Chapter 1:

High Noon

*** Jacob’s POV ***

After hours of mindless running. Just running - to nowhere in particular. Just somewhere to be alone, away from the others. All alone. No one in my head to bother me. I gradually came to a stop. An empty wound in my chest throbbed. It didn’t matter if I had stopped. I was still running away – just from the grief that threatened to engulf me - like the coward I was. I would run and never look back – towards the person I could not face. It would hurt me too much to think about her. But it would hurt me more not to. Try as I might, I could not stem the agony that swept through me as the one person I cared most about in this world – that I had cared most about ever – was being forcibly ripped from me. Without the person who had done the ripping patching the wound back up. What she had decided. Who – or more like what - she had chosen. I snarled through my feral, sharp teeth.  

The fool. I clenched my jaw angrily. Willing to give up so much - for so little. For a creep that would turn her - turn her into one of them. I shuddered, my eyes widening under the bushy fur. No. It couldn’t happen. Not to sweet, warm Bella.

But it will, Snarled a nasty voice in my head. And you know it. Forget the damn trader. She didn’t choose you. She chose him. I howled, a lonely, forlorn wolf’s howl. Alone. Sure I had my wolf brothers. But I still felt alone. Had they been in there wolf forms, transformed, and I able to hear them - it wouldn’t have mattered. No matter what I did, I would have to suffer like this. The emptiness in my heart always hurting. Forever. I had handed my heart on an open platter to a girl who did not love me. Well - not in that way, at least. What had I expected? That she would finally come around to embracing it, excepting mine while handing me hers, too? Of course she was going to turn around and punch whole through it. I don’t think she wanted to. Bella would never have meant to. Bella had always said she loved me – just not in that way. But when it came down to a choice. Well, that was different. I thought sourly, hearing a weak imitation of Bella’s voice in my head.

“I know who I can’t live without.” 

The werewolf or the bloodsucker. The bloodsucker had won out. He must be gloating about winning Bella; why else would he have rubbed that stupid letter invitation of his wedding in my face. Me of all people. 

Just then, Sam’s thoughts broke through my reverie. Are you better yet, Jacob? I snorted, as I already knew that answer. No I am not damn well alright, Sam, I thought viciously. Though I was barely containing my anguish and anger, Sam was still calm. Well, the brothers and I are getting worried. Come home, Jacob, he pleaded. Though Sam was Alpha and I had to follow him, I knew he wasn’t really ordering me to come home. He was asking.

I forgot that there were others that cared about me and I them. I owed them enough that I should put an end to their sadness. They must be worried about me, I thought dryly. They are, Sam assured me. Still calmly, but perhaps with a hint of sadness I had not picked up before. Alright. I sighed, or at least the equivalent in wolf form. I’m coming home. I could hear Sam’s affirmation. Then the mental link closed again. I sighed again, wondering what time it was. I slowly phased back into human form. I pulled the cloth on my leg off and proceeded to pull my pants on, as not to be entirely naked. When I was doing this, I saw the ground; my shadow did not show. I looked up.

High noon. What should have been the brightest time of the day was the saddest, the loneliest part of today for me. Bella was gone. Lost to me. And she wasn’t coming back. For the first time in a long time, I cried. I sat on the unfriendly undergrowth of the forest I was in, and huddled in a miserable ball, my huge shoulders shaking with grief. I shook with the sobs that racked my bare torso, convulsing with the anguish, the saddness. I mourned for the condemned soul that I loved. I had lost the very person I cared about most. Who was nearest and dearest to me. It hurt to realize that no matter what I would have done, it would have ended much the same. Heart-broken. No matter how much I would have given up for Bella, though I could have given her many things the bloodsucker couldn’t have – she would always choose the leech over me. I was foolish to think Bella would – could – have gotten over Edward and settled with me. It was foolish to think she would have changed her mind. To ever hope for so much. Angry tears leaked from my eyes as I glared at the sky. I couldn’t be weak. Not now. Not when the world was so wrong, so very wrong on the gloomiest of sad days. Now that it wasn’t just tilted, but turned upside-down.

