The line of black advanced on me through the shroud-like mist. I could see their dark ruby eyes glinting with desire, lusting for the kill. Their lips pulled back over their sharp, wet teethโsome to snarl, some to smile.
I heard the child behind me whimper, but I couldnโt turn to look at him. Though I was desperate to be sure that he was safe, I could not afford any lapse in focus now.
They ghosted closer, their black robes billowing slightly with the movement. I saw their hands curl into bone-colored claws. They started to drift apart, angling to come at us from all sides. We were surrounded. We were going to die.
And then, like a burst of light from a flash, the whole scene was different. Yet nothing changedโthe Volturi still stalked toward us, poised to kill. All that really changed was how the picture looked to me. Suddenly, I was hungry for it. Iย wantedย them to charge. The panic changed to bloodlust as I crouched forward, a smile on my face, and a growl ripped through my bared teeth.
I jolted upright, shocked out of the dream.
The room was black. It was also steamy hot. Sweat matted my hair at the temples and rolled down my throat.
I groped the warm sheets and found them empty. โEdward?โ
Just then, my fingers encountered something smooth and flat and stiff. One sheet of paper, folded in half. I took the note with me and felt my way across the room to the light switch.
The outside of the note was addressed to Mrs. Cullen.
Iโm hoping you won โt wake and notice my absence, but, if you should, Iโll be back very soon. Iโve just gone to the mainland to hunt. Go back to sleep and Iโll be here when you wake again. I love you.
I sighed. Weโd been here about two weeks now, so I should have been expecting that he would have to leave, but I hadnโt been thinking about time. We seemed to exist outside of time here, just drifting along in a perfect state.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I felt absolutely wide awake, though the clock on the dresser said it was after one. I knew I would never be able to sleep as hot and sticky as I felt. Not to mention the fact that if I shut off the light and closed my eyes, I was sure to see those prowling black figures in my head.
I got up and wandered aimlessly through the dark house, flipping on lights. It felt so big and empty without Edward there. Different.
I ended up in the kitchen and decided that maybe comfort food was what I needed.
I poked around in the fridge until I found all the ingredients for fried chicken. The popping and sizzling of the chicken in the pan was a nice, homey sound; I felt less nervous while it filled the silence.
It smelled so good that I started eating it right out of the pan, burning my tongue in the process. By the fifth or sixth bite, though, it had cooled enough for me to taste it. My chewing slowed. Was there something off about the flavor? I checked the meat, and it was white all the way through, but I wondered if it was completely done. I took another experimental bite; I chewed twice. Ughโdefinitely bad. I jumped up to spit it into the sink.
Suddenly, the chicken-and-oil smell was revolting. I took the whole plate and shook it into the garbage, then opened the windows to chase away the scent. A coolish breeze had picked up outside. It felt good on my skin.
I was abruptly exhausted, but I didnโt want to go back to the hot room.
So I opened more windows in the TV room and lay on the couch right beneath them. I turned on the same movie weโd watched the other day and quickly fell asleep to the bright opening song.
When I opened my eyes again, the sun was halfway up the sky, but it was not the light that woke me. Cool arms were around me, pulling me
against him. At the same time, a sudden pain twisted in my stomach, almost like the aftershock of catching a punch in the gut.
โIโm sorry,โ Edward was murmuring as he wiped a wintry hand across my clammy forehead. โSo much for thoroughness. I didnโt think about how hot you would be with me gone. Iโll have an air conditioner installed before I leave again.โ
I couldnโt concentrate on what he was saying. โExcuse me!โ I gasped, struggling to get free of his arms.
He dropped his hold automatically. โBella?โ
I streaked for the bathroom with my hand clamped over my mouth. I felt so horrible that I didnโt even careโat firstโthat he was with me while I crouched over the toilet and was violently sick.
โBella? Whatโs wrong?โ
I couldnโt answer yet. He held me anxiously, keeping my hair out of my face, waiting till I could breathe again.
โDamn rancid chicken,โ I moaned.
โAre you all right?โ His voice was strained.
โFine,โ I panted. โItโs just food poisoning. You donโt need to see this. Go away.โ
โNot likely, Bella.โ
โGo away,โ I moaned again, struggling to get up so I could rinse my mouth out. He helped me gently, ignoring the weak shoves I aimed at him.
After my mouth was clean, he carried me to the bed and sat me down carefully, supporting me with his arms.
