I'm getting a little teary here. When I started writing this I wasn't sure I'd ever even finish. I certainly didn't think I'd ever dare share it. When I held my breath and started posting, I didn't think anyone would ever actually read it. I certainly didn't expect to 100+ people decide to follow or fav it. I would have been thrilled with 2 reviews and the fact that I now have over 200 absolutely blows my mind.

Thank you all so very much. You guys are my motivation and your support has meant the world to me.

Epilogue

Our honeymoon was short and sweet as we both had too many obligations to keep us away for long but we made good use of our hotel room for the two nights we had it, never leaving the room once and rarely leaving the bed except to shower together. We'd created a little love bubble there and I hated to leave it but I was missing my girl and the real world beckoned. Edward promised to bring me back for our anniversary as we reluctantly checked out of the hotel.

Because Thanksgiving was just days away, I was forced back to work immediately upon arriving home, hurrying to help Ben finish filling the roll and pie orders. Edward spent those days officially moving his things into our home. My mom and Phil had decided to stick around to spend the holiday with us and their help with Charlie that week was incredible.

Thanksgiving ended up being a much grander affair than I was used to. In addition to my parents, Esme had also insisted that Rose and Emmett spend the day with us. So, instead of the usual small dinner with Rose and Em, I found myself at a large table surrounded by family. It was a feeling that I'd never realized I'd always wanted. Luckily everyone's attention was focused on the children, listening to Charlie's stories or doting on sweet baby Henry, so no one noticed the few tears that fell from my eyes.

No one but my loving attentive husband, that is. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked quietly, brushing the tears from cheeks.

"Nothing. I'm just really happy right now."

He smiled and kissed me, drawing our family's attention back to us and I blushed furiously as Emmett whistled and both of our mothers smiled broadly. Then tiny little Henry let out a massive fart from his seat on Rosalie's lap and the room erupted in laughter. The attention turned away from us once again, leaving me free to scoot my chair closer to my husband and steal kisses unnoticed for the rest of dinner.

At Christmas, Edward managed to surprise both me and Charlie with tickets for our very first family vacation to Disneyland. I thought Charlie's head might explode when she learned she'd be spending the rest of her school break at the Happiest Place on Earth. I was even more surprised to learn that Edward had not only planned the trip, he'd managed to conspire with my employees so my business would be taken care of and even called Jake himself to make sure he wasn't stepping on any toes.

"You called him?" I asked later that night as we lay in bed.

"Of course, baby. That's his weekend and I just wanted to make sure it was cool with him before I booked the tickets."

"Was that weird?" I asked. I couldn't imagine it not being at least a little weird. The two of them already had met, of course, and managed to exchange polite greetings but that was always with Charlie present.

Edward chuckled and pulled me against his chest. "I won't lie. It was a bit awkward, for both of us I think, but Charlie's only eight. We have ten years of holidays, birthdays, and coordinating schedules with him plus graduations, her wedding and sharing grandchildren after that. Might as well put the past aside and get along, right? Besides, I got the girl in the end," he said with a smirk and then kissed me.

Disneyland was incredible and Charlie had such a great time that it was all she would talk about for months afterwards. She was still discussing her favorite rides two months later when we attended Alice and Jasper's wedding in February. Unlike our wedding, Alice's was a massive affair attended by everyone Alice had ever met or probably even just said 'hello' too. The morning of the wedding, as Esme and I helped Alice prepare for the day, my mother-in-law pulled me into a hug and thanked me profusely for sparing her all this drama with my wedding. All the planning and miniscule details were driving Alice a bit crazy and in turn she was driving Esme crazy. I knew that in the end it would all be lovely and perfect but part of me was afraid that Esme might strangle her daughter before she ever made it down the aisle. I took it upon myself to make sure Esme's glass of champagne was refilled often but not excessively and enlisted Carlisle and Edward's help in keeping her calm.

