Ahem... testing... one, two, three... ahem...
Ok... where did I put that cobweb brush?
OH! here it is...
and here is the latest chapter of TTTB...
AN at the end.
Thanks to Lalina, Grendel and Sandyk199
and thanks for waiting...
on with the de-cobwebbing... I mean... the story...
where were we?
Oh, yes, the morning after the party... after a little quiet one on one time... (which means that our happy, recently outed couple have arrived late for post-party cleaning)
Chapter 51 - Planning the Future
A mid-morning break from post-party cleaning saw the tight-knit family in Alice and Jasper's kitchen. They were sipping coffees and nibbling on donuts that Edward and Bella had picked up as a cover for their later than expected arrival. Conversation flowed effortlessly as they reminisced about the party, and talk had inevitably turned to partygoers' reactions to Dan and Cassie's surprise announcement. That conversation lead to Sammy innocently asking her cousin if she and Dan had given any thought to when they wanted to get married.
"You want it when?" Jasper exclaimed.
"June, Dad. "
"As in this year?"
"Yeah," Cassie answered, looking back and forth between her parents.
"That's only a couple of months away," Esmé said, chipping into the conversation.
"Four," Edward corrected quickly. He knew exactly how far away June was. He'd calculated the time until Bella would join him on the West Coast almost down to the number of days.
"We haven't even finished cleaning up from your twenty-first yet," Jasper reasoned, trying to come to terms with what he was hearing. "And I think your mother's gone into shock. She hasn't said a word," he added, looking to Alice and hoping for backup.
It was true. Alice was sipping silently on her coffee. She hadn't reacted outwardly to Cassie's declaration at all; however, her mind was racing at a million miles per hour.
"What's the rush, anyway?" Jasper continued, seeing that Alice had not taken the bait he'd just dangled. "There's no need for you to rush, is there?" he asked, staring directly at Dan. If that little bastard's been lying to me…
"No, Dad!" Cassie replied, a little too loudly.
"No, Sir," Dan answered, almost simultaneously.
"It's just that June is such a lovely time of year, and to wait until the following year just seems too far away."
"It's not really all that far away," Jasper argued, looking once again to Alice for some kind of support. "Fifteen months, give or take, is nothing in the scheme of things."
"June is a lovely time for a wedding," Esmé piped-up again. "We were married in June," she continued, turning to look at Carlisle and squeezing his hand affectionately.
"My parents were married in June, too," Bella said, finally joining the conversation.
"The beach would be wonderful that time of year," Sammy weighed in, adding her support.
"That's what we were thinking," Cassie replied gratefully before, once again, turning to her parents.
"The beach? You want a beach wedding?" Jasper asked.
Cassie nodded.
"Something simple and plain; nothing over the top."
"Just immediate family and friends. No more in number than what was here last night," Dan concurred.
Alice put her coffee on the table in front of her and looked to her husband. "Sunset over the water at that time of year would be a lovely setting."
Cassie smiled conspiratorially at her mother. In that moment, Cassie knew that her mother was on her side, and Jasper, with an almost inaudible sigh, came to the realization that his concerns, no matter how he raised them, would, more than likely, fall on deaf ears.
"June," he said aloud before taking a sip of his coffee. Instantly, an image of a freight train with the word "Wedding" painted along its side came to mind. Prior to this moment, he'd naively thought that it would stay safely corralled at some imaginary station for some time to come; that there'd be no need to set the wheels in motion for a while. Now, however, he realized that it was already chugging along toward him and would soon be at full steam. His daughter, his pride and joy, would soon be on it and gone from his home forever. Jasper swallowed hard and winced as the hot coffee hit the back of his throat. For him, the idea of Cassie getting married was fine, but the reality of it was another thing altogether. He looked at his daughter standing next to Dan and realized all this wedding talk really meant that his little girl was all grown-up. He wondered wistfully where all the years had gone.
"When did you two decide on this?" Edward asked Dan and Cassie. Silently, he, too, wondered if June was just a little too soon. Dan had only just moved west.
"After the party; when we went to bed," Cassie said quietly.
Jasper pursed his lips before draining what was left in his coffee cup in one go. While, after considerable persuasion from Alice, he might be resigned to the fact that Dan now shared Cassie's bed when he came to stay, it didn't mean he had to like it.
"Do you really think you can get a wedding organized in just a few months?" Edward asked.
Bella watched the conversation closely. Inwardly, she was a little concerned that things might be happening way too quickly, and she was glad that Edward was asking questions that she didn't yet feel comfortable enough to raise in front of his family.
"We think so," Dan said, sounding confident.
"It's not like we want some big, over-the-top wedding, Uncle Edward," Cassie answered, looking first at Edward and then at her parents. "We just want something simple and elegant. Close friends and family. We managed to pull this party together in just a couple of days, and there are still months before June comes around."
"But sweetheart, weddings are much more complicated than twenty-firsts," Rosalie said. "There are the licenses, a reception venue, dresses, flowers, stationery…the list just goes on and on."
Jasper was nodding his head emphatically and blessing Rosalie's gray-concealing, gold highlights at this point.
Emmett noticed Jasper's enthusiastic head bobbing and was feeling sorry for the poor bastard. He was looking more and more like a deer caught in headlights.
"But not if we keep it simple," Cassie reasoned.
"And what do you envision by keeping it simple?" Esmé asked.
Cassie shrugged. It was a small habit she'd picked up from Dan. "Well, just a ceremony on the beach, maybe finger food and canapés afterwards. Music and dancing into the night…" she answered, her voice trailing off when she caught her father's facial reactions.
"No daughter of mine is going to have finger food served at her wedding," he said, almost under his breath.
"But Dad," Cassie began. "We want to keep it simple. No big sit down, stuffy, formal meal in a reception house or anything like that."
"And I suppose you'll all be having people turn up wearing flip-flops," he countered.
"Jasper!" Alice said.
"What?" he answered, letting his concerns about the swift-flowing conversation pervade his tone. "It's her wedding, for goodness sake! It's not some shin-dig or hoe-down where everyone brings their own chairs!"
"I'm not suggesting that!" Cassie argued, her voice rising.
"Jasper!" Alice said again, reaching for his hand to calm him. "I don't think that's what they're suggesting either," she reasoned quietly, trying to support both sides of the argument. "But I think I can see what they're getting at," she continued, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. "Something simple but classic. A mixture of traditional and modern touches, if I'm not mistaken."
"Yes," Cassie agreed wholeheartedly, grateful for her mother's support.
