Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

XLI. Italiano

Early Sunday morning, Jasper and Alice left to hunt before the gathering. Alice woke up Mel when they came home at noon. Around dinnertime, Emmett, Esme, and Carlisle worked together in the open kitchen to create an authentic Italian dish for Edward's new official girlfriend. Mel was trying to do homework at the kitchen table.

"Is she even Italian?" Rosalie was unamused by the family's antics for the human.

"Her name is Bella," Emmett reminded his wife with a shrug.

"I'm sure she'll love it, no matter what," Carlisle insisted.

"If not, I'll eat it," Melaina added, not glancing up from her French translations. Her mouth watered at the smells coming from the stove. Mel heard the front door swing open downstairs.

"Quand on parle du loup..." Melaina mumbled under her breath. Of course, the entire vampire household heard her and the French-speaking ones understood. Melaina's feelings about Edward's girlfriend were currently neutral. Her comment was more of an off-hand way to use a phrase off her French worksheet. Carlisle, master of many languages, shot her a disapproving look, but Mel was focused once again on her homework. "On en voit la queue." *

The Cullens looked up and turned in sync towards the entrance to the kitchen as Edward and Bella walked in. Emmett waved the sharp knife in his hand with a smirk-like smile.

"Get a whiff of that," Rosalie muttered. Carlisle calmly asked his blunt daughter to "tone it down."

Esme moved forward with a warm smile to greet Bella. "We're making Italiano for you."

Edward introduced his adoptive mother who was overjoyed that Edward found someone to love.

"Buongiòrno," Bella said.

"Molto bene," Esme praised in fluent Italian. "I hope you're hungry."

Edward spoke for Bella: "She already ate."

Rosalie angrily broke the salad bowl into pieces with her bare hands, and Mel jumped at the shattering noise. Melaina hadn't heard the breaking of glass since a bottle was crushed against her skull over a year ago; she winced at the memory.

"Perfect," the blonde beauty snapped, stepping over the broken shards of glass and shredded pieces of lettuce.

Bella tried to defend herself by saying that she knew the Cullens don't eat, and Esme assured her that they understood.

"Just ignore Rosalie. I do," Edward said to Bella with narrowed eyes at his furious sister.

Rosalie only got angrier. "Yeah, let's just keep pretending like this isn't dangerous for all of us."

Bella flushed and rushed her next words: "I would never tell anyone anything."

"She knows that," Carlisle agreed firmly.

Emmett sided with Rosalie against Bella. "Yeah well, the problem is... you two have gone public now so..." His words faded out.

"Emmett," Esme chastised.

"No, she should know. The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly."

"Badly?" Bella took in a deep breath. "As in, I would become the meal."

The family laughed, excluding Mel. The sound had an edge that Bella nor Mel enjoyed. Bella stammered about for a moment.

Melaina felt bad that they were making her anxious, because she herself knew the intensity of her vampire family's attention. "If it makes you feel any better, Bella, they didn't trust me at first either," Mel called from the table.

Honestly, Melaina wasn't sure that they trusted her now. With their secret of immortality, yes, but when it came to her negative habits... Melaina switched her train of thought so Edward wouldn't tell Carlisle like the mind-reading tattletale that he was.

Before anyone could comment, Alice and Jasper arrived through the open window in a very Alice-like style. Her arrival broke the tension from Rosalie's attitude, but it was still evident on the most recent vegetarian's face. Jasper looked more tense and uncomfortable than usual.

"Hi, Bella!" Alice chirped excitedly. Jasper wisely kept his distance, but Alice dashed forward to pull Bella into a hug. "Oh! You do smell good."

Alice then turned to her mate. "Say hello, Jasper. You won't hurt her," she said reassuringly.

"Alice."

Alice stepped back from Bella and frowned at Edward's warning. Jasper acknowledged Bella through his clenched teeth, "Pleasure to--" He hesitated. "--meet you."

"Jasper's our newest vegetarian," Carlisle explained.

Edward looked exasperated by his family. Deciding that Bella had been subjected to enough of his family's shenanigans, Edward took Bella on a tour of the rest of the house.

"Well that went well," Carlisle said dryly. Alice laughed with the likeliness of a tinkling windchime.

Esme gushed about the cuteness of the human-vampire couple for a moment before getting serious. "Clean this up. Now," the vampire mother told Rosalie sternly. Rosalie huffed, but did as she was told. She may act like an ice queen sometimes--a lot of the time, but she respected Esme.

"Is there anything left for me to eat? Your human is still hungry," Mel said, half-joking. Her stomach rumbled.

"I can make you dinner," Esme assured her. She got right to work on finishing her original dish.

Edward played the piano for Bella and the sound filled the open house. Melaina sighed. "I'm going upstairs. I can't concentrate," she grumbled and gathered her things to take to her room. "I'll eat when Edward's done with his ruckus."

"Melaina, be nice," Carlisle chastised. Rosalie seemed to be rubbing off on their newest foster child.

"Sorry, just saying." Mel went upstairs and played her own music loudly to block out the classical chords. Bring Me the Horizon filled her ears, heart, and soul, and she finally felt at peace.

A knock on her door startled her awake. Carlisle poked his head in as Mel yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Have a good nap?" he asked.

Mel stood from her desk chair and shoved her finished homework in her school bag. "That chair is not ideal for naps, but I didn't mean to fall asleep," she admitted.

"Do you feel better, at least? I know you were awake early this morning." Mel nodded at her foster father.

"Good, let's talk." Carlisle sat on her bed and patted the spot next to him. Melaina bit her lip and worried.

Son of a nugget. How did Edward have time to brood over Bella and tattletale to their father?

Thankfully, Carlisle only wanted to talk about her medicine dosage since her prescription needed to be filled soon. She internally sighed in relief as she dodged a bullet.

~*~ ♡ ~*~

My thoughts are with those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma on the islands of the Atlantic. I've been keeping a close eye on all of the hurricane news, since I have family on the coast of Florida.

I've been seeing this quote a lot by the Governor of Florida: "We can rebuild your home, but we cannot rebuild your life." It's so true.

Safe safe! ♡

~*~ ♡ ~*~ ♡ ~*~

* French Expression: Quand on parle du loup (on en voit la queue)

Literal French translation: When you talk about the wolf (you see its tail)

Meaning in English: Speak of the devil (and he appears)