I know, I'm a horrible person!

It's not that much longer than normal but full of good things! Next chapt is longer and has even better bits in it! I'm excited! It's coming along nicely.

Posting day might be changed to Wednesday next week, Angel is taking a much needed holiday and I'm needing to get ahead of you guys a bit so I'm not so panicy and rushed.

Enjoy!

Edward POV

I knew exactly where we were going this time; I didn't have to wait for Alice. It was a standing competition between us to see who could get there first. We all take different routes, Alice driving her Porsche, Rose driving Emmett's Jeep and me in the Volvo. I waved to Alice as we overtook her and Jasper to take a sharp left onto the mountain road that led to The Village.

And this is where the real fun begins.

I sped up, steering expertly around the curvy road. I suddenly remembered that Bella had never seen me drive like this and I wondered if it scared her. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye and noticed she had one hand gripping the door and the other holding tightly to her seat belt. Her knuckles were turning white with the force she was exerting.

I snorted.

"What? You think this is funny?" Her voice sounded strained.

"No, not funny; fun." I turned my head and grinned at her. She squeaked.

"Watch the road! Are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm a fantastic driver, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"No worries Houdini." I laughed.

"It's more like Evil Knivel, smart arse; daredevil not magician."

I rolled my eyes and she shot me a withering look before returning her attention to the road. I slowed down slightly, even though it irked me to give Alice any headway. Bella's knuckles slowly regained their normal colour as she relaxed. She turned to me and gave me a shaky smile.

"Thanks," she said quietly. "My mother died in a car accident."

I slowed down even further at her statement, which gave me the chance to look over at her. Her eyes shone with unshed tears as they stared down at the hands in her lap.

"I'm sorry," I said, leaning over to take hold of one of those hands. She looked up at me and smiled sadly. "I'll be more responsible, I promise."

She nodded and turned her eyes to the forest flashing by her window but I don't think she actually saw it.

The rest of the short drive was quiet. I had upset her and now I felt responsible to cheer her up. I wanted to see her be the happy, radiant woman I had seen earlier before I fucked it up like the idiot I am. I opened the door for her to get out while trying to think of a way to make her smile again.

We were late, the others were already there but I didn't care, they could wait. I took Bella's hand and led her in the opposite direction from the path. She gave me a questioning look but didn't ask any questions, following me blindly. I pulled her into the forest surrounding The Village carpark and down a small walking trail.

She must think I'm a madman, dragging her into the bush like this.

It was only a short walk to our destination and I was pleased by her expression. When I pulled her out of the trees and into the award winning garden, she gasped as she looked around. There was an abundance of tulips, roses, irises, pansies, daffodils and many other beautiful flowers. The owners of The Village were avid gardeners and they loved to take us walking through the many sections of the garden.

"Edward," she breathed, gazing in wonder at the astounding garden. "It's beautiful."

She turned and looked up at me with shining eyes, only this time they were shining with happiness, just like I had planned. I couldn't help but take her face in my hands and kiss her softly amongst the variety of perfumed flowers. She kissed me back, gently, slowly, her lips parting to let the tip of my tongue touch hers.

I kissed her mouth, her face, her eyes, and was making my way down her gorgeous neck when she laughed and stopped me.

"Edward," she said, lifting my chin and searching my eyes. I gazed back into her swirling brown eyes and smiled. I reached out to touch her soft, pale cheek and colour blossomed under my fingers.

"Beautiful," I whispered. "Come on, love." I swept her hair back from her face and gestured back the way we had come. "We mustn't keep the masses waiting."

She smiled and took my hand as we strolled leisurely back down the path to the carpark, then up the steps to the tavern. The Village is based on the same design as Shakespeare's Cottage; it's an old Elizabethan cottage that has been renovated into a tavern and B&B. It's one of our favourite places to be on the weekends. Not because it's fancy, but because of the atmosphere- it's lovely to sit in the courtyard on a nice sunny day, and I knew Bella would love it

I couldn't help but glance at the woman walking beside me every few seconds. She caught me looking and smiled lightly. She looked so happy; it was wonderful to be around her when she was this radiant.

We entered the courtyard to be greeted with wolf whistles and cat calls- Emmett of course. Bella blushed the most beautiful shade of pink before taking a seat next to Alice. They began talking in hushed whispers. I punched Emmett in the arm and growled at him.

"I swear Em, if she never touches me again, it's your fault." His grin only widened and he didn't even try to be quiet as he replied.

"Eddie buddy, I don't think that will ever happen. You sexy, hunk of man you, me-ow." I shuddered and moved my chair further away from him. Of course his response was to laugh boisterously.

"You know baby," Rose interrupted us. "It was rather disturbing how well you did that. Have you been wearing my heels and practicing in the mirror again?"

Emmett's mouth opened and closed a few times as the rest of us fell into fits of uncontrollable giggles.

Conversation flowed easily after that. Emmett had unknowingly broken the ice and set us all back into normal mode. I smiled around at my friends and family. Then there was Bella. She was something new altogether, and I was excitedly anticipating where our relationship could go.

I thought of what I had said to her earlier.

Bella, I think I could love you, very easily.

I knew I wasn't wrong about that. We were only one small step away from love and I could see by the way she watched me out of the corner of her eye she felt the same way.

I smiled, thinking of the group of people I was lucky enough to call my friend and family and was quietly satisfied.

Bella POV

I could see Edward watching us with the silliest grin on his face. It was slightly crooked and reached all the way to his eyes. He looked devilishly handsome when he smiled like that and even though I was sitting down, my legs still turned to jelly. I wondered what he was thinking. When his gaze reached me his grin widened and I couldn't help but smile as well.

I wonder if he is thinking about me?

