I kept my eyes forward as we sped, always too fast, down the road towards his house. My thoughts were all over the place. Although I still felt guilty for fighting with Charlie so soon after he had given me freedom, I was anxious to see my mom again. I thought of the last times I had seen my mum under good conditions. The last time I had seen her in phoenix I had been bruised head to toe and covered in bandages after my near-death experience with James. I quickly pushed that memory out of my mind and held Edwards hand tighter in my lap.
The last memory I had left my mother with is when she came to Forks last February and I had basically been catatonic. I shuddered, not wanting to think about my own dark ages. Edward pulled his hand away, thinking I was cold.
"No, I'm fine" I said, pulling his hand back to my lap. I kept my eyes straight ahead as I felt his gaze on my face.
"Bella, are you still angry with me?" He questioned in a worrying tone. I looked over, his eyes full of anxiety and apologies.
"No, I just didn't want to fight with Charlie, he's only just forgiven me for the motorcycle and disappearing to Italy or three days" Edward shuddered at the memory and held my hand tighter. "Besides, I'm actually glad you did it. I haven't seen my mom in ages, especially not under pleasant circumstances, considering the last time she visited, I wasn't exactly…myself". Edwards's eyes filled with pain, probably thinking about what I had been like when he had left.
"I'll never forgive myself for leaving, ever" The pain in his voice was evident, and despite the fact his face was composed, I could see sadness in his eyes. "I'm so sorry. I never knew what would happen to you. I didn't think that…"
"Edward" I cut him off. "It's ok. You know that I don't blame you at all for what happened to me. You were only doing what you thought was right. It's not your fault!"
"Imagine what your mother thought of me though" Edward said softly, his eyes still drowning in guilt and regret. "What she will still think of me"
"Edward, my mom can't ever blame you for how I acted when you were gone. You were only trying to do the right thing, and she knows that. Besides, I've talked to her on the phone and emailed her many times since you got back, and she's noticed the difference. She's thankful to you Edward. Renee even told me how she's glad you returned. So don't think that she has any grudge towards you or that she thinks it's your fault, because she doesn't. Mom is just glad to see me happy again"
I looked up into Edwards's eyes, no longer full of sadness, a smile faintly touching the corners of his mouth. His eyes stared into mine. "Dazzling me" I had put it many times before. His faint smile stretched into that crooked grin that never failed to take my breath away. I became lost in his eyes once again.
"Breathe, Bella", he reminded me in his velvet voice. I took in a deep breath, unwillingly breaking away from his gaze. Edward chuckled lightly.
We turned onto his long winding driveway. I hadn't been here in so long. I let out a sigh of relief as we passed the trees and opened up into the small meadow, revealing the house. I still could not get over how graceful and timeless the house was, even though I had visited many times.
As soon as the engine cut off, Edward was at my door offering me his hand. I jumped out of his Volvo not so gracefully, eager to take his hand. I sighed as I made contact with his marble skin. Then I heard a familiar laugh coming from just inside the door. Before we hand even reached the porch, Alice shot down the steps, streaking black and white and hugged me around the waist.
"Alice" Edward warned "Just because Bella is here does NOT mean she wants to play dress up and makeovers with you". I giggled, leaning into Edward's side, and he let out a small chuckle at the scowl that was beginning to form on Alice's pixie-like face. Alice's glazed over for a second and a grin began to stretch across her face as her eyes came back to the present. I knew that look. Alice must be plotting another Bella-Barbie makeover.
"Aw Alice, I don't want to be used as your life-sized Barbie doll. AGAIN." Alice just continued to smile and let our a little bell chiming laughter.
"Oh I know. You don't WANT to, but you will". I groaned. "Alice" Edward complained "If Bella doesn't want to, she doesn't have too". Alice scowled at her favourite brother. "That's not fair! I want to spend some time with Bella as well. You've been stealing her attention for weeks". I giggled "I don't mind" I muttered quietly, knowing they would hear. Edward laughed beside me "And what if I don't want to share" he teased, wrapping an arm around my waste and pulling me closer.
I heard a booming laugh from inside the house. One second I was leaning by Edward, the next I was grabbed into a giant bear hug by the giant teddy bear Edward calls a brother. "BELLA!" Emmett yelled, clearly excited to have the little human there to tease and embarrass. "How's my favourite red-faced human going". Still wrapped in the giant bear hug, I struggled to say "Emmett…need…to…breathe…" Emmett released me and set me back down by Edward. I quickly closed the space and leaned into his side.
