*BPOV*
Edward and I were having a lazy Sunday morning at home watching a movie on the couch when I heard my cell phone vibrate from its place on the nightstand in our bedroom.
Edward paused the rom-com, freezing Anne Hathaway's face in an unflattering expression on the large screen. I extricated myself from his arms and stood up to go answer the phone.
I stared for a full half-second at the number that flashed across the screen of my cell phone.
"Hello?" I answered tentatively, sitting down on the bed.
Phil's voice sounded confused. "Um, I think I might have the wrong number. Is Bella there?"
"It's me, Phil," I grimaced at the wind-chimey sound of my voice. "Is everything alright? Are mom and the baby ok?" I asked anxiously,
"Oh, hi Bella, you sound different. Must be a weird connection," he mumbled. "Anyway, that's why I'm calling.
"There's been a bit of a complication. The doctors are worried about your mom's blood pressure. She's having an emergency c-section. How fast do you think you can get out here?"
Edward, hearing the stress in my voice, was at the doorway in an instant. His brow was furrowed with concern. "Everything alright?" he mouthed.
I didn't immediately answer either my husband or my stepfather, but I dropped my shield to catch Edward up without having to repeat out loud what Phil had said.
My mind whirled with the pain and anxiety of not being able to be there for my mother in her time of need. It went painfully against the grain.
But I knew this day would come eventually. Because, like a coward, I'd opted not to fake my own death. I would have to hurt them. Disappoint them. Over and over again before the invitations finally stopped being extended.
I sighed. At least I got to keep Charlie which was so much more than I ever could have hoped for when I chose this life.
"Phil, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can. I-I…" You're a Cullen. Lie better, I mentally berated myself.
"Edward and I went to Italy on Spring Break," I began, sticking with half-truths. "But my purse got snatched and it had my ID and Passport in it. We've been stuck here trying to get it sorted out. The US Embassy said it could take some time..."
And then Edward helpfully corroborated my story by shouting in the background, "This is utterly ridiculous, my wife is an American citizen!"
And then, in a harsher voice, he hissed something in perfect Italian that sounded profane even in a language I didn't understand. It would've been funny if I wasn't so distraught.
Phil groaned. "That's bad news...Sorry, kiddo, I know it's not your fault. I'll let your mom know that you're tied up. Don't worry about it. She'll understand. Just get yourself home safe, ya hear?"
"I will. Keep me posted, please. And tell mom I love them both," I said, my voice breaking before I could get it all out.
Edward sat down next to me on the bed and pulled me into his arms the moment I ended the call.
"I'm so sorry, love. I know that couldn't have been easy for you. I'll ask Carlisle to make a few calls to make sure that Renee and your sister are getting the very best care."
I nodded, burying my face in Edward's chest. "That's all we can do, I guess," I replied, my morose voice muffled by his sweater.
I snapped my shield back in place as my shoulders began to quake with tearless sobs. Edward did not need to hear my internal devastation. He'd only blame himself.
The pain of abandoning my mother in her time of need was what I imagined it would feel like to cut off my own child. Intolerable. Unbearable.
Except that I would have to bear it. To do anything else would only endanger her life and the lives of Phil and my baby sister. Renée didn't have the same protection of the Quileutes that Charlie did.
Edward held me in his arms as I went to pieces, soothingly stroking my back and my hair as I wept. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he murmured over and over again, his velvet voice thick with pain.
*EPOV*
Could a dead heart break? It felt like mine would.
As effortless as married life with Bella had been thus far, I knew there were dark days ahead. Days like this one when I'd hold her in my arms as she wept, at least indirectly, because of what she was. Because of what I had so selfishly done to her.
These were the days that I feared the most when the better part of me, the smaller part, had obstinately clung to the objective of keeping Bella human at whatever cost.
I could feel the weight of every tear that didn't fall, phantom tears sinking into the fabric of my clothes, burning me with the warmth that I'd stolen from her.
Bella longed to go to her mother. She couldn't because I turned her into a monster and stole her from her world. Regardless of her wishes, her feelings, Bella was hurting, again, because of my very presence in her life.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," my own eyes stung with unshed tears.
