EPOV

The mystery was killing me. But Jasper had his ways of making me forget to be angry at him. And damn if he wasn't good at making me forget.

We were on the Whitlock jet heading to parts unknown to me for our honeymoon. Jasper said if I liked it we would come back.

Come back to where? I didn't even know where we were going. It threatened to irritate the fuck out of me, but my husband was too charming for his own good. He was an excellent diversion.

"Are you going to give me a hint?" I had been bugging him for the last ten minutes.

"It's overseas."

I threw my pillow at him.

He caught it and laughed.

"We've been in the air for hours!" I sighed in frustration. "Just give me a hint."

Jasper shook his head with a laugh, going back to his book. My husband, I loved calling him that, he was old fashioned when it came to the stories he loved. He insisted on reading them in paperback. No technology around his favorites. I didn't dare try to seduce the answer out of him. He would just make us join the mile high club and then go back to his book. I didn't know what else to do so I flopped back in my seat and pouted, making Jasper laugh at me. If the richness of his deep chuckles didn't turn me so much, I would kick his ass. What the fuck was I talking about? I loved his ass too much.

I fell asleep only to be awoken by Jasper. "We're about to land."

We landed and then I was blindfolded and deafened by my cruel husband who wouldn't tell me where we were going.

I was guided to a car. We drove forever until we came to a stop and then I was guided to another vehicle after a bathroom break which Jasper took too much advantage of. Not that I minded. I was guided into something higher like a SUV and then we were on the road again. I wanted to use my other senses such as sound and smell but I couldn't. The air condition was on and the windows were up.

"You're a very cruel man to do this to me," I said to the air. I heard a deep chuckle to my left and turned to it. "Jasper, seriously, where the fuck are we?"

"You'll find out soon."

"I'll find out soon. You're going to find what blue balls are. That's what you're going to find out," I mumbled in a huff. I was pissed. I didn't like surprises. I despised them. Everything bad that had happened in my life came about as a damn surprise. I liked to know what was going on. It was as simple as that. Jasper knew this and he should respect it. I didn't want to fight. I didn't want to upset him, but the further we went to wherever we were going, the more upset I became at his secrecy.

"I'm sorry," I heard him loud and clear over the quiet hum of the car's engine even though he said it so softly. "I know you hate not knowing, but I wanted this to be very special for us. Something unforgettable. But I don't want to start our honeymoon off by fighting." He took the headphones off. The A/C was turned off and the windows were lowered. The smell of country air hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt Jasper's fingers on my cheeks, heading toward my eyes to remove the blindfold.

What was I doing? I shouldn't be upset about this. Jasper was nothing like my past. I could make an exception. I had done so before he hadn't disappoint. All of his surprises were for my betterment. He wasn't being cruel. He was trying to make our honeymoon unforgettable.

"Don't." I backed away from him. "I want to guess."

Jasper's hands remained on my face for a while. "Are you sure?" he asked when he finally removed them.

"Yes."

I tried but I couldn't come up with nothing until the driver. His rich accent was like alarms going off. No. We weren't where I thought we were.

"We're not where I think we are!" I stated excitedly. It couldn't be. I don't remember telling him. But I've told Jasper a lot of things. It was possible telling him this had slipped my mind. We were in Scotland. "We're in Scotland!" I threw my body in his direction and he caught me, leading his lips to mine. I welcomed to the kiss. I was so happy. I couldn't believe it. Jasper did this for us. When? How? More importantly, when?

I ripped off the blindfold to look at the amazing man who I got to call mine. "How? When? With everything that was happening?"

He sighed with a contented smile on his beautiful face. "It wasn't easy. It was damn near impossible but I couldn't let anything ruin this for you, darlin'. I love you."

"I love you too." I pulled him into a kiss.

I could tell you all I remembered from the sightseeing. Reminisce about all of the wonderful places we visited. I enjoyed every second of my honeymoon. The beautiful locations. The lovemaking. The little fights brought on by my stubbornness and Jasper's frustration that turned into nights of passion. The feel of him against my bare skin will never get old. There will never be a day I won't want him. It will never happen.

I promised him as we landed back home I will never leave him. He was it for me. He was my forever. Everything I had gone through, I thank God for leading him to me.

Some years later….

"Shh! You'll wake daddy up!" My little girl thought she had mastered whispering as she scolded her twin sister for bumping into the bed. "We've got to be quiet. I want to solve this and show you Daddy has my eyes." I kept my eyes closed as tight as I could and tried to keep my face neutral. Jasper was out. He had to be. I had worked a late shift at the center.

There were so many people to help and there weren't enough hours in a day to do it. I was a social worker who ran my own crisis center for battered women and children and pleasure workers. It was Tanya's term. Pleasure workers. I actually laughed at the name until she explained the significance of it. It was what we formerly dealt in. Providing pleasure for others for a price. She didn't want the commonly used names such as prostitutes or hookers. No, not Tanya.

So when it became too much some or when others wanted a way out, there was the Open Arms Crisis Center.

I devoted my time between the center and my foundation for abused children. The foundation offered counseling and support for kids who have been abused physically, sexually and mentally. Mercy, my sister-in-law, devoted her time to the foundation and her big brother was very proud of her.

