For Glo. Because she's special to me.

Epilogue 1.1

Jess nudges me and I sigh as I remove one of my earbuds.

'You okay?' she asks.

I know she's genuinely concerned, so I shove down my irritation. It's not her fault we're delayed, and she probably misses Garrett as much as I do Edward.

I haven't seen Edward in close to two weeks. It's the longest we've gone without seeing each other since before we were even together, since those few weeks between Jasper absolutely annihilating that silly crush I'd nursed for years and me tracking Edward down at his TAFE class.

The first few days were easy enough; I was too preoccupied to really miss him. Jess had been set on having her hen's party in Bali—pictures to be tagged on Instagram as #lastflingwithoutthering and #jessisgettinghitched—and we'd managed to score an excellent deal on flights and twelve nights at a gorgeous resort. It had been a long time since I'd had some extended quality time with my girlfriends, so I was determined to soak it up. I threw myself into it all: the early morning yoga classes, the fresh seafood lunches, cocktails by the pool in the afternoon, and sweaty, pulsing nightclubs until the early hours of the morning.

It wasn't all relaxing, though. Almost two weeks of socialising, of having to be constantly 'on,' has left me pretty exhausted mentally. And even after living together for twelve days—not to mention all the dumb ice-breaker games—my faulty brain kept misplacing one of Jess's cousins' names. She was really sweet about it the first half a dozen times, but a few days in I could tell she was getting over it. I could hear it in the way she sort of sighed her name when I faltered, the way her eyes started to roll before she caught herself and plastered the smile back across her face.

So while it was nice to get away with some good friends and do nothing but indulge, it only took a few days before I really started to miss Edward. And I don't just miss the way I can switch off with him, let my guard down and just be, or the way he can tell when I'm struggling and will pull me away to a quiet space so I can regroup. It's not just the mind blowing sex or the way his eyes light up when I walk into the room or the dumb private jokes we share. I miss the glass of cold water he leaves on my bedside table every morning, and the way he sneaks his fingers under the hem of my skirt while he tells me about his day. I miss the smell of sawdust and sweat he wears home from work and the way he always gets me a beer before he opens his own.

To make things that bit harder, I should already be home by now, preferably naked and with some part of Edward's anatomy inside me. But our flight was delayed, so I'm still sitting in Denpasar International, staring at the departures board and willing our flight to climb higher up the list.

'I'm fine,' I tell Jess. 'Just a bit tired.'

'Same,' she says. 'Long day, huh?'

'Seriously.' We've been in the airport for six hours now and it will probably be another four before we can finally board.

'I'm heaps sorry,' Jess says.

'It's not your fault, hun.'

'I know. But I still feel like… I mean, it was my idea to come to Bali.'

'Have you had fun?'

She looks at me like I'm crazy. 'Are you crazy? It was the best. Twelve days in paradise with all my favourite ladies.'

'Good,' I say. 'That's what we wanted for you. So please don't ruin it by feeling bad about something you have zero control over.' I pause and raise an eyebrow. 'Unless you sabotaged the aeroplane. In which case, screw you.'

Jess grins and leans into me. She rests her head on my shoulder. 'I'm getting married in seven days.'

'Hell yeah, you are.'

'Do you think you'll marry Edward? You guys have been together for ages longer than Garrett and me.'

It's been almost six years since I forgot Jasper's gorgeous friend's name. I smile and instinctively touch my thumb to the fourth finger of my right hand. To anyone else, it's just a pretty oyster turquoise ring. 'Yeah, probably.'

Jess sits upright, her eyes wide as she looks at my ring. 'Are you—Has he—Oh, my God.'

I wince. 'Babe, keep your voice down.'

A few of the girls are looking our way and this is so not how we wanted to do this. Rosalie raises her eyebrows and I shake my head at her. I still find it a little weird that she and Jess will become sisters-in-law next week. I know they're two of my closest friends, but sometimes I get a bit insecure and worry that I won't be as important to either of them once Jess has married Rose's brother. I figured Edward would tell me I was being ridiculous when I confessed this to him when he dropped me off at the airport, but he didn't. He just held me close and said that he didn't think that would happen, but that he totally understood how shifting relationships can make you feel unsure about where you stand.

