"What is your condition?" I asked. I was praying 1918 Edward wouldn't come out to play; matrimony was to remain off the table.
"Time," Edward asked.
"It's about six," I answered.
Why would you need the time?
Edward gave me criminal smile.
"Not what time is it. My condition is time," he clarified.
I furrowed my brow and searched my baffled mind for something he could be talking about.
"I know you've asked Alice to change you, and we've had several discussions about the topic. No more arguments, no more petitioning, and no more negotiating about you becoming a vampire."
He's going to change me.
"I want you to stay human. Give me time with you as a human. Grow and change as you were born to do."
Pain shot through me at this. He was going to let me grow old and die, while he stayed seventeen.
"No," I pleaded. Tears welled up and threatened to spill. "No, that won't work; I want to become a vampire," I demanded.
"I'm not saying no to you becoming like me; I am saying that I want time. Ten years for you to stay human, have a life. Have your roaring twenties. Ten years is my best and smallest time offer. I'll wait for you after that."
Thirty. He wanted me to be thirty before he would change me.
"I said that won't work," I howled.
"It has to, because I won't do this any other way."
"What do you mean, you won't do this any other way?"
I was thinking he was going to run away, again. I couldn't allow that. I convinced myself he was threatening to leave.
"You're too young to make life changing decisions. Stay human for a decade and live life. If you still want to become a monster after a decade, then you and I will discuss it. I will not speak of it a day before September 13th, 2017."
His tone was final.
"And if I don't agree to this condition?"
"You don't have a choice."
"Alice-" I began.
"I won't let her, or anyone else. This is not negotiable," he vowed.
"I won't go along with this."
"I'm selfish, Bella, but I'm not selfish enough to take your life. I want you with me until the end of time, but not at the price that you are so willing to pay; not until you can really make the decision."
At that moment, I hated Edward Cullen. He wasn't giving me a choice; he was making the choice for me.
"I'm not a child, Edward; you can't make decisions for me. You can't do this. I won't go along with this," I complained.
"I didn't say you were a child, but you are too young to make this kind of decision. I'm not making the decision for you; I'm taking the decision away from you."
I knew how Edward worked. Once his mind was made up, everyone grasped at straws to change it without any luck.
"What if I say no?"
"It won't change anything. You can't do anything to change the outcome."
I ran into my room and slammed the door, sobbing and screaming at it. I cried for hours before someone knocked.
"Go away."
"Bella, it's me. Can I come in?" Rosalie called.
She enveloped me in her steel arms while I sobbed. "It's not right, he can't do this," I cried.
"You might feel like that, but I agree with Edward."
I tried to pull away from her, but she tightened her grip.
"Let me finish," she demanded.
"Okay."
"He wants everything for you that he can't have. We dream about having children, having a career, and living a fulfilled life. We go through the motions, but we don't live life. Carlisle is the closest to having a life that any of us will ever be able to. He looks old enough to have a believable career, without being a prodigy or freak, but people still talk. They think he is too young. All seven of us envy the fact that you have a chance. Edward is giving you that chance."
I understood what Rosalie was telling me; Edward wanted me to go all the way with everything in life. All the way to me was something different than thirty.
"Would you let Edward tell you what to do?"
A look of hesitation faintly crossed her pefect features. "Yes."
"No, you wouldn't. You would fight him."
Her eyes grabbed my attention, and she wouldn't let me break away from her intent look. "He is not taking something away; he is giving you what you need. I will go through medical school, and I might even finish a year of internship; I'll never become a doctor. You will be able to. I'll never have children, and you might think you don't want any right now, but you might change your mind in a few years. Edward is giving you that. He is giving you more than you think he is taking away."
"He is still going to be seventeen," I declared.
"He can easily pass for twenty-five. In a hundred years, your ages will not matter. And before you say it, he won't hurt you again. We won't let him."
"He is hurting me now."
"No, he's not; he is simply demanding that you have a choice. He is in a lot more pain than he is letting you know. Think about it, Bella."
As she left the room, she informed me Esme was making me dinner and I would be eating in twenty minutes. "Don't make me drag you out and force feed you."
Fifteen minutes later, I was showered and sitting at the dinning table, devouring a plate of eggplant parmesan. I could see Edward in the den talking to Carlisle, Esme, and Alice. Jasper and Emmett were playing a video game in the game room, and Rosalie was sitting with me. After I finished, we joined Emmett and Jasper. Jasper handed me his controller.
After playing for a few minutes, I started feeling my eyelids get heavy.
"Bella, go to bed before you fall in the floor," Alice demanded.
I went back to my room and got under the covers, but it was too hot on the island. I started to call Emmett, but once again, my mind had its own agenda.
"Edward?"
He was laying with me in an instant. I was asleep and dreaming within seconds.
The next morning, I woke swaddled in Edwards' arms. Anyone else would have had cramps from holding me all night, but not my vampire.
"Good morning, love."
