It was a few weeks later, when a change started to happen. I was upstairs one afternoon, and heard the others come in from school. Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett came in together, without Alice or Edward. I decided it would be easier not to ask, arguments between them were more common.

"Right. Jasper, you, me, chess, now," I heard Emmett demand.

"Your funeral," Jasper scoffed.

"Wanna bet?"

"You're on!"

I didn't dare listen to what they were betting with now. It worried me each time. I got back to my drawings to distract me. I had found an old run-down cottage in the forest, and Carlisle was willing to buy it, if I decided that I wanted a new project, so I had started some drawing of how I was going to do it. The blue prints were looking very good, and I started humming to myself as I heard Edward's Volvo at the top of the drive. They came in, and there was no sound of an argument brewing, so I found myself relaxing, and mused over the drawings again. The sound of piano scales floated up the stairs as I shuffled through my papers, and I paused.

Edward's playing again! I thought happily to myself. A new tune wound its way through the house, and I sighed contentedly. A new song. It's been so long. What a lovely tune.

It wove up and down the octaves, slowly building to a forte, growing sweeter and higher as it went, when it suddenly stopped, and Edward laughed. Who had thought what? I flitted down the stairs, and saw Rosalie glaring at Edward. I stopped between them, my eyes darting between the two of them.

"Don't stop, Edward," I encouraged, breaking the strained silence. He smiled at me, and turned back to the keys. Rosalie sighed angrily, and stalked out of the room as Edward stifled another laugh.

"What's wrong, Rose?" Emmett called after her ignored him as she continued to the garage, slamming the door as she went.

"What's that about?" Emmett asked Edward, who still had the shadow of a smile on his face.

"I don't have the faintest idea," he lied, still trying not to laugh. Emmett grumbled, and lolloped back to the huge chess game he was playing with Jasper. They had laid eight chess boards together to play. I sighed. Boys will be boys.

"Keep playing," I said with a smile. It was so wonderful to hear him play, he was the best pianist I had ever heard, he could easily make it to the top. His music was something else. He did as I asked and turned back to the keys as I stood behind him and rested my hands on his shoulders. The song was enchanting, sweeping us all up in the magic of it, as he played around with a bridge.

"It's charming. Does it have a name?" I asked.

"Not yet," he murmured.

"Is there a story to it?" I asked, smiling. I hoped there was, but I didn't dare think it.

"It's... a lullaby, I suppose."

"A lullaby," I repeated. That was interesting. Not that lullabies were useless to vampires, they were totally beautiful and I loved them, but they came from trying to help humans to sleep. Humans...

The tune then seemed to flow away from Edward as it twisted and turned, minor to major, soft to loud, as Alice came to sit by Edward on the stool. She watched his fingers caress the keys as she sang out a descant harmony two octaves above the melody, and Edward murmured his approval. He added it in on the piano, nodding as he went. It changed mood, Alice catching on and working her harmony through the new melody.

"Yes," he sighed. "Perfect."

I squeezed his shoulder happily. The tune came to an end, and he pressed down onto the last chord, bending his head over the keys.

It's going to be fine Edward, I thought as I stroked his bronze hair. This is going to work out for the best. You deserve happiness, my son. Fate owes you that.

"Thanks," he whispered wistfully. He didn't believe me, I could tell.

Love doesn't always come in convenient packages.

He laughed without humour. Why did he always doubt himself so? When would he ever seem himself clearly?

You, out of everyone on this planet, are perhaps best equipped to deal with such a difficult quandary. You are the best and brightest of us all.

He sighed.

Despite his best efforts, I was still so happy that my son had been touched by love. I feared that it would be centuries before he found someone, like Carlisle.

She'll have you love you back I suddenly thought. If she's a bright girl. I smiled. But I can't imagine anyone being so slow they wouldn't see the catch you are.

"Stop it, Mom, you're making me blush," he teased. And thankfully, it looked like my words had touched him for once. He looked slightly happier. Alice laughed, and played the top hand of 'Heart and Soul'. Edward grinned at her, and completed the painfully simple harmony, before sweeping into her favourite, 'Chopsticks'.

She giggled, and then sighed. "So I wish you'd tell me what you were laughing at Rose about," she said. "But I can see that you wont." And she put on her most woeful expression. It was rather comical.

"Nope."

She flicked his ear playfully, dropping the woeful act in a second.

"Be nice, Alice," I told her, smiling. "Edward is being a gentleman."

"But I want to know," she said, with a whining edge to her voice.

Edward chuckled. "Here, Esme," he then said calmly, and his fingers began whispering over the keys into my favourite song. He had never named it, but told us that it was his tribute to the love he had seen between Carlisle and I. I loved it, it was perfect.

"Thank you dear," I sighed happily, squeezing his shoulders.

"Oh," said Alice suddenly after a moment of pause. "Jasper, guess what?"

Edward's hands froze on the keys.

"What?" Jasper asked, looking up from his chess game.

"Peter and Charlotte are coming to visit next week! They're going to be in the neighbourhood, isn't that nice?" Alice was excited already. Her and Charlotte had always got on very well, as they both had a great interest in fashion.

"What's wrong Edward?" I asked. I could feel the sudden tension in his shoulders.

"Peter and Charlotte are coming to Forks?" he hissed at Alice.

"Calm down Edward," she rolled her eyes at him. "It's not their first visit."

I heard his teeth clench together, and Alice frowned.

"They never hunt here. You know that."

Peter and Charlotte were always very careful when they visited us, never hunting within a fifty mile radius of where we stayed, something we could only thank them for.

"When?" Edward demanded. Alice pursed her lips unhappily, and told him through her thoughts. He nodded grimly. "No," he said to her, in seeming agreement. "You ready, Emmett?" he asked, turning to his brother.

"I thought we were leaving in the morning?"

"We're coming back by midnight Sunday. I guess it's up to you when you want to leave."

"Okay, fine. Let me say goodbye to Rose first."

"Sure. I suppose I have," he added at the end, a response to an unspoken thought.

"Play the new song for me, one more time," I asked. It was a beautiful piece.

"If you'd like that." He paused briefly, and then nodded to himself. I exchanged a worried glance with Alice, but we didn't ask.