Chapter One

Life for me was blissful since I'd met Bella. I couldn't imagine it would get any better. But then we'd had Renesmee and my world was truly complete. I'd got to watch her grow into a beautiful young woman, so wonderful that it was obvious that Bella was her mother. They are so alike. They have the purest souls, the most beautiful hearts and minds. Of course they were mother and daughter. And they were mine. They were, and always will be, the most precious things in my life.

If they don't come in here right now ..! Bella's thought trailed off threateningly.

I laughed quietly at her. She had been trying to get Renesmee and Jake into the house for over an hour, and they weren't moving any faster. They were strolling towards the house in silence. Well .. Almost in silence. I could hear the thoughts of my only daughter and her best friend from my room three floors up. Nessie's were scrambled, almost incoherent, but I got the general idea. Jacob's were almost as fuzzy, but I knew exactly what was on his mind. Of course, they were almost exactly the same. Those two were so connected, so totally in sync that I sometimes felt a pang of jealousy. Obviously I know my daughter inside and out. She and her mother were my world, my whole life. But Jacob knew things about Ness that a father didn't need to know, things that were only divulged to a best friend. Jacob never had been very good at hiding his thoughts from me, but everything Renesmee told him in confidence stayed that way. He was unswervingly loyal to her, so I never heard anything from him. Occasionally I would hear the tail end of a thought of his, perhaps when I entered a room without him knowing I was there. But other than that, the secrets they shared stayed between them.

Sometimes, though, I did hear things from one or the other of them that I really wished I hadn't. Like now, Ness was trying to find words to say to Jacob. And Jacob was searching for the same words to say to her. I really wished, at times like these, that my talent was like Bella's - blocking thoughts, rather than them invading your mind. My smile vanished and I shook my head slightly, trying to dislodge the two loudest voices I could hear. Impossible.

Just tell him you love him. He might react the way you want him to. Of course, he might laugh in my face .. Ness was thinking now.

Jacob's thoughts weren't all that different, She might love you back. She also might smack you about the head .. Edward definitely will ..

My smile came back, but then I sighed. I should have seen this coming before now. Of course Ness loved him. And, of course, Jacob loved her back. I suppose, as a father, that should make me happy - that she had someone to love her, someone to protect her, and someone to make her happy. But, again, as a father, I should be opposed to any boy coming anywhere near her. She was my baby. My only daughter. And, traditionally, I should want to liquefy any boys who thought about touching her. But this was Jacob. He wasn't just any boy. He was her other half, no doubting that. He would be better for her than any other male would. He was the only one who could ever understand every tiny little thing about her. The only one who could love her unconditionally and wholly, for exactly what she was. So, then why did my teeth grind together? Why did my fists ball up? I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that Ness wasn't a little girl anymore. She was eighteen today, officially an adult. I screwed up my eyes, and tried again to block them out. Instead of listening to them, I listened for Bella. I still wasn't used to having her thoughts in my head, even after all this time. Of course, now it was easy to know when she was hiding things from me, because her mind shut off and I couldn't hear anything at all. To hear her, to listen to her pure, unselfish, beautiful mind, was all I had hoped for since I first met her. And now that I could, I certainly didn't take it for granted. Right now she was planning violence against Jacob if he didn't get Nessie in the house in the next half second. I chuckled at her, and started for the stairs. I thought if I was there when they finally got to her, she might simmer down a bit. But just as I was turning towards the back door, I heard Alice,

Edward! She thought, even her thoughts full of stress, Get over here!

I found her in the dining room, her face scrunched up, her eyes glazed over.

"What's up, Alice? Someone else cancelled on you?" I laughed lightly at her.

I stopped when she looked up at me. If looks could kill .. Well, they wouldn't hurt me, but her glare was murderous all the same.

"Don't. Okay? Just, don't. This has nothing to do with the party. Although, this might be the last one I ever throw. It's giving me a headache." She wined.

