Her silver-blond hair was the first thing that caught my attention. Then her pale skin, her beauty, and finally her dark, red eyes.
“Irina,” I gasped. I remembered he from my childhood, or whatever you should call it. First the time when we’d been hunting, Mom, Jake and I, and second the time with the...Volturi. I wondered if she still had something against the werewolves, or if she had gotten over that prejudice.
Jacob growled deeply at her.
I walked towards him and put on my friendly facial mask. “Hi, Irina! I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She smiled an obvious fake smile and shifted her weight to the other foot. I pondered about why she did; she didn’t really have to as a vampire.
“Renesmee…” she looked at me “Jacob.” She nodded at him.
He growled back.
“Jacob, behave will you?” I didn’t really feel like being polite either, but maybe Irina had changed after all, who knew?
“What are you two doing here? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to be impolite—” sure, you don’t “—I’m just curious.”
“We’re on vacation,” I answered rapidly; I didn’t want her to suspect anything.
“Really? How pleasant,” she muttered.
Did she see the bump on my stomach? I didn’t know. I hoped she wouldn’t.
“And you? Looking for new hunting grounds?” I tried to sound interested, but I don’t think I managed that well.
“On vacation.” Her smile never fainted.
Shoot, we were busted.
“Oh, you too? Do you still live up in Alaska?” The smile was truly unpleasant now. It reminded me of someone…
“No, I don’t.”
I was surprised by her answer, and I believe I saw Jacob flinch beside me.
“Okay, so where do you live?” I deeply hoped that those red eyes were just a rare coincidence.
“In Italy.”
“With the V-Volturi?” I stammered.
She nodded, still smiling.
Jane. Her smile was inspired by Jane’s. I didn’t know what to say. I was out of words. Though I felt like I had to come up with something. “Vacation, you said?” I ogled at her.
She kept her voice calm. “I come in peace. I was just on my way back to Volterra.”
The way she pronounced Volterra surprised me. Her voice got filled with respect and esteem. It was quite scary.
I swallowed. “Well, I hope you enjoyed your staying. I haven’t heard from Tanya in a while, how are they doing up there?”
“They are fine, thank you.”
“Okay, good.”
My stomach rumbled again. I chuckled half-heartedly. “Well, we were actually on our way—”
“Did you gain weight?” Her red eyes had moved from my face to my stomach. She was ignoring my Jacob.
“Excuse me?! What kind of question—”
”Or are you pregnant?”
“I’m not going to answer any of your questions!” She had offended and insulted me quite strongly.
She snorted. “Tell Carlisle I said hi, will you? I’m actually in a hurry here.”
Jacob growled at her. She didn’t wait for my reply. “Goodbye.”
And she was gone.I didn’t bother to look after her; what was the point? I couldn’t stop her now, anyway. I stared at the ground instead.
Jacob wouldn’t stop growling.
I tried to remember the conversation with Irina. I wanted to draw some conclusions, try to elucidate the future.
I counted on the fact that she understood that I was pregnant, and not overweight. She would now go back to the Volturi and tell them about her detection. She would probably tell them about our location as well, that we weren’t in Forks or La Push anymore.
The Volturi would be left with two options. Either they would come here and kill us all, or they wouldn’t. At least I didn’t see any other alternatives.
I doubted the second choice. The Volturi did not miss a chance to fight with the Cullens. Though I hoped that they wouldn’t come here; I wasn’t suicidal.
But what if they actually would come here? Would we run? Would we fight? I didn’t know.
I hoped for their absence.
My stomach rumbled once more. I put my right hand in Jake’s fur. Maybe we should get going? Will you please phase back?
He took one step backwards and phased. I held his eyes. This was not the right time to talk. Jacob must have drawn the same conclusion as I had.
As soon as he’d put his shorts back on, I took his hand and started walking. He caressed my hand, but he didn’t say anything. I guess there was nothing to say.
“No,” he murmured. “There is not.”
I wanted to keep my mind off certain things, and so I looked at the trees very carefully. I analyzed every single detail. I saw patterns between the roots and the leaves, created figures out of them, just the way you did with clouds. There was a chair, a puppy, a sun and a...pacifier. Sigh.
I saw Jacob looking at me out of the corner of my eye, thoughI didn’t meet his gaze. He put his arm around my shoulders instead. I leaned into him and took in his musky wolf-scent. My favorite scent. I jumped up and kissed him on the cheek, then giggled and put my arms around his waist.
He stopped and turned towards me. His hands found my face. He gently caressed my cheeks and looked straight into my eyes. Very gently.
I put my hands around his waist and pulled him closer. He didn’t have a t-shirt on. I wondered where he’d left it. But I didn’t  really care. I moved my hands to his chest. He was warm, and his breathing sped up. The left corner of his mouth twitched.
I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to say.
The twilight played on his face. He was beautiful. “Thank you,” he mouthed.
“You’re welcome,” I whispered and looked down, I didn’t know why. Jacob lifted my chin up with two of his fingers. He held my gaze once more.
My lips opened, and I stood on my toes in an attempt to reach his. He chuckled and bent down instead.
His kiss was more careful than what it had been before. Not even our first real kiss had been this...gentle.    It was like he was scared of hurting me. Well, I guess that was okay. Maybe even good.
Yes, definitely good.
My hands were in his hair. He hadn’t cut it for a while now. I liked that. His lips moved from mine to the hollow below my ear.
My breathing did not slow down. He put his arms around me. “Renesmee,” he breathed. “We will make this. Together. Everything will be all right. Don’t worry.” He held me tighter. “Don’t worry,” he repeated and buried his face in my hair.
For a moment I forgot both place and time. I had no idea where we were, it I could be either New York or the Arctic. It didn’t matter. All I knew was Jacob. All I felt was Jacob. All I heard was Jacob.
And I loved it.
But then my stomach ruined the moment once more. We both chuckled this time.
“Maybe we should get back,” we both said in unison, and then we laughed in harmony. Ebony and Ivory. So different, but still similar. Just like...but I didn’t want to think about them.
We walked hand in hand towards what I thought was the end of the forest.