A/N: I apologize for this taking a bit longer than I'd wanted it to. But here you go. Hope you enjoy.
A couple of things.
Piper-lane has created a beautiful banner for the epilogues to this story! I am seriously touched and grateful to everyone that's created banners for this story. You can find a link to it on my profile page, or go to http(semicolon)(backslashbackslash)i1232(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/ff379/reader101/Ep2-2(dot)jpg
Also, I had the pleasure of being interviewed this week by wtf(dot)am(dot)I(dot)doing for the Twi-Muses blog! It was really, really fun, and I think I've met my Australian long lost soul sister! I swear, half of our side conversations consisted of the sentence "me too, me too!" Anyway, as soon as that gets posted I'll give you guys the info so you can take a look at it if you'd like some background info on what goes through my head as I'm writing these stories, as well as some insight into the characters from 'If We Ever Meet Again.'
Danna0724 betad this epi for me. And she's promised her services to me for the foreseeable future (I'm keeping you to that bb!)
One more epi after this, from a certain princess's POV.
All characters (except the Cullen kids) belong to S. Meyer. I'm just moving them to the East Coast for a bit.
Epilogue 2 – Devotion
Chapter Song Rec: Always by Atlantic Starr (oldie but goodie).
BPOV
Seven years after the marriage of Edward and Bella Cullen:
"Jace, out of the water! Jace! Jason Christopher Cullen!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, launching top speed out of my beach chair and taking off towards the water. I'd literally turned around for two seconds to take the sunscreen out of the beach bag so I could reapply it to his back. By the time I turned back around Jace had already jumped out of his chair and made it to the shoreline. Like his father, he had the speed of a bullet.
Of course, he completely ignored my desperate screams and plunged into the water, his bronze hair waving wildly in the beach breeze and his mischievous giggles carrying in the warm wind.
Thankfully, Edward caught him before the waves completely submerged him. He scooped Jace up from behind, turning him upside down over his head. Jace squealed in delight. I stopped and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Again daddy, again!" Jace begged, laughing his impish Cullen laugh.
Edward and I locked eyes. He shook his head and grinned, bright rays falling around him and making his sun kissed shoulders and chest radiate in the late summer sun.
"Relax love, I've got him."
He flipped Jace over and sat him down on his broad shoulders. "Not again little man. You almost gave mommy and me a heart attack. What were you doing running into the water like that?"
Our three-year old son extended his tiny finger towards the calm, grey waters of the Hamptons shoreline, pointing at two twenty-something girls who were, at the moment, staring wide-eyed and shamelessly not at him, but at his father.
"Pwetty girls."
Despite the scare he'd just given me, it took all my effort not to give in to peels of laughter. Jace was so his father's son.
Lips pressed together tightly, Edward turned his eyes to me once again. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged before lowering Jace back down to the sand, tousling his hair and giving him a gentle tug in my direction.
"You get back over there to mommy and don't worry about pretty girls for now," he ordered, but I could hear the barely controlled laughter in his voice. "It's time for your nap."
Hands on my hips, I waited for Jace, but half way to me he turned around and in a split second was in front of his father again.
"Daddy, I don't want nap. I make sand castles with you and Maddie and Megan."
Maddie smiled, but I heard Megan's groan of protest all the way over here. I chuckled.
"No daddy! Don't let him," Meg complained, the breeze blowing her long, reddish blonde hair all around her face. She pushed it away roughly and huffed. "You know he always pretends he's a dragon and messes up our castles! Go back to mommy Jace!" she commanded. At five, Megan had little patience for her younger brother's antics.
"Jace, come here," Maddie said, tugging her little brother carefully by one arm and pulling him to sit next to her. He fell on his bottom over the sand at her side, smiling up adoringly at his oldest sister, who had a tendency to indulge him. "If you promise to be good, I'll let you help me build the moat."
"I be good Maddie," Jace promised, smiling widely and showing off both his dimples. I smirked, hopeful but not totally convinced of Jace's good intentions. Now that naptime for Jace was clearly over, I strolled back down to rejoin my family. The warm sand caressed my bare feet, running between my toes.
