Mourning Doves • J.H

Chapter 9

JASPER WAS true to his word about seeing Dove the next day. She was helping Bella clean the truck when she felt someone lift her off the group slightly, spinning her once before placing her on the ground, turning her to face whoever grabbed her, she was pleasantly surprised to see Jasper grinning down at her.

"Hello." He said whilst grinning at her, before she could reply, Edward scared Bella and Dove by jumping on the truck, denting it a little, but he was quick to fix it, and another dent that was by a wheel.

"Hey," She more or less chirped, she was so happy to see him and he could feel it, himself feeling happy, "What are you doing here?" She questioned, wrapping her arms around his waist, gazing up at him with a lazy grin.

"I want you to come and meet my family." He stated, his hands cupping at her elbows, his thumbs stroking just above them in a calming manor, "Edward is bringing Bella around another time, so they're spending the day together whilst I take you up to the house." He explained, Dove bit her lip, contemplating the idea. She soon nodded.

"Wait, are they like, okay with me coming?" She asked, suddenly fearful of what they thought of her.

"Esme is excited, the others are just happy that I'm not moping as much." He joked, "I think you're the most nervous, and that's understandable, you're going to be in a room full of vampires." He continued, laughing when she stared up at him with wide eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry about it okay." He said.

"Yeah, right, this is your family, they're opinions of me matter." She said, pulling away from him and walking up to the house, Jasper following closely behind her, "Now, I need to get ready and make myself look presentable and nice so they don't think I'm some slob." She rambled, Jasper followed her into her room as she continued, trying to stop himself from laughing as he listened.

She turned as stared at him incredulously as she watched him fight off his laugh, "Don't laugh, this means everything to me, what they think of me." She pouted and turned away from him, looking through her clothes for something nice to wear.

"You don't need to worry about what they think of you, darling." He stated, moving to sit on her bed.

Once Dove found the outfit she liked, she had forgotten Jasper was in the room, he was so quiet and hardly moved as he watched her, and she started to dress right there.

"I can uh, wait outside." Jasper mumbled, getting up from the bed, albeit slowly. Dove sighed and turned, putting a clean shirt over her head before pulling it down to cover her chest, Jasper looked away.

"It doesn't matter, Jasper, I'm ready now." She smiled innocently and it nearly killed him, as he was thinking anything but innocent thoughts. His drive for her, and her blood, was raising, he needed to calm himself down. He cleared his throat and walked out her room and straight down the stairs, towards his car and waited for Dove to come out, who was still stood in her room, wondering what had happened to him, he had seemed to playful in the past few minutes.

Dove waved goodbye to Bella and Edward and followed Jasper to the car, and soon as her door closed, he sped off, the tires screeching.

Dove was staring out the window, looking at the vast amount of trees as they continued on the road. Jasper could feel her anxiousness, so he grasped her hand, squeezing it, hoping to calm her a little, which it did. She squeezed back and turned to face him, an adoring smile on her face. He soon turned a corner that lead them down a long road, before stopping outside a house, that seemed to be more windows than actual walls, it was amazing. Dove was in awe as she stared at it from within the car. Jasper stepped out the car and rushed around to her side, opening the door and holding a hand out to her and helped her out as she was still gobsmacked at the house.

"No way you live here." Dove breathed, "It's so open, it's amazing." She gushed, Jasper grinned, dragging her towards the house, "You're not leading me to my death, are you?"

"No, you're way to beautiful to die yet." He stated, and she blushed, making her scent much more stronger to Jasper and the others in the house. He opened her door for her, letting her walk in first and look around as he took off his coat, hanging it up before turning and helping her take her jacket off, as she still looked at the fancy and expensive looking furniture.

Jasper grabbed her hand, linking their fingers as he guided her upstairs, probably to where the rest of the Cullen's and Hale's where residing. Dove was still looking around as she noticed graduation caps in a huge frame, she stopped and looked over to Jasper, who snorted as he realised.

"It's a, little inside joke." He admitted, Dove snorted and let Jasper continue to lead her upstairs, they soon entered a kitchen, a huge, clean kitchen, where a majority of the Cullen's and Hale were, making food, for her. The only one missing was Alice.  There was a TV playing a cooking show, neither of them were listening, Dove just put it down to it being on just in-case. Esme noticed Jasper and Dove first.

"Dove! Hello, we're just making you something to eat." She stated, coming over to hug Dove, which shocked her a little, she wasn't expecting such a welcome.

"You didn't have to, really, I would've been fine." Dove said, smiling at Esme, who waved her hand in disagreement.

"It's no problem, Dove," Carlisle said, "Gives us an excuse to us the kitchen." He smiled at her. Dove looked over to Emmett and Rosalie, who were preparing food still. Emmett waved at her, the knife still in his hand. Dove let go of Jasper's hand and walked over to the pair. She gazed up into their golden eyes, preparing to introduce herself when Alice waltz into the room, through the window.

"Edward's bringing Bella." She announced, she spotted Dove and went to go over to hug her when she pulled herself back, her eyes darkening, everyone stood still, just in-case, "I need to go hunting for another minute, I'll be right back." Alice stated before leaving through the window again. Esme smiled excitedly.

"It's a good job there's more food, then." Esme stated, and Rosalie's face just sunk even more, slowly turning more angry, it was clear Rosalie either just didn't like Dove and Bella, or hated Bella more than Dove, as she didn't seem to mind Dove being around, it was only until it was mentioned that Bella was coming over, that she truly looked unhappy.

"How about I help you both?" Dove suggested, looking up at Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett grinned as Rosalie remained impassive, "I mean, if I'm eating, I want to help." She added, a little uncomfortable as they continued to help. Dove helped cut up chicken as Rosalie put some gloves on, not even the ones you'd use for cooking, they looked more stylish. Dove bit her lip as she continued to help, a knowing feeling within her telling her that Rosalie wasn't a huge fan of her.

"Hey." Jasper's voice shook her out of her thoughts, he leaned closer to her, "She doesn't hate you, I know that. It's just, she's apprehensive about you." He said to her, "Bella on the other hand.." He laughed lowly, causing her smile weakly.

"Well, that's good, about me that is, she's a very nice person, from what I know so far. I'd like to get to know her better." Dove said as Rosalie walked back in, pretending she didn't hear Dove's and Jasper's conversation, but the small smile on her face told her otherwise.