Chapter Twelve: The Best-Laid Plans

We drove toward Seattle. What usually was a four-plus hour drive I made in the Vanquish in a mere ninety minutes, despite Bella's wide-eyed glances at the speedometer. Arriving before noon, I steered the car to the docks. The sun was just about to break through the thin clouds as I parked the car in front of the valet stand at The Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle. After pulling the trunk release, I tossed the waiting valet my car keys before walking around the front of the silvery car to open Bella's door, placing my hand under her right arm to help her out of the low-slung sports car.

Bella stumbled slightly as she stood, and I kept my hand under her elbow until she regained her balance. Once she seemed stable, I let go and strode to the trunk and gathered what we needed, then turned to Bella.

She seemed stunned as she looked at across the marina, the hundreds of bobbing masts apparently overwhelming her. "Where are you taking me?" she asked, fear tinging her lovely voice.

"This way, my lady," I teased, extending one arm toward the docks while easily juggling the remainder of my load in my left arm. Bella smiled tightly, following me with obvious reluctance as I led her down the slanted ramp and, turning right, to a private slip halfway down the dock. Bella came to a complete stop, her jaw slack as I boarded the fifty-foot Hunter sailing yacht.

(NOTE: Yes, I know that in Breaking Dawn, Bella mentioned never seeing Edward's expertise on a boat, but I had to have a romantic sail in here...)

Tossing my armful onto the well-padded leather bench outside the cabin, I turned to escort Bella onto the small sailboat. She was still standing, mouth agape, on the main dock. I flashed out of the boat and to her side in an instant, worried by her deep shock.

"Bella?" I questioned, my hand reaching for her warm one hanging limply at her side. "Won't you come aboard?" Was she scared of sailing? Did she have a phobia of water, or oceans? Did she get seasick? Why was she so pale, so still? Was she even breathing?

As I looked anxiously into her eyes, the precise color of milk chocolate, Bella swallowed noisily and let out her breath with a loud whoosh, color flooding back into her cheeks. She took in another noisy breath and squeaked, "Okay..." Her voice was barely a whisper. But she allowed me to take her hand and gently help her onto the boat where I seated her on the long leather-covered bench opposite the one where I had laid my burdens.

While Bella sat there, stunned into silence once again, I pulled out a bunch of keys and proceeded to unlock the cabin of the Hunter, bringing downstairs the majority of what I had brought from the car's trunk. Opening the basket, I placed several items in the refrigerator before placing several bags and boxes on the bed in the forward compartment. In a short moment, I had reappeared on the deck beside Bella, gently seating myself next to her stiff form. Carefully I reached forward and took her hand in mine once again.

"Bella?" I questioned again in a low voice. "What is it?" I couldn't see why she was so shocked, so frozen. What had happened? What had I done? How badly had I scared her?

Bella shook her head slowly, opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again, still silent. Her eyes bored into mine, and they were wide with fear and...anger ?

"Is this yours?" she finally choked out.

"Is what mine?" I asked, stalling for a moment to work out the reason behind her strange reaction although I was beginning to glimpse a possible explanation.

"This," she replied in a low whisper, motioning to the cabin of the fifty-foot yacht.

"No," I promptly lied. "It's a rental, that's all."

She nodded, relaxing slightly. It was such a small sailboat, really. I was thankful that I had chosen to use this modest boat for our date rather than the HUGE yacht we used as a family. Although I hated not telling Bella the truth, a white lie seemed the best way to get her to unwind about the money thing.

I hardly ever thought of money; it was merely something our family accumulated, the result of immortality and a sister who accurately predicted trends in the stock market. Money was literally no object for us.

But Bella lived very differently—very simply. And apparently she objected to my spending money on her. She refused the expensive gifts I wanted to give her—mere tokens of my eternal love—but I had hoped that she would allow me to lavish her with a romantic date, at least. But … apparently even this day was in questionable taste, according to her...

I stood and began to prepare for our departure. Bella watched silently, not moving from her place as I uncovered and checked the sails, chucking the canvas sail covers below deck before examining the engine. I jumped onto the teak deck beside the cabin and then to the dock itself where I rapidly unwrapped the thick ropes that moored the yacht in the slip, untethering the yacht from the dock then tossing the ropes aboard the boat before hopping back aboard and seating myself at the helm. I turned the small key under the seat, and the powerful engine that Rosalie had boosted for me roared to life, water flowing rapidly from the rear of the yacht. Backing out of the slip, I reversed the engine once we were clear and motored the sailboat out of the marina.

