I do not own anything related to Twilight, well, except my own copies of the books and my DVD's. As always, let's give a big high five to my beta, Dollybigmomma, for all of her help. Thank you all for sticking around for my little story. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 26

This is the House that Love Built

BPOV

With all of the drama surrounding Esme's illness, we totally forgot about Christmas. I knew that in the grand scheme of things, a holiday was the last thing that should have been on mine or anyone else's mind for that matter. But let's be honest here, we were talking about two little girls, the same little girls that had a major upheaval in their very young lives. If anyone deserved a proper Christmas, it was them.

So with the majority of our battle behind us, I sat here with my laptop, searching for the answer to my problem as I watched over our two sleeping angels.

"Hey, beautiful, what's so captivating on your laptop that you failed to notice me waving at you for the last five minutes?"

"Oh, Edward, I'm sorry, I guess I zoned out while thinking about all we've been through, and I've been trying to figure out a way to make up for a lousy Christmas. I just wish we could've given them more than the sterile plastic twelve inch pre-lit tree that had to stay behind the glass door. I mean this is the first time Esme hasn't picked out our tree since she could walk."

Before I realized I was even crying, Edward was wiping my tears away from my cheeks with his thumbs.

"Hey now, baby, you need to remember that they'll more than likely forget about the lack of things we had for them. I don't know about you, but I'm sure when I look back on this, our first Christmas all together, I'll always remember it as the year my family was made complete. After all, I did get a new beautiful daughter to spoil, and Elizabeth has a sister. I'm hoping against hope that I can even say she has a new mommy?"

He looked at me with nothing but adoration, and before I could control myself, I threw my arms around his neck and bawled like a baby.

"I know it's rather presumptuous of me to think that you might want to take on the role of Elizabeth's mother figure. I mean…I was hoping in time…"

I cut him off by going one further and planting a massive, very passionate kiss on his lips. We were so caught up in this newness of our budding relationship that we both failed to hear the muffled giggles of our daughters.

"I believe we have an audience," Edward whispered against my lips. Before I could stop it, I felt the heat of my blush making its way up my neck.

I looked over at our little 'angels' and sure enough, they both had smiles on their faces. Well, at least I believed they were smiles, because even though she did not need to wear one, Elizabeth insisted on being allowed to wear her own mask. I would never truly understand how their connection worked; I only knew it was as strong, if not stronger, than the bond a set of identical twins shared.

"What are you two silly girls up to?" I made my way over to the bed and sat next to our girls. They both started giggling louder, shaking their heads as Edward threatened to tickle them both.

"So, what are we going to do with these two imps, love?" Edward asked with a gleam in his mesmerizing eyes.

"Hmm, maybe we need to sell them to the gypsies? No, not the gypsies, I think they'd do better at the circus. They could become clowns, don't you think? Or better still, how about we take them home and love them until the end of time?"

"Daddy!"

"Momma!"

Both of them squawked at us at the same time, making us smile, especially since Esme had called Edward daddy, and Elizabeth had called me momma.

"Well, I think we should get these two home and settled in before the rest of the family decides to send out a search party."

We had decided to let the girls stay together to keep their stress levels low. The thinking behind it was that Esme would heal faster if stress was nonexistent for her right now.

So here we were, driving in Edward's car, heading to his house because he had the extra room. It was so surreal that we would be living together as real family.

When I turned around to see why it was so quiet, I found both girls sound asleep in their booster seats. They both had pleasant smiles on their faces and their hands were clasped together. Before I was able to stop myself, a small sob broke free.

"Hey, beautiful, why the sad face?"

I turned to see Edward's piercing green eyes looking at me with concern. "I'm not sad, really; I'm more relieved that we're going to get a happy ending. Edward, I don't know what would have happened to her if fate hadn't stepped in and put them into the same classroom. I mean what are the chances that they would meet like they did? You both, not just Elizabeth, saved Esme's life. You both saved my life as well."

"Bella, I know we got off on the wrong foot, and it didn't help matters that I put my other foot in my mouth, on more than one occasion, actually. I was an ass to you, to both of you, and I can only hope and pray that you'll let me make it up to you someday. I want to believe that I've been given a second chance here. Not only as her father, but a second chance to prove myself worthy of your, uh…friendship…as well as..."

