The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt: #7 – Cottage
Pen Name: beegurl13
Pairing/Main Character(s): Bella & Edward
Rating: M

Photo prompts can be viewed here:
thetwilight25 dot com backslash round-six backslash prompts

A/N: I don't own this, we all know who does. What I do own is a special love for the song that inspired this story. My name kinda comes from it...and it will forever be one of my favorites. It's so totally the best girl name song ever recorded. :)

Thanks to my girlies – EdwardsBloodType, Unchanged Affections, Twilight44, goldentemptress, HollettLA, MaggieMay14, Luxure, bugsmama07, Rose Arcadia and my fan fic wifey Mrs. Robward. I love them more than I can possibly say. I'm a lucky girl… :)

Boy you guys were glad to see Edward at the end of last chapter. :D I'm not sure why I'm even writing anything here. I know you're all dying to find out where the HECK he was for the past year! :D

~*0*~

Chapter 25

~*0*~ Cottage ~*0*~

I'm warm and it smells good. My eyelids want to open, but I don't let them. In my mind, I'm happy. I'm at peace. I wonder if I'm dead, maybe. I'm just content and relaxed and so, so happy. I curl my shoulders in toward my chest and squeeze my legs together. It feels good and right, and I don't want to leave the darkness.

In my mind, Edward's here. It's like we're floating on air or water. I can feel him next to me. His arms are around me, and his breath fans out over my face. I can smell the ocean on his skin, and I know if I reach out, I can feel his soft hair in my fingers. This is what I've missed—what I've longed for—and I don't dare open my eyes and ruin it.

"Bella," I hear him say. I can't do anything more than mumble his name and emit whimpers of happiness. His fingers slide over my face and his voice comes closer. "Bella, baby, wake up."

"No. If I do, you'll leave." I press my lips together and squirm my way deeper into the warmth. As I do, I feel his hold on me tighten, and he welcomes me in. For a year, this is what I've missed the most. Just the feel of him. I've longed for it.

"Baby, wake up. It's okay, I'm here."

"No," I whisper, but a hand shakes me, nudging me out of my peace.

"Bella," he says over and over again. I whine and ask him to stop, but he doesn't. Then I feel something soft against my forehead. It feels like lips, and it reminds me of how Edward always used to kiss my forehead.

"Edward," I sigh. I'm with him, after all this time. I'm happy and I never want to leave.

"Baby, please wake up. Bella, please."

His voice sounds so sincere, and I want to do what he asks. I fight it, but soon my eyelids are winning, and as I squint in the soft light of the room, I see a body next to mine. Last I knew, I was in the bar, so why am I now lying on my bed? I recognize the scent of my laundry detergent and the feel of my bedspread. But who is with me? As I open my eyes wider, I see him. Edward.

"Edward?" I whisper, and his hand moves across my cheekbone, gliding over my skin and making me feel like I'm on fire.

"Yeah, it's me."

His eyes are exactly like I remember them. His hair is a little longer than I've seen before, and his skin is paler, but it's him. My arms are against his chest, and my hands reach out to touch him. I can feel the muscles under his shirt, but he's not as hard and wide as I remember.

"I don't understand. How did you...where did you come from?"

He smiles a sad smile and lets out a slow breath. "It's a long story. I think you should wake up a little more before I tell you."

He pulls away from me just a bit, and my body reacts. My fingers grab onto his shirt, and I'm pulling him back to me so hard that it startles him.

"Baby, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't leave. Please don't leave me again," I cry. I can feel my eyes welling up with tears, and my heart is in my throat. I can't lose him again. I won't survive it if I do.

"Bella, I'm not leaving. I'll go make us some coffee. You should change your clothes. Your jeans are still wet from the bottles you dropped right before you fainted. We're just lucky I caught you before you fell onto the glass."

I nod and sit up, keeping my eyes fixed on him as he stands from the bed. I'm afraid to let him out of my sight, but I watch as he walks to the kitchen and begins fiddling with the coffee maker. Making myself calm down a bit, I quickly grab some sweatpants and a t-shirt and change my clothes. When I come into the living room, he's standing in the kitchen with his back to me.

