NO. No, no, no. No!

There was absolutely no way I could do this. The little voices in my head told me so. And yet, my finger, acting as if it had a will of its own, continued on dialing my mom's number. I stared at it, willing it to stop moving. It disobeyed me, and hit the last digit.

Edward rubbed soothing circles into my back as I took a deep breath to steady myself. I glanced up at his face, looking for assurance. He smiled down at me, his flawless features taking my breath away. I leaned into his hand, needing his support. His touch reassured me, so I steeled myself and hit the "call" button.

The phone rang once, then twice. I trembled, waiting for her to pick up, desperately wishing that she wouldn't be home, anything to put this whole thi—

"Hello?"

I considered hanging up right then and there, but Charlie was watching—I could feel his eyes boring holes into my back—so I merely replied with a very quiet, "Hi, mom. It's me."

"Oh, hey, honey! How are you? What's going on way up there in Forks? Still raining?"

I gulped and responded hesitantly, so softly that I could barely hear my own voice.

"Yeah, it's raining... But, um... Well, mom, I, uh, have... something to tell you."

"What was that? You'll have to talk a little louder, I can't hear anything over this old phone."

Blood pounded in my ears. "I have something to tell you," I said, only slightly louder this time.

"Hmm?"

"I'm..." I gulped again. I can do this, I thought. I'm strong enough for this. I rushed through the rest. "I'm getting married, mom." It came out as more of a question than a statement. I sounded like a timid little mouse.

There was an ominous silence.

"Mom...?" I whispered.

"You—you're getting married?!" Her voice squawked loudly, and I held the receiver a few inches away from my ear to protect my delicate eardrums.

"Yes."

"To WHO??" She sounded mad and confused.

"Remember Edward? From the hospital over the summer?"

"Him?! The tall one with the perfect muscles and the bronze-ish hair?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he certainly is gorgeous..." She stuttered, and I smiled tinily. "But think about this before you go through with it! You have a whole life ahead of you!"

I sighed. She was so clueless. They all were. "Look, mom, you wouldn't understand. I really want this. I..." I smiled up at Edward again. He watched me with concern. "I'm in love with him, mom, I really am. And he's in love with me, too."

The "he" in question grinned and kissed the top of my head. I sighed with pleasure, then returned my attention to the phone.

My mother seemed to be having an extraordinarily difficult time finding something to say. Struck with a sudden recklessness—after all, what was there really to lose?—I laughed at her stammers. "Gosh, mom, just get it all out, why don't you?"

Edward laughed quietly at this. I was sure he had been listening the whole time; I regretted missing his reaction to the "perfect muscles" comment.

She sighed, her exhalation crackling over the phone line.

"Bella, hun..." She sighed again. I waited. "Would it do any good to remind you of what happened with Charlie and me?"

"Nope. Definitely not." I could actually hear the confidence in my voice. I marveled at this fact; when approaching a subject as difficult as this one, my typical response would be to flush red as a tomato and run away from it. My sudden assuredness most likely had something to do with Edward... and the fact that we were getting married... and the fact that his hand was now softly caressing my hair, from the top of my head to my waist...

Reneé sighed again. "Well, the best I can do is ask you when the wedding is," she said, sounding sad and excited at the same time. I shared a secret look with Edward, and we both chuckled; Charlie had asked the exact same thing.

"Well, we're tentatively planning for two weeks after graduation; is that ok? I mean, does that work out time-wise?"

"Sure, Bells. Let me check my schedule..." I waited, listening to the mad rustling sounds on the other end of the line. It sounded like mom was as disorganised as always. "Hey—sounds perfect! Phil's free, too; would you mind if he came?" She sounded genuinely happy now. I wondered what she would sound like when I never came back from the honeymoon.

"Sure, of course he can come." I heard a shout in the background, from my mom's end of the phone. "Hun? I'm gonna have to get out of here, Phil and I are going out to dinner. But I'll talk to you later, and we can make plans, ok?"

"Sure mom—that'll be a lot of fun!"

"Love you, Bells."

"Love you too, mom. Have fun at dinner."

"Alright. Bye!" She hung up. I placed the receiver gently down on the table, suddenly weak. The conversation had taken a lot out of me. Confidence was not my strong point.

And then I collapsed. I vaguely heard Charlie's shout of distress in the background, but I was concentrating more on Edward's face, so close to mine. He looked concerned as he held me up. I blinked, then shook my head gently to clear it.

"Sorry," I whispered. "That was more stressful than I imagined." My voice, though barely more than a whisper, was still infused with that confidence from earlier. Edward's face relaxed as I opened my eyes fully and blinked a few times. I smiled up at him and stood. My legs, although still shaky, supported my weight with only a little help from Edward. He smiled his crooked smile back at me and leaned in to kiss me. I held properly still, wishing I could do more. I imagined the two of us in Edward's meadow, the sun warm on our skin...

"Oh, Edward?" Charlie's voice jarred me out of my reverie. I sighed; I missed the dream already.

"Yes, sir?" Edward replied, still managing to direct his response at Charlie even with his face a mere two inches from mine.

"It's 9:30."