โFood poisoning?โ
โYeah,โ I croaked. โI made some chicken last night. It tasted off, so I threw it out. But I ate a few bites first.โ
He put a cold hand on my forehead. It felt nice. โHow do you feel now?โ
I thought about that for a moment. The nausea had passed as suddenly as it had come, and I felt like I did any other morning. โPretty normal. A little hungry, actually.โ
He made me wait an hour and keep down a big glass of water before he fried me some eggs. I felt perfectly normal, just a little tired from being up in the middle of the night. He put on CNNโweโd been so out of touch, world war three could have broken out and we wouldnโt have knownโand I lounged drowsily across his lap.
I got bored with the news and twisted around to kiss him. Just like this morning, a sharp pain hit my stomach when I moved. I lurched away from him, my hand tight over my mouth. I knew Iโd never make it to the bathroom this time, so I ran to the kitchen sink.
He held my hair again.
โMaybe we should go back to Rio, see a doctor,โ he suggested anxiously when I was rinsing my mouth afterward.
I shook my head and edged toward the hallway. Doctors meant needles. โIโll be fine right after I brush my teeth.โ
When my mouth tasted better, I searched through my suitcase for the little first-aid kit Alice had packed for me, full of human things like bandages and painkillers andโmy object nowโPepto-Bismol. Maybe I could settle my stomach and calm Edward down.
But before I found the Pepto, I happened across something else that Alice had packed for me. I picked up the small blue box and stared at it in my hand for a long moment, forgetting everything else.
Then I started counting in my head. Once. Twice. Again.
The knock startled me; the little box fell back into the suitcase. โAre you well?โ Edward asked through the door. โDid you get sick
again?โ
โYes and no,โ I said, but my voice sounded strangled. โBella? Can I please come in?โ Worriedly now.
โOโฆ kay?โ
He came in and appraised my position, sitting cross-legged on the floor by the suitcase, and my expression, blank and staring. He sat next to me, his hand going to my forehead at once.
โWhatโs wrong?โ
โHow many days has it been since the wedding?โ I whispered. โSeventeen,โ he answered automatically. โBella, what is it?โ
I was counting again. I held up a finger, cautioning him to wait, and mouthed the numbers to myself. Iโd been wrong about the days before. Weโd been here longer than Iโd thought. I started over again.
โBella!โ he whispered urgently. โIโm losing my mind over here.โ
I tried to swallow. It didnโt work. So I reached into the suitcase and fumbled around until I found the little blue box of tampons again. I held them up silently.
He stared at me in confusion. โWhat? Are you trying to pass this illness off as PMS?โ
โNo,โ I managed to choke out. โNo, Edward. Iโm trying to tell you that my period is five days late.โ
His facial expression didnโt change. It was like I hadnโt spoken. โI donโt think I have food poisoning,โ I added.
He didnโt respond. He had turned into a sculpture.
โThe dreams,โ I mumbled to myself in a flat voice. โSleeping so much.
The crying. All that food. Oh. Oh.ย Oh.โ
Edwardโs stare seemed glassy, as if he couldnโt see me anymore. Reflexively, almost involuntarily, my hand dropped to my stomach. โOh!โ I squeaked again.
I lurched to my feet, slipping out of Edwardโs unmoving hands. Iโd never changed out of the little silk shorts and camisole Iโd worn to bed. I yanked the blue fabric out of the way and stared at my stomach.
โImpossible,โ I whispered.
I had absolutely no experience with pregnancy or babies or any part of that world, but I wasnโt an idiot. Iโd seen enough movies and TV shows to know that this wasnโt how it worked. I was only five days late. If Iย wasย pregnant, my body wouldnโt even have registered that fact. I would not have morning sickness. I would not have changed my eating or sleeping habits.
And I most definitely would not have a small but defined bump sticking out between my hips.
I twisted my torso back and forth, examining it from every angle, as if it would disappear in exactly the right light. I ran my fingers over the subtle bulge, surprised by how rock hard it felt under my skin.
โImpossible,โ I said again, because, bulge or no bulge, period or no period (and there was definitely no period, though Iโd never been late a day in my life), there was no way I could beย pregnant. The only person Iโd ever had sex with was a vampire, for crying out loud.
A vampire who was still frozen on the floor with no sign of ever moving again.