"Morning. What time is it?"
"Just after eleven am. You slept for nine hours. You were exhausted, but had much more pleasant dreams. You did have one about you being elderly and wrinkled."
And you being eternally young...
"You need to know my feelings for you will never change. I will…"
"Wait, can we do this later?" I interrupted Edward. I couldn't handle Edward before toothpaste and food. I did my morning routine, ate breakfast, and then joined everyone outside.
"Who do I need to thank for the mountain of French toast?"
"You're welcome, dear," Esme acknowledged.
I was getting Alice's approval on my bathing suit when Edward walked out in his trunks. The word perfection was an injustice to him. Everything was lean and defined. Every woman's desire was walking towards me. Edward smirked, and Emmett guffawed at my noticeable staring.
"How come you never ogle me?" Emmett always had something to say.
"Emmett, stop talking. I'm not staring."
"You couldn't BS an ant about killing 35,000 of his closest relatives holding a can of Raid," he smirked.
I knew Emmett wouldn't let up; he was just getting started. I wanted to be getting out of Dodge.
"I'm going for a swim."
"Rosalie, Esme, and I will join you," Alice chirped.
We all got floats and steamed in the water like lobsters. Only I got the redness. I often heard Alice and Rosalie chuckle and Esme groan amid their trivial conversations; I paid little attention to them. I was in my head for the most part.
A thunderous strike jolted me, and I looked up to see Emmett and Edward wrestling on the beach. Jasper and Carlisle were on the sidelines, amused. The girls were giggling energetically.
"Why are they fighting?"
Esme answered cautiously. "Emmett was humming a buzzing sound."
"Why would they be fighting about a buzzing sound?"
Rosalie choked the answer as my cherry skin grew intolerably redder. "He was imitating Jim, and Edward became defensive."
I groaned at my degradation.
The rest of the week flew by. Everyone played around the island and for the most part, had an excellent time. Alice pleaded with me for days to allow her throw to give a Christmas party for my family.
"Please, Bella, I won't go overboard. I've never been able to do the entire event with us. You know as well as I do that Charlie wants to see me. You talk about Sue and Seth like they are already family; Esme wants to meet them."
I finally surrendered two days before we flew back to Hanover. Phone calls were made and email sent; Charlie, Sue, Seth, Renee, and Phil would be arriving on December 23rd and departing the 27th.
Before leaving Rio, I bought several Christmas gifts on a cloudy day with Alice and Rosalie. I had purchased the majority of my gifts in Hanover; however, a couple of unforeseen presents had to be purchased.
I hadn't answered Edward's stipulation of 'time'. He tried to bring up if we were to have an intimate relationship, that he had been raised to be married.
"We tried your way; look where we are. Now we're going to try things my way," I admonished.
I could only say we had been friends. Despite how we held each other all night, there had been no stolen kiss or touch while on Isle Esme. We talked for hours, reacquainting ourselves; we didn't push and argue.
Edward looked into applying for school, and Alice informed him he was already enrolled and signed up for classes.
"Twenty-one hours for the spring semester and fifteen in the summer, and you will be right with Bella."
We landed in Hanover four days before everyone was to arrive. Alice scowled and whined while we demolished the closet for Edward. Her only high point was shopping for furnishings; he gave Alice and me free reign on his room.
"As long as you are happy, I am," he told me. It was nauseating how sappy he could be.
Carlisle and Esme established a home nearby, and Carlisle accepted a night position with a neighboring hospital.
Edward inquired, over and over again, about my tattoo, but I refused to tell him what the coordinates coincided with; all he knew were the coordinates themselves and the Italian phrase.
lo sono alla mia amata quanto l'amato mio è alla me.
The tattoo had been about Edward, and the coordinates were for him. Every time he asked, something within me said not to tell him. I'd nearly tattooed our meadow's coordinates, but changed my mind at the very last moment. He could have effortlessly found out what it was, but it was Edward. He respected my wishes. He respected my wishes on almost everything, except for that pesky condition.
I hadn't told him I loved him yet, though he told me at each opportunity. I looked at the pain and discomfort in his eyes each time he said it; I would look away or not respond. I didn't know how to react. I wanted everything, but I was frightened he would disappear.
Santa's elves regurgitated all through the house, of that Alice made certain. No fewer than five Christmas trees were decorated, every room was decked out; the outside had been attractively lit with millions of clear twinkling lights and a thousand miles of green garland. The wreath on the front door came up to my waist. Emmett's Jeep also had a wreath attached... until he slashed it and threatened Alice.
Edward's possessions and cars were shipped to Hanover; I never knew how many belongings he truly had. Twelve boxes, big enough that Emmett and Edward could comfortably fit into one, arrived at the door.
Everyone was set to arrive the next day. Esme explained vampires and single wolf were to be on the couches and humans on the beds, until said humans went to sleep. Esme and I bought enough food for several days.
I realized later, I had been ill-equipped for what happened over Christmas...
