Epilogue: Reunion

Two years had passed since the birth of Lisle Anthony. Two years with my son but two years without Edward. Though time no longer mattered to me, it did to Lisle and Charlie. Lisle was still growing. Carlisle concluded that he would stop when he reached eighteen since that was the age my own heart had stopped beating. Only time would tell if that conclusion was true but we had plenty of it. Charlie in the meantime continued to celebrate my birthdays since he still did not know of my vampire nature. To him I was now twenty years old. He always told me I never looked more beautiful, as if I never aged. If only he knew how true his statements were sometimes.

Today I spent my day with Lisle like I always did but today was special. Alice had seen in a vision that Edward would be coming home. She just didn't know when exactly. Even though Lisle was still young to understand some adult situations, I took him to the old house which never had been sold. Alice told me Charlie was holding onto it as a wedding present. I brought Lisle to the room, my room, where he had been conceived. The memory seemed as if had happened yesterday. Edward had been so nervous that night and it was more than just first time jitters. He was nervous that I would get hurt because I was still human at the time.

After we were done at the house, Lisle and I took a walk in the woods. For a two year old, he was all ready walking and didn't get tired of it. It was certainly the vampire part of him. He did not have a heartbeat though he looked human, his speed was evident and he was cold to the touch. I took Lisle to some of the places where I had been with Edward: the tree tops where he let me see him in the sunlight, the woods where I found out he was a vampire, and our meadow. Lisle seemed to sense the significance of these places as he would touch each natural thing gently as if they were made of glass and would soon break.

We were back at Charlie's house by mid day. I placed Lisle down for his nap but he didn't sleep long since he was too wired for the arrival of his father. There wasn't much to do. Laundry had been washed as had the dishes; again part of the charade I lived while under Charlie's roof. After getting restless, I picked up Lisle and we took a walk through the woods again, arriving at an abandoned house that we had come across a year ago. Alice had reassured us that this would be the place Edward would come though we still couldn't understand why. The sun was out in full force. I looked at Lisle and then looked to the sky circling slowly as I did so.

When I looked back at Lisle, he was smiling. "Day, day, day," he shouted- his word for daddy.

I looked to the small clearing in the woods and there was the silhouette I knew all too well. An ecstatic grin swept across my face as he continued to walk towards us. He was finally within several inches of me. He cupped my face and kissed my lips tenderly; a feeling I deeply missed but never forgot.

"Welcome home," I said to him after the kissing stopped.

He smiled at me and looked to Lisle, "Is this our son?"

I nodded, "Lisle Anthony Cullen, say hello to daddy."

Lisle reached for Edward immediately. "Day, day, day," he said excitedly.

"Hi there Lisle Anthony," Edward said feeling so proud.

"Stay, stay, stay," he said to his father.

"Promise," Edward said to his son meaning it. He then looked at me, "Now and forever."

Edward was right. We did have forever. It would be a never ending life but it would be worth it. We would be together as a family and nothing would ever break us apart. We belonged to each other and the world knew it. This was my dream that had come true and I was more than satisfied. I had my son and I had my Edward. Nothing could be better and nothing ever would be. This was my life now and I would treat it tenderly. I would love my boys the way I had always loved Edward and the way he had always loved me. It was now and forever.