Alice continued. "Summer colors, tables with centerpieces of fresh flowers and miniature balloons, people milling on the lawn, drinks in hand, waiters serving trays of food," she said, creating a visual that she guessed would appease both her daughter and her husband. "Men in shirts and ties, women in summer dresses..."
"That sounds lovely," Esmé encouraged, her mind filled with the romance of her first grandchild's wedding.
"And where would you think of creating such a scene?" Jasper asked, eyeing Alice deliberately, expecting full well that she would already have a particular setting in mind.
"Edward's place," Alice said without preamble and looking directly at her brother.
"That would be perfect!" Cassie exclaimed.
All eyes turned to Edward.
Without a word, he simply raised his eyebrows and nodded his head, acknowledging the suggestion. What else could he do? His son wanted to get married. His sister wanted his support. If Jasper had shared aloud his vision of the wedding train, Edward could have related easily.
"Are you sure you're OK with that?" Jasper asked.
"Yeah," Edward replied, understanding that as a father, despite his fairly recent foray into parenthood, supporting his son was his responsibility. "I mean, the groom's my son," he said, catching Dan's eye, "and I'd like to do whatever I can to help him and Cassie chase their dreams. So, if they want a location for a beach wedding, that's something I can definitely help with."
Cassie wrapped her arms around Dan while she beamed at her uncle. This whole impromptu wedding discussion appeared to be making real headway. For her, it was thrilling to watch it unfold.
"You know, there are some nice restaurants out Edward's way," Rosalie injected, thoughtfully. "Maybe we could move onto one of those restaurants after the less formal post-wedding drinks and canapés at Edward's…that is if you wanted to have a slightly more formal kind of meal afterwards without it having to be like a traditional reception," she reasoned, looking between Jasper and Cassie. It was hard work trying to appease both sides of the discussion. She wished, for the first time, despite this morning's hangover, that she had a glass of champagne in her hand instead of the sensible coffee.
"Now there's an idea," Carlisle said, making his first contribution to the discussion to date. He was a traditionalist. While he had moved with the times as best he could, he had to admit he sided with Jasper on this one.
"We'd have to see if any of the restaurants could cater for something like this on such short notice. We'd need to book a place out for the night," Jasper reasoned.
"We'd have to have a date to make those kinds of enquiries," Alice agreed.
"We'd have to set a date," Rosalie agreed, looking to Cassie and Dan.
"Oh, my God, we've got to choose a date!" Cassie squeaked.
"Shh," Dan whispered, trying to calm his fiancée down while automatically reaching for his phone from the back pocket of his shorts.
"A date!" Esmé repeated excitedly. "Carlisle, darling, would you please get me my planner from my bag? It's upstairs in our room."
Smiling at his wife, Carlisle kissed her temple before silently leaving to do as he'd been asked. He loved seeing his wife so excited over the impending nuptials. Cassie's getting married, he mused as he made his way up the stairs, and he couldn't stop the smile that spread over his face as he thought about the joy that such an event would bring to his family.
Upon returning to the table, Carlisle looked around the room and noticed that everyone was busy studying various technological devices – iPhones, Blackberries, iPads – and he once again was reminded just how different the modern world was to the world of his youth. He looked in his hand at the worn leather planner that Esmé still preferred to use. Sure, each year, a new calendar insert would find its way into it, but the leather cover had been a treasured gift from a former client of hers many years before. It had stood the test of time and years worth of use. Carlisle wondered if the same would ever be said about the pieces of modern technology to which his family seemed all so devoted.
"We could do early June," Alice was saying.
"An afternoon wedding is always practical," Rosalie commented.
"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd prefer if it wasn't in early June," Bella said, speaking quietly. "It's just that…" she continued hesitantly, "well…" Although she had no reason to feel so, Bella was still a little overwhelmed whenever the entire Cullen family focused their attention on her at any one time, as they were doing at the moment.
"What is it, Bella?" Esmé asked, encouragingly.
"Well…" Bella started again. "Edward and I have been talking, and I've agreed to move here to the Wst Coast once this semester is over, and I –"
Bella didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. The start of it alone had been enough for Dan to whoop excitedly and the whole Cullen family to join in immediately afterwards with similar exclamations.
"You're moving here?"
"That's wonderful! Congratulations!"
"Geez, bro… you sure haven't wasted any time this time 'round!"
"That's wonderful, Bella!"
"When?" Cassie asked amid the chaos.
"Umm…" Bella began hesitantly, but smiling broadly, "we haven't really set a date, yet…just after I've finished my commitments at school for this last semester," she added, shrugging apologetically.
"Mom, that's great!" Dan said, coming round to his mother and hugging her tight. "Really great."
"Thanks, love," she added, returning his embrace.
"Wow," he said, pulling back and looking at Edward. "So, have you got anything else you need to tell us?" he asked, catching his father's eye and remembering their conversation from the party the night before.
"No. We've barely discussed this in any more detail than what you all now know," Edward answered while reaching for Bella's hand.
Bella gratefully held on to Edward's hand and squeezed it, showing her appreciation. He was so sensitive to her emotions, and she was buoyed by now regular displays of affection in front of his family. "It's just that, with me moving here, everything's going to be a bit crazy, and I'd really like to be a part of the final wedding preparations if I can," she said, addressing everyone before looking directly at Cassie and Alice in turn. "And I doubt I could be out here before the first week in June at the earliest."
"Oh, that's fine," Alice agreed, waving her hands briefly in the air, thereby dismissing her original suggestion of an early June wedding. "And of course we'd like you to be involved in everything for the wedding," she said, smiling at Bella before consulting her blackberry once again. "Well, if not early June, what about the 19th? That would make it the third Saturday in June."
"It might be tough booking out a restaurant at such short notice for a Saturday night," Rosalie said, being forever practical.
"Who said weddings have to take place on a Saturday, anyway?" Sammy asked.
"They don't," her mother agreed. "We could always make it the Friday night?"
"Or the Sunday," Dan suggested. "What's wrong with a Sunday morning wedding?"
"A morning wedding?" Cassie asked, looking at her fiancé as he stood next to his parents.
"Why not? Not real early or anything," Dan reasoned. "11 o'clock, midday…something like that? It still gives people plenty of time to party afterwards."
"Well, what about the Sunday then?" Cassie asked the group.
"The 20th?" Esmé asked. "No. No good," she continued, shaking her head. "That's Father's Day."
"Oh, so it is," Alice concurred.
"And Edward's birthday," Esmé commented.
