End of Chapter 20
I wanted to just feel her next to me. She was willingly, lovingly, completely giving herself over to me. I wasn't ready to rush into it, though. I held her close and began humming in her ear, as I slowly swayed her in my arms to the music coming from my lips. I felt her arms wrap tightly around my waist as she pulled me as close as she could get herself to me and sighed.
After a moment, she raised her eyes up to me, and pulled me towards the bed. We laid down then, and I spent the rest of the morning making love to my angel.
When I finally convinced Bella that she did indeed need to eat something, she reluctantly got up, and grabbed some clothes while excusing herself to her morning routine. I dressed myself, and went downstairs to make my little human some breakfast. She came down the stairs 30 minutes later, showered and dressed, and sniffing the air.
"Mmmm...Edward, when did you learn to cook?" She asked smiling down at her omelet and bacon.
"I've had a LOT of free time in the past months." He said grumbling.
"I love that you learned to cook for me." She said leaning across and kissing me.
"I would do anything for you, Bella." I said looking down at my hands. I would have to tell her. Today. The more time she had to process the decision she had before her, the better. But, for now, I just sat there and watched her face relax in pleasure as she took bite after bite of the food I had made for her.
"You know, love. There are a few other people who are dying to see you." I said looking up at her.
"Everyone's back!" She squealed.
"Yes, and we can go over and see them, if you wish, once you are done eating." I said smiling. She really did love my family as well as me. My heart over-flowed with my gratitude for whatever forces brought Bella to me. In a few more hours, Bella would have all the information we could give her in order for her to make a decision she should have never had to make. My throat tightened at the thought that in a few more hours, she would decide to leave me forever.
"I'm done." She said patting her stomach and smiling at me. I quickly grabbed up her dishes and washed them, giving myself a moment to take a cleansing breath and put my mask of calm back on. I turned to her then, holding out my hand. "Let's go."
In no time, my Volvo was pulling up the drive that led to my house. It was quiet, but I could hear where my family was. They were waiting for us. I decided to forgo the garage, and pulled right up to the porch stairs. I went around and opened Bella's door, and we walked hand-in-hand into the house. The house was devoid of light except the sparkling chandelier that hung over the dining room table. There, everyone sat waiting. It was time.
Bella looked up at me a bit confused. She knew that we used the dining room table only for family meetings. Her grip tightened on my hand. I bent over and kissed her forehead and smiled at her re-assuredly, before leading her to the table. Before we got very far into the room, Alice bounded into the Bella holding her tightly. While I watched my sister hold onto her friend, I was overwhelmed with the thoughts of love pouring out from my family toward Bella. I noticed now as well, that there was a new chair sitting next to mine at the table. It was Bella's chair. The place in our family that they so desperately wanted her to fill.
"I missed you so much, Bella. We all did." Alice said stepping away from Bella now, and taking her place next to Jasper.
Bella noticed the extra chair now, and looked up at me with the tears of recognition filling up her eyes, and silently cascading down her cheeks. I walked over and took my seat next to Carlisle, and smiled at Bella pointing to the chair to my left with my eyes, and then looking up at her with a smile. Before she sat down, she made a circuit around the table. She lightly gripped Jasper's shoulder, and he reached his hand up and patted hers. She walked to Rosalie next kissing her blonde hair. She gave Emmett's a punch in the shoulder, and he chuckled and reached over and took his wife's hand. When she reached Esme, she cupped my mother's face in hers, and my mother reciprocated the action. They brought their foreheads together, and both sat there for a silent minute with their eyes closed, and then released each other smiling. She wrapped her arms around Carlisle from behind hugging him tight. He lovingly brushed his hand across her forearm that draped across his chest. Finally, she had come to me. She took my face in her hands and kissed me before taking her seat. She reached to her left and patted Alice's leg, before turning her attention to my family.
"So...who called this meeting?" Bella said wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Everyone let out a quiet laugh, and the intensity of the reunion melted a bit. That was my Bella. Putting everyone at ease.
"Bella," Carlisle began, "do you remember when Edward first told you about us?"
"Yes." Bella answered.
"Do you remember him telling you about the Volturi?" Carlisle asked now.
"Yes." Bella said, and though I couldn't read her mind, I knew she was replaying the conversation in my room in her head. "They are the royal family of the vampire world."
"Yes, but there is more to it than that." Carlisle said. "They police our world, in a way. There is one rule and one rule alone for our kind. Keep the secret."
