It's Been a Lifetime Waiting

Veronica waved tearfully as Nick drove away the next morning. Their time together had been far too short for her liking, but Veronica was glad she’d been able to see the New Year in with him. The Miller siblings had gone with the entire Cullen family down to the main street in town to watch fireworks that signalled the start of the new year, Veronica getting her first ever New Year’s Kiss. From Emmett, obviously. But right now Veronica was a bit sad, seeing as she wouldn’t be seeing Nick again for a few months. But as she entered her bedroom, she was joined by Emmett, Alice and Jasper. Veronica smiled as Jasper made her calm.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, sitting down on her bed with her legs crossed

“You’ll see Nick again,” Alice reassured

“I hope so!” Veronica chuckled weakly

“What did he give you in that package?” Emmett asked curiously

Nick had brought up some of Veronica’s remaining belongings from their parents’ home, seeing as the divorce meant the house was being sold. Belongings which she’d almost forgotten about.

“I had a lot of family heirlooms from my father, like a couple of journals, sketches of family members and a few pieces of jewellery, so Nick brought them up for me,” Veronica explained

She reached under the bed for the small trunk and placed it on her lap, opening the lid. Her fingers drifted to the sketch of the two family members that had been burnt at the stake in the late 1600s. It was her most prized heirloom. She didn’t know why. There was just a pull to it that none of the others gave. One girl, with golden hair and large brown eyes, and one boy with dark hair and small brown eyes. They were beautiful, and they were her family.

“What are you looking at?” Jasper asked softly, breaking her trance

“Would you like to hear a story?” Veronica said with a small smile

“What kind of story?” Emmett chuckled, sitting in the chair next to her bed

“It’s the story my father used to tell me at night, when my mother was already asleep. She didn’t approve of his family history, saying it was full of nonsense, but when I was a young child he would tell me the story to help me sleep. He stopped when I was 5, but I’ll always remember it,” Veronica said fondly

“A fairytale then,” Alice said with a smile

The smile faded at Veronica’s snort.

“No, it’s quite gruesome,” Veronica grinned

“You are an odd girl, Roni,” Jasper chuckled, settling down on the bed behind his mate

Veronica cleared her throat, holding the picture in her hands.

“In the late 1600s, I’m not sure of the date exactly, there was a small family in Salem, Massachusetts. Their surname was lost, but I’ll explain that later. They were a mother, a father and two children. Twins. The father of the family died suddenly one day, no-one knew why, but the children started behaving oddly. Angry, brooding, vicious. And it was said whoever came near them in the small town would either have horrible luck or die soon after. This of course was all at the time of the Salem witch trials, and one day the children, a girl and a boy, were captured by the townspeople and imprisoned. As they were being taken, the children told their mother to run. So she gathered as much clothing as she could, all the money they owned, and a little food, before fleeing on horseback. The children were tied to stakes the next day, but just as their fires were lit, the town was attacked, and everyone was murdered. It was a bloody massacre. No-one knew what happened to the children, but everyone assumes they were killed too,” Veronica told softly

“And that helped you sleep at night?” Alice asked, bewildered

“What can I say, I was a strange child,” Veronica chuckled

“What happened to the mother? How did she survive?” Emmett asked curiously

“She managed to get to the next town about an hour away, and stayed with a kind old woman as well as changing her last name to Miller. And it turned out that the mother was pregnant with a little boy, so that’s how my family line carried on,” Veronica explained

“That’s an interesting story,” Jasper mused

“All the children born into my family line have either been two twins and a younger child, the twins being a boy and a girl and the other child being a boy, or two children, an older boy and a younger girl,” Veronica added

“You and Nick would be the one boy one girl version then,” Alice smiled

“Yeah, and my cousins on my dad’s side are the boy/girl twins with a younger brother. It’s a strange gene pool, but it’s always stayed that way. My cousins live in England though, I’ve never met them,” Veronica nodded

“Maybe one day you’ll meet them,” Emmett said warmly

“Maybe,” Veronica murmured

Her eyes drifted back to the sketch, a small smile creeping onto her lips.

“The children were quite beautiful, you know. Most of the girl’s characteristics died out with the family line, but the boy’s stayed strong. I look a lot like him. And I’m the spitting image of their mother,” Veronica said proudly

“Let’s see the sketch,” Emmett said warmly

“Sure,” Veronica nodded, “But be careful, it’s my favourite heirloom,”

She handed it over to him, and he immediately froze, anger crossing his features. Veronica, Alice and Jasper were all confused.

“This has to be some sort of joke,” Emmett growled

“What’s wrong? They’re just my ancestors,” Veronica frowned

“No they’re fucking not,” Emmett spat

He threw the sketch at Alice before storming out of the room. Veronica felt a lump rise in her throat and tears sting her eyes. What had she done wrong? She looked to Alice and Jasper for comfort, but they were frozen in shock like Emmett was.

“What did I do?” Veronica choked

Alice lifted her head, startled.

“You did nothing, Roni. Excuse me a moment, I need to call Carlisle,” Alice said shortly

Jasper stayed silent as he followed her out. Veronica gingerly picked up the sketch that Alice had left discarded on the bed, her fingers tracing over the faces of the two children. Why had Emmett reacted so harshly? Did he know them? He couldn’t...unless...

“Vampires,” Veronica whispered

She dropped the sketch back into the box, jumping to her feet. She wanted answers and she wanted them now.

Emmett smashed his fist into a boulder, sending it to dust. He had run straight outside, and was now destroying everything in his path. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. His Veronica couldn’t be related to those...monsters! He was so caught up in his rage that he didn’t notice anyone running towards him till he was tackled to the ground. Lucas.

“Get the fuck off me, greaser. I’m really not in a good mood,” Emmett growled

“Roni wants to talk to you,” Lucas said firmly, using all his enhanced strength to keep Emmett down, even though he knew Emmett could overpower him easily

“I can’t talk to her,” Emmett grunted, his eyes blazing

“She wants answers, Emmett, and she won’t listen to anyone else. She’s your girlfriend and I know you love her – don’t treat her like this,” Lucas pleaded

Emmett let out a cry of frustration and threw Lucas off him. Lucas stood up, ready to lunge again, but Edward appeared at his side and shook his head. Emmett was going to go inside. With one final punch that sent a large tree falling to the ground, Emmett stalked back into the house.

“This won’t be pretty,” Edward said gravely

“We should probably go and hold him back,” Lucas nodded

“I was thinking more of Roni, but yeah,” Edward chuckled

Veronica batted away Bella and Alice’s frantic hands of restraint, narrowing her eyes as Emmett walked into the foyer where she was standing.

“Who are they?” Veronica asked, her voice calm

The kind of calm that is so calm it’s eerie. The kind of calm that says the speaker will explode at any minute.

“You’ve got a 4.0, Roni, I’m sure you already know,” Emmett said sarcastically

“What’s going on?” Esme frowned, joining the family

“Tell her, Roni. Tell Esme how you’re related to two of the most sadistic vampires ever created!” Emmett shouted

“Don’t insult my family!” Veronica hissed fiercely

“Oh, so you’re happy to be related to such monsters?” Emmett snarled

Veronica went to lunge at Emmett, but Edward and Lucas firmly pinned her to the wall. Just then the front door opened and Carlisle stepped into the house, his eyebrows shooting upwards at the sight in front of him.

“I think we all need to talk,” Carlisle ordered