A/N We're winding down in the story, so I hope all of you have enjoyed everything so far. SM is great for creating such wonderful characters to play with.

Bella POV

Six Months Later

The past six months seem to have flown by. I moved into the Cullen's house a couple weeks after Edward's visit to Forks. It turned out that as I was moving into their house, everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing. Rosalie and Jasper left their apartment in Texas to move in with the Cullen clan a week before I arrived. Alice had moved in a couple days prior to my initial arrival. Apparently, Esme and Carlisle loved having a house full of people. I think all of us were intending on moving somewhere on our own at some point, but nobody was even bothering to search out places to live. I think we all enjoyed spending our time together.

You would think that with all of us living under the same roof that I would never have any time left for me to really work on my writing. Luckily for me, I managed to be able to work every single day on it because everybody was usually gone during the day to their respective jobs. I could easily get a lot of writing done in a single day, and it was wonderful watching my book progress.

Everything just seemed to work out for me from that point on. The book I had been working on for months finally seemed to just write itself. It was finished a few weeks after I moved to Florida. I was really proud of the finished product. It might have been something that was started in college, but most of the work really seemed to come during my time spent in Florida. Those new life-changing experiences would be something that I will always cherish.

The publishing company loved the book so well that it was released as quick as they could get it printed. The books flew on the shelves and then people started buying them. Somehow, I had been an overnight success story. I was told to go on a book tour. At first I was hesitant to do so, but Edward talked me into it. He thought I should take the opportunity to travel around while I could. Since he wasn't able to spend much time with me because of his work schedule, I decided to follow his advice.

I've been back from the tour, which thankfully only lasted a short period of time, for a total of two days. Yesterday when I arrived back home, I went to bed and did nothing but sleep after greeting everyone here. I was exhausted from all the traveling. I've decided that one book tour might be all I ever do again. It's just too exhausting traveling place to place with that kind of frequency.

Today is a better day though. I've finally gotten plenty of rest and I get to see Edward for more than a passing minute or two. He's actually planning a special evening out for us, and I've been looking forward to it ever since he told me when I got home yesterday. Alice and Rose are even planning to help me get ready for tonight. I decided to try not to fuss about the whole Bella Barbie business because I really want to look my best for him.

Our relationship has really blossomed over the past six months. I worried a little about how his schedule might affect us at first. Then I realized that when two people want something enough, everything will work out one way or another. It helped that my schedule was really flexible. When he came home late at night, I would wait up for him with a little meal ready for him to eat before he went to sleep. We might not have had a lot of time to spend with one another, but we managed to spend every second of the time that we did have together.

I guess that we really haven't talked much about marriage or anything of that nature. It's not like I haven't discussed it because I don't want that for us, because I can truthfully say that Edward is definitely the man I want to marry. I just never thought to bring the topic up when I was with Edward. We usually have so little time together that I don't want to mar that with talk of something that we might not see eye to eye on. Tonight might be a good night to bring the subject up though. We would have the whole evening together, and marriage is something that I'm building up to. I just hope he feels the same way.

I glanced at the clock when I heard a door opening and closing downstairs. It was a little past one in the afternoon, so I knew that it must be Rose and Alice. They claimed they needed at least 3 hours to get me looking perfect for the night.

It was less than a minute later before they burst into my room. Alice was equipped with a bag full of makeup and hair salon products while Rose was wielding a garment bag and a shoe box.

"Please tell me that you guys did not just go shopping?" I asked in a slightly whiny voice.

"Bella, just hop in the shower so we can make you beautiful," Rosalie said in her no-nonsense voice.

I quickly obeyed and hopped in the shower. I saw her get mad once at Emmett because he accidentally put a scratch on her car. Ever since then I do anything and everything that she tells me to do. I never want to be on her bad side. I was actually worried at the time that Emmett might not survive the night.

When I finished rinsing off, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself up in a towel. I didn't bother putting underwear on because I knew that Alice and Rose would already have some picked out. I'm sure it would be a matching set of something or another, since they were adamant that underwear should not only match, but look sexy at the same time. I usually just nod my head and put on whatever they tell me to wear. It's not like anyone will see it after all.

Edward still kept up his boundaries in our physical relationship. Every once in a while, I would try to push his limits a bit, but I he always manages to keep control of the situation much to my dismay. He insists that we should be married before we sleep together. I know that it's probably the right thing to do. I sometimes think that we're backwards because typically it's the girl who doesn't want to go too far in the relationship. Of course, sometimes Edward does make me feel like a criminal who wants to steal his virtue.

"Here's what you're wearing tonight," Alice told me when I stepped into the bedroom.

She held up an emerald green dress that was stunning to say the least. I didn't even complain once as I put the dress on. It accentuated all the high points on my body and flowed freely to just about mid-thigh. Rosalie then showed me the matching shoes. I gaped as I saw how high the heels were.

"I'm going to trip in those things," I said pointing at the shoes.

"You'll be fine," Alice assured me. "Trust me."

