Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

To Love Again

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 05:

Five months later…

Bella’s POV

I had just returned from visiting Lisa and Mark in California and Eddie’s gravesite. It’s officially been over a year since my husband was cruelly taken from me. I was finally making some progress in my life. It didn’t hurt so much anymore to think about Eddie. Lately, I’ve been finding myself looking back on our memories together fondly instead of breaking down at the thought of his death. Moving to Forks was just what I needed. I had a great job and a best friend in Embry Call. He and I would talk for hours on end about everything and nothing. I felt a connection to him.

I was hired at the Quileute tribal school as the special education director. It was a great job, and a step up from just plain teaching because I was able to plan and implement the entire program. I had two other special education teachers working on my team. Like the tribal school at the Mission Indian Reservation, this school had students from kindergarten thru twelfth grade so I was responsible for a great deal of students.

I found the Quileutes to be exceedingly friendly, unlike my first impression of them. Sam’s wife Emily, was very nice, as was another lady named Kim. I also renewed my friendship with Billy’s daughter Rachel, who was married to the school’s guidance counselor, Paul Lahote. On Saturdays, I had dinner with Charlie and Sue and on Wednesday nights, I had a standing invitation from Embry’s mother Tiffany, to have dinner at their house. Sundays were the best though. On Sundays at five on the dot, Embry would always show up with a dinner of some sort and we’d dine together. It just happened that way, starting with the beef stew five months ago.

As far as my house was concerned, the interior looked completely different from how it was when I first moved in. I actually ended up expanding both floors of the house. The entire upstairs was gutted and redone. I added a third bedroom and turned my bedroom into the master suite with an ensuite bathroom, plus a balcony overlooking the beautiful forest. The two other bedrooms upstairs had a shared bathroom. The downstairs was also changed. I had the kitchen updated and enlarged and a bathroom added so guests wouldn’t have to run upstairs to use the bathroom. I also had an office built for me plus a deck so that I could sit outside on sunny days. Throughout the house I had brand new hardwood flooring installed as well. I used the money Eddie and I had saved up for a down payment for a house plus some of my personal savings. I still had the million-dollar settlement from the accident, Eddie’s life insurance payout, which was much more than he had told me, plus his 401K which was still accumulating. When we were living in California, we didn’t have much as far as expenses were concerned. We lived, for all intents and purposes, with Eddie’s parents. It also helped that Eddie was a shrewd investor, he was a Stanford educated financial planner, after all. The only bills we really had were our student loans and car payments. And neither of us was extravagant in our spending.

I was finally learning to live without Eddie and was happy. I also was hopeful that maybe Embry might want to take our friendship a step further and perhaps go out on a date with me. We got along so well. He was kind, witty, and we had many common interests. He was an excellent teacher, too. I’ve observed him in his classroom and he had a knack for keeping his students interested. He was firm, but relaxed in his way of teaching. It was around six pm on a Wednesday night and I was actually on my way to have dinner at his house.

I was on my way to La Push when I was blocked by a person standing in the middle of the road leading there. I unrolled the window and called out, “Sir! Are you okay?”

He was in front of me in a millisecond. “Bella Swan, how wonderful to see you again.”

Oh shit, it was Laurent, the vampire with the dreadlocks who had been part of the group of nomads that interrupted the Cullen’s baseball game all those years ago. I’m dead. Well, I guess I’ll be seeing Eddie sooner than I thought; although, I was kind of annoyed because I was finally beginning to enjoy life again and hadn’t even kissed Embry.

“Don’t you remember me? I’m offended, Bella,” the vampire continued when I didn’t say anything. I gulped.

I tried to roll up the window, but he was too fast for me and with one hand, he grabbed me and pulled me out of my truck through my window.

“You smell divine and you look even better. I think that you and I can have fun together, don’t you think?”

“Please don’t,” I whimpered out.

“Oh, now Bella, you should know that you can’t say no to vampires. We’re too strong for weak, little humans like you.”

“ You’re not weak, Bella. You’re strong. Fight!” I recalled what Eddie used to tell me whenever I would self-deprecate myself.

“Leave me alone, you sick, twisted bastard,” I shouted at the top of my lungs and screamed as loud as I could.

“ Hehehe. Screaming will do nothing, child. Your precious Cullens aren’t here to help you. I just want one thing, well-two-now that your body has matured.” He chuckled maliciously.

I stood up and tried to run. He zipped in front of me and was millimeters away from my face. I screamed again. “Oh, I do love a feisty victim.” He inhaled my scent. “Absolutely mouthwatering.”

