1. ENGAGEMENT

May 20, 2005

There was only one place in the entire world that would always belong to us and no one else—a magic place, full of light and beauty. It had been illuminated by sunshine and the glow of her skin the first time I had seen it.

The meadow was a peaceful, quiet place today. Patches of summer daises interrupted the grass with splashes of white and yellow. I lay back with Edythe, feeling the slight dampness of the ground, and stared up at the clouds above us. She grabbed my hand after a moment, pointing to something she was seeing abstractly in the formations above. I saw no pictures though, just a soft, gray blanket. She always had this intuition about her—seeing things in a way that no one else could.

Looking back now, I wished I could have seen Edythe that first time with these eyes… She was so incandescently beautiful, she the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. But with time, I came to realize that her beauty was the least interesting thing about her.

She mumbled something inaudibly to herself. This was something she did often, and I never knew what provoked it. I wished I could see into her head, the way she could with everyone else.

"And yet, to say the truth…" She paused, watching the sunlight shimmer from our outstretched hands, "reason and love keep little company together nowadays."

I turned to take in her angelic face in full.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" she asked.

I smiled. "I was just thinking… It's almost your birthday."

"It's a month away, Beau. Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Hey, you only get to be a hundred and four once, old woman."

She laughed. "We're the same age. I'm seventeen forever, and so are you."

I sighed. "I don't think that counts. You're technically like, what… eighty-six years older I am?"

She shrugged. "Did you know Earnest is three years older than Carine, physically?"

I shook my head.

"Yet she'd been around two centuries before Earnest even existed. It makes no difference to them."

"My age isn't really that important, Edythe. I just worry sometimes that you feel guilty that I wasn't able to like, get older than seventeen. But I chose my life. It's the same choice I would have made, had I been a little older. You didn't take anything away from me. You gave me everything."

Edythe was suddenly grabbing me around my waist, and she pulled herself up onto my torso. She was quiet for a moment. I stared at her hair, the sun shining through the deep bronze, almost red against the brightness.

"But if you insist on celebrating the occasion…" she pondered. "How about I take you up on your promise?"

I stared, trying to think of what she was referring to. I raised an eyebrow.

"Marry me, Beau."

"Oh…"

Her eyes shifted down slightly. "Unless you don't want to, I suppose. But you did promise."

"It's not that… It's just I already sort of thought we were already as official as it could be. We don't need any fanfare. Besides… so soon? I mean, I'm only s—"

She interrupted me. "It doesn't have to be some grand production. We won't need any guests or anything like that. We could go to Vegas. I just want it to be official—that you belong to me and no one else."

"Ha!" I couldn't help laughing. "There is no one else."

The description didn't sound that bad, though. Archie would be disappointed, though. He'd get a kick out of a good celebration.

I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Edythe Cullen?" I looked over at her, staring intently into the liquid topaz of her eyes. "I promise to love you every second of forever. Will you do me the extraordinary honor of marrying me?"

I said it in more of a teasing way. I didn't mean for it to come across as disgustingly gooey or more romantic than I was capable of. But she almost looked like she was about to cry.

"I thought you'd never ask!" she teased, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Thank you."

I guess it shouldn't bother me that much—getting married at such a young age. But I suppose it was better now than ever. A road trip to Vegas… It couldn't take long. I could handle that.

"So when do you want to do this thing?"

"This summer," she answered.

And then a tiny cell phone in Edythe's back pocket started to buzz.

"Yes?" she answered.

I heard Archie babbling on the other end. And from the sound of it, he wasn't too happy about this.

"I think…" she made a face as she spoke, "that you're going to want to speak to your brother about this issue," she said, handing me the phone.

I held it gingerly to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Beau?" Archie asked in his most dejected, sad voice.

"What's wrong, Archie?" I asked, but I already knew what was coming.

"You hate me, don't you?" He sounded so miserable it was almost funny.

"Archie, what are you talking about? Of course I don't—"

"Then why do I see you sneaking off to Vegas to get married without involving me?"

