SM owns all things Twilight. The story below is mine.
Peter Gabriel owns In Your Eyes
Chapter Title BHI stands for Bald Head Island
Chapter Twelve
There are no words to describe the glory of waking up beside my angel. I have had the pleasure of waking in her arms before, but this, this was different.
The warmth of the sun shining in my eyes brought me out of my lovely Bella induced slumber. Sounds of waves crashing, seagulls singing and Charlie's laughter from above got my senses flowing. I could feel the warmth of my glorious angel beside and when I looked over to see her sleeping form I was rendered breathless.
She was lying on her stomach; her auburn locks shimmering in the sunlight draped all around her creamy bare back and lightly covering her face like a veil. The bed sheet positioned just so as to hint at the gift of her indescribable bottom underneath and leaving her top half exposed for my eyes to drink in. Her arms were supporting her head under the pillow allowing the most delicious view of the silhouette of her breast for me to bask in.
She could be the opening scene of any movie from a love story to a noir. This vision before me was a gift from the Gods, a gift the nations would war over, a gift that would make Helena of Troy seem like the plainest of plain.
And this gift was mine. Mine alone to savor and enjoy mine alone to revel in and I knew if this was the last vision I was ever to be blessed with my eternity would be glory filled.
"Good morning handsome." Her voice was raspy as it drifted from underneath the veil of her hair.
"Good morning beautiful."
"How long have you been ogling me?" She asked before sweeping the hair out of her face.
"It's not ogling when its art." I responded.
"Oh Edward, that has to be the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me." She said with a small giggle.
"You're welcome."
This response caused her giggle to become a laugh, which caused her to roll over onto her side and then back. As amazing as the previous view had been this was a hundred times better. My angel was laying before me, her bare breasts on display for me to losing myself in, the sheet lying precariously close to her pelvic bone and the promise land. The shadows of the curves of her body highlighted in the glimmering sun.
"Now that is art." I whispered breathlessly once again.
"Part of the Edward Cullen private collection." She said as she lay there, no attempts to cover herself. She was not shy, she was not hesitant, she was openly on display for me and me alone.
"The best and most exclusive part of my private collection." I answered before heading in to appreciate my art.
Fortunately this part of my collection was water proof because after appreciating it in the bed; I also got to appreciate it in the shower as well.
We joined the others upstairs for breakfast after our gallery tour. Charlie was ready to go back to the beach and build more castles. After breakfast Emmett and I took Charlie down to the beach to play in the sand. Bella stayed behind to help Rose with Addy and to work on dessert for dinner.
Charlie was scouting out locations for his castle and collecting shells for the brick work, completely oblivious to Emmett and me.
"Are you enjoying your weekend so far?" Emmett asked.
"I am indeed." I answered really hoping Emmett wouldn't read into my double meaning.
"You are in love with my sister aren't you?" He asked breaking away quickly from the small talk.
"Very much so." I answered him without hesitation.
He sat there for a moment smiling to himself.
"I guess I could do the whole big brother if you hurt her speech, but for some reason I don't think that is necessary with you."
"No, I would never hurt her, she means too much to me."
"I can see that." Emmett said with a smile on his face. "I've never seen her as happy as she is right now and that is really saying something."
"She is…she is everything to me. I have never met anyone like her and to think that I am lucky enough to have her love me back…it is kind of overwhelming sometimes." I felt funny telling this to her brother but it was the truth and there was no point in trying to hide it.
"I wish my parents could have known you, could see how happy you make Bella."
"I wish mine could have met Bella as well. I know that my mother in particular would have loved her, probably more than Esme does."
"Does it ever get easier?" Emmett asked. Even though he doesn't say the words, I know that he is asking me if the pain you feel from losing a loved one ever get easier.
"I don't know if it gets easier, it doesn't hurt any less, but the pain of remembering them gets a little bit easier to take." I pause for a minute thinking about those words and the main reason that remembering them has gotten easier. "Bella has helped me a lot in that respect. I never really talked about my parents that much before I met her. I definitely never talked about them with Katie, but with Bella I want to share them with her. She listens; really listens and I want to tell her. I always thought it would hurt too much to talk about them so I just kept it all to myself, but I don't have to do with her."
"Do you ever find yourself thinking what if?"
"Not as much as I use to." I answer him honestly. "I have moments when I think I wish more than what if, but I'd like to think they are watching over us, all of them and it helps those moments pass with a little more ease."
"You sound just like Bella."
"Hey she's a great teacher, what can I say."
"Look daddy, look." Charlie says with great excitement as he runs up to his dad holding out his hand, effectively ending our conversation.
"What you got there big man?" Emmett asks him.
"It's a shark's toof." Charlie says with great excitement.