"You find everything okay?" I ask.

He turns and looks at me. "Yeah, it's all in the same places I remember. I think."

"I didn't move anything, so it should be."

He smiles at me, and I can tell he's nervous. "You're a lot thinner. Are you okay?" he asks. It makes me laugh out loud.

"No, I haven't been okay for the past year."

"Bella, I'm sorry about that fight before I left. We were both under so much stress, and I let things get to me. I shouldn't have. I never should have left the way I did, and I'll forever be sorry."

Watching him, I can see some of his old "tells" and I know he's being honest with me.

"Jasper explained a lot," I say, and I see his eyes light up.

"He's okay? Jasper made it back okay?" His body is almost vibrating, and I wonder if he has any idea of what we've been going through.

"Yeah, he's okay. He was hurt when they found him, but it wasn't serious. He was in a raft with Paul and Alex. They're okay, too."

Edward runs his hand through his hair, and I see his shoulders slouch just a bit. It's as if an actual weight has been lifted from him. "I'm so glad. I was so worried about them. I mean, the last time I saw Jasper, I was heading straight for his raft. I tried to turn to the right, but I didn't know if it was enough."

"He told me. Jasper told me what happened. And...Alice and I heard it as it was happening."

He looks at me for a moment. "You heard it? What do you mean?"

"Jake took Alice and me to the Coast Guard station in Sekiu, and they let us listen. She put your transmission on the speaker, and we heard you."

"Oh Bella, I'm sorry. It must have sounded really bad."

I nod. "Yeah, it did. I try not to think about it anymore, but sometimes the last thing you said to Tia runs through my head, and I don't want to forget that."

Edward shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot, looking down at his hands. "What did I say?"

I watch him closely, and I know something is off. "You told her to find me, and to tell me that you loved me and would wait for me. You said you wanted me to be happy."

He nods his head. "Oh, okay."

"Edward, what?"

He grabs two mugs and pours our coffee, then moves around to the sofa and urges me to sit down next to him.

"I don't remember the accident. Well, not all of it. I remember parts of it, but not much."

"Why is that? What happened to you?"

He plays with his cup, and I know he's stalling.

"It's okay, you can tell me anything," I say, reaching over to touch his arm and reassure him. I want to touch his thigh, be we haven't been together for a year. I don't know if he'll be comfortable with that intimate of a gesture.

"All of this isn't firsthand knowledge. Some of this stuff they told me, and then some I remembered after the fact. But, I guess we got into a pretty bad storm. The guys got in the life rafts, but I didn't go. I stayed on the boat to make sure they all got away okay. The waves were so high, Bella. I remember saying to myself that I'd never seen a storm take over so fast before."

"That's what Jasper said, too. He said it kind of came from nowhere, and by the time you guys realized how bad it was, it was too late."

Edward nods. "Yeah, that's what I remember. Um, so I saw the raft in front of the boat, and I turned into the waves. I don't remember much of that, but I know I saw a wall of water next to me, and then everything went fuzzy. I can kind of remember pulling on a suit and grabbing for the smaller raft, but everything was upside down and dark. I was fighting with the water and sliding all over the place. The boat was sinking, and I just knew if I wanted to live, I had to get out. I don't even know how I managed it, but I got myself into the raft and closed it up, and then I must have passed out."

"They looked for you. They spent a week searching, but they never found you. They only found the one raft."

Edward quickly looks up at me. "But there were two rafts. I remember there were two rafts."

He doesn't know. My eyes get watery and I place my coffee mug on the table in front of me. "There were two rafts. When the Coast Guard got to where you were, they only found one. They looked, but the storm was so bad, they couldn't find the other raft, or yours. A couple days later they found it among some of the debris. There was a suit inside, but Embry and Jared were missing. They've never been found."

Edward's face crumples. "What?" he asks, breathing hard. His hands start to shake, and I take his coffee from him and put it next to mine. "They haven't been found?" He's searching my eyes for answers, and it's breaking my heart to tell him what happened.

