Thank you SO MUCH for joining me on this quick, fun little journey. I love writing these characters – they still prove to be so fun and light to write!
I hope they've made you feel the same way while reading them!
This definitely could not have happened without my amazing beta, Frannie, who jumped aboard with no hesitation when I had told her in early December that I had a story I planned on posting daily between the week of Christmas and New Year's. I cannot tell her enough how much she is truly appreciated. She sends me back my chapters edited to look like rainbows - and I'm here for all of it!
And to my prereaders, who put up with my craziness at four am when all of us should have been sleeping. They're a special lot if they can hang with me and my insanity.
Okay. Let's get to this last chapter.
I awake to the sound of seagulls on the beach.
The sky is still early morning gray; the sun's rise not yet official along the horizon. The darkness of night has begun to fade and rolling onto my side, I pull the blanket around us, creating a shield from the chilly wind off the ocean.
We've done this plenty of times before—fallen asleep on an oversized blanket in the sand, waking up to the sunrise on the beach. We're only a couple of hundred feet away from home, the patio visible from where we decided to camp out for the night. We're not the only ones on the beach right now, I see, peeking a glance from beneath the blanket as we wait for the morning light to warm everything, including ourselves.
We may not be the only ones who spent the night on the beach, but we're certainly the only ones awake. At least for now.
I glance over to my right, see the still sleeping form next to me, and giggle to myself, seeing that I was mistaken; it's just me who is awake.
I don't mind it. In fact, I savor it. I sit up, careful to keep the blanket atop both of us and take in the changing sky and the waves softly lapping against the shore. I exhale a lungful of sea salt and watch the seagulls dip into the sea, waiting for their morning breakfast. A few surfers gather further down the beach, eager to take on the early waves as the tides shift from one to the other.
I smile as I watch life carry on around me, suddenly appreciating and looking at the world in a newfound light.
I had heard that people wake up feeling different once they become engaged, but never really bought into it. I had never really given it much thought other than I knew I would be insanely happy to officially start our future together, but I can see now, as I watch him stir on the blanket next to me, that I had been sorely and utterly mistaken.
I cannot wait to marry him, but as long as I have him next to me on this blanket and his ring on my finger, I'm perfectly content to sit here and wait for as long as I need to.
Maybe that's what it is I'm feeling this morning. I have no rush to do anything or go anywhere. I don't care about the massive cleanup from our New Year's Eve party that awaits me back inside. I don't care that I've put off a huge amount of work that must be done by Monday morning. I don't care that we're still in the clothes we wore last night, our shoes tossed haphazardly in the sand near our blankets that we had collapsed into a few hours before dawn. I don't care that my eyes are burning and red-rimmed from lack of sleep and happy tears.
The only thing I care about is the man who stretches next to me now on our blanket, rising, so he rests on his elbows. He blinks the sleep away from his eyes, the gray sky becoming bright enough now to make his eyelids flutter open and closed before they settle on the ocean in front of us.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Edward asks, his voice cracking from the couple of hours of sleep we managed to get in.
I shake my head, shrugging my shoulders without a definitive answer. It's hard to put into words what I had been feeling in the minutes between me waking up and when Edward had. I had never felt such contentment, such peace, in my life, and I wanted to let it seep into my soul and remain there forever.
"No reason," I tell him instead, pushing a strand of my hair back from my face. The movement catches his eye, and he smiles softly at the sight of the ring on my finger.
"Come here," he murmurs, pulling me down, so I'm leaning my head against his shoulder, his arm wrapping around my waist. He pulls the blanket around us again, our heads the only thing peeking out from where we sit.
It's my favorite place to be—In his arms on the beach, both of us looking out at the endless expanse of water before us. My eyes close when I feel his body rise and fall with each passing breath as if he is the one who I draw my own breath from.
We sit in silence on our blanket, watching as the sun rises from beneath our warm covers. He holds my hands loosely in his own, fingers grazing my skin in circles and paths that have no set destination. When they stumble across the ring, a soft yet tired smile graces his face, and he takes our hands out from beneath the blankets.
We watch as the orange, rising sun bleeds onto the sand and onto us and our blankets, the glistening ring casting tiny reflections around us.
It's the most beautiful ring I've ever seen.
And I don't love it because it's big and sparkly; I love it because it's his.
I love it because it's our future.
I love it because I love us.
I close my eyes again against his shoulder, wanting to pinch myself to make sure this is real life – let alone my life. Four years ago, I had taken a chance on something bigger than myself, even though I was terrified of making the wrong choice and ruining everything.
I had watched my mom filter through man after man my whole life, and I had seen patterns from her. I did not want to repeat those same patterns myself. I kept Edward as my best friend for so long, partly because I didn't want to get hurt and make myself completely vulnerable to the actions and choices of others. But also, because I was scared of losing his friendship if, God forbid, we tried something that ultimately didn't pan out.
