Chapter 26: April Showers Bring May Flowers

"In springtime, love is carried on the breeze. Watch out for flying passion or kisses whizzing by your head."

-Emma Racine de Fleur

"Good job, Edward," Alice spat, running up the stairs after Bella.

Edward stared at her retreating figure, his emerald eyes wide and abashed. "I didn't mean—I didn't want her to run away like that, I just wanted to give her a choice."

Rosalie shook her head, "Edward, you gave her her choice when you got down on one knee in that snow and she said yes to being your wife, she's made her choice."

"I know," he mumbled solemnly, glancing down at his hands that were fisted in his lap. How could he have messed this up so badly? He wondered. He had happiness, why did he have to question it?

Edward sighed and ran up the stairs after Bella and Alice.

He knocked softly on their door so as to not wake Carlisle and Esme who were slumbering in the opposite room.

Alice opened the door and pulled a menacing face. "Bella doesn't want to talk to you right now." And with that she shut the wooden door right in his face.

Edward knocked again, a little more forcefully this time.

Alice opened it once more but threw a pillow at him before closing it; Edward even thought he caught a glimpse of her sticking her tongue out at him.

He pounded on it softly, "Alice, open this door! I need to talk to Bella!"

The door behind him opened softly and Esme stepped out, garbed in her nightgown with a soft blanket draped over her shoulders.

"Edward, dear, is everything all right?" She whispered, Carlisle was still asleep and she didn't know how long he would stay that way.

"I really messed things up, Esme," he said brokenly. He turned to face her, his back against the wall as he slid down to the floor.

"Oh, Edward," she said, kneeling next to him, "it can't possibly be that bad."

He glanced up at her with his melancholy green eyes, "I told Bella that she didn't have to marry me if she didn't want to."

Esme frowned and slapped the back of his head, "Now, why would you do that?"

"Because!" Edward cried, "I want her to be as happy as she possibly can, I don't want her to give up her relationship with her father over us!"

"Edward," Esme said softly, "she's not giving anything up. Believe me, she knows what she's doing—she wouldn't have said yes if she wasn't positive that you could bring her more than happiness."

Edward looked up at her through the veil of his bronze lashes. "I just want her to be happy, and I realize that they may not be with me—"

He broke off as Esme waved her hands in front of his face, "Edward, listen to yourself. You know she's happy with you…Do you think Carlisle was the first suitor to come after me?"

He nodded his head.

"No, he wasn't, I got several marriage proposals before I said yes to Carlisle—oh, shut your mouth it's not that hard to comprehend—what I'm saying is, Edward, Bella got offers too, but she chose yours."

"She had other offers?" He asked incredulously.

"Of course she did, you wonder why Jacob Black followed her around like a little lost puppy? She said no to him, and he couldn't understand that no meant no. She knew that she was supposed to wait for someone, even if she didn't know you at the time. She was waiting for you to come along and sweep her off her feet."

Edward smiled slightly, "Why?"

"Why what?" She asked bemused.

"Why did she choose me?" Edward whispered, staring straight into Esme's eyes.

Esme smiled softly, "Because, Edward, you're two halves of one whole, you're both incomplete without the other. It's the same way with Carlisle and I."

He smiled brilliantly at her and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Thanks, Esme."

"Anytime, Edward, now you need to help me back onto my feet so me and the baby can go back to bed."

Edward chuckled and gently lifted Esme to her feet. She smiled at him and softly padded back to her bedroom.

"Edward," Bella's soft voice floated from the bedroom.

Edward turned sharply to the side and stared at her; she had the door open slightly and was leaning out to gaze at him.

"Esme was right," she intoned.

"I know, and I was wrong," he said honestly.

She smirked a little, "At least you admit it."

"I'm man enough to admit when I am wrong," he said with a crooked smile.

"That's good," she said, stepping forward and pulling him into her arms.

He kissed the wet tear tracks on her cheeks and pulled his fingers through her long brown locks.

"I love you, my Bella; and I'd be honored if you'd be my wife," he murmured, pressing his lips to her brow.

"I've already told you I would," she sighed.

"I know, but I want you to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, you're my life, Isabella," he breathed.

"Me too, Edward, I want to spend eternity with you at my side," she replied tilting her head up to press her lips against the hollow base of his throat.

