Let’s Re-Read Breaking Dawn Together! Chapter 22

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While we impatiently wait for Breaking Dawn part 2 to be released, we continue with our highly-popular Community Re-Read!

Every Tuesday & Friday, I’ll post a breakdown for each chapter in the book, counting down the days until the official release of the film on November 16th. Let’s get started, dig out your copy of Breaking Dawn, read the chapters together with us, and discuss anything you may find of interest that you might have missed the first or twentieth time around. Let’s continue our journey into FOREVER.

Chapter 22: Promised

 “Thinking of Renesmee brought her to that center stage place in my strange, new, and roomy but distractible mind. So many questions. I felt a sharp pang of jealousy over this stranger. He knew her and I did not. It wasn’t fair.”

 So this is it. The moment where we all meet Renesmee Cullen! As Edward and Bella come back from their first hunt together, Bella drills Edward on every little detail about their daughter.

Pg. 428-430  “Tell me about her.” “She’s like nothing else in the world,”  he told me, and the sound of an almost religious devotion was there again in his voice. “How much is she like you? How much like me? Or like I was, anyway.” “It seems a fairly even divide.” “She was warm blooded,” I remembered. “Yes. She has a heartbeat, though it runs a little bit faster than a human’s. Her temperature is a little bit hotter than usual, too. She sleeps.” “Really?” “Quite well for a newborn. The only parents in the world who don’t need sleep, and our child already sleeps though the night.” He chuckled. I liked the way he said our child. The words made her more real. “She has exactly your color eyes-so that didn’t get lost, after all. They’re so beautiful.” “And the vampire parts?” I asked. “Her skin seems about as impenetrable as ours. Not that anyone would dream of testing that. Of course no one would,” he assured me again. “Her diet…well, she prefers to drink blood. Carlisle continues to persuade her to drink some baby formula, too, but she doesn’t have much patience with it. Can’t say that I blame her-nasty-smelling stuff, even for human food.” “Persuade her?” “She’s intelligent, shockingly so, and progressing at an immense pace. Though she doesn’t speak-yet-she communicates quite effectively.” “Doesn’t. Speak. Yet. What do you mean, she communicate effectively?” I demanded. “I think it will be easier for you to…see for yourself. It’s rather difficult to describe.” “Why is Jacob still here?” I asked. “How can he stand it?” Why should he? Why should he have to suffer more?” “Jacob isn’t suffering,” he said in a strange new tone. “Though I might be willing to change his condition.” “Edward! How can you say that? Jacob has given up everything to protect us! What I’ve put him through-!” It seemed odd now that I had needed him so much then. That sense of absence without him near has vanished; it must have been a human weakness. “You’ll see exactly how I can say that,” Edward muttered.

Pg. 432-435 And finally for all you wolf lovers…we meet up with the one and only Jacob Black! Edward and Bella stop arguing long enough to make it home to finally meet with Jacob and Renesmee.   Edward was beside me in the same second, his hands clamped down hard on the tops of my arms. “Don’t breathe,” he cautioned me urgently. Jacob stood at the line where the line forest touched the Cullen’s lawn, his arms folded across his body, his jaw clenched tight. “Carefully, Jacob. Maybe this isn’t the best way-“ “You think it would be better to let her near the baby first?” Jacob interrupted. “It’s safer to see how Bella does with me. I heal fast.” But what was Jacob doing? Why would he offer himself as a test to protect Renesmee? He still looked like my best friend. But he wasn’t the one who has changed. What did I look like to him? Then he smiled his familiar smile, the smile of a kindred spirit, and I was sure our friendship was intact. His grin widened, and he shuddered slightly. “I gotta say it, Bells. You’re a freak show.”  *LMAO!!!   I grinned back, falling easily into the old pattern. This was a side of him I understood. Edward growled. “Watch yourself, mongrel.” “No, he’s right. The eyes are really something, aren’t they?” “Super-creepy. But not as bad as I thought it would be.” “Gee-thanks for the amazing compliment!”  He rolled his eyes. You know what I mean. You still look like you-sort of. Maybe it’s not the look so much as…you are Bella. I didn’t think I would feel like you were still here. Anyway, I guess I’ll get used to the eyes soon enough.” “You will?” I asked, confused. The strangest look crossed his face, erasing the smile. It was almost…guilty? Then his eyes shifted to Edward. “Thanks. I didn’t know if you’d be able to keep it from her, promise or not. Usually, you just give her everything she wants.” “Maybe I’m hoping she’ll get irritated and rip your head off,” Edward suggested.   *Bella is now even more confused and asks the guys if they are keeping secrets from her. Then 2 more wolves appear from the woods…Leah and Seth Clearwater!! They obviously are there for Jacob’s protection just incase Bella goes all ‘newborn’ on them.

