Unsurprisingly, the Cullen house was the most beautiful home that Evelyn had ever seen. How could she have expected anything less? Large glass windows replaced most of the walls, letting in plenty of natural light and offering fantastic views of the forest around them. The interior was gorgeous; light wood and metal accents along with minimalistic decor gave the home a modern flair with a hint of sophisticated elegance that Evelyn had only ever seen in magazines. A house like this should have been out of place in the middle of the forest, but for some reason it seemed to fit right in.

As Evelyn stood in the doorway gaping at the front room, Jasper squeezed her hand with a grin. "You seem surprised."

"Maybe a little." She met his eyes, grinning. "I guess I was expecting to see a huge Victorian mansion with cobwebs and a creepy butler or something."

Jasper rolled his eyes, gently pulling her into the spacious foyer so he could close the door. "Very funny, Ev."

"I'm glad you think so," Evelyn retorted, trying to mask her anxiety with playful sarcasm. She could hear faint voices from the floor above them, and from the sight of Edward's Volvo outside, she knew that he and Bella must already be up there.

Feeling her apprehension, Jasper placed his strong hands on her cheeks, gently tilting her head up so that he could clearly focus on her face.

"I'll be with you the whole time, Evelyn. Everything is going to be okay." He smiled softly, tucking a loose wave of hair behind her ear. "They practically love you already."

Evelyn frowned, placing her own hands over his and squeezing his fingers. "How can you know that? I haven't even met half of them yet."

He shrugged, his golden eyes softening as he searched her face. "Because you make me happy, and that's all that they've wanted for me for quite sometime."

Evelyn's heart sped up at his words, making Jasper chuckle. The effect he had on her never failed to amuse him, but he had spoken the truth. He knew that she knew, too, because he could feel a sense of calm slowly spreading throughout her body, her apprehension fading away. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, his lips barely brushing her skin before he pulled her by the hand towards the steps. "Let's go before Esme and Alice get too impatient."

Just as they reached the top of the stairwell, the crash of glass shattering echoed through the whole house, and the voices abruptly silenced. Evelyn felt Jasper tense, but he did not pause at the sudden noise. She squeezed his cold hand tighter as he led her into the kitchen where the rest of his family was waiting.

As they entered, Evelyn saw the Cullen family gathered around the kitchen island, with Bella and Edward standing just to the right of the doorway where she and Jasper had just emerged. With a quick scan of the room, Evelyn saw that Rosalie, her eyes fierce with the anger on her face, was standing in a pile of shattered glass and lettuce leaves. As they entered the room, Rosalie's sharp gaze met hers. Evelyn knew instinctively that her presence had just made Rosalie even more angry, and she shifted closer to Jasper, who was standing tense and still, his eyes hard.

"Perfect," Rosalie said. "Just perfect."

"It's- It's just cause I know you guys don't eat, so..." Bella started, awkwardly stuttering while she tried to smooth the situation over. By the smell of food wafting from the stovetop, Rosalie's annoyance, and Bella's explanation, Evelyn thought that they must have been trying to make them dinner.

"Of course, that's very considerate of you, Bella." Evelyn's eyes landed on a beautiful brunette woman, with kindness in her ocher eyes and warmth in her tone that made her suddenly miss her mother. She could only assume that this was Esme. Carlisle came around the island to wrap and arm around her, nodding in agreement.

"Just ignore Rosalie, I always do," Edward muttered in Bella's ear, forcing Evelyn to fight off the grin tugging at her cheeks. By the way Edward always talked about Rose, she knew that they had a complicated relationship.

Rosalie's nostrils flamed when she heard this, her eyes flashing. "Oh yeah? Let's just keep pretending that this isn't dangerous for all of us!" Emmett had moved to stand beside her, uselessly trying to calm her down by placing a strong hand on her shoulder.

"I would never tell anybody," Bella assured, glancing desperately between Rosalie and Carlisle. "And neither would Evelyn."

