Margaret Allie Brandon (Jasper's Mate Story)

Chapter 15

Alice's POV:

There were a few more outfits that Margaret wouldn't try on because she said they would show too many scars but she was currently in a red quarter length blouse and a cream colored skirt courtesy of Esme who was the closest to her in height, Rosalie being a bit too tall and myself too short. Rosalie was doing her hair right now with a twisted braid on the top and letting the rest of her curls flow freely.

I had plans to do a subtle hint of makeup, mostly just a bit of lip gloss and some blush but that would be last I had decided. I was giving her a French manicure, because the fact that she had never had one was simply unacceptable. She was staying fairly quite but the small smile didn't leave her face since she picked out this outfit.

I was humming along to the song that we had playing on the stereo before something on Margaret's left wrist caught my eye. I put the nail polish down before I gently turned her hand over, I glanced up at her and saw her smile disappear as her own eyes found mine. She glanced at the scar before she looked away and towards the floor. I didn't know how I missed it earlier, but I knew what the scar meant and by her expression I had a large hunch it was self-inflicted.

"Margaret.......what happened here?" (Alice)

"I think you already know." (Mag)

If I wasn't a vampire I doubt I would have even heard her whisper as she continued to look away from me and towards the floor. I heard Rosalie suck in a small breath as she finally saw what I had found before she pinned the braid she was working on in place and stepped away from Margaret with a disgusted look on her face. I was prepared to kick her out but she launched into her rant before I had time too.

"How could you value life so little to try and just take yours? Don't you understand what a gift life is?!? How many people literally die every day wishing they had more time!" (Rose)

I was furious as I saw tears well up in Margaret's eyes as she pulled her hand out of my grasp and held it tightly with her other hand against her chest. Rose stopped with her rant as she stared at Margaret, as if she was expecting her to actually answer her. I watched as Margaret seemed to freeze in her seat and stiffen just as Rose started to shake in anger and I knew it wasn't her she was angry at, just her lost life since she had been turned into a vampire.

"What do you plan on telling your own children one day when they see the scar?!?" (Rose)

"I can't have children, so I suppose on that level I'm excused." (Mag)

I hadn't expected her to say anything and as Rose froze neither had she. I gently took Margaret's hands into my own again, even as she continued to look away from my own gaze and remained tense in her seat. Rose stopped shaking as she looked at Margaret, both of us wondering what she meant by that.

"What do you mean?" (Alice)

"In the car crash that killed my mom, it caused enough damage to my reproductive organs, even though I was so young, I'll never have my own children. So, I believe I'm excused from that. As for the other, there are things that some people go through that........I just wanted to escape......I couldn't take the pain anymore....... but it didn't work........he stopped me." (Mag)

"Who's he Margaret?" (Alice)

"I understand more about death than you could ever guess Rosalie, of that I can guarantee." (Mag)

"I doubt that." (Rose)

I watched as she shook her head, ignoring my previous question and Rose's comment, before closing her eyes as the tears began to fall down her face. I gently pulled her into my arms for a hug as she kept crying. Rose quietly left the room, as I whispered for Esme to come up here. I heard her soft knock on the door not a second or two later, and I was even happier that the boys had all gone out hunting as an extra precaution for the next two days so they didn't hear her second confession of the day to us.

"Margaret honey, can I finish your hair? We don't have to talk anymore if you don't want too and as for Rose just know that she won't bother you for the rest of the weekend. What she said was highly inappropriate and you must forgive her for speaking so foolishly." (Esme)

I watched as Margaret pulled away from me, her eyes now bloodshot thanks to her tears before she met Esme's kind gaze in the reflection of the mirror before slowly nodding. I started doing her nails again, even as she refused to meet my occasional glance to her, the smile she had worn for the last two hours gone and not looking to returning anytime soon.

"Perhaps after we finish, you can show me your sketches that Jasper won't stop going on about? I've been very eager to see them, as his praise is never given lightly." (Esme)

I watched as she finally looked up and met Esme's kind gaze in the mirror on the vanity again and nodded as a small smile, smaller than the one she wore earlier, graced her face. A few minutes later and both Esme and I were done with everything including the little bit of makeup I applied, as we stepped back so she could look at herself in the vanity. I saw her smile grow a bit before her eyes traced the scars on the right side of her face and it shrank again before she turned to face us but not meeting our eyes as she did.

"Thank you Alice, thank you Mrs. Cullen." (Mag)

"Please dear, it's just Esme. Now, let's go critique each other's sketches shall we?" (Esme)

I watched as she walked out with Esme, no doubt going to Esme's studio where Jasper had already left Margaret's sketch book. I let out an annoyed sigh knowing that Rose might have just ruined the entire weekend that I had planned if Margaret stays down in the dumps where Rosalie put her.

"Oh when I tell Jasper what you did Rose, you better hope Emmett can hold him back." (Alice)