All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part I

Goodbye is a Dirty Word

Seth

It was my last night, in my first apartment. I really liked my place, but now that everything was out of it except for my bed and a travel bag, it was just walls. There are more important things in life. No matter where I was, I'd still have what mattered.

I enjoyed some parts of living alone. I could watch whatever I wanted on television, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I could walk around in my underwear all day long, sometimes I did. At first, it was strange, but I liked doing it now. As much as I liked living here, I knew I would like living with the Cullens too. I can, of course, take care of myself, but it would be nice to have Esme to take care of me. That just makes a person feel good I guess, I haven't had that in a long time. I would sure eat better living with them. For somebody who had not eaten in decades, Esme was an amazing cook.

The past few days had been busy. A lot of our goodbyes had been said at the driftwood fire tonight. I spent some time with Quil, he and I had definitely gotten tighter since I imprinted. Now I understood everything he'd thought and felt about Claire. She'd be thirteen soon, and he wouldn't have much longer to wait. Neither of us really minded the waiting though, because it didn't feel like that. We loved our imprints and whatever phase that love was in, didn't matter so much.

We enjoyed our time on the beach, it was the usual stuff most of the night. Lots of food, lots of kids running around. But as it got later, people started to go home and that's when I remembered that even though had nobody said it, this was a going away party. We were going away. There were a few tears, some from Emily, most were Jake's sisters and Nessie's. It was hard to watch Jacob's sisters, Paul and Solomon leaving. I hadn't realized how close Nessie was with Rachel and Rebecca, I hadn't known that Rachel delivered all her kids until I heard them talking about it and that Rebecca gave her some helpful parenting tips. They held each other and cried, kissed each others children, and hugged a little more. When Nessie held Rachel's and Rebecca's faces in her hands and told her goodbye, they corrected her. "No honey," Rachel said. "We don't need to use that dirty word. That's something you say to somebody aren't ever gonna see again. That word means forever, so we'll say, see you later."

"That's right, you ain't escaping us that easily," Rebecca gave Ness a squeeze on her shoulder.

Nessie gave a little laugh and sniffled. "Okay. I love you both, and I'll see you later."

Jacob was so lucky that his family had accepted Nessie. Not that it made me any less happy for him, but I couldn't help be just a little jealous seeing his sisters with his imprint. I hoped that someday Leah and Mollie could be friends and that my mom would accept her. I wouldn't allow my mother back into my life until she accepted Mollie as part of mine.

Nessie and the wins encouraged their little ones to tell each other, "See you later." Grace and Noah were too little to understand. They looked like they knew something was going on, they just were not sure what. Jake's kids got it, and Caroline and Forrest did too.

Swan and her cousin Caroline seemed to have a love/hate relationship. Every time I'd been around the both of them, they spent half the time in shouting matches, and the other half getting into trouble together. They did as they had seen their mothers do, and held each other tightly. Swan was kind of a goofy kid, and she was full of surprises. After pulling away from her cousin, she sat herself down on the ground and removed her shoes. She then started to wiggle out of her tights that had rows of tiny pink hearts on them.

"Swan, what are you doing?" Jake asked.

"Are you hot?" Nessie asked. We all watched her curiously as she peeled off her tights.

"Nope," she said. Swan stood up and brushed herself off, making sure to get every speck off her dress. She then balled up her tights and handed them to Caroline. "Here you go," she said. She pressed them into the palms of Caroline's outstretched hands.