"Ugh…" I sighed. I never would have thought we could really hurt his feelings like that. I hurried to defend ourselves. "I just didn't want it to be a big deal. It was Edythe's idea anyway. You're welcome to come if you want."

There was a short pause.

"Beau, you said you don't hate me."

"Seriously, I don't! You can totally come with us. I won't mind."

Another pause

"Actually, I was wondering how much do you not hate me?"

There were so many hidden meanings in the way he phrased this question. "Archie, what is it? Just spit it out. It's okay."

"Please, please, please!" he begged. "Please, Beau, please, if you really are my best friend… Let me plan your wedding!"

"Archieeeee," I groaned. "Don't do this to me."

"If you really are my best friend, Beau…"

"This isn't fair," I accused. "And it's not just my wedding. It's hers, too."

"I'll bet Edythe would like it better anyhow! And Carine and Earnest… what it would mean to them!"

I couldn't answer.

"I'll owe you for a decade," he added.

"More like a century," I muttered.

"Is that a yes?!"

"Not really."

"Beau, you won't have to do anything but stand at the altar and then repeat the words. Please, please, pleeeeease?"

I could practically see him bouncing up and down in place.

I glared at Edythe and sighed. "I'm never going to forgive you for this, Archie."

"Yeah, alright!" he yelled. "You two get back here this instant! We have to start planning this thing."

"What? Now? Archie, it's months away."

The line went dead. I squinted at Edythe. "The things you get me into."

"We better hurry," she teased. "You don't want to keep that kid waiting."

Archie was on the porch steps when we got back, too hyper to wait for us inside the house. He looked like he was about to break into a celebration dance.

"Thank you so much, Beau!" he cried out as we approached.

"Hold it!" I said, putting a hand up to halt his glee. "I have some limitations for this thing…"

"Yeah, yeah, I already know… I only have until the end of summer at the latest, you have veto power on anything I decide, and if I go overboard, you'll never speak to me again."

I laughed. "Wow. You're good. I guess you know the rules then."

"Don't worry about it, Beau. It's going to be amazing. The best party of the year. I've already picked out Edythe's dress!"

Something told me Archie had already been planning this long before I had even thought of it.

"Just out of curiosity… When exactly did you buy all our stuff?" I asked.

His face went totally defensive. "These things take time, Beau. If I hadn't thought ahead, you two would be wearing something off the rack! Carolina Herrera has a waiting list, you know."

"Carol—who? Wait… never mind. Don't answer that. I don't even want to know. But do I get to see this dress?"

"Of course not, Beau!" he groaned. "You know the rules. You can't see it until the day of."

I looked at Edythe. "You knew about this all along, didn't you?"

"I just had to make sure you'd be happy with it," she shrugged.

Archie started pacing then. "So much to do… So little time… Alright, you two go play now. I have to get to work!"

He dashed back into the house.

We still had much to discuss, so we made our way back to our escape. The other matter at hand was our family's quiet escape from Forks. Since graduation was over, Carine was planning her family's disappearance. And I can't say it wasn't necessary. Carine barely looked a day over twenty-seven, and she was trying to pass as thirty-five now. I bet no one bought that.

"So you're really willing to let this place go?" I asked.

"I really don't think of it as letting go. We'll come back in fifty years or so, with new names and a new story. It's one of our favorite spots."

When I didn't comment immediately, Edythe continued. "I say that we should go straight to New Hampshire right away and get things set up. I already sent our applications to Dartmouth, and I doubt you will need all that much longer to be able to handle school." She turned to give me a teasing smile. "You'll likely ace your classes, you know. There's nothing interesting to do all night besides study."

I laughed. "Oh? Well, I can think of one thing that's just slightly more interesting."

Edythe giggled. "Do tell me… Perhaps things such as driving off into the night to LA on some whim with Archie?"

I paused. "You knew about that?"

"You really have an overconfidence in my brother's abilities to keep his thoughts concealed."