"That is a great looking tooth." His dad says.
"Can if weave it under my pillow?" Charlie asks.
"Why?"
"So the toof fairy will weave me presents."
"Uh...I think that is a mom question." Emmett answers him.
"Ok." Charlie says as he runs back to the shoreline to find more shells.
"Rose is going to smack you for that." I say trying to hide my laughter.
"I know, but I like being the good cop too much." He says with a wiggle of his eye brows. "You'll see, one day you'll only want to be the good cop." He says as he heads towards his son.
His words sit in my head for a moment, swimming around my mind and thoughts. As I stand there and watch Emmett and Charlie playing with each other I cannot help but see that being me and my son or daughter. A beautiful child with auburn hair and green eyes, Bella's sweet smile and my laughter. It is a vision of the future, of hope and of love. It is perfect and I want it more than air.
I join Emmett and Charlie in their play and we turn the shell hunt into an impromptu version of touch football with one of Charlie's beach balls. It is a silly game filled with child like giggles from all three of us. It feels good and happiness wraps around my body and refuses to let go.
Rose joins our little party about an hour later. Charlie runs up to her as soon as he sees her.
"Mama look I found a shark's toof and daddy says to ask you if I can weave it under my pillow for the toof fairy."
Rose raises her eyes at Emmett who quickly hides behind me. I hold my hands up showing I am neutral in all of this.
"He did, did he?"
"He did!" Charlie says with joy in his voice.
"Well I guess daddy needs to make sure the tooth fairy knows where your pillow is that she is well stocked with goodies!"
"Shit." I hear Emmett mumble from behind me. "Guess I'm running to the store later to get tooth fairy goodies." He continues with his mumbles.
"That's what I thought." Rose says as she follows Charlie down to the water's edge.
"Where's Bella?" I ask Rose.
"Addy was still sleeping and since Bella was in the kitchen making a cake she told me she would stay with Addy so I could come and play with my guys." Rose called back to me.
I stayed on the beach for about another twenty minutes watching the three of them playing with one another when my need to see and touch Bella became too much.
"I'm going to head back in guys." I hollered to the others as I headed back to the house.
As soon as I entered the house I could smell the divine pleasure of a baked cake in the air. As I quietly climbed the stairs worried I would disturb Addy's nap I could hear Bella's sweet voice in song. As I reached the top of the stairs I could see Bella dancing around the kitchen, Addy in her arms, singing to the baby girl as she started the mixer.
in your eyes
I am complete
I cannot help to think to myself that she is so right; in her eyes I am complete.
in your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
in your eyes
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
Her voice is so perfect and the smile on Addy face is like that of an angel itself. It is a truly beautiful moment to watch, Bella in her element, in the place that she loves the most, doing the thing that she loves with a passion. Add to that her dancing around with a tiny angel and it is a perfect moment.
in your eyes
I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light,
the heat I see in your eyes
The vision that I had out on the beach of me play with our child is now replaced with the vision of Bella in our kitchen with our child, singing and dancing around, our own tiny little angel smiling while looking at her mother like she has the key to the world. I see all of these things clearly now, in her eyes, through my own.
"Well, Miss Addy it seems that we have an audience. " Bella's giggling voice draws me out of my trance.
"Yes it was quite the performance." I say as I push my way further up the stairs and over to Bella to kiss her gently.
"Channeling your inner Lloyd Dobler?" I ask her as I give Addy a kiss on the head as well. I cannot help myself in that moment.
"Nice reference there Professor Cullen and as every women at some point in her life is looking for her own Lloyd Dobler I feel it is important to expose Addy to his charms from the beginning."
"And are you still looking for your Lloyd Dobler Miss Swan?" I ask as I wrap my arms around her waist.
"No, I have him, tenfold and more." She whispers as she pulls me closer into her for a kiss. The kiss is tender and loving and full of home for Bella is my home. Our moment is broken by the cooing sounds of Addy.
"I think someone may be a little jealous." Bella says with a laugh into our kiss. "Can you take her for me please?" She asks and I happily do as she requests. I have to admit I am nervous about holding Addy but I think the bliss of my earlier visions of our child wash away my nerves and I find comfort in holding her.
"So what are you fixing for dessert tonight?"
"Chocolate covered strawberry cake."
Images of my first dream of Bella dipping strawberries rush into my head.
"Really." I squeak. "What…what type of cake is that?" I manage to get my voice and thoughts clear.
"It's a strawberry cake with chocolate cream cheese icing."
"Wow that sounds really good." And it does, of course anything Bella does sounds really good.
"Yeah it is one of our more popular cakes at the bakery. I think you will enjoy it."
"I have no doubt that I will."