"So…what brings you here?" Emmett smiled at me. "She can come here whenever she wants, Emmett, she doesn't need a reason" Edward growled back. I heard a hiss from inside the house, Rosalie, I assumed. Rosalie and I were not exactly friends, but she had, however, been relatively nice to me since we returned from Italy, guilt, I presumed.
"Jeez Eddie, calm down!" Emmett called, struggling to contain his laughter. "EMMETT! Don't call me Eddie! You know I don't like it". I giggled, trying not to laugh to loud. Edward just glared at Emmett. "Whatever Eddie". I couldn't help myself this time. I laughed out loud, along with Alice. I thought I could hear some laughter inside the house as well. By now Emmett was booming laughter, collapsing on the ground. If he could cry, he would be in tears from laughing so much.
What I did not expect was Edward's reaction. I was used to Edward being able to cover up his emotions and ignore the teasing comments from his older brother, but this time he did not deal with the anger too well. I felt myself being lifted and placed next to Alice, who was also laughing, as Edward lowered into a crouch, glaring at Emmett. Watching Edward, I saw him dive on Emmett, who had just recovered from his laughing fit and was now standing. Edward knocked Emmett to the ground again, and Emmett exploded in another fit of laughter. The boys continued to wrestle with each other like wild animals.
"Boys, enough!" I turned towards the voice and saw Esme standing at the stop of the porch stairs, scolding her 'sons'. Emmett and Edward immediately jumped up, brushing themselves off. Edward walked over to where I stood shocked by Alice, and took my hand. Emmett just looked down guiltily.
"This is no way to behave! Especially not with Bella here! Seriously, you'd think you were raised by a pack of wolves, the way you behave!" Esme exclaimed, her voice full of authority.
Edward looked at me, guilt and a bit of embarrassment apparent in his eyes. "Sorry mom" he smiled lightly at Esme. Edward turned his gaze to my face "Sorry Bella. That behaviour was inexcusable. I don't normally let my anger get the better of me" He smiled his crooked smile at me, "its ok" I said as I looked down blushing. "It was also rather entertaining" I muttered, quieter. Of course they all heard me and Emmett started laughing again, trying to cover his laughs as coughing. I glared at him.
"Emmett" Esme said, returning to her scolding voice. "I'm waiting. This is as much your fault as it is Edwards. You know you shouldn't tease him, and you definitely should not wrestle with him, especially with Bella here"
"Sorry Esme" Emmett looked down guiltily like a kid who has been caught with his and in the cookie jar. "Sorry Bella". I blushed again, leaning into Edward's shoulder.
"Right, just so you learn your lesson, you will each get something taken away from you. You too Alice, you didn't do much to stop them either."
"That's not fair Esme!" I had almost forgotten Alice there in the background. "I didn't do anything!" Alice whined. I guessed she hadn't seen this coming, considering the shocked look on her face.
"That's right Alice, you didn't do anything to stop them" Esme said in a final tone. I was amazed by how much authority Esme had. Her parental instincts and abilities made my understand the guilty obedient looks on her children's faces. Suddenly Edward and Alice yelled out "NO!" at the same time.
"No no no no no! You can't do this Esme!" Alice and Edward yelled. I looked at him confused. "Esme has decided on her punishment for us. She has banned Alice from shopping until the end of the week" Edward smirked at his little sister, reaching our muss her hair. Alice jumped to the side and glared back at him "I wouldn't be to happy Mr. I-love-my-car because you're going to have to hand over your keys to the Aston Martin for a week!" I stared up at Edwards shocked face. Mumbling to himself he pulled his keys from his pocket and threw them to Esme.
Of course, being a vampire she caught them immediately. "Emmett! Don't even think about going and playing your Xbox. Or your play station or Wii for that matter. You're banned from them until the end of the week as well!" Esme ordered as Emmett began to sneak around the house headed for the back door. "Aw Esme" Emmett complained, stalking into the house.
Suddenly a wave of calm passed over us replacing the awkward silence that had been apparent before. I looked up to see Jasper and Carlisle emerge from the trees and bound across the river. Jasper was as Alice's side in an instant, keeping his distance from me as Edward gave him a warning look. Carlisle strolled at a human pace up the steps towards Esme.
"I know that face darling" Carlisle said while kissing Esme on the cheek. "Who's in trouble, what did you take and why were they fighting this time?" Carlisle said in a bored tone as he looked towards the dug up peace of ground destroyed from the boys fighting.
