Hi guys
Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooo much for you replies to my last chapter. I actually started crying, no kidding. Thanks to every single person that reviewed, favourited, etc. I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Special thanks to wandamarie, L Christine and danceswithhorses fore reviewing every single cahpter for this story. You guys have made me soooooooo happy.
In return I've written an extra long chappy, over 2000 words. I don't own twilight, read on...
Bella's P.O.V
Esme's expression was heartbreaking.
"Oh, I guess we could do something else then," she sighed. "No, I want to do this," I blurted out, stunning them both. "Bella, love, I don't think that's such a good idea." Edward warned. "It's ok, dear, we'll just make something else." Esme added, giving me a smile, though it didn't reach her eyes.
"No, I want to do this." I repeated stubbornly. Edward opened his mouth to protest "Edward, please. Just let me try. If I feel like I can't do this, I promise I'll stop. Please Edward." I begged, wide-eyed and desperate. I really wished I could take back that prank now.
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Promise me, if you even blink too fast, you'll stop straight away." He said. "Anything, I promise." I replied back, "Ok," he sighed uneasily. I grinned hugely, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Edward." I whispered, he kissed my forehead in reply.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Don't just say yes for me." Esme warned. "No no, I really do want to do this. I think it will be good for me, facing this. I mean, what good's a vampire that's afraid of blood?" They both chuckled at that.
"Ok then," Esme smiled, back to her usual self "Before we get started, Edward out, it's my turn with Bella." Edward pretend pouted, then chuckled and gave me a quick kiss good luck before leaving. I turned to Esme, "ok now, I thought to make this a little more interesting, I thought that we could make this into to a competition. Each of us will pick a recipe, key ingredient being blood, and cook it. Whoever pleases the most people with their recipe wins."
Wow, last time I ever turn to Esme for something relaxing.
Yeesh.
"Ok, this should be very interesting." I said, which was quite an understatement. Putting aside my faint-at-the-sight-of-blood issue, this was going to be a very even match. I probably had more experience with cooking than Esme did, but she had more experience with blood.
"Ok Bella, have you decided what you're going to cook?" Hmmm… well, I guess if I cooked an originally red dessert, I wouldn't notice the blood so much. The reddest dessert I knew how to make was "berry cheesecake." Esme smiled "And I'll make red velvet cake. So, now that we've decided what we want to cook, here is your blood. Don't worry, it's not human. It's Mountain Lion, very close in taste. Sweet and silky." The blood was in a glass vile, about 250 ml. "Now, any ingredients you need is in that pantry over there or in the fridge. This won't be a quick, race type of activity, the only competition is getting the votes. So this will be a pretty calm activity.
"Ok, sounds good. One question, though. What if I need someone to taste something for me. I draw the line at blood tasting. She thought about "Yes, you're right, Edward might kill us both if you do that. I guess you can call him over to taste for you." I nodded to tell her I understood and walked over to the pantry to get what I needed. First, for the pastry, I pulled out plain biscuits and butter. I threw both of the ingredients in the mixer and allowed them to combine. "So, was cooking a hobby of yours as a human?" I asked casually as I waited for the pastry. "No, I was far too much of a free spirit too enjoy this kind of thing. I just loved to explore, find new things. I barely ever spent time indoors. My mischievous, playful nature got me in trouble quite a lot." This was news to me. I just couldn't picture Esme as the explorer type.
"My parents loved me greatly, I was their only child, but they wished that I would learn to be a bit more… lady-like. They didn't want my behavior to affect our social status. I went to every ball, every party, and had 10 different tutors for every facet of life. My parents gave me more love than I could ever ask for, and I had a very happy childhood. But I wanted more out of life, a journey, an adventure." I was pressing the mixture into the tins now. Esme's story was very captivating, so I probably wasn't going as fast as I should have.
"One day, I got bored. So I took my horse and went out riding. The family orchard was very big, all the trees you could imagine existed in it. Orange trees, apple trees, bananas, but there was one tree in particular I loved very dearly. A willow tree, the largest tree we had. It was probably bigger than this entire house. I decided, in a moment of stupidity, that I wanted to climb it."
My eyes widened, and I almost dropped the two tins in my hand- one hadn't been enough for the pastry. As I placed them in the fridge, she continued "Of course, after about ten metres or so, I fell and broke my leg. That was the first time I met Carlisle," she smiled, lost in thought. Hmmm… so she had met Carlisle once before she jumped off that cliff. I processed this information as I mixed together the sugar, cream cheese, eggs and a hint of vanilla to make my cheesecake filling.