"No, they're missing. Still. All three of you were. We thought you were dead. We thought all of you were lost."

"No, not them," he says, tears filling his eyes. "I hoped they would get away okay. Oh shit, this is all my fault. I did this to them. I got them killed, Bella."

"No, Edward, it's not your fault. Just like it wasn't Jasper's fault that he didn't make you get off the boat. He was beside himself for months after you disappeared, thinking he was to blame. He thought he didn't do enough. But it wasn't his fault, and this isn't yours. It was an accident, that's all."

I move closer to him, pulling his head to my shoulder and trying to soothe him. He slowly calms down, but I know this is something that will weigh on him for a long, long time.

"What happened next? After you got in the raft?" I ask, trying to get him back to talking.

He sniffles a bit and clears his throat. "Um, apparently I drifted for a few days. The storm took me west toward Asia, and a Russian fishing boat picked me up. They didn't speak any English, and I guess the suit I was wearing didn't have any identification numbers on it. Neither did the raft. They didn't know where I was from, and I was unconscious, so I couldn't tell them. They took me to shore and to this little town they were from. There was a hospital there, and they kept me for about three months."

"Three months?" I ask. "Why?"

"I was unconscious for three months, Bella. When they found me, I was severely dehydrated, and I'd lost a lot of blood. There was a gash on my leg that was pretty bad. I was lucky I didn't bleed to death. And I was even luckier that the raft I was in didn't have any holes in it. I can only imagine what would have happened if I'd been leaving a trail of blood in the water as I drifted farther and farther out to sea."

I look closer at him, and I do notice some differences. Not just his chest muscles that felt a little smaller, and his coloring that seemed paler, but other things. I fight the urge to strip him of his clothes so that I can see all of him and make certain—with my own eyes—that he's really okay.

"They kept me there and nursed me back to health as best they could. Like I said, it was a small town, and they didn't know where I was from, so they didn't go looking to see if I was missing or anything. After I woke up, I couldn't remember anything. I didn't even know what my name was. I must have hit my head at some point, but I don't know. It was hard, and so frustrating, but they helped me get better, and stronger. After I woke up, I did two months of physical therapy. I had to learn a lot of things over again. Or, maybe not so much learn them as remind my brain how to do them. Like walking. It took me a couple of weeks to get that down. And speaking. That was another tough one. It didn't help that only a couple doctors and nurses spoke English, and they didn't work all the time."

I listen to what he's telling me, and the time frames that he was dealing with. I can't help but wonder where I was when all these things were happening to him. What was I doing when he was unconscious? Or when he was learning to walk again? Was I hiking our mountain and trying to be closer to him? All the while, he didn't even remember I existed?

"It was May when I was finally well enough to leave the hospital, but I didn't have anywhere to go. One of the guys who was on the boat that picked me up offered to let me stay with his family. It was just this little tiny cottage on the edge of town, and they didn't have much room, but they were so nice to me. He had a brother who spoke English, and I was able to talk to him. He spent hours quizzing me and trying to help me remember something. Anything. All day we'd talk and look at pictures, but nothing jogged my memory. About a month after going there, I started having these dreams. I saw these eyes, and they were so big and beautiful, and I knew they were important." He looks at me with such intensity in his gaze. "They were your eyes, Bella. I saw them every time I closed mine. Every night when I tried to sleep. Every time I sat and stared at the ocean. I always saw you. And then it wasn't just your eyes, it was your face, and then all of you. But I couldn't remember. It was driving me insane, Bella. I thought I was actually going crazy."

"Edward, I'm so sorry." My hands are holding his, and I'm sitting so close to him. He smells different, but the same. I just want to crawl into his lap and never leave, but I know I can't. I need to hear the rest of what happened to him.

