Alright! Here we are!
#1 – Thanks for being patient in waiting for this update. It's sort of tough to focus on writing some days with the four little kids – they're always needing, like, food, and clean clothing, and stories, and attention. Sheesh. Kids.
#2 – Thanks to the husband, once again, for the ideas, patience, discussion, edits and only occasionally making fun of me for all of this business. You can have Edward, I'll keep this guy.
#3 – Sorry if I didn't respond to your review or PM…just trying to keep my head above water here. We read them ALL and love them. It makes the effort worth it. xoxo
#4 – Speaking of water, thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by the earthquake and tsunami. My love to any Japanese readers.
#5 – Not that any of you know me or anything, but since I'm excited, I'll share – the ultrasound today showed that it's another GIRL who will be joining our family in July! That's going to make it four girls and one boy, for anyone who's keeping track. We are totally bonkers.
#6 – THANKS to everyone who has been recommending this story all over the place. I'm kind of amazed and it makes me smile. xoxo again.
Chapter Twenty-five
Bella stared at the tall man in front of her with the sun-kissed hair and bronzed skin. The brass telescope he was holding clattered to the deck of the ship and rolled to her feet.
"Bella?" he whispered.
She nodded. "The commodore…he found me…" she started but felt her throat closing with emotion at her proximity to him.
Edward did not move, a look of caution slowly replacing the shock and surprise on his face.
Then he took a tentative step toward her.
"I have much to say to you, Bella…much to explain." His eyes held a mixture of nervous hope. "If I can beg you to listen, I hope that maybe you might understand…and then, if you wish, I will never bother you again-"
His words were cut short as Bella covered the short distance between them in a fraction of a second, throwing her arms fiercely around him and burying her face in his neck.
For the smallest moment he stood still and then he wrapped his arms tightly around his Bella, his cheek pressed to the top of her head, his eyes squeezed shut. His breath came in gasps as he tried to understand that she was here, in his arms.
Bella's grip on him tightened as he found her ear and whispered.
"Bella, please, I know why you left, but please, please, please don't ever go away again. I am yours, completely, if you'll have me, please, dearest, please never leave again."
The desperation in his voice was raw and his voice broke on the last words.
"I am so sorry…more sorry than you'll ever know and if you'll let me I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up the years we lost…"
"Edward, hush," Bella said quietly. "I'm sure there is much to talk about, but just know that I am here and I am yours and I will never leave again."
He exhaled heavily, as if he had been holding his breath for a very long time, and he reached to her face, gently tilting her chin up to him. His eyes looked directly into hers before he bent his mouth to her lips and kissed her softly. She responded eagerly, raising her hands to his hair and entwining her finger in its softness, feeling where the ends of his hair had been stiffened slightly by the salty sea air.
For several moments, the couple stood, hidden behind the mountain of rope, reveling in the intensity of their reunion, thrilling at rediscovery of each other's physical presence.
"Edward," Bella breathed, when she finally paused for a moment, her face still being covered with adoring kisses, "you can't know how much I've missed you, how much I've ached for you…"
"I believe I can," Edward murmured against her skin. "Sweet Bella, I don't believe I've had a sound night's sleep in more than three years."
She smiled. "Do you remember the first time you called me sweet Bella?" she asked as her fingers brushed the soft skin behind his ear.
Edward's kisses slowed and he gave a small groan. "Of course…that night I came to your room after overindulging. I am still embarrassed."
"Please don't be," whispered Bella. "That was when I really began to hope that you might care for me the way I knew I cared for you."
"Do you know when I first began thinking about you?" he asked. "It was the day after you came to Wrenfield Hall. I had come back from a ride and I saw you through the window in the front drawing room. You were steadying a ladder for someone washing the windows. When I looked up and saw you watching me, it was as if your eyes were looking straight into my soul. After that I became…aware of you. And of course, every interaction we had after that only pulled me in deeper."
"Truly?" said Bella, as she recalled the moment she first saw Edward in the light of day. "I can hardly believe you noticed me at all."
Her breathing came more rapid now and she found it hard to concentrate on anything as Edward's mouth moved down her neck to the hollow at the base of her throat.
"Edward," she finally whispered, "There are others on this ship…perhaps we shouldn't…"
Reluctantly, Edward pulled his lips from her skin.
"Of course, darling," he agreed quietly. "Pardon me, I just can hardly believe you are here, flesh and blood, in my arms. I've so often dreamt of this moment I find it hard to control myself."
"I look forward to the time when control is no longer needed," she whispered, her warm breath tickling his ear.
Edward pulled back slightly and began to shake his head, his eyes dark and wanting.