“Why me?” I shouted at the sky, “Why’d you choose me to torture? Why am I doomed to love that which would never – could never – love me back!” I knew there was more I could have offered her. I could have given her anything. I would have given her anything. I could. Unlike the blood-sucking leech. Yet who had she picked in the end? Who? I grimaced. This would go around in circles. I pushed it from my mind. My wolf brothers needed me. They were all that mattered now. Them and dad, so they were what I would focus on now.

In the distance another wolf’s howl was heard. Echoing eerily in the damp forest, a testament to the black event that was rapidly approaching.

                       *** Bella’s POV *** 

“So,” I said, sighing, “What is it that we have to do today? There’s telling Charlie and Renée we’re engaged. That’s sure to go over well.” Of course I was being sarcastic. I was completely sure that the opposite would occur. Edward grinned appreciatively as he shook his head. “Well, if you are worried about it, we might as well get it over with,” Edward suggested, tugging on my hand as he rose up, queuing our exit to leave his house. I didn’t really mind. Alice was being a little over-zealous with the wedding décor. And everyone else in the house were becoming a little bit more than irritated. Emmett especially. And when someone like Emmett, who was capable of crushing large boulders into fine powder, was aggravated, it probably was best to stay away. Edward smiled his amazingly beautiful crooked smile at me as he whipped out his cell phone. Knowing Edward, it would be the best-sleek, new...expensive. Not that Edward had any inhibitions when it came to money. Breathing shallowly, my heart thudding so embarrassingly loud that Edward could hear it, I punched in Charlie’s cell phone number when he handed it to me, panicking all the while. Edward tried to soothe me by rubbing a methodical circle on the small of my hand, but to no avail. I could sense his anticipation, too. It stopped ringing on the third dial as Charlie answered,

“Hello?”

“Ch-Charlie?”

“Bella?” my dad queried anxiously, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Dad,” I began, “Where are you?” I could tell that Charlie was getting frightened. “Bella where are you?” he cried, obviously thinking something bad must have happened, when he gasped. “Are you pregn-?”

“NO! Charlie, I swear, I am NOT pregnant!” I quickly reassured him, and I could practically sense the relief pouring out of him. “Then what-?” But I interrupted him again, “Just make sure you’re home dad…ok? Soon?”

“I promise, Bells,” Charlie said, though he sounded bewildered and worried again. We hung up. Edward looked at me solemnly. He already heard what happened and knew what to expect. “C’mon,” he said, heading out of his large house, to his shiny Volvo, leading me there with his arm around my shoulder. He paused slightly at the passenger door. He his mouth twitched slightly as he held open the door for me. “Ladies first,” he said, bowing. I grinned, hopping into the passenger’s seat.

“My fiancé, Bella…soon, to be called Bella. My wife,” Edward seemed cheered by that idea as he drove like a maniac, all the while. “Don’t you love the sound of that?”

“Not really,” I grumbled, but grudgingly added, “The idea is growing on me.” A glorious, playful smile lit up his angelic features, contemplating the idea as he lightly ruffled my hair. He sighed, “Oh, Bella…you have no idea how wonderful that sounds to me. For almost a hundred years I have not found anyone…and then fate finally brought you into my arms.” I smiled as I took his right hand in my left, and held it between us. Edward glanced at my hand, looking at his mother, Elizabeth Mason’s ring…now my ring. It sparkled, though in a town like Forks, there wasn’t really any sun. Today was no exception. Yet still, even without the glare, it managed to sparkle somehow. It reminded me of the glittering facets that shown from Edward’s skin whenever he stepped into the sunlight. It happened to everyone like him - vampires.

I absentmindedly let my mind drift a little, wondering what it would be like, as I stared into the face that always took my breath away, when Edward truly made me mine for as long as I lived, and then when I would be truly his…forever. He turned his eyes off the road to fix themselves on mine. I trusted his superhuman reflexes - I knew that going over a hundred miles per hour while not seeming to pay any attention to the road, as he reserved it for me - would seem deadly. But I knew better than to worry, by now. I looked up with love in my eyes, and he looked back with a ferocious intensity, all his passion and love bottled up in a single stare. But the ride didn’t last long enough. Too soon, we drove up the driveway of my house, my father’s cruiser already in the driveway.