I grumbled a little more but knew that I would end up wearing the stupid shoes. Rose hauled me into the bathroom where she sat me down on a stool and began working on my hair. Alice joined us and started putting makeup on me. I just sat back, closed my eyes, and went to my happy place until it was over.

Alice tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. "Okay, we're finished."

I looked in the mirror and smiled at my reflection. "You guys did a great job. Thanks," I told them happily.

"Well, we want to make sure Edward's eyes pop out when he sees you," Rosalie said.

Rose handed me some earrings and a matching necklace to wear with the dress. "This will help complete the look," she told me.

"We know you don't like anything too bulky, so we found something small and light just for you to wear tonight," Alice explained.

"Thank you," I replied sincerely. "You really shouldn't have though."

They both waved me off and left the room as I put the jewelry on to complete the look. I thought that I definitely looked pretty good tonight after Alice and Rose helped get me ready. I hoped Edward thought so too. He had to work today, but was going to be off work early. He was being secretive about where we were going, so I hoped that I was dressed appropriately. I was supposed to meet him downstairs around five o'clock. He mentioned something in passing about wanting there to be a little daylight left for where he was taking me.

I decided to stop thinking about it any further before I gave myself a headache. I glanced at the clock in my bedroom to see that it was nearly five already. I figured that I might as well go downstairs. If Edward wasn't ready yet, then I could just wait in the living room for him.

I opened the door and walked out into the empty hallway carefully. I was still a little unsure about the state of me wearing these shoes that Alice and Rose had picked out. I held onto the banister firmly as I took each step down the stairs. Being careful might help me not land in the emergency room tonight. It would be awful if Edward had to spend some of his time away from work at the hospital taking care of me.

I finally made it to the last few steps and looked up. Edward was standing before me looking as handsome as ever. He was wearing a charcoal grey button-down shirt with a pair of black pants. When I finally managed to stop ogling him, I noticed that he was still staring up at me. I couldn't decipher his expression and nervously tapped my hand against the banister.

Edward held his hand out to help me down the last few stairs. "You look absolutely stunning," he said into my ear when I was on the same level as him.

I blushed at the compliment. "You're looking pretty handsome yourself," I said smiling.

Edward walked me out to his car, which was already parked in front of the house. He helped me into the passenger seat before getting behind the wheel and driving us to the secret destination.

I was expecting an expensive restaurant or maybe a Broadway play. What I did not expect was for Edward to bring me back to the private beach that we had spent time at so many months ago. With our hectic schedules, we had never been back here since that first time we had come for a picnic.

It was twilight as Edward helped me out of the car at the beach. I decided that I wasn't going to take one step further with my shoes on, so I bent down to take them off. Besides, it feels so wonderful to walk through the sand in bare feet. Edward smirked as he watched me take my shoes off, but he then took his shoes and socks off as well and left them next to mine.

We walked hand in hand through the white sandy beach to the edge of where the waves were rolling in. Edward had rolled his pants legs up a little to keep them from getting wet from the salty water splashing in.

After walking a little ways, I finally broke our comfortable silence. "I'm so glad to come back here. It's so beautiful and serene."

Edward looked down at me smiling, "I wanted to do something special tonight. This place will always remind me of that picnic we had together. This time of night, twilight, seemed like a good time for us to come back here. We can watch the sunset."

"You really are something," I said gazing up into his beautiful green eyes.

He leaned further down to kiss me gently. Before anything could progress, he broke away from me leaving me pouting slightly.

Edward chuckled a little at my expression, "Bella, that wasn't the reason I brought you here tonight."

I looked up at him expectantly. I was waiting on him to explain further, but he seemed to be a little nervous. Edward ran his hand through his hair a couple times before taking a deep breath. By this time, we had stopped walking and were just facing each other on a dry portion of the sandy beach.

"Bella, I love you so very much," Edward finally said.

"I love you, too," I replied confused.

"I know we haven't really known each other very long," Edward continued, "but I can't imagine wanting to be with anyone other than you. You are my life and I would do anything for you."

"I feel the same way about you," I told him.

Edward then got down on one knee in front of me while holding on of my hands in his. I was startled by this new development.

"Bella, will you marry me?"

I knew I was gaping at him in shock. I never expected him to propose to me anytime soon. I was just planning on bringing up the marriage issue sometime tonight with him. Even though it was a shock to have it happen, I knew within my heart what my answer was.

I felt a tear of joy escape my eye as I spoke, "Yes, I'll gladly marry you."

With those few words, Edward jumped up and grabbed my around the waist twirling me around in circles. We were giddy from our happiness. After a minute or two of laughing and kissing, Edward finally pulled away. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an engagement ring.

I watched as he slid the ring on my finger. It was a perfect fit. The ring itself was something that I absolutely adored. It was a turn of the century style that fit my tastes. All I could think about as I looked between the ring on my finger and the warm green eyes of the man in front of me was that I must be the luckiest girl in the world. Edward would be my husband some day soon.