Second Chance at Forever | C. Cullen

034

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Give Me Away

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-Abigail-

After Jacob agreed to be part of her wedding, the atmosphere between the two of them settled into an easy calm, just like it always had been. They laughed easily and sat together on the couch, talking about everything that's been going on since they last saw each other, which was far too long ago. She could see the haunted glint in his eye when he spoke about the week that she was gone. She had remembered how long it was, she counted. And she wasn't surprised to find her family had made a call to the wolves to help find her. She could see her brother had wished he was there, but frankly she remembered the pain she was in, and was glad he wasn't. The last thing she wanted was to him to see that and blame himself, which is what everyone else was doing anyway.

"I'm fine, Jake," she said as she squeezed his hand. He didn't say anything for a few moments before he frowned.

"You know... Part of me wishes that you didn't have to turn into this...leech." She opened her lips to say something, but Jacob shook his head and put a hand over her mouth making her frown. "But I know you had to. And you wanted to. Just like Bella did a few months ago. The wolf in me wants to be disgusted; you're our natural enemy. But the brother in me doesn't care if you're a human or a leech or the creature from the Black Lagoon. I saw that with Bella, that no matter what, you'll always be you." Slowly Abigail nodded and Jacob smiled. "Don't get me wrong, most leeches I still hate. But you guys here? Well, you're alright."

"Aw, shucks, I feel all warm and tingly inside." The voice made them both then to the stairway where Emmett stood. Jacob rolled his eyes, letting his hand fall from Abigail's mouth as she giggled. "Just checking to make sure the mutt hasn't gutted you or something."

Jacob scoffed. "Please, like that's the real reason you're here."

Emmett frowned. "There's more than one way for you to gut her. Like saying no to officiating the wedding and leaving her."

Jacob's face darkened. "That'd never happen."

Emmett held up his hands. "Well she's my mom, I needed to make sure." He paused. "Plus Carlisle wasn't too thrilled I didn't stay here until I made sure that you two were okay."

Abigail's eyes went wide and she sat up straighter. "You talked to him?" she asked, her voice excited.

Emmett chuckled. "Yeah, he called to let us know they had a stop to make and then they would be home."

"Damn," she frowned.

"Language," Emmett sang and smirked at the annoyed glare he received in return.

"Did he say how long?" she wondered. While it had been easier to ignore the effects of being away from him while she was in the others' presence, it was getting more and more difficult to bear as the day wore on. She realized rather quickly that she was glad that she didn't have to go back to work at all, and loathed the idea of doing so once they moved and settled somewhere else. Perhaps she would take time off to just be with Carlisle again, not having to worry about anything other than being his mate. It occurred to her that in the nearly two hundred years before she died, there wasn't a day gone by that they weren't together. Well he worked of course, but the days were shorter. He spent fifty years in total without her, she only twenty-three, and it was creeping up on her the amount of time, the loss, they both suffered from her death.

Never again, she thought, and not just because she didn't want to die. But she now knew the truth of what her death did to him. And to the rest of their family for that matter, especially Emmett. She also had Jacob and Carlie to worry about as well, her brother and her granddaughter. There was no bone in her body that wanted to hurt any of them.