I bit my lip, as I glanced over at Edward. He grimaced at me. And so with dread on my part, I stepped through the threshold. Edward trailed silently, noiselessly, behind me. “Dad?” I called loudly. “Yeah, Bella?” he responded, sounding a little relieved, still nervous. He had the game on; it looked like one of his baseball games. But I was sure that Charlie hadn’t really been watching-but like me, he couldn’t swallow his tension without doing something. Charlie’s eyes observed me, looking confused, swiftly eyeing our held hands. He walked over. “Bella,” he said looking me over, “It doesn’t seem like you’re in any danger…Why’d you call me up?” He glanced at Edward as he said this, his look at Edward as uninviting as ever. Not encouraging.

“Well,” I paused, “I was getting there…I’m engaged. There will be a wedding soon and I wanted to invite you,” I said, as I looked up at Edward, but Edward was too busy gauging Charlie’s reaction. His face was turning slowly purple. Uh-oh. His expression, his bulged eyes and tint were really not encouraging.

“Dad?” I called. He hadn’t moved a bit.

“Charlie!”

It was the sound of my worried voice that had brought him out of his reverie. He stood up, then blinked, dumbfounded. “Bells…” he began weakly, “This, I mean to say, this, of all things, is why you called me up to make sure I was home? So you could tell me-” But Charlie’s voice broke. He swallowed audibly, and shook his head numbly. Charlie started to sway dangerously. He seemed somewhat faint, dizzy. Something that Edward had been quick to noticed. He swiftly bounded forward and caught Charlie before he fell to the ground and offered him the couch. “Thanks,” Charlie mumbled, “but I will stand.”

“Of course,” Edward murmured.  Charlie looked up at Edward, as if seeing him for the first time. I saw a tangle of emotions portrayed across his face-one of them was disbelief; I knew that Charlie was hoping he was just having some sort of nightmare he would wake up from in a few minutes; seeing me bound down the steps of the stairs to cook breakfast for him, perhaps. I also saw faint resignation, from knowing it really wasn’t a dream; almost as if it wasn’t an entire shock. His eyes were wide and anxious, but also pained, probing into Edward’s before he took a fleeting glance at me, before gazing at Edward again. He looked up and down Edward, sizing him up. Softly, so that he was barely audible, he said, “Well, I can’t say that I didn’t expect this,” he sighed, shoulders slumped, eyes closed. “But Bella…” he paused, taking a deep breath, “…I don’t want you rushing into things,” opening his eyes to look at me, “I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did. I was foolish, and young, and I-” but Charlie just shook his head. He didn’t want to finish that sentence. He stared off into space, looking wistfully at something that we could not see. He smiled sadly at whatever he remembered. I could almost see him picturing Renée, I’m sure he had been, and I knew that my dad didn’t want the pain that that relationship had caused him, in the end, to be my fate, too.  

“And thinking about my relationship before,” he grimaced, “I realized that nothing good ever comes out of them. Relationships are like jumping off a cliff: It’s exhilarating, until…you hit the bottom. But when you reach it is the question.” Charlie added looking bitter, turning away to gaze out the window. I was just bewildered. Charlie had never been good at expressing his feelings. I glanced bemusedly at Edward to see if he had many any sense of what Charlie was trying to say. His topaz eyes were locked on to mine for the briefest of instances and I gazed just as intently back. Gosh, they were gorgeous - and it muddled my thinking process just looking at them. “Well,” I said carefully, focusing unwillingly on Charlie, “it won’t be that way for me and Edward. I promise you; it isn’t going to be like that.” Charlie wasn’t convinced. “How could you know that for sure, Bella?” Charlie shot back; his voice stronger than it had been, tearing his gaze from the window to face me. I couldn’t answer this question. Not yet. At least not completely.

             “Dad,” I said, looking at him very seriously, “I love Edward more than…more than life itself. I would sacrifice my life for our love.” It was a true enough statement, but Charlie didn’t know just how much. I saw Edward’s eyes tighten at these words, knowing the full implications of them, but he said nothing. “And what about you?” Charlie asked, grimacing as he turned to look at Edward. “If you could leave Bella before…” Charlie’s mouth formed a straight, solid, hard line. He was facing Edward, full on. Edward looked taken aback at this and shaken. He stepped back from Charlie like a wounded animal, as pain that looked so anguishing it broke my heart-crossed his porcelain-colored features. He had not expected Charlie surprise him with that. It was something Edward and I had refrained from discussing: Our long absence from each other. It had been necessary, or at least that is what Edward thought it to have been, but also dire, for the both of us. Charlie had to look up to pierce Edward in the eyes. “How do I know you would not do so again?” his voice hardened, “Bella here is trying so hard to convince me…but yet you haven’t spoken. You aren’t convincing me of the validity of your love for Bella.” An expression of disbelief crossed Edward’s face.  I stared blankly at Charlie. “Have I not convinced you enough?” Edward asked, almost choking with derision.

