You haven't eaten in a while. Do you want to go somewhere to eat? There aren't many places, in Forks, but we could go to Port Angeles, or Seattle. Your father will never know you're gone."
"We don't have to go out, I can…never mind. Your choice." She blushed at the fact that she had once again forgotten that her kitchen was destroyed.
I led her to the truck, and opened the passenger door for her. She hesitated, then turned around. I thought she was going to protest me driving, and I was ready to submit myself to sitting in the passenger seat when she turned back to Alice, who was staring after us, her expression unreadable.
"You guys were fighting, and it's my fault." There was no doubt in Bella's voice as she accused herself.
"Bella, it's fine, really. We…just needed to vent. We're fine now." I tried to reassure her. As if something wouldn't ruin it.
"You may be fine, but I'm still mad. What right do you have to just come back into all of our lives and just say that everything's okay?" Alice was that something.
"You invited me!" I yelled back. I was really glad Bella didn't have any close neighbors.
"Yeah, I invited you. I tried to get you back together with Bella. I saved Bella. I covered for you with Charlie while you try to undo the damage you've done, and you yell at me! What was even the point of all that if it didn't fix anything? Are you just going to be mad at me and Jasper, and maybe Carlisle and everyone else for lying to you? Are you just going to leave us again, this time with Bella, or what? I really don't understand you, Edward!"
Bella decided to intervene. "Alice, Edward is just upset. And overreacting. He does that, you know." She smiled slightly, trying to alleviate the tension. "And Edward, Alice was just trying to help, and she was only thinking of you when she did things you didn't like. She just wanted you to be happy. And I'm grateful for it." She smiled more naturally this time, and I felt my anger draining away.
Bella was talking again. "Look, I care about you two more than anyone else in the world. I can't stand to see you fight. And it's not really even worth fighting over."
I looked at my sister. "I'm sorry, Alice. Bella is right. You were just trying to help. And you did. So, thank you, for everything."
Alice had resigned herself to not showing any emotion. She just nodded. I had no idea if I was forgiven or not.
Bella, however, I could tell was worried and upset. Before either of us could say anything, however, her stomach growled. Loudly.
She blushed deep red and looked at the ground. I heard a sigh, and saw Alice was smiling, her irritation gone. "Go feed your girlfriend."
I smiled back, seeing that my apology was accepted. I took Bella's hand and led her toward the truck. Bella looked back at Alice, "Do you want to come?"
Alice shook her head. "I'd better go tell everybody what the situation is with Charlie and the werewolves."
Bella looked unhappy again as she was reminded of her father getting told that the son of his best friend regularly turned into a giant dog. As I pulled out of her driveway, I thought of things to distract her. But she beat me to it.
"Hunting Victoria?" This wasn't good.
I tried to explain. "I didn't think she would get near you, but I couldn't be sure. I had to get rid of her. At least, I tried. I wasn't a very good tracker. I traced her south, and I have no idea at what point she came here, but she must have laid a false trail down to South America. That's mostly where I've been, looking for her."
"What if she hurt you? Edward, that was stupid and reckless! You warned me against doing anything dangerous, and yet you were hunting a vampire who could have killed you!"
I didn't want to argue with Bella, but I had to see what her excuse was. "In Jacob Black's mind, there was evidence of you riding motorcycles and jumping off cliffs…" I trailed off, hoping she would drop the subject.
She was silent for a couple of minutes. I hoped she wasn't angry with me. I stopped the truck and got out quickly, opening her door for her and helping her out.
Bella's Point of ViewWe walked into the restaurant, holding hands, and Edward asked for a table. The restaurant was almost completely empty, so I assumed we were in Port Angeles. I hadn't paid much attention on the ride over.
We sat down, and a waitress asked us what we wanted to drink. I asked for water, and Edward copied me.
When I looked at him questioningly, he said, "You have to be thirsty."
I sighed and shook my head. Truthfully, I didn't feel hungry or thirsty. The waitress brought us our drinks, and I sipped mine reluctantly. I immediately took a bigger drink, and I didn't stop until I had drained the whole glass. Okay, maybe I was thirsty.
Edward was smiling at me, and he pushed my menu toward me with a meaningful look. I rolled my eyes and picked it up. Before I opened it, I noticed for the first time the name of the restaurant we were in.
"La Bella Italia?" I asked, confused.
"I thought it would be appropriate. A new beginning, a new start to our lives. I will never make the same mistake again, Bella. I promise you that." He sounded embarrassed, as if I would make fun of him for doing something so clichéd.
So I smiled at him. "A new beginning," I agreed.
I had my angel back. My life was perfect again.
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So, that's it. I don't think I'll even do an epilogue, but I'll get started on the sequel soon. Why do we need a sequel? Oh, it might be because Charlie now knows that the werewolves exist, and that little conflict still isn't resolved. See'ya soon!