Devotion, Jasper Hale

Chapter 53

December 15th, 2006, Cullen Residence
_________________________________________

Catherine was laying on the couch in the living room with a happy, content glaze over her eyes.

Edward and Renesmee were playing the piano together, setting the mood to a very relaxing one.

Catherine's head was on Jasper's lap. His hands ran comfortingly through her curls, twisting, stroking, intertwining and sometimes softly tugging. She would sigh every once in a while, a sigh of bliss, content, calmness.

Jasper was holding a book in one hand and her curls in the other. His eyebrows knitted together woyh concentration as he read the same book about the Civil War for the (what seemed like the) ten thousandth time.

Carlisle and Esme were playing chess together. The beautiful couple lovingly smiled at each other between turns. Carlisle even went as far as kissing his wife's hand every chance he got.

Emmett, Rosalie, Jacob and Bella were all sitting next to each other on the couch. They just sat there, watching Renesmee with content smiles on their faces. Rosalie had her arms wrapped around Emmett's muscly one, her head resting on his shoulder.

Oliver was helping Alice replace all the dead flowers in the house by sitting at the coffee table and cutting small parts  of the stems off of all sorts of flowers Alice had picked out. Alice was calmly walking around, placing the finished vases around all of the rooms of the house. The delicious smell that emitted from the flowers made the entire house smell oh, so good.

Right when Alice walked through the hallway with a happy smile on her face, her eyes went wide, she stood still, then her smile disappeared. She loudly gasped in horror as she dropped the vase with flowers in it. Glass and water went flying everywhere, covering the entire hallway.

Oliver was immediately at her side, discarding his knife and flowers on rhe table and running over to his wife. He placed a gentle hand on her back while staring down at her, his eyebrows knittted together with worry.

Renesmee stopped playing the piano, Catherine and Jasper sat up on the couch, still holding each other, Emmett, Rosalie, Jacob, Esme, Carlisle and Bella stood up and all tentatively took a few steps towards Alice and Oliver.

"What is it, Alice?" Oliver caringly asked his wife, sending her a worried look.

"The Volturi," Alice breathed out, her eyes still wide as she grabbed Oliver's arm.

Alice turned towards the rest of the family. "They're coming for us. Aro, Caius, Marcus, the Guard... and Irina," she still had a glazed expression as she listed what she saw.

Soft gasps could be heard around the room when the name of their cousin was called. Catherine covered her mouth with her hand to conceal the gasp she had let out. She then stood up, pulling Jasper with her.

"Honey, come here," Bella called her daughter over, immediately wrapping her arms around her child.

"Why?" Carlisle asked while taking a careful step forward, betrayal dripping from his voice.

Edward turned towards his wife. "What did Irina see in the woods?" He asked her, holding out his hand for his daughter, who took it while still standing in front of her mother. Edward softly stroked his thumb over his daughter's palm as he awaited Bella's response.

"We were just walking," Bella responded, she seemed to be cracking her brain for anything she had missed when the realisation hit Catherine like a train going at full speed.

"Ness was catching snowflakes," Jacob seemed to have gotten the same idea as Catherine.

"She was jumping really high to retrieve them," Catherine softly breathed out, tightly squeezing Jasper's hand.