So there had to be some other explanation, then. Something wrong with me. A strange South American disease with all the signs of pregnancy, only acceleratedโฆ
And then I remembered somethingโa morning of internet research that seemed a lifetime ago now. Sitting at the old desk in my room at Charlieโs house with gray light glowing dully through the window, staring at my ancient, wheezing computer, reading avidly through a web-site called โVampires AโZ.โ It had been less than twenty-four hours since Jacob Black, trying to entertain me with the Quileute legends he didnโt believe in yet, had told me that Edward was a vampire. Iโd scanned anxiously through the first entries on the site, which was dedicated to vampire myths around the world. The Filipinoย Danag, the Hebrewย Estrie,ย the Romanianย Varacolaci,ย the Italianย Stregoni beneficiย (a legend actually based on my new father-in-lawโs early exploits with the Volturi, not that Iโd known anything about that at the time)โฆ Iโd paid less and less attention as the stories had grown more and more implausible. I only remembered vague bits of the later entries. They mostly seemed like excuses dreamed up to explain things like infant mortality ratesโand infidelity.ย No, honey, Iโm not having an affair! That sexy woman you saw sneaking out of the house was an evil succubus. Iโm lucky I escaped with my life!ย (Of course, with what I knew now about Tanya and her sisters, I suspected that some of those excuses had been nothing but fact.) There had been one for the ladies, too.ย How can you accuse me of cheating on youโjust because youโve come home from a two-year sea voyage and Iโm pregnant? It was the incubus. He hypnotized me with his mystical vampire powers.โฆ
That had been part of the definition of the incubusโthe ability to father children with his hapless prey.
I shook my head, dazed. Butโฆ
I thought of Esme and especially Rosalie. Vampires couldnโt have children. If it were possible, Rosalie would have found a way by now. The incubus myth was nothing but a fable.
Except thatโฆ well, thereย wasย a difference. Of course Rosalie could not conceive a child, because she was frozen in the state in which she passed from human to inhuman. Totally unchanging. And human womenโs bodies had toย changeย to bear children. The constant change of a monthly cycle for one thing, and then the bigger changes needed to accommodate a growing child. Rosalieโs body couldnโt change.
But mine could. Mine did. I touched the bump on my stomach that had not been there yesterday.
And human menโwell, they pretty much stayed the same from puberty to death. I remembered a random bit of trivia, gleaned from who knows where: Charlie Chaplin was in his seventies when he fathered his youngest child. Men had no such thing as child-bearing years or cycles of fertility.
Of course, how would anyone know if vampire men could father children, when their partners were not able? What vampire on earth would have the restraint necessary to test the theory with a human woman? Or the inclination?
I could think of only one.
Part of my head was sorting through fact and memory and speculation, while the other halfโthe part that controlled the ability to move even the smallest musclesโwas stunned beyond the capacity for normal operations. I couldnโt move my lips to speak, though I wanted to ask Edward toย pleaseย explain to me what was going on. I needed to go back to where he sat, to touch him, but my body wouldnโt follow instructions. I could only stare at my shocked eyes in the mirror, my fingers gingerly pressed against the swelling on my torso.
And then, like in my vivid nightmare last night, the scene abruptly transformed. Everything I saw in the mirror looked completely different, though nothing actuallyย wasย different.
What happened to change everything was that a soft little nudge bumped my handโfrom inside my body.
In the same moment, Edwardโs phone rang, shrill and demanding.
Neither of us moved. It rang again and again. I tried to tune it out while I pressed my fingers to my stomach, waiting. In the mirror my expression was no longer bewilderedโit was wondering now. I barely noticed when the strange, silent tears started streaming down my cheeks.
The phone kept ringing. I wished Edward would answer itโI was having a moment. Possibly the biggest of my life.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Finally, the annoyance broke through everything else. I got down on my knees next to EdwardโI found myself moving more carefully, a thousand times more aware of the way each motion feltโand patted his pockets until I found the phone. I half-expected him to thaw out and answer it himself, but he was perfectly still.
I recognized the number, and I could easily guess why she was calling.
โHi, Alice,โ I said. My voice wasnโt much better than before. I cleared my throat.
โBella? Bella, are you okay?โ โYeah. Um. Is Carlisle there?โ โHe is. Whatโs the problem?โ
โIโm notโฆ one hundred percentโฆ sure. โ
โIs Edward all right?โ she asked warily. She called Carlisleโs name away from the phone and then demanded, โWhy didnโt he pick up the phone?โ before I could answer her first question.
โIโm not sure.โ
โBella, whatโs going on? I just sawโโ โWhat did you see?โ
There was a silence. โHereโs Carlisle,โ she finally said.
