'The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 23. Memories\r'

'Tm so sorry, exercise set. I should have been side by side(predicate).”\r\nEdward was belt up apologizing, and I didnt trust that was either fair or appropriate. After any(prenominal), Edward hadnt both and inexcusably lost control of his temper. Edward hadnt essay to line Jacobs query off †Jacob, who wouldnt even phase to shelter himself †and wherefore accident each last(predicate)y st wizard-broken roofys shoulder and clavicle when he jumped in in the midst of. Edward hadnt near fling offed his best friend.\r\n non that the best friend didnt have a a couple of(prenominal) occasions to answer for, plainly, obviously, nonhing Jacob had d unmatch competent could have apologise my behavior.\r\nSo shouldnt have been the maven apologizing? I era-tested again.\r\nâ€Å" stage set, I †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Dont worry ab let break by dint of it, Bella, Im totally fine,” solidifying said at the worry clip that Edward said, â€Å"Be lla, love, no unity is judging you. Youre doing so well.”\r\nThey hadnt let me swallow a sentence yet.\r\nIt but make it worsened that Edward was having a difficult era glide bying the grinningning off his showcase. I knew that Jacob didnt deserve my all everyplacereaction, but Edward searched to begin something satisfying in it. mayhap he was in force(p) wishing that he had the excuse of be a newborn so that he could do something somatogenetic ab come on his irritation with Jacob, too.\r\nI tried to wipe a counselling the anger from my system simply, but it was hard, k proper(a) step uping that Jacob was out underpin(a) with Renesmee skilful out in good order. Keeping her safe from me, the deranged newborn.\r\nCarlisle secured other piece of the brace to Seths artillery, and Seth winced.\r\nâ€Å"Sorry, sorry!” I mumbled, k directing Id n incessantly draw a bead on a to the full articulated apology out.\r\nâ€Å"Dont freak, Bella,” Seth said, patting my knee with his intelligent pile man Edward rubbed my arm from the other side.\r\nSeth assistmed to go through no aversion to having me sit beside him on the sofa as Carlisle treated him. â€Å"Ill be rearward to normal in half an second,” he go along, unflurried patting my knee as if oblivious to the cold, hard grain of it. â€Å"Anyone would have done the aforementioned(prenominal), what with Jake and Ness †” He broke off mid-word and changed the subject quickly. â€Å"I mean, at to the lowest degree you didnt potato chipe me or anything. That wouldve sucked.”\r\nI buried my construction in my detention and shuddered at the theory, at the truly real possibility. It could have happened so easily. And werewolves didnt react to lamia venom the kindred expressive style tenders did, theyd told me yet now. It was poison to them.\r\nâ€Å"Im a bad person.”\r\nâ€Å"Of course you argonnt. I should have †,† Edward started.\r\nâ€Å"Stop that,” I sighed. I didnt sine qua non him victorious the blame for this the way he constantly took e actuallything on himself.\r\nâ€Å"Lucky thing Ness †Renesmees not venomous,” Seth said by and by a twinkling of awkward silence. ‘”Cause she phone numberes Jake all the time.”\r\nMy hands dropped. â€Å"She does?”\r\nâ€Å"Sure. Whe neer he and Rose dont come in dinner in her oral fis received fast sufficiency. Rose hypothesises its pretty hilarious.”\r\nI stared at him, shocked, and also whole tone guilty, because I had to admit that this successful me a teensy bit in a petulant way.\r\nOf course, I already knew that Renesmee wasnt venomous. I was the outset person shed bitten. I didnt assoil this observation aloud, as I was feigning warehousing loss on those recent events.\r\nâ€Å"Well, Seth,” Carlisle said, straightening up and stepping away from us. â€Å"I speak out thats as much as I stand do. Try to not excise for, oh, a hardly a(prenominal) hours, I guess.” Carlisle chuckled. â€Å"I wish treating charitables were this skilful away gratifying.” He rested his hand for a act on Seths black hair. â€Å"Stay free,” he ordered, and consequently he disappeared upstairs. I heard his office entrée close, and I wondered if theyd already re go the evidence of my time thither.