Bella's POV

As more letters were sent between E and me, I felt like I began to know him better. Although I tried my hardest, I could not fully remove the feeling of wariness I held towards him and this made me feel guilty. It seemed as though he was truly revealing himself to me, telling me of his past, and the future hopes and plans he had which he believed were now extinguished because of his sentence. I felt sympathy for him as well; although he mentioned his family a lot and how they came to visit whenever they could, there was scarcely any mention of a friend. Surely not all of them would have deserted him, abandoned him to his fate? What could he have done that warranted such harsh rejection- what kind of man was he? I tried not to think about his past too much, for fear of it staining the positive image I have of him now.

Dear B,

I know this letter will come as a shock to you and I understand if you are unwilling or unable to do so but I would very much like it if you came here the next visiting day so we can meet face to face- something I have wanted to do for a long time.

I am well aware this is not an easy request to make, but I truly feel I have gotten closer to you over these last few months and meeting in person means we can talk about things and ask each other questions without the potential for our words to be censored. Many of your letters to me have been heavily edited and I am certain the same is true of my letters to you; in fact, I would be really surprised if you got to read this paragraph.

I said it before but I'm going to say it again because I know it's important. I want you to know that I have wanted to do this since we first started sending letters. I have stopped myself each time though, countless numbers of scribbled out sheets littered my cell floor as I doubt you would have felt comfortable visiting with my family present. The next visiting day presents a unique opportunity though; my family are taking a much needed vacation- one they only agreed to after heavy encouragement from me.

I know this is a major step for us, but I am hoping you will take the leap with me. Judging from the dates on your letters and the dates I actually receive them, by the time you hold this in your hand, the visiting day will only be 2 weeks away, on the 18th, and so you will not have enough time to write back. I shall have to wait until the day itself to know whether I am going to be alone or not.

Waiting with a hopeful heart,

E

As soon as I received the letter, my heart leapt at the idea of meeting the mysterious E face to face and the thought of not going never crossed my mind. The only things I worried about were the practicalities. How would I know where he was? Would I be able to get there? Could I cover it up or was I going to have to tell Jacob? I knew that I would have to tell him one day, but I joined the program on impulse, not planning on it becoming the long term venture that it now was. Unsure of how to proceed, I called Rose, happy by her upbeat and fairly teasing tone.

"Hey Bella, what's up?"

"It's about the prison letter program"

"Oh yeah! I had been meaning to ask you about that, but work has just been so hectic you know?"

"No worries Rose, I understand"

"So how's it going? You like writing to the psycho?"

"Ha, ha. No, I love it Rose, I really, truly do. The man I have been matched with seems a genuinely good person and I enjoy writing to him."

"Well great then! So how come you're calling, what's happened?"

"He's asked me to come to the visitor's day in a fortnight. I want to go, but there are so many problems, I don't know if it will realistically be able to happen"

"Hmm yeah I get what you mean. You don't know what prison he's in or anything and God forbid you tell that animal of a husband that you're writing to a criminal."

I couldn't help by laugh, even though there was no sign of a joke behind her insult.

"Exactly! What do I do Rose?"

"Silly Bella, you just aren't thinking clearly. First, you ring the program and after you explain, I'm sure they will tell you where he is- isn't this the whole point of the thing in the first place, to give a prisoner a friend? Now to Jacob. I wouldn't tell him, you know more than anyone what he's like. Tell him you're going on a weekend getaway with me. It won't technically be a lie because I'll be coming with you anyway; he doesn't need a specific itinerary of what we're doing so he won't find out."

It was at times like these, I knew I was lucky to have Rose. She was so much more practical than me, far less likely to act on impulse. Her plan was so simple and yet so brilliantly perfect. Now I knew exactly what I was doing, I began looking forward to the visit even more.

"Rose you're a genius! I'll call you as and when I know where we're going, okay?"

"Sure bell, love ya. Good luck!"

As soon as I heard the dial tone, I called the service and explained my situation. At first reluctant to release details for 'my safety', they soon softened after much begging on my part- and a $500 donation to 'help with operating costs'. Once I had rattled off my rarely used credit card number, I was told pretty much instantly that Edward Cullen was currently in a small prison on the outskirts of Seattle. I thanked them in the nicest tone I could after the bribery and called Rose back to we could plan our upcoming visit to Washington.