Chapter 21-Bella's POV

  Bella’s POV

“Bella, love, try to calm down”, Edward said gently.

I shook my head, pacing back and forth for no reason other than to prove my point.

“How could he? How dare he!”, I said swiftly.

I was too panicked to be reasoned with. I was on the brink of packing Jacob’s bags and shipping him back to Washington. Or even further.

“You should know by now that Jacob isn’t one to hold back”, he said, putting his hands upon my shoulders. I tilted my head back, staring up at my husband’s flawlessly perfect face.

“Maybe we’ve let this go on for too long”. I sighed.

Edward gave me a questioning look.

“What about Nahuel? He would never try to hurt Nessie.”, I tried.

“Why don’t you go talk to Jacob?”, he suggested.

“I’ll try”, I mumbled, making my way to his room in a flash.

This conversation needed to happen as quickly as possible.

Ignoring his privacy, I swung open the door.

He casually looked up at me from on his bed, where he lay reading a magazine.

I put my hands on my hips and glared his way.

“Do you think you’re just going to get away with this? Maybe it worked for you previously, but it will never happen again”, I said angrily.

He rolled his eyes.

“C’mon Bells. Relax. You act like I’ve committed some sort of crime.”

“To me, you have. How could you even think like that?! Who’s permission did you think you had?”, I asked furiously.

“Oh, so now I need permission to make out with my girlfriend?”

 My eyes flared. I bit down on my lip, hard, and clenched my fists.

“I know what you were planning, Edward read your mind. You were about to-”

But I was too horrified to finish. Renesmee was my daughter. I was there to guide her. All Jacob had done so far was try to steal her innocence.

“There’s only two years left!”, he exploded.

“Please Jake, just stop it! Stop trying to ruin everything while it’s already perfect!”

His body began to vibrate, eyes probing.

“Perfect for you”, he spat, trying to hold himself back.

“Calm down, Jake”, I warned.

“Why can’t you understand that what I’m doing is the right thing?”, he pleaded.

“Can you not see just how unbelievably selfish you are acting?”

“Mama?”

I turned around. Renesmee stood behind me, her porcelain face tearstained.

I immediately pulled her up into my arms.

Jacob sprang up from his bed, and held his arms out for her. But that just influenced me to hold her tighter.

 

“What’s wrong?”, we asked together.

Nessie put a hand on each of our necks.

I saw first her love for her family, moments from dispersed points in her young life that she truly cherished. Me, a mere human, holding her moments after her birth. Edward, as he softly told her the many stories she had not been around to witness. And then I saw Jacob. How he truly cared for her. Then from her mind she shared an unearthed moment, something from back in her early toddler days. She sat upon Jake, a huge russet wolf. They ran through the forest, enjoying the effortless, easy flow of their blooming friendship. Through her eyes the image became blurry, as little Nessie started to fall asleep. Jacob stopped near a thick, old tree, shady with leaves, and phased to his human form, cradling her in his long arms. He hummed a little tune to her, it sounded vaguely familiar. An old Quileute song I had heard when I was still human, listening to legendary stories lit to life by the blazing campfire.

Just as Renesmee’s memory began to drift off with her sleep, Jacob kissed her gently on the cheek.

I glanced up towards Jacob. He stared past me, into Renesmee’s vivid light brown eyes.

She still held her grip on both of our necks, showing us one last image.

I smiled, remembering it most fondly. In the field we all stood, joyously celebrating our victory as the Volturi fled, defeated. I sighed as my lips rammed into Edward’s, watching it from Nessie’s eyes as she dragged Jacob along with us. It was one of the happiest moments of my life, though I had many.

I found myself smiling, getting caught up in the memory. All Renesmee wanted was for us all to get along, as a family.

Jake was smiling too. I reluctantly set Nessie down, no time to contemplate my next decision. I glanced at the ring on my daughter’s finger. Then to Jacob. He still stared at Nessie like a blind man seeing the sun for the very first time. She was a wonder, an amazement.

I took a deep breath, and put a hand on the door.

“Could I speak to Jacob alone for just a minute?”, I asked.

Renesmee nodded, anticipation clearly on her face. I slowly shut the door.

I knew she was still listening, so I had to do this more discreetly than I’d planned.

I grabbed Jake’s magazine from off his bed, and grabbed a pen from the office desk on the other side of the room.

“Mind if I write on this?”, I asked him.

“Go ahead.”

He gave me a strange look, obviously confused by my ethics.

I skimmed through the magazine until I found a re-order card, and held my pen to the blank side.

I hated to let Jacob win this battle, but I thought I knew what he really wanted.

In less than three seconds I scribbled the message across the paper in my moderately neat print.

He reached his hand out for it, but I slipped it back into the magazine, then placed that gently into his hand.

I felt my eyes prick as I slipped out the door and back to my room. On my way, I passed by Renesmee. She sat on her bed, looking through her suitcase.

“Put on something nice”, I hinted with a whisper.

I saw her look up, just before I vanished through my bedroom door.

Edward was still there, waiting for me to return. By now Jacob was reading the note, and Edward was reflecting it back into his own mind.

I remembered the exact words I had just written down as I leaned on Edward for support:

Sorry about calling you selfish. Hopefully you can understand why I was so angry at you. But I just want Renesmee to be happy. You too, really. I’ve discussed this with Edward already. I’m giving you our permission and our blessings to marry Nessie. I really did want you to wait, but I can see how difficult this is getting. So, good luck.

Love, Bella

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