School had started again, boring as it was. Jake and I drove in together most mornings, unless he was busy or on patrol. At the end of the day, he'd drive me home and head out on patrol. Like it had always been, Sam and Leah patrolled during the school day. During the day, Nessie spent time with Emily, learning how to cook different foods, how to clean, how to knit, how to sew. Rosalie and Emmet had started taking her during the day too, with Sam to drop her off. And Nessie promised us that Bella never came with them.
Before I even really knew what was happening, we were getting ready for the first major break of the year: Thanksgiving. I guess it wasn't surprising that a Native American tribe celebrated Thanksgiving. I had always felt like the holiday was a thing for the white settlers. But we had always celebrated it with my dad and I think it just kind of spread to the Blacks. I wasn't sure if any of the other guys celebrated too. Jake was patiently waiting for the snow to start falling and even more so, for it to start sticking. And no matter how much I told him to be patient, he wouldn't listen. It probably wouldn't matter what I said about it, actually.
Rachel drove out to the house. Our conversation was a little less tense than mine and Rebecca's. She explained that she was just trying to stick with her sister and I nodded, promising her that I understood. I really did; it couldn't have been an easy position to be. She had been forced to choose between what she knew was right and what her loyalty towards her sister. Now, I was standing in the kitchen with the twins while Jake, Dad, and Billy sat on the couch watching the game on television. "Where did you learn these?" Rebecca asked around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. I smiled and almost considered keeping quiet, but then decided that they might want to know the recipes too.
"Your mom," I whispered. Both of them stopped to stare at me. "We used to cook a lot when I was a little kid. You guys were lucky; you got to keep her all the time," I admitted. "I was kind of jealous of the two of you. You guys got to keep her all day long and I had to leave at the end of the night. When she used to pick me and Jake up from school, she used to talk about what she wanted to make for dinner." Rebecca ducked her head again. She had been doing that a lot lately. Especially if I mentioned something about my childhood and the time that I'd been lucky enough to spend with their mom. "Don't let those burn," I muttered.
Nessie had decided that she wanted to spend the holiday with her aunt and uncle. They had agreed to take her to Olympia and let her see the sights there. I think that they were secretly letting her hunt. Unfortunately, I really couldn't be upset about that. The whole reason behind her going to stay with them was to learn to be a vampire; a real vampire. It was strange to have a completely human holiday for the first time in a while. I was well aware that Jake wasn't really human, but I was able to pretend that our lives were normal for just a few moments.
I rummaged through the highest shelf in Jake's closet, looking for the box of things that I had collected for the girls. Things that Billy hadn't wanted to look at anymore. Things that ten-year-old me recognized as things that her daughters might want to keep. Billy just couldn't handle all the reminders of his wife so shortly after her death. So Sue and I had taken it upon ourselves to get ride of all the things of hers that could make him sad.
With a sigh, I brought the box out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Rebecca and Rachel were diligently stirring the potatoes and the other things that I had been working on. I walked in and dropped the box on the counter, a good distance away from the rest of the things in the kitchen. Rebecca and Rachel hadn't wanted anything to do with the packing up of their mother's things. I don't think that they had ever seen this box. I don't think they even knew that I had this box set aside for them. "Your dad didn't want to deal with all of her things," I explained. "But I laid these things aside for you guys."
That was about all the introduction that I gave for them. I strode away from the box and turned my attention to the stuffing I had going. I had photocopied Sarah's recipes and put them in matching recipe boxes. I know that it was wrong, but I was hoping that they would let me keep the originals. I justified it by telling myself that they didn't need to argue over who got the ones that had her hand writing, the ones that were her originals. So I evened the playing field by making copies. Each girl had her own box with her own recipes that were still in their mother's writing. At least, that's how I justified my want to keep them.
"Why did you keep all of these?" Rachel asked as she pulled the photos of Sarah and her kids that I'd put away. Billy only wanted certain ones out for everyone to see. Most of the ones that were Sarah and Jake, I'd given to the boy in question. I had actually kept the ones that were of me and the mother figure in my life. But the ones that remained were mostly family pictures and the twins cuddling with their mother.
I shrugged in response to her question. "I thought you guys might like them." I didn't add that I had thought they would be around to collect them ages ago, that I didn't know I was going to have to hide them away in a closet for the last decade or so. I could hear things being shifted around in the box as they began digging through the little trinkets and knickknacks that I had found for them. And then there was the soft gasp when they came across the recipe boxes.
I'd found them in Sarah's side of the closet what seemed like ages ago. They were both small wooden boxes with flowers and vines twisting and turning over the edges, down the sides. And etched into the bottom right corner of the tops was each girl's name. That was when I had decided that I wanted to start putting things away for them. I looked over my shoulder to see each girl pulling their respective box out. I listened to the hinges creak as they lifted the lids and saw the things that I had set up for the two of them. "You — — Where did you get these?" Rebecca asked.
Still staring down at the stove and stirring, I began to speak. "I found them with the rest of your mom's stuff a few years back," I whispered. "I think that she was planning to set up some of her recipes for you guys. But, I — uh, I made them up for your guys. And I took her recipes and made photo copies for you guys."
I could feel both of them staring at me, but I didn't turn around and look. "Ryanne, I've been wrong so much," Rebecca whispered. "Thank you for saving all of this stuff." I blushed, uncomfortable with the gratitude that I didn't deserve. I just wanted to make sure that they got all the things that their mom would have wanted them to have. A set of small arms wrapped around my waist from behind. A head dropped down on my shoulder but I knew that it wasn't Jake. "Thank you so much," she whispered.
"Of course," I replied just as quietly. Rachel came up and wrapped her arms around the both of us. "We should... um," I tried to say. "Dinner's ready," I called instead. Both Rachel and Rebecca let go of me and swiftly moved to gather the things that needed to be plated. "Jake grab the turkey please," I called. I'd had a hard enough time getting the twenty pound monster in the oven.
"For future reference, the correct response to their comments is you're welcome," he said, dropping his arms around me, his chin nuzzling my neck.
"I'll keep that in mind," I promised him. He kissed the skin of my neck and smiled. "Get the damn bird out of the oven," I said before he could distract me any more. He beamed and stepped away from me, stooping with the oven mitts to get the bird out.
As we carried the food into the dining room, Rebecca stopped me again. There were tears glistening in her eyes. "I mean it, Ryanne. Thank you so much," she said. I knew then that we were okay. Jake's eyes met mine over his sister's head. He stared at me, daring me to say something else.
"You're welcome, Rebecca."