All legends must have come from somewhere, right?
All Rights Reserved. Everything belongs to Stephanie Meyer with the exception of my OC's.
[ECLIPSE-BREAKING DAWN]
Lark pulled her car into park as she idled in the gravel driveway, killing the engine as she removed the keys from the ignition and the engine sputtered to a stop. She looked up at the Young house, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel a few times before pushing the door open and stepping outside. Leonora's Jeep sat in the driveway next to her car, the Clearwater girl no doubt already inside working on the centerpieces.
Lark knocked on the side of the screen door, Emily's voice floating through the air as she called for Lark to enter the house, and she pulled the door open, stepping inside. Sure enough, Leo and Sue stood near the dining table, dried flowers and other pressed greens covering the entire surface as they tied them into small arrangements for the centerpieces, gently so as not to break the fragile foliage, and Emily stood in the kitchen, preparing mugs of hot chocolate for the four of them.
"Hi Lark," Emily greeted with a smile. "Thank you so much for coming by today. It really means a lot to me and Sam."
"Of course," Lark assured her, stepping up to the table and eyeing a few of the already finished arrangements to get an idea of how she was supposed to organize them. "I'm happy to help."
Emily passed out the mugs of hot chocolate while Lark began gathering the dried flowers, and as Emily returned to the table, the four women worked for a moment in silence before Leonora spoke up.
"Big day for the Swan family," Leo mused softly, and Lark nodded in agreement.
While originally, the three friends had planned to meet at Emily's to help with the wedding preparations together, Alicia had called the girls that morning in a panic over how Jacob had revealed his werewolf nature to Charlie in order to keep the Cullens from leaving with Bella and Renesmee. While Charlie was simply put on a need-to-know basis over Bella's condition, for his own safety, as Jacob had explained to him, Charlie was adamant that he see his daughter right away, regardless of her volatile nature as a newborn.
It was in that moment that Anastasia knew there was no getting around her uncle spending more time at the Cullen house without learning the truth that she was still alive, in a sense, and had agreed to let her parents and Alicia accompany Charlie that day, though with the exception of her uncle, she'd keep them far away from Bella, instead offering to take them for a drive around the coast that morning, and have them back in the afternoon.
"Big, big day." Lark agreed. "Has anybody heard from Alicia yet?"
"Not yet," Leo explained. "Last I heard, she said she'd be here around four. I guess all we can do is wait, and hope Bella had enough self-restraint to let Charlie live."
"Once Jacob gave up the secret that the supernatural was out there." Emily said. "I understand why he did it, truthfully I think Sam might've done the same thing if he were in Jacob's position, but I know he's not happy about it."
"I guess I'm glad I'm the imprintee and not the imprinter." Leo agreed. "Jacob wouldn't be able to handle it if the Cullens left, but Renesmee might not even know the difference. It's easier for us, when you don't have the animal instincts pulling you towards the one your soul wants."
Lark nodded, her thoughts wandering as she absentmindedly continued arranging the centerpieces. While she and Paul hadn't been separated by a far distance since he'd first imprinted on her, there had been instances where they hadn't spoken in weeks, such as when they were first getting to know each other or after she'd learned the truth of his lycanthropy, and she wondered if, to werewolves, time spent without seeing each other had any sort of relation to physical distance.
"So what are the boys up to today?" Sue asked as they worked, changing the subject.
"Well, Jacob and Embry are over at the Cullens'," Lark explained. "Paul said he and the rest of the guys were going to play soccer down at the beach."
"And leave all the work to us," Leo added, rolling her eyes.
The women had nearly finished the table full of dried flowers when the door opened again, revealing a smiling Alicia. As she approached the rest of them, Lark noticed dried tearstains lining her cheeks, and her eyes slightly red rimmed, though she seemed like the happiest girl on the planet.
"How did it go?" Lark asked.
"Super teary eyed," Alicia said with a small laugh. "Though of course, that's no surprise. Of course, they all have so many questions, but they're willing to go on a need-to-know basis if Bella and Ana keep insisting. But wow, was it amazing to see my family all in the same place again."
"I'm so happy for you all," Sue said, pulling Alicia into a hug. "I know how hard it was for your parents when she first went missing. To not be able to tell them that she was still out there, that she was just down the street this entire time..." she trailed off, getting choked up. "Well, I think I should go get dinner started." she said, excusing herself into the kitchen.
"I'll help you, Sue." Emily offered, following the Clearwater woman and leaving the three teenagers alone.
"So what about you guys?" Alicia asked, changing the subject to something a little lighter. "What was it like here all day?"
"Pretty much just like this," Leonora assured her, holding up one of the dried arrangements.
"It was nice." Lark added, looking over at Leo and gesturing back in the direction of the kitchen. "I'm surprised you came today." she said, lowering her voice so Emily couldn't hear her.
"Yeah," Leo nodded. "I've been thinking, actually. I'm learning to forgive. Sam and Emily, I mean. If Leah's able to forgive them after everything she went through, why can't I?"
"I'm proud of you." Alicia said, and Lark nodded in agreement.
"I'm also thinking I might finally give Jared a chance." she continued. "I trust that he's not going anywhere, it's against his instincts, and besides. It's him, it was always going to be him, and I don't want to fight that anymore. I can't keep doing that to him."
"Just as long as that's something you're ready for." Lark said. "But you know we stand by you, no matter what."
"Yeah," she said. "I'm ready to see where this goes."
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