Bella looked up quickly from her phone and glanced briefly at Esmé before catching Edward's eye. It would prove to be one of those moments in time that neither she nor Dan would ever forget. At that moment, both realized that neither had known the date of Edward's birthday, and it came as a shock. Neither of them had ever bothered to find out this little detail in the preceding few months as they'd come to know Edward better. For her part, Bella felt completely embarrassed. Here she was in love with the man, and she had no idea when his birthday was. As for Dan, he wondered how he could have come to learn so much from either his research or in all the time he'd spent with Edward since, and yet miss out on something as basic as asking, Hey! When's your birthday?
"The 20th is your birthday?" Bella asked him quietly.
Edward smiled at her and simply nodded in reply.
Bella turned the deepest shade of red and again berated herself silently for never having bothered to ask. Edward squeezed her hand reassuringly and then had a quiet laugh to himself. He realized that he didn't know when Bella's birthday was either. He thought it a wry moment and quite funny.
"We really shouldn't have it on that weekend at all. Some people travel for Father's Day weekend," Rosalie said, more or less ignoring the exchange.
"Good point. Scrap that weekend."
"Well, that leaves us the weekend of the 25th. Do we go for a Friday or Sunday then, assuming that Saturday's are out?" Rosalie asked.
"Friday."
"Sunday."
Alice and Jasper had spoken at the same time. They looked at each other and Jasper smiled knowing already that his suggestion would probably be overruled.
"Why the Friday?" he asked her.
"Because sunset over the water would be a beautiful backdrop. We could have the wedding sometime after six," Alice said, thinking aloud, "and then drinks and canapés as the sunset before moving on to one of the restaurants for dinner afterwards."
Jasper nodded his head thoughtfully. His wife was always so quick with the visuals. And here he'd been thinking that summer and the beach would mean a daytime wedding. "And that Friday would be OK with you?" he asked, looking at Edward.
Edward caught Bella's eye, and she nodded. "It's fine with us," Edward replied, including Bella in the decision.
Jasper took another moment to weigh up the pros and cons in his mind. Any date is too soon for my little girl to get married, he thought. Too bad I've already agreed to it. Finally, he said aloud, "So, does this mean we have a date?"
Cassie looked excitedly from her parents to Dan and back again.
"I think we have a date," Dan agreed. He crossed the floor and picked Cassie up off the ground in a huge bear hug.
We have a date! she gushed quietly against Dan's chest.
The young couple's family looked on, and smiled at their obvious happiness.
"We have a date," Jasper repeated.
"Yes, we do," Alice said, holding her husband's hand and squeezing it hard. That simple action expressed more than either were able to say aloud at this point. For them, that date would signify a significant change in their small family's journey. It was a poignant moment.
Edward and Bella, too, were moved by the decision. Edward leaned over and kissed Bella on the lips. This emotional journey, and all the others to come, they would now share together. Bella smiled through a stray tear or two of happiness, and Edward gently brushed them away as they continued to stare at each other, committing this moment to memory.
All three couples were watched by the other members of their family. No one was oblivious to the emotions that were being expressed.
"I'm over coffee! There's got to be more champagne around this place somewhere!" Sammy declared eventually, breaking the spell that had settled upon the room. She was definitely her mother's daughter.
"What is it with women and champagne?" Emmett asked. "You want a beer, Jaz? Dad? Edward?" he asked, searching out the men around the room. "Dan? What about you? Or are you one of these new-age-sensitive guys that the girls all swoon over these days?"
"I'm in for a beer!" Jasper answered.
"Me, too," Edward and Carlisle answered simultaneously.
"New-age-sensitive guys were so the 90s, Emmett," Esmé chided.
"I'm in for a beer!" Dan replied.
"I'll get some glasses," Cassie said, kissing Dan briefly before moving into the kitchen.
"Don't touch the ones in the crates! They're washed and ready to go back to the caterers!" Alice called, standing and following her daughter.
"I think there's more champagne out back, Sam," Rosalie told her daughter. I've earned this one.
"I'll find it," she answered as she disappeared from view.
Amid all the chaos that ensued, Edward placed the back of Bella's hand against his lips and kissed it softly. Esmé, forever vigilant, noticed, and rising from her seat, came to stand behind her son and his lady. "I'm very, very happy for the two of you," she said, bending to kiss Edward and Bella in turn.
"Thanks, Mom," Edward said, touched, as always, by his mother's show of affection.
"Thank you, Esmé," Bella said, feeling equally as touched by the gesture.
"You both deserve every happiness that life can give you," she added as Carlisle moved into place beside his wife.
"Ditto. What she said," Carlisle said before bending to kiss Bella and look proudly at his son.
Not since before the death of her own parents had Bella felt so blessed by family. She smiled with loving affection to both of Edward's parents. Life had afforded her many special moments, and to be welcomed so warmly into the Cullen family was definitely one of them.
"Wait here," Edward told Bella firmly as he opened the car door.
"Excuse me?"
"Please?" he added, a little belatedly.
"What are you up to?"
Edward paused for a moment and looked her in the eye. "Please," he begged, "let me do this right."
Taking a deep breath, Bella agreed. "OK," she said before folding her hands back in her lap and waiting obediently in the passenger's seat of Edward's Audi.
Edward had made Dan relinquish the keys to the Audi before they'd left Alice's place. Dan would be driving the old Volvo home. For the trip south back to Long Beach, Edward had wanted to treat Bella to a "top down" experience in his Audi convertible.
Bella had enjoyed the drive. Aside from feeling, at times, like an older version of Bridget Jones with her hair blowing all over the place, she thoroughly enjoyed the carefree feeling she experienced being a relaxed passenger with the wind in her hair. No doubt the mid-morning champagnes had something to do with it as well.
Bella waited patiently as Edward removed their bags from the trunk of the car and placed them just inside the door of his house. Once this menial task was achieved, he returned to the Audi and gallantly opened Bella's door before offering her his hand and escorting her to his front door.
"What are you doing?" Bella asked as he pulled her close and wrapped one arm around her waist.
"Welcoming my lady home for the first time," he said as he scooped her into his arms.
"Whoa!" she squealed while wrapping her arms around his neck for extra security. "What's this?"
"This," Edward replied, pausing for added meaning, "is me bringing you into our home for the first time."
"But I've been here before!" Bella giggled as he juggled her in his arms, getting a better hold of her.
"Not as my wife, you haven't!"
Bella froze in Edward's arms.
He kissed her.
"You are, you know…now…whether it's official or not…" he said, using a tone of voice that not only turned the moment from one of frivolity to seriousness in a millisecond, but also could not be misinterpreted.
