Friday night, we talked Jacob into babysitting Nessie for us not that that took much. Edward & I went to see a movie. We saw a new romantic comedy about a guy who meets this girl, he falls for her, and finds out she's an old friend's fiancé. It was cliché, but it had some funny moments. We went to the last showing and the theater was half empty. When we came out of the theater, the temperature must have dropped twenty degrees. The wind was blowing strong; I didn't remember hearing anything about a storm; I could smell the lightning from the distance. We headed for the grocery store far a quick run through. Edward called Alice, "what is the prediction from my favorite weather woman?" "No time for a ball game tonight, too bad. I'll call you once we get home." Edward leaned close to my ear and spoke too quick and too low for anyone around us to hear him, "We've got about forty five minutes to get home before this storm hits. Alice said there is going to be a lot of wind, there will be a lot of downed trees and the power will go out for a couple of hours. She didn't see anything more serious." We made our way through the store grabbing the things Jacob & I were not able to get this afternoon.
As we pulled in drive Jacob was out to help us unload the car. "This storm looks like it can be ugly. Nessie & I were watching the weather on the ten o'clock news." The wind was really picking up and thunder started vibrating across the sky. Edward told Jacob about what Alice had seen. Edward and Jacob put away the groceries while I bathed Nessie and got her ready for bed. We sat on the couch and I started to read to her when the lights flickered. Nessie was a little upset; she had not been through a storm this bad before. She climbed up in my arms, laid her head on my shoulder. I could feel her heart beating, vibrating through my body. I closed my eyes and laid my head back to relax. I ran my fingers through her soft hair, gently massaging her scalp until I felt her take a deep breath and she was asleep. Jacob & Edward were playing soccer on the Wii. I sat on the couch and watched the lightning blaze across the sky. The rain was streaking down the window pane. When the lightning flashed each little trail of water was illuminated. The lightning it self was even more amazing, it seemed a hundred times brighter than what I remembered. It streaked in layers of colors I had not seen before. It was like each particle of electric was a different shade of bright white and they overlapped and tangled with each other to make one large bolt. It was just after one o'clock. Nessie was sleeping peacefully in my arms. I was enveloped in the smell of her lavender baby bath and lotion. I laid Nessie down in her bed and tucked her in. Jacob was crashing in the spare bedroom for the night.
It was still raining hard when Edward turned out all the lights. I was standing in front of the picture window watching the storm when Edward came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me and kissed the side of my neck. We just stood there for what seemed like hours just watching the storm in all its glory. We never said a word, just enjoyed the moment. I laid my head back against his chest. The trees danced wildly against the night sky, the thunder their music. I heard what sounded like an empty plastic trash can bounce down the street. I could hear the cracking of all the trees bending in ways they don't normally. The power went out, the soft hum of the electrical appliances stopped abruptly. Edward held me tighter and whispered in my ear, "seeing a storm like this for the first time from our perspective is something else isn't it. You should go out after it calms down but before it is gone, the new smells will surprise you." We waited about half an hour and the fury of the storm had moved on.
Edward led me out the back door and the smells did hit me. I could smell the tree sap from the broken branches. I could smell the cleanness of the rain. There was an absence of musty stagnate air. I could smell each one of the trees in the air. Everything smelled so fresh, so new. "I feel overwhelmed, this is so different." Edward laughed, "You should smell the air in spring with all the flowers and pollens." It was still raining. The rain, I'm sure was cold but it felt warm against my body. I turned to Edward and kissed him. We both were soaking wet before we stopped kissing to watch the sun rise behind the dark grey storm clouds. Occasionally a bright yellowish red ray of sun would break the clouds throwing a narrow beam of sun that made me think of a lighthouse beacon. "Bella, love, I want to spend every sunrise just like this." "Soaking wet?" He just laughed, "I love you so much Mrs. Cullen." I sighed, "I couldn't think of a better way to spend the rest of eternity."
We went back into the house to dry off and change clothes. The rain had stopped just after daybreak. We needed to hunt today and Rosalie said the Volvo is ready. Thank god, the Ferrari seemed out of place at school. Edward started getting Nessie's stuff together while I finished drying off. Jacob was staying behind today to get some homework done. I found a pair of dark denim jeans; a light grey long sleeved t-shirt, and grabbed my black hoodie. Nessie was still asleep Edward wrapped her up in a thermal blanket and we left on foot for Carlisle and Esme's house. When we got there the Volvo was sitting in the drive, you couldn't tell it had any body work done to it. Rosalie was so good. Carlisle met us at the door; he held it open for us. "Good Morning, nice storm last night wasn't it?" Edward reminded him, "It was Bella's first thunderstorm experience since her change." Esme came and got Nessie from Edward and sat in a rocking chair with her. Nessie was still sound asleep. Carlisle was anxious to hear about what I experienced compared to what I remembered about storms in the past. The whole family was going to hunt again. Alice bounced into the kitchen, "morning, today should be nice with all the rain no one will be in the forest preserve." She asked me to follow her upstairs, "Can I get your opinion on something upstairs Bella?" She took my hand and led me upstairs. She handed me a piece of paper.
Bella,
I am doing this because I don't want Edward to get wind of what we're up to. Have you given any thought about what you're going to plan for your first Valentine's Day? Just nod yes or no…
I shook my head no. She handed me another note.
You have to plan something big to get back for the surprise honeymoon. Can I help you, PLEASE??
Before I had the chance to answer, Alice put a finger up asking me to hold on a second, she started reading me an article out of Cosmo magazine and I could hear Edward hiss. Alice winked at me and I rolled my eyes. What was I about to agree to? "I suppose." Alice started dancing place and cheered in silence. God help me. We went back down stairs and we left for our Saturday morning excursion.