'We've talked about it,' I tell Jess quietly. I give her as much of the truth as I can without giving away more than Edward and I are ready to. 'We're certain we want to. It's just a matter of timing.'

The thing is, Edward asked me to marry him almost two years ago.

It wasn't long after we'd exchanged contracts on our own home. He'd told me we needed to drop by the old place because he had a few jobs to do before his folks could put it up for lease again. Rosalie had just moved in with Emmett, and Al had bought a unit closer to the hospital, so the place was empty for the first time in years.

I figured Edward must've needed a spare pair of hands or something, so I didn't really question why he wanted me to go with him.

But as soon as we got to the house, he ushered me out onto the balcony and propped his hip against the railing.

I smiled as I looked out over the yard, memories flashing through my mind. Spotting Edward on the balcony and cursing my faulty memory; I knew he was Jasper's hot friend and that I'd met him at a recent party, but couldn't for the life of me remember his name. Lying on a picnic blanket while we passed a joint back and forth, then fucking silently under the stars and disintegrating into the ether when I came. The evening the neighbour's kids started talking to me over the fence about the treehouse their dad was going to build them and the adventures they would have; I got so caught up in their wild schemes that the snapper I was trying to barbeque for Edward ended up inedible. Christmas lunch with both our families interrupted by a massive downpour, everyone shrieking as they grabbed dishes and plates at random and raced inside. Standing at the glass doors, unease snaking through my chest as bushfire smoke smudged the sky black and turned the sun blood red. Edward swearing up a storm when the guys who came to install the rainwater tank fucked up the plumbing and he had to call in a mate to redo it all.

When I turned back to Edward, I saw the way he was clawing at his hair and I just knew.

'Don't be nervous,' I told him. 'I'm a sure thing.'

He gaped at me for a moment before he shook his head. He huffed out a laugh as he dropped to one knee. I always thought I'd hate for a dude to propose to me on his knees—I thought it would seem too much like begging. But when Edward was there in front of me, his face upturned and the prettiest ring I'd ever seen in his hand, it felt nothing like begging.

'Figures I couldn't even surprise you,' he said.

The light of the setting sun was splashed across his face, turning his eyes from eucalyptus green to burnished gold. I wanted to freeze time, keep him like that forever, that wondering smile curving his lips and all that love shining in his eyes.

'Maybe that's because it shouldn't be a surprise,' he said, 'that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'

I ran my thumb along his cheekbone. My heart was in my throat; it felt like it was trying to find its way to where it already lived—in his hands.

'I still don't know how to tell you how much I love you,' he said. 'But will you marry me, Bella?'

I bit my lip, the sting reassuring me that this was very fucking real, then nodded. 'Like I said. I'm a sure thing.'

We had planned to tell our families the following weekend, but on the Friday night, Esme turned up at our place to tell us she was leaving Carlisle—and checking herself into rehab. And so we put all our plans on hold and did everything we could to help her through what was bound to be a pretty awful few months. Months that became a year, then two.

Honestly, if I didn't think it would crush Esme, I would've asked Edward to just elope with me. I've researched it. All we need to do is find a celebrant, submit a Notice of Intended Marriage, get married a month later. Too easy.

My parents would probably be pretty hurt if we'd married in secret, but they'd get over it. I'm not so sure Esme would. And she's been through so much that it would feel horrible to cheat her of a reason to celebrate. So now we're stuck waiting until we know she and Carlisle can be in the same room without it getting ugly.

I really didn't think it would get me down so much, having to wait. We've been living together for five years, have owned our own home for two, so what difference would a piece of paper and a couple of rings make? But all the excitement I've been caught up in, in helping Jess plan her wedding, has made me kind of wistful. I don't want the frothy white dress or the extended hen's holiday or the elaborately planned reception. I just want to be able to tell the world, make it official: 'I love this man and I'm going to spend the rest of my life loving the shit out of him.'

'Oh,' Jess says. 'I suppose it's not easy with his folks and stuff.'

I nod and rest my head on her shoulder. This conversation is bumming me out big time. I just want to go home and fuck my boyfriend who's actually my fiancé senseless, then fall asleep in his arms.

It got long, so there's more coming... xo