The Compromising Night
A million responses flooded my mind. Some weren't nice at all—not aimed to offend him, but to offend the entire concept of matrimony in general: "Yes, but of course I won't be looking forward to it. Who would want to go along with this, anyway?" And some more romantic and gushy than he probably thought my mind could conjure up: "Oh, Edward, yes! How could I say no? I love you so much!"
Instead of flooding my cheeks with the crimson blush of embarrassment at either idea, I whispered the safest and most promising answer: "Yes."
His golden eyes blazed victoriously at my response. "Thank you," he said. He kissed each of my fingertips, stopping at the shimmering ring that now belonged to me.
Edward slid up from his kneeling position and resettled back on the bed beside me. His triumphant smile was impossible to break—it shone with such joy and bright optimism that I found myself smiling too. Looking at his unbearably beautiful, angelic face, a flush of happiness that this wedding was actually happening crossed my mind.
He held out his arms for me, an invitation impossible for me not to accept. I snuggled into the cool marble statue of his body and wrapped my arms around his neck.
I went back to my surprising joy for marriage. Edward standing like an archangel under a canopy of flowers, hundreds of faces staring at me…big, poofy white dresses…satiny white draping everywhere…
Horror washed through me as I floated down from my own personal cloud nine.
Alice. I groaned.
She'd make it into a big, theatrical, fairytale production. It sometimes scared me to just think of what she was capable of.
Edward sensed my sudden distress. He asked his usual question: "What are you thinking about?"
I looked up at him through tortured eyes. I groaned again. "Alice," I choked.
His silent laughter subtly shook his shoulders. "Bella, love, if it bothers you that much, I'll keep her away from our day. Alright?" He lightly brushed a stray piece of hair from my cheek and tucked it behind my ear.
I smiled up at him. "Thanks," I muttered.
He pulled my left hand from his neck and held our hands together in front of us. We looked at our fingers intertwined. Edward pulled our hands up slowly to his lips and kissed them.
I suddenly started chuckling.
He froze mid-kiss and looked up at me from underneath long lashes. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "What?"
I just shook my head. "I'm just…still in shock, I guess."
Edward still didn't seem to get it.
"I'm in shock that you—Edward Cullen, the god of perfection—belong to me, the most ordinary and probably the most prone person to have bad luck in the world."
His scorching butterscotch eyes exploded with victory again. My breath was taken away by his extraordinary beauty.
Edward's lips were on mine before I could regain proper control of my lungs. The sweetness of his breath intoxicated me, stained my every thought. My hand broke free of his as it tangled in his bronze hair. His gentle mouth was off mine when he sensed my dizziness.
I sunk back into the perfect planes of his chest while still in a dizzy, triumphant high.
"I love you," he murmured.
My eyes filled with tears of joy. "I love you, Edward."
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, he whispered, "You know it's true, Bella."
"Mm?" I mumbled, content and sleepy.
"You know it's true—I am forever yours. The hold you have on me is unbreakable. I will always love you, no matter what happens."
I smiled joyfully. I reached down for his icy hand and placed it on my clammy cheek. I turned my head slightly to the right to kiss his palm.
My eyes drifted closed and he pulled my body downward, my head now on the golden-laced pillows.
"Go to sleep, Bella," he cooed.
The last visions I saw coherently were his gold eyes looking lovingly at my groggy face.
I sighed his name as he hummed my lullaby and I drifted off to sleep.