It was late August, another summer quickly coming to a close. The long, warm days had had enough time over the past few months to warm the once cool sand, and to kindle the usually cool Atlantic waters. As had become our yearly tradition, we'd spent the last couple of weeks of the month at the beach. It was the time of year the kids, as well as Edward and I, looked forward to the most. Every year, we'd spend the first week up here by ourselves, just the five of us and Sparky, our Lab. For the second week, Alice and Jasper and their brood, and Rose and Emmett and theirs would join us. And while having our extended family with us for the last week of summer was always a treat, the last day of our time alone, just the five of us, was a special day.
I sunk to my knees next to Edward, raising an arm to his tanned shoulders, enjoying the warmth of them beneath my hands. He turned and gave me his crooked grin, flashing those sea-green eyes I'd never get tired of, eyes which had finally been recreated in our son. Both our daughters had my eyes, pools of melted chocolate, as Edward called them.
"Alright," Edward said, clapping his hands, "Let's get back to it." Edward took his summer sandcastles very seriously. "Meggie pie, you finish working on the south tower" – all eyes flashed to me in mock reproach at the mention of the south tower – "and Maddie princess, you and I need to get this moat done."
"Me too finish moat," Jace reminded him.
"You too finish the moat little man," Edward assured him with a chuckle, tousling his sand-filled hair again.
"And what do I do?" I asked.
Maddie looked at me, her mouth turning up in exactly the same smirk her father tended to wear.
"Mommy…why don't you just sit there and…supervise for now?" she suggested with a familiar lop-sided grin.
I crossed my arms in mock insult, sitting back and resting my butt over my knees. Maddie smiled and Edward chuckled at his eldest daughter's wittiness; his relief at her continued devotion to the family sandcastle plainly evident in the now-relaxed set of his forehead.
He hadn't been quite so relaxed a little while ago.
This summer, Maddie had become good friends with the twin daughters of the family who'd just bought the beach house next to us, Casey and Cassidy. They were the same age as her, and so the three had quickly become best summer friends. Edward and I had become pretty friendly with their parents, and a couple of times during the week we'd even barbecued together in the late afternoons, sitting out on our decks, watching the sun set over the sparkling waters and enjoying a bottle of wine while the kids played and ran around in the sand.
Unfortunately, at least in Edward's eyes, Casey and Cassidy also had an older brother, Jayden.
Jayden was a year older than the twins; tall and lanky, the way thirteen-year-old boys tended to be, with a head full of shockingly golden-blonde hair. And he had a free and easy grin that made him look like that boy from the Home Alone movies.
So it was a few hours ago, when the sandcastle project had just gotten underway, that Casey and Cassidy had returned from a morning with their parents in town. Like typical tween girls, they'd immediately come looking for their new BFF and had waved her over happily from outside the back door to their house.
Excited to see her friends, Maddie turned to us. "Mommy, Daddy, can I go hang out with Casey and Cassidy?"
I could see the flicker of disappointment in Edward's eyes; this was the last day we'd be alone as a family. Alice and Jasper would be arriving tomorrow. And he'd been looking forward to the sandcastle project since breakfast.
But his mouth quickly turned up in his signature crooked grin, and he flashed it widely at our daughter.
"Sure," he agreed easily. "Just don't wander off too far."
"I won't!" Maddie called out, already up on her feet and running. Edward looked after her, a wistful expression on his face. Suddenly Maddie turned around and ran back to her father. She bent down quickly and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Thanks daddy!" And she ran off again. Edward smiled and watched her go.
But the smile quickly morphed into a scowl when Jayden stepped out from the back door, moving to join his sisters and Maddie by the deck.
I followed Edward's gaze. "She'll be fine," I smiled reassuringly. "Besides we can see them plain as day from here."
The scowl didn't leave his face. "Why does he have to hang out with them?"
"Uhm, because they're his sisters. And Maddie's his friend too. I warned you once, you wouldn't be able to keep her away from boys forever," I laughed teasingly. Edward's scowl only deepened. I touched his shoulder soothingly. "Edward, he's just a thirteen-year old boy. You're being silly."
His lip turned up in a snarl and he mumbled something unintelligible about having been thirteen once and beautiful daughters and karma.
Every couple of minutes after that, while he and Meg and Jace and I built the skeleton to our castle, we'd hear Maddie and her friends' laughing and giggling, and Edward's head would shoot up in their direction, glaring. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, amused. After a few instances of this, I looked over to the deck, and saw Jayden looking over at us nervously.