I raised my eyebrows at her, "A headache, Alice?"

"Yeah, well, you know what I mean. Shush. Look at what I just saw .." She replayed her vision in her head for me, her body stiff.

When it was over, I just stood looking at her, speechless. And disturbed.

"Rose is going to kill him." She whispered.

I was still staring at her, the last image in her head flashing through my mind over and over again.

Edward? She thought, irritated, Hello?

"Alice .." I choked out, "Why did you show me that? You could have just told me about it. I could have gone my whole life without ever seeing that. And I would've been perfectly happy."

"Aw, behave, It's not that bad. So, he's going to kiss her. And? It makes no difference to us. It's just that now he'll be her boyfriend instead of just her friend. And it's not as if they'll be kissing in front of you." She rolled her eyes at me.

The image in her head had been of Ness and Jake, in Alice's bedroom, later on today. They were standing in front of the dressing table, and Jake's hands were gently cupping Nessie's face. He stared into her eyes for a long moment, then he pressed his lips to hers. I shuddered. I was right. My daughter kissing Jacob was something I never, ever needed to see. Of course, now that I had seen it, I knew what to expect. Alice had shown me everyone's reaction, too. I knew that Rose was going to go ballistic, and that Emmett was going to give Jake a high five. I seen that Bella would deal with it just fine in front of Ness and Jake, but that she would hash it out over and over again when we were alone. Alice also saw my reaction. She assured me that, after the initial grossing out was over with, I would be happy for them, that I would welcome Jacob as my daughters boyfriend. And that I wouldn't smack him about the head, like he'd thought.

I controlled my breathing, taking one deep breath at a time, then turned back to Alice. She could see that I was not angry, and that she was right. This was going to be okay. Unless we left Rose and Jacob alone .. Alice was right again, I thought, Rose was going to go crazy, but of course, I didn't need any vision to tell me that. I figured that I should warn them all before it happened so that when it did, and when Ness and Jake came downstairs to tell us they were together, no one ripped Jacobs' head off. Alice reached for my hand and with a deep sigh each, we went together to find my family.

I called for them all, and within a second, they were there. All except Bella, who was yelling at Jacob in the doorway. We heard Nessie yell for Alice, who squeezed my hand and thought, You've got this Before darting away to find her. My family were all looking at me expectantly, waiting for whatever it was I had to tell them. I took one more deep breath, and described what Alice had seen.

"He what?!" Rose exploded, reacting exactly the way we all expected, "He's going to kiss her?! Hell, no! Edward, this is not happening. Not while I'm around! No. Way!"

Jeez, dramatic much? I heard Alice think from upstairs.

"What's all the yelling about?" Bella asked, flitting to my side.

I turned to her, ignoring Rosalie, and explained again Alice's vision. If Bella's face could have turned purple, I think it would have.

"Can I kill him?" She hissed through her teeth.

Rosalie nodded in fierce agreement, while I chuckled at Bella.

"No, you can't kill him. Come on, love. Please remember that this is Jacob, okay? Jacob. Who else was there ever going to be for her?" My hand stroked her face, trying to sooth her.

I heard her teeth grind together, and her mind close down - something she done defensively when she was angry, or upset. I wrapped my arms around her.

"Bella, don't be angry. This will all be fine. This was always going to happen, you knew that. It was just a matter of time." I reminded her.

"Humph." She grumped at me and I chuckled again.

"Now, in about thirty minutes, they're both going to come downstairs, preparing to hear growls from all of us. Which they will not hear." I warned, eyeing Rose significantly. "Can everyone just at least pretend it's okay? For Nessie?" I looked around at them all.

Emmett was grinning hugely, as was Jasper. Esme was smiling widely, too, obviously happy about this new revelation. Carlisle's face held no ounce of shock. He had expected this, too. Bella had calmed down a little, and pasted a happy but unconvincing smile on her face. She would work on it. I looked at Rosalie last, her face was full of rage.

