Seth Clearwater Imprinted With Trouble

Chap. 7

Seth POV

I rubbed the side of my head: Leah’s hits actually hurt. Not that I’d ever admit that out loud. I saw Edward turn away as he tried to hide a smirk. Dang it! I keep forgetting I gotta be more careful around here.

I looked back down at Clari and saw that she, Nessie, and Bella were cleaning up the cards. Thank goodness. Didn’t need any more dramatic cliffhangers or surprises here. Though, looking back on everyone else’s experiences of imprinting, I… have a LOT of work cut out for me.

And I think we were all looking forward to the point in the day where we could forget all about that little fortune telling stunt.

I heard a rustling noise to my right and I turned to see Emmett leaning back on the couch, his arms tucking behind his head. He tilted his head from one side to another to crack it and then looked back at the kids sitting on the ground a couple feet away.

“What I’m curious is this: where is she from and how did she get here?” he asked, obviously referring to my little Clari. Alice rolled her eyes.

“Emmett. She’s speaking Italian. Where else could she be from?” she sighed. You know, it’s actually kinda unnerving, seeing such a large amount of sarcasm coming from such a small and dainty looking person.

Esmee, ever the peacemaker, nudged into the conversation. “But, Emmett is right. How on earth did she manage to get here?” Her voice went all soft and motherly again and I relaxed. Esmee accepted her into the family already, and that was a pretty good sign that everyone else was in on it too. Esmee was just such a kind and caring person that she wouldn’t reject anybody. And her family adores her, so I’m pretty sure that even if a one-eyed, half-naked, alcohol-addicted, swearing, half-mad lumberjack stumbled outta their forest, they would let her do whatever she saw best. Even if it meant keeping the stupid thing on the premises a second longer than it took to spot’em.

Carlisle walked back over to where the girls sat on the floor and crouched down next to Clari. He laid a gentle hand on her tiny, thin shoulder and said, “Clari? Mi chiamo Carlisle. Lei bada a se le chiedo un paio di domande?”

Clari looked up at him in silence for a moment and then suddenly smiled. I couldn’t help but smile with her, even though she was several feet away, even though she was looking at me or smiling at me, I couldn’t help but feel amazed and elated at the sight of her smile.

Man… do I have it bad, or what?

Clari held her arms out in an overly obvious entreaty to be picked up and said shyly, “Va bene… Carlisle.”  She giggled slightly as he gently tossed her up into the air and caught her, settling her onto his waist. Edward decided to translate for us. The conversation went a little something like this:

“So, how old are you, Clari?”

“In one week, I will be exactly one and a half years old.”

“In all honesty, I am curious as to how you managed to get overseas.”

“Heehee. I snuck into the cargo section of a commercial airplane.”

“E-excuse me?! You… how…?!”

“I hid in a dog carrier that had rather large shields at the front. I’m very sorry to have done it that way, though, because someone is now missing a rather large dog.”

We all kinda laughed at that. It’s just… the very thought of it… is kinda amusing. A kid that looks around four or five sneaking into a Rottweiler’s cage… and then I remembered it was my baby Clari who did it and all my limbs felt rubbery and weak. It made my protective instincts rise up to the forefront and I wanted to snatch her right outta the Doc’s arms and run away with her until my body collapsed. I never wanted her within twenty feet of a freakin’ Rottweiler’s cage, or any other dog’s cage. I heard Edward cough slightly and saw a small smirk on his face again.