Edward was lying quietly under his blankets not too far from the campfire, Paul and Sam asleep nearby. The sounds of the nearby herd as well as the snores of the men sleeping were the only noises that filled the still evening.

Shifting under his blankets he looked up at the clear night sky looked at the stars, and thought of Bella. He found it amazing that she was always there, thoughts of her somewhere at the back of his mind, and he actually liked it. He liked her.

Lying there he thought of how pretty she was, about her long mahogany hair, chocolate brown eyes, and gorgeous smile. He remembered her laugh, which always seemed to make him smile, and he also remembered the feisty personality that was hiding under that shy exterior. He was falling for her. He was falling hard.

He'd never felt like this about anyone, not even Tanya. He'd known Tanya for as far back as he could remember, their parents having been friends since before they were born. They'd played in the mud as toddlers, he'd pulled her pigtails and made her cry as adolescents, and she'd given him his first kiss behind the old school house when they were no more than thirteen. She'd just always been there and they'd been a team, friends. Everyone assumed that one day they would get married, even Tanya.

And, that was where there had been a problem. Edward loved her, but he had never been in love with her and he knew that he never would have been. He knew that he could have ignored his feelings — or lack thereof — and married Tanya like her and her family wanted, and he knew that he probably could have built a good, happy life with her if he went down that road, but he'd always felt that there was more to life than just settling and when Tanya had given him an ultimatum saying that she would leave Spoons Valley if he didn't marry her, he had told her the truth: He wished she would stay, but he couldn't marry her.

She'd left the very next day. That had been over three years ago. Over the years, every now and again, Kate and Irina, Tanya's sisters, or even Garrett, Kate's husband, would give him a short update on how she was settling in another western frontier town that was a week's ride away from Spoons Valley. He'd genuinely been happy to hear that she seemed to be doing well. A little over a year ago when they'd told him she'd been killed by outlaws that had invaded the town she'd moved to he had felt true sadness for the friend he had lost.

He knew that Irina blamed him for her sister's death, but Kate and Garrett were understanding about the whole situation and didn't hold him in the least bit responsible. He'd felt slightly guilty though, wondering if he had done the right thing by Tanya, wondering if he just shouldn't have married her, and then Bella had come along and he knew that despite the outcome of the situation, not marrying Tanya had been the right choice. His future was looking up again and it was because of a certain brown eyed girl.

As his thoughts drifted towards Bella again he smiled and turned on his side, closing his eyes. Hopefully he'd be able to see her in little over a week. With that happy thought he drifted to sleep.

Bella was in her room, sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard. Twilight lay curled up against her thigh, purring contentedly as she petted him gently. There was a book open on her lap, but she wasn't really paying attention to it, instead she had her head turned to the side and she was looking out the nearby window at the night sky.

She was exhausted. Since coming to the Big E she'd worked harder than she had in her whole life. She knew that she didn't have to and that Carmen and Alice wouldn't say a word against her if she decided not to help with the chores around the homestead, but that didn't feel right to her and so she helped and learned as much as she could. Already she could feed the livestock that was kept in the barn, collect eggs from the chicken coop, help with the laundry and meals, and she'd begun helping to take care of the small vegetable garden that Carmen kept. Carmen had even started talking about increasing the size of the plot now that she had Alice and Bella's help to take care of it.

It was hard work, but she loved it.

She was happier here than she'd ever been in her life in Chicago. Bella loved her parents, but she had been sheltered by them to the point where it had stunted her growth. She felt uneasy interacting with people and had been extremely shy. That was going away with each passing moment here. Here she had Emmett, who'd she always been close to, Alice, who she already thought of as a sister, and Carmen and Eleazar, who had become surrogate parents of sorts to the lot of them.

She'd even found herself relaxed when alone with Edward, more than relaxed actually. At the thought of him she blushed a bit. There was just something about him that made her crave his company and though she was confused by these feelings, she didn't want to fight them; instead, she wanted to explore them more and was looking forward to his coming back to the homestead in a week or two.

Just as she started to let her thoughts drift to Edward even more, thinking of his green eyes, his crooked smile, and his bronze hair, she heard a knock on the door and turned her head. Alice peeked in and said, "All right if I come in for a bit?"

Bella smiled, nodded and chuckled as Alice skipped into the room and climbed onto the foot of the bed where she sat down and made herself comfortable.

"Why am I not surprised that you're not sleeping?" Bella asked with a chuckled. "Where do you get all that energy, Alice?"

"The mother superior used to say it was my gift from God. At least she would say that in her good moments. In her bad moments she was pretty sure I was possessed by some demonic spirit," Alice replied with a grin.

Bella could only chuckle and watched as Twilight opened up one eye to look at Alice and then closed it again.

Alice grinned and reaching over she scratched the kitten between its ears. "Bella, can I ask you something?"

Bella nodded. "Sure. You know you can ask me anything."

"Do you think your brother likes me?"

Bella was taken aback by the question. "Well, of course he likes you, Alice."

Alice frowned. "I mean, do you think he really likes me?"

This just caused Bella to look confused. "Really likes you?"

Alice nodded and sighed. "I don't have much experience with men having grown up in a convent and all. I could see myself building a life here at the Big E, but I don't know that I can make him really happy is all."

Bella frowned a bit. "I think that you could, Alice. My brother is a big loon and he doesn't show emotions that well. For that matter neither did our father, or any man of my acquaintance. You and he are just getting to know each other. Just…give it time."

Alice frowned a bit and nodded. After a moment's silence, she asked, "What about you?"

"Me?" Bella replied.

"Yes, what about you and Edward?"

Bella blushed brightly and nibbled on her lower lip a bit. "I…I don't know, Alice. He…he still hasn't told me much about himself, but then he seeks me out and seems to want to talk and spend time with me. I mean, he found me just to tell me he was going to be gone. That's a good sign. Isn't it?"

Alice giggled. "I think it is."

Bella smiled back at her.

Alice continued, "Do you know if he'll be back for the festival? I was talking to Carmen about it and she says it's actually a pretty big event."

"I'm not sure. He said he'd be out two or three weeks," said Bella.

"Well, we'll make you look absolutely gorgeous either way! The dresses I'm altering from our wardrobes will be perfect! Are you really going to try to make a pie for the pie baking contest?"

Alice went on for quite a while, talking about the preparations for the festival and Bella couldn't help but get caught up in her enthusiasm. She was going to have fun no matter what, but she knew she would have more fun if Edward was there.