"She knows that," Carlisle agreed, offering Evelyn a comforting smile. She nodded in return, still too afraid to say anything yet. The situation still felt tense, and she didn't want to make it worse for Jasper.

"Well the problem is, you've all gone public now, so–"

"Emmett," Esme warned, shooting her adoptive son a glare. Evelyn glanced up at Jasper, hoping for some reassurance, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"No, they should know. The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly. Especially with that one," Rosalie said, her eyes falling on Evelyn. "We all know that Jasper can barely control himself at school. At this point, it's a matter of when, not if."

A strangled noise escaped Jasper's throat, and Evelyn had finally had enough. "It's really a shame that you have so little faith in your brother. If you'd actually pay attention instead of being so concerned about yourself all the time, then maybe you'd see that Jasper has more strength than you've ever given him credit for."

The room was dead silent, and Evelyn could see that Rosalie was completely surprised that she had actually argued with her. In truth, Evelyn had surprised herself; her heart thumped loudly in her ears as she held Rosalie's stare in an attempt to show that she was not afraid of her. Her gaze was murderous, and if looks could kill, Evelyn knew that she would have been dead as soon as she opened her mouth. Still, she knew it was worth it when she felt Jasper lean closer to her, his icy fingers tightening around her own.

Edward's laugh from the corner broke the strained silence, along with Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme.

"Damn, you're either really stupid or really brave. Either way, I like you already," Emmett said to her, shooting her a lopsided grin. Rosalie, clearly fuming, shifted her death glare from Evelyn to Emmett. He shrugged, throwing his hands up in defense. "What? All I said was that I liked her, not that I disagreed with you!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Evelyn saw Alice step down from a tree branch and into the house. She danced into the kitchen, her feet barely touching the floor as she made her way over to them.

"Hi Evelyn! And you must be Bella!" Alice wrapped her delicate arms around Evelyn for a brief moment before moving to do the same with Bella. She paused, her eyes fluttering shut as she stepped back.

"Oh! You do smell good," she commented, smiling kindly Bella. Evelyn couldn't help but smile; of course Alice would frame that observation as a compliment.

Edward rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. "Alice, really?"

"It's okay! We're all going to be great friends." Her eyes landed on both Bella and Evelyn, and the dreamy expression on her face made Evelyn wonder if she was picturing them somewhere far into the future, still alive and well. The thought made Evelyn smile, too.

Edward cleated his throat, slowly pulling Bella out of the room. "Alright, well, I'm going to give Bella a tour of the rest of the house." Bella, wide-eyed, met Evelyn's eyes and raised her eyebrows. Evelyn shrugged, just as confused about the last few minutes as her friend was. I guess even vampire families are dysfunctional.

"I'll see you soon!" Alice called after them, which only seemed to make Edward make his escape faster.

Suddenly, Evelyn felt another chilled hand grasp her free one, and she was face to face with Esme. "I'm so sorry I haven't gotten to properly introduce myself yet, I'm Esme. It is so nice to finally meet you! I've been begging Jasper to bring you over for weeks. I feel like I know you already since he talks about you all the–"

"Esme, please," Jasper huffed, looking down at his feet and running his free hand through his blond waves. Evelyn couldn't help but notice the small smile that graced his lips even though he sounded exasperated, and somehow she knew that if he could blush, his cheeks would be bright red right now.

Esme ignored him, her eyes still on the human girl. "Please tell me you're hungry, I need someone who can tell me how I did on my first attempt at Italiano in decades. I love to cook, but you've probably guessed that I don't get to do it very often."

"Well I love to eat, and it smells delicious," Evelyn complimented, already feeling like she could trust Esme completely. Jasper laughed, nodding in agreement.

"She really does. You might be cooking more often if she starts coming over more." Evelyn shoved Jasper's shoulder in mock annoyance, becoming actually annoyed when it ended up hurting her hand more than it hurt him. Jasper's grin only widened, his frustratingly perfect dimples flashing as she huffed and pulled her hand from his.