"Bella, you can't say things like that to me and expect me to maintain any restraint." He sighed and dropped his hands from her waist and searched for her hands until he found them. Bringing them to his lips, he kissed them tenderly.
"I have so many questions for you, darling!" he said with a sudden burst of energy. "Where have you been? Why did you not stay in contact with the Webbers or anyone from Wrenfield Hall? How did you come to be in Venice? How do you support yourself? Have you been happy? Did you miss me at all?"
Bella laughed quietly. "And I have questions that number in the hundreds for you, Edward. But we have time…thank heaven we have time now."
He wrapped his arms around her again, feeling her chest rise and fall against him, her head resting on his chest as if she had never left at all.
"This is happiness," he whispered.
Bella's eyes closed and she stood still for a moment, listening to the steady beat of his heart, melting into his strong warmth.
"Darling, would you like to go up in the balloon?" Edward finally asked. "Being up there…it's like nothing you've ever seen before."
"Mmmm…" Bella responded. "You know, that's how the commodore got me to come back to the ship, by promising me a ride in the balloon. Of course he neglected to tell me that you were here." She smiled at the thought. "He's a good man."
"Truly one of the best," he agreed. "He has been an incredible support to me these last three years, and I to him, I hope."
Edward pulled away but still held Bella's hand as he moved over to the balloon. Reaching for her waist he easily lifted her up and into the basket.
"Who will bring us up?" Bella asked, looking up at the cloud of silk above her head.
Edward turned to smile up at her. "I will. That's what I am doing here on this ship. In order for Commodore Armstrong to be able to bring me along I needed to be useful in some way so I learned everything there is to know about balloon aviation and I am training others along the way."
Within minutes, Bella and Edward were rising into the cool spring air as two sailors on the ship slowly unwound the winch.
"Unbelievable," breathed Bella as she looked at Venice, spreading out before her. "Oh! Edward, I can see my office from here!" she cried out, pointing with her finger.
"Your office?" asked Edward in surprise, turning to Bella.
"Yes! Look, over there at the Piazza San Marco – the first street above that to the right. Do you see that first building? The two windows on the corner on the third floor are my office."
"What…?"
"I have a small tour company – very small." She smiled. "It's just me and one other woman, Sofia." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small ivory-colored business card and handed it to Edward.
He traced his fingers over the writing on the card, listening as Bella explained how she came to work for Mrs. Favaretto and how the business was now hers.
"This is your business?" he asked, looking at her with wonder.
"Yes, well it's very small and the office is just rented, but we're very busy and doing quite well."
Edward nodded, slipping the card into his pocket. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, staring out at the maze of red roofs and canals, and whispered in her ear, "Venice is certainly a wonderful city…a city I would love to call my home, Bella."
She wrinkled her brow and turned back to him.
"But Wrenfield Hall…" she began.
Edward shook his head. "I realized a long time ago that a house does not make a home, Bella, and as much as I love Wrenfield Hall, I love you more. Wherever you are is my home. If your life is in Venice, then I will come here. I can find a good man to manage the estate and we can go back to England and visit on occasion. But I'll not leave you."
Bella looked at him for a moment, then pulled him close, covering his mouth with hers.
"Edward," she said when she broke away. "Thank you. Thank you for giving up so much for me, thank you for valuing my work. But Edward – the only thing I want more than being with you is being with you at Wrenfield Hall. It's your family home and I want to be part of your family – in our home. And though I've tried to pretend otherwise, I miss my friends! I miss Lizzie and Mrs. Cope and the Webbers and Angela. Angela might have a whole brood of children now and I don't even know them! And Lizzie – I missed her wedding and she probably has a child now and it pains me to not be a part of her life."
"I love Venice, I do, but I have always longed to return to England – and to Wrenfield Hall. Even when I buried those feelings, they were there. Let's go home, Edward."
Edward smiled. "Alright, sweetheart. But we can come back to Venice anytime you wish."
"That would make me very happy. I do have friends here I care for, and I love the city."
"Will you take me to your office, Bella? And can I meet your friends? I have missed out on so much of your life, I want to know where you sleep and what you eat, your favorite places to walk and what you have read…"
"I think I could be booked for a tour," she smiled, "but don't expect it to come cheaply."
He returned her smile as they turned back to face the city. His arms wrapped around her waist from behind, and he sighed as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
"Tell me about your family, Edward," Bella said, as she leaned back into him. "How is Carlisle?"
"He has improved but he is not the man he once was. Esme watches his every move and hardly lets him lift so much as a soupspoon but I don't think he minds so much. He is happy to still be with his family."
"And Alice?"