"Emmett was teasing Edward, Edward attacked him, and Alice stood laughing. Edward's lost the Aston Martin for a week, Emmett's lost all his games and Alice can't go shopping until the end of the week". Jasper let out a sigh of relief, probably because he had been saved from a weeks worth of enduring shopping with Alice. Alice stomped on his foot and mock glared at him. The atmosphere became calm once again and Jasper asked curiously "What did Emmett do to annoy Edward?"
"Oh" Alice giggled again "He called him Eddie". This time everyone laughed except for Edward. I even found myself trying to hold in a few giggles. Edward looked at me questionably.
"Shall we go inside now?" Edward asked his voice calm and sweet. I hadn't realised that we were all still gathered outside until Jasper and Alice shot up the stairs and into the house, hand in hand, followed by Carlisle and Esme. "Sure" I replied, smiling at Edward as he wrapped his arm around my waist and headed upstairs. As we walked in the door, Emmett and Rosalie were pulling their shoes on, dressed like they were about to leave.
"Going somewhere, Emmett?" I asked in a slightly teasing tone. "Yeah. Me and Rose are going hunting. Want to come?" He asked, obviously joking while wagging his eyebrows. Edward growled and pulled me closer.
"Wow calm down Eddie, I feel sorry for Jasper right now" He yelled before running out the door one Rosalie's tail. I was about to ask him about the last comment about Jasper when I realised his sudden change in emotions was causing Jasper to become all annoyed and angry like him.
"So, Bella, what would you like to do?" He said into my ear, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Um I don't know. Alice, Jasper, what were you doing before I came?" I asked looking nervously at Alice and Jasper.
"Well I just went for a quick hunt with Carlisle, for obvious reasons" Jasper muttered looking down in embarrassment. He was still very cautious about being around me, especially since the incident at my birthday. I blushed and turned away to look at Alice. "See anything interesting happening tonight?" Her eyes suddenly lit up "We are going to play chess! You and Jasper can play against each other and ill play against Edward"
Sudden panic overcame me. I hated chess, and worse, I couldn't play it at all. Jasper erased all my panic in a wave of calm. I looked over at him and smiled a bit. He returned the gesture as he led us upstairs into Carlisle's office, to get the board I guessed. As I walked in I was amazed at how much books and journals were in here. Hundreds of year's worth of texts. I looked around at all the paintings telling Carlisle's life story. My eyes quickly turned away from the old Italian one, not wanting to relive what happened with the Volturi. Edward saw my sudden change and looked to see what had frightened me. He quickly understood as the eyes of Marcus, Caius and Aro stared down towards us. I shuddered and he held me tighter.
Edward pulled me over to where Jasper had set up the game on Carlisle's honey wood floor. He had all the pieces set up on the board and motioned for me to sit opposite him. Edward pulled me down and sat me in his lap on the floor. I leaned back, resting my head under his chin as his kissed my hair.
"Well let's just get this over with. I'm going to lose anyway" I complained. Edward wrapped his arms around me and Jasper smiled "You should have a bit more confidence you know".
After about five minutes Jasper was burying me and I only had me king and a night left. I groaned again as Jasper said "Checkmate". Edward reassured me and told me Jasper had years of experience. I buried my head into Edward's chest and saw Alice skip into the room and settle herself down next to Jasper, now in front of the board.
I shuffled of Edwards lap and sat next to him as they reset the board for their game.
At first I hadn't noticed they had started. Alice and Edward stared at each other, turning into statues. The only movement was when Jasper left the room to go read another civil war book, claiming the emotions in the room were too intense for him to handle. Alice's eyes kept jumping back and forth between the present and future, her eyes glazing over as she picked out the moves Edward would make. Edward was staring at her intently, trying to pick out the moves she would make in return. Eventually Alice took a risk and quickly moved one of her pawns forward, which Edward reacted by moving one of his forward too. About another minute passed without any movement until Edward made the instant decision and moved another pawn forward. Alice's eyes glazed over for a long ten seconds and she two moved another pawn. They continued to stare at each other so intently for an immeasurable period of time until Alice jumped up annoyed and flicked her king over to surrender. Edward let out a laugh and Alice glared at him, dancing out of the room. I looked at the clock, shocked to see that the game had lasted all of three minutes. Edward startled me, breaking the silence when he kissed me along my jaw and whispered "What would you like to do now"
I still had hours left until it would be considered to be an acceptable time to arrive home 'not late'. "Um…"I stuttered. It's hard to concentrate with Edward still kissing my neck. Suddenly he scooped me up in his arms and ran at inhuman pace down the stairs, setting me on my feet in the middle of the living room. Alice and Jasper were sitting on the couch next to each other, debating over what movie they were going to watch. By the sounds of it Jasper wanted to watch a documentary on the civil war while Alice wanted to watch a fashion movie from the 2002 fashion week's awards.
