Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,228

might have enjoyed his enthusiasm, but underneath his fascination with something new, I could see that he didn’t doubt Alice’s version of things.

I would be patient. They would all come to understand over time.

“Was that you we heard, Edward?” Esme asked. She made her voice louder than was necessary so Bella wouldn’t be left out.

“It sounded like a bear choking,” Emmett added.

Bella smiled shyly. “That was him.”

Emmett grinned at her, pleased with her gameness to play along.

“Bella was being unintentionally funny,” I explained.

Alice was rocketing toward us. I supposed it shouldn’t worry me that she was being so herself. She could see better than I could guess what would frighten Bella and what would not.

She skipped to a stop just an arm’s length away.

“It’s time,” Alice intoned solemnly, working the oracle vibe for Bella’s benefit. Thunder shattered the stillness right on cue. I shook my head.

“Eerie, isn’t it?” Emmett murmured to Bella, winking when she looked surprised that he was addressing her. She grinned at him, only a little hesitant.

He glanced at me. I like her.

“Let’s go!” Alice urged, reaching for Emmett’s hand. She knew exactly how long we could get away with playing unrestrained, and she didn’t want to waste any time. Emmett was no less eager to get started. Together, they raced toward Carlisle.

Can I have a moment with her? I’d like her to be comfortable with me, Esme entreated. I could see how much it meant to her, for Bella to see her as a person and a friend, not something to be feared. I nodded, then turned to Bella.

“Are you ready for some ball?” I grinned, easily inferring from Charlie’s comments that this evening was an anomaly for her. Well, hopefully we could keep her entertained.

“Go team?”

I laughed at her put-on enthusiasm, and then gave Esme her desired space, chasing after Emmett and Alice.

I listened to Esme chatting with Bella as I joined the others. She didn’t have any information she wanted to impart or extract—she just wanted to interact with Bella—but I was riveted regardless. I divided my attention between that conversation and the one around me.

“Edward and I already picked teams,” Rosalie said. “Jasper and Emmett are with me.”

Alice was unsurprised. Emmett liked the odds. Jasper was less enthused; he preferred to work with Alice rather than against her. Carlisle was, like me, pleased at Rosalie’s engagement with the game.

Esme was complaining about our poor sportsmanship, obviously preparing Bella for the worst.

Carlisle pulled out a quarter. “Call it, Rose.”

“She chose the teams,” I objected.

Carlisle looked at me and then pointedly at Alice, who had already seen that the coin would fall heads up.

“Rose,” he said again, and flipped the quarter into the air.

“Heads.”

I sighed, and she grinned. Carlisle caught the coin neatly and flipped it onto his forearm.

“Heads,” he confirmed.

“We’ll bat,” Rosalie said.

Carlisle nodded, and he, Alice, and I moved to take our fielding positions.

Esme was telling Bella about her first son now, and I was surprised at the intimate direction their conversation had taken. This was Esme’s rawest wound, but she was gentle and composed as she spoke. I wondered why she’d decided to share that.

Or perhaps Esme hadn’t decided at all. There was something about the way Bella listened.… Hadn’t I been eager to spill every dark secret I’d ever had? Hadn’t young Jacob Black betrayed an ancient treaty simply to amuse her? She must have this effect on everyone.

I moved into deep left field. I could still hear Bella’s voice clearly.

“You don’t mind, then? That I’m… all wrong for him?” Bella asked.

Poor child, Esme thought. This must be so overwhelming for her.

“No,” she told Bella, and I could hear that this was true. All Esme wanted was my happiness. “You’re what he wants. It will work out, somehow.”

But, like Emmett, she could only see one way. I was glad I was far enough out that Bella couldn’t read my face clearly.

Alice waited until Esme was in the umpire’s position, Bella at her side, before she stepped onto the makeshift mound.

“All right, batter up,” Esme called.

Alice hurled out the first pitch. Emmett, too eager, took a massive swing that whistled so closely by the ball that the air pressure disrupted the straight line of the pitch. Jasper snagged the ball out of the air, then whipped it back to Alice.

“Was that a strike?” I heard Bella whisper to Esme.

“If they don’t hit it, it’s a strike,” Esme responded.

Alice fired another pitch across the plate. Emmett had recalibrated. I was running before I