But I had seen something in him, or maybe he had seen something in me, that told us that whatever we had between us was worth it—worth the risk and vulnerability.
It didn't take me four years of being with Edward to find out that everything about him, from the God-awful plans he puts me through to the weight he carries to make me happy, is absolutely worth it.
"I don't know what makes me happier," Edward had told me after we had celebrated with our family and friends into the new year. We had just settled onto our blanket, exhaustion trickling in but still fighting off sleep so we could enjoy this high a little longer. "You being my wife or this proposal finally being over with."
I had laughed into the early morning air, and knowing him the way I do, I couldn't wait to hear how much unnecessary stress he had placed on himself to make sure this was right.
"It was perfect," I reassured him. "Were you worried it wouldn't be?"
"You have no idea," he chuckled, burying his face into my hair on the blanket.
"Tell me," I had insisted, so he sat up, pulling me with him.
He had spent the next hour filling me in on what he really was up to this last month; secret trips to the jewelry store with the guys and recon meetings with Rose and Alice. He told me all about how he had asked for my father's blessing, which, if possible, made me love him even more. He told me how both the Clearwater's and Emmett and Rose had inadvertently spoiled his plans, and I tried so hard not to laugh at his expense; but I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Knowing how frustrated he had been this whole time and how clueless I was to any of these happenings proved just how carefree and happy he makes me all the time.
I sigh into his shoulder, my forehead pressing into his suit jacket as I reflect on our conversation before we had fallen asleep. "I can't imagine a better way," I say to him now against the rising sun and white sand. I think of just hours earlier with him regaling me with tales of his December. "I'll never forget it."
His words come out softly, full of emotion now that we've had time for it to settle in.
Engaged.
"I thought it mattered what I said, or how I said it, or -"
"Just you," I interrupt him, not wanting any of this experience to contain any sour thoughts. I place my fingers over his mouth to stop him from finishing his sentence. "Not what you did or what you said. Just you."
He could have asked me anywhere, with a ring or not, and nothing could have stopped me from saying yes.
He picks up my hand now, looks at the ring, and shakes his head. "Just you."
He's wrong again, and naturally, I have no choice but to correct him.
"Just us."
-ptp2-
It's a lazy morning, just like Edward had told me he wanted when he pictured this all in his head. His parents are at the hotel, perfectly content to let us be, encouraging us to take our time and join them whenever we're ready. They want to take us out for dinner tonight to celebrate our happiness, and I honestly can't wait.
I want to shout it from the rooftops that I am going to be Edward's wife.
Isabella Cullen, I think to myself as we gather our things and head inside, my shoes clattering against each other as I dangle them from my fingers. I knew it would happen one day, and now that I have the ring weighing against my finger to make it official, it hits me again just how completely happy I am.
There's no other word for it.
I'm happy.
It's simple, but no truer word can describe the way I feel now as we slip into my bedroom undetected from the rest of the world. He leads the way, his arm trailing behind him with my hand locked with his.
I watch as Edward discards the tie he had worn for the party last night; it had been dangling from his neck for hours now, looking more like a scarf than a tie against his once crisp white button-down shirt. His hair, once perfectly in place, is now matted down and sticking straight up in others. It's a hazard of sleeping in uneven piles of sand beneath our blanket. My heart warms at the sight, making him look boyish and youthful.
He unbuttons whatever buttons he hasn't already undone earlier, slipping the shirt down his shoulders and arms, letting it land in a pile on the floor next to his tie. His white T-shirt is next, followed by his pants. But before he can fall into my bed in the tired heap I know he is, I stop him.
I grab him by the wrist, pulling him towards me as quickly as I can. I wrap my arms around his waist, my face pressed against his chest, sighing against his skin when his arms envelope me even closer to him.
I want to stay here forever; his familiar smell engulfing my thoughts.
I think he does too.
We don't move.
We stand here, on the side of my bed, on the brink of collapse from being up most of the night, neither of us willing nor able to separate.
When we do separate, it's only for Edward to reach behind me to find the zipper of my dress. His lips whisper against my bare shoulder, his fingers lighting a fire on my skin as they follow each knot of the zipper down my back.
When there's nothing between us but the ring on my finger, he carries me to my bed, sliding us beneath cool sheets with languid kisses.
There is no rush.
There are no cameras.
Our hands clasped together over my head, and our legs tangled.
Just us.
-ptp2-
"I love when your mom visits," Jasper says to Edward the day before his family is set to leave. It's Sunday afternoon, all of us gearing up to head back to work the next day after a long and well-needed break. "We won't have to cook for a month!"
We're all at our place, scattered among different rooms, though most of us are in the kitchen with Esme as she lays out a bunch of different uncooked ingredients on the table. As she always does, she never leaves without filling up our freezers with premade crockpot meals. This way, all one of us has to do is dump it in the slow cooker in the morning before leaving for work. The meal cooks all day, timed to be ready for when we arrive home from work starving.
