Well this is different. I had awoken to silence for the first time since I had come to live in Forks. It seemed I had grown accustomed to the rain, and now it was silence that roused me from sleep. I groaned as the events from last night took their toll on me. Edward was at my side in an instant.

"Good morning my love." His lips brushed across my ear lobe at his teasing words. I could tell that he was smiling. In spite of myself I smiled too.

"Your control is better than you thought; last night was perfect. You seemed human enough to me…" I raised one eyebrow as my meaning struck a chord.

"What I seemed is entirely different than what I was; which was in control of my emotions." Edward raised his own eyebrow as he laid gently back on the bed next to me. "Although, I must admit there were a couple times when I, well, slipped a little." He paused and suddenly frowned. "You have a terribly dangerous aptitude for bringing my human emotions out against my will, Bella."

"Is that such a bad thing? After all, we soon won't have to worry about staying in control," I reminded him when he continued to frown.

"I suppose you're right." Edward's expression lifted suddenly. "So, my wife, what do you want to do today?"

His emphasis on the word wife triggered my sudden realization. Edward was my husband, and after yesterday, that word no longer scared me; I was elated to give him that title.

"I don't know…surprise me," I whispered playfully.

From the expression on his face, I knew my husband already had the perfect thing in mind…

I relished the feel of the wind, sharp and crisp, against my face. Edward was running, with me seated comfortably on his back. I watched the scenery fly past in a blur, trying to gouge our destination. I failed miserably.

Edward still refused to tell me where we were; he wouldn't even tell me what continent we happened to be on, but it didn't matter. I could be living in a dirty tent in the middle of a dessert and not care as long as he was there too.

"Can I at least have a hint?"

Edward grinned over his shoulder at me and wordlessly reached his arm out to what looked like hedges that surrounded us. I heard a faint snap as something was ripped away from one. He handed his prize back to me.

"Does this answer your question?"



I held in my hand a small bunch of perfect, red grapes. At first, I simply stared at the fruit in confusion, then it hit me. I realized the green shapes flying past us weren't hedges, they were grape vines…grape vines in a vineyard.

We had been running for a fair length of time, and the green walls on either side had not ceased. So I gouged that a vineyard of this size would have to be somewhere in the famous wine country of…Italy.

I gasped as I figured it out. Italy. Why were we in Italy of all places? The Volturi were already keeping tabs on us and Edward had decided to take a week-and-a-half honeymoon right on their doorstep.

"Is something wrong?" Edward asked. He was turned to face me, but he never missed a step. The concern was evident in his eyes.

"Yes, something is very wrong…we're in the middle of Italy!" I tried to keep my voice from sounding angry; instead it made me sound as if I was in hysterics.

"And this is bad because….?"

"The Volutri! Have you forgotten them already? I'm not a vampire yet, and that means they're still checking up on me…"

Edward gave a lighthearted laugh as he turned away from me. He seemed too unconcerned in this situation for my nerves to go back to normal.

"Bella, dear, do you really believe that I would take you somewhere that I did not think was safe?"

"Well, no but I – "

"—And do you really think that I would let them harm you even if they knew we were here?"

"Nooo, but you couldn't—" He pressed a finger to my lips; immediately silencing me. I realized we had stopped, and his next words calmed me.

"Bella, you are safe with me," he whispered, "and that is all that matters."

He bent forward slowly, and the finger that had been on my lips was now replaced with his icy kiss. In that kiss I forgot what I had been afraid of before, but the feeling was over all too quickly when we parted, and I saw what was ahead of us.

A small cliff of tightly-packed boulders and loosely-packed pebbles loomed before us. The entire thing spelled disaster, and disaster tended to have my name on it.

"Don't tell me," I began, "we're going to climb that, aren't we…"



Edward chuckled, and smiled my favorite crooked smile.

"Well, I am going to climb it, and you are going to stay right where you are."

I relaxed as he said this. No accidents would befall me today, no vampires were going to kill me at the moment, and we were alone, together. But on the contrary, neither of us were taking any chances.