Bella's only response was to smile softly before kissing him.
"Welcome home, Mrs. Cullen," he said gallantly before stepping across the threshold.
At a loss for words by the rush of emotions she felt, Bella simply pulled herself into Edward's arms and cradled her head against his neck.
Once inside, Edward held Bella in his arms close to his chest. After a moment or two of silence, he pressed her to him even more firmly.
"Are you OK?"
Bella nodded her head. "Yes," she said, pulling back to look at him; her seemingly ever-present tears filling her eyes. "I love you," she said, almost choking on her words.
"I love you, too," he confirmed, kissing her.
Moments later, Bella laughed. "You've got to put me down. I'm too heavy."
"Nonsense."
"Seriously," she said, swatting him, albeit it gently. "Put me down. I'll break your back!"
"Bella, there's not that much of you," he said, tossing her gently which made her squeal.
"Stop!" she laughed louder. "You'll hurt yourself."
"I'm not that old and infirmed and neither are you," he said, swinging her from side to side.
"Stop it!" Bella repeated.
"Why?"
"Because I need to use the bathroom," she laughed loudly while feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Edward joined in her laughter. "What would you do if I tickled you right now?"
"I'd love to see you try! And besides, it's your family's fault. I don't usually drink champagne in the morning!" she said as he placed her gently on her feet.
"And they held a gun to your head, did they?"
"It would have been rude to refuse," she countered as she made to move away from him.
"Down the hall and to the right," he laughed.
"I remember!" she called quickly before disappearing from sight.
Edward laughed and was momentarily struck by just how normal and homey this scene was. It warmed his heart before a grey cloud settled over it when he remembered that by this time tomorrow, Bella would be almost landing on the other side of the country. He shook off his temporary case of the blues, and kicked the front door closed with his heel before picking up his and Bella's bags, and making a start for the stairs.
"I'll go and put our bags upstairs," he yelled down the hall. When he didn't get a response after a moment or two, he called again. "Bella?"
He was answered by the sound of a flushing toilet.
"Oh!" he said under his breath, and he was still standing at the bottom of the stairs with the bags in his hands when Bella emerged from the bathroom.
"Oh!" Bella said upon walking out of the bathroom and seeing Edward waiting for her. Somewhat embarrassed, she smiled shyly. Sure, they were lovers, and a sometime soon-to-be-engaged couple, but bathroom ablutions were still a relatively mystical part of their relationship.
"I was just about to take our bags upstairs. Would you like a guided tour?" he said by way of explanation.
"Sure," she answered automatically. "Lead the way."
"I never really got the chance to show you around the other night."
"That's alright. We didn't spend much time here, really," she reasoned.
"Something I hope we can rectify when you return."
Bella smiled. "I plan on it."
"So do I," Edward smiled, reaching the top landing. "My room," he started before correcting himself, "I mean, our room, is up here on the left."
"How many bedrooms do you have?"
"Technically, five—two upstairs and three downstairs, but one I converted to a study."
"This place is huge. Why did you ever want a place this big when you were living on your own?"
"It was more of an investment, originally," Edward explained. "My real estate broker recommended it for that reason. At the time, I really wasn't too fussy. I just wanted some place quiet and far enough away from everyone and everything."
Remembering what had been going on in Edward's life when he bought the place, Bella didn't make any further comment.
"But it's worked out rather well now, ten years or so down the track," he continued. "Here we are," Edward said as he stepped aside and gestured Bella into a spacious bedroom.
"Nice," she said, taking in her surroundings. A large king-sized bed stood in the center of the room. Double French doors led out onto a balcony that overlooked the beach, and on the opposite side of the room were two doorways. Bella assumed that one lead to a walk-in closet and one to a bathroom. Aside from that, the room was relatively sparse.
As if answering her thoughts, Edward spoke up.
"There's a beautiful view of the ocean from over there," he said, gesturing to the large French doors, "and the closet and bathroom are over here," he finished, leading the way across his room.
Bella followed him mutely.
"I know it's a bit bare, but it's only ever been me in here," he said, putting down their bags. This time, it was Edward who was feeling uncharacteristically self-conscious. "Maybe next week when you come back, you can help me choose a few things to make it feel a little more homey."
"Edward, it's lovely," Bella protested.
"But I want you to make it feel like it's yours, too," he said turning to face her.
"I'm at home wherever you are," she said, reiterating something she'd said the day before.
Edward grinned at her.
"I love hearing you say that."
"It's true."
"How the hell did I get so lucky?" Edward asked aloud.
"Hey! That's my line."
"Not any more!"
"Thief."
"As long as you're in the bargain, I'm guilty as charged!"
Bella laughed.
Edward stepped forward and pulled her close.
"We didn't stop to buy you your ostentatious piece of jewelry," Edward reminded her.
"And as I said in the car, I don't need it."
"I wish you had something to wear home."
"You're incorrigible, you know. What? You think after all these years that somebody is going to come along and try and stake their claim on me in the next five days? I doubt it!" Bella admonished.
"You're entirely desirable, Ms. Swan."
"I thought I was Mrs. Cullen?" Bella teased.
"Without a ring on your finger or an ostentatious piece of jewelry, nobody else knows that," Edward countered.
"I know," she said, stressing the I.
"You'd better!"
"Remind me?" Edward smiled crookedly, taking in Bella's flirting tone.
"As tempting as that may sound, Junior might not be too far away, and I'd hate him to walk in on anything when he's still getting used to the idea of the two of us."
"He's a big boy," Bella said, unbuttoning the top couple of buttons of Edward's shirt to expose the chest hair that lay beneath.
"Bel-la," Edward drawled.
"What?" she replied, feigning innocence while running her fingertips through his chest hair.
Edward leaned forward and kissed her roughly.
She responded in kind.
After some heated lip work, Edward pulled away abruptly.
"Out! Now!" he said without preamble, turning her away from him and pushing her toward the bedroom door.
"What?" she asked, pouting a little.
"I want to take you for a walk, and that won't be happening if we stay here in this room a minute longer."
"I don't need a walk," Bella protested as he continued to push her ahead of him toward the stairs.
"I want to show you the yard and the beach," Edward explained, "and since I have to have you at the airport at the crack of dawn in the morning, we're not going to have time then. And if I know my sister, she's going to make a least a dozen or so calls, and equally as many emails to you before you get back here next week – all of them full of wedding ideas - so I want you to have a picture in your head of what she'll be talking about."
