Conversations

"Really?" Edward sat up quickly, looking completely surprised.

"Yes," I laughed. "Why are you so shocked?"

"I thought... I don't know. I don't know what I thought. But, Bella, you really mean it? I mean, I understand if you want to think about it. I get that. I don't want to make you feel pressured or anything because I know-"

I tackled him to the ground, laughing. "Yes, I am sure. No, you are not pressuring me. I was kind of already thinking about it. We'll have to work out the money stuff. Like how much we want to put down on it each and how we'll arrange the bills."

"Of course," Edward smiled the biggest smile I had ever seen. It was so beautiful. "I've got about a hundred thousand saved up."

I choked on my own spit. "We're not going to use up your entire life savings!"

He laughed, rubbing a gentle hand down my back. "That's not my entire life savings. That's just what I've been saving for a house. I also have a savings account and a retirement fund with about twenty-five thousand each."

"How did you manage that?" I asked in shock.

"I've been saving all my money since I was eighteen. I knew one day I would want to buy a house and one day I would retire." He shrugged. "I'm just cautious like that, I suppose. I've been putting almost half of what I make into savings since I started working. My parents made sure I could manage my money. That, and I've been kind of living on the bare minimum for a while now."

"That's a lot of dough," I commented.

"I kind of figured that I wouldn't put that all down on a house at once," he said, giving me a small smile. "You know there is always moving expenses and repairs to be made. I know you have a decent savings, but I don't want to dip into it all at once either."

"We could..." I stopped, still shocked by the amount of money that he had saved up. I shook my head to clear away the cobwebs. "We could do fifty thousand each."

"That would be good," Edward nodded his thoughtfully. "We'll have to figure out what we want. I mean, this is where we're going to live for the rest of our lives-" He stopped himself there, blushing. "I mean, I hope we do."

"We will," I said softly, blushing as well in the darkness. "We'll have to work out the details but let's not worry about that right now. I have something more important to do right now."

"What that?" He asked with a slight smile, running his hand gently over my back again.

"Kissing you."

The afternoon before might not have been romantic but the evening was. We stayed up most of the night and made love over and over again. It was gentle, loving, and everything I needed and more. By the time I fell asleep I was utterly sated, a stupid grin hovering on my lips.

Of course, the elderly couple that had the room beside us gave us a dirty look when we came out at the wine tasting later that afternoon. Not that either of us cared truly. I gave the woman an apologetic smile, but she just turned her nose up at me.

Edward just told me that they were jealous. I had to agree.

We tried every single kind of wine that the place made, and all of it was so good, but I might have been biased at the point. I ended up buying a few bottles to take home with me. I was going to give one to Alice for sure because I knew she would like it. They also made some delicious dessert wines as well that I knew Jasper would like.

It was sad to leave that afternoon, but I had to admit, I preferred my bed. It was more comfortable. It was around eight when we arrived back into Dallas, and we decided the best idea for the rest of the evening was laying in bed.

We were both tired from the night before.

Besides, we had some things we wanted to talk about.

So, we took a shower where we actually behaved and then put on our pajamas before crawling into the bed. My head was on Edward's stomach, and his hand was resting on my shoulder, rubbing it gently.

"I think we should get a four bedroom place," he began the conversation. "Your bed is more comfortable and is bigger than mine so we could use it in the master. We can use my bed for the guest bedroom for now."

"What would we do with the rest?" I asked with a laugh, trying to imagine all that space. I wasn't used to living somewhere so big.

"Office for you, of course," Edward said thoughtfully. "I was thinking maybe we could get a living room and a den that I could make into my music room."

"What about the fourth bedroom?" I pushed.

"For future children," he said, tugging on my hair gently. "Storage for now."

"That's works for me," I said, smiling up at him. Edward's cheeks were flushed bright, but he was smiling. "So, a four bedroom with a living room and a den. Three bathrooms?"

"Two and a half, at least," he agreed. "With a garage."

"This place is going to be huge," I snickered. "Who is going to clean it up?"

"I'll hire a maid service," he chuckled. "Don't worry. Anyway, we've got to talk about the price range."

"Ugh, the money part," I frowned.