“Get away from me!” I shouted. “Eddie! Embry! Somebody help!” How they would help me, I had no idea. One was in heaven and the other was human, but the fact that I called for Embry was a testament to how much he’d come to mean to me.

And then a miracle happened, Embry appeared in front of me, stark naked in the middle of January. “Is this asshole bothering you, Bella?”

“Yes. How did…” I trailed off as I saw a pack of seven humongous wolves growling at the vampire.

“I don’t believe it,” the vampire muttered as he backed away from me.

Embry picked me up and put me back in the truck. “Wait here,” he ordered with a wink. I nodded my head up and down. He gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and I watched as he morphed into a grey wolf with black spots.

My cell phone chirped with a text message from a restricted line: ‘ Don’t worry, Bella. He’ll keep you safe. Trust him. Keep an open mind. If you can handle vampires, you can handle these guys. Open your heart up to love. He’s your destiny. I love you. Alice.’

Who is my destiny?

‘Embry, you dunderhead. I swear, Bella, sometimes you are so slow,’ read another text message.

Embry’s my destiny?

‘Yes!’

“ You know, Alice, you could at least send me your cell phone number and email address. I understand why we can’t see each other, but for Christ’s sake, we can still keep in touch,” I thought.

And miracle of all miracles, she sent me both her cell phone number and her email address in her next text message.

I watched as the wolves circled around the vampire. He was surrounded and had nowhere to go. Suddenly, a sandy colored wolf dove onto the vampire. He was kicked off of him, but another wolf, this time a black one, attacked the vampire, knocked him down, and gnawed his arm off while another one, a silver one, took off his leg. Wolf Embry took the opportunity to bite the vampire’s head off.

The wolves all morphed back into human form. They threw the vampires pieces into a pile and one of them handed Embry a lighter. He lit the pieces, which immediately caught alight and started burning. Purple smoke started emitting from the flames. When he was sure the flames were completely burned out, Embry made his way to my truck and told me to move over. He took the wheel, thank God, because I certainly wasn’t going to be able to drive. The rest of the pack hopped into the bed of my truck.

“I’ll explain everything to you when we get to La Push.”

“Um, yeah, that would be nice. And thank you for saving me.”

“You’re welcome.”

I took in the sight of him and remembered that he was stark naked. Oh my Lord, he is simply delicious looking. It’s been awhile since I’ve been this close to a naked man, but… holy hell… this guy is chiseled.

My cell phone buzzed with a text message, ‘ He’s hung, too. Take a look. ~A.’

My eyes widened at the text message. I couldn’t help, but look now that Alice sent me the text message. Dear God, I’m going to hell. I have a naked man driving my deceased husband’s truck and I’m ogling him. There has to be all sorts of laws against that in the Bible. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and looked straight ahead.

I received another text message, ‘Keep staring ahead. Now he’s checking out your body. Um, sit up straight, that way your boobs will stick out. ~A

P.S. You’re so lucky to have boobs, I wish I had boobs. Jasper says I have nice nipples, though.’

I straightened out my posture, and then I started guffawing at the thought of the text message. “What’s so funny?” Embry asked.

“Um, my friend is… Well, she’s not very well endowed in the chest area and she wishes that she had breasts.”

“Oh, yeah, um… breasts on a girl are nice.” He spoke at my chest. If I didn’t know better, Alice planned this.

He pulled the truck up in front of his house. The rest of the humans/wolves hopped out and went inside. They were all naked. Oh my goodness, I just noticed that Seth’s sister Leah is among the group and so are Seth, Jacob, Jared, Sam, and Paul.

Embry turned to me and fixed his eyes on me. “Whatever you do, try to keep an open mind.”

“Of course.”

“I’m still the same guy who is your friend.”

“I never said you weren’t.”

He nodded his head and we walked inside. I noticed everyone was putting on their clothes and the living room was packed. It appeared as if their wives had shown up and, in Leah’s case, her husband. My father and Charlie were here, as well as, Billy and Tiffany, and a man known around the reservation as Old Quil.

“I’m just going to put some clothes on,” Embry said. He went to his room and was back, dressed, in no time. I sat down in a chair, trying to make sense of everything which transpired.

“Well, Bella, I’m sure you’re curious as to who this lady and these men are,” Billy stated.

“Slightly,” I replied. “Well, I know who they are. I guess the question I have is, what are they? I just saw them morph into humongous wolves then systematically dismantle a bloodthirsty vampire. Are you like mighty morphing wolf people?”