Carlisle and Esme came over and sat on the love seat as Emmett and Rosalie ran through the back door. Emmett ran over and lounged on the couch by Jasper and Rosalie shot upstairs. I wondered briefly if she went upstairs to change her clothes or fix her hair, hoping that it wasn't my presence that made her leave the room.
"So, what are we doing here?" Emmett yelled, interrupting my thoughts. Alice was the one who replied "Well Jazz and I want to watch a movie, but we don't know which one, Edward and Bella are going to come watch a movie with us as well". I stared at Alice in shock-I never said I was going to watch a movie did I. Alice, seeing my confusion said "Oh. I saw it. You'll love it". Oh well. I guess I'm not going to argue with the psychic then.
Edward scooped me up and walked over to the one remaining seat, the recliner. He sat down and pulled me onto his lap. Welcoming the cold, I turned to the side and lay my head against his stone chest as he kissed the top of my head.
"If you two lovebirds are done" Emmett laughed as I blushed and buried my head into Edwards's chest "I say we should watch a horror!"
"Yay! That's perfect Emmett!" Alice sung in her high voice. Panic and terror washed over me, knowing how scared I get in horror movies. Jasper felt my panic and sent waves of calmness over me. Edward wrapped his arms protectively around me and kissed my head again.
Feeling safer in Edward's arms, I groaned "fine well watch it". Edward continued to reassure me as the opening credit came on and I snuggled deeper into his chest. I spent the whole movie cringing into Edward and grasping his shirt when some monster jumped out in front of the screen. "Amazing" Emmett interrupted, shooting a mocking glance in my direction as I curled into a ball on Edward's lap "Bella's cuddling up to a VAMPIRE because of she's scared of the FAKE zombies on the screen" I just blushed and buried my head into Edwards chest, trying to ignore everyone's small chuckles at my reaction. "At least I know something scares you" Edward whispered into my air as I glared up at him.
Finally the movie came to an end after my numerous screams and hiding into Edwards chest. "Well" Emmett boomed, breaking the tension "That was the funniest horror I've watched in decades! Especially Bella's reactions" he snickered. Edward growled at him as I lay back against his chest sleepily. Edward seemed to notice my eyes drooping and he pulled me to my feel, supporting most of my weight against his side.
"I better get you home, love, Charlie will be wondering where you are and you promised you wont stay out late" He said quietly in a soothing voice to me. Before I could protest he gathered me up into his arms and ran me to his car. "I do have legs, you know, you don't have to carry me" I mumbled, too tried to argue properly. "Oh I know" Edward whispered into my ear "I just like to carry you". I blushed and buried my head again. Seconds later I was sitting in the passenger seat of Edwards Volvo. Edward climbed into the drivers' side and started the engine, turning up the heat so I wouldn't get cold. As we began to wind down the long driveway away from the house I continued to stare at Edward's second hand on the steering wheel. He noticed my gaze, smiled and placed his hand in my lap where I held it in two of mine.
I could feel Edward's eyes on my face as he drove. It no longer worried me that he didn't watch the rode as the car sped down the highway. I knew if I looked into his topaz eyes I would be 'dazzled' and become lost, but I couldn't look away from his face for too long, eventually giving in. The love in his liquid eyes look my breath away as a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "Breathe Bella" he reminded me once again. I took a deep breath and tried to focus on what would happen this weekend in Florida.
Of course, Edward wouldn't be able to leave the house during the day much. He would have to stay inside like a true vampire. I resisted the urge to laugh. I have only seen pictures of Renee's house in Florida, but it looks amazing. Edward would obviously not be allowed to sleep in the same room as me, and I wondered if he would sneak in at night. I shuddered at the thought of having to spend the night without Edward. Edward, still looking at me, raised one eyebrow in question. I just shook my head, not wanting to have him blame himself again for the nightmares I have when he is away.
Within minutes we had pulled up at Charlie's house. I tensed, thinking of the fury he would hold because of the holiday Edward and I were going on together. I held Edwards hand tighter in mine. Of course at that time I hadn't even considered what Charlie had been thinking that was making Edward hold back a laugh. Not wanting to be counted as being 'late' I jumped out of the car, followed by Edward, and walked up to the front door.