A/N: This was my piece from SU4K. Many many thanks to reyes139 who beta'd this piece for me - I love ya more than handmade onion rings for blunch, lol. Banner for this is up in my group on FB: lvtwilight09's lovers.
Flipping through the photo albums I can't help but think about how quickly time had passed. It seems like it was only yesterday that Edward and I had first met each other. Looking in the mirror though, the wrinkles that crease my skin let the cold reality of time make itself known...reminded me that the time of firsts for Edward and I had long since passed. But back to the pictures...
I don't quite know how to pick the right ones. How to pick out a small handful out of the thousands of memories to convey how special a life has been. The task has been completely and utterly daunting. I can't seem to figure out how to pick out the right ones. All of them hold so much special meaning...each of them telling part of the story of Edward's life.
Hearing the front door open, I look up to see my some Patrick walking in with his twin girls Catherine and Allison in tow. The girls come running over to me, shouts of "Grandma! Grandma!" echoing off the walls as they wrap their arms around me hugging me tightly.
"Careful girls," Patrick warns them. "Watch where you step near Grandma's photo albums."
The girls take a step back, mindful of the books I have scattered around me on the floor and coffee table before climbing up onto the couch next to me.
"I came by to see if you had decided on which pictures you wanted to use," Patrick explains. "But I can see you still haven't picked all of them out yet."
"I know," I reply, a sigh escaping my lips. "It's just hard to figure out which ones to use."
"What's this picture from Grandma?" Allison asks me, pointing to of the pictures from the day when Edward and I had gotten married.
"That's from the day Grandpa and I got married...that was a long time ago," I explain.
"How did you and Grandpa meet?" Catherine asks.
"That was a long time ago too," I answer, as I think back to where it all began...
It was the first day of senior year at Forks High School, and everyone was talking about "the new boy" who was supposed to be starting at school today. Forks was a small town, so anytime someone new came along, it was always big news.
As I headed to my first period class, AP World History, I couldn't help but try to keep an eye out to catch a glimpse of the new kid. All I knew was that his name was Edward. Settling in at my desk, I watched as everyone entered the classroom, all familiar faces. I should have known better...there weren't too many other kids at school with a schedule like mine, all AP courses. But then I caught a glimpse of a bright shock of copper hair. Taking a closer look, I realized that the unusually colored hair was attached to the body of a boy I had never seen before, a boy who must have been Edward.
I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He was gorgeous, but seemingly shy. He barely made eye contact with people, but I would be lying if I said my heart didn't falter a bit when he took the seat next to mine. The next three class periods were the same, Edward seemed to be one of the few all around AP kids, and in each class he sat next to me.
As the day continued, Edward finally began to open up to me, chatting about some similar interests in music, books, options for college next year. By the time the school day ended, it almost broke my heart to leave him. I had never felt a connection like I did with him. He just seemed to understand me. And our shared interests in movies, books, and music just made him seem like the perfect guy to me...he even had similar interests in wanting to pursue an academic career and teaching on the collegiate level. I knew deep down, right then, even though I was too scared to admit it to myself, that I had, without a doubt, just met the boy I was one day going to marry.
"Tell us more Grandma...please!" Catherine and Allison begged. I hadn't even realize I was talking out loud about how I had met their grandfather, but I loved my grandbabies, and could never deny them anything, so i grabbed some of the photo albums and dove back into telling them the story of Edward and I...
It took Edward over a month to work up the courage to ask me out on a date. II was almost beginning to think he never would. But the day he did was one I would never forget. He had always been so sure and confident around me, but here he was...a stuttering, nervous mess. As soon as he asked, I said yes immediately, and we made plans for the weekend to go out for dinner.
Our first date was perfect. Edward was a perfect gentleman. He brought me flowers, opened doors for me, and even held my chair out for me at the restaurant. As he drove me home, I was so nervous. All I could think about was how much I was hoping that Edward would kiss me...and he did.
We pulled up into my driveway, and he even walked me to the door. For a moment I thought he was just going to leave and head home, but he just stared at me. This look of pure determination in his eyes. He leaned in closely to me, and softly kissed my cheek. He started to pull away, and my heart sank a little bit. As much as I liked that he kissed my cheek, I had been hoping for something more. But he surprised me. He didn't pull all the way back from me, and leaning in again, he gave me the kiss I had really been hoping for.
After I got into the house, I could tell my face had a dreamy look to it. I couldn't stop smiling for a week after that, especially since the next day, Edward came over to my house again to officially ask me to be his girlfriend. I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world.
"And then you guys got married, right Grandma?" Allison asks as she giggles.
"Not quite, Sweetie. Grandpa and I met when we were eighteen, but we didn't get married for another few years.
"Why not?" Catherine questioned, looking a bit confused.
And so I began to explain more of my past with their grandfather.