"I went out on a boat one day with the guys I was staying with and all of a sudden I remembered things. I knew I could sail, and I remembered different times when I was on the water. Images of fishing kept flashing through my mind, but then there were ones of me and my dad when I was young, too. When the guys saw that I could sail and fish, they asked if I wanted to work with them. I still didn't have any idea of where I'd come from, and I didn't know if I ever would, so I said yes."

"You sailed with them? Weren't they trying to find out who you were? Weren't they searching the databases and trying to figure it out?" I'm almost angry that no one insisted on finding Edward's home and who he was. If only they had looked, they could have seen his picture and file, and he could have come home to me months ago.

"No, Bella. Like I said, it was a small town. A village, really. They figured I'd remember eventually, so they didn't pressure me. And I did start remembering. The fishing stuff was just the beginning."

His eyes light up, and I'm dying to hear what else might have happened to him.

"It was August and I'd been fishing with Demetri and his crew for a month or so. We docked in this city, and a bunch of the guys decided to hit up a stripper bar. I didn't really want to go, so I stayed on the boat. It was so calming, just the way the waves rocked back and forth. I was asleep, and I had this dream. It was dark and I couldn't see anything, but I could hear this voice. It was so clear, and I knew it. I didn't remember why I knew it, but I did. It kept calling to me and telling me to follow it."

His hands tighten around mine. As I watch him, I'm torn over how I should be feeling. I want nothing more than to welcome him back into my life with open arms, but I don't know where he's been, or who he's been with. What if he found someone else while he was away? If he didn't remember me, would he have stayed faithful to me? I know I should listen to the rest of his story since it will probably answer most of my questions, but I can't keep my mind from wandering. And he's so beautiful. The way his lips move while he's speaking and the way his eyes keep looking into mine... I wish he'd just stop talking and kiss me already.

"Bella?" he asks, pulling me out of my head.

"Sorry, I just..." I can't stop myself, and I lean forward and press my lips to his. He tastes exactly the same, and after a few seconds, I pull back. "Sorry. I missed that."

He smiles at me, his hand moving up to cup my cheek. "I did, too. Don't apologize."

"Okay, keep going," I tell him, and I pull my legs up under me in an effort to sit a little closer to him.

He watches me—his eyes moving over my face—and I feel like he's memorizing me. I hope I'm still what he wants.

"So, um...I was dreaming. And yeah, so I kept following this voice, and it was dark; I couldn't see anything. But I knew I could trust it. Like, I knew it was trying to help me, so I kept going. Then it was like I came around a corner or something, because there was all this light in front of me. I could see things all around me, but they didn't make any sense. I didn't recognize them. And then I saw you, the same way I'd been seeing you for months. Your eyes and your smile, and then your hair and your body, and I had this pain wash over me. I didn't even know who you were, but I missed you so much. It was like every piece of me was screaming out in agony. You just stood there looking at me and smiling, like you were waiting for me. And then you said my name, and it all came flooding back. I knew you."

I can't stop the smile that grows across my face. He missed me, even if he didn't realize it at the time. It sounds like it was almost instinctive. It makes my heart soar.

"That's when I recognized the voice. It was your dad, Bella. He was leading me to you. It's like he'd come to find me, and he brought me straight to you."

The emotions that hit me in that moment are powerful, and suddenly tears are streaming down my face. "My dad? My dad found you?" I whisper, unable to speak any louder.

"Bella, what?" Edward asks, and I can tell I'm scaring him with my reaction. Then I remember...he doesn't know about my dad. It's then that I realize he said this happened toward the end of August, and that makes my tears and sobs that much more intense.

"Bella please, you're scaring me. What's wrong?" he asks.

"It's my dad. My dad died in August."

Edward's brow furrows, and his mouth hangs open in shock. "Oh Bella, no. Oh baby," he says as he pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I wasn't here. Bella..."

I cry on his shoulder, letting my face press against his neck. It's something I never thought I'd get to do again, and I want to remember every second of it. Once my crying has slowed a bit, and I'm able to speak more clearly, I tell him what my dad told me.

"He said he'd find you. He said he'd send you back to me. When you first went missing, I begged him to make them search more, but he couldn't. So when he died, that's what he told me. That was the last thing he said before he passed away. I wanted to believe him, and now I know he did it. He sent you to me."