"Oops…" I said. "Well, hey, like you always say. Sometimes you have to indulge."

A few weeks earlier, I'd been sitting in the main room when the sound of an unfamiliar engine came up the drive. I'd raced outside to see who it was, and a bright yellow Porsche screamed to a stop a few feet in front of me in the driveway. The word 'turbo' was scrawled in silver cursive across its back, and Archie was sitting contently in the driver's seat.

"Well are you going to get in or what?" Archie had called out.

Before he'd even told me what we were doing, we were already blazing back down the driveway. It turned out Archie had won some bet with Edythe, and she'd bought him this car. It was a Porsche 911 Turbo, capable of zero to sixty in less than four seconds, and topped out at 205. Of course, this had all been according to Archie. Immortality hadn't changed my woeful incompetence when it came to motor vehicles.

"Let's see if we can get this baby to LA and back before midnight!" he'd shouted over the roar of the engine.

And it did. With time to spare. Twelve-hundred miles, there and back again, in half a day. Of course, the speed was nothing compared to going on foot. But where was the fun in that?

I laughed at the memory. "Hey, I'd never seen LA before."

Edythe sighed. "Well, at least he has you to drag along with him everywhere, rather than me."

Then I wondered. "Just what was this grand bet, exactly?"

Edythe looked smug. "That I could convince you to go to college."

"That's not much of a challenge," I shrugged. "All you had to do was say that you were going. But be serious… Dartmouth? Really? What's wrong with Peninsula Community College?"

"I am serious," she said, folding her hands behind her head. "They have a full complement of night courses, and the forests are very conveniently located. Plentiful wildlife." She flashed that wicked smile she knew I couldn't resist.

I took a deep breath. "Edythe, I couldn't even if I wanted to. Ivy league tuition isn't a burden my college fund is ready to carry. And I'm not letting you pay that for me."

"I'll let you pay me back if that's what you want," she promised. "I'll even charge interest."

I scowled. I'd insisted on Peninsula or the University of Alaska if we had to go to school. I liked the idea of staying nearby. The cold wouldn't bother me now, and Carine's friends were in Alaska. But Edythe wouldn't budge on Dartmouth; it was one of her favorites. She hadn't been there for a long time. Besides that, she had just come from Alaska before the family had moved to Forks.

And sealed my fate for the rest of forever.

"Okay," I conceded. "Just how much money are we talking here?"

She bit her lip. "Just under fifty grand per year… for the undergraduate studies. The professional schools of medicine and business will be a little steeper."

Holy shit.

And still, I knew that Carine would send all six of us there without so much as a second thought.

It made me wonder just how well off Carine could possibly be… hundreds of years of the medical profession… plus a psychic managing all her stocks and investments.

"August thirteenth," Edythe murmured.

"What?"

"The wedding. Archie set the date. And he's already writing up the invitations… Little heathen."

Later than I thought. I was surprised.

"Why August thirteenth?" I asked.

"He wants as much preparation time as possible." She eyed me cautiously. "But it leaves enough time before most colleges start session."

Freaking Archie.

"You have to hand it to him. He's really committed to doing so much for you," she said.

The excitement of a new younger brother he never thought he'd have.

We were quiet for a moment. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the person I was in love with was a vampire. Not because she was ordinary. Not at all. But because when I held her in my arms, it was like holding an angel.

And when I should have been her prey, she made it seem like nothing at all to have her lips on my lips, my face, or even my throat. In the end, the fear of losing me cured her of any desire for my blood.

If that wasn't love, I don't know what is.

Our gazes were locked on each other. Her gold was so deep that I imagined her irises as the actual doors into heaven—the golden gateways. It was impossible for her to be considered something so abhorrent… a creature revered as a sadistic, murdering demon.

But I knew otherwise. Edythe Cullen had the most beautiful soul, human or non-human, even more beautiful than her glorious face or body.

She looked right back at me in the same way, like she was peering straight into the core of my soul. And I could tell she liked whatever she saw.