Hopeless Devotion ~ A Jasper Hale Story

Chapter Eight - Family Discussion

During The Week

The house felt too small for the conversation we were about to have. Too enclosed, too familiar, as though the walls themselves knew what was coming and held their breath. It was the kind of conversation we all knew we had to have, and yet none of us wanted to. Necessary, yes, but that didn't make it easier.

Everyone had gathered in the living room, the quiet stretched taut like a cord about to snap. Too deliberate. Too still. Bella sat beside me on the couch, our shoulders barely brushing—small contact, hesitant. It was as if either of us feared that acknowledging the other too much would make the situation too real. Jasper stood just behind me, one hand resting lightly on my shoulder. Not possessive. Anchoring. Solid. Reassuring.

Alice broke first. Her voice cut through the tension with a sharpness that only she could make sound controlled. "This can't continue," she said, pacing once before stopping abruptly in front of us. Her hands gestured in small, precise movements, as if trying to map out her thoughts in the air. "Neither of them. It's dangerous. Unpredictable. I can't see anything—anything—and that alone should be enough reason."

She didn't say babies. She didn't say pregnancy. She said them. As if distance might make it easier.

Rosalie straightened immediately, the tension in her posture snapping like a bowstring. "No," she said, one word, absolute. "You don't get to decide that."

Alice's eyes flashed, sharp and insistent. "Rosalie—"

"They're not experiments. They're not mistakes. They're choices," Rosalie cut in, stepping closer to Bella and me, as if her presence could physically block any argument from taking hold. "And if either of them wants to continue, then we protect them. Period."

Bella's fingers curled into mine instinctively. A small, grounding contact, but enough to make the world feel marginally less overwhelming. I squeezed her hand adtempting to be reasurring as I could.

Carlisle raised a hand gently, the motion calm but firm, like a lighthouse beacon cutting through fog. "Everyone needs to breathe," he said. "Alice is right about the risks. We don't understand the biology. We don't have precedent."

"But we do have consent," Esme added quietly, her voice steady, warm but unyielding. "And fear doesn't give us the right to take that away."

Alice looked between them, jaw tight, frustration etched into every line of her face. "You're all acting like this is a normal pregnancy," she said, sharp and incredulous.

"It's not," I said before I could stop myself. The words sounded heavier than I expected, but they were mine to own. Every eye in the room turned to me, sudden, insistent. I forced my voice steady. "I know it's not," I continued. "But it's happening anyway. So we can either spend the time panicking—or preparing."

Jasper's hand tightened slightly on my shoulder. He didn't need to raise his voice. His calm presence was louder than any argument could be. "We keep them safe," he said evenly. "That's the priority. If that means adjusting plans, hunting more frequently, relocating if necessary—then we do that."

Alice scoffed, an almost amused huff of disbelief. "You're talking about strategy like this is a siege."

Jasper met her gaze without blinking. "It might be."

That shut the room up. Silence, heavy and contemplative, stretched between us. Rosalie glanced at him, something like gratitude flickering across her face. Edward wasn't there. I was grateful for that.

Bella leaned closer to me, our foreheads nearly touching. "I'm scared," she whispered.

"Me too," I murmured back. "But I'm not backing down. Plus you have the right to make your own choice."