It felt like ice water had been injected in my veins. If Alice had seen a vision of me with a green-eyed, angel-faced child in my arms, she would have answered me, wouldnโt she?
While I waited through the split second it took for Carlisle to speak, the vision Iโd imagined for Alice danced behind my lids. A tiny, beautiful little baby, even more beautiful than the boy in my dreamโa tiny Edward in my arms. Warmth shot through my veins, chasing the ice away.
โBella, itโs Carlisle. Whatโs going on?โ
โIโโ I wasnโt sure how to answer. Would he laugh at my conclusions, tell me I was crazy? Was I just having another colorful dream? โIโm a little worried about Edward.โฆ Can vampires go into shock?โ
โHas he been harmed?โ Carlisleโs voice was suddenly urgent. โNo, no,โ I assured him. โJustโฆ taken by surprise.โ
โI donโt understand, Bella.โ
โI thinkโฆ well, I think thatโฆ maybeโฆ I might be โ I took a deep
breath. โPregnant.โ
As if to back me up, there was another tiny nudge in my abdomen. My hand flew to my stomach.
After a long pause, Carlisleโs medical training kicked in. โWhen was the first day of your last menstrual cycle?โ
โSixteen days before the wedding.โ Iโd done the mental math thoroughly enough just before to be able to answer with certainty.
โHow do you feel?โ
โWeird,โ I told him, and my voice broke. Another trickle of tears dribbled down my cheeks. โThis is going to sound crazyโlook, I know itโs way too early for any of this. Maybe Iย amย crazy. But Iโm having bizarre dreams and eating all the time and crying and throwing up andโฆ andโฆ I swear somethingย movedย inside me just now.โ
Edwardโs head snapped up. I sighed in relief.
Edward held his hand out for the phone, his face white and hard. โUm, I think Edward wants to talk to you.โ
โPut him on,โ Carlisle said in a strained voice.
Not entirely sure that Edwardย couldย talk, I put the phone in his outstretched hand.
He pressed it to his ear. โIs it possible?โ he whispered. He listened for a long time, staring blankly at nothing.
โAnd Bella?โ he asked. His arm wrapped around me as he spoke, pulling me close into his side.
He listened for what seemed like a long time and then said, โYes. Yes, I will.โ
He pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed the โendโ button.
Right away, he dialed a new number.
โWhat did Carlisle say?โ I asked impatiently.
Edward answered in a lifeless voice. โHe thinks youโre pregnant.โ
The words sent a warm shiver down my spine. The little nudger fluttered inside me.
โWho are you calling now?โ I asked as he put the phone back to his ear. โThe airport. Weโre going home.โ
Edward was on the phone for more than an hour without a break. I guessed that he was arranging our flight home, but I couldnโt be sure because he wasnโt speaking English. It sounded like he was arguing; he spoke through his teeth a lot.
While he argued, he packed. He whirled around the room like an angry tornado, leaving order rather than destruction in his path. He threw a set of my clothes on the bed without looking at them, so I assumed it was time for
me to get dressed. He continued with his argument while I changed, gesturing with sudden, agitated movements.
When I could no longer bear the violent energy radiating out of him, I quietly left the room. His manic concentration made me sick to my stomach
โnot like the morning sickness, just uncomfortable. I would wait somewhere else for his mood to pass. I couldnโt talk to this icy, focused Edward who honestly frightened me a little.
Once again, I ended up in the kitchen. There was a bag of pretzels in the cupboard. I started chewing on them absently, staring out the window at the sand and rocks and trees and ocean, everything glittering in the sun.
Someone nudged me.
โI know,โ I said. โI donโt want to go, either.โ
I stared out the window for a moment, but the nudger didnโt respond. โI donโt understand,โ I whispered. โWhat isย wrongย here?โ Surprising, absolutely. Astonishing, even. Butย wrong?
No.
So why was Edward soย furious? He was the one who had actually wished out loud for a shotgun wedding.
I tried to reason through it.
Maybe it wasnโt so confusing that Edward wanted us to go home right away. Heโd want Carlisle to check me out, make sure my assumption was rightโthough there was absolutely no doubt in my head at this point.
Probably theyโd want to figure out why I was alreadyย soย pregnant, with the bump and the nudging and all of that. That wasnโt normal.
