“I thought Alice changed her,” I said trying to make sense of things. “In Italy…Aro wanted it done immediately.”

The look Jacob shot me was not friendly, but he remained quiet, his chest heaving as he attempted to calm himself.

Bella ran her hand through her hair. “Jake, please go. I’ll be home soon.” Her words weren’t lost on either of us. It really did sound like her life was with him. He smiled broadly at me, just rubbing more salt into the wounds before following Bella’s command like the dog that he was.

She was biting her lower lip and for the millionth time I wondered what was going through that crazy brain of hers.

“Alice thought of a way to give me some time. Just a few months, but at least we were prepared, and well, Alice wasn’t all that confident in herself. She seemed to think there was a chance that she’d end up killing me. Better than a chance, actually, and I didn’t want Aro to do it. You know as well as I do if he transformed me, he’d be adamant about keeping me, so she suggested I freeze some of my eggs…so that sometime in the future I could have a child.”

I didn’t know what was more shocking, the idea that Bella could still have a child or that Aro would agree to such a request. “Why…what would possess Aro to accept this?”

Bella shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. Alice touched him and whatever she showed him, he seemed,” she stopped, considering her words carefully, “amused. He seemed amused by the outcome.” Again she shrugged. “But then, Aro’s always amused, isn’t he. Even when he’s contemplating your death.”

“So, he’s okay with you being a vampire and raising a human child.”

She sighed, her brows furrowed to match the frown on her lightly painted lips. “Who the hell knows, but he gave me the few extra months I needed. That’s all I cared about. I stayed in Volterra under his watchful eye and the rest of the family flew out there. So, for a few months at least, he had all but one of the Cullen family. I think he was genuinely surprised that he wasn’t able to convince us to stay once I was sane enough to travel.”