8. Jake: My Sister’s Surprise

Chapter eight

Jake – My Sister’s Surprise

I love hearing from my little sister. I wonder what fantastical news she has this time. I love her spirit and she always makes me happy.

“I’m getting married, Jake! Ethan finally proposed! Your baby sis is getting hitched!” Smiling widely at the news, I’m happy and excited for my little sister. Bella is such a sweet soul, and she deserves to be happy. She’s your typically bubbly princess.

No matter how dire the situation is, Bella will face it with a smile on her face, even when she was being bullied in middle school. I was out for blood when I found out, but my little sister had smiled her way through the pain, baking cookies to give to her bullies.

She’s so nice that a lot of people try to take advantage of her. She says she never minds, though. She believes life is too short to be full of hatred, revenge, and other negative emotions. I love her, and I’ll do anything to keep her happy. I am extremely glad she has found Ethan. One can literally see the love melt his eyes into goo anytime he looks at her.

“Ethan finally manned up, yeah? He’s so lucky to have you, baby sis,” I say while grinning, knowing what’s coming next.

“I’m lucky to have him too, Jake,” she huffs, and I smile, picturing her rolling her eyes.

“When are the wedding bells going to chime, Bells?” She goes silent for some seconds, and a strange feeling washes over me. It’s never like Bella to stall. She believes in ripping off the proverbial bandage when having conversations. She has always been a blunt person. Blunt, honest, but never rude.

“Jacob,” she calls me cautiously, and I tense. I don’t know what she’s about to say, but I’m pretty sure it’s not what I’ll want to hear. People mostly never tell me good things when they call me by my actual name. “Spill it Bells. Are you okay? Are you pregnant?”

“God, no!” She laughs out loud. A sigh of relief escapes me, yet I can’t bring myself to be calm yet. Her being pregnant would not necessarily be a bad thing, but it’s always been her dream to spend the first two years of her marriage vacationing with her husband.

“Um . . .”

“So, cough it up, Bells, what’s wrong? Ethan doesn’t want a wedding?” I ask, feeling hot blood coursing through me at the thought, already thinking of a million ways to end him.

“Then why did he propose, brother?”

I felt dumb at that, and I could also feel her grinning at my stupid conclusion, which makes me feel even more of an idiot. “Yeah, well, then what is it Bells?” I ask patiently, even though I would have snapped at any other person by now. But I’d never do that to Bella.

I feel her release her breath in a whoosh. “The wedding will be in December, and I want it to be a country-themed, Christmas, white wedding.” I furrow my eyebrows, seeing nothing wrong with that.

Even if it doesn’t snow, I’m damn ready to get her artificial snow in whatever shapes or form she wants. “There’s nothing wrong with that, Bella. You can come to Birchwood as planned. That hasn’t changed, has it? I’ll have everything sorted out for you, Sis. There’s a perfect field for…”

“Sophia will be coming for the wedding!” she blurts out suddenly, and I feel my blood go ice cold.

I glower at my phone hard, expecting it to combust any moment from the ferocious heat of my gaze. My phone has nothing to do with my anger and frustration at the moment. Its only offense is carrying such bad news. No, it is way more than that—bad is an understatement when it comes to describing the news I’ve just heard.

I might as well use my blood for the artificial snow, if red snow could be accepted.

“Jacob?” I hear Bella tentatively call my name, but I can’t register her saying it.

I am only trying to focus on getting myself out of the myriad emotions and images whirring through my mind’s eye. From the sweet beginning, to the sour, to the bitter end. The pain, the anguish, and the bitter taste of betrayal.

“Jacob, are you alright? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I hear Bella say again, and this time, I hear her voice break.

I feel like the most terrible human being on earth. Bella has no fault in any of this. If she wants to invite her best friend to be in her own wedding, I have no right to stop her. I never told Bella the reason why I had ended things with Sophia. She would be so heartbroken to find out what her friend had done to me.

And I wouldn’t want to come between their friendship. Sophia had fended off Bella’s bullies in their junior year of high school. Sophia is her hero, her best friend, and her almost-sister. All I told Bella was that the relationship never worked out. She saw what the breakup did to me, she saw how deep that pain had run, but she never asked questions and she accepted my clichéd excuses.

I know, deep down, she was scared to know what had happened. She didn’t want to lose her best friend and didn’t want her brother hurt either. It put her in such a difficult position.

“First things first Bells, stop calling me ‘Jacob’ now. I feel like there’s more unpleasant news when you do that.” She laughs nervously. An obvious, fake, high-pitched laughter. I narrow my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Isabella, is there anything else I need to know?”

“No, Jaco- I mean, Jake. Jakey-jake! There’s nothing else. That’s totally all that you need to know!” I smile warmly at her childhood nickname for me. I sigh, believing her. If she says that’s all I need to hear, I won’t press her about it. Not that I’d be happy hearing more upsetting news.

“I’m fine with whoever’s coming to your wedding. You don’t need my permission. I love you, Bella, and all I want is for you to be happy,” I say, infusing some warmth into my voice, not allowing my true emotions to shine through .

She sniffs, and I know she got all teary-eyed already out of guilt. She’ll uninvite her best friend to her wedding if she has to for my sake. But I can’t do that to her. Neither can I tell her the kind of person Sophia really is.

All I can do is to seriously warn Sophia not to betray my sister. I had promised to ruin her, even if it was the last thing I did. Wishing Bella good luck, I disconnect the call.