"Perfect! Emmett, chopping duty please! And Rose, clean this up," Esme ordered, gesturing to the mess of glass and lettuce on the floor as she gracefully hurried back towards the kitchen where Carlisle was browning meat in a pan. Evelyn couldn't help but notice that they treated Esme as if she were truly their mother, doing what she said without question.

Rosalie didn't say a word, grabbing a plastic bag from the counter and kneeling down to pick up the glass and lettuce leaves. Evelyn suddenly felt a little bad for her as she leaned against Jasper, watching her angrily scoop up the debris. She was only concerned for her family's safety; Rosalie probably didn't actually hate her as much as she acted like she did. And Evelyn realized that she wasn't all that scared of the blonde anymore. She could understand trying to protect your family. She would, too, if she had a family left to protect.

With a soft sigh, she kneeled down and started gathering up stray glass shards, careful not to cut her hands for the vampires' sake. Rosalie froze, visibly shocked and confused as she met Evelyn's eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Evelyn shrugged, dumping the glass from her hands into the bag. "I'm helping you."

Rosalie frowned, her perfect eyebrows furrowing in the center of her face. "Why would you, after what I said to you?"

"Because I know you're worried about protecting your family, and you don't know me or Bella at all. I can't fault you for that." She offered Rosalie a soft smile. "Besides, it goes faster when there's two people working. See? We're done," she said, scooping the last of the lettuce into the bag.

Rosalie did not speak, but Evelyn noticed that she no longer seemed angry at her, which was a good sign. They both stood, Rosalie nodding once in her direction before quickly making her way out of the room.

Evelyn wasn't entirely sure that Rosalie would ever approve of her, much less want to be friends with her, but she could safely assume that the blonde vampire no longer hated her. And for Evelyn, that would just have to be good enough.

***

Jasper watched Evelyn from across the kitchen as she sat at the island with his family, a delicate smile on his lips. Evelyn had no fear as she raved to Esme about her cooking, conversing with both her and Carlisle as if she had known them for years. She easily and patiently kept up with Alice, who was talking nonstop about clothes, school, Bella and Edward, and practically any other possible subject that Evelyn would have knowledge of. He wasn't surprised in the slightest whenever she would meet Emmett's teasing with the wit and sarcasm that she used on him, laughing along at the jokes while she ate. He marveled at the way she seemed to fit perfectly in with his family, and he knew through the emotional aura in the room that his family felt the same way.

After almost two hours, Jasper finally managed to pull Evelyn away from his family to give her a tour of the rest of the house. He led her by the hand through the spacious home, pointing out various art pieces that Carlisle had purchased through the years and his siblings' bedrooms. He couldn't help but laugh when she told him that their graduation cap wall was depressing because she couldn't imagine going through high school more than once; in all honesty, he agreed completely.

Finally, they came to the door of his room. Evelyn didn't know why she felt nervous to see his room; it seemed so private and personal all of a sudden. He opened the door, gently pulling her inside.

"It's not much, but this is my room," he said, his voice quiet as he watched her take it all in.

Three of the four walls were windows, opening up to a view of the lush green forest surrounding the house. There was multiple bookshelves in the room, along with four antique-looking guns mounted on the only actual wall. There was a white leather couch on one side of the room, a large stereo with shelves of CDs on the other. In one corner, there was a desk with probably a dozen journals scattered across its surface. Other than the rifles, the main wall was empty. Like the rest of the house, his room was very open, clean, and light.

"It's very you," she commented, turning back and smiling at him. "But why don't you have a bed?"

He shrugged as he leaned against the door way. "We can't sleep, so there really isn't any point in having one. It makes for a lot more space, though."

Evelyn felt her eyes widen. "You don't sleep? Like at all?"

Jasper shook his head, his grin making his dimples show. "No, ma'am. Not at all."

"I don't think I would enjoy being awake 24 hours a day," she responded, turning back to the room. "I can see why you have so many books now."

He walked farther into the room, his hands shoved into his pockets. "I like to read, mostly about history and philosophy. I have a lot of poetry books, too."