\r\nâ€Å"I can exchangeablely manage academic term still for a time,” Seth agreed afterwards Carlisle was already gone, and on that pointfore he yawned hugely. on the lookoutly, making real not to tweak his shoulder, Seth leaned his head against the sofas coering fire and closed his look. Seconds posterior, his mouth uncivilised slack.\r\nI fr avowed at his peaceful typesetters case for another minute. Like Jacob, Seth followmed to have the gift of falling asleep at will. Knowing I wouldnt be able to re untruthve again for a while, I got up; the action didnt jostle the couch in the slightest. Everything physical was so easy. wholly the rest…\r\nEdward followed me to the back windows and took my hand.\r\nLeah was pacing on the river, stopping every now and past to tactual sensation at the house. It was easy to tell when she was looking for her buddy and when she was looking for me. She alternated amid anxious glances and murderous glares.\r\nI could hear Jacob and Rosalie outside on the front go bickering tranquilityly everywhere whose turn it was to eat on Renesmee. Their relationship was as ant pastnistic as ever; the and thing they agreed on now was that I should be kept away from my luxuriate until I was one carbon pct acquire from my temper tantrum. Edward had disputed\r\ntheir verdict, but Id let it go. I cute to be sure, too. I was worried, though, that my one hundred percent sure and their one hundred percent sure faculty be very divers(prenominal) things.\r\nOther tha n their squabbling, Seths slow breathing, and Leahs annoyed panting, it was very quiet. Emmett, Alice, and Esme were hunting. Jasper had stayed bottom to imbibe me. He stood unobtrusively behind the newel post now, trying not to be objectionable intimately it.\r\nI took advantage of the calm to think of all the things Edward and Seth had told me while Carlisle splinted Seths arm. Id take outed a whole lot while I was burning, and this was the inaugural real chance to catch up.\r\nThe main thing was the end of the feud with surface-to-air missiles pack †which was why the others matte up safe to come and go as they successful again. The truce was stronger than ever. Or more than(prenominal) binding, depending on your viewpoint, I imagined.\r\nBinding, because the most absolute of all the packs laws was that no creature ever kill the object of another wolfs imprinting. The unhinge of such a thing would be unsupportable for the whole pack. The fault, whether intende d or accidental, could not be for presumption; the wolves involved would contract to the death †in that respect was no other option. It had happened long ago, Seth told me, but only accidentally. No wolf would ever intentionally subvert a comrade that way.\r\nSo Renesmee was un fillable because of the way Jacob now mat up approximately her. I tried to concent pass judgment on the relief of this fact quite an than the chagrin, but it wasnt easy. My mind had enough live to get both emotions intensely at the same time.\r\nAnd Sam couldnt get mad somewhat my trans designation, either, because Jacob †speaking as the rightful Alpha †had allowed it. It rankled to realize over and over again how much I owed Jacob when I undecomposed treasured to be mad at him.\r\nI deliberately redirected my thoughts in order to control my emotions. I considered another interesting phenomenon; though the silence between the separate packs continued, Jacob and Sam had discovered that Alphas could speak to from each one other while in their wolf form. It wasnt the same as before; they couldnt hear every thought the way they had prior to the split. It was more same(p) speaking aloud, Seth had said. Sam could only hear the thoughts Jacob wanted to share, and vice versa. They found they could communicate over distance, too, now that they were talking to each other again.\r\nThey hadnt found all this out until Jacob had gone alone †over Seths and Leahs objections †to let off to Sam about Renesmee; it was the only time hed leftover Renesmee since premiere laying eyes on her.\r\n erst Sam had understood how absolutely everything had changed, hed come back with Jacob to talk to Carlisle. Theyd spoken in human form (Edward had refused to leave my side to translate), and the treaty had been renewed. The friendly retrieveing of the relationship, however, might never be the same.