Edward and I were inseparable the rest of the school year. Some people say it was just luck, but I thought it was fate stepping in when it came to our college choices. Edward ended up getting accepted to Boston College, and I had gotten into Harvard. It took a little convincing, but we eventually got our parents to agree to let us get an apartment together near school, and shortly after graduation, we headed off to Boston to find an apartment and get settled before our first year of college began.
That first year was rough. Edward and I had completely different schedules with him being a math major at one school and me being a history major at another. We didn't get to see each other as much even with us living together, but we found ways to make everything work. By the time sophomore year rolled around, we had our routines settled.
The rest of college went by even faster than high school. Edward and I both had successful academic experiences, and despite being published and being asked to present at a conference, all I really wanted was for Edward to ask me to marry him. I knew I wanted to marry him...had known from the very first day I had met him that he was it for me. There wouldn't be anyone else. But now...despite the talks where he said he knew I was it for him, that he had loved me from the moment he met me...I was scared that he didn't really feel that way, or that he was changing his mind.
It also didn't help that now that we had both finished our bachelor's degrees, that we were both headed off to graduate school, and for the first time, we would be separated by more than just a few miles. This time...it would be the Atlantic Ocean that would keep us apart. While Edward was making the move over to Harvard to pursue his math degree, I had been accepted into a PhD program in England at Oxford. It was an opportunity I couldn't turn away, even though our impending separation had caused a fair number of fights between Edward and I where it always ended with him pleading with me to choose a different graduate school that was closer to Boston.
When I didn't agree, and left for Oxford anyway, it was the one and only time I had ever thought I lost Edward. We didn't speak for over a month. I think he thought that by ignoring my letters, calls, and emails that it would get me to reconsider my choice in school. It was only when he finally gave in and called me for my birthday that things got patched up between us.
Maybe it was the fact that he could hear my happiness about my coursework in my voice, or maybe he just finally realized how important Oxford was to me, but he told me that all he wanted was for me to be happy, and he asked me to forgive him for being, as he put it, "a stubborn ass of a man."
Things got better after that, and Skype was a big help, letting us video chat and still see each other despite the ocean between us. That summer, Edward came to spend time with me in England, and he began to act a bit secretive the more time he was there. I was so curious about what he was hiding, and he finally let me in on the secret the night before he was supposed to be flying back to Boston.
"Ooh...ooh...Grandma...was his secret asking you to marry him?" Both girls asked me.
"That was part of it girls," I answered as I continued the story for them.
I was so sad about Edward having to leave me for our next year of school work, that I had seriously began to reconsider transferring back to Harvard for the rest of my PhD program. The day he was supposed to leave, Edward told me to look in my room, that he left me a going away gift.
I ran to my room, and found a letter and a box. The letter was in an envelope that had "open me first" written on it. Tearing it open, I had to read through the letter three times to finally comprehend what it said...that it was giving me more than I could ask for.
It was an acceptance letter for Edward to transfer to Oxford for his program as well. It meant I wouldn't have to be away from him anymore. By the time I finally managed to get my thoughts together, I found Edward down on one knee, holding open the box that had been sitting next to the letter.
He proposed to me right then and there. His words were so full of love as he told me how much I meant to him and explained how he couldn't bear being apart from me for another second. He told me how he had always known that I was the one for him and how he looked forward to the day that we would share the same last name and begin a family of our own.
It took me all of half a second to say yes to the proposal and for Edward to slide the engagement ring on my finger. A few minutes later we were both on the phone, calling family and friends to let them know the good news.
"And then you guys got married?" Catherine asked.
"Yes," I answered her, trying not to laugh. "We got married one year later, at a beautiful inn near the English countryside. There were lots of trees and flowers for decorations..it looked like something out of a dream and for me it was perfect."
It's funny how a trip down memory lane can help make the decisions that need to be made that much easier. As I told my story to the girls, I had noticed pictures of Edward and I that seemed to stand out more to me than the others.
Grabbing them all out of the album, I handed them to my son so he could take them to include into the slideshow he was putting together with his sisters.
"Thanks Mom, these will be great," Patrick said. "I think Dad will be really surprised on Saturday at the party."
"I hope so," I reply. "He's only going to turn seventy-five once, and I want it to be special for him."
"Don't worry Mom, it will be."
A few minutes later, Patrick and the girls left to head home, and I hurried to get the last of the photo albums away before Edward got home.
As I put the last of them back on the shelf, I took a moment to glance at a more recent photo of Edward and I from when we celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary. And thats when it hits me...sure the wrinkles may show more now on Edward and I, but to me...he'll always be that eighteen year old boy. He'll always be "the boy I'm gonna marry"...the boy I was lucky enough to love and to marry all those years ago, and the boy who I am lucky enough to have still love me in return just as much all these years later as the day we first said "I Do."