Chapter 1

EDWARD'S POV

It wasn't by accident that Bella Swan and I met. It was fate.

Ever since the first time I saw her, I knew that she and I were going to have some sort of future together. Little did I know that she would become my girlfriend, my life, and then my wife.

Her parents reacted better than I thought they would, considering how uptight her mom could be, and also because her dad was a cop. But Charlie and Renee were actually pretty cool with our marriage and our being vampires.

But I wouldn't be surprised if later, problems surfaced. But that was the price you paid for falling in love – becoming related to the crazy in-laws.

In fact, I had just left Charlie's house. It had been a few weeks after Duncan Richfield had attempted to eradicate our entire family, and things, for the most part, were settling down.

Charlie and I had been discussing things that had been going on. Ever since he had found out about Frederick and Duncan, Charlie had asked me to stop by at least once a week to assure him that Bella was still alive, and that we were all okay.

That afternoon, I had told Charlie that, in fact, his daughter was perfectly fine. I had also filled him in on the news that Carlisle and Esme were getting away for the week to celebrate their anniversary. I didn't even remember which anniversary this was. I also told him that Emmett and Rosalie were planning on getting away, not for a week, but they would be gone for a few days.

Charlie hadn't minded, considering that Bella and I weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, but husband and wife. Even if he hadn't liked us being alone together, he was assured that Jasper and Alice would be at home with us.

I was almost to the house by then, humming Bella's lullaby to myself. The snow had cleared up, except for some slush and a few patches of frost here and there. It was almost February, which meant that the weather would be getting a tad bit warmer.

I pulled into the driveway, and got out of the car. Jasper and Alice were feeding, and wouldn't be back until much later. I had left Bella completely alone – yeah, that's right, completely alone.

I'm in the bedroom.

I looked up, and saw Bella dressing in the window. She must have just gotten out of the shower, because I smelled the shampoo and her wet hair from outside. Bella like taking showers and bathes. She took at least two everyday.

I opened the front door, and rushed up the stairs. Slowly, I opened the door.

Bella turned around, smiling. Her beautiful eyes, which had slowly but surely turned a golden brown color, were warm and filled with love. Her wet hair fell into her face, framing her pale skin.

"Hey beautiful." I breathed, smiling as I walked across the room to her.

"Hey yourself." Her lips touched mine lightly before she went back to getting dressed. She pulled on a pair of jeans, and then sat down on the bed to pull on her sneakers.

"How was your talk with Charlie?" Bella pulled on a sock, and then a shoe.

I wondered why she asked me, since I knew she had been listening in on our conversation. But I played along anyways.

"Fine, he just wanted to know how everyone was." I leaned against the bedpost.

"That's good." She nodded, and finished tying the laces.

"So," I put my hands on her waist as she stood, "what would you like to do today?"

"Let's go to the meadow."

"Alright."

"Just one thing." She put her cheek against mine.

"What's that?"

Last one there is an old geezer.

Before I knew it, Bella was gone. I rushed after her. There was no way she was going to beat me.

I flew past the trees, dodging branches. I could see Bella's figure racing ahead of me. I caught up, running alongside her.

"Who is the old geezer now?" I asked, smiling over at her.

"I don't know, how old are you again?"

Suddenly, she raced ahead.

When I skidded to a stop in our usual place, I looked around. So many times, when Bella was human, I had played this game with her. I would hide, and watch her wander about, waiting for her to trip over something.

But when that happened, I would always catch her, but Bella would always be mad. She got so embarrassed easily.

Bella dropped down in front of me.

"I still love you, even though you're an old geezer." She flung her arms around my neck, beaming from ear to ear.

"Alright, alright. I may be an old geezer, but you my love, are a klutz."

"Used to be. Not anymore."

"You have your moments."

"Oh yeah?" She growled playfully.

"Yeah."

She retracted her arms, and pushed me backwards. In an instant, she was wrestling me in the grass. She had gotten stronger since becoming a vampire. At first, she was still weak.

I pinned her to the ground, her arms out. I bent down for a kiss, but she used her feet to flip me over her, and before I knew it, she was sitting on my chest.

She bent down to my ear. "Geezer."

"Klutz." I grabbed her, and threw her gently onto her back.

She didn't resist as I grabbed each of her wrists, and pulled her arms above her head. I trailed kisses from her bottom lip, all the way down to the middle of her stomach.

I rested my head against her stomach, and she wrapped her arms around my head, raking her fingers through my hair.

"Do you remember when-"

A branch somewhere snapped.

My head shot up, and I looked around. Bella sat up.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was probably an animal."

"I don't think so." I stood, and Bella stood up too.

Be careful, I think they heard us.

How do you know?

The laughing stopped.

"Alright, those aren't animals." Bella walked fast, ahead of me.

"Be careful, I'll go this way." I turned and headed in the other direction.

Whoever it was had stopped moving. I couldn't hear anything except the wind blowing through the trees, and my quiet steps on the ground.

I looked around. There was nothing moving, and whoever had been thinking had stopped. They must have known something was up.

Bella?

Yeah?

Did you find anything?

No, you?

No.

I'm gonna keep looking.

Me too.

I stepped over a large branch, and stopped. Something was moving.

Slowly, I took a step forward, and then another.

I heard a car start, and then I heard it pull away. I began running in the direction of the car, but I suddenly found myself in the air, trapped in a net.

"Are you kidding me?" I freed myself easily, landing on my feet.

Something was running at me. I turned and threw the person at the tree.

"Edward, it's me." Bella pushed my hands away.

"Sorry." I looked off.

"I heard something, I thought you found something."

I picked up the net. "Someone wanted to catch something."

Bella took the net from me. "Something…or us?"