As always, Jasper waits until she's finished getting her thoughts out. He will always do that for her, whether she realizes it yet or not.
"Alice is the most genuine person I've ever met in all my years," he says steadily, "and if she hadn't been waiting on me in that diner in Philadelphia...well. It would have been the free-climber I smelled out there, and not the cougar, who got plucked off that mountainside. Yes, I have been trying to be good for a long time now. There was still a beginning to that for me, even if it's sixty years back."
He looks over at Alice again, watches her perched on the railing outside, heedless of the drop, of course, talking to Bella now. She'll catch up with every member of the family if she can. They have time to talk, a little more time. "This might surprise you, but I don't put much stock in the idea of destiny. Alice's visions, they're not destinies. They can always be changed. There's always some way."
It takes time, but he finally looks back at her. "Natalia, we are neither of us very good people, and I have had far worse influences for most of my life. It doesn't matter to me, I would say to either of us, that you don't know who you are right now. I barely knew who I was meant to be for a long time. Alice came along to show me a better way. Maybe we've come along to give you that chance too."
no subject
"Alice is the most genuine person I've ever met in all my years," he says steadily, "and if she hadn't been waiting on me in that diner in Philadelphia...well. It would have been the free-climber I smelled out there, and not the cougar, who got plucked off that mountainside. Yes, I have been trying to be good for a long time now. There was still a beginning to that for me, even if it's sixty years back."
He looks over at Alice again, watches her perched on the railing outside, heedless of the drop, of course, talking to Bella now. She'll catch up with every member of the family if she can. They have time to talk, a little more time. "This might surprise you, but I don't put much stock in the idea of destiny. Alice's visions, they're not destinies. They can always be changed. There's always some way."
It takes time, but he finally looks back at her. "Natalia, we are neither of us very good people, and I have had far worse influences for most of my life. It doesn't matter to me, I would say to either of us, that you don't know who you are right now. I barely knew who I was meant to be for a long time. Alice came along to show me a better way. Maybe we've come along to give you that chance too."