Bella POV
“Damn it, Alice! What am I going to do with her?” I flung myself into the couch, probably more dramatically than the situation warranted, but feeling peevish enough not to care. “She's at the big house right now, telling Carlisle and Esme what monsters Emmett and I are for not letting her sneak around with that damned boy. What am I supposed to do?” I wailed, knowing that my sister couldn't give me any advice based on my daughter's future, because she couldn't see it.
She sighed heavily and sat down next to me, throwing her hand up to her forehead in a faux swoon. “Oh, woe is Bella! To have the first ever rebellious teenage daughter!” I swatted at her as she snickered, but I felt my mood lightening considerably.
“Seriously though, Alice. What am I going to do? I feel like the world's biggest hypocrite. Edward was sneaking in my window every night when I was her age. Well, sort of her age. I mean, I wasn't seven... Whatever. You know what I mean. I can't very well try to keep the two of them apart, can I? Not considering my behavior. Lord, Charlie always said that one day I would have kids and I would understand.” I rubbed my open palm against both of my eyes, a gesture from my human days that had stuck with me through immortality, and sighed. “Shit. You know, Emmett's no help with this one, either. He just says. 'Bella, you've got to let her grow up sometime and make her own choices.' Well, I'm not sure that she should be. I mean, physically she's mature, but she's only seven years old. She has so little life experience...” Alice crooked an eyebrow at me, and I glared as I continued. “Yes, yes, I know. She has no life experience because I haven't let her, blah blah blah. It's difficult, Alice! She's a child, for Christ's sake. I don't want her to end up with Nahuel just because he's the logical choice, and the only other hybrid she's ever met.”
“Bella,” she spoke gently, reassuringly, “he may be the only male hybrid in the world. What Renesmee lacks in experience, she more than makes up for in knowledge. We've taught her well, she's met scads of vampires that have shared their experiences with her... we've done all that we could do to let her experience life, short of handing her over to Aro himself. She's shown no interest in full vampires, and any human she might show interest in would have to be changed before he could get to know her well enough to see that she's different.” Intellectually, I knew that Alice was right. For all we knew, Nahuel was the only male of her species in the world, and there was no doubting that the boy was in love with her. “We live so far from humanity, these days. Since we moved here to Montana, things have changed for us. Our family is not mingling like we once did with the human world, save for Carlisle and his work. We don't go to school, we can't send Renesmee... This may be all of the world that she ever sees, Bella. And she's happy when she's with him. You can't deny that, regardless of your feelings on the subject.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I just don't want her to end up like I did. I don't want her to marry her first love, only to have it fall apart in her hands. It was hard for me, Alice. You know that. I love Emmett, and I am grateful for the choices that I made because they led me to him, but it has not been an easy road. I just want to keep her safe from feeling pain for the rest of our existence, and I know I can't do that. I know he loves her, and I know she loves him.”
Grinning at me impishly, Alice nudged my shoulder. “You're just afraid of being a grandmother at eighteen. Go ahead, admit it.” With her preternatural second sight, Alice pirouetted out of my swinging arm.
“Shut up!” I shouted through my laughter. “I'm not even ready to think about that part of their relationship yet. Oh, God,” I moaned, “I'm going to have to have The Talk with her, aren't I?”
Nodding sagely, Alice's tinkling voice filled the air. “Yes, I think you're going to have to. I can't see the conversation, obviously, but it doesn't take a psychic to know that it's a matter of time before it becomes a necessity.” If I were human, my face would have been on fire and the color of a tomato. “Relax, Bella. It's not that big of a deal. She's going to be a lot more embarrassed if you are, and she's not stupid. I'll be there, with you, if you want. I mean, I don't think this is the sort of thing you want to call Emmett in for.” I shuddered at the thought of my husband trying to have the sex talk with Renesmee, and nodded.
“Sure, sure. Whatever you think is best.”
