Devotion, Jasper Hale

Chapter 7

January 31th, 2005, Forks
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Edward was still yet to come home.

Yesterday he never showed up to school and today he was still gone. It was a saturday, the Cullen family were all doing their own thing when Edward finally came home.

"Edward Anthony Cullen! Where have you been?!" Rosalie yelled as she stood up from the couch. Edward ignored her while setting down his bag.

"Edward, honey, where have you been? We were worried sick." Esme said while also standing up and walking towards Edward.

"I just... needed some time to myself. I'm sorry." He said. Esme just gave him a motherly smile before hugging him. "That's alright. I'm just glad you're safe."

Jasper and Emmett gave him a wave from the couch. Catherine had a scowl on her face before Jasper nudged her. She gave him a slight wave before continuing what she was doing.

The next few days were bad.

Rosalie was ignoring Edward, Catherine was avoiding him as much as she could, Jasper and Emmett tried to get their wifes to warm up to Edward again while Alice and Oliver acted like nothing had happened.

The next monday, Edward had decided to take his own car to school. The rest of the Cullens did the same as usual, girls in the BMW and guys in the Jeep.

When they arrived in school they didn't see Edward's car, which caused them to worry. Jasper had tried to send a wave of calm over them, but that backfired when Rosalie yelled at him.

They stood by the Jeep when they saw Edward's car pull up. Their heads shot up at the familiar sound. They were a little shocked to see Edward getting out of the car, running around it, and opening the door for Bella. After that he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her inside.

They went public. None of them had expected him to do that, except for Alice of course, they all stared at him. Rosalie was biting her cheek with a furious look while Catherine matched her sisters glare.

"Why would they go public?" Oliver asked, mostly just thinking outloud. "I think.... that Edward isn't thinking." Jasper said while he wrapped his arm around his wife.

At lunch, Edward didn't show up in the cafeteria again. Jasper had grown physically tired trying to help his siblings and wife stay calm. Rosalie, on one hand, was still fuming, while Catherine was just dissapointed and a little sad.

At the end of the day, the Cullens were all walking to the parking lot together. When they arrived they noticed that Edward's car was already gone.

"Why is he pulling away from us?" Alice asked when they got in their seperate cars. "He thinks, no knows, that most of us don't really wanna support his desicion. But that we know we kinda have to. Except for you and Emmett. You fully support him." Rosalie said. Catherine nodded in agreement.
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February 7th, 2005, Forks.
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She was coming over.

Edward had invited her to come that same evening! The mortal was coming over.

"She is coming in a house full of vampires!" Catherine was pacing in her bedroom while Jasper sat on the bed, she had an anxious look on her face while he looked worried. "It'll be fine, darlin'." He tried to reassure her, but he wasn't so sure himself.

"What if one of us loses control?! How could Edward just decide this like it's nothing?!" Catherine stressed, her hand shot up to her hair. Jasper took her hand and she stopped pacing.