A month later, the arrival of Charlie's new half-sister, Leah, proved to be one thing that finally broke her out of her Disney obsession. She just couldn't get enough of that baby, not that I could blame her. Leah was a sweet, beautiful baby and seeing how happy Vanessa and Jake were and how in love Charlie was with her baby sister made my ovaries twinge.

That night as I readied for bed, I washed my face and brushed my teeth as usual and then picked up my plastic packet of birth control pills. What had always been second nature now became quite difficult. I just couldn't muster the willpower to pop the tiny pill from its foil enclosure. Without another thought and still clasping the plastic disc in my hand, I stood in the doorway to my bedroom where I found Edward sitting in bed with a book.

"What do think about me maybe not taking these anymore?" I asked, holding up the pack of pills.

His eyes focused on the item in my hand and then a huge smile broke out across his handsome face. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" I nodded and he closed his book, setting it aside. "Then I say you toss that shit in the trash and get your gorgeous ass over here."

It took three months and as fate would have it, the pregnancy tested showed two lines the very same week I'd decided it was time to expand the bakery. Business had been booming and we were testing the limits of our current location. Now with the imminent expansion of my family as well, I had to face the truth. It was time to move.

Ben, my newly appointed assistant manager, and I spent the summer checking out commercial space after commercial space. Whenever I could steal her away, I dragged Esme along with us. Her renovation and design expertise were immensely helpful when trying to imagine these big, often dreary, empty spaces as an attractive and functional workplace.

It took us until the end of September to find a space that met my big three condition; location, size, and affordability. Despite having looked up and down all of Seattle, our new location ended up being just a few blocks away. That had been the clincher for me as it meant we could likely keep most of our local business.

Once the lease was signed and keys were in hand, Ben, Esme and I spent close to a week walking through the building mapping out what needed to go where and hammering out the design details. At the end of the week I handed the keys over to my mother-in-law and let her and her crew get to work.

With one big change underway, Edward and I were ready to begin looking for our new home. He'd been incredibly patient, knowing I couldn't seriously look at houses until I knew where the new bakery would be. I knew I would never find anything as close to work as I was now, but I still wanted to be as close as reasonably possible. That didn't stop him from pointing out 'For Sale' signs on every decent house we passed.

Our personal foray into the real estate market was much simpler. We spent only two weeks looking at different homes in the area before we found one that was perfect for us. It had four bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and a beautiful backyard that Charlie immediately began dancing around. Best of all, it was only five minutes from the new bakery and close enough to our old place that Charlie wouldn't have to switch schools. That fact alone was enough to make ready to sign on the dotted line.

The next few months were some of the most stressful of my entire life. The bakery renovation was in full swing, Edward, Charlie and I were in the process of moving, and my pregnancy hormones were out of control. Some days I thought I might lose my mind but Edward kept me sane. In the evenings he would cook dinner, rub my feet or sometimes just hold me close and remind me that it would all be over soon.

On our anniversary he kept his promise and booked an entire weekend for the two of us at the Fairmont. Since I was almost six months pregnant, we had to substitute sparkling cider for our champagne but other than that tiny detail, the weekend was spent exactly as our first weekend as husband and wife had been, completely and entirely in bed, wrapped in one another.

Our weekend away recharged my batteries enough to survive the last few weeks of our move and renovations. By Christmas, the three of us were settled into our new home and I received the best Christmas present possible, the work on the bakery was finished and we were on schedule to re-open just after New Years. I don't know how we did it, but somehow we'd survived.

Our peace only lasted a few weeks before I went into labor late one evening, two weeks early. Masen Carlisle Cullen arrived just a few hours later in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day. Though this time around my labor pains started first, Masen kept up the tradition and my water broke as Edward stood in front of me in our bedroom, talking me through a contraction. Esme teased afterwards that she was feeling left out and threatened that if we ever had another baby, she wouldn't leave my side for the last month.