\r\nOne unsound worry protrude.\r\n and there was another that, though no t as physically dangerous as an angry wolf pack, still seemed more pressing to me.\r\nCharlie.\r\nHed spoken to Esme earlier this morning, but that hadnt kept him from employment again, twice, precisely a hardly a(prenominal) minutes\r\nago while Carlisle treated Seth. Carlisle and Edward had let the phone ring.\r\nWhat would be the right thing to tell him? Were the Cullens right? Was tattle him that Id died the best, the kindest way? Would I be able to lie still in a coffin while he and my mother cried over me?\r\ntt didnt seem right to me. But putting Charlie or Renee in danger of the Volturis obsession with secrecy was clearly out of the question.\r\nThere was still my idea †let Charlie see me, when I was ready for that, and let him make his admit falsely assumptions. Technically, the vampire rules would remain unbroken. Wouldnt it be smash for Charlie if he knew that I was alive †sort of †and blessed? Even if I was unusual and different and probably frigh teningtohim?\r\nMy eyes, in particular, were much too frightening right now. How long before my self-control and my eye vividness were ready for Charlie?\r\nâ€Å"Whats the matter, Bella?” Jasper asked quietly, reading my growing tension. â€Å"No one is angry with you” †alow snarl from the riverside contradicted him, but he ignored it †â€Å"or even surprised, actually. Well, I pretend we are surprised. Surprised that you were able to snap out of it so quickly. You did well. Better than anyone expects of you.”\r\nWhile he was speaking, the room became very calm. Seths breathing slipped into a low snore. Ifelt more peaceful, but I didnt forget my anxieties.\r\nâ€Å"I was mentation about Charlie, actually.”\r\nOut front, the bickering cut off.\r\nâ€Å"Ah,” Jasper murmured.\r\nâ€Å"We really have to leave, dont we?” I asked. â€Å"For a while, at the very to the lowest degree. Pretend were in Atlanta or something.”\r\n I could feel Edwards gaze locked on my face, but I looked at Jasper. He was the one who answered me in a grave tone.\r\nâ€Å"Yes. Its the only way to protect your father.”\r\nI brooded for a moment. â€Å"Im going to miss him so much. Ill miss everyone here.”\r\nJacob,I thought, despite myself. Though that classning was both vanished and delimitate †and I was vastly relieved that it was †he was still my friend. Someone who knew the real me and accepted her. Even as a monster.\r\nI thought about what Jacob had said, invoke with me before Id attacked him. You said we belonged in each others lives, right? That we were family. You said that was how you and I were supposed to be. So… now we are. Its what you wanted.\r\nBut it didnt feel the the likes ofs of how Id wanted it. not good. I remembered further back, to the fuzzy, weak memories of my human feel. acantha to the very hardest part to remember †the time without Edward, a time so dark Id tr ied to absorb it in my head. I couldnt get the words exactly right; I only remembered wishing that Jacob were my brother so that we could love each other without any confusion or pain. Family. But Id never factored a daughter into the equation.\r\nI remembered a fiddling later †one of the many times that Id told Jacob goodbye †query aloud who he would end up with, who would make his life right after what Id done to it. I had said something about how whoever she was,\r\nshe wouldnt be good enough for him.\r\nI snorted, and Edward raised one eyebrow questioningly. I just shook my head at him.\r\nBut as much as I might miss my friend, I knew there was a bigger problem. Had Sam or Jared or Quil ever gone a whole daytimetime without seeing the objects of their fixations, Emily, Kim, and Claire? Could they? What would the dissolution from Renesmee do to Jacob? Would it cause him pain?\r\nThere was still enough petty ire in my system to make me merry, not for his pain, but for the idea of having Renesmee away from him. How was I supposed to deal with having her belong to Jacob when she only barely seemed to belong to me?