He laughed. "She's Alice – with twins! I had never seen a woman so possessed with preparations for the arrival of a baby and then when it was two she and Jasper were beyond thrilled. The babies are two now and Alice and Jasper are – well, they're tired!"
"What about Emmett and Rosalie? Are they well?"
"They are well now. Rose was with child last year but lost the baby unexpectedly. She and Emmett took it hard but after a few months they were able to move beyond the sadness. They hope for another child but in the meantime Rose has thrown herself into charitable work with a home for foundlings in London. Truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised to return to find that she and Emmett have taken one of those children home as their own."
"And James," Edward asked, "how much did the commodore tell you about him?"
"He said that he offered to marry Miss Winters when he discovered her…condition, but beyond that, nothing."
Edward sighed. "My brother had been difficult for years, as I have told you, but there was much more to it than I shared with you. It was his problems with gambling and opium that led to my necessary association with the Winters family and nearly forced the marriage between Tanya and I."
He pulled her even closer to him.
"While I was most assuredly not going to marry Tanya once there was a way out for me, I couldn't understand why James was so quick to offer to take her as his wife, considering her conniving nature and how her family very nearly destroyed ours, but he did his best to convince me . . ."
"James, are you certain? This is where you want to hang your hopes for happiness?"
James looked at his brother with eyes that showed both weariness and excitement and shook his head.
"Believe it or not, Edward, I've loved her for two years now, but she never seemed to see me as anything but an amusing partner for cards or someone to laugh with at a party. Once she – or her father – decided it was you she wanted, I knew I didn't have a chance in hell."
"I know it's a risk I'm taking, marrying her, but I think I might understand her in a way that no one else can. I'm not a particularly good man, Edward, that's no secret. You've always been Abel – I've been Cain. But now I think this is my opportunity to do the right thing and maybe even win the love of the woman I've wanted for years. And I will raise this child as my own, I can tell you that. We've had a good example in that regard, haven't we, brother? Perhaps I do have a little of Father in me after all."
He shrugged. "At any rate, at least I won't have to be tortured by watching the two of you try to make a go of a marriage and failing miserably. If this ends in unhappiness and ruin I can at least be assured that I tried."
"Where will you go?" Edward asked quietly, his face turning to the flickering light of the fire in the hearth of the Trefoil House drawing room.
"We'll go to China, I think , and work on securing the steady supply of silk we'll need for the factory. If we stay there long enough there won't be more than a few raised eyebrows when we return with our baby. People will talk, but I think we can weather that storm."
"So they are in the Orient?" Bella asked in amazement.
"Yes, and with three children now! Perhaps having twins is a family specialty because shortly after she had her first baby, she was with child again. But this time, she and James had two. James talks in his letters of their returning to England soon but I don't know when that will happen."
"All these babies…" murmured Bella quietly. "So many blessings."
Edward straightened and turned Bella so she was facing him. "I want to give you everything you want, Bella, and if you want a baby, we'll have one. If you want a dozen babies…well, then we'll have a dozen! We might need to take on a few nannies, I would expect."
Bella laughed. "Yes, I want babies, but let's not start interviewing nannies just yet, darling."
"Of course," Edward smiled. "And I understand something has to happen before the babies can come, anyway."
Bella raised one eyebrow at him. "Well sir, that's very forward of you," she said teasingly.
Edward reddened slightly and shook his head. "That's not what I was referring to, Miss Swan…although it is a lovely thought…"
He took a deep breath and slowly lowered himself to one knee on the balloon basket floor as his hand reached into his breast pocket.
"Isabella Swan, I have carried this with me since before we parted, hoping against reason that I might someday be able to kneel and offer it to you - the woman for whom it was always intended."
Unfolding his hand, he revealed a platinum ring. Its deep blue sapphire was surrounded by smaller, glittering diamonds.
"I have always thought you were lovely in blue," he said quietly, his eyes fixed on hers, "and when I saw this ring I knew it, like my heart, belonged to you and to no one else."
"Will you marry me?" he whispered.
Bella immediately fell to floor of the basket, throwing her arms around Edward's neck and kissing his forehead, his cheeks, his closed eyes and finally his lips.
"Yes!" she said. "Yes, yes, yes!"
-xxx-
Minutes later they were again standing, their arms wrapped contentedly around each other, floating in their own world high above the Venetian landscape.
"I feel as though the whole world is before us," said Bella.
"It is, sweetheart," replied Edward, pulling her closer. "It truly is."
OK! Hope it was satisfying enough, considering its citrus-less (unless you use your imagination…) nature. There is one more chapter, just to sort of wrap it all up with a pretty bow (hah! I accidently typed "with a pretty boy"….yeah, well that, too…).