This was just the first of many such dark days. The days when she would mourn the life she'd left behind, when she'd pay the price for her immortality.
And selfishly, so selfishly, monster that I was, I didn't regret changing her. I couldn't, not knowing the joy and peace, and purpose she brought to my damned existence. A life without Bella, now that I knew how beautiful and joyous it could be, would be unendurable.
"Not one word, Rosalie!" Esme hissed at my sister from somewhere in the main house.
"I wasn't going to say anything!" Rosalie retorted defensively. Out loud, she thought to herself.
She hadn't fooled anyone. Emmett sighed.
"Give it a rest, babe. At least Bella had a choice in the matter, regardless of how you feel about it.
You don't get to take the moral high ground for choosing 'no' for Bella when you chose 'yes' for me. Why do we get to have happiness in this life but Edward doesn't?"
Rosalie glowered at Emmett wondering whose side he was on. "Would you rather I let the bear kill you?" she asked frostily.
"Hell no!" Emmett snorted. "But you and Carlisle couldn't have known that. At least Edward knew it was what Bella wanted when he changed her, that's all I'm saying," Emmett shrugged.
There was a reason Emmett was my favorite brother. And while it was some consolation that he looked at it that way, it didn't matter one whit what he thought when my reason for being was the one sobbing in my arms. Because of me.
I heard Jasper's thoughts drawing closer.
I don't know what that was all about, but I was tuning my motorcycle when I suddenly felt like Alice does every time she watches Steel Magnolias so I came down to offer my assistance.
"Come in, Jasper," I announced in a low voice.
"Jasper came to help. Please let him help, love," I begged. Her cries had calmed after just a few minutes, though I had a feeling she was trying to be strong for my benefit which only added to my guilt.
I knew that it was wrong of me to listen so intently to Jasper's thoughts as he registered Bella's emotional state. She'd closed her mind to me. Her wishes didn't get much clearer than that.
But I listened anyway because I was weak. And if I couldn't know what she was thinking, I could at least know how she was feeling.
I listened eagerly, expecting to hear words like resentment, regret, anger, disgust, etc.
To my surprise, Bella's misery mostly stemmed from feelings of guilt and frustration. Interestingly, she felt a tiny bit of relief, followed by another strong wave of guilt.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry," Bella hiccuped, backing away from me so that she could speak. "I didn't think it would hit me so hard. It's just…I don't know how to not take care of my mom. I've been doing it for so long.
"I told myself I was ready to let her go, but it's so much harder than I thought it would be now that the day is finally here that I have to prove it," she explained with downcast eyes.
"You have nothing to apologize for, love. I'm the one that—" Bella silenced me by placing two fingers over my mouth.
"Edward, don't you dare make this about you," she thundered. "We've been over this. I'm going to have bad days. I'm going to miss people and things from my human life. It doesn't mean that I regret anything or that I blame you! So just cut it out!" Bella glared up at me.
Just then Jasper's wave of calm settled over both of us as Alice danced into the room.
"She's right, ya know," Alice chirped, raising an eyebrow at me before returning her attention to Bella.
"Renée and your baby sister are going to be perfectly fine. She's eight weeks premature, but after a month in the NICU, they will get to take her home. And then your mom is going to be so sleep-deprived, she's going to forget that she even has an older daughter," Alice chuckled.
This news seemed to calm Bella down in a way that not even Jasper had managed to accomplish. I felt the tension knotted in my own shoulders start to melt away, too.
"You are taking care of your mother, Bella. You're keeping her safe by staying away. Never forget that," I murmured, gazing down into the depths of her eyes, willing her to see the truth in mine.
Chewing on her lip, Bella nodded, but I could still see lingering traces of guilt in her eyes.
"You came to Forks in the first place because your mother was happier following her husband's baseball team around the country, and you were selfless enough to unburden her from her responsibilities so that she could do that.
"I'm sure when you first left to live with Charlie, Renée must've felt all the same guilt you're feeling now."
Ok, so that was a stretch, I thought derisively but continued on nevertheless. "Did you want her to feel that way when you left?" I probed, knowing the answer before she said it herself.
"No! Of course not!" Bella half-shouted with a frown.
"Then don't you feel bad. It's not fair," I added, smoothing the creases of her brow with my fingertip.
