Until the Last of Days

Epilogue

Written by: xlovestory

Chapter published: 23/04/2010

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I sit at my desk, every now and then looking up at the clock to check if it was time to return home once more. Don't get me wrong; I love my job. I feel proud to now be working as co-manager with Carlisle, and can feel my work becoming better each and every day I sit in this desk. There was no longer any emptiness in my home. My home was full of life, and full of love. Hence why I couldn't return to that haven.

But alas, I am sitting in a last minute meeting with other executives from our company, with Carlisle at my side, trying to fight the urge to yawn - we're talking stats. I was in this business for the intellectual aspect, not the money portion. I didn't have to pretend to be listening for very much longer, however, as a few seconds later the men are standing from their chairs, having reached some agreement of which I had no clue what was about. I shrug internally. As long as I catch up with Carlisle at some point, it'll be fine. I give the other men a cheerful smile as they leave the office, and slump back into the chair, looking again at the clock.

10 minutes to go.

I hear a small chuckle in my other ear, and look to Carlisle. He shakes his head. "You were paying lots of attention this afternoon, Edward…"

I feel my ears turn hot and my cheeks flush at being caught. I stutter, and he shrugs, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. Leah will have the notes for the meeting.' Ah, Leah. My secretary. A godsend for days like this, even if she did have a bit of a vicious streak and a temper. I nod thankfully and he continues. "I used to be like that… still am a bit actually. That's what happens when suddenly work isn't the most important thing in your life."

I cough out a bit of a laugh. "Don't take this the wrong way, Carlisle, but it never really has been my top priority. I love my job, but other things… come first."

He smiles that knowing smile. "Talking of other things… how is that lovely wife of yours?"

'Wife?!' you might say. Yes, Bella is my wife and I couldn't be happier. I had finally seen the things I had done wrong, and had never doubted the love we shared again. It only make complications, and we've had enough of those in our relationship to last a lifetime. I had never been more thankful for Emmett's words of wisdom, and Bella's willingness to work through the problems we had. It had taken a few months to get back into the comfortable ways we had been before, but when we were in that place, it was like I'd never been stupid at all. We had got married a year after our fights, with our daughter Nessie coming along nine months after the honeymoon. My daughter was the light of my life - the person I never knew I could love so unconditionally (even now that she was experiencing the "four year old tantrums").. It was a beautiful experience, becoming a father, and I was ecstatic to say that I would be becoming a father for the second time in a few short months time.

I smile, the lights no doubt going off in my eyes. "She's great. Getting easily tired, and a little irritated but at least we've got a lifetime supply of pickles and chocolate in the fridge so she can't complain about not having her craving foods around anymore." I chuckle to myself. My wife's disgusting habits…

Carlisle wrinkles his nose. "Esme was sushi. The house smelt of raw fish for months."

I laugh, picking up my briefcase and packing away the papers that I hadn't looked at, at all this meeting. After putting everything away I give Carlisle a quick wave before walking to the door.

"Esme wanted me to invite you both to dinner on Saturday, if you can get a baby sitter for Nessie…" Carlisle calls after my form.

I turn, quickly thinking in my head of who was available to look after our daughter. I nod. "That sounds great, tell her thank you. We'll be there. It's about time Alice looked after Nessie. Her little girl Lizzy had been hounding her for ages to get Nessie to the house."

He smiles. "Great. I'll tell her and we'll arrange times tomorrow."

I nod before leaving and practically running to my car.

I can't get home fast enough.

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When I walk in the door that evening, after a half an hour drive into the outskirts to the house we bought when we knew that Nessie would be arriving, the house is freakishly quiet. It is usually a hive of activity, with Bella on the phone or cooking in the kitchen, and Nessie running around with her fairy wings on her back, trying desperately to fly - she hasn't quite got the sense of gravity yet. But tonight, as I opened the door, there was no flying, no cooking, none of Bella's sweet words to call me through to her in the kitchen.