A look of dawning appeared in Bella's eyes, but she listened intently as Carlisle talked about his time spent with the Volturi. The special powers so many of them held. She also listened to Jasper's story of life in the South and the wars that went on there before his time. She stared at him wide eyed as she heard revealed how those who risked the exposure of our existence were punished. She began slowly taking in the faces of my family as Jasper finished his story, and Carlisle talked about other instances that he had witnessed, and how it had ended for the others. Death...always death. Carlisle then spoke of his old friends; the brothers who ruled the Volturi: Marcus, Caius, and...Aro. She turned to me then. Her face shifted in emotions then from realization to horror to anger.
"He was here! He met me! He knows...he had to have guessed I know! Why did you tell me?!" She screeched. "You could have lied. I would have believed anything. Now you are all in danger. How could you do this to your family?! I am not worth this, Edward!" I took Bella's hands in mine quickly, and lowered my head so it was resting on them. How could she think that? She was worth death a million times over. She was worth the 90 years of solitude.
"Bella." Rosalie said gently now from across the table. "We all know the consequences of you knowing our secret. It wasn't even Edward's idea to tell you."
"He was ready to keep you in the dark, and deny what you meant to him." Alice joined in. "How could we as a family let that happen? We love Edward too, you know."
"Edward has found his mate, Bella. We have found a sister." Jasper said.
"A daughter." Esme chimed in.
"I..." I started, but Emmett cleared his throat. "...WE wanted you to know us. WE took the risk of you running away, because your love and acceptance was worth every risk to us. I didn't want to lie to you, Bella. I never want to lie to you. I needed you to know that my love was based on the fact that I loved everything that you are, good and bad. I wanted you to love me the same."
"But what about Aro. What will he do when he finds you? You must leave!" Bella said to us frantically.
"Bella." Carlisle said. "He already has."
Bella gasped, and grabbed my hand and looked panic stricken into my face.
"How are you still here?" She barely whispered.
"As you heard from Carlisle before, the Volturi are a coven of very talented Vampires. Aro is a collector of sorts, and he is always looking to expand his collection." I stated.
"He wants you." Bella recognized, but then turned still wide-eyed. "And Alice. And Jasper."
"And you." I whispered.
"What?!" She snapped her head back to my gaze. "For lunch? He could have had that weeks ago."
"No Bella." Carlisle spoke again. "Many of the members of the Volturi guard showed some hint of their strength in their human lives, and that is why Aro changed them, and brought them into his coven."
"Does he not have a klutz in the mix?" Bella asked playfully. Emmett snickered.
"It's not that, love." I said now. "You know you are silent for me. You are silent for Aro, also. His mind reading works when he touches your hand." She absentmindedly ran her fingertips over the hand he touched when she met him. "He doesn't only see what you are thinking at the moment, but every thought you have ever had. No one in all his millennia has been able to thwart his gift...until you. He is very curious how that will manifest itself when you are a vampire."
"WHEN I am a vampire." She caught that.
"Instead of bringing death to us...to me for exposing our secret, out of respect for his friendship with Carlisle, he has given us an ultimatum. He thinks he has given you an ultimatum." I muttered the last part. "We take you as part our family or you will be joining his."
"You said he thinks he has given me an ultimatum?" Why did she have to catch everything?!
"You could run, Bella. He won't be back to check on you for a year. You can finish high school, and then run. The way Aro finds people is with Demetri, and his gift works like mine and Aro's. He catches the tenor of your mind. If you were to run, he couldn't find you. We would set you up with all the money you would need to run forever." I said. "You don't have to lose your soul Bella. You don't have to give up your life." I was pleading now.
My dead heart began to crumble at the thought of never seeing her again. "I have a choice."
Everyone had stopped breathing. They were as afraid as I was at what her next words were going to be.
"You are right. I have a choice. I don't have to give up my life." She said looking into my eyes. "Edward...you are my life. I choose to be a part of this family, if you will have me. I love you all." She said resting her hand on my cheek and looking around the table. "These past months while you were away, I have been an empty shell. My heart left with you. I was the living dead, because there is no life without you." She turned to me now. "I love you."
"Bella, I love you so much! I will love you for eternity!" I pulled her close to me and kissed her. As we pulled away, she had silent tears of happiness running down her face, and I clutched her to me and began to sob into her shoulder. As we held each other, I felt the arms of my family slowly wrapping themselves around us. Everything felt complete now. Our odd family was now even. Bella wanted to be mine forever.
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