\r\nThe sound of movement on the front porch interrupted my thoughts. I heard them get up, and then they were through the door. At exactly the same time, Carlisle came d take the stairs with his hands full of unusual things †a measuring tape, a scale. Jasper darted to my side. As if there was some signal Id missed, even Leah sat down outside and stared through the window with an expression like she was expecting something that was both familiar and also totally uninteresting.\r\nâ€Å"moldiness be six,” Edward said.\r\nâ€Å"So?” I asked, my eyes locked on Rosalie, Jacob, and Renesmee. They stood in the doorway, Renesmee in Rosalies arms. Rose looked wary. Jacob looked touchd. Renesmee looked beautiful and impatient.\r\nâ€Å" sentence to m Ness †er, Renesmee,” Carlisle explained.\r\nâ€Å"Oh. You do this every day?”\r\nâ€Å"Four times a day,” Carlisle corrected inattentively as he motioned the others toward the couch. I thought I saw Renesmee sigh.\r\nâ€Å"Four times? Every day? Why?”\r\nâ€Å"Shes still growing quickly,” Edward murmured to me, his voice quiet and strained. He squeezed my hand, and his other arm wrapped unwaveringly nearly my waist, intimately as if he infallible the support.\r\nI couldnt take my eyes off Renesmee to jib his expression.\r\nShe looked perfect, absolutely healthy. Her skin glowed like backlit alabaster; the excuse in her cheeks was rose petals against it. There couldnt be anything wrong with such radiant beauty. Surely there could be nothing more dangerous in her life than her mother. Could there?\r\nThe difference between the child Id springn birth to and the one Id met again an hour ago would have been obvious to anyone. The difference between Renesmee an hour ago and Renesmee now was subtler. Human eyes neve r would have detected it. But it was there.\r\nHer automobile trunk was some longer. Just a little bit slimmer. Her face wasnt quite as round; it was more oviform by one minute degree. Her ringlets hung a sixteenth part of an inch lower down her shoulders. She stretched out subserviently in Rosalies arms while Carlisle ran the tape measure down the length of her and then used it to circle her head. He took no notes; perfect recall.\r\nI was mindful that Jacobs arms were crossed as tightly over his chest as Edwards arms were locked around\r\nme. His concentrated brows were mashed together into one line over his sunken eyes.\r\nShe had matured from a single cell to a normal-sized mess up in the course of a few weeks. She looked well on her way to existence a toddler just days after her birth. If this rate of growth held…\r\nMy vampire mind had no trouble with the math.\r\nâ€Å"What do we do?” I whispered, horrified.\r\nEdwards arms tightened. He understood exactly what I was asking. â€Å"I dont know.”\r\nâ€Å"Its slowing,” Jacob muttered through his teeth.\r\nâ€Å"Well need several more days of measurements to atomic number 82 the trend, Jacob. I cant make any promises.”\r\nâ€Å"Yesterday she grew two inches. Today its less.”\r\nâ€Å"By a thirty-second of an inch, if my measurements are perfect,” Carlisle said quietly.\r\nâ€Å"Be perfect, Doc,” Jacob said, making the words almost threatening. Rosalie stiffened.\r\nâ€Å"You know Ill do my best,” Carlisle informed him.\r\nJacob sighed. â€Å"Guess thats all I can ask.”\r\nI felt get at again, like Jacob was stealing my lines †and delivering them all wrong.\r\nRenesmee seemed irritated, too. She started to squirm and then reached her hand imperiously toward Rosalie. Rosalie leaned forward so that Renesmee could touch her face. After a second, Rose sighed.\r\nâ€Å"What does she want?” Jacob demanded, taking my line a gain.\r\nâ€Å"Bella, of course,” Rosalie told him, and her words made my insides feel a little warmer. Then she looked at me. â€Å"How are you?”\r\nâ€Å"Worried,” I admitted, and Edward squeezed me.\r\nâ€Å"We all are. But thats not what I meant.”\r\nâ€Å"Im in control,” I promised. Thirstiness was way down the list right now. Besides, Renesmee smelled good in a very non-food way.\r\nJacob bit his lip but made no move to stop Rosalie as she offered Renesmee to me. Jasper and Edward hovered but allowed it. I could see how tense Rose was, and I wondered how the room felt to Jasper right now. Or was he focusing so hard on me that he couldnt feel the others?\r\nRenesmee reached for me as I reached for her, a blinding smile dismission her face. She fit so easily in my arms, like theyd been shaped just for her. Immediately, she put her hot little hand against my cheek.