Pg. 436-437  *Now the test. Jacob instructs Bella to take a whiff.  I took another breath and relaxed. “Huh. I can  see what everyone’s been going on about. You stink, Jacob.”  Edward burst into laughter; his hands slipped from my shoulders to wrap around my waist. “Look who’s talking,” Jacob said, theatrically plugging his nose. “Okay, so I passed, right? Now are you going to tell me what this big secret is?” Jacob’s expression became very nervous. “It’s nothing you need to worry about this second…”  *As Bella listens to the sounds coming from inside the house, her main focus is meeting her daughter, and the time has finally come!  “Renesmee,” I whispered. “Come and see,” Edward murmured. “I know you can handle this.” “Will you help me?” “Of course I will.” “And Emmett and Jasper-just in case?” “We’ll take care of you, Bella. Don’t worry, we’ll be ready. None of us would risk Renesmee. I think you’ll be surprised at how entirely she’s already wrapped us all around her little fingers. She’ll be perfectly safe no matter what.” And then Jacob was in my way, his face a mask of worry. “Are you sure, bloodsucker? I don’t like this. Maybe we should wait-“  “You had your test, Jacob.” “But-“ “But nothing,” Edward said suddenly exasperated. “Bella needs to see our daughter. Get out of her way.”

Pg. 438-439  They waited for me in a smiling line that was both welcoming and defensive. Rosalie was several paces behind the rest of them, near the front door. She was alone until Jacob joined her and stood in front of her, closer than was normal. Someone very small was leaning forward out of Rosalie’s arms, peering around Jacob. Immediately she had my absolute attention, my every thought, the way nothing else had owned them since the moment I’d opened my eyes. “I was out just two days?”  The stranger-child in Rosalie’s arms had to be weeks, if not months, old. She was maybe twice the size of the baby in my dim memory, and she seemed to be supporting her own torso easily as she stretched toward me. Her shiny bronze-colored hair fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her chocolate brown eyes examined me with an interest that was not at all childlike; it was adult, aware and intelligent. She raised one hand, reaching in my direction for a moment, and then reached back to touch Rosalie’s throat. If her face had not been astonishing in its beauty and perfection, I wouldn’t have believed it was the same child. My child. But Edward was there in her features, and I was there in the color of her eyes and cheeks. Even Charlie had a place in her thick curls, though their color matched Edward’s. She must be ours. Impossible, but still true. Rosalie patted the hand against her neck and murmured, “Yes, that’s her.” Renesmee’s eyes stayed locked on mine. Then, as she had just seconds after her violent birth, she smiled at me. A brilliant flash of tiny perfect white teeth. Reeling inside I took a hesitant step toward her. Everyone moved very fast. Emmett and Jasper were right in front of me, shoulder to shoulder, hands ready. Edward gripped me from behind, fingers tight again on the tops of my arms. Even Carlisle and Esme moved, too, keeping his protective stance front of them. Alice was the only one who held her place. “Oh, give her some credit. She wasn’t going to do anything. You’d want a closer look, too.”

Pg. 440-443 *The next few pages describe how magnificent Bella is as a newborn. Edward’s brothers can hardly believe how controlled Bella is, but Carlisle scolds Edward for being very careless when it came to Bella and the human that was close by. After the chatter calms down we get back to Bella and Renesmee.  

Pg. 444-447 Renesmee whimpered eagerly and stretched, her little hands grasping into fists again and again. Jacob let his long arms stretch so that I could cradle her, but he didn’t let go. She looked up and smiled at me again, showing her square little teeth and two dimples. Then very deliberately, she reached for my face. I was gasping, stunned and frightened by the strange, alarming image that filled my mind. It felt like a very strong memory-I could still see through my eyes while I watched it in my head-but it was completely unfamiliar. Besides being shocking and unfamiliar, the image was also wrong somehow-I almost recognized my own face in it, my old face, but it was off, backwards. My memory face was twisted, covered in sweat and blood. The image enlarged, my face came closer to the unseen vantage point, and then abruptly vanished. Renesmee’s hand dropped from my cheek. She smiled wider dimpling again. “What…was…that?” “What did you see?” Rosalie asked curiously. “What did she show you?”  “She showed me that?” I whispered. “I told you it was hard to explain,” Edward murmured in my ear. “But effective as means of communications go. She’s letting you that she’s made the connection that she knows who you are.” “But how did she do that?” Renesmee seemed unconcerned with my boggling eyes. She was smiling slightly and pulling on a lock of my hair. “How do I hear thoughts? How does Alice see the future? She’s gifted.” “It’s an interesting twist,” Carlisle said to Edward. “Like she’s doing the opposite of what you can.” “ I remember you, too,”  I told her quietly. It seemed very natural to lean in and press my lips to her forehead. She smelled wonderful. The scent of her skin set my throat burning, but it was easy to ignore. Renesmee was real and I knew her. She was the same one I’d fought for from the beginning. My little nudger, the one who loved me from the inside, too. I’d been right all along. She was worth the fight. “Haven’t we experimented enough for one day?” Jacob asked. “Okay, Bella’s doing great, but let’s not push it.” “What’s your problem, Jacob?” I demanded. Edward hissed at him. “Just because I understand, it doesn’t mean I won’t throw you out, Jacob. Bella’s doing extraordinarily well. Don’t ruin the moment for her.”  “Ill help him toss you, dog.” Rosalie promised her voice seething. “I owe you a good kick in the gut.”

