I held Matthew close as we were ushered through arrivals and into a much busier part of the airport, which held the exit out into the vast, continental US. I could hardly believe where I was, never mind the fact that the person I held in my arms at this very moment was indeed Matthew Cullen, my boyfriend.
Ron and Alexa held hands, continuously staring into each other's eyes. I knew this was their special way of reuniting, their feeling of everlasting love. Ron seemed to have forgotten all about his plane sickness, pure love the cure. Staring into each other's eyes was their physical love, so much so that I even felt awkward watching.
Harry hugged Renesmee briefly as Ron and I were reunited with our lovers.
It only took Renesmee seconds to put our cases in the boot of her car and return to our sides.
"Would you like to meet some of my family?" Matthew smiled.
"They're here?" I gasped. Now I was nervous. Not because they were vampires though. If I wasn't accepted, if they didn't like me, my relationship with Matthew would undoubtedly be over.
He laughed his velvety laugh. "Relax, Hermione. It's only my parents and my grandparents. We thought having the whole family coming to collect you at the airport might be a bit… daunting. You already know Renesmee or Nessie as my family calls her. Everyone else is so excited to meet all of you, honest. I'm sure they'll love you." Despite his comforting words, this didn't cure the anxious and now nervous feeling in my stomach.
"Are your parents here?" Ron asked Alexa, gulping as he surprisingly caressed her cheek.
"No, my parents are at the house," she replied, tousling his mop of orange hair. She seemed to be getting noticeably better at controlling herself. "They're putting up the Christmas decorations. We do try and act human," she laughed.
Renesmee lead the way through a crowded café on the outskirts of the busy part of the airport, manoeuvring around tables gracefully.
Right down the back in the left corner sat four amazingly beautiful people around a small, circular table.
It was so obvious that these were Matthew, Alexa and Renesmee's relatives. I didn't need an introduction.
When they saw us approaching, Matthew squeezed my hand tightly and smiled his crooked smile. He seemed relatively at ease.
"Ah, you all arrived safely I see," said one of the four vampires, standing up and offering me his hand. He had luxurious bronze hair tossed over his head and golden eyes, exactly the same as Matthew's.
"Allow me to introduce myself and my family," he smiled. I felt faint with excitement. "I'm Edward Cullen, Matthew and Nessie's father, and Alexa's uncle."
This didn't surprise me; Matthew was almost an exact younger replica of this undoubtedly beautiful person.
"It's so nice to meet you," I smiled, shaking his hand. I could tell he was trying to be gentle.
"This is my wife and Matthew and Nessie's mother, Bella," he said, indicating the vampire to his left; a woman with brown, wavy hair and matching brown eyes, like Renesmee's. Needless to say, she was gorgeous too. She smiled at me, although I sensed that she was not as controlled as the other vampires.
"- this is Carlisle Cullen, my father and Matthew, Nessie and Alexa's grandfather."
"It is such a pleasure to meet you all," Carlisle smiled, offering us his hand. I shook it nervously. He wore a long, white jacket. He looked like a doctor of some sort.
"And finally, for now," Edward smiled, placing his hands on the last and slightly older looking female vampire's shoulders. "This is Esme, my mother and their grandmother."
My definition of grandmother was a kind, old lady with wrinkles and a bent back. Esme was the exact opposite.
"I'm so pleased to finally meet you," she gushed, while offering us chairs.
I accepted the seat and clutched Matthew's arm excitedly. The nerves had left my system I was almost bouncing up and down with anticipation. These vampires were so kind. I now felt stupid for feeling wary – they seemed like wonderful people. I wanted to get to know his family really well and to be bound to Matthew for the rest of my life.
I saw the pattern of my future unfolding in front of my eyes. I had a really strong feeling that I would be part of this family someday, whether human or vampire I couldn't tell. This just somehow seemed… right.
On another note, I was completely gob-smacked by how controlled they all were. They were more human than Fred and George Weasley at times.
"Mom, Dad, Carlisle, Esme," Matthew said, taking my hand in his lap. "This is my beautiful girlfriend, Hermione Granger."
"It's wonderful to meet you all," I smiled, blushing slightly. "Matthew has told me lots about you all and I am so honoured that you are allowing my friends and I to spend Christmas with yourselves and your family. I'm really looking forward to my stay in Forks."
"We hope you will feel very welcome with us, Hermione," Edward said, placing an arm around his wife, Bella. Whether this was a restraining arm or a loving arm I would never know.
Alexa cleared her throat. "Everyone, even though my parents aren't here, this is my boyfriend, Ronald Weasley."
"Very nice to meet you too, Ronald," Carlisle replied, extending an arm.
"Er… call me Ron," he mumbled. I sensed he felt very uncomfortable; if I knew Ron, he was probably over-conscious of the fact that he was surrounded by a proper coven of vampires for the first time in his life.
"And I'm Harry, but I have a girlfriend back home," Harry laughed jokingly. I'm sure he didn't need an introduction though.
"Well," Esme smiled, sounding slightly relieved. "That's the hard part over. Now that we all know each other, why don't we just head straight to the house? Jasper phoned and said that everything is ready for our guests."
"Great idea," Bella smiled. "We can get to know each other a little better in the car. You all seem like lovely people."
Carlisle caught Edward's eye and laughed. "Send your offspring to England and they come back with arm candy."
"Carlisle," Matthew, Alexa and Nessie groaned in unison.
"Well, everyone has someone embarrassing in their family, don't they?" Harry laughed.
I joined in with the laughter, savouring every moment. It was too perfect.
"Ron, Alexa, Nessie, Harry," Edward said, politely, "Would you mind travelling with Carlisle and Esme in their car? Our car is much too small to fit everyone, unfortunately."
