A/N - Thanks for everyone who's reading this! I'm on holidays right now, so updates might come a little quicker than normal - I try to keep a chapter ahead of myself and that's a little difficult when I've got school. So, anywho, I'm a bit of a dribbler (just like the amazing Mrs Meyer!) so this chapter rambles a bit before it gets to the important bit... but there is always an important bit in all my rambling, so keep on guard. lol. Enjoy - and please review, I love to hear your opinions on the direction I'm taking!


I didn't feel much better about what was going to happen when I woke in the morning. As I got out of bed and got ready for the day, I grumbled and complained about everything. Charlie was already at work, so Edward sat in my rocking chair in the corner, watching me in amusement – which didn't help my mood. I turned to face him and crossed my arms petulantly.

"Mind telling me what's so terribly funny?"

Edward chuckled. "You, of course – have I ever told you how adorable you look when you're upset?"

I turned my nose up in the air and stomped sulkily to the bathroom to get dressed. He was no longer in my room when I returned and I was even more irritated with him. I made my bed and started to clear away the piles of clothes that had accumulated around my room when the smell of cooking reached me.

"Edward," I mumbled and thumped downstairs to the kitchen to make sure he wouldn't burn the house down.

He stood over a frypan at the stove, the old electric kettle was beginning to steam and I could see two pieces of toast pushed down in the toaster. I sighed and moved to take over but Edward shook his head at me, a large smile on his face.

"Sit down Grumpy, it'll be ready in a minute."

I opened my mouth to object and he raised his eyebrows at me. Reluctantly I sat at the table, facing him, and watched him cook my breakfast with my arms crossed tightly across my chest. I had to admit that it was pretty nice of him to cook breakfast for me, taking into account that I hadn't been very pleasant to him lately. The smell of eggs and bacon wafted around me tantalisingly, but Edward kept his back turned to me, silently watching them sizzle in the pan. Then the toaster popped up and he was suddenly moving at top speed.

He slid the contents of the pan onto a plate with one hand and grabbed the toast with the other just as the electric kettle clicked off, steam boiling out of the spout. Before I knew it, the plate was sitting in front of me and a scorching mug of coffee appeared soon after. Edward stood back with his arms on his hips, a satisfied smile on his face as he watched me inspect the food. It looked as perfect as it smelled. I looked back up at him to thank him, but he held up his hand.

"Almost forgot," I managed to hear before he disappeared from the room.

He was back in a second and in his hand was a beautiful rose, which he laid gently beside my knife and fork. He grinned even wider than before – reminding me of an overenthusiastic puppy. I couldn't help but smile in return and I picked up my fork to begin eating.

It was delicious, of course. Just when I thought that there was something that I could do better than Edward, he turns out to be a fantastic cook. The idea brought my bad mood back and I allowed a scowl to creep onto my face again. Edward, who had joined me at the table and was intently watching me eat, noticed my expression and I saw a brief flash of irritation in his eyes.

"My cooking can't be that bad," he teased, pretending to be wounded. "The least you could do is pretend that it tastes alright."

I shook my head at him and finished my mouthful. "It's all perfect," I corrected him, "that's the problem."

A cheeky grin spread across his face as he realised why my surly attitude had returned – I'd often complained that he seemed to be good at everything. I chose to ignore him and continued eating, staring out the window into the thin cloud cover outside. As I watched the clouds roil gently in the sky, my annoyance with Edward evaporated and I felt a little bad for acting so childishly. The truth was, I was terrified of having to make a certain phone call.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Edward staring at my face with a calculating expression. I reached for my mug of coffee and took a long sip, then sighed as I placed it carefully in front of me again. I could see that he knew exactly what was behind my less than attractive behaviour and I tried to smile at him reassuringly.

"Bella," he murmured, putting his finger under my chin then running it slowly up my jaw. "You can't really be that worried about how Renée is going to react?"

He smiled at me encouragingly and I shrugged noncommittally, looking back out the window. "You don't know her like I do."

Edward grinned again and gently pulled me back around to face him. He pulled the fork out of my relaxed hand and piled it with egg and bacon before holding it up to my mouth. I knew he was trying to distract me and I smiled, reluctantly allowing him to feed me the rest of my breakfast. But, though he was usually so good at distractions, I was still worried when my plate and mug were empty and Edward got up to quickly wash them.

It was still such a horrific idea to me – I was Edward's fiancé. It wasn't the fact that it meant we would soon be joined to each other forever that bothered me – on the contrary, that was the only part I liked. But the concept of getting married so soon after graduating, so young, had always been absolutely repulsive to me. Maybe if Renée hadn't been the one to teach me to be so reluctant to get married, I wouldn't be so worried about what she was going to say when I told her that I was going to do exactly what she'd so fervently warned me against.