Charlie continued, scrutinizing Edward’s face, “I refuse for Bella to be unhappy. She will not make the same mistake that I did…I’m going to make sure of that.” Of all things, I had not expected that Charlie would question Edward’s affection for me. I had always seen him standing in the corner, gnashing his teeth together when ever Edward was around. He had never really accepted Edward, after what happened last September…

And he would dare to believe that Edward would do that to me, again? He wouldn’t. I knew that, and I thought that Charlie knew that too. But Charlie had a strange look on his face…as if he were waiting for something.

The cool demeanor Edward had managed to maintain was gone. His face was outraged, and he was about to say something, when all of a sudden, his expression cleared, as if he understood something for the first time. Edward’s face slipped back into a cool mask, totally and completely indecipherable. Edward’s eyes bored into my father’s. I could see Charlie piercing him just as fiercely with a gaze of his own. They were in a contest, staring each other down. The ferocity with which Edward was staring at him, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a lesser man back down, though he did not.

“With all do respect sir; I did not think I would have had to convince you of our affections-mine especially-judging by our prior behavior. Which apparently wasn’t enough,” Edward said slowly, taking a step toward Charlie. “So I want to make this unambiguous for you-very plain. So unmistakably obvious that you will not misunderstand this, so much so that the blindest beggar may see how clear this is and you could not doubt the words that spill forth from my mouth: Bella is the love of my life. My one, true, and only love. Always has been, always will be. There is no one in this world I’d rather be with. She is the most beautiful, selfless, honest, interesting, unabsorbed person I’ve ever met, and there is no more point to my life without her. I can’t even describe her perfection in such few words. Everything I do-everything I ever think about-is Bella. My life revolves around her; I could not bear the thought of losing her again, like I did.” Edward shuddered, addressing Charlie’s earlier statement. “This girl means more to me than life itself. I want everything for her. If I could give this woman the world on a silver platter, I’d do it. If she wanted me to climb the tallest mountain, or brave a thousand years of torture, even if she wished to see me dead and gone,” He paused slightly. He had a voice every preacher and politician would die for. His argument was impressive; His low, convincing voice was so lucid and powerful that you could not doubt his words, as he had promised to Charlie that he would not. His voice rose and fell with fervor, trying so hard to get Charlie to realize that he was in totally, irreversibly, in love with me. “I’d do it too. I want you to please grasp this Charlie,” Edward said pleading, “My love Bella,” nodding towards me, “knows no bounds. And it can not be bound in words, because they aren’t good enough. Eternity wouldn’t be a long enough time to be with Bella.”

Charlie smiled - well, it was more like a grimace - but he said “You can go with my blessing. Both of you,” he added, looking at me too. I stood there, stunned. “I have never thought that I would find a guy on God’s green Earth good enough for Bella and I don’t think there is,” Charlie stated matter-of-factly. “I agree with that,” Edward mumbled, though it was so quiet I am not sure Charlie caught it, “I don’t deserve Bella.”

 “However, though Bella is marrying someone I don’t entirely…agree with – no offense Edward - I want to support you, Bells, no matter what it is you decide. I want you to be happy. And Edward is the only one who could complete you. Even Jacob -” But Charlie stopped, giving me an apologetic glance. Charlie laughed bitterly, “It’s not like you gave me much of a choice in the matter, anyway.” But Charlie’s tone was a little lighter. Edward grinned.

“There is one thing I ask of you,” Charlie paused, “Please tell Renée and Phil too…They’d want to know…” Sighing, preparing myself for an onslaught sure to last several hours, I nodded. Edward held me by the waist, close to him. He led me to the kitchen, where the phone was on the wall. I braced myself and prepared myself for the onslaught.