Addy and I sit and watch Bella as she finishes the icing and begins to cover and ice the cake. As Bella finishes the cake the others return and Emmett and I head out to pick up a pizza from the little parlor on the island for lunch and to go to the grocery store to get items to prepare dinner and for tooth fairy goodies which amount to coloring books, crayons and a few tinker toys.
After lunch Bella and I head out to explore the island again, taking in a few of the little shops that populate the island. We head back to our spot from the day before as the sunsets and we once again express our love for one another as it fades of into the distance, dropping down into the big blue ocean.
Dinner is filled with laughter and cheer. A nice grilled salmon with asparagus and baked sweet potatoes, culminating in Bella's chocolate covered strawberry cake, which quickly becomes my favorite cake of all time. It is one of those dinners that you know you will look back upon when you are much older with love and fondness. There is nothing of great importance that happens, no cures for anything the ales the world or solving of profound problems. Instead it is filled with laughter and joy, family and love, nourishment of the body and mind.
After dinner Charlie wants to watch a movie and we all settle on Where the Wild Things Are. We have all read or been read the book so we can all find something of pleasure in it. We cuddle into our nooks, Bella and I in an oversized chair, Charlie and Rose on the couch, Emmett and Addy in a recliner that rocks. We turn off the lights and pop popcorn for the total movie experience.
As the end credits roll, Charlie has fallen asleep in Rose's lap, Emmett and Addy are asleep in the rocker and Bella is wiping tears out of her eyes.
"What's wrong my love?" I whisper into her ear.
"It's just such a beautiful movie, the way it captures the innocence and imagination of being a child. It takes all of that from the book and adds to it giving the characters personalities." She says with a smile on her face.
I love watching movies with Bella, watching them through her eyes as best as I can. She shares the love and passion for them that I do, lets them wash over her and it makes her all that more beautiful to me.
"I agree my love." I whisper into her ear as I pull her into my chest and kiss the side of her head.
Rose wakes Emmett up and the two of them take their little ones to bed before retiring themselves. Bella and I walk out onto the porch and cuddle up together in one of the deck chairs and lay there listening to the sound of waves crashing. We speak occasionally but for the most part we just sit there engulfed in the silence of nature, soaking up as much as we can, knowing that we have to return home tomorrow.
It isn't as if it is a bad thing having to return home. We have great lives there, with the rest of our families, but this place holds something special for us. It is a place of firsts, our first spoken vows of love, our first dance and our first time together being as intimate as two people can be. It is our bubble of firsts and that makes it one of the greatest places on earth and a place that neither of us is in a hurry to leave.
As the breeze begins to pick up and lightening from the mainland streaks the sky, we head inside and to our room. We brush our teeth side by side, settle ourselves for bed. We spend the night much as we did the night before. We make love and drift into sleep, cat naps replenishing our bodies so that we can go again, each of us waking the other with exploring hands and kisses.
As the clouds, thunder and rain begin to roll in we finally drift off into a deep slumber.
We awake the next morning to the pitter patter of rain on the porch boards outside of our window. The sky is dark and gloomy and it is as if the heavens are weeping for us as we clean up the house and pack for our departure. We are all silent as we work to settle the house for our leave; even Charlie and Addy are quieter than would be expected for children. None of us wants to burst the joyful bubble that has encompassed us the past two days.
The ferry ride back to Southport is just as quiet, all of the passengers sitting inside the boat, seeking shelter from the rain and wind outside. As we pass the final tip of the island, Bella whispers goodbye.
"We'll be back my love." I bend down and whisper into her ear. She is standing with her back to me looking out the window. Our bodies huddled together back to chest, arms locked at her waist.
"Promise?"
"I promise." I answer her and I know that this is a promise that I will do everything in my power to keep. I know that this island holds more for Bella now. Not only is it the place she has been coming since she was little girl with her family, but it is now the place where she found love, the love of a life time.
"Thank you." She whispers back as she turns into me so that she can rest her head into my chest. I kiss the top of her head before resting my cheek there. I look over to see Tanya sitting next to her husband, each of their boys asleep in each of their laps. I can see their free hands are joined together. We share smiles and moments of understanding with our eyes. Each of us holding onto our last moments of this glorious weekend and island for as long as we can.
We made it back to Charleston in time for Sunday dinner. Carlisle, Esme, Alice and Jasper listened with rapt attention to Charlie's tales of building sandcastles, finding shark's teeth and waking up this morning to find that the tooth fairy had indeed visited him during the night and left him treats.