Alice huffed impatiently. Apparently, I was failing miserably at bringing any comfort to my wife when she most needed comfort.
"I know what you need, Bella. A distraction. Boys, go race your motorcycles or something," Alice said dismissively. "Bella, you're coming with me. It's been decided. We're having a girls' day."
*BPOV*
Normally I would have groaned and protested, as there was no better distraction from feelings than right here in my bed with Edward. And if I wasn't going to stay here with Edward, racing motorcycles sounded like more fun than shopping and girl talk.
On the other hand, it felt like a lifetime ago that I last spent any quality time with the girls away from Edward.
Edward and Jasper gave each other a meaningful look. Then Edward nodded and said, "You're on!"
I looked at them quizzically, but before I could ask what agreement had I missed, Alice answered, "It's nothing. They made a little wager that the loser of the race has to pay for both of our shopping trips.
"Now let's get out of here before I think of something that spoils the race for them," Alice trilled, humming as she disappeared back out the door with Jasper on her heels.
"Right behind you, Alice," I called but lingered a moment longer to say goodbye to Edward.
"You're sure you're alright with this? If you don't want to go, I can get you off the hook," he offered with a smile.
"Nah. It'll be great. I've been so wrapped up in us, since, well always," I laughed once, "It would be nice to spend some time with them.
"Yes it would," he agreed easily. Then wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him, he asked, "Since I don't have to be a mind-reader to know that shopping is inevitable with Alice..." he preambled.
"Would you mind not buying anything that would make me want to commit a capital crime if, say, you wore it to a crowded restaurant?" he grinned crookedly at me.
I laughed despite myself, cringing internally at my misguided past indiscretion. One of the last times I went on a girls' day, I ended up ambushing Edward at a Cheesecake Factory wearing a too-short dress intended to provoke Edward.
It was my childish reaction to him lying to me about the humiliating truth that his family, with their ultra-sensitive vampire auditory capacities, could hear every intimate moment of what went on in our little guest house back in New Hampshire.
"Unless...that is, it's something that is meant for my eyes only. In which case, go as bare as you dare," Edward purred, suggestively arching one thick, dark eyebrow above the other.
I teasingly rolled my eyes at him and leaned my head back for a goodbye kiss. Edward responded with something slightly more than the peck I was expecting. I hummed happily as his marble-smooth lips finally pulled away.
Then Edward whispered conspiratorially, "I'm going to roast Jasper on my Ducati. Go wild," he instructed, sliding my wallet into the back pocket of my jeans and giving me a playful swat on the butt as I turned for the door.
"Would you have told me to stick to the clearance racks if you lost?" I snorted sarcastically, knowing full well that there was nothing that made Edward happier than when I spent frivolously on things for myself.
Alice growled from where she waited outside for me by the cars. "Clearance" was a dirty word by her estimation.
"True," he agreed with an easy smile. "Have fun! I love you!"
"Love you, too. Try not to miss me too much," I teased.
"Impossible," he growled.
Rosalie made a gagging sound somewhere outside. Then I heard the M3's tires crunch down the gravel driveway and stop outside our front door. She beeped the horn.
With one last wave to Edward who now watched me leave from the doorway, I hopped in the backseat next to Esme and then we were off.
"Where to?" I asked.
Alice turned around in the passenger seat to face me. "First for a quick hunt, since we're going to be around a fair amount of people today. And then to Union Square, think you can handle that?"
"You tell me," I laughed.
"Of course you will, but it's still rude not to ask," Alice trailed off in her high soprano.
"In any case, thanks for busting me out of there, Alice. You all know how much I love Edward, but yeesh! It's exhausting not being able to have feelings about anything without also having to console him because he takes the blame for anything that might be bothering me!" I vented with a huff.
"You know Edward…he wants to give you the world. And when you're crushed over something you can't have, something that he can't give you, and the reason is that you're a vampire... of course he's going to blame himself," Esme gently explained.
"Days like today are exactly what he was so afraid of before. Why he didn't want you to be one of us. Edward's greatest fear is that you'll come to resent him or even hate him over the sacrifices you made to be with him."