And as if to save me, for a few minutes at least, the phone rang. Edward picked it up off of my side table and handed it to me. I didn't even glance at the number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby," my mom said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

"I'm most excellent," I said brightly in return, making Edward chuckle. I felt him rumble against my cheek and it made me laugh in return. "How are you doing? Things working out okay?"

"Things are a lot better," she said.

"Yeah, she's on hormones now," Phil shouted in the background. I heard something being chucked in his general direction. He started laughing, as did my mother.

"Hormones, huh?"

"Menopause. Who knew it could make you such a bitch?" She laughed. "Anyway, how are you and Edward?"

"We're great. We've actually just decided to buy a house together."

"Really?" She asked, shocked. Oh crap, my mind screamed. Was I going to have to put up a fight? I decided it was wise to start backpedaling.

"Well, not today. But we were thinking about moving into somewhere before July first if we can find something."

"That's great, sweetie. Let me know if you need any help or anything," she answered back, shocking me.

I was expecting some sort of judgment on her part. Or an argument. Or screaming. Or something. Apparently, hormones worked miracles. Perhaps she should have been on them years ago.

"Thanks, Mom. Um, how was your Valentine's day?"

"Paris was great! But the flight was a bitch. I cannot stand those long flight. So uncomfortable. What did you two end up doing?" I explained to her what we ended up doing the past couple of days, missing some important details that she didn't need to know about. "Aw! That is so romantic," she cooed.

"Yeah, Edward did a great job," I said, squeezing his hip gently. He smiled at me, winking playfully. I giggled, scooting up to kiss his lips.

"Well," she laughed happily. I think I needed some of those hormones. "It sounds like I need to let you two go. Have a wonderful night and send me an email when you can! Keep me up to date with the housing situation!"

"Will do, Mom."

"Love you!" She said. "Tell Edward goodnight for me."

"I will, Mom. I love you, too. Goodnight."

"Wow! A phone call from your mother and I don't need to give you a soothing back massage and a glass of wine?" Edward asked in pretend surprise, making me laugh.

"Well, you don't need to, but I certainly wouldn't mind," I teased him. "I would never turn down either."

"Mm, why don't we hold off on that until we finish talking about certain things," he said, knowing what I was trying to get out of it at. I frowned a little bit. "The sooner we finish with this part, the faster we can get to the fun part."

"And what is the fun part?"

"Well, picking out the house, of course."

"You sound like Alice," I snickered. "I would have thought the best part would be having sex on all of the flattish surfaces of our new place."

"Flattish," he snorted. "Now you sound like Jasper. Come on, be serious."

I groaned loudly and laid my face flat on the mattress. "Fine, if I must."

"Price range?" He began.

"Uh... well, it depends on a few things. Like, how long would you like to do the mortgage for. And how much do you want the payments to be monthly."

"So... Well, I don't want to pay for it the rest of my life, so the shortest term loan we can get with still keeping it under say... fifteen hundred a month? Something around the two hundred to three hundred thousand range. Wow, that sounds like a lot," he muttered to himself.

"I pay more than that a month here," I told him truthfully. "We could go a little higher if you wanted."

He frowned and shook his head, "I don't want anything more than that right now. Let's just see what our options are first before we up the price range."

"Probably a good idea," I agreed.

"How will we do the bills?"

"How about this? You pay for the house and your car, and I pay for the rest. The internet will come out of my business funds anyway. It'll be less confusing that way. Let's see? Electricity, water, garbage, lawn service, cable, phone service which will come out of business funds as well, and my car. Oh, and groceries. That'll probably be even."

"I think we should get a joint account," he said quietly.

"What for?" I asked curiously.

"To save for any future expenses we might have. You know... Wedding... Children. Those sort of things."

He looked so anxious and shy when he said it. I brought my head on his chest to rest and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. We should look into that sooner rather than later. Maybe add five hundred a month together into it. Is that too much?" I asked, lifting my head to look at him. "Two fifty each?"

"That's fine." He gave me a small grin. His fingers ran through my hair gently. I was so glad that he didn't push the marriage thing. We, of course, talked about it, but he wasn't dropping to one knee yet. He chuckled, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Wow, how did we become so serious and adult-like? Weren't we just having raunchy sex yesterday and getting nasty looks from old people?"