I was gob-smacked; did my ears fail me? I hoped not, because I could have sworn I just heard him trying to say he wanted to try for more. I would be crazy not to jump at the chance to have a future with Edward. I mean, the man was near perfect in every way. Add to the fact that we had a daughter together and well, yeah, you get the picture.

I was so lost in my inner thoughts that I didn't even notice we had stopped moving. It wasn't until I felt a warm soft hand cup my face that I came out of the inner workings of my mind.

"Hey, why don't I get the girls settled in their room and then we can discuss things further?"

All I could do was nod my head like one of those little bobble-headed dogs you see in some people's rear windows…pathetic.

EPOV

Bella was still in a stupor when I went back to the car to fetch the bags. So with both of my daughters tucked into bed, I made my way down the stairs to meet my destiny. I knew we would be more than just parents to our daughters. The question was would Bella be willing to allow her feelings for me to blossom into more than just friendship. I was hoping for more; no, I needed more.

If I was being honest, I would just admit to myself, 'Hey, you know you love her.' I knew some would think it was too soon to use the "L" word, but I did love her. I loved her more than as just the mother of my child. I wanted to make a life with her, with both of them. I wanted to bind them to me in every sense of the word. To be honest, I wanted Elizabeth to be bound to them as well.

I knew I couldn't ask her to become my little angel's mother. That had to come on its own, but I knew Beth already loved Bella, and she would love to have her as her mother. I knew it had always been hard on Elizabeth not having a mother, but I could never bring myself to go looking for a replacement; I always felt that the right woman would find us. Well, now I knew that we were just waiting for Bella and Esme to find us.

When I walked into my living room, I was met with those big doe eyes and for a moment, I was transfixed. My mind was blank and it took her giggle to break the spell she had me under. I sat down next to Bella and took her hands into mine, taking a deep breath. Here goes nothing…

"Love, I want you to know…I'm going to be honest and try and not hold anything back…I'm just going to say it. Bella, I want more than just a friendship with you. I've known for some time now that you and Esme belong in mine and Elizabeth's lives. I know things got off to a rocky start, and then we almost lost Esme. My lord, Bella I could have lost my child without ever getting the proper chance to know her; my heart aches with this knowledge. What I'm trying to say is, well, do you think we could move forward to, ah…um, shit, this was so much easier in my head…"

"Edward, if I could interrupt for just a moment..." Bella stopped me with a shy smile, and at this point, all I could do was nod my head in the affirmative.

"It seems to me that you'd like to, um…Edward, are you trying to tell me you want to date me? Maybe even take things further…maybe one day marry me? Because if that's what you're trying to say to me, then yes, Edward, I would most definitely love to pursue a future with you and our daughters."

Before I could stop myself, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. The kiss was like tossing a match into dry tender and she was kissing me back with as much fervor. We could have stayed like that forever, except we were brought out of our kiss-induced stupor by catcalls, rounds of applause, and the sweetest sound my ears had ever heard…the twin giggles of our very unlikely 'twin girls.'

I knew now that when you were given a second chance at happiness, you should never think twice…

AN:

Well, people, I think I like it as is, what say you? Please don't hate me too much. I went back and forth with dragging out their 'courtship,' but I just think it would be a lot of fluff and in the end, I just felt it was better left un-fluffed.

This has been so much fun for me to write and share with you all. I want to thank all of you for sticking around and letting me share this idea with you.

Of course, I would never have been able to bring this to you without the help of my wonderful beta, Dollybigmomma. She was the force that helped me keep the story going. I will forever be grateful to her and her wonderful red pen. The woman truly has a gift with the written word and we're all lucky that she wields it for good.

I'm almost 100% sure I will have an epilogue for you all soon, so keep your fingers crossed. Also, I'm working on a period piece as we speak and I love it so much already. If you haven't done so yet, put me on author alert so you can be among the lucky ones that get to read all about Lord Masen.

TTFN,

Tickledpinkstamper