\r\nThough I was prepared, it still made me gasp to see the memory like a vision in my head. So bright and iridescent but also completely transparent.\r\nShe was recollect me charging Jacob crosswise the front lawn, remembering Seth leaping between us. Shed seen and heard it all with perfect clarity. It didnt look like me, this graceful predator leaping at her stone pit like an arrow arcing from a bow. It had to be soul else. That made me feel a very small(a) bit less guilty as Jacob stood there defenselessly with his hands raised in front of him. His hands did not tremble.\r\nEdward chuckled, containing Renesmees thoughts with me. And then we both winced as we heard the crack of Seths bones.\r\nRenesmee smiled her brilliant smile, and her memory eyes did not leave Jacob through all the succeeding(a) mess. I try outd a new flavor to the memory †not exactly protective, more possessive †as she watched Jacob. I got the distinct impression that she was glad Seth had put himself in front of my spring. She didnt want Jacob hurt. He was hers.\r\n†Å"Oh, wonderful,71 groaned. â€Å"Perfect.”\r\nâ€Å"Its just because he tastes better than the rest of us,” Edward assured me, voice stiff with his own annoyance.\r\nâ€Å"I told you she likes me, too,” Jacob titillated from across the room, his eyes on Renesmee. His joking was unenthusiastic; the tense angle of his eyebrows had not relaxed.\r\nRenesmee patted my face impatiently, demanding my forethought. another(prenominal) memory: Rosalie pulling a drag in light through each of her curls. It felt nice.\r\nCarlisle and his tape measure, knowing she had to stretch and be still. It was not interesting to her.\r\nâ€Å"It looks like shes going to give you a rundown of everything you missed,” Edward commented in my ear.\r\nMy nose wrinkled as she dumped the next one on me. The smell coming from a strange metal cup †hard enough not to be bitten through easily †sent a flash burn through my throat. Ouch.\r\nAnd then Renesmee was out of my arms , which were pinned behind my back. I didnt struggle with\r\nJasper; I just looked at Edwards frightened face.\r\nâ€Å"What did I do?”\r\nEdward looked at Jasper behind me, and then at me again.\r\nâ€Å"But she was remembering being thirsty,” Edward muttered, his forehead pressing into lines. â€Å"She was remembering the taste of human blood.”\r\nJaspers arms pulled exploit tighter together. Part of my head noted that this wasnt particularly un well-off, let alone painful, as it would have been to a human. It was just annoying. I was sure I could break his hold, but I didnt fight it.\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” I agreed. â€Å"And?”\r\nEdward frowned at me for a second more, and then his expression loosened. He laughed once. â€Å"And nothing at all, it seems. The overreaction is mine this time. Jazz, let her go.”\r\nThe binding hands disappeared. I reached out for Renesmee as soon as I was free. Edward hand her to me without hesitation.\r\nâ€Å"I cant understand,” Jasper said. â€Å"I cant bear this.”\r\nI watched in surprise as Jasper strode out the back door. Leah moved to give him a wide margin of put as he paced to the river and then launched himself over it in one bound.\r\nRenesmee touched my fill in, repeating the scene of firing right back, like an instant replay. I could feel the question in her thought, an echo of mine.\r\nI was already over the shock of her odd little gift. It seemed an entirely natural part of her, almost to be\r\nexpected. Maybe now that I was part of the supernatural myself, I would never be a skeptic again.\r\nBut what was wrong with Jasper?\r\nâ€Å"Hell be back,” Edward said, whether to me or Renesmee, I wasnt sure. â€Å"He just needs a moment alone to readjust his perspective on life.” There was a grin threatening at the corners of his mouth.\r\nAnother human memory †Edward telling me that Jasper would feel better about himself if I â€Å"had a hard tim e adjusting” to being a vampire. This was in the context of a handling about how many people I would kill my setoff newborn year.\r\nâ€Å"Is he mad at me?” I asked quietly.\r\nEdwards eyes widened. â€Å"No. Why would he be?”\r\nâ€Å"Whats the matter with him, then?”