He turned to Maddie and his sisters and lowered his voice. But on the beach, conversations usually got carried pretty easily with the ocean breeze.
"Your dad keeps looking over here and giving me the evil eye."
I stifled a laugh, because really, it wasn't funny. Well, maybe a little funny.
His sisters giggled. "That's because he thinks you like Maddie," one of them said.
"Ewww!" all three girls exclaimed, bursting into fits of laughter.
Jayden chuckled nervously, looking down at his feet, his Adam's Apple bobbing up and down.
"Yeah, Eww," he agreed. But the way his voice shook betrayed him, at least to the adults.
To this day I maintain that was the moment my husband's first forehead crease appeared. Edward agrees.
"Did you see that?" he hissed between his teeth.
I put one hand on his bare chest.
"So maybe he has a little crush," I whispered quietly. "It's no big deal."
"We're putting the beach house up on the market tomorrow."
"No, we're not."
"Yes, we are."
"No, we're not."
He sighed heavily.
"Well we're not coming back next year."
"Yes, we are."
"No, we're not."
"Yes, we are."
He sucked his teeth and sighed even deeper.
That was when Sparky, our four-year old Lab sauntered over to us, and started licking Edward's arm.
"Go Sparky!" Edward whispered roughly, jerking his head towards the house where this new perceived threat lay. "Kill! Go!"
"Edward!" I choked, turning towards him so quickly that I accidentally knocked the bucket in my hand into the south tower of the castle.
"Mommy!" Meg screamed as the tower fell.
"Attack! Maim at least!" Edward continued commanding Sparky, ignoring me and the damage to the castle.
Sparky stared at Edward for a few seconds, panting quickly with his tongue hanging out.
He then proceeded to lick Edward's face.
I fell to the sand, laughing.
"Useless mutt," Edward growled, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "That's what happens when you name a dog Sparky. We should've named him Cujo like I suggested."
My laughter turned to chuckles and then I sat up again and nodded my head towards the sandcastle.
"We have a problem," I said, pointing at the collapsed tower and trying to distract Edward from his futile and inappropriate attempts to have a thirteen-year old boy dismembered.
"Daddy mommy knocked the tower down! Now we gotta start it all over again. Come on daddy, come on!" Meg ordered, pulling on his hand. She'd noticed her father's inattention, though she was still too young and too involved in the sandcastle project to understand what had him that way.
But Edward could never disappoint one of his daughters.
"What? Oh sorry Meggie Pie," he apologized. "Come on, Daddy'll help you fix it…" He glared up at the neighbor's house once more, but the kids were no longer paying any attention over here. Huffing, he turned back to his other daughter. I chuckled and shook my head.
Maddie returned to us a couple of hours later, and Edward breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
And now, because I'd accidentally knocked down the south tower of the castle, thanks to him, I was being down-graded to supervisory duties. I grimaced in Edward's direction. Meg watched me and giggled.
"Daddy, make mommy laugh. Maddie hurt her feelings."
I chuckled and reached out for my youngest daughter's long wavy hair, pulling gently on a few strands. "Maddie didn't hurt my feelings Meg. I don't mind supervising."
But now that Maddie was back and Jayden was nowhere in sight, Edward was feeling playful again. And more than willing to obey his daughter's command.
"You heard what Meg said. I've gotta make you laugh." In an instant he'd pushed me into the sand and thrown himself over me, his long fingers trailing quickly and insistently up my sides. I squealed.
"Stop Edward, stop!" I begged, as he attacked my underarms. Then he lowered his still stubbly jaw line to my neck, rubbing up and down quickly. My back arched off the sand. "Please stop!" I cried through my chortles, listening to the laughter of our three children in the background.
He chuckled and whispered in my ear. "Oh, now please stop. Last night you couldn't get enough."
I laughed even harder, because he was right.
"Eww, alright guys, that's enough!" Maddie said. I looked over at her and caught her rolling her pre-teen eyes at us. "There're people passing by, and they might have a camera or something and the next thing you know, you two are all over the papers all kissing and everything. Blegh!" She made a face.
"Yes, God forbid the world find out you guys have parents that are in love. That would just be so un-cool," Edward teased her.
All three kids 'ewwed' together.