He smiled and pulled her into the room; Alice scurried past them and downstairs, but Edward and Bella didn't seem to notice. They stayed locked in each other's embrace until Edward had to retreat to the barn for the night.

The rest of April passed by uneventfully with a lot of rain.

Alice leaned against the windowsill her chin propped against her hands. "I thought I hated the snow, but now I hate the rain."

"Ali, sweetheart, it rains in the town, too." Jasper said, coming to stand behind her and winding his arms around her tiny waist.

"I know, but at least there there's something to do," she pouted.

"We can do lots of things here," he reasoned, shrugging.

"Like what?"

Jasper was silent.

"Ah-ha! You don't know anything we can do, either! I've read almost all of the non-boring books you guys have, I've danced so much my feet have become numb, we could play a game, but I don't know…this is so boring!"

"I do know, my dear," he said, resting his chin on her head. "But, it's May and once the rain passes it will be beautiful outside, all of the flowers will be blooming, and the snow is melting."

"I know, but that means once it gets hot enough," Alice paused to crinkle her nose, "you all will have to take us back in to the town."

Jasper sighed, "I don't want to take you back, Ali."

"I don't want to go back," she said truthfully.

"We'll run off together, and get married," he suggested, half in jest.

"You want to elope?" She asked, arching her dark eyebrows.

Jasper shrugged, "If worse comes to worst, then perhaps. I think it would be nice to have or family at our wedding, though."

"There's going to be a ton of marriages," Alice said with a giggle.

"Yes, there are," Jasper chuckled back.

"Practically everybody's engaged," she said and then thought, "Garrett hasn't asked Kate yet. Is he scared or something, or does he not love her?"

Jasper stiffened, "Garrett isn't as good with romantic things as the rest of us are. He does love her, but he's scared stiff and he wants to woo her, but doesn't know how."

Alice elbowed him in the ribs, "You should help him. I know Kate is just itching for a proposal."

Jasper sighed, "I can't help him, Alice, we've already tried—but he just yells at us and calls us dirty names and says he'll get to it when he, himself, has thought of something. My guess is it's just going to slip out someday and it's going to be rather anticlimactic."

"I think so long as he asks before that dreadful pass clears she'll be happy," Alice deadpanned.

"Me, too, Ali; me too."

He leaned against her and watched the rain slide down the glass pane of the window, the little raised wet tracks making the outside appear blurry. He squinted through the haze to look at the towering pines and the faraway snow-capped mountains.

He knew that the snow in the mountain pass was probably already melting and not refreezing. The nights were finally warm enough that the melted snow wouldn't revert into ice during the nocturnal hours.

Jasper didn't know what the snow clearing would bring, and he didn't want to admit that it might pull him and Alice apart permanently.

He sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around his fiancée. She put her arms on top of his and leaned her head back against his chest.

"Jasper?" She whispered.

"Hmm?" He mumbled into her hair.

"I love you," she said girlishly.

"As I love you," he replied, tucking his chin so he could kiss the top of her feathery hair.

She smiled and watching through the window, equally unsure of what the next few weeks would bring.

Several days in to May, the rain stopped and the flowers started to open their pretty faces and turn to the sky.

Esme, Bella, Carmen and Carlisle all sat in the sitting room, enjoying being inside rather than out.

All was quite and they could hear the laughter from outside and the others played hide-and-seek.

Esme looked up at Carlisle, a bemused expression on her face, "Carlisle, what's today's date?"

He got up and looked at the almanac calendar in the kitchen, "The third of May, why do you ask?"

She smiled sweetly at him, but her eyes were pinched a little and one hand pressed against her abdomen "May the third sounds like a good birthday to me."

CLIFFHANGER!!!!

Don't kill me. So, Esme is finally going to have the baby! And the baby has the most awesome birthday ever! Go May 3!! (That's my birthday, if you guys haven't picked up on that yet.) But....it's also May...and the snow is melting....so what does that add up to? The pass clearing! And as I've stated before, this story is coming to a close. Probably only three or four more chapters.

Next update will be on Saturday!! Please review!

Next time on 7B47B:

The boys all lagged behind, startled and a little apprehensive. Edward stared at Bella, his mouth drawn down at the sides, "What do we need to do?"

"Boil water?" Emmett asked, jumping from the tree and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"No, Emmett, that's quite alright, I think the women can handle it; you guys just wait." She said with a shrug of the shoulders.