We listened to Alice's stories of putting together her fashion show for the semester and working on her final project to finish up the year. Jasper discussed his classes at The Citadel and invited all of us to the homecoming game the following weekend. Carlisle talked about some of the crazier cases that came into the ER over the weekend, only giving as much detail as he could without violating HIPPA laws. Esme told us about a new fund raiser that she was working with that went into area schools and worked with young children to help them develop proper reading skills and donated books to the schools and to the kids so that they would not be without.
"What films are you doing this week?" Jasper asked me.
"Well I am doing foreign films this week. I am showing Blue on Tuesday and then Like Water for Chocolate on Thursday."
"I love that movie, Like Water for Chocolate." Bella chimed in. "I think it is dead on in the way it shows how our emotions influence the food we are preparing. I fully believe that, that what you feel goes into what you are preparing, what you are cooking. And that when you have love in your life it shows in your food. Food speaks for us, is a form of communication for us and I think that movie does such a great job of conveying that." She is very animated as she speaks and I can see the passion and conviction behind her words.
"Maybe she should teach the class for you that night." Emmett says with a chuckle.
The rest of the table joins in the conversation about the movie and that spills into other films. As my family sits around me and talks I cannot help but think that Emmett is correct. It would be great to have Bella come and talk to my class that night, share her passion for food and explain her ideas about food being a form of communication for us.
After dinner we help Esme clean up the kitchen before saying our goodnights and heading our separate ways. Bella is going to stay the night with me and she walks out with Emmett and his family to say goodbye to them.
After telling my family goodnight, Alice stops me on my way to the door.
"You told her you loved her didn't you?" She asks me. She is practically vibrating with joy.
"Yes little sister, I told her that I love her."
"And?" She began to squeal with delight.
"And she told me that she loved me too."
The sound that came out of that little person could make dogs in the next county react. She rushed into me, throwing her arms around me and squeezing me tight.
"Oh Edward I am so happy for the two of you. I always knew that you guys were perfect for each other and now…now…oh Edward this is just the best news I have heard in a while!"
"Thank you sis! I'm glad you are happy. Now if you will please let me go I would like to recover and spend some time with my beloved Bella."
"Of course my dear brother, go and please tell Bella I love her and I want details!"
Bella was waiting for me outside, Emmett just having pulled out of the drive way.
"Alice just went crazy didn't she?" Bella asked in that all knowing way that she seemed to have.
"Yes, how did you know that?"
"Mr. York's beagles were going crazy." She said through her laughter while pointing her head to the neighbor's house.
"Come on my love, to bed we go." I said taking her hand and leading her back to my place.
Once again we brushed our teeth side by side and handled the business of getting ready for bed. We climbed into bed, both of us just wanting to fall asleep in each other's arms.
As I laid there, my angel in my arms, I thought back to Emmett's suggestion earlier in the night.
"Bella?"
"Yes."
"Would you be comfortable talking with my class Thursday after the movie?"
She raised her head propping it up on her elbow. "You want me to talk to your class about a movie?"
"Well not just the movie, but your idea of food speaking for us. You just had so much passion tonight when you were talking about that movie and I thought it would be great if you could share that with my class afterwards."
"You would really like for me to do that?"
"Bella my love, it would mean the world to me if you would do that." I said as I leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I don't think you realize just how amazing you are when you are in the kitchen and that spills over to your everyday life. That passion would go a hell of a lot further in explaining the movie then I ever could."
"Then I would love to speak to your class, thank you for asking me." She said with a smile that lit up my dark room.
"Besides it gives me a chance to show off my really sexy girlfriend to all of those college kids!" I said with a smirk in my voice.
"Sexy girlfriend uh?" She said as she pulled me on top of her and began kissing my lips with passion.
We had planned on making up for the sleep that we missed out on over the weekend, but with Bella lying next to me in my bed, I didn't need sleep. I would survive on cat naps and love making alone!
A/N: Lloyd Dobler is from the movie Say Anything which of course has the famous scene of him holding his boom box above his head, blaring out In Your Eyes outside of the window of the house of the girl that he loves and has lost. It is such a great moment from a really great movie. I am a huge Cameron Crowe fan and list Say Anything as one of his top three.
HIPPA laws are laws that protect patient privacy and are designed so that doctors or other medical workers are not allowed to give out patient information without their written permission. By not mention names or exact specifics of cases that could lead someone to figure out who a patient is, Carlisle is not violating this law.
I was a Comm major with an emphasis in film studies in college and my senior project was a paper and a short film looking at Food as a Form of Communication and I strongly believe this and that is why that idea is reoccurring in the things I write about. I am now in Culinary School playing with one of my greatest loves which also reflects in the things I write. I have always said if I could get a job where I could work with food and film I would be the happiest person on the face of the earth.
Thank you for all of the love and support that has been given to this story. That coupled with a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of sweet potato pie make for great inspiration!
Please review and let me know what you think.