Heidi Whitlock stepped up in a major way when she decided to adopt Mercy and raise her as her own. She was already fairly grown and thought she could survive on her own. Jasper and I wouldn't take no for an answer and Heidi had refused to let her walk away. The papers went through quickly, power and money could make the impossible seem like an everyday thing, and soon Mercy was living in Jasper's, and her's, family home. No one questioned Heidi through the entire thing. And she has never given us a full reason behind her decision so we left her be.

Life could be hectic so when Jasper and I started talking about children after our seventh wedding anniversary, nothing was set in stone. It was just a talk that came up every once in a while. Jasper would joke about not getting any younger and how much he loved seeing me with my godson, Micah, Tanya and Jake's pride and joy. The kid was a bundle of energy but I loved the little punk like he was my own.

Tanya was the one who helped us make the final decision. She invited us over where she told us over dessert that she had discussed it with her husband, Jake shook his head no, and she had come to the decision to have Jasper and mine's child. I was shocked. Jasper was speechless. At least we were until Tanya demand we give her an answer. I don't think the yes came fast enough from the two of us. Jasper and I had thought about it, talked about it, and the timing wasn't right, but then again when was the time ever right. We were living for the moment.

We took no chances. Tanya was artificially inseminated with both mine and Jasper's sperm. Though Tanya liked to make Jake think otherwise. The procedure was a success. We had prayed hard for it to be. I had begun reading on success stories and not so successful ones. Jasper had caught me obsessing on more than one occasion, but I couldn't help it. My life had been plagued with bad luck and I told him as such.

"Am I bad luck?" he had asked with the saddest look in his eyes.

"Never."

It was all the motivation I needed. And on that day in the doctor's office, with my heart in my mouth, I heard the best news I had ever heard. Tanya was carrying our child. I thanked my best friend, crying on her shoulder until my legs gave out. She understood. She held me.

My mother was over the moon. She and Carlisle flew out to see me. Bella and I video chatted about the good news. She was in England, studying. My sister wanted to be an Historian. Life was good.

It was good until the day I saw my former mother, Mrs. Masen on my doorstep. Tanya was seven months pregnant with twins and Jasper and I had been on edge since her doctor placed her on bed rest. Tanya nearly killed him. She actually tried to choke him. Jasper took time off from his job at NYU to take Tanya's place at our offices. Everyone was pitching in. It was semi smooth sailing to delivery. Jasper had convinced Tanya to behave. A mission Jake and I had found impossible. Jasper was a charming guy after all so I should have known there was nothing he couldn't do.

So there I was, leaving the house, we had decided a bigger place was needed, so we rented the loft out. Jasper was happy about it. When I almost bumped into the woman who raised me, the woman who looked at me with the disgust the last time she saw me, standing on my doorstep.

She told me she wanted to see me. She didn't think she was wrong to love my father and want to do everything she could to please him. I listened. I feared to speak. I feared exploding and giving myself a heart attack in the process. She said she forgave me. She said she still loved me. And then she told me she was dying. It was cancer and her priest thought it was a good idea to come and see me and tell me she forgave me.

When she asked if I had anything to say, I told her I was a happily married man with twins on the way. She swallowed hard and tried to keep the disgust off her face. I told her I forgave her for all she had done to my mother, her sister, and the part she played in fucking up our lives. I told her I wished things had been different but we had to deal the hand we had been given. I told her I thanked her because if she hadn't stuck to her sadistic husband I would have been stuck in a hapless life. But I wasn't. So I thanked her.

I left her on the steps and I never saw her again. I cried on my husband's shoulder that night. I finally closed that chapter of my life. And a month later my girls were born. They were perfect. My little Chloe and Lily. I loved them so much. When they were four months old, I received word of Mrs. Masen's passing. I attended the funeral with Jasper. We walked in hand in hand, our wedding bands glistening in the light as they laid her to rest and I threw a bunch of roses on her casket. I remembered how much she loved red roses. I looked into my father's eyes, daring him to climb down into the grave and take them out.

He passed away from alcoholic poisoning two years later. I didn't attend the funeral.

"What are you two doing in here?" Jasper's voice sounded from the door. Chloe would speak up she was the brave one. She had too much of Tanya in her I liked to say. Jasper said it was me too. Paternally, Chloe was my biological daughter and Lily was Jasper's. Jasper and I have successfully adopted our respective daughters. I was Lily's adoptive father and Jasper was Chloe's. Now, they were four years old and the smartest little smart asses on the planet.

"We are trying to see Daddy's eyes," Chloe spoke up like I knew she would. "I told Lily his eyes were green like mine and hers were pretty blue like yours."

"I kinda wanted to see, Dad," Lily said in a shy voice. I loved these girls so much. Their personalities were a joy. They loved each other so much and were so attached they had their own secret language.

Jasper wouldn't let her do it. What was I saying? Of course he would. Chloe lifted one of my eyelids and I frightened her yelling, "Boo!"

She laughed and kissed me on the lips and then climbed down from the bed, running to Jasper. They hugged his legs and when they heard their Aunt Mercy calling them, they ran from the bedroom with Jasper warning them not to run. The steps slowed and I smiled as he came over to the bed, climbing in. I pulled him to me, kissing him sound on the lips and then cuddled against his chest, getting comfortable.

"I'm sorry they woke you," he said with a kiss to my head.

"I'm not." I chuckled. "I love you guys too much to care."

And I did. This was my slice of heaven. My life was chaotic and beautiful. It was just for me.

The End..