For the next two years, I watched over little Edward. Every night, when he was put to bed, I was right outside his window, in a tree so conveniently placed. I read his thoughts and watched his dreams. Occasionally, when he would stir, I'd climb through the window and quietly sing him back to sleep.
And after doing this for two years, I had to come up with some other way to keep close to him. And the answer came late one night when some friends of Edward's parents came and stopped by yet again.
The conversation was pretty much 'How are you?' and 'What have you been up to?' until Coralee asked, "How is the baby?"
"He's nearly two, Coralee," Elizabeth said. "He's not a baby anymore."
"Well," said Timothy, Coralee's husband (duh), "how is he, none the less?"
"He's sleeping," Elizabeth answered.
Someone sighed, I think it was Coralee. "Oh, how I wish I could have a child!"
"Well, why can't you?" Edward Sr. asked. "Is it because Tim here won't go that far?" I could tell by the tone of his voice he was just teasing.
"You wish, Masen," Tim replied.
"Actually we tried," Coralee said, not teasing at all. "But when we went to the doctor, he said I have some disease that keeps me from having children."
"Oh, Coralee! That's just awful!" Elizabeth said.
"What was it?" Edward Sr. asked.
"Some big word that I could never pronounce," Coralee replied.
"Oh, that's so sad," Elizabeth said. She sounded like she was close to tears.
"We're thinking we might adopt one," Tim said, obvious he was trying to make the subject happier.
But my mind was somewhere else.
They're friends of the Masens. They can't have children. They visit at least twice every month (this was the first time they visited this late, though). I can turn myself into a little baby, no more than three months, and drop myself on their doorstep.
The conversation ended shortly after, and they started for home. I dropped out of the tree, but first giving my regular good night kiss to Edward Jr., and followed them home. For some reason, I treated it like hunting. I snapped, and was suddenly in my black dress, with the black boots. My hair turned black, too, and I had my black cloak tied and the hood up. If I was still in Volterra, this outfit would be what I wore every day. Except for Halloween, when Ashlie, Demetri, Alec, and I scare Caius out of his skin.
I slowly start to follow them, walking probably 39 feet behind them. They never suspect a thing, just like my victims in the past. I followed them all the way, but hid behind a tree when they walked through their door. I put my plan into action. I silently walk up to their doorstep, ring the bell, and then snap my fingers and transform into a little crying baby, in a small, red blanket and cute, white nightgown.
Coralee answered the door. She looked at me, then looked around to see who left me here. When she doesn't see anything, she picks me up very carefully, as if I'm made of porcelain.
"Tim!" she cries, tears landing on me. "Tim!"
A very confused looking Tim walks into the room. He sees me, and then starts crying as well. "Thank God!" he exclaims. Eventually, they remembered that I needed to be 'taken care of', so Tim closes the door and Coralee brings out a cradle. She puts me in it and starts rocking me to sleep, singing me to the land of dreams. My last coherent thought was, "Goodbye shadows and trees, hello cradles and dresses."