"He did. If it wasn't for him, I don't know if I would have remembered. I don't know how long it might have taken."

We sit together in silence for several minutes. I can hear Edward's heart beating in time with mine, and it calms me.

"After that dream, I knew I had to find you. I knew you were out there somewhere waiting for me, so I asked Demetri to help me. We started looking through different internet sites for missing people. I was hoping that maybe there would be something, and that's when he found my name and picture."

I nod, remembering how Jasper registered his information with several sites online. The Coast Guard added him to their site, but Jasper and I both spent hours and hours trying to find every other site we could. We figured the more places we could put him, the better chance there was that someone would know something.

"Once I knew where I'd come from, I started trying to figure out how to get back here. I hoped that you'd be here—that this is where you were. I fished for a couple more weeks and got enough money together to buy passage on a ship to Alaska. I felt like I needed to pay Demetri's family for all they'd done for me, so I left most of my earnings with them. When I got to Alaska, there were a few men who seemed to know who I was. I worked my way down the coast, hopping rides with different crews until I finally ended up in Vancouver. I waited for a few days, and then I found a guy who was going to Port Angeles, but he said he'd bring me here. That's how I got here. Once I hit the docks, it's like my body knew exactly where to go, and I started remembering more things."

I can feel his fingers pulling through my hair, over and over again. The sound of his voice is exactly what I need, and I sit quietly in his arms as I try to soak up every word.

"I stood outside and watched you through the windows for a while. It's been so long, I didn't know if you were still here. And I didn't know if you would even still want me. But I hoped you would."

"I waited. You promised me that you'd always come back for me, so I've been waiting. Missing you has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I knew you were worth it."

"Bella, can I stay with you?" he asks, causing me to pull back and look into his eyes. "I swear I'll never leave you again. I just want to be with you, forever, if you'll let me." His fingers wipe the tears from my cheeks as he stares at me.

How could I possibly tell him no? After everything I've gone through, I'll never tell him no.

"I don't have anything to offer you. My boat's probably in a million pieces at the bottom of the Pacific. I can't honor my fishing contracts anymore, and they're almost over, anyway. I have no job, I have no money, I have nothing to give you except my heart. It's yours anyway. It always has been."

"I want it. I want you. I don't care about anything else. I just want you here with me. Please, don't leave me again. If you do, I won't survive it."

He smiles a sweet, loving smile at me and takes my face in his hands. "I'll never leave you again. You're the only thing I want. I love you so much, Bella."

"I love you, too," I whisper as the tears begin again. He kisses me, and it's overwhelming. To be in his arms, and to have his lips on me...it's something I was beginning to think would never happen again. It's something I've missed and that I've ached for. It's the way I want to spend the rest of my life. It's perfect.

He kisses me over and over again, and as he continues, he gets bolder—moving his hands from my face to my back, then to my ass as he pulls me into his lap. My knees go on either side of him, and I'm straddling him as he continues to kiss me. His lips move to my neck, and I moan in pleasure as he sucks my skin into his mouth.

"Baby, we should slow down," he says. But I don't want to.

"No, keep going. Please. I want you, Edward."

My hands move to the hem of his shirt, and I pull up on it until he finally shifts and lets me remove it. There are scars on his shoulders, and my eyes move across them as my fingers touch them.

"What are these?" I ask, wanting him to tell me, but feeling certain I already know.

"They're from the accident," he whispers.

I slowly move my lips to each one, kissing them and getting familiar with each raised edge and shimmery white bulge. They're a part of him now, and I yearn to know each part—especially the new ones. They make him who he is, and I'll never get enough of him.

Things start to get more heated and intense between us, and just as I'm about to drag him into the bedroom, he stops. He's breathing so hard and his eyes are closed. I'm waiting for him to say something, or do something, but he just sits there underneath me.

"Edward, what's wrong?" I ask, my hands brushing across his cheeks. His stubble is growing in, and I can tell it's been a few days since he last shaved.

