His World

LilyVera Bradshaw's Story (10)

"Jacob, she's too young!" Edward protested.

"I'm asking her on a date, not to marry me," Jacob said. "You know me. I would never do anything to hurt Nessie."

"No."

"It's not your decision, is it?" Jacob asked. "She's old enough to think for herself."

"I said no," Edward stated firmly. The two men stared at each other a moment before Jacob stomped off.

"I know you're her brother," Lily said from where she was leaning against the wall. "But as someone with an overprotective father, let me give you some advice."

"If you knew the full story, you'd understand," Edward said warily.

The two sat on the couch together. "Edward, Nessie is a smart girl. You can't keep her locked inside her entire life. Trust me. You need to allow her to make her own decisions, or something might happen that you both regret."

"Is that what you did?" Edward asked, hearing her thoughts about her daughter and subconsciously trying to dive deeper into them.

Lily shook her head. "I was angry. My father wouldn't let me go to a party with some friends, but I snuck out anyway. I was seventeen... Turns out he just had my best interest in mind. But the difference between you and him? He didn't trust me enough to make my own decisions. When I got to the party, I instantly knew something would go wrong. But I'm stubborn, and I stayed until it was over before having the only option of walking home. I was about to prove he was right about making me stay home."

Edward could see the story play out in her mind as the human woman spoke, and he fought to keep his face composed as she shared the rest.

"An older guy was there and offered to take me home," Lily said quietly, reliving that night. She offered a small smile, her eyes slightly glossed over as she became lost in the memory. "I didn't know him, but he was friends with my best friend's brother. A college kid. I thought it was cool that he had taken an interest in me, and he seemed nice enough."

"He violated you," Edward said through his teeth. Seeing the story play out in the woman's mind reminded him of Rosalie and what had happened to her. He was seething with anger, with a desire to find whoever had harmed her and serve justice in a way only a vampire could. "He hurt you."

Lily nodded. She was fighting back tears, which seemed to be a thing she did a lot more of lately. "He kicked me out of the car into an alley before driving off. Walking home was the worst, because of all the pain. I hadn't ever been with someone before, and he took everything away from me. I never told anyone what happened. A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant with Elsie. The kicker was, the day before the party I was told my leukemia had gone into remission. I traded one life-controlling thing for another."

Edward looked up suddenly, sharply, and Lily slowly followed his gaze to see Carlisle standing near the bookshelf. His expression was a cross of horror and sorrow, with clear shock in his eyes. He'd come to truly love Lily, in a way he hadn't know for longer than he wished to think about. Lily meant something to him, something he had trouble explaining to even himself. To find out what had truly happened to her took him to a dark place, a place Carlisle hated to go and rarely visited. A place where his true nature as a vampire reared its ugly head and fought to take over. Edward cleared his throat almost awkwardly. "I'll go check on the girls."

Elsie and Claire had been painting at the kitchen table, which was covered in a large plastic sheet to protect the beautiful wood from harm. Embry and Quil had begrudgingly gone and run a patrol for Jacob. Leah was asleep upstairs in Lily's room. It had originally been Carlisle's, but he insisted that she stay in it rather than moving to another. It was odd for Lily to see her things in the closet next to Carlisle's, and two dressers in the room, but she had slowly grown used to it. Carlisle was rarely in the room, other than to pick out a new shirt for the day, and it was typically while Lily was either in the shower or sleeping. Lily didn't mind that Leah was asleep there. It gave her comfort to know the other woman was actually resting for once.