Edward snorted against my neck, his warm breath washing over me, before placing a soft lingering kiss on it. "We'll continue this tonight out on the deck, after the kids are in bed," he promised quietly.
"We'd better," I teased under my breath.
Even all these years later, his words and his touch were more than enough to send a scorching wave of heat through me. I grinned and watched him lift himself off of me slowly, the muscles in his strong shoulders flexing, his six-pack contracting tightly. In his mid-thirties, Edward was still the sexiest man alive. And suddenly bed-time couldn't come fast enough.
If it was true that age made you wiser, Edward was living proof that it also made you more perfect. At least, perfect for me. Sure, he had his faults, like we all did. For example, why was it so hard for him to turn his socks outside in before placing them in the laundry? And why did he and Jake insist on arm-wrestling like a couple of Neanderthals every time we all got together, even teaching Jace and Jake Jr. to arm wrestle? What was it with all the male testosterone that flowed every time the Cullen men and the Black men got together?
And his extreme generosity hadn't diminished one iota in the past few years, despite my constant reminders to him that I needed nothing beyond him and our children. I turned to look at the big white house a few feet away, its dark blue shutters faded by the salt-water in the wind and sun, in perfect contrast with the freshly painted white siding.
I mean seriously, who gave their wife a summer beach house as a birthday present?
All I'd said was 'that week at the Hamptons was so relaxing.' I suppose it was a good thing I hadn't said that when we'd spent a week on that Brazilian island a few years ago, or even worse, as we'd been touring that Italian castle in Tuscany during our honeymoon.
And don't even get me started on the over-protectiveness.
But in reality, none of these were faults, not in the real sense of the word. Because while it did occasionally annoy me when I had to spend fifteen minutes sorting through his socks and turning them outside in while doing laundry, I'd laugh just as hard as Charlie, or Carlisle, and even Esme, whenever Jace and little JJ pretended to arm-wrestle like their dads. And the beautiful house we spent two weeks in every summer and occasional weekends throughout the year? It held some of the sweetest memories of the years Edward and I had spent together so far. This was where Edward taught Maddie and me to surf. This was where little Meg took her first steps, holding on tightly to me or her dad's or her big sister's hands.
And one summer night, after Maddie and Meg were fast asleep in their rooms and the full moon was bright and high in the dark sky, and the gentle waves of the ocean broke soothingly like a lullaby against the wet sand of the shoreline, this was where Edward and I had laid a blanket over the sand just outside our house, and made Jace.
And Edward did protect us, all of us, from everything and everyone. I slept peacefully every night, and so did our children. My heart was safe.
While Edward and the kids kept working on their quest for the perfect summer sandcastle, I watched them, listening to the birds flying over the shore, singing the last of their summer songs. The tide came in, rippling softly as it advanced and retreated. And the occasional drops of cool saltwater carried by the breeze caressed my warm skin. We played and we loved, and occasionally we worried and yelled. But we'd made a family. And each of our children, despite having their own unique personalities, carried a bit of both of us inside them.
It showed even in the way they took on their sandcastle project. Petite little Megan bit her lip, a small line appearing between her eyes while she determined which tool to use to dig out more sand. Impatient like her father, she threw the tool to the side and dug in with both hands. Jace, seeing his sister, and always ready to prove he could do things as well as she, threw himself into the moat and forked out mounds of sand in his arms. But the burden of being a good boy must've just gotten too heavy to carry, and the dragon within soon found its way out. With arms outstretched, little Godzilla growled and trampled, causing a mudslide of epic proportions along the western wall of the long moat.
"Jace, no!" Megan cried. "Daddy look what Jace did!"
Edward smiled patiently. "It's okay. We'll fix it."
Maddie smiled too. Physically, she was a darker version of me at her age, though much prettier, taller, her pre-teen body leaner and more toned from years of ballet and daily runs with her father. But she had Edward's ability to be patient - when it really mattered.
"Yeah Meggie," she assured her little sister. "Don't worry, we'll all fix it together." She looked up at her father, and they shared a smile. "It's still early, and we've got forever."
She was absolutely right. We did.
A/N: Jace. The name of another one of my modern day literary heroes. Anyone know who?
Reviews are as soothing as a late summer day at the beach. Leave one.
One more epi left. Hopefully next week.