"I need to know something, and I don't wanna ask."

"Ask me," I whisper, my lips brushing across his cheekbone as I place soft kisses on his face.

"Has there been anyone else? I don't blame you if there has; I just wanted to know. I don't want to put you in a bad position if you've got someone else now."

My hands slide under his chin and I lift his face until his eyes meet mine. "Edward, there's no one but you. I couldn't even look at another man. I'm so hopelessly in love with you. You're it for me, baby."

The look of relief that flashes through his eyes is intense, and he grits his teeth as he breathes hard. "You're it for me, too. Not once did I ever think about any other woman. It was only you in my dreams, Bella. It will always be only you."

His arms wrap around me and our lips meet in a hard, lustful kiss. Before I know it, he's lifting me up and taking us into the bedroom. He holds me next to the bed before letting me stand in front of him. After a few more kisses, he rests his forehead against mine, and I marvel at how hard we're both breathing.

"Bella?" he asks so softly, that it sounds like a prayer on his tongue.

"Yes?"

"Marry me?"

I can't think, and I can't feel, and I can't move. I stare at him and my eyes fill with tears.

"Yes."

"Yeah?" he asks.

Silly man.

"Abso-fucking-lutely yes!"

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him against me, kissing him with all I have in me.

"Make love to me?" I whisper in his ear, and it's then that he finally begins to undress me. He's so familiar with my body, and he's done this a hundred times, but he goes so slowly. It feels like he's savoring each moment of this, and I love it.

"You're so beautiful," he says, his eyes shimmering in the soft light of our bedroom. "I don't remember a lot about this part of our life. Was it good?"

"You don't remember sex?" I ask, wondering if this is why he was so hesitant to do more than just kiss me.

"No. I haven't done anything that could trigger those memories yet."

My mind is racing with possibilities. Maybe if he doesn't remember me, he won't remember all the other women, either. Maybe I can bring back his memories of us, but only us. I know I'm greedy and selfish sometimes, but this is something that I might actually want.

"Don't worry. I'll show you. And it will all come back, I promise."

I let him finish undressing me, and I'm embarrassed by the plain white bra and panties I'm wearing. If I'd known I would be dressed in underwear in front of Edward tonight, I would have planned a little better. As if he can sense my discomfort, he smiles.

"I remember a few things now. Like this," he says as his fingers graze my left collarbone. "And this," as his finger slides from my right hip to my belly button. "And especially these," he says as his hands move to cup my breasts. His thumbs move over my nipples, causing them to harden for him. "I remember you in green panties and red ones, and even some lacy ones. You're so hot when you wear those, but I think these ones are my favorites."

I stifle a laugh. "But they're just plain old white. It's so boring; I could go change into something else if you want."

He smiles at me. "No, I like these. You know why?" I shake my head because I have no idea. "Because they're you. They're who you really are. They're steady and true and dependable. They're something other people might overlook in favor of something fancier, but not me. I know their true worth, their value. And the way they look against your skin... I'm so fucking hard for you, Bella."

I can see the bulge in his jeans, and my teeth dig into my lower lip as I squeeze my thighs together in an effort to fight back the sensations growing within me.

"Show me," I say.

I reach behind myself and undo my bra, letting it drop to the floor, then shimmy out of my panties. When I'm completely bare before him, I sit down on the bed, and then scoot back—laying myself out for him. I feel like the world's more amazing buffet, and the way he watches me with the hungry look in his eyes makes it all that much more perfect.

"Baby," he growls, and I smile and crook my finger at him.

"Don't make me wait anymore, Edward."

His pants and boxers fall to the floor, and he crawls to me—hovering over me. His kisses meet mine, and our hands are everywhere. We touch, and kiss, and lick, and stroke, and love. We make up for a whole year of missing things, and it's not until he's inside of me that we both stop and stare. When a tear slides from my eyes, Edward wipes it away.

"Am I hurting you?" he asks, but I shake my head.

"I've been waiting so long."