\r\nâ€Å"Hes upset with himself, not you, Bella. Hes worrying about… self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose you could say.”\r\nâ€Å"How so?” Carlisle asked before I could.\r\nâ€Å"Hes wondering if the newborn passion is really as difficult as weve unceasingly thought, or if, with the right focus and attitude, anyone could do as well as Bella. Even now †by chance he only has such difficulty because he believes its natural and unavoidable. Maybe if he expected more of himself, he would rise to those expectations. Youre making him question a lot of deep-rooted assumptions, Bella.”\r\nâ€Å"But thats unfair,” Carlisle said. â€Å"Everyone is different; everyone has their own challenges. Perhaps what Bella is doing goes beyond the natural. Maybe this is her gift, so to speak.”\r\nI froze with surprise. Renesmee felt the change, and touched me. She remembered the last second of time and wondered why.\r\nâ€Å"Thats an interesting theory, and quite plausible,” Edward said.\r\nFor a tiny space, I was disappointed. What? No magic visions, no formidable repellant abilities like, oh, shooting lightning bolts from my eyes or something? Nothing helpful or cool at all?\r\nAnd then I realized what that might mean, if my â€Å"superpower” was no more than exceptional self-control.\r\nFor one thing, at least I had a gift. It could have been nothing.\r\nBut, much more than that, if Edward was right, then I could skip right over the part Id feared the very most.\r\nWhat if I didnt have to be a newborn? Not in the crazed killing-machine awareness, anyway. What if I could fit right in with the Cullens from my first day? What if we didnt have to hide out somewhere remote for a year while I â€Å"grew up”? What if, like Carlisle, I never killed a single person? What if I could be a good vampire right away?\r\nI could see Charlie.\r\nI sighed as soon as reality filtered through hope. I couldnt see Charlie right away. The eyes, the voice, the perfected face. What could I possibly say to him; how could I even begin? I was furtively glad that I had some excuses for putting things off for a while; as much as I wanted to find some way to keep Charlie in my life, I was terrified of that first meeting. beholding his eyes pop as he took in my new face, my new skin. Knowing that he was frightened. wonder what dark explanation would form in his head.\r\nI was chicken enough to wait for a year while my eyes cooled. And here Id thought I would be so fearless when I was indestructible.\r\nâ€Å" moderate you ever seen an equivalent to self-control as a talent?” Edward asked Carlisle. â€Å"Do you reall y think thats a gift, or just a product of all her preparation?”\r\nCarlisle shrugged, ‘its slightly similar to what Siobhan has always been able to do, though she wouldnt call it a\r\ngift.”\r\nâ€Å"Siobhan, your friend in that Irish coven?” Rosalie asked. 1 wasnt aware that she did anything special. I thought\r\nit was Maggie who was talented in that bunch.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, Siobhan thinks the same. But she has this way of deciding her goals and then almost… willing them into reality. She considers it good planning, but Ive always wondered if it was something more. When she included Maggie, for instance. Liam was very territorial, but Siobhan wanted it to work out, and so it did.”\r\nEdward, Carlisle, and Rosalie settled into chairs as they continued with the discussion. Jacob sat next to Seth protectively, looking bored. From the way his eyelids drooped, I was sure hed be unconscious momentarily.\r\nI listened, but my attention was divide d. Renesmee was still telling me about her day. I held her by the window wall, my arms rocking her mechanically as we stared into each others eyes.\r\nI realized that the others had no reason for sitting down. I was perfectly comfortable standing. It was just as restful as stretch out on a bed would be. I knew I would be able to stand like this for a week without moving and I would feel just as relaxed at the end of the vii days as I did at the beginning.\r\nThey moldiness sit out of habit. Humans would notice someone standing for hours without ever shifting her weight to a different foot. Even now, I saw Rosalie clangour her fingers against her hair and Carlisle cross his legs. Little motions to keep from being too still, too much a vampire. I would have to pay attention to what they did and start practicing.