The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: Cottage
Pen Name: Risbee
Pairing: Bella/Edward
Rating: M

Photo prompts can be viewed here:
thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

Thanks to CPW, the missing prompt is missing no more. I blame Frank.

"Do you trust me?" I pulled off the highway on to a driveway so hidden that you would miss it if you didn't know it was there. The trees were so thick Bella couldn't see much beyond the front of the car and I tried hard not to laugh as she squirmed and shifted in her seat trying to figure out what in the world she was supposed to be looking at. "You can't see it from here, baby. Do you trust me?"

I was incredibly nervous, but couldn't keep the surprise from her any longer because she was starting to get a bit irritated at the secrecy. For a few months now, I'd been spending every free moment I had here trying to get things perfect. I wouldn't say things are exactly how I want them yet, but they were damn close. As soon as I saw the place, I fell in love with it.

I can only hope Bella feels the same.

"Of course I trust you. Mostly." Bella's laughter was sincere, though when I wrapped a bandana around her eyes, to serve as a crude blindfold, it did change to reflect maybe the slightest bit of nervousness.

Placing a quick kiss on her lips in reassurance, I grabbed her hand with one of mine and continued down the gravel driveway. "When we get there, I don't want you to say anything for a few minutes. Just look and take it all in, and remember that you said you trusted me."

Great, now I was getting nervous.

I turned the volume up on the car stereo because Boston's More Than a Feeling was on and really, is there a better song out there? Nope.

The driveway was curvy and long, tall trees lined the path and all the fuzzy woodland creatures stood on the side and waved in welcome. Okay, so that was a bit of a stretch, but that's what I pictured happening when I finally had everything fixed up and put together.

Slowing down, I did a few laps around the circular driveway in an effort to get the passenger side of the car angled just right. I wanted Bella to have the best possible view when she finally removed the blindfold.

"Take it off, beautiful." Of course, she grinned and started taking off her shirt. "While incredibly tempting, that wasn't what I meant."

I loved that girl more than anything for always knowing when I needed to be distracted from all the thoughts running through my head.

When she took off the blindfold and blinked a few times, it was like time stopped. She got out of the car and stood there staring. Granted, that's what I wanted her to do, but her silence terrified me.

"Edward? What is this?"

"It's ours, Bella. This cottage belongs to us."

She looked at me in disbelief. "Did you realize that it was missing a roof?"

Yeah. I had noticed.

She went to go open the door, but before I could stop her, she pulled it off the hinges. "And a door too?"

Based upon the look on her face, I felt pretty confident that she thought I might be on drugs. "Okay, so it needs a little work."

The look she shot me told me everything she was thinking.

"But you said you trusted me." Now, more than ever, I needed my grin to get me out of trouble. "Here…" Taking the door from her and setting it against the side of the house – which was structurally sound – I led her inside.

"I thought if we took out this wall, it would open up to make one big room. And maybe make this window a bit bigger and once we clear out the brush a bit, we'll be able to see down to the river. At least I think so…"

A loud scream came from what will be the kitchen area and Bella came tearing around the corner beating at her head. "A bird just tried to eat me!"

"Oh, that's probably Frank."

"You NAMED him?"

"He's kept me company. It was either that or I start talking to myself."

"Because talking to a bird is that much better?"

I didn't tell her that I had also named his 'wife' who lived in the nest in what used to be the pantry.

"Look, I know it isn't perfect, but you have to look at the potential." I started describing some of the ideas I had and showing her some of the things I had already done. We would have a swing on the front porch and she could do whatever she wanted with the yard. "You just said the other day that you hated not being able to play in the dirt."

A small smile started to spread across her face and I knew I had her. I was totally winning her over on the idea; it was time to pull out the big guns. "And look…that tree over there. One day, we can put a swing on it and we can watch our kids play on it."

"You think about that?" She whispered and grabbed my hand.

"All the time. That's the first thing I saw when I looked at this place. Not what it was, but what it could be. You and me and a boy and girl and all the things I want with you, though if you mention this to Jasper, I'll deny it. I told him that I liked the challenge of renovating, but it is so much more than that. When I look at this cottage, I see our lives in every square inch."

I'd done my best. My heart was out there and I encouraged her to walk around some more and take a new look at everything. "I have some sleeping bags in the trunk and thought maybe, if you don't completely hate it and make me burn it down, we could sleep here tonight. Not many people can say they sleep under the stars in their own living room, right?"

She opened the back door and looked outside. "Or we can sleep out there if the birds make you nervous, but they stop moving around when the sun goes down. They won't mess with you."

"That's not what I'm thinking about, Edward."

When she turned around, there were tears in her eyes but she was smiling. ""A tree house; our kids are going to want a tree house."

The stars that night had never looked so bright.