Hi, Lisa, so glad to see a new chapter. I think grad school is a REALLY good "excuse" for time between updates. Please know that we're just glad you are staying with this wonderful story, even when RL gets tough.
Tanya! Did not see that coming. But when Edward says that T&J have a common goal, it's easy to see what that is. So Jacob is not the only seriously twisted spurned lover in this story.
Ooh, that's nasty that she can truthfully say Edward came to her (well, the Denali clan) when he ran away from Bella after that first day in the biology lab.
OMG, as if Jacob didn't already deserve to die, pushing thoughts of what he did to Bella into Edward's head... Unforgiveable. At least Edward wasn't totally unprepared, thank goodness he had heard it from Bella first.
Great description of Edward figuring out how to focus and think through how he could eliminate Tanya.
‘So I concentrated on my plan, starting with flashing Tanya a seductive smile.' If he could lie to Bella so convincingly when he left her in NM, he could surely convince Tanya who wanted nothing more than to believe he wanted her. But gross! He'll be looking for some bleach later to get that experience out of his brain.
At least Bella had the comfort of knowing that Tanya wouldn't want to harm Edward. But oh so frightening and evil when Jacob threatens to "refresh your memory", and make Edward watch. Gah.
So glad Bella got to strike a key blow for herself! Thank you, Emmett! We don't even realize how close she was to being killed until Edward's POV.
Nice explanation for how all the parts of T&J's plot fit together. Yeah, if a vampire who knows you and your family goes rogue without anyone realizing it, you're pretty much screwed.
‘It had taken every ounce of strength I'd had just to partially block out what Jacob's mind had been screaming at me. I'd kept myself rooted to reality by focusing on Bella as I'd held her, listening to her heart and telling myself over and over that I'd never let it happen again.' Nice.
Edward torturing Jacob ... makes me queasy, but considering not only what he had already done but when he was about to do again, I guess he had it coming. I liked Bella's thought: ‘I couldn't bring myself to stop Edward. I couldn't even remember why I should. ‘
Convenient that Jacob decided to end his own life. I imagine that he realized once the pack found out he had aligned himself with a vampire to carry out his plan, they would have abandoned him altogether.
Love the moment when the fighting stops and Bella does a frantic head count to make sure everyone is OK. And weak-kneed, profound relief when she can finally sob in his arms.
Re your author's notes, I totally agree that this is not the end of the story, and I'm so glad you see it that way. The most important part to me has always been Bella's healing from the rape, and how she and Edward will manage to recover from that. For my two cents, I don't feel the story would be complete without their first sexual experience, and how they make it really her "first time". And bring on the family interactions, always enjoy those.
Thanks again for the time and energy and thought you put into this story. Best of luck with school...
Author's Response: I'm always thrilled to see a review from you! And once again I feel the need to apologize for my late reply. Thank you for understanding my grad school excuse for the slow updates as well as review replies.
You interpret and express everything SOO well! 'seriously twisted spurned lover' --what an excellent way of putting it. And yes, Jacob wasn't the only one in the story. The title of the story 'Mistaken Trust' refers to more than just Bella's trust in Jacob. The Cullens trusted Tanya and she betrayed that trust.
I like that you remembered that at least Bella did tell Edward everything that happened before Jacob forced him to see some of it.
'He'll be looking for some bleach later to get that experience out of his brain' LOL. I kind of feel the same way! There were many readers that said they would've liked to have read about how Edward killed Tanya, and I did actually think of including it, but then I decided to leave it to the readers imagination and one of the main reasons for that was because I REALLY did not want to think too in-depth on writing out that scene, lol.
Yes! I think Bella's strike on Jacob was very important. And once again you are very perceptive. Bella didn't realize just how close Jacob was to killing her. Emmett actually saved her life in a way. This is a key point, and you can be certain that Edward will be enlightening Bella on this fact.
Ha, ha, Edward torturing Jacob made me queasy as well. Hence, the reason I didn't provide a more in-depth description. I don't like the idea of it, but Jacob certainly deserved it and it had to be done.
Thank you for your lovely compliments.
Yes, the story is definitely not over. The action/suspense stuff is over. I enjoyed writing the action/suspense, but the healing is definitely the most important part to me. I truthfully think that the best parts of the story are still yet to come. There will be some angst/healing but there is also going to be lots of E/B fluff thrown in along the way as well! And thank you for dropping your two cents. I agree with you there as well, and I do plan to take it to the first sexual experience (although this is rated R and so it won't be as detailed as some NC-17 fics).
I still have quite a bit more planned for this story, but unfortunately, it's going to take me a while to get there. RL is NOT going well for me right now and I haven't been able to do much writing at all. BUT more of the story will come eventually. Thank YOU again for your review, it really brightens up my really hectic RL.