“Mighty morphing wolf people… I like that.” Paul laughed.

Great, the school guidance counselor is a morphing wolf. Why me?

“We’re shapeshifters. We’re designed to kill vampires and vampires alone,” Sam explained.

“Oh, I dated a vampire once. They’re not all evil, you know.”

“We know you dated one. You dated Edward Cullen. I was extremely happy when you broke up with him.” I noticed my father said Edward’s name coldly.

“He was a nice guy, Dad. He and I just weren’t meant to be together. He was from a different era.”

“Yeah, and he was a bloodsucking leech,” Jacob’s wife, Kia, scoffed.

“I’m sorry, Kia, right?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know who you think you are, but where I come from, we don’t judge people by what they are and we certainly don’t censure people we’ve never met.”

“He’s not a person. He’s a bloodsucker. I think it’s awful you dated a bloodsucker.”

“And you’re married to a guy who changes into a furry wolf with canines. What’s the difference?”

“Um, my husband happens to save human lives from those bloodsuckers you call friends.”

And then it dawned me. I realized why these people and my father were so rude to me at my father’s wedding.

“Dad, did you deliberately distance yourself from me for all those years because of Edward Cullen?” I asked. He didn’t say a thing so I continued. “You didn’t want to meet Eddie because you thought he was Edward Cullen, huh? It was only after I enclosed a photo of the two of us that you suddenly showed up to the wedding. I was really surprised to receive your positive response, but now I know why. You were ready to write me off because of who I once dated.”

My father had the decency to look ashamed.

“And you people were all rude to me at my father’s wedding for the same reason.”

“You have to understand that the Cullens are vampires. They’re bloodthirsty!” Jacob argued.

“I only experienced kindness from them so I wouldn’t know. Then again, I don’t judge people before I meet them.”

“Vampires aren’t people, they aren’t even human.”

“Neither are you. I don’t know of any normal humans who morph into wolves, do you? Besides, the Cullens were once human, and it’s not like they chose to become vampires. How did you know to come and find me anyway?”

“Alice Cullen called me frantically crying that you were in danger, and that we needed to come and find you. She told us exactly where you were. Embry was already on his way because he felt the p… because he sensed that you were in danger,” Jacob admitted.

“So, a vampire gave you the heads up that I was in danger, and even told you where I was, thus saving my life.”

“Yes, but…”

“I need to leave. Thank you for saving my life.” I left Embry’s house without saying another word or looking back. My mother always taught me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say it at all and I was about to say some really mean and nasty things. I started the engine to my truck and drove home. I walked inside, locked all the doors, and poured myself a glass of wine, hoping it would settle my rankled nerves.

My cell phone rang a few minutes later. “Hello?”

“ It’s Embry. Do you have a minute to talk?”

“Not tonight. I really need some time alone to process everything that just occurred.”

“ Please?” he begged.

Alice’s text message urging me to trust Embry and to keep an open mind came to the forefront of my mind.

“What do you want to talk to me about, Embry?”

“ Can I come over?”

“Sure.” I sighed, and then hit end on my phone.

My cell phone rang again a second later.

“Hello?”

“ Bella, it’s Alice.”

“Hi, Alice. It’s so good to hear your voice after all these years.”

“ It’s great to hear yours, too. Listen, we can catch up later. This call has to be quick. You need to hear Embry out and keep a very open mind. You love him Bella. Your love for him equals that of your love for Eddie and you know I’m right. Don’t shut him out of your life, Bella. Embry is a good guy. Give him a chance just like you did Edward and Eddie. And… Oh my God! You’ve got to add some variety to your life. Every single male that you’ve either dated, married, or are considering dating have the initials E.C. At least you won’t have to get rid of the monogrammed towel set you received as a wedding gift.”

“Alice?” I prompted because she was completely off topic. “What is it about Embry that you need to tell me?”

“ Oh, right! I keep going off track. It’s just that I’m so excited to hear your voice! It’s been too long! I’m so glad I can see you again, and it’s weird. I can see Embry, and I usually can’t see the wolves. Let me get back to what we were talking about. Anyway, just keep an open mind and give him a chance. Open up your heart to him, Bella. You can trust him. Now, I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Three minutes later, my doorbell rang. A shirtless, barefoot Embry was standing on the doorstep. I let him inside.

He fidgeted, nervously, before sitting down on the sofa.

“Would you like something to drink?” I asked, taking a sip of my wine.

“Sure. I’ll have what you’re having,” he replied, noticing the open bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon on the coffee table.