I felt my face scrunch up with frustration. "That's stupid. I knew what I was getting into. I wanted this. Begged for it. And once I grieve for the family I'll never get to see again, I'll go right back to being blissfully happy and in love. But like, can't I have a day?" I asked rhetorically, my voice climbed in pitch and volume with my rising exasperation.
"That's Edward," Rose inserted in a flat voice.
"And that's why you have us to intervene when Edward can't see the forest for the trees," Alice giggled.
"Sure wish you had barged in and whisked me away for a shopping trip when Edward thought it best to dump me in the woods last year," I muttered before I could stop the words from spilling out of my mouth. My eyes popped open and I slapped a hand over my mouth in mortification.
"Alice, I'm so sorry! That was...I don't even know why I said that!" I rushed to apologize, wishing fervently that I could take it back.
Alice's face tightened into a wan smile. "No need to apologize, Bella. I've been waiting for that for a while now. I'm the one that's sorry. I wish I'd done things differently. I don't often have regrets, but that's a big one," she admitted, her pixie face full of remorse.
Not wanting to bring the mood down any more than I already had, I smiled and placed a comforting hand on Alice's dainty shoulder. "Nothing a little retail therapy can't fix, right?"
Alice's wide smile stretched across her face. "Right!"
*EPOV*
Acting as the flag girl, Emmett stood between the loud, snarling motorcycles just a few yards ahead of Jasper and me.
Thoroughly immersed in the role, my behemoth brother had turned one of his tight-fitting muscle tees into a crop top and then tore the legs off of a pair of blue jeans making them into Daisy Dukes. Thick ropes of muscle bulged out beneath the uneven hems of his itty bitty shorts.
I wished Bella could've been here to see him, she would've died with laughter, figuratively speaking. I whipped my phone out of my pocket and snapped a quick photograph for posterity. And future blackmailing purposes, of course.
Jasper rolled his eyes, not always comfortable with some of Emmett's more flamboyant antics, but used to them by now.
"When we have our rematch, let's be sure to do it when the girls are home," he muttered.
I cocked my head toward Jasper. "If you're so sure that you're going to want a rematch, we can just call it right now," I grinned widely. After all, what fun was a brotherly competition without a little trash talk?
All of a sudden, a feeling of intense despair and humiliation settled over me. Just as soon as the dark feelings took hold, they vanished.
"Know what that was, brother? That's how it feels to be a loser. Thought you could use a little preview," he snickered and revved his engine.
I laughed at his supernaturally-enhanced punchline. "No one would know better than you," I countered with a chuckle as Emmett raised the checkered flags he held in his meaty fists above his head.
Any sense of jocularity faded away as Jasper and I focused on the flags waving in the slight breeze above Emmett's head. The millisecond Emmett dropped the flags back down to his sides, signaling the start of the race, Jasper and I would roar down the service road that spanned the length of our sprawling property.
The flags dropped as Emmett dramatically whipped his head all the way back, like Cha Cha in the big race scene in the movie "Grease."
As soon as Jasper and I roared past him, Emmett turned around and ran behind us to see who won.
I didn't need to see Alice's vision to know I had this in the bag. I was the one that purchased Jasper's motorcycle, after all. I bought it more for looks than for performance with the intention of using it to keep pace with Bella's dirt bike. It didn't need to be fast.
Sure, I could've bought her an upgraded bike then, one that had more (or any) safety features. But anything that I could've bought her with an airbag system would've also come with a hundred extra horsepower, and that seemed counterintuitive to the goal of keeping Bella safe when she was still so fragile.
We blazed down the old service road, neck and neck, as Emmett followed behind like a linebacker shot out of a cannon. When Jasper thought to upshift, I shifted the split second before he could, giving me the edge.
I could hear Jasper's teeth grinding in accompaniment to his frustrated thoughts.
Two can play that game, brother.
And then I was laughing uncontrollably and artificially. Laughing so hard I could barely keep my eyes open enough to see the road. Luckily, I didn't need my eyes, because I could just use Jasper's.
"You cheating bast-" Overtaken by another spasm of uproarious laughter, I couldn't even finish the insult. Nevertheless, as I sailed past the finish line, I handily beat Jasper by a solid ten feet. I didn't need any help laughing then.