The thought gave me a warm fuzzy feeling and I hoped I was right. I would be an extremely lucky girl if I managed to bag this gorgeous, thoughtful, romantic man. My thoughts turned to what our future could be like; I had no doubt that we would be happy together. I could see us buying a house together, getting married, Alice designing my dress, our family and friends attending.

Whoa! Wait just a second! Where the hell did that come from?

I was jumping way too far ahead of myself. I had only met Edward yesterday. Yes, I felt like we had known each other for years, I felt like a part of myself had finally come back to join the rest of me, but marriage? I had never wanted to get married before. Even though I tend to get myself into a lot of trouble, I consider myself independent and to give that away to someone else always made me feel smaller, like I meant less.

For the first time, I am considering it. If I've read him right, Edward could be the perfect caretaker for my heart.

I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts and turned back to Alice.

"So, what torture do you have lined up for me this afternoon?"

"Oh nothing," she said lightly. I raised an eyebrow. "Well, nothing for a normal woman." She scrutinised me, ticking things off on her fingers as she went. "Let's see. Hair, definitely. Make-up, without a doubt. And most importantly; your outfit."

She pulled a face and turned eagerly to Rose. "Are you free this afternoon? I might need some help."

"I could help, I suppose," Rose responded, examining her fingernails. "You might want to start with the hair."

"Hello, I'm right here!" I protested.

They just carried on like I wasn't there, nattering away about colours and tones that would match my pale skin and dark hair. I looked incredulously at Emmett, who just shrugged in return. I heard a chuckle to my right and turned to glare at Edward. His face straightened immediately and he gave me the most innocent look he could muster. I narrowed my eyes even further and poked him.

"What are you up to buster? Fancy telling me where we're going tonight?" He captured the hand that was poking him easily and played with my fingers, all the while continuing the innocent façade.

"I don't know yet," he replied, looking down at our entwined fingers. He glanced up at me through his lashes and I caught my breath at the sight. "What do you like?"

I realised that he was honestly asking me because we had only met yesterday. We barely knew each other but the date would be a good chance for us to talk, alone. I actually wanted to know about him. I wanted to know what was swirling through that gorgeous head. I was just flabbergasted that he seemed to want to know the same thing about me.

Then it dawned on me that he probably felt the same way, he was nervous. He didn't know what I liked or where to take me. He didn't know anything about me either. I smiled triumphantly as I realised, we were on even ground in this situation. I suddenly felt more confident in myself.

It was then that I realised, the table had gone quiet. I glanced around, nervous once again, only to find that we were alone. The others had left while we were too wrapped up in each other to notice. I smiled and turned back to Edward, who had the biggest grin on his face. We must have looked like complete idiots, just sitting there grinning stupidly at each other.

I looked down at our entwined hands and smiled again despite myself. I liked the way his long fingers wrapped around my small hands. His thumb was rubbing softly and rhythmically across the top of my fingers. I glanced back up at his face to find that he was watching me. I blushed, embarrassed yet again and dropped my eyes back to our hands.

"Ah, I actually like to cook myself. Do you mind?" I said, remembering his question. I looked back up at his face, trying to judge his reaction, only to find him still smiling.

"I would love that," he replied softly. "We would have to kick everyone out of Alice's house. It will take a lot of shopping trips as bribery." I grimaced and he laughed. "I see you've already had the pleasure of meeting Alice in shopping mode."

"Unfortunately, yes."

I had been shopping with Alice once, and once only. It was an absolute nightmare. I'm one of those quick shoppers; in, grab stuff, try it on, get out. Alice is the opposite; at least an hour is spent in every store and every store is visited. She would never be able to go through an entire shopping centre, not even on a long weekend and if she slept there overnight. By the end of the day I was dragging my feet, laden with shopping bags and whinging like a little girl. Hey, you would too! It was overkill!

I sighed, dreading it already but he was right, it was necessary if we wanted the house to ourselves for a little while. A game of some kind for Emmett, a pair of shoes for Rose and I had a book Jasper might be interested in. You see if we gave Alice and Jasper a present, Emmett would whinge and complain that he didn't get one. Rosalie would look like she didn't care, but the next time you wanted a favour, she would remember and that was definitely not a good thing.

I stood up, taking Edward with me.

"Come on, spunk. It looks like we have to go shopping now."

"You know them well, I see," he said, laughing. He pulled me into his side as we made our way down the path back to the car.

"Oh yeah. A little too well if you ask me." I winked at him.

"Ew! Pictures sprouted at that statement that I never, in all my life, wanted to see," he mocked me, shuddering.

We laughed and joked our way to the car. He walked me around to the passenger side and opened the door for me, bowing.

"Pour vous ma dame," he said with a little flourish of his hand.

"Vous remercier monsieur," I replied, daintily stepping into the car. He ran eagerly to the driver's side and got in, starting the car, grinning the whole time.

I could get used to this smart arsed, cheery man and it couldn't hurt that he was damn gorgeous too. I started to realise all the things I did know about him. He's intuitive; he knew what was going on last night at the club, he knew how to make me feel better. He was sweet and chivalrous; opening doors for me, helping me out of the car or up the stairs. He's a hopeless romantic; that garden was breathtaking and I'm sure he had a few other tricks up his sleeve.

He's like something out of a fairy tale. Maybe I was wrong about there not being a happy ending for someone like me. He could be my knight in shining armour. I would have to be stupid not to give him a chance. After all, what would life be if we didn't take chances?

French Translation

Edward: For you my lady

Bella: Thank you sir

Check out the Why Don't You Get a Job Blog for pics of The Village and the gardens. They are based on real places that are in my neighbourhood. I actually go to the Tav every weekend, it's our favourite haunt.

The date is going very well at the moment. I am a bit stuck on their conversation, what should they talk about? Their relationship obviously but what personal things? Any ideas?

-Gee