Acquiescing, although not happy about it, Bella allowed herself to be led downstairs and through Edward's house, before finally arriving in the backyard. Just as Dan had been a few months before, Bella was impressed with Edward's location. This particular afternoon, not even a few threatening rain clouds could take away from the spectacular views out toward Catalina Island.
"This really is a wonderful outlook," Bella said as Edward came to stand by her. "No wonder Alice thought this would be a wonderful place to have the wedding."
"I love it here," Edward said, putting an arm around Bella's shoulders and pulling her into his side while enjoying his view.
"I can tell," she replied, watching him and the way his features seemed to relax before her eyes.
"I hope you will, too," Edward said, looking down to her.
Bella smiled in response. "I'm sure I will."
Edward kissed the top of her head, and Bella closed her eyes briefly, relishing the contact.
Pulling apart, she surveyed the yard.
"You know," she started, "the one thing that I always think about with outdoor weddings is what happens if it rains?"
"I know," Edward agreed. "Depending on how many people end up coming, we could always move things indoors, but that would take away from the atmosphere Cassie and Dan seem to want. Still, there'd be enough room for a small tent here, even if it didn't have any sides…you know, just a canopy…maybe…" he added, his voice trailing off as he thought about the practicalities.
"That's a possibility. Where are the restaurants that Rosalie was talking about?" Bella asked, as she crossed the yard and looked up and down the beach.
"They're up that way," Edward said, pointing to his right. "Come on. We can go for a walk and I'll show you," he said, reaching down to pull off his shoes.
Following Edward's lead, Bella removed her sandals and held them in one hand. Edward took her free hand in his.
"Ready?"
Strolling along the beach, their conversation flowed easily. Edward spoke about living life on the beach, and Bella asked questions about the things she saw. When they neared the restaurants in question, Edward stood on the sand and pointed out the one or two he preferred over the others. He talked about their menus and they both decided that it would be best if they could meet with Dan and Cassie, Alice and Jasper sometime the following week, once Bella arrived back on the West Coast, to make a decision about a venue as quickly as possible. Edward again told Bella that by the time she got back, Alice would have no doubt called all the restaurants and gauged their availability for the weekend in question, so at least they would be able to narrow down things a little bit.
"I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I'm so looking forward to when you'll finally be here permanently."
"So am I."
"Life will be so different, for all of us, Bella," Edward said, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side as they walked. "You and Dan will be here. We'll all be together. He and Cassie will be married and starting out together. It will be a time of change for all of us."
"It will."
"I wonder where they'll want to live," Edward mused.
"I don't know. It's still early."
"Hmm," Edward replied, seemingly distracted.
"What is it?"
"Nothing," he said, sounding deliberately vague.
"Edward?"
Edward stopped their progression along the beach and turned to look at Bella.
"It's just that…well… I've only just begun to spend some real time with him…you know? And now, it seems like in a heartbeat, he's moving on…"
Bella pulled her lips together in a tight line and reached up to cup the side of Edward's face in her hand.
Edward smiled at her gesture, albeit a little sadly.
"It sounds stupid, but I'm kinda a little bummed about it, actually," he said, sharing a private feeling. "I mean, I'm happy he and Cassie want to get married, but…" He left his thought unfinished.
Bella finished it for him.
"You wish you'd had a little bit more time with him before you had to share him?"
Edward nodded silently, not trusting his voice. He was surprised at how emotional he'd become so quickly.
"Maybe they'll live somewhere close by?"
"Maybe."
"Although heaven knows how they'll afford the rent around here," Bella continued, thinking aloud. "I mean, Cassie will have only just graduated, and she'll need to finalize her teaching credentials, so she may not walk straight into a job."
"True."
"They may well only be on one salary for a while, and I have no idea how much you're paying Dan, but I doubt it would even come close to covering the rent in this neck of the woods."
Edward frowned. "Again, true."
"I doubt they've given much thought to this yet, either. Maybe it's something we need to raise with them sooner rather than later," she suggested.
"Hmm…"
"There you go again," Bella said as she watched Edward's expression. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"A random thought," he replied cryptically.
"Care to be a little more specific?"
"What if…" Edward started and then hesitated as he worked something out in his head.
"What if what?"
"What if Dan and Cassie didn't have to pay for a rental place around here. What if they lived here in Long Beach with us?"
"With us?" Bella echoed.
"Yeah!" Edward agreed, his eyes lighting up as his random thought continued to take shape. "Hear me out. What if I was to convert the studio into a one-bedroom apartment? Dan and Cassie could live there semi-independently. It has a small kitchenette in it. We could convert that to a small, but functional, kitchen. We'd have to install plumbing for a bathroom, but it's quite a big space, so I'm sure it would be do-able."
"You mean, make it into something like a Granny suite?"
"Without the Granny part," Edward agreed, breaking into a smile.
"But what about your studio?"
"Like you said, I've got a huge house. I could change one or two of the rooms downstairs into a workspace for me. It will only be you and me in the house, so we won't need all those bedrooms. The downstairs study and a converted bedroom would be enough room for me to work in. Upstairs would be unaffected."
"It sounds like a possibility."
"You seem a little hesitant?"
"No. Not at all, but I am wondering if they would feel comfortable being newlyweds, living in such close proximity to us."
"Well, as you said, the alternative is paying exorbitant rent for a shoe box."
"And it would mean that you could still stay close to Dan and get to spend more time with him."
"I don't want to live in his pocket or anything," Edward clarified. "But it would be a win-win situation; in my mind at least."
"There's no harm in suggesting it," Bella agreed. "You never know, Jasper might feel a bit more at ease about things knowing that Cassie will be close to family."
Edward smiled, his eyes twinkling at a private memory.
Bella caught it.
"What was that look for?"
"My mother said something very similar to me when I was debating whether or not to offer Dan the job. She said that you might feel more comfortable about it knowing that Dan was moving toward family and not just away from it."
Bella smiled warmly. "Did she?"
"Hmm."
"Seems a bit like karma, then, doesn't it? Why don't you talk to Dan and Cassie about it? See what they think. There's no harm in putting it out there, and financially, it makes sense."
Edward's smile broadened. "So, you're not against the idea?"
"No. On the contrary. The more I think about it, the more I think it's a perfect solution. It wouldn't be permanent, but it would help give them a step up in life."
"Dan's got money coming to him from your parent's estate hasn't he?" Edward asked.
Bella nodded. "Yes. It's sitting in trust for him. It matured when he turned twenty-one, but he didn't want to touch it, so it's just been rolled over and locked into another account. Although, I guess he might be wanting to get out of that sooner rather than later at this point."
"Well, if we do convert the studio, maybe he can leave it there and they can save some more money so that they will be set up when they do move out on their own."