I walked to the kitchen slowly. Reaching into the cabinet, I grabbed a second glass, brought it to the sofa, and poured some wine for him.

Embry reached for the glass, and took a sip before saying, “Bella, I’m sorry about Jacob and Tia.”

“You don’t have to apologize on their behalf.”

“Not just them, Bella. I’m sorry for how we all behaved at Charlie’s wedding. Well, everyone except for Seth. He has nothing to be sorry about.”

“No, he doesn’t. He was very kind at the wedding, but you weren’t that bad either, Embry. You weren’t feeling well. And you don’t have to apologize for everyone. You’re not responsible for their actions.”

“But I do have to apologize for my behavior. You see, something happened between you and me at the wedding.”

“Like what?”

“Okay, let me figure out how to explain this. When you came to your father’s wedding I…” He paused to get his bearings straight. He twisted his head to the side to contemplate things, and I could almost see his brain thinking. “Let me go about this differently. Do you know anything about soul mates?”

“I do. In fact, three couples in the Cullen family are mated pairs. They’re tuned into each other. They feel it when they’re apart, and if one of them are hurt or in trouble, they instinctually know where to find them. It’s like a magnetic pull.”

“This is good, perfect, in fact. Wolves have something similar called imprints. An imprint is your soul mate, your destiny, your eternal love, call it what you will. We’re in tune with our soul mates, and instinctually we know when they’re happy, sad, angry, in pain, or in danger.”

“So, what does this have to do with me?” I asked.

“I… Um… I… I imprinted on you when I met you at your father’s wedding.”

My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“Bella you’re my soul mate.”

“That’s not possible. I was already engaged when I went to my father’s wedding.”

“I know. Well, I didn’t know then, but I know now.”

“How could you do that to someone?”

“Bella, imprinting on someone is not a choice. I didn’t choose to imprint on you. It just happened. We looked into each other’s eyes and, at that point, unknown supernatural forces bound me to you.”

“How come you didn’t tell me that night?”

“This is the part that I don’t want to tell you, but I’m going to be honest with you. Like the rest of the pack, I was upset because you had dated a vampire. You have to understand that my prejudices were brainwashed into me by the pack from the time I was a teenager in high school. We change into wolves due to the presence of vampires, and many of us were upset at the Cullens for residing in Forks because, truth be told, they’re proximity to us is what activated the change. One day, we were normal high school students, and the next day we had phased into wolves. We were told we had to protect the reservation from evil vampires, but we couldn’t attack the Cullens because of a treaty the previous pack of wolves signed with them back in the 1930’s.”

“What?” I was completely outraged. Not at the wolves, but at the Cullens. “Are you telling me you changed because the Cullens moved back to Forks?”

“Yes. Their presence activated a gene in those of us who inherited it, and many of us were very resentful at the fact that we became wolves.” I shook my head. “Sadly, we also blamed you. We were angry at you for dating a vampire-our sworn enemy-and one whose presence profoundly affected our lives.”

“Now that I know that the presence of the Cullens is what initiated all of you to change into wolves, I can understand why you’d all be angry. I would hate to have my childhood interrupted abruptly, and I’m amazed at your resilience and ability to cope. Please believe me when I say I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

Embry balled his hands into fists and tapped his forehead a few times. “This is all wrong. I don’t want you to feel sorry at all because you, out of everyone, have no reason to be sorry. The point I’m trying to make is, regardless of why we changed and of our misplaced resentment, it was no excuse for the entire pack to ostracize you at the wedding. I don’t know if it was lingering anger from the time we were teenagers, but as grown adults, we should have known better. Most of us had the ability to think for ourselves, but we blindly followed our alpha-the leader of our pack-who, himself, is an immature dolt.”

“And I suppose it didn’t help that my father believed I was still dating Edward Cullen.”

“No, it didn’t. I will tell you with absolute certainty that Billy, Sue, my mother, and even Old Quil encouraged Charlie to continue to be involved in your life, but in his obstinance, he refused.”

“I’m not surprised. My father and I never really had much of a relationship. He’s always been into his own thing-fishing, hunting, baseball-you know the drill. He’s still very much the same. Maybe he wasn’t ready to be a father. I don’t know, but my dad is set in his ways and I doubt he’ll change much.”

I reflected on my recent relationship with my father, and I realized that I did not know him well at all. Growing up, ninety-five percent of my time was spent with my mother. She was an unconventional mom to be sure, but she loved me fiercely. And if I were hurt, she’d move heaven and earth to see me healthy and whole again. My father, on the other hand, with his decision to exclude me from my life due to my past involvement with Edward Cullen, had proven to me that his love was conditional.

