Honeybee

Chapter Thirty-Three~Cullen

"That can wait." Jasper spoke up. "We're worried about you."

I couldn't help it, I laughed, "Of course you are! Everyone is! You know, sometimes I think that Aro finally killed me and all of this is somehow my eternal punishment. As much as I've been ignored and isolated the past seventy-something years, of course my punishment would be to have eight people worry over me incessantly for the rest of time!"

"Well, that was dramatic." Emmett rolled his eyes playfully at me. "Oh boo-hoo, Edythe has a family that cares about her! The world is coming to an end!" He teased me.

"Hey!"

"Seriously, baby sis, get used to it!" Emmett laughed at me. "We're not going anywhere. It's not gonna change."

"None of us are going to give up on you, however much you try to push us away. You're stuck with us for good now." Jasper insisted.

"I'm starting to realize that." I nodded. "But I can't force myself into a life I'm not ready for. I've been alone for a very long time. My husband has been dead for seventy-nine years. I've lived a lifetime grieving him. There's no way that that much sadness goes away overnight." I ranted. "It might never go away." I worried with frightening clarity.

"We can all understand that, in some capacity at least. I don't know who I would be without Alice." Jasper tried to reassure me, though his flinch of pain at the thought of being separated from Alice did not go unnoticed. "Still, wouldn't it be better to live some resemblance of a life? To have family and friends love you and care for you? Wouldn't Garrett want that for you?"

Would Garrett want that for me?

He tended to be more cynical than positive. No, not cynical, a realist is the proper term. He saw the world as it was, saw people for who they were, and it's one of the things I loved about him. Would he trust others to care for me? To love me in the capacity that he did?

No, he wouldn't trust anyone to love or care for me as well as he did. But, I can't help but tell myself he'd want someone to try. He'd want someone to try to care for me, however much I may refuse their help. Heaven knows he teased me enough for not taking care of myself until he came along!

"I think..." I struggled to find my voice through the emotional fog I was experiencing, "I think he'd like that." I nodded. "He'd like for me to have a family, at least. People to watch after me."

"There's the spirit!" Emmett smiled sweetly at me, looking very proud. "That's my baby sister. The fighter."

"Fighter? Drifter, more like it." I negated quickly, feeling as if I would be blushing if I could.

"No, you've got that Cullen spirit in you after all. I wasn't sure at first, but it's definitely there." Jasper teased me. "We fight for what we love and you're no different. You've been fighting for a very long time to keep going on, all for the sake of your husband. That's a commendable thing."

"Thank you." I smiled softly at my new brothers, too touched to offer them much more in response.

"Enough with the sappy talk." Emmett laughed, magically dissipating the tension like only he can. "Let's get to hunting!"

"You're sure you'll be fine?" Jasper worried for me.

"Yes, positive." I smiled at him encouragingly, trying to accept his worry and not be defensive.