"It all sounds logical to me."
Edward grinned. "I'm excited about it, actually," he confessed. "And we'd get the chance to be a bit of a family unit for a while before he and Cassie move out."
Bella felt her heart melt just a fraction more for this man. Six months ago, he hadn't even known he'd had a son. Now, he was rearranging his life to ensure he could get as much time as possible with him. Lucky wasn't the right word to use to describe her circumstances anymore. For the second time that day, blessed, came to mind.
"Thank you," she said, hugging Edward to her.
"For what?"
"For being you."
Edward smirked. "And who else would I be?"
"You could have been a miserable old bastard."
"Once upon a time, I was."
"I doubt that," she said, scolding him with her tone.
"You don't really get what a mess I'd made of my life up until recently. I could have died one day being just like Walter Matthau in that Grumpy Old Men movie."
Again, Bella felt her heartstrings tighten. "I'm sorry," Bella said, stepping back a little to look him in the eyes.
"What have you got to be sorry about?" he challenged.
Bella rubbed her hands soothingly along Edward's forearms.
"If it hadn't been for me, you and Dan could have had years together. You wouldn't be feeling like this if I hadn't kept the two of you apart," she explained, feeling incredibly guilty.
"Whoa! We've been over this. What's happened is in the past. You made the best decisions you could with the information you had at the time. We have the rest of our futures to spend together. That's a whole lot of time. It's the future that matters from this point on…not the past."
Bella pulled her lips together and raised her eyebrows. The fact was that her continued feelings of guilt were something she'd been talking at length about with her counselor back home. Bella still wasn't able to put behind her the guilt she felt at having denied Edward the chance to know the younger Dan. Now, it was being compounded by her realization that she had fallen in love with Edward. Her decisions had denied all of them a very different kind of life, and she was finding it very difficult to forgive herself, even if it appeared that Edward had.
"Bella?" he asked, trying to see what was going on behind her eyes. He'd seen the shadow cross over them and right now, and he wanted to calm her inner torment.
Closing her eyes briefly and letting the sound of her name wash over her, she opened them and searched Edward's face for any sign of anger and upset.
She found none, but she still couldn't believe it that he had forgiven her past mistakes.
"Why aren't you angry with me for everything I denied you?" she asked him outright. She'd never been so bold before – never so direct. "I know you say you're not and that you're focused on the future, but I just don't get how you couldn't have hated me for what I took from you."
Bella was tense. This was what she had brought up with her counselor over and over, and something that she just couldn't understand because she truly believed, that had the situation been reversed, she'd never have been able to be as forgiving and understanding has Edward has been.
Edward swallowed and bought himself some time. This was so not how he'd anticipated their afternoon walk along the beach to turn out.
"Bella, I don't know what you want me to say," he replied honestly.
"Tell me the truth."
"I love you," he said simply. It was the simplest truth he could offer her.
"I know that, and I love you, too," she said as she read the sincerity in his eyes. "But," she started haltingly, "it wasn't always like this…not in the beginning…you must have felt very angry…"
Edward reached up to cup her face in his hands. It seemed like Bella really wanted to press the point, and he owed her the truth. He'd promised her nothing but the truth, months ago.
Slowly, he nodded his head, wanting to be honest with her, but also wanting to desperately lessen the impact of what he was going to say.
"Yes. I was angry."
Tears ran down Bella's cheeks, and Edward wiped at them with his thumbs. She hiccupped a little with the effort of trying to keep her emotions in check, and it broke Edward's heart to think that what he'd said had just hurt her. He wanted to right it straight away.
"But that was before we'd met again. That first weekend I came out to New England, all I wanted to do was confront you and get some answers. Alice and my mother warned me to take it easy, to tread warily and not to make things worse, but part of me was just so mad. It was hard to listen to reason," he explained. "But I took Alice's advice, and I bought that plant," he said, smiling at the memory. "Something to break the ice and give us a conversation starter."
Bella, too, smiled at the memory.
"And when Dan led me into the house, and we met again, you were just so different than what I'd expected to see. You were more nervous than I was, and you took off into the kitchen, and there was no way you were going to come out of there. When Dan went to try and talk you out of cooking, I took the time to look around at the photos you had in your living room, and I can't explain it…I just realized that I needed to get to know your story and not just get the answers to my questions."
Yet again, Edward wiped at the tears falling down Bella's cheeks.
"Who knows…maybe you'd started to weave your magic on me then," he smiled at her, love and devotion shining in his eyes. "And over that weekend, and then little by little, through our emails and phone calls, I knew that the initial picture I had built of you in my mind didn't match the person I was getting to know. You started unraveling me that very first day we met last year. And you've been doing it ever since," he explained. "All I know is that when we met up again in December, I was beginning to fall for you, and by the time I left to come home, I knew that I was in love with you…I just had no idea if you would ever feel the same way about me."
Bella was now crying uncontrollably.
"There was no way, after what you shared with me at Christmas time, I could feel any anger toward you," he said, referring back to the night when Bella had finally let her guard down and exposed her raw and damaged soul. "You are the woman I love with all my heart. There is no room in this relationship for anger or regret, and I am being perfectly honest with you," he reinforced, when he saw Bella about to interrupt. "I will always feel a little sad that there are times in Dan's life I will never remember first-hand, but you and he have been doing a wonderful job in sharing your memories with me. I treasure them as if they are my very own, and I am slowly building up a lifetime's worth of memories to reflect upon. There's no anger here, Bella. No hate. Just love. It's the most precious thing I can give you."
Bella pulled herself against Edward and squeezed him as tight as she could. She had no idea what she had done in life to deserve this man or his love. She believed she had to be the luckiest woman alive and she had no real idea how to prove that to him – to show him that she loved him as deeply as he'd just proven his love for her.
But then it came to her.
Slowly she pulled back from him. She wiped at her eyes repeatedly, trying to rub them dry while all the while, Edward stood and watched her silently.
"I…" she started haltingly before she coughed, clearly trying to regain control of her voice. "I love you, and I can't put into words what I feel about how you've treated me and all you continue to give to me. I know I've been a bit slow on the uptake, even though now I realize that I've been in love with you for quite a while, too," she said, smiling, "I just wish I could give you those memories first-hand. I wish I hadn't taken that opportunity away from you. Maybe that's something I'm just going to have to come to terms with because I can't change it. But I can do something. I have something I can give you – something that might make up for my past mistakes." Bella took a deep breath. "Edward, I can give you another child - a baby – one that you can be involved with from the very beginning and for the rest of your life."
