✓ | 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍, j. hale [1]

XIV. Promises

"Just ignore Rosalie, I always do," Edward muttered in Bella's ear, forcing Evelyn to fight off the grin tugging at her cheeks. By the way Edward always talked about Rose, she knew that they had a complicated relationship.

Rosalie's nostrils flamed when she heard this, her eyes flashing. "Oh yeah? Let's just keep pretending that this isn't dangerous for all of us!" Emmett had moved to stand beside her, uselessly trying to calm her down by placing a strong hand on her shoulder.

"I would never tell anybody," Bella assured, glancing desperately between Rosalie and Carlisle. "And neither would Evelyn."

"She knows that," Carlisle agreed, offering Evelyn a comforting smile. She nodded in return, still too afraid to say anything yet. The situation still felt tense, and she didn't want to make it worse for Jasper.

"Well the problem is, you've all gone public now, so–"

"Emmett," Esme warned, shooting her adoptive son a glare. Evelyn glanced up at Jasper, hoping for some reassurance, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"No, they should know. The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly. Especially with that one," Rosalie said, her eyes falling on Evelyn. "We all know that Jasper can barely control himself at school. At this point, it's a matter of when, not if."

A strangled noise escaped Jasper's throat, and Evelyn had finally had enough. "It's really a shame that you have so little faith in your brother. If you'd actually pay attention instead of being so concerned about yourself all the time, then maybe you'd see that Jasper has more strength than you've ever given him credit for."

The room was dead silent, and Evelyn could see that Rosalie was completely surprised that she had actually argued with her. In truth, Evelyn had surprised herself; her heart thumped loudly in her ears as she held Rosalie's stare in an attempt to show that she was not afraid of her. Her gaze was murderous, and if looks could kill, Evelyn knew that she would have been dead as soon as she opened her mouth. Still, she knew it was worth it when she felt Jasper lean closer to her, his icy fingers tightening around her own.

Edward's laugh from the corner broke the strained silence, along with Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme.

"Damn, you're either really stupid or really brave. Either way, I like you already," Emmett said to her, shooting her a lopsided grin. Rosalie, clearly fuming, shifted her death glare from Evelyn to Emmett. He shrugged, throwing his hands up in defense. "What? All I said was that I liked her, not that I disagreed with you!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Evelyn saw Alice step down from a tree branch and into the house. She danced into the kitchen, her feet barely touching the floor as she made her way over to them.

"Hi Evelyn! And you must be Bella!" Alice wrapped her delicate arms around Evelyn for a brief moment before moving to do the same with Bella. She paused, her eyes fluttering shut as she stepped back.

"Oh! You do smell good," she commented, smiling kindly Bella. Evelyn couldn't help but smile; of course Alice would frame that observation as a compliment.

Edward rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. "Alice, really?"

"It's okay! We're all going to be great friends." Her eyes landed on both Bella and Evelyn, and the dreamy expression on her face made Evelyn wonder if she was picturing them somewhere far into the future, still alive and well. The thought made Evelyn smile, too.

Edward cleated his throat, slowly pulling Bella out of the room. "Alright, well, I'm going to give Bella a tour of the rest of the house." Bella, wide-eyed, met Evelyn's eyes and raised her eyebrows. Evelyn shrugged, just as confused about the last few minutes as her friend was. I guess even vampire families are dysfunctional.