It seemed like the drama was never going to end.  If I used to think werewolves were obnoxious, imprinted werewolves were about ten times worse.  The whole “give the object of imprinting whatever is best for them” thing became especially obnoxious the day after Renesmee’s sixth birthday.  Jacob got it into his head that he needed to leave for a while to make sure Renesmee had a real choice in their relationship.  When he told me, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes.

            “You’re being ridiculous,” I said, “Isn’t that kind of decided already?”  Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.  Jacob exhaled loudly, frustrated.

            “That’s the point.  She needs to know for herself that she’s making the right choice.  I’m not going to tell her what to think or what to do.  I’m not going to be gone long anyway.”

            “How long are you going to be gone, then?”

            “I should stay away for a year.”  My eyebrows pulled together; I hadn’t been expecting him to even be able to stay away that long.

            “You’re kidding.”

            Jacob groaned.  “Do you think I like this any better?”

            “Then why leave at all?”  I asked exasperatedly.

            “She shouldn’t feel like she needs to be with me, just because of the imprinting.”

            “Are you serious?”  My voice had climbed an octave by then.  “Oh yeah, didn’t the exact same thing work so well a few years ago?  I only went half-insane afterward, slicing my head open, falling off of motorcycles and jumping off cliffs in the middle of a huge storm!  I can see why you’d want to do that, seeing as it worked out just perfectly!”  Jacob paused for a moment.

            “Well, I think it worked,” hHe said this without any trace of humor.  I was completely incapable of doing anything but staring at him incredulously for a while.

            “What?”

            “Well, the whole experience kind of finalized your decision, didn’t it?  You knew you wouldn’t be able to consider anyone or anything else after that.  That’s what I want for Nessie.  I want her to have the absolute certainty I’ve had for years.”  I instinctively took a deep breath to calm myself down.  Ugh.  Big mistake.  Werewolf.  Ew.

            “I give up!  Do whatever you want, I’ve done all I can to make you see how absolutely insane you’re being right now.”  Jacob turned to leave.

            “Okay.  Bye.”

            “What do you think you’re doing?”

            “Leaving.”

            “You’re not even going to tell her you’re going?”

            “No.  It’s better this way.  She’d try to stop me if I told her.”  I sighed, even more frustrated.

            “Fine.”

            “Bye, Bella.”

            “Bye, Jake.  Oh, for the record, I still think this is a dumb idea.”

*****

            Renesmee took the news much better than I had.  I could tell she was getting restless, but she was fuming, not withdrawing into herself and ignoring the world around her.  Instead, I saw her talking to Nahuel most of the time (we were living in South America with the Amazon coven).  Edward was even more frustrated than I was.  I gathered he had regressed back to the wanting to kill Jake stage.  Although really I didn’t mind his attitude so much anymore.  I couldn’t help feeling that way about anybody who would hurt my daughter, even my best friend.

            After a while, Renesmee’s annoyance began to grate on the rest of us.  When Alice vaguely suggested going north to check on her human family, I jumped at the idea.  Alice, Jasper, Edward, and I made plans to leave.  I felt guilty leaving Renesmee behind, but at least she had the rest of our family, plus Nahuel, to help her.  Besides, this was something she needed to figure out on her own, a part of growing up.