Once I thought of this, I was sure I had it. He must be so worried about the baby. I hadnโt gotten around to freaking out yet. My brain worked slower than hisโit was still stuck marveling over the picture it had conjured up before: the tiny child with Edwardโs eyesโgreen, as his had been when he was humanโlying fair and beautiful in my arms. I hoped he would have Edwardโs face exactly, with no interference from mine.
It was funny how abruptly and entirely necessary this vision had become. From that first little touch, the whole world had shifted. Where before there was just one thing I could not live without, now there were two. There was no divisionโmy love was not split between them now; it wasnโt like that. It was more like my heart had grown, swollen up to twice
its size in that moment. All that extra space, already filled. The increase was almost dizzying.
Iโd never really understood Rosalieโs pain and resentment before. Iโd never imagined myself a mother, never wanted that. It had been a piece of cake to promise Edward that I didnโt care about giving up children for him, because I truly didnโt. Children, in the abstract, had never appealed to me. They seemed to be loud creatures, often dripping some form of goo. Iโd never had much to do with them. When Iโd dreamed of Renรฉe providing me with a brother, Iโd always imagined anย olderย brother. Someone to take care of me, rather than the other way around.
This child, Edwardโs child, was a whole different story.
I wanted him like I wanted air to breathe. Not a choiceโa necessity.
Maybe I just had a really bad imagination. Maybe that was why Iโd been unable to imagine that I wouldย likeย being married until after I already wasโ unable to see that I would want a baby until after one was already coming.
โฆ
As I put my hand on my stomach, waiting for the next nudge, tears streaked down my cheeks again.
โBella?โ
I turned, made wary by the tone of his voice. It was too cold, too careful.
His face matched his voice, empty and hard.
And then he saw that I was crying.
โBella!โ He crossed the room in a flash and put his hands on my face. โAre you in pain?โ
โNo, noโโ
He pulled me against his chest. โDonโt be afraid. Weโll be home in sixteen hours. Youโll be fine. Carlisle will be ready when we get there. Weโll take care of this, and youโll be fine, youโll be fine.โ
โTake care of this? What do you mean?โ
He leaned away and looked me in the eye. โWeโre going to get that thing out before it can hurt any part of you. Donโt be scared. Iย wonโtย let it hurt you.โ
โThatย thing?โ I gasped.
He looked sharply away from me, toward the front door. โDammit! I forgot Gustavo was due today. Iโll get rid of him and be right back.โ He darted out of the room.
I clutched the counter for support. My knees were wobbly.
Edward had just called my little nudger aย thing. He said Carlisle would get it out.
โNo,โ I whispered.
Iโd gotten it wrong before. He didnโt care about the baby at all. He wanted toย hurtย him. The beautiful picture in my head shifted abruptly, changed into something dark. My pretty baby crying, my weak arms not enough to protect him.โฆ
What could I do? Would I be able to reason with them? What if I couldnโt? Did this explain Aliceโs strange silence on the phone? Is that what sheโd seen? Edward and Carlisle killing that pale, perfect child before he could live?
โNo,โ I whispered again, my voice stronger. That couldย notย be. I would not allow it.
I heard Edward speaking Portuguese again. Arguing again. His voice got closer, and I heard him grunt in exasperation. Then I heard another voice, low and timid. A womanโs voice.
He came into the kitchen ahead of her and went straight to me. He wiped the tears from my cheeks and murmured in my ear through the thin, hard line of his lips.
โSheโs insisting on leaving the food she broughtโshe made us dinner.โ If he had been less tense, less furious, I knew he would have rolled his eyes. โItโs an excuseโshe wants to make sure I havenโt killed you yet.โ His voice went ice cold at the end.
Kaure edged nervously around the corner with a covered dish in her hands. I wished I could speak Portuguese, or that my Spanish was less rudimentary, so that I could try to thank this woman who had dared to anger a vampire just to check on me.
Her eyes flickered between the two of us. I saw her measuring the color in my face, the moisture in my eyes. Mumbling something I didnโt understand, she put the dish on the counter.
Edward snapped something at her; Iโd never heard him be so impolite before. She turned to go, and the whirling motion of her long skirt wafted the smell of the food into my face. It was strongโonions and fish. I gagged and whirled for the sink. I felt Edwardโs hands on my forehead and heard his soothing murmur through the roaring in my ears. His hands disappeared
for a second, and I heard the refrigerator slam shut. Mercifully, the smell disappeared with the sound, and Edwardโs hands were cooling my clammy face again. It was over quickly.
