Mom dropped him a lot when he was a baby,Leah told me.
On his head, apparently.
He used to gnaw on the crib bars, too.
Lead paint?
Looks like itshe thought.
Seth snorted. Funny. Why don't you two shut up and sleep?
BOOK TWO: JACOB 14. YOU KNOW THINGS ARE BAD WHEN YOU FEEL GUILTY F
VAMPIRES
When I got back to the house, there was no one waiting outside for my report. Still on alert?
Everything's cool,I thought tiredly.
My eyes quickly caught a small change in the now-familiar scene. There was a stack of light-colored fabric on the bottom step of the porch. I loped over to investigate. Holding my breath, because the vampire smell stuck to the fabric like you wouldn't believe, I nudged the stack with my nose.
Someone had laid out clothes. Huh. Edward must have caught my moment of irritation as I'd bolted out the door. Well. That was... nice. And weird.
I took the clothes gingerly between my teeth - ugh - and carried them back to the trees. Just in case this was some joke by the blond psychopath and I had a bunch of girls' stuff here. Bet she'd love to see the look on my human face as I stood there naked, holding a sundress.
In the cover of the trees, I dropped the stinking pile and shifted back to human. I shook the clothes out, snapping them against a tree to beat some of the smell from them. They were definitely guy's clothes - tan pants and a white button-down shirt. Neither of them long enough, but they looked like they'd fit around me. Must be Emmett's. I rolled the cuffs up on the shirtsleeves, but there wasn't much I could do about the pants. Oh well.
I had to admit, I felt better with some clothes to my name, even stinky ones that didn't quite fit. It was hard not being able to just jet back home and grab another pair of old sweatpants when I needed them. The homeless thing again - not having anyplace to go back to. No possessions, either, which wasn't bothering me too bad now, but would probably get annoying soon.
Exhausted, I walked slowly up the Cullens' porch steps in my fancy new secondhand clothes but hesitated when I got to the door. Did I knock? Stupid, when they knew I was here. I wondered why no one acknowledged that - told
me either to come in or get lost Whatever. I shrugged and let myself in.
More changes. The room had shifted back to normal - almost - in the last twenty minutes. The big flat-screen was on, low volume, showing some chick flick that no one seemed to be watching. Carlisle and Esme stood by the back windows, which were open to the river again. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett were out of sight, but I heard them murmuring upstairs. Bella was on the couch like yesterday, with just one tube still hooked into her, and an IV hanging behind the back of the sofa. She was wrapped up like a burrito in a couple of thick quilts, so at least they'd listened to me before. Rosalie was cross-legged on the ground by her head. Edward sat at the other end of the couch with Bella's burrito'ed feet in his lap. He looked up when I came in and smiled at me - just a little twitch of his mouth - like something pleased him.
Bella didn't hear me. She only glanced up when he did, and then she smiled, too. With real energy, her whole face lighting up. I couldn't remember the last time she'd looked so excited to see me.
What was with her? For crying out loud, she was married] Happily married, too - there was no question that she was in love with her vampire past the boundaries of sanity. And hugely pregnant, to top it off.
So why did she have to be so damn thrilled to see me? Like I'd made her whole freakin' day by walking through the door.
If she would just not care... Or more than that - really not want me around. It would be so much easier to stay away.
Edward seemed to be in agreement with my thoughts - we were on the same wavelength so much lately it was crazy. He was frowning now, reading her face while she beamed at me.
"They just wanted to talk," I mumbled, my voice dragging with exhaustion. "No attack