I was smitten with my son from the first moment I saw him and could tell right away that he would be just as handsome as his daddy, maybe even more so and boy, was his daddy in love with him. Edward spent the first few days of our son's life just holding him in his arms and staring at our tiny wonder. More than once, I woke in the middle of the night, my breasts telling me we were overdue for a feeding, and found Edward passed out on the couch with Masen sleeping on his bare chest. I'd never thought it possible to love this man more than I did until I saw him caring for our baby. It was nights like that that had me counting down the days until my six week doctor visit and being cleared to make love to my husband.

Charlie was completely obsessed with her little brother and with a year of practice already under her belt, she was an incredible help. Masen loved his big sister just as much. He gave her the honor of both his first smile and his first laugh, much to the dismay of his father and I, who'd been trying to elicit that type of reaction from him since birth. We'd spent days making funny sounds or ridiculous faces at him only to have Charlie accomplish the task simply by picking him up after school one day and saying hello.

Once the boy started smiling, he never stopped. He was the happiest baby I'd ever seen. Edward and I took advantage of the fact that we both basically worked for ourselves and Masen spent most days at work with one or the other of us depending on who had the easier workload that day. My son soon became the star of the bakery, charming everyone who walked in the door. All the sweet little old ladies of the neighborhood would stop in everyday for a bagel and the chance to coo at and tickle my sweet little boy.

At Thanksgiving that year Rosalie and Emmett shocked us all by announcing the expansion of their family. They'd been secretly filling out adoption papers and had finally been approved. Little two year old Henry was going to have a little sister. Moments later Alice and Jasper announced their own impending arrival. They had planned on waiting until Christmas as Alice was only six weeks along but got caught up in the excitement of Emmett and Rose's announcement and let it slip. As everyone congratulated the two sets of parents to be their eyes fell on Edward and I expectantly. We looked at each other and at nine month old Masen before both shaking our heads vigorously.

"Not a chance!" we cried in unison.

The next few years flew by in a blur. I watched my daughter transform from a beautiful little girl to an absolutely gorgeous young woman. As Charlie entered her teenage years, Edward and Jake formed a surprising alliance, suddenly united in their common goal; keeping every other male as far away as her as humanly possible.

Masen grew up to be the spitting image of his father but with my brown eyes. He continued to be just an absolute delight though he had a mischievous streak as well. Despite their year and a half difference, he and Henry became the best of friends and the two of them together could be quite a handful but I loved the sounds of their giggles and hushed whispers as they plotted against their sisters. Though he was on-the-go all day when night fell, he was all mine, often curling up in my lap for no reason other than to snuggle his mommy. Those were the moments I lived for.

Edward made a tradition of whisking me off to a hotel for the weekend every year on our anniversary. On our fifth he decided we were overdue for a proper honeymoon and surprised me with a cruise, just the two of us. Masen was ecstatic to have a weeklong sleepover with Henry while Charlie spent the week helping out her dad and Vanessa with their second child, a cute little boy they'd named Seth.

It was on our cruise that we conceived our little surprise, a brown haired, green eyed little angel named Elizabeth. She was the polar opposite of her brother, quiet and introspective but she also had the biggest heart I'd ever seen. Where Masen was always mom's little boy, Elizabeth was daddy's girl from the start. She worshiped the ground he walked on and launched herself into his arms whenever he walked in the room and he loved her every bit in return.

Throughout the years, Edward and I remained every bit in love as we'd ever been but our relationship was not perfect. Just as every couple does, we had days filled with stress, anger, and arguments. However, we'd learned from the mistakes of our past and made communication a priority. There was nothing we couldn't share, no problem we couldn't work through.

We'd gotten away from each other once before but now that we'd found our way back together, nothing would tear us apart ever again. He was mine and I was his, the way it should have always been.

Well I'm not quite ready to hit the complete button just yet. Still contemplating an outtake or two from EPOV. A couple of you have chimed in on what you'd like to see from his POV but I'm certainly happy to hear what everyone else thinks. Keep an eye out for that hopefully in the next little while.

I've also been working on a couple other stories and hope to start posting in the next few weeks. I'd love for you all to come along on a new journey with me.