As I contemplated my dilemma, I realised that I'd been staring at the phone. Edward, finished with the dishes, was leaning against the counter next to it, with a strangely amused expression on his face. I reluctantly got up and moved to stand next to him.

The phone was already in his hand and I took it from him and put it to my ear, before dialling the familiar number. Edward was smiling at me supportively, twisting the end of my ponytail between his fingers, as I listened to the phone ringing. It rang longer than normal – I was just about to suggest to Edward that we should try later when, after the seventh ring, Renée finally answered.

"Hello?" she sounded breathless and I could tell from her tone that she was in one of her unpredictable moods. I almost hung up the phone, but Edward smiled at me again and my resolve hardened; it was now or never.

"Hey Mum, it's me Bella!" I said, as cheerfully as I could.

Renée's voice brightened instantly. "Oh hi, Bella honey! How's my grown up, graduated girl?"

"Yeah, I'm great," I answered, wondering how I was going to bring up the subject of Edward's and my engagement. Somehow, I didn't think that 'Hey Mum, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm getting married to Edward this summer' would go down too well.

"Oh that's good, sweetie. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it down to see you – but with Phil's leg in a full cast, he can't get around well enough to look after himself and I couldn't just leave him. I hope you weren't too upset!"

"No, no that's fine Mum. It wasn't really anything spectacular, I don't even remember most of it," I assured her quickly, remembering my relief at finding out that Renée wouldn't be able to make it to Forks for my graduation, which would have put her in danger.

"I knew you would understand, Bella," Renée sighed. "So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

My mum's sudden change of topic startled me a little. I suppose it wasn't really very realistic of me to think that Renée wouldn't realise that there was something I had to tell her, but I had hoped that it wasn't so obvious that there was. I sighed quietly – now was as good a time as any.

"Well," I started hesitantly, "there was something." I cleared my throat nervously and Edward slid his hand around my waist in an encouraging hug. "Mum, I've got a… great piece of news." I struggled to find an easy way to say it, and couldn't.

Renée surprised me again as she laughed, a little nervously. "I've got something to tell you too! But you go first, darling."

I hesitated again, still not sure how to say what I wanted to say, but I was curious about what Renée had to tell me. The silence grew a little too long, and I could almost see Renée shifting in her seat impatiently, waiting for me to spit it out. I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath.

"Mum, Edward asked me to marry him… and I said yes."

For a while, the only sound from Renée was a huff of air, which I assumed was a sigh. The silent seconds seemed to stretch for hours. Then, I heard her chuckle.

"Well, it's about time," she said cheerfully. The grin on her face was audible and I heard another snigger behind me. I looked up at Edward, who was shaking with suppressed laughter, with an arch look, barely registering Renée's voice as she continued.

"I was actually half expecting you to tell me you were getting married when you came up to visit me – it seemed so strange that you just suddenly decided to fly up here! And I know you laughed it off as a silly Mum thing, but I meant it when I said that there was something about you and Edward together… I just had a feeling that you'd be telling me you were engaged soon."

I blinked blankly a few times, trying to process what she was saying – this wasn't the response I'd been expecting at all. Edward continued to chuckle at my reaction and I realised that he must have known about Renée's suspicions. I ignored him.

"But… aren't you upset with me… or something?" I asked. I had been so sure that she was going to chew my ear off for hours before she'd accept what I was saying. Renée clicked her tongue.

"Well, I can't say that I completely approve Bella. You know that getting married straight after graduating didn't exactly work out with Charlie and I… and I'd hate for the same thing to happen to you, sweetheart. But at the same time, I've never seen anything like you and Edward." She paused and I could almost see the thoughtfully confused expression on her face. "Somehow I just know that you and Edward will be different, you need each other, and I'm not going to stop that."

"Thank you, Mum," I managed to say. Once again, Renée's uncanny perceptions had come amazingly close to the truth.

"So, have you decided on when the big day's going to be?"

I smiled, noting the badly suppressed excitement in Renée's voice. Whether she was objected to it or not, a wedding was obviously still a wedding and something worth getting excited over. I wondered how far her resigned acceptance could be stretched.

"We're not too sure just yet… but probably within the next month," I answered carefully. I didn't miss Renée's sharp intake of breath, but her reply was composed enough.

"Oh… really? Well, you just let me know when and where and Phil and I will be there honey," she assured me.

"Thank you mum… I wish you were here so I could hug you." I paused as she laughed and I remembered that she'd said that there was something she was going to say. "So, what was your big news?"

Renée coughed, a little nervously I thought, and I looked up at Edward. He seemed just as mystified as I was.

"I… Now Bella please keep an open mind. This is really important to Phil and I, and I hope it will be for you too." She paused and took a deep breath. "Bella – I'm going to have a baby."