"Bella? Are you saying you want to have another baby?"
"I'm saying I want to give you the chance to have everything I took away from you the first time. We can have another child. We can raise it together, as it should have been with Dan. You don't have to miss out on being a dad. I can give that to you. A baby of your own."
Her suggestion made perfect sense in her mind. This was the way she could put the past behind her, and make it up to Edward. She could give him what he'd always wanted. It would be her ultimate gift to him.
Edward stood rooted to the spot. Less than forty-eight hours before, he'd been in their shower at their hotel room, and he'd felt his heart burst at the idea of having more children with Bella. It had flashed before his eyes as clearly as if it had been a piece of video footage from a family holiday. But now, here on the beach, he had the opposite reaction. His heart constricted at the idea, and he couldn't explain why – it just didn't feel right. "Bella, this is a huge decision," he said as he struggled with his unexpected reaction.
"I know, but it's something I can do for you. It's a way of showing you how sorry I am for you missing out on Dan's youth. It's a way of putting my love for you out there for everyone to see."
Edward felt at sea. He desperately sought to identify what he was feeling and why. "Sweetheart, we have to talk about this. There's so much involved in coming to a decision about whether or not to have a baby."
Bella pulled back. "Don't you want a baby? I thought you'd always wanted a baby?"
"I did. I had. But that was a dream I had all but given up on."
"And don't you see? Now, you don't have to."
Edward pursed his lips and sighed inwardly. In the long-distant past, he'd spent hours upon hours of his time daydreaming about what it would be like to hold a child of his own and what it would be like to raise a child. When Bella and Dan had come into his life, he'd spent even more hours feeling upset, bitter and betrayed at the loss of such an opportunity. And yet, aside from the momentary flashes he'd had the other night, he now realized he hadn't thought about those lost dreams for months; not since Christmas. Instead, what he'd focused on, since realizing he'd fallen in love with Bella, had been his growing feelings for her and his hope that one day, given time, she'd return them, and then if she ever did, how he would spend the rest of his life making her happy. The pictures he'd created in his mind had been of a duo, not a trio. And now, here was Bella offering him the very thing he'd so often longed for in the past, and his gut was telling him something very different.
He finally understood what was happening. He wanted to be selfish. He wanted Bella all to himself. He didn't want to spend the next twenty years of his life sharing Bella with somebody else, even if it was their own child. He wanted to show her the world. To take her on trips that single parenthood had never allowed her; to show her a life that was so very different to the one she'd experienced thus far while she'd single handedly raised their child.
Edward tried to read the expression on her face. The previous five minutes had thrown him for a complete loop. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, or reject her gift, but it was too much. Neither of them were young anymore – but they weren't old, either. In fact, they were far from it - and another child at this stage in their lives had far reaching consequences.
"Beautiful," he started, trying to ease the tension that had developed in the last few moments. "There's something I need you to understand. I don't need to have another child to make up for the past. What you and Dan have brought to my life these past few months has enriched it beyond measure. I never thought I could feel so much, nor feel so happy."
Bella frowned and looked a little confused. Inwardly, she'd thought Edward would have jumped at the chance to have another child – together this time. She couldn't quite get the gist of what he was saying.
Edward drew her hands up to his chest and pressed them against him. "You've brought me peace and happiness, and that's something I haven't had for the longest time. You don't owe me anything. I have the greatest gift already. Our family." He paused, measuring his words carefully. "To have another child together now, while another great gift, would mean a lot of change, for both of us. And I'm going to be very honest here. I don't think that having a child, if only to erase the pain of the past, is the best motivation."
Bella cried. She couldn't help it. She buried her face in his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
"I love you, you crazy lady," Edward said as he held her and swayed her, oblivious to the stares of other beach goers. "I want to show you the world. I don't want to wait another twenty years when we're too old to have the choices we have now. It's selfish, I know," he said, kissing the top of her head, "but I want you all to myself. I want to take you to far away places and spend my days and nights loving you, and planning our next great adventure."
Despite the mixed and confusing emotions Bella was feeling, she giggled, somewhat sadly.
"You make it sound like some great expedition or something."
"Haven't you ever wanted to see the Great Pyramids, or Machu Picchu, or The Tower of London?"
Bella shrugged. As a single parent, travel abroad had never really been on the cards for her, so she'd never really given it much thought other than when she'd watch travel shows on the television.
"And cities like Paris and Rome and even Sydney," he continued, thinking back to the original event that set the wheels in motion for their eventual re-uniting.
"We could do all that with a child," Bella persisted.
"Only for a few years, and then we'd be locked into school holidays and limited opportunities." He paused and pulled back to look at her. "Bella. I'm essentially a selfish person. I've lived on my own for so long," he said, his brow furrowing. "If someone was to write a report card on me now, it might say something like, Edward is a caring person, but he doesn't always share well with others." He laughed at himself under his breath. "The thing is, I don't want to have to share you. I want you all for myself. I've waited long enough to feel the kind of love I feel for you, and I want to act on it, without restrictions."
Edward paused. He didn't feel like he was explaining things properly. It wasn't just about traveling the world with her. "Beautiful, if you can honestly tell me that wanting another child is truly something you desperately need and not just a way to make up for the past, then fine – we can think about having another child. But I need you to understand. I don't need a child to make things right. I have you and I have Dan, and we'll have, hopefully, the grandchildren he and Cassie will have in the future. That's all I need."
Bella dried her eyes as she thought about what Edward had just said.
"Is another child truly something you want?"
Bella took a deep breath. She knew her answer. "No," she said, exhaling heavily. "I wanted you to have a child."
"I don't need a child to be happy."
"I'm beginning to understand that," she replied.
Edward cupped her face in his hands. "Would it make you unhappy not to have another child?" he asked her genuinely.
Bella shook her head. "No. In the past, I've spent a long time planning what I would do with my life once Dan was settled and off on his own. I've never considered having another child before now."
"And now? What do you think now?"
Bella sighed and smiled, giving herself permission to chase a new dream. "I've heard that the most amazing glass in the world can be found in an island off Venice."
Edward broke into the hugest smile.
"I'm blessed to have you," she said as she hugged him.
Edward smiled and guffawed. "Yeah. Because I'm such a catch," he joked.
Bella pulled back and rubbed roughly at her eyes before looking at him incredulously.
"You are."