I rinsed my mouth in the tap while he caressed the side of my face. There was a tentative little nudge in my womb.
Itโs okay. Weโre okay, I thought toward the bump.
Edward turned me around, pulling me into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder. My hands, instinctively, folded over my stomach.
I heard a little gasp and I looked up.
The woman was still there, hesitating in the doorway with her hands half-outstretched as if she had been looking for some way to help. Her eyes were locked on my hands, popping wide with shock. Her mouth hung open.
Then Edward gasped, too, and he suddenly turned to face the woman, pushing me slightly behind his body. His arm wrapped across my torso, like he was holding me back.
Suddenly, Kaure was shouting at himโloudly, furiously, her unintelligible words flying across the room like knives. She raised her tiny fist in the air and took two steps forward, shaking it at him. Despite her ferocity, it was easy to see the terror in her eyes.
Edward stepped toward her, too, and I clutched at his arm, frightened for the woman. But when he interrupted her tirade, his voice took me by surprise, especially considering how sharp heโd been with her when sheย wasnโtย screeching at him. It was low now; it was pleading. Not only that, but the sound was different, more guttural, the cadence off. I didnโt think he was speaking Portuguese anymore.
For a moment, the woman stared at him in wonder, and then her eyes narrowed as she barked out a long question in the same alien tongue.
I watched as his face grew sad and serious, and he nodded once. She took a quick step back and crossed herself.
He reached out to her, gesturing toward me and then resting his hand against my cheek. She replied angrily again, waving her hands accusingly toward him, and then gestured to him. When she finished, he pleaded again with the same low, urgent voice.
Her expression changedโshe stared at him with doubt plain on her face as he spoke, her eyes repeatedly flashing to my confused face. He stopped speaking, and she seemed to be deliberating something. She looked back
and forth between the two of us, and then, unconsciously it seemed, took a step forward.
She made a motion with her hands, miming a shape like a balloon jutting out from her stomach. I startedโdid her legends of the predatory blood- drinker includeย this? Could she possibly know something about what was growing inside me?
She walked a few steps forward deliberately this time and asked a few brief questions, which he responded to tensely. Then he became the questionerโone quick query. She hesitated and then slowly shook her head. When he spoke again, his voice was so agonized that I looked up at him in shock. His face was drawn with pain.
In answer, she walked slowly forward until she was close enough to lay her small hand on top of mine, over my stomach. She spoke one word in Portuguese.
โMorte,โย she sighed quietly. Then she turned, her shoulders bent as if the conversation had aged her, and left the room.
I knew enough Spanish for that one.
Edward was frozen again, staring after her with the tortured expression fixed on his face. A few moments later, I heard a boatโs engine putter to life and then fade into the distance.
Edward did not move until I started for the bathroom. Then his hand caught my shoulder.
โWhere are you going?โ His voice was a whisper of pain. โTo brush my teeth again.โ
โDonโt worry about what she said. Itโs nothing but legends, old lies for the sake of entertainment.โ
โI didnโt understand anything,โ I told him, though it wasnโt entirely true.
As if I could discount something because it was a legend. My life was circled by legend on every side. They were all true.
โI packed your toothbrush. Iโll get it for you.โ He walked ahead of me to the bedroom.
โAre we leaving soon?โ I called after him. โAs soon as youโre done.โ
He waited for my toothbrush to repack it, pacing silently around the bedroom. I handed it to him when I was finished.
โIโll get the bags into the boat.โ
โEdwardโโ
He turned back. โYes?โ
I hesitated, trying to think of some way to get a few seconds alone. โCould youโฆ pack some of the food? You know, in case I get hungry again.โ
โOf course,โ he said, his eyes suddenly soft. โDonโt worry about anything. Weโll get to Carlisle in just a few hours, really. This will all be over soon.โ
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
He turned and left the room, one big suitcase in each hand.
I whirled and scooped up the phone heโd left on the counter. It was very unlike him to forget thingsโto forget that Gustavo was coming, to leave his phone lying here. He was so stressed he was barely himself.
I flipped it open and scrolled through the preprogrammed numbers. I was glad he had the sound turned off, afraid that he would catch me. Would he be at the boat now? Or back already? Would he hear me from the kitchen if I whispered?
I found the number I wanted, one I had never called before in my life. I pressed the โsendโ button and crossed my fingers.
โHello?โ the voice like golden wind chimes answered. โRosalie?โ I whispered. โItโs Bella. Please. You have to help me.โ