All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part III

12

Xandra

 When Cole and I first phased, Dad had made a huge deal about pack secrets. Something that you hear in a brother's head without him being able to help it, should be treated as if he'd whispered it in your ear in the strictest confidence. 

"You just go on about your life as if you'd never heard it," Dad had said. It sure seemed reasonable.

 I know I didn't want my most private thoughts being spread around. Anthony and I were not going to tell Mom that Dad sure didn't like her last culinary experiment as much as he'd acted like he did. They don't always eat the same food, she doesn't really like fruit, for example. So it's harder for her to know what's good, but he loves her for trying new things. Anthony wasn't going to tell anybody about the time Mollie and I skipped the first class of the day to go out to breakfast, and I wasn't going to tell Mom that he kept a dirty magazine under his mattress. Gross.  Even though according to him it's the "classier" one. And he definitely wasn't going to tell a single soul about Embry and me. 

Anyway, at first, I had no problem keeping the secrets of any of my brothers. The night before Mom and Dad left, he asked me to come for a run with him. We'd just made it though the trees, when he told me what's really going on with Mollie and Seth. I stopped short and just stared at him. My first instinct was to think that I knew that already. Seth had a hard time thinking of anything else. This was a huge deal though. Everyone knew that the two had big fat crushes on each other.

 Just listen, you can't say anything, Dad told me. 

I was confused, and skeptical. He felt it. 

She needs to be mature enough to handle an intense relationship like that. If a time comes where she needs to know, she'll be told. I promise. Mom and I think she'll probably figure it out for herself anyway. 

She hasn't yet, she would have told me. 

 You know, she's totally head over heels for him already, I pointed out.

 I know, but just because she wants something, doesn't mean she's ready for it. 

After that conversation, I paid a little more attention to the way Seth thought about Mollie.  When I felt the adoration he had for her, I was glad for her and shared the same hopefulness Seth had about their future together for Embry and me. If Mollie felt the same way about it, and I was pretty sure she did, I could look forward to lots of cute little nephews and nieces to play with. I couldn't wait for them to finally tell each other how they feel. I'd asked Anthony about something I'd noticed before with the other imprints, but hadn't paid much attention to.

 "When he thinks about her, she looks...well, not as much like me as she does to everybody else," I said. 

"He does see her just a little differently. She's his imprint. To him, she's the most beautiful woman in the world," Anthony said. 

So basically, he thinks Mollie is prettier than me, which I'm perfectly fine with. That's exactly the way it should be. Pack stuff always has to come first, those are the rules. I don't have to like them, I just have to follow them. I can't do as I please just because my dad is the alpha. I still felt guilty for keeping something from Mollie. It felt unnatural, but I didn't really have much of a choice. If I told her, everybody would know that it was me. I only came close to telling her once. I asked her if she thought anybody would ever imprint on us. She told me she didn't think she was that lucky. I decided just to not bring it up anymore, it would be easier that way. I was glad to have a distraction when the phone rang. 

"I'll get it!" Swan shouted, and she was a blur of pink as she ran to the kitchen. I could hear her talking to Grandpa Charlie, and I smiled. "Hey, Charlie and Billy are gonna come over with pizza for dinner," Swan came in the living room to tell Mollie and me. "I want sausage, what do you guys want?" .