His kiss is sweet, loving, and tender, and as he rocks into me, I let the flood of tears go.

"Me too," he whispers.

He's back, and he's here, and he's mine. And I'll never let him go again.

~*0*~

I know it's morning, but it's still dark outside. I'm lying up against Edward—our legs tangled together. He smells so good, and I breathe in the tangy salt scent that I've missed so much. My fingers stretch over his chest, and I smile as I feel him breathing beneath me.

"Good morning," he whispers. His voice is rough with sleep, just the way I remember it always being first thing in the morning.

"Hi," I whisper in return, shifting so that I can look up at him. He looks happy and content, and I hope I look that way to him, too.

"Can I ask you a weird question?"

I giggle a bit. "Sure."

"Why do you have so much baby stuff here? Am I missing something...or someone?"

He's so cute, he makes me all tingly, and I let out a deep breath as I prop myself up on my elbow.

"Well, I babysit sometimes for Alice and Jasper, and Rose and Emmett had a baby, so sometimes I watch her. But, mainly I babysit Jessica and Embry's daughter, Emma. Jessica and I have become friends, and I help her out with the baby."

"You do? I don't really remember much about her—I mean Jessica. I know her, right?"

I debate over how much to tell him, and decide to just nod.

"Okay."

"Jessica's on her own here, and she needed help. I needed something to take my mind off missing you, and Emma does that. Plus, I kinda set Jessica up with Mike Newton. You remember him? He works at the fish plant?"

Edward thinks for a few moments and I can see the wheels turning in his mind. "I think so."

"Yeah, so I set them up together. He's good to her, and he's good to Emma."

"I'm glad. Embry would be glad for that."

We stay quiet, just watching each other.

"I need to call my parents," he says. It makes me smile.

"You need to call a few people. I think after you talk to them, you need to call Jasper."

"I will."

I brush my fingers through the hair just over his ears. It flips out and curls up a bit, and it makes me antsy to see him in a baseball cap again.

"Your parents are coming here next week," I tell him.

"What? Why?" he asks.

"There's a ceremony to add you, Jared, and Embry's names on the memorial at the beach. Your parents wanted to be here."

"Huh, looks like I got back just in time." He smiles at me, letting his hand trace up and down my arm.

"They've been here a few times this year. I went to see them in April, too."

"Really?" he says.

"You look surprised."

"I am. I thought they hated it here."

"No, they loved it. Well, they love it now, anyway. I think they kind of saw Brandon as the grandson they'd never have. And when we thought I might be pregnant, your mom flew right out."

Edward looks at me with a strange look in his eyes. "You thought you were pregnant?" he asks quietly.

"Yeah, after you left last year. I missed a couple of months, so I thought I was. I hoped I was, but it was just stress from all that was happening."

His hand moves down my body to my stomach, and I feel him press his palm against the skin there. "You wanted a baby?"

"I wanted your baby."

When his eyes meet mine again, he smirks. "Do you still want my baby?"

I nod. "Yeah. I guess I probably should have mentioned I'm not on any birth control. There wasn't any reason to be, so I stopped it."

My heart starts to beat faster and my breathing picks up. He lifts up his body and rolls me onto my back. His hand stays glued to my stomach and his fingers tease my goose-bumped skin.

"I think we should work on that today, don't you?" he asks.

A smile grows across my face. It's one that I know I haven't smiled in almost a year's time.

"I need to call Leah and have her come work for me. I don't think I can serve liquor if I'm naked and having sex all day."

Edward laughs. I've missed hearing it, and as he begins to kiss my neck, my hand moves to grasp the locket that's laying on the bed under my neck, after sliding on its chain. I rub my fingers over it, feeling the name engraved in the back. I know the picture and the words that are inside of it, and as Edward pushes into me I look up at him.

"I love you," he whispers.

I smile as I reply. "Always."

~*0*~

A/N: Thank you SOOOOO MUCH for staying with me through this story. :) Trust me when I say that your kind words have made me cry and laugh and squeal for joy more times than you can imagine. :)