My family watched me as I entered the house and dashed straight to my piano, barely acknowledging them, clutching my newly acquired treasure. I must have looked as if I'd just robbed a bank, but I'd been waiting for this day for some time. I hurried to set up the seldom used tape player in the corner and plug in my headphones.

Alice approached, frowning at me curiously. "What on earth are you gloating over? A new CD?"

"Better." I held up the two cassettes.

"Ah!" She smiled in understanding. "The elusive Boyfriend's Mix Tape, at last!"

"Two tapes. Two full hours of Bella's preferred music." And with it, a closer look at the workings of her always mysterious mind. Not even trying to hide my satisfaction, I prepared to settle down and listen.

Jasper had followed Alice into the room, and now Esme approached as well. "Something special?" she asked, indicating the cassettes.

Alice grinned. "He's been asking Bella to make him a tape of her favourite music. She finally came through." She picked up one of the tapes. "Complete with hand written liner notes! Better and better."

Esme looked puzzled.

"You can't imagine how much effort it took, getting Bella to provide this. She doles out information about herself a teaspoon at a time. And she loves music, but I think she edits what she tells me about her musical preferences."

"Why would she do that?" Jasper asked.

"I gather she's endured a lot of teasing about her musical tastes. I asked her to promise to record her actual favourites, no censoring the contents for my benefit, and she finally agreed."

"Well, don't listen to it with your headphones on!" Alice urged me. "We want to hear it, too!"

I heard Rosalie mutter darkly to herself, but I was too happy to be bothered. "Fine." I took the case labelled #1 and popped it into the player.

"Cassette tapes?" Jasper asked dubiously.

"She doesn't exactly have state of the art recording equipment at home. And, of course, she refused to borrow any of mine." I chuckled over her resistance to accepting any form of material goods from me, even as a loan. It was sometimes frustrating, but also, like everything Bella did, excruciatingly adorable.

The first notes of Debussy's Arabesque #1 poured from the speakers. "Your tastes are compatible so far," Jasper pointed out.

I consulted the notes Bella had painstakingly written out for each of the selections. "Her mother used to try to play this on the piano." I laughed. "Bella writes she was amazed the first time she heard a professional recording of it, and it actually sounded good. She had thought her mother was playing accurately, and Debussy had simply missed the mark with this particular composition."

Jasper smiled, probably in response to my mood as much as to what I was saying. "Does Bella play an instrument?"

"No. She says she has no musical talent except for keeping quiet when others are playing." Typical of her self-effacing attitude.

"A talent not everybody has. Even concert-goers." Jasper paused as the first song ended and Runaround Sue began.

Alice smiled broadly. "Oo, rapid genre-switching! Love it." She took Jasper's hand and led him into a quick Lindy around the piano.

Carlisle left the book he'd been reading and appeared at Esme's side. "What's going on?" He should have heard every word we'd said, but he sometimes became oblivious when he was immersed in a book.

Esme slipped her arm into his. "Bella made Edward a recording of her favourite music."

He nodded. "That was a very popular form of love token a few years ago. I had no idea it was still current."

"I think it is, although it's mostly done digitally now," Jasper commented. "Except in Bella's case."

I sighed. "Her household's electronics are incredibly out of date. You should see her computer. It looks like it should run on steam power."

"I don't suppose she would let us get her a new one?" Alice asked.

I shook my head. "I'm certain she wouldn't even consider it, unfortunately."

Jasper was listening intently to the tape, which had moved on to an old Appalachian folk song. "This list is really eclectic. Not at all what you would expect from a modern day Phoenix teenager."

Alice grinned happily. "Bella's very special."

"So you tell me." Jasper smiled back at her.

We all fell quiet as a Scarlatti piano sonata began. Bella had added the rather shamefaced notation that she first liked this piece of music because it was used as background in a movie she was fond of. The things she found to be embarrassed about! I began mentally sorting through the tape, trying to map her preferences, relating each musical piece to others she might like, and imagining the pleasure of gradually introducing them to her. Jasper picked up my fluctuating mood and looked at me quizzically.

"I'm just playing iTunes Genius. Coming up with other pieces she might like." He nodded with a grin.