Pg. 448-451 *This long chapter ends on a note that none of us could’ve expected. As Rosalie said: “The whole family could be implicated, if this ends badly.”   I glared at Jacob’s anxious half-angry expression. His eyes were locked on Renesmee’ face. With everyone pressed together, he had to be touching at least six different vampires at the moment, and it didn’t even seem to bug him. I puzzled over it, watching him stare at my daughter. Staring at her like…like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the very first time. “No!” I gasped. Jasper’s teeth came together as Edward’s arms wrapped around my chest like constricting boas. Jacob had Renesmee out of my arms in the same second, and I did not try to hold on to her. Because I felt it coming-the snap that they’d all been waiting for. “Rose,” I said through my teeth, very slowly and precisely. “Take Renesmee. Edward, I don’t want to hurt you, so please let go of me. Go stand in front of Renesmee,” I suggested. I leaned into my hunting crouch and took two slow steps forward toward Jacob. “You didn’t,” I snarled at him. He backed away, palms up, trying to reason with me. “You know it’s not something I can control.” “You stupid mutt! How could you? My baby!” He backed out the front door now as I stalked him, half-running backward down the stairs. “It wasn’t my idea, Bella!” “I’ve held her all of one time, and already you think you have some moronic wolfy claim to her? She’s mine.” “I can share,” he said pleadingly as he retreated across the lawn. “Pay up,” I heard Emmett say behind me. A small part of my brain wondered who had bet against this outcome. “How dare you imprint on my baby? Have you lost your mind?” “It was involuntary!”  Then he wasn’t alone. The two huge wolves reappeared, flanking him on either side. Leah snapped at me. A fearsome snarl ripped through my teeth back at her. “Bella, would you try to listen for just a second? Please?”  Jacob begged. “Leah, back off,” he added. “Why should I listen?” “Because you’re the one who told me this. Do you remember? You said we belonged in each others lives, right? That we were family. You said that was how you and I were supposed to be. So…now we are. It’s what you wanted.” “You think you’ll be apart of my family as m son-in-law!”  I screeched. Emmett laughed. “Stop her, Edward,” Esme murmured. “She’ll be unhappy if she hurt’s him.” “No!” Jacob was insisting at the same time. “How can you even look at it that way? She’s just a baby, for crying out loud!” “That’s my point!” I yelled. “You know I don’t think of her that way! Do you think Edward would let me live this long if I did? All I want is for her to be safe and happy-is that so bad?” He was shouting right back at me. Beyond words, I shrieked a growl at him. “Amazing, isn’t she?” I heard Edward murmur. “She hadn’t gone for his throat not even once,” Carlisle agreed, sounding stunned. “Fine, you win this one,” Emmett said, grudgingly. “You’re going to stay away from her,” I hissed up at Jacob. “I cant do that!” “Try. Starting now.” “It’s not possible. Do you remember how much you wanted me around three days ago? How hard it was to be apart from each other? That’s gone for you now, isn’t it? That was her,” he told me. “From the very beginning. We had to be together, even then.” “Run away while you still can,” I threatened. “C’mon, Bells! Nessie likes me, too,” he insisted. I froze. My breathing stopped. “What…did you call her?” Jacob took a step farther back, managing to look sheepish. “Well, that name you came up with is kind of a mouthful and-“ “You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?”  I screeched. And then I lunged for his throat.

*Serves him right…yeah I said it! I’m sorry I get it I understand the whole imprinting, but like Edward I don’t have to like it, and by now I’m sooo engulfed into the saga that I had the same feelings as if Renesmee was my own child and I’m not pleased with Jacob staking claim on this baby. It is what it is. What an action packed chapter!! I’m exhausted. I still say Bella could’ve chosen a life less dramatic, and where is her momma? What were your thoughts, feelings about Bella and Jake and this whole mess! It’s just sooo messy.com ROFL!

Tags: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 Re-Read, Breaking Dawn Re-Read

Category: Breaking Dawn Book