I laughed, pinching his side. "We were already grown-ups. We're just acting like it now."

"I think I like being an adult."

"Me too," I agreed. "A lot. Edward, can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me whatever you want. You know that."

"Why didn't you just buy a house before? You have more than enough money. You make more than enough to cover all the bills for just about anything you want."

"I was waiting."

"For what?"

He touched my chin, bringing my eyes level with his. They were sparkling in the dim lamplight beside my bed. "For you."

"I can't believe that you and Edward are buying a house together!" Alice gushed a week later as we put some final touches on some of the wedding details. Our dresses were picked out, along everything that was going with them, and a place to have the wedding and the reception. The photographer had been set up as was the band. She had all the food arranged.

She had even hired hair and makeup people to get us ready on her big day. It was crazy. I couldn't imagine how someone could throw a wedding like it together in four months. Though, I suppose if anyone could do it, it was Alice.

The only details that Alice didn't have control over was the cake and the honeymoon. Jasper had those things covered.

"Me either. We're going to start looking next week. Edward's already started moving in some of his things into my place. We're going to get a storage room for the rest," I informed her.

"When will he be completely moved in with you?"

"Probably the day before the wedding," I snorted. "He told them he would be out by April first. He's going to get Emmett to help him out with moving the big stuff. I offered to hire a moving company, but apparently, he has to be 'manly' and do this on his own."

We both scoffed and rolled our eyes.

"I cannot wait to go to New Orleans," Alice sighed, going off subject. "I have been so stressed out. I've hardly been able to paint. I'm hoping the Big Easy gives me some big inspiration."

"Bring a notebook and sketch some of the stuff you see while you're down there," I suggested. "That way you remember some of the ideas you get."

"I love the way you think," she said with a large smile. "What do you want to do in Nawlins?" Alice asked in a thick southern drawl.

"I'm not sure," I told her truthfully. "Catch some beads. Drink some hurricanes."

"Jasper keeps talking about getting pralines. He's thinking about adding a candy shop to the bakery. Fresh pralines, fudge, and truffles. You know, things like that."

"You are by far the luckiest woman in the world," I said, shaking my head in disbelief. "Jasper is like a PMSing woman's dream come true."

"You know, he had a crush on you first," she giggled, making me blush. No, I didn't know that. "He was trying to get closer to you through me... and well, the rest is history."

"Really?" I asked in a high pitched voice.

"Yes, really."

"Wow," I huffed thoughtfully. "Good thing I didn't date him. I never would have dated Edward, and I would be like eight hundred pounds. I'm surprised you're not."

A wicked grin came over her face. "It's all the hours of hot kinky sex. It's better than going to the gym."

"Too much information," I groaned. "Far too much."

"Okay, now down to business! Bouquets!"

I groaned once again. I was so hiring a wedding planner when I had my own wedding. No, scratch that. I was going to have a wedding about an eighth the size of Alice's.

Later that afternoon I received a call from across the pond. Esme and I had been keeping touch over emails, and we had exchanged phone numbers. It just made sense if I needed to get hold of her or she needed to get some information from me on the fly. Edward certainly didn't seem to mind. He loved that his mother and I were getting so close.

"Hello?"

"OH, BABY GIRL!" Esme squealed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" She demanded.

"Tell you what?" I asked, confused.

"Edward just told me that you two are moving in together! Why didn't you tell me sooner!? This is so amazing!"

I laughed, "we just figured it out last week, and we've been busy since then. I'm sorry. Where are you at?" I asked, trying to deflect the conversation away from me. I knew this would work. Esme and Carlisle were traveling somewhere in Europe.

"We're in Germany! I'm not exactly sure where. We're on a train right now. We're going to Berlin tomorrow, and we're going to see the wall and Checkpoint Charlie."

"Take lots of pictures for me and send them to me. I am so jealous."

"I will do! Perhaps you two should come next year over here for a month. We can do some country hopping." She gave a little sigh before finishing, "as a family."

"We'll have to see if we can afford it! We'll have to see after we buy the house. We may be broke after that," I teased her.

"You're going to come to visit one way or another," she said in a motherly tone. "I loved having you two here."