"Bullshit. When are you going to see me for the flawed person that I really am? I'm a guy who got blind drunk, bedded a young, innocent girl he didn't know, got her pregnant, albeit unknowingly, married somebody else, divorced her because I couldn't stick it out and be the man she needed me to be, pulled away from my family because it pissed me the hell off to see them have everything I wanted but didn't have, lived life like a hermit in my lovely palatial home on the beach far enough away from the people who loved me that nobody could stop by without massive pre-planning, and made my musical instruments and my computers my best friends."
Bella was at a loss for words. To hear Edward describe his own life so blandly did make it seem far less than fairytale.
"You see?" he said, raising his eyebrows to her. "That doesn't sound much like a good catch to me."
"You're genuine and kind and unbelievably patient," Bella countered. "You've welcomed Dan into your life willingly. You didn't have to do that."
"It would have made me even more of a miserable bastard if I hadn't."
"Why are you putting yourself down? I don't understand?"
"Frustrating…isn't it?"
"Excuse me?" she asked, now thoroughly confused.
"Bella. You are this talented, independent, capable woman. You have single-handedly raised the most incredible young man all while building yourself a career."
"I'd hardly call teaching a career."
"It's a most noble profession, even if modern society tends to regularly undervalue it. The thing is, I think you put yourself down way too much. You, maybe by necessity in the past, have focused on the struggles or problems you've had to face, and then worked to find a solution. You've done an incredible job. I just think there haven't been enough people in your life to tell you that."
Bella was standing there in front of him lost for words.
"We now have the most wonderful opportunity to create whatever we want out of our future. We could both spend time looking back at the past and wanting it to be different, or we can grab hold of our future with both hands and have a hell of a fun time on the ride. Whatever the future has in store for us, I want you by my side, and I want to plan it together. No more feeling guilty or melancholy over what we may or may not have missed out on in the past."
A tight smile began to form on Bella's face.
"And another thing. From now on, I'm going to say "Ow" any time I think you're being too hard on yourself or you're brooding on the past. It's not right. The future, Mrs. Cullen, that's what we're focusing on from here on in."
Bella's smile broadened. She found this authoritative side of Edward quite entertaining, and more than a little hot.
"Yes, Sir."
Edward was on a roll. He continued.
"See the beach up ahead?"
Bella nodded in reply.
"Unchartered territory," he said, matter-of-factly. "No matter how many times we will walk it in the years to come, each and every time will be a new journey. No two times will ever be the same."
Bella nodded her head as she thought about what he was saying.
"The two people who walk back to our place after this very challenging but enlightening conversation this afternoon will be two different people from the ones who left it a little over an hour ago."
Bella continued to nod her head. "I get it."
"Take my hand, Mrs. Cullen," Edward said, stepping to the side and holding out his hand for hers, expectantly.
When Bella placed her hand inside of his, he entwined their fingers together.
"Now let's walk. The future awaits."
Bella laughed aloud as they started walking.
"You're right. You're not so good a catch. You're a bossy boot!"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Desperate?"
"I don't want to hear you feel guilty about the past ever again."
"Deal."
"Good. And besides, I've been sporting a semi ever since your little escapade in the bedroom an hour or so ago."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I might just have to do something about that when I get you home."
Edward turned and gave her a sly look out of the corner of his eye.
"Don't go making promises you won't keep, Mrs. Cullen."
"I don't intend to, Mr. Cullen," Bella teased.
"Really?"
Bella laughed, her voice light and devoid of heavy emotion. Without warning, she flicked away Edward's hand and made a short sprint 20 yards or so up the beach.
"What are you doing?" Edward called after her, laughing as she turned around to face him and continued to jog backwards along the beach, albeit a little awkwardly.
"Getting a head start!"
"Alone?" he laughed.
Bella laughed some more. "Being part of a double act is still relatively new for me. I'm a fairly accomplished solo performer. I think I can handle things satisfactorily 'til you catch up to me. We don't want to wear you out now, do we?" she called, before giving him an exaggerated wink.
Edward laughed very loudly. So loudly, in fact, that he broke into a coughing fit and had to stop and catch his breath.
Bella paused a little distance away. She didn't know if he was in real difficulty or not.
Edward stood up momentarily and smiled broadly at her.
Bella smiled back.
"I'm going to count to five," he called.
"What for?" she called back.
"I'm giving you your head start."
"Oh!" she said, her eyes opening wide. "Then what?" she teased.
"I'm catching up!"
Bella laughed hysterically.
"One!" Edward bellowed.
"Oh!" Bella turned tail and began to run.
To the casual passer-by, the whole thing looked quite entertaining – two adults playing on the beach, one running rather clumsily in a flowing skirt while being chased down by another wearing rolled up pants. All who witnessed it instantly smiled; they couldn't help it. It was a lovely sight - two adults enjoying life, and each other, so uninhibitedly. It was a joy to see.
I am planning on bringing TTTB to a close in the next few chapters.
I started writing this fic nearly two years ago. My life, since then, has changed with the growing demands of my family. As a result, despite my best efforts and intentions, I cannot devote as much time to it as I would like.
In recent months, I have felt extraordinary (self-imposed) pressure to get this story finished and I have been struggling with the fact that my time to do so is very limited. I never thought it would take me this long to write this story, and I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion for everyone who has supported me along the way.
As a result, I have decided not to write the third arc of the story as I had originally outlined. Instead, I will, in Ch 52, summarize events from the third arc (in one chapter - I had orginally planned around 10) and then will post the epilogue soon after.
The epilogue has been written for nearly 18 months. All this time, I have been trying to get us there.
I plan to take the next month to write and "polish" the final chapter (52) - trying to get 10 chapters worth of content into one is proving to be a bit of a challenge!
My desire is to give all readers a comprehensive picture of these characters and their journey.
It has been an incredibly difficult decision to make. THIS is not EVER, the way in which I intended to wrap up this story, but I have too many responsibilities, too many "balls in the air" and I have to let something go...unfortunately, TTTB neither pays the bills nor gives my family any quality time with me, so this is what has to give.
I have been incredibly touched by people in the fandom who have supported me as I write this story. I hope that support will stay with me as I conclude this epic tale. When I first started writing this, I was tired of reading all the cliched stories out there... I wanted to offer something a little more "mature" (for the older readers amongst us) and create something that was a little unique. I intend to do that right to the very end of this story. Some people may dislike me intensely for what I will write, but I can't control that - I just know that I will write the story the way I envisioned it from the very beginning.
Thank you to my betas, who have saved my bacon, numerous times (including this chapter). Thank you to my readers, several of whom have contacted me in recent months to touch base and check that I haven't actually fallen from the face of the earth. And thank you all, for your patience.
See you in a month (or so)
Leisa