"Rose, I am warning you." I said, pointing my finger at her, "Leave it be. There is no changing this. It's going to happen, so let it." I snapped at her. She just sniffed and stalked away from me.

Emmett laughed and followed her, and the rest wandered away to finish dressing for the party.

"Bella! Your turn!" We heard Alice's shrill voice yell from upstairs.

Bella sighed and turned to me, wrapping herself inside my arms,

"Don't worry. It will all work out, you'll see." I whispered again into her ear.

She looked up at me and stared into my eyes. I heard her mind open back up,

Will I ever get used to the perfection of him? I doubt it. And then she remembered .. Damn, he can hear me. She grinned up at me, and I grinned back, her favorite crooked smile. Her breath caught in her throat.

Nope. I'll never get used to that. She thought, and I laughed back at her. She stretched on her tip-toes to reach my lips and I bent to meet her. When my lips touched hers, she sighed. Her lips parted as I kissed her, and I could taste her scent on my tongue. I no longer felt the burn in my throat when I smelled her, or when she was this close, but I did feel another kind of heat. The raging desire I felt for her had never faded, not one bit. Every time I felt her body against mine, I felt the same powerful rush that I felt the very first time I held her. It took every ounce of strength I had to pull away from her.

"Alice is stressed out enough without you making her wait." I told her with a laugh, "Maybe we should get dressed before she really loses it."

Bella laughed with me, then stretched once more to kiss me quickly.

Later then. She thought, darting away from me with a wink.

I stared after her for a moment. I think she had it backwards before. I think it's me who won't ever get used to her perfection. As I watched her dance away upstairs, I smiled widely to myself. Her mind, always such a mystery to me before, was bubbling with excitement about the party tonight. She was picturing her dress, how she wanted Alice to do her hair, and her high, teetering heels. And then her mind flashed to after the party, when we got home. She was thinking about our little house, after the lights had gone out, and after the night had gone quiet, when we were alone. She didn't hold back with her thoughts about exactly what she wanted to happen tonight. My breathing spiked as I pictured it along with her. Her thoughts seemed smug as one picture flashed through her mind; myself standing in our bedroom, my skin glimmering faintly in the moonlight.

He's all mine, She thought to herself in a whisper, Completely, totally, mine.

It still amazed me, the ludicrous way she regarded me, like I was some kind of prize, something she had been rewarded with. It was quite clearly the other way around.

Hear that, Edward Cullen? I heard her call to me in her thoughts, Tonight, you're all mine!

I chuckled back at her, and heard her giggle from upstairs.

"What's funny?" Alice demanded, the stress strong in her voice.

"Nothing," Bella answered quickly, "Just thinking of something."

"Edward, no doubt." Alice muttered, "You two are gross sometimes, you know that?"

I heard Bella sigh at her, "Uh huh, we're gross. You think I haven't seen you and Jazz drooling over each other? Yeah, we can see that you know, Alice."

"Jasper and I do not feel the need to mush over each other at every given moment, thank you very much. Sometimes seeing you and Edward is nauseating, honestly."

"Yeah, whatever, Alice. Just get on with this, won't you?" Bella sighed again.

I laughed at them. They really are like siblings, bickering over the silliest things. But, in five minutes, they would be best friends again. They are actually a lot alike, Alice and Bella. Both unbelievably stubborn, but just as loving and compassionate. Unstoppable, the pair of them, when they get something in their head. Like Alice, with this party. Nessie had told her she didn't want a party. She just wanted something small, with the family and, of course, Jacob. But Alice had ignored her, and planned tonight instead. Ness had moaned about it, demanding that Alice cancel everything she had organized. But Alice refused, telling her she would thank her eventually, when she had the best night of her life. And of course she was right. Ness was really excited, everyone was. There hadn't been a real party in here since Bella's graduation, over eighteen years ago. Tonight would be fun. Especially if we could keep Rosalie from strangling Jake ..