As the sun slowly emerged from behind the thin clouds and we left other sailboats behind, I removed my baseball cap and thrilled to the speed of the motor. Finally I turned to look at Bella, afraid to see her unhappy despite my best efforts to make this day all about her pleasure.

Bella had turned on the seat, facing the direction we were traveling, with her knees drawn to her chin, her arms wrapped about her shins. As the wind whipped her dark hair behind her, she closed her eyes, obviously enjoying the wind and the sun on her face. I grinned mostly to myself, pushing the engine even faster into the wind as we followed the coast northward. As we motored along the beautiful coastline with pine forests gathered tightly to rocky beaches, I whispered Bella's name, and she opened her eyes. The loveliness of the pristine coast caused her to gasp, then as she turned to catch my eye, she gasped again. The sun had emerged, and my skin sparkled brightly in the sunshine. And she was mesmerized...

Bella scooted along the bench to sit nearer to me, reaching her hand to my face, cupping my cheek. I leaned into her warm, willing touch, my eyes taking in her beauty with the same hunger that she was absorbing mine. The familiar electricity hummed between us, the moment seeming to freeze us in time, our eyes locked into each others'. I wanted to take her into my arms and bury my lips in hers right then and there, but my attention was also needed to guide the yacht into the next inlet. Our gazes remained mesmerized, silent promises exchanged as I steered around a rocky point.

Bella's shaky intake of breath forced me to tear my gaze from hers and concentrate on guiding the boat into the deserted inlet, one that Emmett and I had scoped out last week on a hunting trip. Rimmed by towering pines was a rocky cove with a small, perfect area of soft sand. The afternoon brightened as the sun shone with a nearly southern brightness. We had arrived.

I motored closer to the shore and, once in position, I switched off the motor, and the sailboat bobbed silently on the gentle waves. Moving quickly to the bowsprit, I released the anchor, and back in the rear of the vessel near Bella, I lowered the small dingy (what sailing people call a rowboat), pulling its rope over to the side of the yacht. Flashing downstairs, I gathered all of the necessary items which I gently tossed into the front of the dinghy beside the oars. Then turning to Bella, I offered her my hand.

"You've got to be kidding," Bella protested, looking over the side of the yacht to the small dinghy bobbing at its side.

I looked from Bella's white, worried face to the small dinghy. Making a quick decision, I hopped down into the dinghy, then reached above my head, my arms open to Bella. She sat on the edge of the yacht, her legs dangling over the edge, and I grasped her waist, lowering her carefully onto the rear wooden seat of the dingy, facing me. I then settled on the middle seat, taking up the oars and placing them in the sprockets before rowing us to shore, my back toward land.

Bella looked surprised as we approached the shore, as if she had never imagined such a thing as taking a sail to a place like this. I couldn't help smiling at her bemused expression.

"So, what do you think of our day so far?" I asked her, grinning.

"Ummmm," she stammered. "I really don't know what to think...yet."

I raised an eyebrow, asking her an unspoken question.

"No, I've never been on a boat before," she confessed. "It's not the best idea for the uncoordinated. Too much of the chance of falling overboard, you know..." Her voice trailed off as the bottom of the tiny boat ground into the rocky shore.

Dropping the oars into the dinghy, I hopped out into the shallow water, pulling the small craft onto the rocky beach. After tying the rope to a nearby pine, I flashed back to where Bella remained seated in the dinghy, and, taking her hand, I helped her onto the shore and escorted her to the small sandy area where the sun shone brightly. I ghosted back to the boat and gathered the rest of the things inside.

Returning to Bella, I laid out the golden coverlet as a beach blanket, opened the picnic basket, and put a bottle of pinot grigio in a pewter ice bucket beside the basket. I also pushed the brass-covered bottom of a gold-striped beach unbrella into deep into the sand to provide us with shade, if we desired. And then I turned to Bella.

"What do you think now?" I asked, my eyes glinting mischievously.

Bella's gaze was warm again as she stepped to my side, raising her arms to place them around my neck. "Right now? I love it," she whispered, her warm touch causing me to shudder involuntarily. I lowered my face to hers and captured her willing lips against my stone-cold mouth...