The sonata segued into something by the El Dorados. "Baroque 'n' roll," Jasper commented. "She's all over the map." Alice grabbed his hand again and they started dancing a sedate jitterbug in and out of the dining room doorway. Carlisle and Esme were also dancing, or at least leaning against each other and swaying to the music. I watched as their eyes met and locked a moment in mutual fascination. Forever newlyweds, just like all vampire mates. My mind wandered briefly, toying with the thought of being with Bella in the same way. The idea was overwhelming. I sternly turned my attention back to the music.

Next on the list was Scott Joplin, playing Bethena rather than one of his more popular rags. I read Bella's notations while Jasper and Alice slowed their dancing and moved closer to each other. From the direction their thoughts were taking, I could see I would be losing part of my audience before long.

Two currently popular songs followed, fairly good, marginally "alternative" rock selections. Jasper listened, his arms still around Alice. "This is more what the average high school student would listen to." He snorted at my mild indignation. "Don't be offended. These songs tend to confirm she didn't edit just to impress you." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "She really is rather exceptional."

"I know."

He laughed. "I know you think so, but her mind is closed to you, so you don't know for sure. I can feel what she feels, and I have to say, she doesn't "read" like any 17 year old girl I've ever encountered. There are some typical youthful reactions, naturally, but mostly her responses are those of a much older person." He nodded at me. "You've got something there," he concluded enigmatically, before letting Alice pull him back into a dance which had less and less to do with the music being played. It was the most Jasper had ever said about Bella, and I was gratified that he saw her uniqueness as much as Alice or I did.

I placed the second tape in the player, smiling as Chopin's Waltz in B minor began. It was the Arthur Rubenstein recording, a favourite of mine. Emmett returned to the television, the 'fun music' being over with for now, but Esme and Carlisle began waltzing gracefully around the dining room table. Alice and Jasper had been gradually edging closer to the stairway. I heard Jasper murmur in Alice's ear, "Come on, Pepita," and with one accord they both fled silently up the stairs. Everyone else carefully ignored their departure, always a necessary part of living with three preternaturally amorous couples under one roof. I mentally wished them joy, quickly suppressed any inadvertent feelings of envy, and shut out their thoughts for the time being.

Emmett laughed and wandered back when the next song began. "Guantanamera? I never would've expected that one."

I consulted Bella's notes. "She says her mother used to play it for her as a lullaby." I read aloud, " 'I don't know if there was any political significance on Renee's part or not, but I always connected the song to falling peacefully asleep in my bed at night.' She says her mother also used to play Jefferson Starship hits as lullabies, but somehow those never became favourites."

"And now she has you to sing her to sleep," Emmett teased. "You should sing her Guantanamera next time."

I laughed, but mentally determined to do just that. In a few short hours, in fact. I settled down to pass the time until I could hold Bella again, studying her choices and written comments for any further light they could shed on Bella's thoughts and personality. This was not the best evening of my existence, not by a long way, but it was looking like it might just make my Top 40.

For my own amusement, I put together Bella's complete mix tape, listed below. I tried to make a compilation that would be realistic for a 17 year old girl with the usual cultural influences (I included one Phoenix area band) yet who was just a bit eccentric; with limited exposure to classical music, good taste but still a naive preference for the pretty and easily accessible; an open mind and fairly broad palate for her years, but still a product of her time. Also, in spite of her promise not to edit, she might have left out the truly embarrassing favourites. I thought this was a pretty good estimate of what Bella might have recorded.

Tape 1:
Debussy's Arabesque #1
Runaround Sue, Dion and the Belmonts
When the Mountains Cry, Songcatcher soundtrack
Scarlatti piano sonata in D minor
At My Front Door, the El Dorados
Bethena, Scott Joplin
Down By the Water, The Decembrists
Dog Days are Over, Florence and the Machine
Con Te Partiro, Andrea Bocelli

Tape 2:
Waltz in B minor, Chopin, played by A. Rubenstein
Guantanamera, Compay Segundo
Beau Soir, Debussy, played by Joshua Bell
Natural Mystic, Bob Marley and the Wailers
'Song Without Words' Op.109, Mendelssohn, played by Yo Yo Ma
You Are a Tourist, Death Cab for Cutie
Found Out About You, Gin Blossoms
Pavane for a Dead Princess, Ravel
Charming Side of Drunk, World/Inferno Friendship Society
Choo Choo Ch'Boogie, Louis Jordan