There was a lot of hidden pain, I knew. Momma radiated it, every time she saw I had grown. She felt like she wasn’t getting enough time with me, and I couldn’t blame her, I still felt cheated out of the two days I lost with her after my birth.

Did I feel guilty? No. I knew she’d be safe. Daddy would never have let her die. He loves her more than anything, except me. I can see it from both of them; it’s a different, but equal love.

I couldn’t understand that ‘other’ love, the one my parents shared; my aunts and uncles, Grandpa Charlie and Sue. That ‘grown-up’ love.

But, I knew the love I felt towards Jacob was different than the love I felt for my family, all of them; human, vampire, and shape-shifter.

We had a deeper bond, one I had recognized from the womb. It was odd, but I just knew that he and I were supposed to be in each other’s lives.

Jacob wanted to protect me, and I would protect him too, as much as I could, for now.

I knew that love and devotion we had for each other was bound to change, to grow, to turn into what my parents had, but I couldn’t see that happening, yet. Six years… that was when I was supposed to finish my ‘maturing’.

I felt mentally more mature than I should, but a lot of things still confused me; like, why Aunt Leah seemed to hate me, why Aunt Rose sometimes looked at me with pain in her eyes, and why Aunt Alice seemed perfectly okay with the fact that her gift was now useless with Jacob always around.

Was that a part of love? Making sacrifices? It had to be; momma had been willing to die for me, more than once. She’d been willing to give me up, to let Jacob be in charge of my future, simply to keep me safe. It wasn’t only mom, it was all of them; my entire family was willing to die for the others. That was real love.

I looked at my mother, smiling. Everyone knew it, and I didn’t care, but I did love her more than anyone, and that would probably never change. When she found out about me, she wasn’t scared like dad, she loved me. She risked her life to keep me safe, she had died as a human to give birth to me, and she had done nothing but love and protect and take care of me since she became re-born as a vampire.