“Bella.” Embry roused me out of my thoughts by calling my name. I turned to him, and looked into his earnest eyes. “I want you to know that I am sorry, truly sorry, for my behavior at the wedding. I promise I will never hurt you again.” He paused to take a sip of wine before continuing. “After I imprinted on you, I decided to work on myself and become less judgmental, more open and honest with myself, and I decided to stop thinking together with the pack and make my own decisions. Another reason why I didn’t tell you is, after your father received your wedding invitation, I found out you were happily engaged to be married. It wouldn’t have been fair to break you up. The only thing that mattered to me at that point, was your happiness no matter what the cost to me.”

He sacrificed his happiness for me. If the tables were turned, I’m not so sure I could have done the same as Embry did. Giving up a soul mate is a huge sacrifice. “Thank you. I’m happy Eddie and I had our time together no matter how short it was. He was a good man.”

“Yes, I can tell from the stories you’ve told me.”

Truth be told. Eddie and Embry probably would have gotten along well.

“And now, Embry? What about us now?”

“Usually, when a wolf meets his imprint, he acts on it right away. He forgets everything about anything and the only thing that matters to him is his imprint’s happiness. It can be a cruel thing. I dated Jacob’s imprint Kia, for two years; as soon as he imprinted on her, wham, she forgot completely about me and left me for him. A similar thing happened between Sam, Emily, and Leah. Sam and Leah were engaged, he imprinted on Emily, and the next moment, Leah was tossed aside like yesterday’s newspaper. I couldn’t do that to anyone. I had firsthand knowledge that imprinting was unfair. So, I had to let you go. You were Eddie’s and I couldn’t possibly interfere. It would have been wrong in so many ways. When you returned to Forks after Eddie’s death, I decided to get to know you, Bella Swan, as a person, not as my imprint. And I liked you. I do like you. I love you, in fact. I’m just hoping that you feel the same way about me.”

And there they were-the big questions: Do I love Embry Call? Can I love Embry Call after Eddie? Can I open my heart to love again?

One of Eddie’s final words rang through my brain, ‘You’re still young, and if you meet someone, love him like you love me. Keep your mind and your heart open to new possibilities; the world is a big place. Open your heart to love again. You’re destined for greatness, honey. I love you, Bella.’

My husband had been correct. I was still young and Embry was a great guy, someone I could love. He was my very best friend in the world, and I realized I had enough room in my heart to love Eddie and him both. Somehow, without even knowing I was doing it, I had opened up a space for Embry in my heart.

I looked him in the eyes and said, “I love you, too, Embry.” And my heart jumped. I didn’t feel so cold and alone anymore. I felt at peace. I had opened my heart to love again.

“Good,” Embry said, and leaned in to kiss me. And I felt sparks. Real live sparks. Our kisses became more heated and we couldn’t seem to stop, but then I heard Embry’s stomach growl.

“Are you hungry, Embry?”

“Sort of…” His stomach growled again and he admitted, “I missed dinner.”

“Didn’t you eat at your mother’s?”

“No, after you left, the pack and imprints got into a heated argument with Jake and Kia. I left them arguing and called you. I was worried about you. Then, I ran over in wolf form to your house.”

“Well, come on then, I’ll make you some spaghetti. Honestly speaking, I’m hungry, too. All I’ve had is wine for dinner.”

“Thanks, Bella.”

An hour later, we were completely sated after Embry had four servings of spaghetti, and I had one. If there’s one thing that could be said about him, he had a huge appetite. It really wasn’t fair how he was able to eat so much and keep his weight down. All I had to do was look at food, and I’d gain weight.

We turned the TV on and watched some ridiculous reality show for a while, but were back to our frenzied kissing a few minutes later.

“I should go,” Embry said around ten pm. “We have work tomorrow.”

For some reason, my heart jolted when he said that. I didn’t want him to leave, and I found myself saying, “Stay. Stay the night.”

“Are you sure, Bella? I don’t want to rush things. We haven’t even gone out on a date.”

“One thing I learned over the last year is, sometimes, you just have to jump to it and do things without thinking. Eddie was a planner; he mapped everything out. It was a great quality about him, but when you’re hit with something so unexpected as death, all of that planning becomes fruitless. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Life throws so many unexpected things our way that we simply can’t plan for, sometimes it’s better to just dive right in without thinking about it.”

He smiled, pulled me closer to him, and whispered, “I like your way of thinking,” before kissing me again. I was instantly lost in his kisses.