But you love Emmett . . .

    “I think so.”
    “I can tell.” Then she sighed. “I haven’t been fair to you, either, Bella. Did he tell you why? Or was that
too confidential?”
    “He said it was because I was human. He said it was harder for you to have someone on the outside who
knew.”
    Rosalie’s musical laughter interrupted me. “Now I really feel guilty. He’s been much, much kinder to me
than I deserve.” She seemed warmer as she laughed, like she’d let down some guard that had never been
absent in my presence before. “What a liar that boy is.” She laughed again.
    “He was lying?” I asked, suddenly wary.
    “Well, that’s probably putting it too strongly. He just didn’t tell you the whole story. What he told you was
true, even truer now than it was before. However, at the time . . .” She broke off, chuckling nervously. “It’s
embarrassing. You see, at first, I was mostly jealous because he wanted you and not me.”
    Her words sent a thrill of fear through me. Sitting there in the silver light, she was more beautiful than
anything else I could imagine. I could not compete with Rosalie.
    “But you love Emmett . . . ,” I mumbled.
    She shook her head back and forth, amused. “I don’t want Edward that way, Bella. I never did — I love
him as a brother, but he’s irritated me from the first moment I heard him speak. You have to understand,
though . . . I was so used to people wanting me. And Edward wasn’t the least bit interested. It frustrated me,
even offended me in the beginning. But he never wanted anyone, so it didn’t bother me long. Even when we
first met Tanya’s clan in Denali — all those females! — Edward never showed the slightest preference. And
then he met you.” She looked at me with confused eyes. I was only half paying attention. I was thinking about
Edward and Tanya and all those females, and my lips pressed together in a hard line.
    “Not that you aren’t pretty, Bella,” she said, misreading my expression. “But it just meant that he found
you more attractive than me. I’m vain enough that I minded.”
    “But you said ‘at first.’ That doesn’t still . . . bother you, does it? I mean, we both know you’re the most
beautiful person on the planet.”
    I laughed at having to say the words — it was so obvious. How odd that Rosalie should need such
reassurances.
    Rosalie laughed, too. “Thanks, Bella. And no, it doesn’t really bother me anymore. Edward has always
been a little strange.” She laughed again.
    “But you still don’t like me,” I whispered.
    Her smile faded. “I’m sorry about that.”