Edward was already up, dressed and feeding Renesmee in her room. I rolled over in bed toward the sound of the both of them playing and laughing and smiled to myself again, enjoying the sounds of my perfect family. I stared the at the mattress as I anxiously awaited Edward's return. My eyes roamed toward the wall where the headboard should be.....we had given up on those awhile ago, it was getting too expensive replacing them all the time.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my "names" being called in unison. "Bella!/Momma!" I looked up and Edward and Renesmee were standing in the doorway. A second later Renesmee had leaped on to the bed and had her arms around my neck. I hugged her back and then my eyes darted back to Edward who was holding a small tray, on one side was a coffee mug and on the other a single red rose in a clear crystal vase.
I looked back and forth between Edward and Renesmee and asked "What's the occassion?"
"It's St. Patrick's Day, Mrs. Cullen!" Edward said enthusiastically.
"Since when do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day?" I asked, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.
Edward smiled at me, "Since you have my irish venom running through your veins." he said and then laughed as he set the tray in front of me and laid down next to me on the bed, gently taking hold of my hand.
I looked down and smiled at him before turning back to the cup. It smelled like blood but... "Why is my blood green?"
I asked as I looked back at Edward. He looked up, smiled, and said, "It's food coloring...you know...for"
"....for St. Patricks Day" I said, finishing his sentence for him. "of course." I said as I rolled my eyes.
Renesmee moved from my lap to my side and Edward continued to stare up at me lovingly as I took a few sips from my cup. "Mmmmm, mountain lion."
"Only the best for my beautiful wife." Edward said with a smirk on his face.
When I was done Edward said, "Bella, I'd like to take you somewhere special today, will you join me"
I stared into his pleading eyes and if I could still get butterflies I would have them right now.
"I would love to but who will watch Renesmee?" Almost before I could get the words out Renesmee had her
little hands on my face and in my mind I saw Jacob. "Ah, of course" I said smiling down at my beautiful
little girl. "So, where are we going?". "You'll see.." he answered.
Then, I heard a knock at the door. "It's Jacob." Edward told me. "I'll get it if you'd like to get dressed now?"
"Yeah, good idea." I said and with that they were both at the front door and I could hear Jake's voice already in the living room.
When I entered they were discussing Jake's plans to take Renesmee to the beach for the afternoon. He looked up when he heard
me come in. "Hey Bells!" he greeted me with a hug and that smile I loved. "Hey, Jake!" I said, hugging him back.
"Well, now that Jacob is here, we should get going Bella, love." Edward said as he approached me and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand."
I touched his hand and then looked at Jacob. "You'll take good care of my baby, right?"
"Of course!" he said as he scooped her up into his arms. "You guys have fun today.....wherever you're going."
"Oh, he didn't tell you either, huh?" I asked.
"Nope, you know how secretive those bloodsuckers can be!" he joked and with a booming laugh bounded out the door with Renesmee on his shoulders.
Edward took my hand and led me toward the forest and then stopped suddenly. As I turned to look at him he moved in front of me,
looked back and said, "Hop on." "I don't need to hitch a ride on your back anymore Edward." I laughed. "Please, Bella. he said
"for old time's sake."
"Ok, ok." I conceded. How could refuse that beautiful face, those topaz eyes....
"Bella, sweetheart?" Edawrd's voice brought me out of my daydream. "Are you coming?"
"Yes." I said and then took off running and leaped full force onto his back nearly knocking him to the ground.
We both laughed as Edward took off, full speed towards...wherever we were going. After a few minutes he turned back to look at me while still going in a perfectly straight line, "We're almost there." he said.
I looked ahead and started to recognize where we were, he was taking me to the meadow. I couldn't conceal the smile that beamed across my face as we entered the clearing and I got down from his back.
"Edward, this is a wonderful surprise!" I said excitedly as I turned to face him. His face was already right next to mine, already thinking what I was thinking as we leaned toward each other, locking our lips.....and bodies into a long and passionate kiss.
He then took my hand and led me toward the place where we had first laid in the grass together, when I had first learned that he was a vampire and we both laid down again, quite possibly in the exact spots we'd been in the first time but the difference this time was that as we stared at each other and the sun shined down on us we were both shining like diamonds.
Suddenly there was a delicious smell wafting through the air, my throat felt like it had caught on fire and as I snapped my head toward Edward I saw that his eyes were the same flat black color that I'm sure mine were at that very moment... human blood. There must've been some hikers nearby or something. I stared into Edward's face to help to control the primal urge welling up inside me. I still didn't have quite as easy of a time dealing with it as he did.
To my extreme surprise Edward was suddenly on his feet and in half a second had bolted out of my sight. I sat up quickly,
worried, wondering why he had taken off so quickly and in another eigth of a second I was terrified realizing that....he
had gone after the humans.
I bolted as quickly as I could after him. "Why is he doing this!?" I asked myself frantically as I ran as fast as I possibly could "HE should be the one running after ME if anything!" As I finshed that thought I entered yet another clearing where the scent trail of human blood ended but there were no humans there, Edward wasn't there either. "Oh....no." I whispered to myself as I imagined a scene that I couldn't believe could be possible. Had he really hunted them? Had he dragged them off somewhere? "No!"...I shook the thought from my mind. "EDWARD!" I called. "EDWARD!"
I saw a slight movement out of the corner of my eye and before I could turn my head Edward had tackled me to the ground pressing his lips to mine.
As much as I didn't want to I pushed him off of me and slapped him in the arm. "You scared me half to.....death!!" I screamed for lack of
a better term. "I thought you had taken off after the humans!!" I yelled again.
We were both still on the ground as he locked his arms around me and kissed my forehead. "You know me better than that Bella, love"
"Well, what was I supposed to think?" "Don't ever scare me like that again!" I exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, love" he said as he tightened his arms around me into an embrace that would've crushed me if I were still human.
"Just having a little fun." he said and his song-like laugh filled the space where we laid.
"Truce?" he asked as he picked up something green from the ground and handed it to me.
"A four leaf clover?" I asked as i took it from his hand.
"Yes, you know.. for.."
"Yeah, yeah, for St. Patricks Day, I know." I said with a smile while rolling my eyes and Edward smiled back as he pulled me into the kind of kiss that I knew would lead to another night just like the last one......
THE END