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CHAPTER SEVEN: EVENINGS TURNED TO RAIN

FOLLOWING THE ACCIDENT, JESSE found a new lease of life through Esme. The pair had bonded so much that whenever Jesse had to leave her home, his heart would ache and beg him to return asap.

Every waking moment he spent with her, either bonding over their shared love for music or just cuddling under the setting sun. Today they were lucky enough that the sun was splitting the stones and so Esme would have to stay inside. The kids were gone to an isolated lake they had found in the forest so they had the house for themselves.

"So tell me about yourself. Who is the real Jesse Blake?"  Esme asked as they snuggled up on the sofa, flicking through the channels before settling on Desperate Housewives.

"Darlin', you're looking right at him, ", Catching her off guard, Jesse pulled her close and kissed her with passion.

"Not funny, Jesse!" Esme giggled, shoving his approach with the pillows.

"Esme, you wound me! My comedy career gone down the drain,"

With one last push, Jesse ended up on the carpet. Esme quickly covered her mouth as she struggled to contain her laughter. Smirking up at her, Jesse pulled the blanket from under her and with a shriek she fell too, landing on his chest.

Neither of them made an effort to move, instead, Jesse wrapped the blanket around them, nuzzling close to his ravenette goddess.

"So what do you want to know?"  he asked, moving a stray price of hair behind her ear.

Esme hummed a response," I know you had a family back in Texas- you were talking about them after I pulled you from the water, what happened to them?"

Jesse heaved a shaking breath before replying,"  We were childhood sweethearts, me and Grace. She was the love of my life since she sat beside me our first day of elementary. She was sometime else, talented and beautiful- she was on the cheerleading squad and I was on the football team, " wiping the sweat from his hands in his jeans he continued," We got married soon after college and started to build our dream house. Grace loved this run-down townhouse on the outside of town and wanted to do it up, so that's what we did. Then Kelly came along, she made me so darn proud!"

"Then one night, the week before Kelly's 6th birthday, the stove in the kitchen leaked gas and caught off a candle on the table and set the place on fire,"

Esme let out a gasp, giving Jesse a comforting hug. She whispered her next question, " Did they make it out?"

Jesse turned away and started the window, water filling the creases of his eyes," The curtains went up first, then the beams. The whole was place was in smoke before I woke up. I immediately woke up Grace and we ran to get Kelly. A beam from the roof fell and trapped Grace in Kelly's room. I went to get her but she screamed at me to save Kelly,"

Blinking away the tears, Jesse didn't even realise he'd started to sob," I-i couldn't save her, I tried but-i- flames engulfed the doorframe. Kelly started to cry out for her mom so I grabbed her hand and tried to manoeuvre around the burning wood. By the time we made it outside, the house was just a bonfire- the fire had swarmed the place. I looked around me but Kelly wasn't there. She had gone back to get her mom."

Esme wrapped her arms around the grieving man as he finally let it all out," I couldn't stay there after that, Grace's folks blamed me, I blamed myself. So I ran, ran as far away as I could, and then I ended up here."

"So what's your tragic backstory?", he said after a moment of silence, wiping his face as he got his emotions under control, "Tell me about Esme Cullen." 

"Well, I'm originally from Ohio," she began," I went to school there, and that's where I met the love of my life, Charles Evenson. He was everything I dreamt of, but I was naive and eager to be someone's wife. When I found out I was pregnant, life couldn't be more perfect. My baby was stillborn, with lung fever in 1921. I couldn't survive after that, like a piece of me left with him. That night I went to the top of the mountains and I threw myself off it."

Jesse stiffened up when she said this, now realizing that she knew exactly what he was going through.

"Carlisle found me almost dead in a morgue and recognized me as a patient he had treated years prior. He was crushed to see me suffer so he changed me to help me find happiness again. I stuck with him after that and our coven grew"

She smiled softly, shifting under Jesse' arm, "Look at us, two tragic souls brought together,"

To lighten up the evening, Jesse headed over to the record player in the corner of the room and slipped "Feels Like Heaven" into the player. Taking Esme's hands, Jesse guided her to the centre of the room, swaying to the music. As the chorus grew nearer, Jesse broke into a smile, spinning Esme around, eyes never breaking their gazes.

The rest of the family had returned from the lake as the evening brought rain. Seeing their mother look at Jesse with such affection, they thought it best to leave the pair alone and snuck upstairs.

Carlisle hovered at the door, just watching them. He had tried to assume about Jesse before but it was pointless, he was in love with Esme and her to him. Catching his attention, Carlisle simply gave him a welcoming nod before leaving them be.

"I think I love you, Esme Cullen," Jesse murmured into her ear, his hands resting on her hips.

Pecking him on the lips, she matched his tone," I think I love you too, Jesse Blake."

They continued their dance to the beat of falling waterdrops, resting only when the moon shone high, both tucked up on the sofa fingers intertwined, with a blanket atop.

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1037words

Author's note: only 2 chapters left!!!

*The_lost_flower*