"We'll see," I said to appease her. My phone beeped, signaling another call. It was a client. "Esme, I hate to do this, but I need to go back to work. I'll email you later."

"Promise?"

"Of course!" I giggled. "Bye, Esme."

"Bye, Bella. I love you and make sure to send Edward my love too."

"I will," I gave a happy sigh before putting my head back in the game.

"I've found it! It's perfect!" Edward shouted as he busted into my front door that following weekend. He was still in a tux from working earlier, holding a newspaper in his fist. He was way too loud for eleven in the evening, but he seemed so excited.

"Found what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction. He came quickly to kneel beside me in front of the couch.

"The house. Bella, oh, god... it's perfect. It's a four bedroom, four bath with a den, living room, dining room, and a kitchen. It's a single story on an acre of land. It's about ten minutes from here so we'd still be close to everything and-"

"Slow down... slow down," I said, taking the newspaper from his hand and looking at what he had circled. "How much is this place?"

"That's the thing. They're trying to keep from foreclosing so they're doing a quick sale. They just want to get rid of it."

"How much?" I asked once again.

"It's a half million dollar home, but they only want two hundred thousand for it."

"What's wrong with it?" I snorted. There had to be a catch.

"I drove past it on the way here. From what I can tell, it looks to be in good condition. I talked to the owner, and she said we could come tomorrow and take a look," he said, batting his eyelashes at me. "If that's okay."

"Edward, don't expect to find the perfect house on the first try. This really does seem to be too good to be true. Of course, we can look. They don't mind us coming on a Sunday?"

"She said it was fine," he said before hugging me tightly. "You'll see, my love," he said, his accent thick with his happiness. "I have a wonderful feeling about this."

"This is too good to be true," I muttered stupidly to myself as I gazed at the inside of the extremely beautiful house. At the words, Edward squeezed my hand tightly, so giddy he was almost vibrating. "Wow."

The house was amazing. It had a small front yard and a large back, the area fenced in if we ever wanted dogs. The wooden outside was painted a very pale yellow which was surprisingly flattering, and the shutters were an eggshell white. There were tons of windows to let the light in, but there were a lot of old trees as well to help keep the electricity bill low. It was almost thirty-five hundred square feet. It was more than we needed at the moment, but we were planning for our future as well. All the rooms were large, and one of the bedrooms already had a ton of shelving in it. I already decided if we moved here, that would be my office.

"We've been renovating it for a while now," the woman explained. "We'd rather see it go to a good family than to the bank. As much as I'd like to keep the place, it makes more sense to downsize. Our kids are gone, and the cost is too much for us now."

"Of course," I agreed absently, going to into the large kitchen. Edward stiffened beside me at the sight of it.

"Oh, wow," he said as he let go of my hand. There was a massive range with six burners and a grill in the center. It also had two ovens.

"All the appliances come with," the woman said, trying to make the sale. I didn't think she had to try that hard.

I walked over to Edward and took his hand again. His eyes looked into mine, and I knew what they were saying. He wanted this place, and badly.

"We would like to put an offer on it. We have almost half of the cost already, and we'd like to finance the rest," I turned to the Realtor who just happened to be the owner as well.

A large grin spread over her face. "Half? Truly? Well, with information like that, I'm fairly certain you can get it. But, we'll still have to go over the paperwork and wait for your approval. How long would you like to do it for?"

"Ten years, maybe fifteen. We'd like to get it paid off as soon as possible," Edward said, beaming at me. He didn't take his attention away from me even while she began to speak.

"Very doable! Great! Why don't we go into my office and we'll get started on the paperwork for tomorrow? It may take a few days to get the loan approved, but I'm hoping that won't be a problem. We were planning to be out of the house by May first anyway. Does that work for you?"

"It does," I said.

Edward leaned over and kissed me deeply on the lips excitedly. Looking at him at that moment made me feel like that this day was the first day of the rest of my life.

This chapter really is all about talking to people.

Btw... lovely guest reviewer from South Africa… HI! That's so cool! (Enoch's Stomp is a real place and it's run by a real South African family!) It's so cool to hear where y'all are from. So, I'll ask everyone… Where are y'all from?

Thanks for reading!