The Christmas Cabin
Chapter 1
Christmas 1999
"Bella," a voice whispered to me "Bella, sweetie, wake up."
I groaned turning from my side and onto my back to see who was gently shaking me out of my sleep. My mother's face came into focus as I sat up rubbing my eyes.
"Mom?" I asked not understanding what was going on.
"Put your boots on and grab your coat," she whispered.
I looked around the darkened room to find my cousin Rosalie and my friends Alice and Angela still fast asleep. It's Christmas Eve and we had been sent to bed long ago because the grown-ups knew we would be getting up super early to open presents.
"Why are you waking me up?" I asked as I was slipping out of bed and into the boots that were next to the night stand.
"Shh, you'll see. I don't want to wake anyone else up. It's just you and me tonight kiddo. Come downstairs when you have your coat on," she told me then left the room.
I quietly grabbed my coat and my toboggan before tip toeing out of the room leaving everyone else to sleep. I'm walking slowly down the hall when the bathroom door opens and Edward steps out in front of me. He jumps back letting out a yelp which makes me jump as well. Once he realizes that it's me he steps back out into the hall way.
"What the heck are you doing up Swan?" He demands. "And why are you wearing your coat? Are you going through that ten-year-old runaway phase?"
I cross my arms and give him my best "whatever" face.
"No, are you going through that eleven-year-old jerk phase?" I say.
He rolls his eyes and is about to say something to me when my mom steps back into the hall way from the stairwell. When she sees that Edward is with me she quickly comes over so she is in front of us.
"Edward, what are you doing up this late?" she asks.
"I had to pee and then when I come out of the bathroom Bella scared the crap out of me," he told her. "What are you ladies doing up this late?"
He crosses his arms over his chest like Carlisle does when we kids get into trouble.
Mom chuckles.
"Well, if you promise not to tell on us then I'll deal you in on the surprise," she smiles at him.
He pauses for a moment, stroking his chin like he is deep in thought before he agrees with a smile.
"Good, now go get some boots and a coat on because we're going outside. Meet Bella and I at the kitchen door, okay?" She says ruffling his hair and pulling me towards the stairs.
I turn and stick my tongue out at him and he pushes his nose up at me while crossing his eyes. He disappears from view as I follow my mom down the stairs and into the kitchen. I'm wide awake now and a little excited about the surprise she has for us.
She pulls me to her chest as we wait on Edward to meet us. I breathe in her scent of warm cookies and peppermint. I never understand how she can smell like Christmas all year round but it is one of my favorite smells in the world.
She gives me a quick kiss before greeting Edward who has just stepped into the kitchen behind me. He has on his coat and a hat that has a ridiculous red fuzzy pom on the top of it.
"You two get to be the first to experience this Christmas miracle," she says as she pulls us towards the door and then opens it stepping out into the night.
We follow behind her and quickly step outside as she closes the door softly behind us. We look up once we are outside and realize it's snowing. We had been at the Cullen's winter cabin for a week now and without there being even a little bit of snow on the ground. It was the strangest weather to happen in this area because every other year that we came here the ground was always blanketed in white.
I turned to Mom to find her smiling at the two of us before motioning us to follow her down the porch steps and into the snow covered lawn.
Edward let out a soft laugh and grabbed my hand pulling us to my mom. We began to dance and spin as the soft flakes floated around us.
It must have been snowing for a while before mom woke me because the snow was already sticking to the trees and the ground was covered. The full moon made the white snow glow and I swear you could see the stares reflect and sparkle on the ground. I couldn't help but fall into the powder and start making a snow angel. Edward quickly joined me our heads were almost touching. My mom laughed at the two of us and fell down next to me. The three of us laughed as we swished our arms and legs while looking up at the night sky.
We stayed outside for a little longer, having just enough time to have a small snow ball fight before my hands and face had gone numb from the cold. I could see that Edward was beginning to shiver as well and his cheeks and nose were red. Mom seeing that we were cold tossed her arm around the two of us and led us back into the house.
All three of us continued to giggle quietly as mom helped us both out of our coats rubbing our hands between hers to try and warm us up.
"How about some secret late night cocoa?" She asked which cause Edward and I to nod our heads greedily.
Mom tucked her dark chestnut hair behind her ears and told us to sit at the kitchen island while she whipped us up our hot drinks.
We did as we were told and sat down still trying to get warmth back into our hands by rubbing them together.
"Here, give me your hands," Edward said grabbing my hands without waiting for a reply.
He put my hands between his and began to rub quickly, warming them up. It was a funny thing. He had been picking on me all week long and making fun of us girls and pulling stupid pranks. He even got into my journal and read it to the boys. I didn't understand why he was being nice to me now.
I stopped him when I felt the warmth return to my hands and said, "Now your turn."
I put his hands between mine and began to rub like how he and my mom had done to my hands. Once his hands no longer felt like ice cubes I stopped and looked at him.
"Better?" I asked.
"Yeah, thanks," he said grinning at me.
I couldn't help but grin back.
"Alrighty, hot cocoa all around," Mom whispered loudly setting two hot mugs in front of us that had marshmallow fluff running down the sides.
Mom sat her mug down in front of her and together we all took a sip humming in satisfaction.
"Thanks mom!" I said.
"Yeah, thanks Mrs. Swan," Edward told her.
Mom laughed and rolled her eyes, "Edward, I've known you since before you were born and changed your diapers when you were a baby, call me Renee okay?"
Edward smiled, "okay."
We sat there quietly sipping our cocoa until the last drop was gone.
Then mom said it was time to catch a few hours of sleep before the rest of the kids woke up for presents. Edward and I hopped off of our stools and began to head out of the kitchen. I stopped before leaving and turned to give mom a hug.
"Thanks for sharing the miracle with me mom, I love you," I told her.
She pulled me into her tightly and kissed my head, "I love you too Bellabug."
After another squeeze from her I headed out of the kitchen passing Edward who whispered a thank you to my mom as well.
Together we went up the stairs and parted ways in the hallway with a small wave.
Once back in the room, that I share with the other girls, I pulled off my boots quietly and tossed my coat onto the floor. I pulled back the covers once again and climbed into bed.
"Where were you?" I heard Rosalie's voice ask sleepily.
"Just had to use the bathroom," I told her.
She must have been satisfied with my answer because I didn't hear anything else from her as I clutched my pillow and drifted back to sleep dreaming of snow flakes and warm cookie smells.
Merry Christmas
This is just a simple story that was inspired by the season.
There may or may not be a lemon later down the road, it really is a Christmas fluff story but we will see where these characters take us.
I hope you enjoy and please leave a review to let me know if you think I'm on the right track.