A Year of New Beginnings

All things Twilight belong to the awesome S. Meyer, I'm just borrowing her lovely characters for my own delusions.

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Chapter Two

Bella POV

7:15pm

Alice and Rose each put an arm through one of mine and dragged me to the top of the stairs, before they could pull me downstairs I stopped. "Ladies, can I have a minute? I just… just need… need to prepare myself," I asked, staring down at the stairs.

Rose pulled me in for a hug, "of course you can take a minute, I know we are asking a lot from you by being here tonight." Letting me go, she smirked "but, I really have to pee, so I'm gonna go down now."

Rose always knows how to make me smile even in a tense situation, but I guess being married to Emmett for two years rubs off on ya. I watch her run down the steps, wondering how she manages to go so fast wearing heels and still be graceful.

I turn to Alice, "Ali, I'm not backing out. Promise"

"I know Bells, but if I don't see you in fifteen minutes, I'm sending Emmett to drag you downstairs, do you understand me?" she asks trying to keep a straight face, but at the very end she grins and kisses me on the cheek before following Rose down the stairs.

I stare at the stairs that my two best friends just descended. Am I ready for this? This will be the first time since New Year's Eve that I will have faced Edward. The first time I've seen him since I saw his face attached to that loon of a nurse Tanya. My fiancé! Holy hell, how am I gonna get through this night pretending to be happy and in love. I mean, yea, I love Edward but he hurt me.

"What the heck, I just need to man up and get this over with." I gave myself a little pep talk before taking that first step. I might have taken the steps a little more slowly than normal, could be because I was trying to be extra careful walking in these death trap contraptions that Alice calls shoes or because I was procrastinating the inevitable. Not sure which one was overwhelming me more at the moment.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I stopped and turned towards the open family room to the left, searching for Edward. As I scanned the room, someone came up from behind me and pulled me in for a hug, causing me to jump in reaction.

"Chill Bells, I was just trying to surprise you." I turned around to face the person who scared me. "Surprise!" Jake said sarcastically.

"Jake! Hey! I didn't know that you guys were back from Hawaii? Where's Leah? How's Rachel and the family? Did you guys have fun?"

"Whoa there chica" Jake interrupted "I can only answer one question at a time. And don't think I don't have a few of my own for you." I just smile up at him, nodding for him to continue. "Hawaii was awesome, sure beats the cold mess here, especially this time of year. Rachel is doing awesome, hubby and kids were really fun, it was definitely a new experience having Christmas with them. Leah is…" Jake starts looking around for her. "Leah is…"

"Leah is right here." Leah smiled coming up from behind Jake. She steps around Jake to give me a hug. "Hey Bella." Letting me go, she grabs my left hand, "so let me see this awesome ring you called about," she looks down, "um, where's the ring?"

Crap! I forgot about that minor detail. The night I left, I left the ring on Edward's dresser. I didn't want the constant reminder. Suddenly, Alice appears at my side. "Bella, I got your ring all cleaned up for you, I think I got all that gunk I spilt on it off."

I stare at Alice as she places the ring on my finger, trying to figure out how to respond. "um, thanks Al" looking down at the ring on my finger it's beauty astounds me. It's an antique ring from the 1920's. The carat and a half diamond is set in a square setting and embellished with triangle cut emeralds and eight round diamonds making it look almost like a blossoming rose. "It looks beautiful."

"Not a problem, I was trying to find you so I could return it to its rightful place." She replied with a knowing look. Sometimes that little chic really pisses me off.

"Holy Shit, Cullen's gotta beat me at everything doesn't he?" Jake questioned. I look up at him and Leah questioningly. "This ring is perfect for you, it's not your generic ring that you can go buy at any store it's one of a kind. It is special, just like you."

"It's scary when you say I'm special, I'm not sure which meaning you are implying. Normally, you are calling me special like I'm retarded or something."

"No ya re-re, that's not the type of special I meant."

Leah interrupted Jake, "What stupid here is trying to say is that Edward found a ring that was truly unique, just look you."

"Awww, thanks Le" I smile.

"Okay, that's enough emotional stuff for me," Leah announces, "let's go mingle and see if we can find our parents. You know how much they love soiree's like this."

I laugh because I know how sarcastic Leah is being, my dad and Sue have been together for a few years now. My mom left when I was twelve, she pops up every now and then, but she isn't very dependable. Sue's husband, Harry, had been a part of the infamous trio known as my dad, Harry, and Jake's dad Billy. Harry died about five years ago, and after a while it just seemed like Sue and my dad fell into routine. Now they live together in Charlie's house. My dad and Sue aren't really big on large gatherings of people who aren't in our family, but both of them love the Cullens, but then again there aren't many people in this small town who don't love them.

Not long after we reach my dad and Sue, I hear Emmett's loud voice over some sort of microphone hook up. I look over at him to see that he and Alice are trying to get everyone's attention to announce the arrival of the celebrated couple. "Thank you for all coming out tonight to this celebration for my parents thirtieth anniversary. On behalf of my family I would like to tell you how very honored we are by your presence. I now introduce my mamma and papa."

Over to the side I see Rose throws her head into her hands, "oh dear lord, who's idea was it to give him the mic?" she asked embarrassed.

Alice quickly grabs the microphone from Em, "As my brother was saying, please help us in congratulating Dr. and Mrs. Carlisle Cullen." On that cue, Esme and Carlisle enter the room with everyone clapping at their arrival. Esme looks even more radiant than normal in her floor length gold gown that is slightly off the shoulder and clings to her before flaring out. At first glance, you would not think that she was the mother of three grown children. Carlisle was his ever handsome self in a classic black tuxedo, I guess Alice got to them too.