Evelyn raised her eyebrows. "I didn't know you liked poetry," she paused, glancing towards the journals on the desk, "do you write, too?"

"A little," he confirmed. "It helps me clear my mind sometimes. Kind of like your drawings, or Edward and his music. He gave me most of these," he said, gesturing to the shelf of CDs. "There's probably something from every decade here."

"That is something Edward would do," Evelyn agreed. She noticed a lone book on the end table by the couch, its pages dog-eared to mark whatever Jasper had thought was too important to forget. She walked over and picked it up, realizing it was a book of poems.

"Keats?" She asked, her smile growing. "I didn't realize you were such a romantic."

Jasper walked forward until he was standing next to her. "Are you surprised, though?" He asked, a playful smirk on his face.

She giggled, nudging him his side with her arm. "I guess not. Which one is your favorite?" She asked, holding the book out to him. He gently took it, his fingertips brushing against hers. He flipped to a poem near the back of the book, silently showing her the page with its corner neatly folded down.

"'Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art.' I've never read this one before. What do you like about it?"

Jasper's golden eyes met hers, and Evelyn felt the playful mood dissipate as she held his gaze, the atmosphere between them becoming charged with tension and vulnerability.

"It reminds me of you," he said at last, his melodic voice soft as he searched her face. Evelyn bit her lip, feeling her heartbeat steadily speed up.

"Can you read it to me?" She breathed, looking up at him through thick, dark lashes. Jasper nodded, but she noticed that his eyes never left hers as he recited the poem from memory:

"Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death."

Evelyn had been so mesmerized by Jasper's voice as he recited the beautiful words to her that she hadn't noticed the he had tossed the poetry book on the couch, stepping close enough to her that she could almost feel the chill of his skin through his button-up shirt.

"Evelyn?" he whispered, placing both of his hands on her waist. The sudden chill, along with the way he said her name, made her breath catch in her throat. She hummed in response, focusing very hard on staying upright on her suddenly unstable legs.

Jasper looked at the girl in front of him in awe; never in his entire existence as a vampire would he have thought that he was capable of caring for someone the way he cared about her. Maria had poisoned his idea of love long ago, and for over a century he had believed it to be nothing more than a fantasy that he would never get to experience. A monster like him should never get to experience. But now, as he stared into the bright green eyes of this extraordinary girl that had learned everything about him and still remained by his side, he thought that maybe he was deserving, after all. He didn't know where the future would take them or what it could mean for their relationship, but he did know that he would never leave Evelyn as long as he was alive.

"What would you do if I told you that I'm in love with you?" He asked, his voice soft and his face vulnerable as if he were a child.

Evelyn blinked, momentarily unsure if she heard him right. Someone like Jasper, perfect in every way imaginable, was in love with her? She felt a sudden wave of bravery and confidence come over her, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Maybe you should tell me and find out," she whispered, her heart racing in anticipation.

Jasper chuckled, and Evelyn could feel the deep sound of his voice vibrate through his chest. He lifted one hand to brush her hair behind her ear, a content smile on his face.

"I love you, Evelyn. More than you could ever imagine."

Evelyn let out the breath she was holding, feeling as if her heart was going to burst from the wave of emotion flowing through her at this moment. She had so many things she wanted to say, so much she wanted him to know about how she felt, but she knew that he could already feel it emanating from her.

So instead, she settled for a short response, so simple and yet so reflective of everything she wanted to say.

"I love you too, Jasper. So much." She rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as she felt his arms tighten around her body as he held her. Jasper rested his chin on the top of her head, feeling the most happy and content he had ever felt in his life.

"But now you have to promise me something," Evelyn said, her fingers playing with the curls at the nape of Jasper's neck.

"Anything," he breathed into her hair, knowing that he would absolutely do anything she would ever ask him to do.

"Promise me you won't leave me."

Jasper held her even tighter as he felt her nuzzle deeper into his chest. "I promise. I've waited for you for a long time, Evelyn Masen. I don't wish to be without you again."