A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Be warned… this is an all right and happy chapter. Probably one of the last you will have until the end of my tale. Though I could always add another fluffy one…

Disclaimer: In a world were everything is perfect I might have at least been Stephenie's sister… Sadly though the world is a cruel, cruel place. And us un-ingenious (except for in our own mind) people just have to live with that. Now ain't that a happy thought.

PART I: WITH YOUNG CENTURIES COME YOUNG LOVE

CHAPTER NINE:

HE LOVES ME NOT… HE LOVES ME!

Recently:

And he could, or could not, like me back.

ISABELLA'S POV

I sat there staring at the people below me that I was showering with tears. The word 'just' ran through my mind as I lay my head on the rail and looked out into the blue-gray winter sky.

I stayed like that, sad and depressed, for very little time before I felt a tapping on my shoulder.

"Excuse me miss but is there any particular reason you ran away from me a while ago." He said quietly bending down to sit on the bench beside me. He lay his hand on my back for a time before I could feel his face in the crook of my neck. "Now, Bella…" Edward asked me. "What ever has you so glum? Please tell me, darling. I can not stand to see you so sad."

He sounded as though he may mean it. So I turned my head around so I could see his face. He must have noticed the tear stains running down my cheeks for he ran the tips of his fingers down them and smiled gloomily at me.

"Bella, please tell me what had reduced you to tears." He spoke so kindly that when I thought over why I had been sad in the first place it all seemed a little silly.

"I-I do not think I can..." I said stunned by his eyes.

"Please," his whispered in a silken voice as I stared at his lips barely move. "Tell me."

"I was just upset over something. I am fine. It was just that you said that you were just betrothed to me and that you obviously had not proposed…" I sniffed slightly. "You made it sound as though it was impossible to love or to like me at all. So I thought you did not care while… while I did."

He still touched my face as he replied a moment or two later, "You think I do not care for you?" He said wondrously, like this was the impossibility.

"Why of course I did." I defended myself.

He shook his head slightly and behind him I could see the orange of a sun about to set for the night. "Never think that," he said. "For I care more for you then anything else in this world put together. I love you, Isabella."

He smiled and in that moment it seemed as though it was only we here. I squealed in glee and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my head into the crook of his shoulder. "I love you, too. So… so… much."

Then I head shouting and commotion. "It's official!" Someone screamed. "The war in Europe is including America!"

ABOUT A YEAR LATER (Bella's fourteen now and Edward is going to turn seventeen in a few months.)

So… so… much. I recalled the first ball I had ever been to were Edward had confessed he loved me for the first of many times. I had been crying and what else did he have to bring me out of my stupor than a declaration for me. Afterwards we had danced and a tear had not crossed my cheek for the rest of the evening.

I had loved that day so much. And now we were to attend another of Jessica's Birthday Bashes.

"Hello Jessica!" I proclaimed, waving as I met her at the entrance. In the past year I had become much better acquainted with Jessica and Mirabelle. Now we see each other roughly every other weekend and they both improved greatly on closer contact. I realized that Jessica was not rude just caught up in seeing Edward and his beauty for the first time. Mirabella… I had been so wrong about her. Her mother and Mrs. Masen had been longtime friends so Edward and her had been forced together as childhood playmates and had become the best of friends all the while she had been betrothed to a very handsome boy named George. Who turned out to be a friend of Edwards. In fact I had met him over the year several times. He was a bit taller than Edward, slightly better muscled, but with his plain blond hair and complexion Edward, now at sixteen, far outweighed him in beauty.

On occasion all four of us would go on an outing to a park or to talk at one of our homes. Both Mirabelle and I were very content with our fathers' choices for our futures.

"Good afternoon, Isabella!" Jessica greeted in my ear as she engulfed me in a hug. "Hello Edward." She said looking over my shoulder at Edward. Who I could now rightfully call… my boyfriend.

Jessica released me as Edward said smiling, "Hello Jessica. Thank you for inviting us again."

"How could I not invite my best friends?" She said and suddenly noticed my dress. "Oh… my… lord…" She fell to her knees and examined the skirt up close. Which made me feel praised and uncomfortable.

"Yes, Jessica?" I smiled, a bit smug though I know I should not be.

"It… It… It is beautiful… no gorgeous… no! I know… it is simply perfect in every way." She handled the gold-fabric with the gentlest of touches. Looking up to my face she inquired after "where on earth" I had gotten it?

"It" referred to the dress I was wearing. It was long, sleek, and elegant. It was only the most beautiful dress the young century had yet to see. With a long flowing skirt bordered in a bold black and a hat and parasol to match it was the dress queens dreamed about.

"Well…" I started. "When we, meaning Edward and I, got the invitation to your dance he immediately decided to find me the perfect dress to wear to it. So he did and gave it to me just this morning." I smiled up at Edward and continued. "I did not like the idea of him spending such money on me at first. Then I realized I had no other dresses to wear. Anyway I love it."

"Sounds lovely…" Jessica sighed wistfully. "If only Brandon would do a thing like that for me."

Brandon was, of course, Jessica's beau. She had known him for an entirety of three years but had not fallen in love until last summer when he asked her to take a stroll in the park with him. Now in January she was nearly inseparable from him. Even now as Jessica said when I enquired over it he was only in the next room over getting her a drink.

"Jessica?" I asked, pondering on where to set her present. "Where should I put this?" I held up an enormously large bag containing her present and I saw her eyes go wide.

"Isabella!" She cried. "There is no need to spend your money on such a foolish thing like a birthday present.

I laughed. "No… with that Jessica, dear, you are quite mistaken. I could think of nothing better to do with my savings then get you something I saw that was meant for you." I sighed exasperated, "Now where shall I put this."

She seemed to ponder this for a while. "I guess you could set it on the table if you must."

"Thank you, Jessica." I said laying it gently on the small table in the hall. "This really is a lovely party. Then I walked off to talk and dance the night away with Edward.

JESSICA'S POV

As I saw Isabella's (gorgeous in that dress) retreating figure Brandon came back.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and looked towards Isabella. "She is sure looking fancy tonight isn't she Jessica?" He said as he lightly kissed my forehead.

It wasn't his fault he didn't know that it only made the uncalled for jealousy worse while I was trying to contain it.

"Yes…" I said as I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Brandon?"

He looked at me puzzled at what I might need, "Yes?"

"I believe no one else is coming..." Isabella and Edward did have a way of arriving late… in the fashionable sense of course. "So I was wondering if you would lead me in the next dance."

He grinned as we headed to the room that all the guests were in. "Anything for the birthday girl."

A/N: So yeah… review. It makes me more motivated to update!