Heartbeat Song *Paul Lahote Love Story*

IV- Truth and Lies

"Happy Birthday Harleyann." 32 year old Harper Swan breathed, brushing a smooth pale white hand across Harley's twelve year old hair line. Harper and Harley smiled at each other enjoying the silent moment of a good morning.

"Thank you mama. When can I open my presents?" Harper Swan pulled an envelope from her pocket and passed it to Harley, smiling softly at the young girls pale complexion.

"I want you to open this one first okay sweetheart." Harley grinned, pushing her pre-teen fingers under the flap and pulled the envelope open. With a shake of the envelope, which had been turned upside down, a picture and a necklace fell out.

The picture was black and white and slightly blobby. The necklace was a silver heart with soft loopy handwriting set in the center revealing a phrase her dad told her she would never hear. 'I'm a big sister.'

"But mama, daddy said he couldn't give you more kids. That I wasn't able to have a baby brother or sister." Harper shock her head at the now twelve year old.

"It's not daddies baby, just your little brother other sister. Mama's going to be living with her new boyfriend and she wants you to come with her." Tears burned slowly in the twelve year Olds eyes.

"No, you have to stay with daddy. You can't leave it's my birthday." Harper stared, newly teary eyed, at her daughter as she chewed on her lip.

"Honey I have to leave before your dad gets home. So if you want to see you new brother or sister you need to come with me." Harper held a hand out but Harley, in a fit of anger and fear and sadness reared out and slapped her.

"I'm not leaving my dad. I hate you, leave me alone." Harper wiped a year away and moved to kiss her forehead but Harley only shoved her away.

"Your not my mom anymore. I hate you. Leave me alone, stay away." Throwing back the covers on her blanket Harley ran off tears falling down her young face.

Harper only stood there one hand on her stomach the other over her mouth sobbing silently. Harley knew that day she lost two people and gained two more... she also forced herself to believe that her mother didn't love her and that she never had.

Harley woke with a gasp, tears rolling down her checks. Her heart pounder slightly in her chest as she whipped the tears away and curled into a ball. She had feared Billy bringing up her mom would reopen old wounds.

True to her mother's words that day she never saw her or her sibling. She never got contacted and her dad had become a shell. The love of his life cheating on him and he only found out from his only daughter after she had already left. It had left them both shattered.

Slowly as she tear flow ended Harley slipped out of her bed and changed her clothes quickly, thankful that she had showered the night before.

Harley had just opened her door when Bella appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Harley... I'm headed over to the Black's could you, you know,  come with me?" The brunette raised a brow at her cousin.

"Why?"

"Please?" Harley scrunched up her face as she thought, running a hand through her hair. Debating fir several seconds, and after seeing the desperate look in her cousins eyes, Harley nodded.

"Sure but we're taking my car. Your truck sucks a-"

"Don't hate on my truck Ley. Come on."

After speeding down the road and ignoring every sign that told her to take the two of them home Harley pulled into the Black's driveway. She had barely shut off the car when Bella was running toward the house it took every ounce of her extra one and a half inches to reach in time for the door to open.

"Bella, Harley?"

"I need to see him."

"I'm sorry Jake isn't in." Bella debated in her he'd silently before pushing last causing Harley's jaw to drop.

"Bella what the hell." Running last her protesting god father Harley ran after Bella grabbing her arm as she forced a closed door open. Jacob Black, bulkier and buffer than she remembered, lay peacefully asleep on his much too small bed.

Wa- whoo

Harley and Bella glanced out the window were four men seemed to be advancing on the house. Harley saw the look on Bella's face and went to stop her only to be a few seconds to late. She ran after her barely catching her breath when they stopped the boys in their tracks.

"He doesn't want this?"

"Bella that's enough leave them alone." She ignored her.

"Shut up Harley. What did you do to him." One of them snapped his head around to look at Bella, a dark glare in his eyes.

"What did we do? What did he do, what did he tell you?" Bella snarled, glaring daggers at the man. Harley reached forward to grab Bella, to stop her from doing what ever she was about to.

"Nothing, he tells me nothing because he's scared of you." The anger on the man's face disappeared, a doubtful laugh falling from his lips. Bella didn't seem to like that because she pulled back her hand and slapped him.

"Paul, calm down. Bella, Harley back up." Harley was too stunned, watching the boy shake. It didn't register until it was too late that she needed to move. By then she saw the man turn to a wolf and then his claws were ripping through the flesh of her arm and hip.