Judging by the contents spread on the table, it looks like Jasper isn't exaggerating – there are at least thirty different meal combinations to choose from.
"Cook?" Alice shoots him a confused look. "Since when do you cook?"
"I cook!" Jasper protests.
"Heating our leftovers is not cooking," Rose reminds him, patting his shoulder and heading over to look at the ingredients on the table.
"Hey, it takes real talent to open the microwave at the same time as the final beep," Emmett chimes in, nodding at Jasper in encouragement as he takes a seat at the table. He reaches for the final batch of Christmas cookies in a red Tupperware, choosing to munch on an edible Christmas wreath while Esme and the rest of us strategize which meal we should tackle first. Esme knows her way around our kitchen after all this time; our kitchen is must more workable than the guys, so she has done this many times here before.
Jasper says to Emmett, "Thanks, man. It's not as easy as it looks."
"Just make sure these lay flat in your freezer, and you'll be set," Esme warns, rubbing her hands together and ready to dive in to begin cooking. Just before she picks up the thin-sliced chicken breast to prep the first meal, she reaches for a red, buffalo plaid piece of fabric hanging behind the pantry door.
"Bella, do you mind if I borrow this apron?"
Edward and I lock eyes instantaneously, both of us jumping towards Esme and the apron in haste, before it's too late.
"No!" We shout, knowing where that apron has been—perhaps more than once in the time since it had made its big debut on screen.
The sound of Emmett spitting his cookies out into the Tupperware is followed by his words of complete disgust, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
-ptp2-
"They make it home all right?" I ask Edward the next evening when I hear the patio door slide open. I'm sitting at the table outside with my laptop, finishing up some work I told myself I would do over break but ignored instead.
Totally worth it.
He motions for me to stand, and I do so quickly before he pulls me back down to sit on his lap. This is my favorite time of night to be outside on the patio, the breeze soft as the sun goes down for the day. He kisses my head in greeting, both of us tired from our first day back to work after a busy week.
"Yeah," Edward answers, talking about his parents and brother's flight home to Chicago, "beautiful flight, they said."
"Good."
I sigh and save my work on my computer, shutting the laptop quietly.
"You okay?" He asks.
I turn to him and smile.
"More than okay."
He smirks knowingly, pulling my hand to his so we can stare together at the promise we made each other.
"Mind if we join you?"
Our head turns at the sound of Rose's voice. Nodding enthusiastically, we motion for them all to come out on the patio with us. "Of course not," I answer as they all sit down at the table. "Why would we?"
"You're porn stars now," Emmett reminds us, unable to get past this latest development of us posting videos again.
"We were thinking more along the lines of wanting some privacy," Alice corrects. Edward and I have been more subdued lately, finding comfort in our reflective silence together.
"We're good," Edward laughs.
"So, is this going to be your thing now?" Jasper asks. "You need some extra cash, so you just turn on the camera -"
"No, it's not." I interrupt. "We're done."
"I took the videos down yesterday," Edward confirms, a bittersweet tone coloring his words. We will be getting one final check in a few weeks, but after that, we would be lost in the world of cyberspace.
I hope.
"Probably for the best." Rose offers.
"They'll be back up," Emmett dismisses.
"Why do you think that?" Jasper asks. All of us sit up, intrigued by what will come out of Emmett's mouth next.
"A wedding? A house?" He looks at us, shocked that we don't see what he sees. "You'll be 'pursuing the procession' and 'pursuing pre-approved mortgages' as your next excuse to get yourselves back up on the internet."
"Pursuing the pregnancy?" Alice jokes, all of us laughing even harder at the look of panic Edward shoots my way.
"Pursuing the pill," I say to appease Edward. For now.
We laugh on the patio, overlooking the palm tree with the big, red Christmas ornaments that no one has taken down yet. I glance around at everyone around me, unbelievably grateful I have a group of friends who know how to love us just the way we need. We're full of smiles and loyalty, full of untold journeys and undiscovered memories. I look at the ring on my finger, the circular band of the ring symbolizing never-ending love in its cycle.
I feel a pair of eyes on me then, and I pull mine away from the ring on my finger to meet Edward's gaze. Reaching up, I place my hand on his face as he leans down and presses a soft kiss against my lips, telling me thoughts I already know.
No matter where this life takes us, we'll pursue it together.
The End.
Maybe the end for these guys, but not for me! Give me a follow so you can read along with all of my other characters in my other stories. I'm still posting The Muse in the Shadows every Sunday, and it's a lot heavier and darker than this one, so it's my baby and I'm making sure to put the necessary time and effort into making it perfect.
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Thank you all – and I'll see you soon hopefully!