Aftermath

[Tiffany Call-Black]

Once I was able to control my quaking body, I called Chief Black. He could hear it in my voice, he knew that I now knew Embry’s secret. I was not sure I could drive, so he came to the house. When he arrived, I was cleaning up, finding small pieces of Embry’s clothes everywhere. It explained why he suddenly needed new clothes a few years ago. I had thought it was just a growth spurt. Some spurt.

 

I had some tea ready for Chief Black and set the tea service in front of him on the table as he wheeled into the kitchen. I was too nervous to sit and paced as I explained what had just happened, demanding to know when it had happened and why no one told me. I was mortified to find out that it had been years, and I had been so caught up in work and school and trying to take care of things to notice.

 

Finally, I sat and buried my face in my hands, sobbing, letting the shock wash out. Chief Black patted my back and assured me Embry was vehement in keeping it a secret, that there was no way for me to see. Then, in a flash, I realized that if that part of the legends was true, the other part had to be.

 

“Chief, does this mean…vampires are real and they are nearby?”

 

He took my hands in his.

 

“Call me Billy, please. Yes. Let me tell you the story.”

 

He proceeded to tell me everything that had happened in the last four years. As he talked, I did what I do whenever I am anxious and stressed, I cooked. I made him dinner, and baked muffins and a cake. He sat watching me work as he talked. When he got to the final confrontation, how close it came to a war and how the treaty was renewed and we as the Quileutes were now bonded to the Cullens through Jacob and Renesmee, I stopped what I was doing and sat across from him.

 

So many things that I had noticed, yet let them slide, hints, looks, little things said. I felt foolish. I was sure I was the laughingstock of La Push and Forks, the simple clueless fool. Billy assured me that no one thought of me like that. They all loved Embry and me, and they fought to protect me as much as he did.

 

I sent him home with some food for Embry, sure that that is where he would turn up before coming home. I told Billy to tell him I loved him and when he was ready to come home, I was here.