I quickly put my briefcase down at the door, hang up my coat, and kick off my shoes before wandering through to the kitchen in search of either of the women in my life. I find the soup simmering on the stove, but no Bella to wrap my arms around. I walk through to the living room, slowly beginning to hear the sound of whimpering coming from the chair at the far end of the room. I lean against the door, looking at the heartbreaking sight in front of me; Nessie, cheeks wet with tears and her small mouth puckered with sadness, curling around Bella's (very pregnant) form, with our spaniel puppy, Jackson, resting at Bella's feet protectively. I watched as Bella stroked Nessie's hair, trying to calm her down while her sobs slowly subsided. She was eventually alerted to my presence, and spent a few seconds taking me in. Maybe she was thinking about how lucky she was to have me? I am definitely having those thoughts about her.

Eventually, she sweet voice sounds. "Hey." She whispers, afraid that the loud noises would make our daughter cry again.

I come forward, Nessie's green eyes peeking out at me from her curtain of hair. I cup Bella's cheek, lifting her head upwards for a kiss, before pressing my lips to Nessie's forehead while my other hand affectionately pats Jackson's soft head.

I look at Nessie lovingly. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" I curl my arms around her body and hoist her up onto my hip, cuddling her into me while she wraps her arms around my neck. I see Bella looking on at our interaction, her hand absentmindedly stroking her stomach that held the next addition to our family - the gender was still unknown, but I couldn't wait to find out.

My daughter refuses to tell me what was the matter, so Bella fills me in for her. She smiles while the words wrap around her tongue. "Nessie and Jacob had a bit of a fight today, and Nessie is worried that he won't want to be her friend anymore."

I share a short smile with my wife, knowing that even though it felt like it now, Nessie would go through much bigger, my difficult trials in her life. I turn to my daughter, feeling her peer up at me from her head's position in the crook of my neck. "What were you fighting about?"

Her eyes shine with unshed tears and it breaks my heart a little more. "He said my hair was funny." Her little confession makes me less likely to want to kill our friends Angela and Seth's child - he was normally a very sweet boy.

I run my hand through her gorgeous deep brown locks, knowing that I did this daily to Bella - her hair was just one more weakness of mine. "Honey, your hair is beautiful. All long and brown, like Mummy, and shiny. It's lovely. Jake probably didn't mean it."

Her lips pucker again. "But what if he did Daddy? He was really mean…"

I hold her closer to me. "You want to know something, Ness? When I was younger than I am now, I said some really naughty things to Mummy.' I heard her gasp a little, and my eyes drifted to Bella's. "And the next day, I was really sorry I said them. And look at us now, we're married." I try to reason with her.

She frowns. "I don't want to marry Jake. He's a smelly boy."

I see Bella trying to contain her giggles. "Well, I'm not saying you've got to marry him, I'm just saying that tomorrow, I bet Jake is sorry for what he said and you'll be friends again. We all make mistakes, sweetie."

She looks at me hard for a moment, and I look back, seeing the beautiful woman in my mind that she will grow into. Eventually she nods, rubbing her eyes to dry them, before that smile I love lights up her face. "Okay. I'm go play now."

I kiss her cheek. "Okay. We'll call you for dinner soon." I put her on the ground and watch as she runs away, through the door and up the stairs into her room. I turn back to my wife, seeing her gazing up at me, love in her eyes and I pray that that look never changes.

She smiles her gorgeous smile at me and I feel my heart beat a little faster. "You're so good with her. I'm a lucky lady to call myself your wife."

I give her my hand and help her up, my other hand resting on her stomach feeling the light kick that made my stomach flip each time. I shake my head. "On the contrary Mrs Masen, it is me who is lucky. You're the best woman I know. And I'll be forever in your gratitude for forgiving me for the stupid and mean things I did to you… I'm lucky to have married you."

She looked at me, twinkling eyes and all. "Yeah, well… just be glad you don't smell."

Just a silly little thing to finish this story off. I felt like I hadn't given them a big enough HEA at the end of the offical last chapters, so here's something to top it off. Thank you for all the support with UTLOD - every person who reads, every person who favourites/alerts, and every persson who reviews means a lot to me, so thank you.

If you haven't already, please put me on author alert so you can be notified of when my other stories are posted! I need to get a beta, but once that's started, I'll be posting my Rose & Emmett story!

Thanks again, and if you'd like to review for the last time, I'd really appreciate it. (:

-xlovestory.