Somehow Emmett got a hold of the microphone again and announced, "now that the guests of honor have arrived, let's get our party on!"

8:30pm

Thankfully, I've managed to be at this party for over an hour without an appearance from the heartbreaker. No one can tell that I'm lying about the whole situation because I don't stay with any person for longer than a few minutes. I have figured out that constant mingling is the key to making it through this night, mingling requires no in depth conversations, thus helping me avoid uncomfortable subjects.

I'm standing at the bar that was set up in the dining room, waiting for the bartender, Jared, to finish making my drink, when I finally see him. As angry as I am with him, my heart still flutters at the sight of Edward. I stare at him from across the room as he talks to Dr. Elezar Denali, probably about boring medical jargon. As if he can feel me staring at him, Edward turns and catches me staring. I quickly turn back to the bar and down my fresh drink. "Jared, can I get another lemon drop? Like as quickly as possible?"

"Sure thing pretty lady."

I can feel his presence behind me as I pick up my next drink. I start to chug it when Edward pulls the glass away. "You know that alcohol isn't going to make either one of us disappear."

"No, but I can hope right?"

"Bella, I'm not going anywhere. I love you. What is it going to take for you to understand that?"

"Hmmm… not sure if I believe that. Did you bring your girlfriend with you? Nevermind, I don't want to talk to you about this right now. There's too many people around. Do you care to explain why your parents still think that we're engaged?" I whispered angrily at him.

"Thought you just said you didn't wanna talk about this right now?"

"Right. Alrighty, well let's see how long we can avoid each other for the rest of the night." I start to walk off but he grabs me by the elbow, causing me to stumble and lose my balance, but he catches me before I can fall on my face. After stumbling around, I feel suddenly queasy and take off towards the bathroom with my hand over my mouth. I know he followed me to the bathroom, he closes the door behind us as I'm kneeling on the floor puking into the toilet. My heart starts to melt a little with him being all gentleman like, with him holding my hair so it won't get messed up and running the sink water so people won't hear me getting sick. When I'm done, I sit back and rest my head against the wall and stare up at him. He hands me a towel from the cabinet.

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy, guess I shouldn't have downed those drinks so fast."

Looking me dead in the eye, Edward tells me "I didn't bring a date, my date is here already, whether she likes it or not." He holds out his hand to help me off the floor and I take it. "I meant what I said earlier, I love you Bella, every thing else is just a big misunderstanding." He steps forward to wrap his arms around me and I swear I started to feel my resolve wavering.

There's a knock on the bathroom door, startling us out of our little moment. "Hello, whoever's in here, there are other people who have to pee" Alice hollers. Edward growls in annoyance at his sister. As I step back from him, I mentally put my wall back up that seems to crumble in his presence.

"Bella, please hear me out, I have proof that it wasn't what it appeared to be. Please, don't throw us away until you have all the facts."

I stare at his face, checking it for any sign of deception, but there is none; he looks hurt and disheveled, like this separation is hurting him too. "Fine, I will listen to your story, but not right now. Let's go back out into the party and act like the happy couple, later I will listen to what you have to say."

"Agreed." Edward then opens the door, revealing a surprised Alice.

"Oh thank God, I thought I was going to burst holding it in so long. Move out the way." She pushes Edward out of the doorway to the bathroom and then turns back to us, "you two didn't defile the bathroom did you? 'Cause that would be really gross. You know what, nevermind," she waves her hand in front of her face and turns into the bathroom, "I really have to pee."

"My sister is very strange." Edward commented.

"I heard that!" Alice shouted from inside the bathroom.

I follow Edward back out into the party, where we proceed to mingle with the other partygoers. Edward kept doing little things, like getting me ginger ale to calm my stomach, or guiding me through the crowd with his hand on the small of my back and my heart was screaming at my mind to take him back, no questions asked.

9:20pm

Esme and Carlisle decided that before they left to go on their anniversary trip to Italy that they wanted family pictures taken. First they did just themselves, then one of them and their children, now they were taking pictures of each happy couple before taking one big family picture. When it was Edward and mine's turn, the photographer mentioned we should take some romantic shots after hearing that we were newly engaged. I was okay at first, I could handle the light touches or the half hugs, because I could still detach myself from the situation, but when he asked Edward to kiss me, I froze. The first one, Edward lightly kissed me on the check and I swear I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through me. I think Edward felt it too, because he was staring at me with such intensity that I felt myself blush. Next thing I know, Edward's mouth is on mine and I can't help my body from responding. It's like we were meant to fit together like a puzzle. Every inch of my body screamed out for him. If he had decided to take me right there in front of everybody, I don't think that I would have had the willpower to stop. Stupid betraying body, you're messing up my mental shield. He slows his kisses as he hears Em, Jazz and Jake hooting and hollering in the background. He leans his forehead against mine "shit Bella, I don't think I've ever had a kiss that intense in my life." I just look down and blush at the compliment. Finally noticing that the photographer is still taking pictures, we pull apart.

Esme and Carlisle come back with the rest of the family to take the group photo. The photographer places Esme and Carlisle in the middle, with Jasper and Alice to their right and Edward and I to their left and Emmett and Rose behind them. It actually seemed like a pretty good picture. I actually smiled, which is something that I hadn't done in weeks.

I think that I will give him an opportunity to explain. What's the worst that can happen? Maybe after we clean up this party, we might be able to clean up our mess.

Again, thank you to all who reviewed! I was blown away!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

K. Thanks. Bye!

AcEcHiCa