21

er spending the day with the family, we headed on home. Sara-Bell fell asleep after Leah, Jessie and Kelsi left. I held her in the car while Jacob drove us home. When we got to the house, I went upstairs to but Sara-Bell in her bed. She was sleeping soundly, so I carefully put her in bed. She began tossing and turning as soon as she was under the covers, she must have been having a nightmare. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and tried to sooth her as much as I could. I stayed there with her, waiting for her restlessness to come to an end. I held her in my arms humming to her and rocking her back and forth. I wasn’t sure how long I was there for; all I know was that it was long enough for Jacob to come up to her room to see why I hadn’t left yet.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s just been restless this whole time and I’m afraid she might be having a nightmare. I decided to stay up here and wait until she settled down.” He came and sat on the other side of her on the bed, kissing her on the forehead.
We stayed with her all night, all three of us cramped together on her bed, and both Jacob and I eventually fell asleep.
***
I woke up the next morning in Sara-Bell’s bed. She was still asleep in my arms, the sheets completely off her body, but Jacob had left the room. I got up and put the sheets on top of her, quietly walked out of the room and went downstairs.
I found Jacob in the kitchen making breakfast for three. I walked up behind him, put my arms around his him and kissed him on the neck. He turned around to face me, putting his arms around my waist, and kissed me passionately for a long moment. I missed kissing him this way. Ever since we had Sara-Bell, I haven’t had as much alone time than before we had her, not that I wasn’t grateful for having such a beautiful baby girl. He lifted me up and sat me down on the counter, crushing his lips harder to mine. He then cuffed one hand behind my neck and the other on the small of my back, pulling me closer to him.
“Um… Jacob?” I said against his lips, trying to gasp for air. He didn’t stop, didn’t even hesitate for a second, he just continued kissing me non-stop.
I tried to pull away but he was too strong that I wasn’t even sure he knew I was struggling against him. Finally I was able to pull away from him when he began to relax a little. My breathing became heavy and we both started laughing together. His body shook against mine, for we were still fairly close together, my arms still around his neck and his still around my waist. I gave him one last kiss on the lips before he let go of me and went back over to the stove where he was cooking. I jumped off the counter and went over to him, putting my arms around him.
“Um… what exactly was that?”
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I’m not going to be around today so I wanted to get to kiss you as much as possible today,” he said turning his head as he blushed.
“Why? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go to my Dad’s. I haven’t seen him in a while and he wants to go watch the game with Charlie. I don’t have to go if you don’t want me to tho--”
“No, no! It’s alright. You haven’t seen Billy in a long time and you should go.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. You go have a good time with Billy and I’ll stay here with Sara-Bell. Maybe I’ll call Leah and we can go see a movie or something with the girls.”
“Okay.”
“And we’ll come by later tonight since I haven’t seen Billy in a while either, and neither has Sara-Bell. Okay?”
“Okay. That sounds good.”
“Great.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked into the living room. Sara-Bell was sitting on the couch watching cartoons and laughing. I went over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, putting my arms around her.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
“Morning, Momma.”
“Hey, what would say if I told you that we were going to have just a ‘Girl’s Day Out’? Just you, me, Leah, and Kelsi?”
“That sounds like fun, Momma!”
“Really?”
“Yeah!”
“Great.”
“What about Daddy?”
“Well, he’s going to go visit your grandpa Billy today and then we’re going to go over later and hang out with them. Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, sweetie. Go get dressed and I’ll call Leah.”
“Okay, Momma!” She jumped up from the couch and ran upstairs with a huge, tiny grin spread across her baby-face. It just made me wonder how such a happy, little, baby girl could have been like she was all last night.
***Jacob left and Leah arrived with Kelsi soon afterward. I dressed Sara-Bell in a cute, little sunflower dress that Alice got for her. Kelsi was growing faster than any of us had expected, she already looked about Sara-Bell's physical age of five years old. She was also wearing a dress that Alice gave her, for her birthday. We left to go down to Port Angeles to have linch and go shopping. The whole day went by, though not in a blur. Spending a day with my best friend and my beautiful daughter seemed to be something I really needed all along. No more stress about the Volturi, no more drama. No more. Just being happy with my friends and family.
We stopped by the last store for the day, looking at clothes for Sara-Bell and Kelsi, before we were supposed to leave. As Sara- Bell and Kelsi tried on their last dresses they picked out I went over to the checkout counter and put the clothes on the counter.
That's when I felt it. Something inside me, some feeling, made me feel like something or someone was shadowing me. Watching me. I turned to see no one there. I shook my head to get it out of my mind. Just forget about it. It's probably nothing. We left the store and continued to walk the long way back to the car. I gave Leah my keys so she could go get the car while I waited with Kelsi and Sara-Bell.
Leah and I took them to the park since we had more than an hour before we were supposed to meet Jacob at Billy's. They ran across the park chasing each other. Sara-Bell chased a few puppys that, which we had to stop her because we were afraid she would start hunting it and sucking its blood. We spent our last few minutes together by doing nothing but lying in the soft grass and staring up at the clouds. Finally, my phone vibrated in my pocket and I had to get up to answer it.
"Hey, are you girls coming over soon?"
"Yes. We'll be there in just a few short minutes."
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you, too." The phone line went dead and I shut the phone.
I was about to go join the girls again when I saw it. I saw, in the corner of my eye, a strange, dark figure was hidden in the trees of the park, watching. I snapped my head in the direction of the figure, but as soon as I did, it was gone. Disappeared. What's going on? Who could that be? It can't be one of the Volturi. Could it? No. Why would they come back? You know what, just don't worry about it. It's probably... hopefully nothing.