Forever Young

Chapter 46

Having guests over proved to be an inconvenience. Once I figured out what I wanted to make for Renesmee, I wanted to immediately spend hours working on it until it was finished. But Carlisle shook his head at me when I tried to go upstairs, motioning for me to walk over to him.

"But Daddy," I whined as he pulled me into his lap. "I want to go make gifts!"

"You're being rude," He informed me. His words weren't stern, but gentle, and I realized that he wasn't rebuking me. He didn't think I had been around others enough to know about social etiquette, and he was trying to teach me. "You need to stay down here and speak with our guests. They came quite a long way to visit us. You may have some freetime after dinner."

I sighed and leaned back against his chest. There was so much work that I needed to do, and I hadn't even really started. 

Benjamin had made his way into the living room, though he was lingering in a corner. He watched my interaction with Carlisle, his eyebrows furrowed. "Carlisle, why are you so gentle with her?"

My body tensed and my eyes flew over to Benjamin. Had I done something wrong? Was he going to suggest I be punished?

Carlisle didn't seem bothered by this question, but his hand rubbed reassuringly over my back. He met Benjamin's gaze with a smile. "Why would I not be?"

"She didn't meet your expectations," Benjamin pointed out. "You found her to be rude, and yet you don't punish her when she steps out of line. Any good coven leader would demand perfection."

"But a good father would not," Carlisle stated simply. "She is young, and still learning. So long as she learns from her mistakes and does not act with outright disobedience, I will never discipline for innocence within a situation she has never faced. I wouldn't be so cruel."

Though it had seemed like Benjamin was advocating for me to be in trouble, he looked relieved that I wasn't going to be punished. I was reminded of my earlier conversation with Renesmee- she had said that Benjamin had been part of a strict and cruel coven. He didn't understand our family dynamic, but seemed drawn to it.

I realized that any other coven would be much more severe with me. For as much as I hated getting into trouble, my family offered me much more leniency than any other vampires I could have happened across. It was incredibly lucky that they had been the first coven I had ever met. 

I snuggled into my father, smiling up at him. He smiled back, though he couldn't have known the gratitude that was flooding through me. There couldn't have been a better man to have found me.

Despite how happy I was to be sitting with my father, I was bored. Koda was flipping through some magazine with a bunch of words in it, and I had given up trying to read over his shoulder. The conversations around me were repetitive- all of the vampires in the room seemed eager to reminisce on times that had past, most of which were from before I was even born. 

After a while of sitting quietly and listening to the conversations around me, I was ready to try and find a new excuse to leave the room. Just as I was ready to sneak up to my bedroom, the vampires in the room froze, and I instinctively froze, too. Such a reaction could mean anything from surprise to fear, and a bolt of adrenaline rushed through me.

Carlisle stood quickly, lifting me to my feet. When I looked up at him, he was smiling.

"More guests?" I asked, nervous about these new arrivals. Though I liked everybody so far, initial introductions had all been awkward. I didn't like meeting new people- I wished that I could just skip over that part, and get straight to the part where we liked each other.

"Leah is here," My father told me, motioning for Koda to stand, too. We were led to the door and Esme appeared to help me put my coat on- despite all of my time here, I was still awful at doing up the zipper on the puffy coat.