"I enjoyed talking with him as he fixed my leg. Never before had I had a conversation I actually wanted to be a part in. His last words to me were 'try and be careful next time. I wouldn't want such a beautiful lady to be needing too many visits to such a place.' When he left the week after, I never forgot him, and decided to listen to him and be a little more careful on my expeditions.
Years after that, to please my parents, I got married to a man named Charles Evenson. Little did I know, his exterior hid many vile secrets, such as the fact that he was violently abusive. My parents begged me to keep silent about the abuse, so I suffered alone." Tears filled my eyes. Esme, sweet, beautiful caring Esme, had been abused by the man that was supposed to love her unconditionally? How could her parents allow that to happen to their only child? The thought made my hands shake with anger as I poured the filling into the tins and set them in the fridge "When I got pregnant, I knew that not even my family could convince me stay and allow to my child to grow up in such and environment, so I ran away. I got a job as a teacher, I had always wanted to teach, and my son was brought into the world in 1921, only to die of lung disease a few days later." Esme took a few moments to compose herself. "I was devastated, the last person close to me in the world was gone. My son, what type of person was I if I couldn't protect my own child? These thoughts drove me to the point of insanity, and I jumped of the cliff. My suicide plan would've worked, I was on the verge of death, had it not been for Carlisle. He remembered me, the girl he had saved ten years ago, and he simply could not let me die. So he changed me, made me what I am. I haven't looked back since. As bad as the abuse was, as bad as losing my child was, I can't bring myself to regret it. Because if there was the slightest of change, I wouldn't have met Carlisle. So I am blissfully happy, despite everything." She smiled, wiping my tears and giving me a motherly embrace.
I could certainly see where she was coming from, I wouldn't give up Edward for the world. And nothing that could possibly happen would make me regret my decision. "I know, and I'm very thankful for that, for you," she replied, making me realize I had spoken out loud. I squeezed her tighter for a moment, before we both pulled away and got on with our cooking.
"Edward!" I called as finished off the blue berry sauce, which was now dark red with the blood. He was by my side in a second "yes, love?" he replied, pecking me on the lips. I brought a spoon of the now cooled sauce to his lips, "taste it and tell me what you think," I ordered. He wrapped his lips around the spoon, and I bit my lip to keep from whimpering at the strangely seductive movement. He smiled at me, whether because of the taste or my expression I didn't know. "It's delicious Bella, you'll win for sure." I smiled happily at him.
I got Edward to pull the tins out of the fridge, then I pulled the cheesecakes out of the tins and set them on the table. To fish them off, I drizzled the sauce onto the cakes.
"Done," I said proudly "So am I," Esme replied, "I'll call the others over" Edward disappeared, returning moments later with the rest of the clan. Emmett quickly pulled out plates and forks for everyone, eager to get to the tasting. Esme and I quickly began cutting up our creations, so each person got a slice of her cake, which was now covered in white icing, and a slice of my cheesecake. Everyone, minus me, enjoyed there desserts for a few moments, thinking. Edward pulled me onto his lap, so I buried my face in his neck and breathed him in, sighing contently. A few minutes later, they all huddled together, with the exception of Esme and I, and began talked quickly and very quietly amongst themselves.
Esme and I smiled, giving eachother one final embrace before they came back "thank you for this activity, it was amazing." I whispered, she squeezed my hand and smiled back. Emmett cleared his throat and spoke. Well, we all tasted both the cake and the pie, the decided which was the best. So… the winner is…"
…
…
…
"EMMETT!" we all yelled in exasperation. "Okay, just trying to add drama, jeez, tough crowd. The winner is with 6 votes… BELLY!" he cheered, picking me up and spinning me in the air. Everyone cheered, and Edward gave me a passionate kiss. As soon as my heart started back up, I searched for Esme to thank her again, but she was busy talking to Carlisle. I suddenly figured out who had given her the vote and smiled. "Esme's cake was delicious, but your cheesecake, my god. Thank god you're going to be my wife, that's all I'm going to say right now." He smirked, kissing me again. I grinned.
The rest of the evening was perfect, we all enjoyed our desserts –Edward had bought me my own mini cheesecake- and watched as Rose and I's wax creations glowed and melted into a liquid ranbow. Edward had a good laugh at what I had written before it melted.
So the lion fell in love with the lamb
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