I laughed at having to say the words - it was so obvious. How odd that Rosalie should need such reassurances.

Rosalie laughed, too. "Thanks, Bella. And no, it doesn't really bother me anymore. Edward has always been a little strange." She laughed again.

"Hey!" Edward pouted.

Rosalie shrugged as Emmett laughed boisterously.

"Well, she does have a point," Alice added, laughing too.

"But you still don't like me," I whispered.

Her smile faded. "I'm sorry about that."

We sat in silence for a moment, and she didn't seem inclined to go on.

"Would you tell me why? Did I do something . . . ?" Was she angry that I'd put her family - her Emmett - in danger? Time and time again. James, and now Victoria . . .

"I don't like that, but it's not really your fault," Rosalie said; she needn't explain her reasoning in this room because everyone knew why she had reservations about liking Bella.

"No, you haven't done anything," she murmured. "Not yet."

I stared at her, perplexed.

"Don't you see, Bella?" Her voice was suddenly more passionate than before, even while she'd told her unhappy story. "You already have everything . You have a whole life ahead of you - everything I want. And you're going to just throw it away . Can't you see that I'd trade everything I have to be you? You have the choice that I didn't have, and you're choosing wrong !"

"That's a bit harsh," Edward frowned.

"It's how I feel," Rosalie sighed.

"I know," Edward said. "And I agree with you on most parts... I just wish you didn't say it like that."

I flinched back from her fierce expression. I realized my mouth had fallen open and I snapped it shut.

She stared at me for a long moment and, slowly, the fervor in her eyes dimmed. Abruptly, she was abashed.

"And I was so sure that I could do this calmly." She shook her head, seeming a little dazed by the flood of emotion. "It's just that it's harder now than it was then, when it was no more than vanity."

She stared at the moon in silence. It was a few moments before I was brave enough to break into her reverie.

"Would you like me better if I chose to stay human?"

She turned back to me, her lips twitching into a hint of a smile. "Maybe."

"Is that why you like her better now... because you know that she won't be becoming a vampire?" Edward asked.

"Not completely," Rosalie sighed. "I understand her better now... a lot better than I'll probably ever understand her in these books..."

"You did get some of your happy ending, though," I reminded her. "You got Emmett."

"I got half." She grinned. "You know that I saved Emmett from a bear that was mauling him, and carried him home to Carlisle. But can you guess why I stopped the bear from eating him?"

"Stupid bear," Emmett muttered bitterly and almost everyone else snorted.

I shook my head.

"With the dark curls . . . the dimples that showed even while he was grimacing in pain . . . the strange innocence that seemed so out of place on a grown man's face . . . he reminded me of Vera's little Henry. I didn't want him to die - so much that, even though I hated this life, I was selfish enough to ask Carlisle to change him for me.

"I got luckier than I deserved. Emmett is everything I would have asked for if I'd known myself well enough to know what to ask for. He's exactly the kind of person someone like me needs. And, oddly enough, he needs me, too. That part worked out better than I could have hoped. But there will never be more than the two of us. And I'll never sit on a porch somewhere, with him gray-haired by my side, surrounded by our grandchildren."

Rosalie expression quickly turned to forlorn after that statement.

Her smile was kind now. "That sounds quite bizarre to you, doesn't it? In some ways, you are much more mature than I was at eighteen. But in other ways . . . there are many things you've probably never thought about seriously. You're too young to know what you'll want in ten years, fifteen years - and too young to give it all up without thinking it through. You don't want to be rash about permanent things, Bella." She patted my head, but the gesture didn't feel condescending.