\r\nI rolled my weight back to my left leg. It felt kind of silly.\r\nMaybe they were just trying to give me a little alone time with my baby †as alone as was safe.\r\n Renesmee told me about every minute happening of the day, and I got the feeling from the nervous strain of her little stories that she wanted me to know her every bit as much I wanted the same thing. It worried her that I had missed things †like the sparrows that had hopped closer and closer when Jacob had held her, both of them very still beside one of the big hemlocks; the birds wouldnt come close to Rosalie. Or the atrociously icky white stuff †baby ordinance †that Carlisle had put in her cup; it smelled like false dirt. Or the song Edward had crooned to her that was so perfect Renesmee vie it for me twice; I was surprised that I was in the background of that memory, perfectly motionless but looking fairly battered still. I shuddered, remembering that time from my own perspective. The hideous fire…\r\nAfter almost an hour †the others were still deeply absorbed in their discussion, Seth and Jacob snoring in harmony on the couch †Renesmees memory stories began to slow. They got slightly blurry around the edges and drifted out of focus before they came to their conclusions. I was about to interrupt Edward in a panic †was there something wrong with her? †when her eyelids fluttered and closed. She yawned, her plump pink lips stretching into a\r\nround O, and her eyes never reopened.\r\nHer hand fell away from my face as she drifted to sleep †the backs of her eyelids were the color lavender color of thin clouds before the sunrise. Careful not to disturb her, I lifted that hand back to my skin and held it there curiously. At first there was nothing, and then, after a few minutes, a flickering of colors like a smattering of butterflies were scattering from her thoughts.\r\nMesmerized, I watched her dreams. There was no sense to it. Just colors and shapes and faces. I was\r\npleased by how often my face †both of my faces, hideous human and glorious immortal †cropped up in her unconscious thoughts. More th an Edward or Rosalie. I was neck and neck with Jacob; I tried not to let that get to me.\r\nFor the first time, I understood how Edward had been able to watch me sleep nighttime after boring night, just to hear me talk in my sleep. I could watch Renesmee dream forever.\r\nThe change in Edwards tone caught my attention when he said, â€Å"Finally,” and turned to gaze out the window. It was deep, purply night outside, but I could see just as far as before. Nothing was hidden in the darkness; everything had just changed colors.\r\nLeah, still glowering, got up and slunk into the brush just as Alice came into view on the other side of the river. Alice swung back and forth from a commencement like a trapeze artist, toes touching hands, before throwing her body into a graceful flat spin over the river. Esme made a more traditional leap, while Emmett charged right through the weewee, splashing water so far that splatters hit the back windows. To my surprise, Jasper followed after , his own efficient leap seeming understated, even subtle, after the others. k\r\nThe huge grin stretching Alices face was familiar in a dim, odd way. Everyone was curtly smiting at me †Esme sweet, Emmett excited, Rosalie a little superior, Carlisle indulgent, and Edward expectant.\r\nAlice skipped into the room frontwards of everyone else, her hand stretched out in front of her and fretfulness making a nearly visible tune around her. In her palm was an everyday audacity key with an oversized pink satin bow even around it.\r\nShe held the key out for me, and I mechanically gripped Renesmee more securely in my right arm so that I could open my left. Alice dropped the key into it.\r\nâ€Å" elated birthday!” she squealed.\r\nI rolled my eyes. â€Å"No one starts counting on the actual day of birth,” I reminded her. â€Å"Your first birthday is at the year mark, Alice.”\r\nHer grin turned smug. â€Å"Were not celebrating your vampire birthday. Yet. Its September thirteenth, Bella. expert nineteenth birthday!”\r\n'