"Certainly, no problem," Harry smiled, grinning at me wildly. He had stated to me before that Matthew had told him that his family were the proud owners of some very expensive vehicles. This obviously thrilled him.
"We'll speak to you later then," Carlisle smiled, escorting Esme and my friends out into the parking lot.
"This way, lovebirds," Bella smiled, as Matthew and I, arm in arm, followed his parents out to their car.
They were a few steps ahead of us. Matthew nuzzled his head against mine.
"Well?" he whispered.
"Well what?" I smiled, teasing him slightly.
"They're trying to behave," he laughed, as we entered the parking lot. "I warned them not to be too embarrassing."
"They're all so lovely," I smiled, almost tearing up. "You are really lucky, Matthew Cullen."
"I know," he smiled, opening the car door for me.
It was only then that I realised what car I was about to get into: it was a pristine, yellow Porsche.
"Wow!" I exclaimed. "This is… amazing!"
"Like it?" Edward asked, closing Bella's door for her. "It's not ours though; it's Alice's, Matthew's aunt. I bought it for her a while ago and she insisted we pick you guys up in it; it's much more feminine than my car. She didn't want us to come across too bold."
I climbed into the back seat with Matthew. It had a cream, leather interior and numerous added features.
Edward reversed smoothly and we hit the highway.
Matthew coughed conspicuously. "Err…dad?"
"Yes, son?" Edward replied, turning around to look at Matthew.
This frightened me a bit; shouldn't he have his eyes on the road?
"Erm…" he said awkwardly. "Why are you driving so slow?"
I looked at the speed meter: he was going eighty-five miles per hour. Surely that was enough?
Edward exchanged a glance with Bella and they both began laughing, as if sharing some private joke.
"What?" Matthew demanded, baring his teeth.
Edward recovered first, "Please excuse us, Hermione, we didn't want to scare you."
"Scare me?" I asked, nervously. Matthew put his arm around my waist.
"You see," Bella laughed. "The first time I ever took a ride with Edward, when I was a human, he was driving so fast that I nearly had heart failure. He usually doesn't even wear a seat belt. He likes to drive very fast."
"Hang on," I said, sitting forward. "You were human when you fell in love with Edward?"
"Yes," said Bella, sounding confused. "Didn't you know that?"
"Um… no. I thought vampires only fell in love with other vampires," I admitted sheepishly.
"How would you explain our relationship then?" Matthew grinned at me.
"Point taken," I laughed. It seemed Bella and I had more in common than I could have ever thought possible.
"So do you mind fast driving, then? That is very fast driving?" Edward asked.
"Wouldn't the police stop you?"
"Hermione," Edward laughed. "We're vampires."
With that the sports car lunged forward with tremendous speed, dodging every other car with ease, mingling in between vehicles violently. The rules of the road in America seemed to be very different to those back in England.
"Scared yet?" Matthew joked, holding me close.
"No," I admitted, kissing his cheek. "I trust you."
Within a few minutes, we past the welcoming signpost for Forks and took a turn leading into an over-grown forest. The road was merely a dirt track and the forestry stuck out at every angle. I had no idea where we were going.
Slowly but surely, the forestry smoothed out into acceptable shrubbery and tamed wildlife with Christmas wreaths, holly and berries and fairy lights, as a huge, white house came into view.
All I could do was gape.
"This is your home?" I whispered, suddenly realising that it looked like Matthew and I came from exact opposite backgrounds. It looked like a millionaire's hideaway.
"This is the family home," Edward announced proudly, parking the car next to a red Lamborghini. I would have liked to have seen the look on Harry's face if they had travelled in that vehicle.
"Myself and Bella own a cottage in the woods, about three minutes away from here, which is where we live with Matthew and Nessie. Even though we had an extra room added when the second of our twins came along, it's still too small to fit everyone in it. We spend most of our time in main house."
"What twins?" I asked, curiously.
Matthew coughed suspiciously. "Didn't I ever mention that?"
"Mention what?" I replied.
He looked confused. "Nessie and me – we're twins."
I was pretty certain that this little detail had never entered any of our conversations before.
"What?" I said. This was interesting.
"I thought you knew already!" he added in his defence. "I'm really sorry, Hermione – I honestly though I'd told you -"
"It's okay," I smiled. I kissed his cheek. "I forgive you."
He smiled back at me, grateful for my forgiveness.
Something told me he left that detail out for a reason. I'd get back to him on it later.
Right now, I was still in shock. I was honestly expecting a four hundred and twenty year old mansion, filled with coffins and skulls. This was a Christmas haven.
"Come on in," Matthew smiled, leading me inside.
We found Harry, Ron, Alexa and Nessie standing around a grand, white piano in the hall, Ron and Harry tucking into chocolate strawberries.
It was spectacular; every wall was paned with glass, space the least of their problems in this house. It was furnished simply and elegantly, white being the most prominent colour. A massive, sparkling Christmas tree was placed in the middle of the room, presents nestled safely underneath. Red baubles hung from the ceiling, holly and berries wrapped up and around the banisters of the staircase. Christmas tunes were playing throughout the house, fake snow covering the window ledges and glass candy canes placed randomly throughout the house. It was like a breath of fresh air, mixed in with a winter wonderland theme.
The smell of roast beef and gravy was filtering through a gap in the doorway, presumably leading into the kitchen. I hoped they weren't going to too much trouble on our behalf.
"Want to meet the rest of them? They are seriously eager to meet you all," Matthew asked.
"Of course," I smiled, Harry and Ron nodding, paralysed by this home as much as I was.
"Come on in, guys," Matthew yelled, taking my coat from me. It took mere seconds for the rest of the family to join us.
Acceptance was one thing, but feeling loved was another.
Both feelings were mingled with overwhelming welcome and adoration as I met the rest of the family. The best Christmas ever had just begun.