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BAILEY ONLY FOLLOWED JASPER TO give Bella and Edward some privacy. Bailey was led to another section in the house, and neither of them spoke until they entered the room. Bailey lingered, looking down at a table where rested a readily made chessboard. She stared at it trying to figure out what he was wanted to accomplish—were they going to play to see if she forgave him? Was this his way of telling his side of the story? Bailey couldn't be sure, but she allowed her curiosity to direct her subsequent decisions. She approached one side of the table, sat down and Jasper sat across from her. Their game began soon thereafter. One move at a time, no words exchanged, the tick-tocking of the clock drowning out the silence.
"I was seventeen," Jasper said. Bailey didn't look up from the chessboard. "My father thought that it was about time I become a man. He'd been a veteran himself, and believed there was no greater honour than to fight for one's country."
"The Confederacy fought for state rights, against the United States," Bailey murmured, moving her knight.
"To my father, the Confederacy was the only 'country' that mattered."
"Did you—did your family own slaves?"
"No," Jasper's response was genuine, his face hardened. "But I knew people who did. I was raised to believe it was normal. I understand it's no excuse for my conduct, but I was a product of my environment. That all changed when I became a vampire."
"Because you met Alice?" Bailey assumed. "Was she able to see the evolution that happened in the future? Humanity's progression?"
"Although Alice did help me a lot, it was Maria who first showed me a different way."
"Maria? The vampire that changed you?"
Jasper nodded. "She changed many people into vampires after me, building an army for herself. I, with my military experience, was her greatest prize. I helped with the troops, showed them how to use their new abilities, direct their thirst. I'm sure you can guess who were the primary victims of our appetite."
"... Confederate soldiers?"
"Yes. Now I am incapable of changing the past or erasing my actions. But I can control the person that I am today and who I will become in the future. If society can change from what it was back then to the world today, shouldn't we believe that people can change as well? That I can change?" he asked softly.
Bailey tapped her fingers against the table. She could feel her anger, her disappointment fading—but she knew it wasn't Jasper at work this time. These were her authentic emotions. Would forgiveness be the right thing to do? There was no excuse for Jasper's past but Bailey should at least acknowledge this growth as a person—vampire. He could have kept the same sentiments, the same prejudices. Instead, he had changed, he'd learned. He'd seen the world evolve, he could sense the emotions of those in oppression now... that had to have genuinely given him some sort of enlightenment.
