It was disconcerting the way he said this, like it would be a good thing to have no vampires in Forks. My heart thumped unevenly at the emptiness of the picture he painted.

"Edward would have come back anyway."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, belligerent again as soon as I spoke Edward's name.

"Jealous?" Emmett laughed.

"Yeah, but he has a reason to be," Edward said.

"So do you," Emmett laughed harder.

"Yes... but not as much," Edward shrugged.

"Alright, you think that," Emmett smirked.

"Being apart . . . It didn't work out so well for either of us."

He started to say something, something angry from his expression, but he stopped himself, took a breath, and began again.

"Did you know Sam is mad at you?"

"Me?" It took me a second. "Oh. I see. He thinks they would have stayed away if I wasn't here."

"No. That's not it."

"Then why would he be mad at her?" Edward asked. "She's hasn't done anything wrong."

"What's his problem then?"

Jacob leaned down to scoop up another rock. He turned it over and over in his fingers; his eyes were riveted on the black stone while he spoke in a low voice.

"When Sam saw . . . how you were in the beginning, when Billy told them how Charlie worried when you didn't get better, and then when you started jumping off cliffs . . ."

I made a face. No one was ever going to let me forget that.

"Well, it was a rather stupid thing to do," Edward said.

"It got you back together," Alice pointed out.

"It was still stupid," Edward repeated.

"Yes, it was," Alice agreed.

Jacob's eyes flashed up to mine. "He thought you were the one person in the world with as much reason to hate the Cullens as he does.

"Oh... I suppose he has a point there," Edward frowned. "We... I did put her through hell..."

"Edward, she could never hate you... not for a moment," Esme said. "You know that she didn't hate you..."

"But she could have... she should have," Edward said. "I hate me..."

"Don't," Esme said sharply and rested a hand on his shoulder. "You made a choice that you thought would help her. Just because it was the wrong choice... just because it had consequences doesn't mean that you should put yourself down like this. You were trying to do the right thing."

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions," Edward grumbled.

"Only if you follow those intentions blindly," Esme said. "But you've opened your eyes Edward, and you won't ever go down that path again."

"No... I won't," Edward said.

"Just make sure you don't go down another path," Rosalie said and Esme glared at her. Edward had almost been smiling before she said that. "I'm just saying that there is more than one way to get there and you have to be careful..." she added, noticing how he was taking it. "And no I'm not talking about the whole soul thing…I just mean that you can't always think that you're right... You stubbornness could get you in trouble."

"Are you warning my book self or me?" Edward asked.

"You," Rosalie said.

"I'll keep that in mind," Edward frowned, looking like he was going over what she had said to him. "Though, that's rich coming from you," he teased.

Rosalie glared at him, though it was clear that she wasn't really mad this time.

Sam feels sort of . . . betrayed that you would just let them back into your life like they never hurt you."

I didn't believe for a second that Sam was the only one who felt that way. And the acid in my voice now was for both of them.

"You can tell Sam to go right to -"

"Look at that," Jacob interrupted me, pointing to an eagle in the act of plummeting down toward the ocean from an incredible height. It checked itself at the last minute, only its talons breaking the surface of the waves, just for an instant. Then it flapped away, its wings straining against the load of the huge fish it had snagged.

"You see it everywhere," Jacob said, his voice suddenly distant. "Nature taking its course - hunter and prey, the endless cycle of life and death."

I didn't understand the point of the nature lecture; I guessed that he was just trying to change the subject. But then he looked down at me with dark humor in his eyes.

"And yet, you don't see the fish trying to plant a kiss on the eagle. You never see that." He grinned a mocking grin.

Emmett laughed at that, but everyone else rolled their eyes.

I grinned back tightly, though the acid taste was still in my mouth. "Maybe the fish was trying," I suggested. "It's hard to tell what a fish is thinking. Eagles are good-looking birds, you know."

Emmett laughed even harder at that.

"I've got more than looks," Edward pouted.

"Is that what it comes down to?" His voice was abruptly sharper. "Good looks?"

"Don't be stupid, Jacob."

"Is it the money, then?" he persisted.

"Actually, Bella doesn't really care about the money at all," Edward said. "My Bella is very odd for a human…she probably would have liked it better if I wasn't rich."

"That's nice," I muttered, getting up from the tree. "I'm flattered that you think so much of me." I turned my back on him and paced away.

"Aw, don't get mad." He was right behind me; he caught my wrist and spun me around. "I'm serious! I'm trying to understand here, and I'm coming up blank."

His eyebrows pushed together angrily, and his eyes were black in their deep shadow.

"I love him.

Edward grinned brightly and more than a little smugly at that.

Not because he's beautiful or because he's rich!" I spat the word at Jacob. "I'd much rather he weren't either one. It would even out the gap between us just a little bit - because he'd still be the most loving and unselfish and brilliant and decent person I've ever met. Of course I love him. How hard is that to understand?"

"She didn't really describe you very well," Jasper teased.

"Yeah, and she's usually so good at it," Emmett laughed.

"Stop it," Esme said, frowning.

"Yeah, you're ruining the moment," Alice added, amused.

"It's impossible to understand."

"Please enlighten me, then, Jacob." I let the sarcasm flow thick. "What is a valid reason for someone to love someone else? Since apparently I'm doing it wrong."

"I think the best place to start would be to look within your own species. That usually works."

"Well, that just sucks!" I snapped. "I guess I'm stuck with Mike Newton after all."

Emmett snorted loudly and when he threw his head back laughing, he knocked over the chair he was sitting on.

"The poor girl," Alice said, but she was laughing almost as hard…as was most of the family.

Jacob flinched back and bit his lip. I could see that my words had hurt him, but I was too mad to feel bad about that yet. He dropped my wrist and folded his arms across his chest, turning from me to glare toward the ocean.

"I'm human," he muttered, his voice almost inaudible.

"You're not as human as Mike," I continued ruthlessly. "Do you still think that's the most important consideration?"

"It's not the same thing." Jacob didn't look away from the gray waves. "I didn't choose this."

"Neither did I," Edward said. "None of us did."