CHAPTER TWENTY - BELLA POV

Rose lent me a dress of hers - a simple, fitted little black dress that clung to my hips and landed just above my knee, showing a bit more leg than I was really comfortable with. But she insisted.

We waited upstairs until the first greeting were out the way, and the whole family had assembled in the living room to casually chat. Then we went downstairs. I sought Jasper ought first. He wasn't even looking at Alice, he was looking straight at me. His eyes raked down me then winked and grinned, causing me to smile foolishly back.

I heard a small intake of breath and realised Edward was staring at Jasper. Now he knew, how could he not? He'd see it in Jasper's head, see the love there, the passion.

I swallowed deeply and then looked at Edward. This was is. Ever since Rose had told me they were coming here, I'd been a little bit scared. Scared that seeing him would rip the hole in my chest apart. Afraid that seeing him would set my chest alive with fire, with love. I was afraid my love for him hadn't died, that it had just been momentarily eclipsed by what I felt for Jasper. But all eclipses end eventually. So I was afraid.

Alice had hurt Jasper so much - I didn't want to do the same.

Sensing my eyes, Edward turned to look at me. I looked at his golden eyes, his perfect, breathtaking face, his jumper tight on his perfect chest, his tousled bronze hair. He smiled, the crooked smile I'd always loved.

Then he stood.

"Bella, please can I talk to you?" I blinked. He wanted to talk to me? Why? I shot Jasper a reassuring look then I nodded mutely and followed him out of the front door. He walked a little away from the house and then stopped, turning to face me.

"What do you want, Edward?" My voice was sharp. He'd hurt me so much. They say once bitten, twice as shy. But I'd let him hurt me twice.

He opened his mouth, his hypnotising golden eyes burning into mine.

"Time turns flames to embers." He whispered, stepping closer. "But trees, they never stop growing. Every single year they get new shoots, new leaves, new flowers."

I blinked. I didn't have a clue what was going on. Had he gone insane?

"What I felt for Alice, was a flame. A flame that fizzled out long ago, months ago. My love for you, it's like a tree. A tree, that's been growing all this time, getting bigger, stronger, better. Isabella Swan, I love you. I love you more than I love the stars, I love you more than I love the sun, more than the sea, more than anything. More than anybody ever loved another. Take me back, I beg."

Oh my god.

He didn't love Alice anymore. He'd always loved me. It'd just been lost, lost beneath lust and passion. Everyone gets tempted right? Everyone, fancies people, even if their heart belong to someone else.

A million memories shoved their way to the surface.

Edward. Edward Cullen. How I'd loved him. How I'd needed him. How he'd made me feel. His smile. His face. His hands on my cheeks. Him. My lullaby.

Him leaving, telling me he didn't care if he died.

But he stil loved me, even now. He'd broken me, but he loved me.

I stepped forwards and in his eyes I saw hope and joy. I wrapped my arms around my neck and pushed myself up on tiptoes. Breath brushed through his lips and I reached closer and closer, to his stone lips. His eyes shut, ready for the kiss.

The kiss that he wasn't getting. I let go and stepped away, shaking my head.

"No, Edward, no." I said, harshly. "The leaves on the trees, in the winter they die. And what happens when they die? You go off with someone else, someone prettier than me, faster than me, stronger than me. I don't want to be a damn tree. I want to be a lighthouse." I said firmly. Confusion showed on his face.

"A lighthouse?"

"Yes, Edward. A lighthouse. Jasper says I'm his lighthouse. I show him the way and I light up the dark. I show him the way home. I'm not some damn tree that gets boring.I'm a lighthouse, a shining light forever. Stay the hell away from me." I said politely then spun on my heel and stalked back to the house, leaving him frozen on the grass, his face a mask of pain.

But not the mask of pain that mine had been.

He'd done it to himself.

I didn't love him anymore. I'd know since the first time I saw him again. He wasn't the person that I always wanted. Jasper was. Jasper was everything. Edward, well he could go on about flames, embers and growing trees all he wanted. He'd shattered me, Jasper had put me back together.

Jasper was worth a million of Edward.