"What the hell is so damn funny?" bellowed Emmett who had just caught up to us on foot.
"Your balls hanging out of the bottom of your shorts!" snapped Jasper, foul-tempered from losing.
Emmett looked down and sheepishly tugged at the bottoms of his barely-there shorts as I laughed like a hyena, this time, of my own free will. How do girls do anything in these things? He wondered.
"Best two out of three!" Jazz demanded.
*BPOV*
"That dress looks amazing on you, Esme! You should buy it for sure!" I said, admiring the way her soft curves seemed to fill out everything she wore to perfection.
"The girl doesn't lie," Alice agreed from her fitting room without needing to actually see Esme to know which dress I was talking about.
"Thanks, girls. You know what week it is," Esme laughed good-naturedly. "I'm glad we're doing this today because I needed a few new things to wear."
"What week is it?" I asked cluelessly.
"Carlisle just started his new position at UCSF Medical Center so it's-"
"Hot wifey week," I finished the sentence at the same time as Esme did when I finally understood.
There was still so much I didn't know about all the many Cullen family rituals and traditions. But this was one tradition I had been around for and didn't need to have explained.
I realized then that Hot Wifey Week was significant because it always marked the beginning of a new cycle. A new city.
It was an important milestone marking the passage of time with my new family, an event that was as predictable as the leaves changing color in the fall and dropping off the trees.
Humans were so sensitive to the seasons and changing weather that it affected everything they did from the clothes they wore to the activities they engaged in. Even the food they ate.
Snow, wind, rain, heat...vampires were impervious to these things. I was beginning to learn that for this reason, vampires (or at my vampires) marked time differently than humans did.
Not by the changing seasons of the earth, but by the changing seasons of life.
New city. New house. New school. New hospital. Hot Wifey Week. Graduations. Weddings. Rinse & Repeat, with relatively few variations, for the rest of eternity. That was the life of a Cullen, my chosen destiny.
To some people, it might've seemed like a hopelessly mundane existence hardly worth trading one's humanity for. For the Cullens, the tedious human charade was a small price to pay for living according to their consciences.
And besides, how much did time really cost us when we had an infinite supply of it?
Esme argued that the only thing crazier than vampires going to high school over and over again was humans spending their precious finite lives unfulfilled, buried in work just so they can afford the material belongings that only created the need for them to work more.
Carlisle was hopeful that maybe someday, somehow, humans and vampires could learn to coexist. Maybe with the advent of synthetic blood, such an idea could be possible. Who knew (besides Alice) what the future held?
"I don't know why you bother trying anything on, Rose. Everything you put on looks perfect," I complimented my mercurial sister, trying to improve her surly mood. It wasn't a lie, not by any stretch of the imagination. Even the garments that didn't fit exactly right looked like they were meant to be worn that way.
"I don't know if you noticed from their house in Alaska, but Rosalie really likes to look in mirrors," Alice giggled as she stepped out of the fitting room in a dazzling silver sequin gown.
Rosalie shrugged, unaffected. That wasn't a lie either, apparently.
"Oh, Alice! You're stunning!" Esme fawned.
"Is this too much for your wedding, Rose?" Alice asked, turning around in a quick circle.
Any other bride in the known universe would balk at the idea of someone so lovely, so eye-catching as Alice in a sparkly gown attending her wedding, but not Rose. Of course, not Rose.
To my extraordinarily gorgeous sister, not even Alice in her finest could outshine her overwhelming beauty on her wedding day.
"It's just enough," Rose nodded approvingly. "Perfect for the platinum theme." Alice beamed and ducked back into the fitting room.
Esme sat down next to me, then, on the padded bench in the common area of the women's fitting room of whichever fancy department store we were in now. Neiman Marcus? Saks 5th Ave? Who could remember?
Esme patted me gently on the knee as she casually asked, "So how are you adjusting, dear?
"You have to know how proud of you Carlisle and I are for how focused you've been on your training. We'd been prepared to be on the island for another six months or longer, if necessary, but you seem like you're much more comfortable being around..."
Esme started to say humans, but ever-aware of her surroundings, she clearly thought better of it. "...people," Esme finished after a short pause that a human wouldn't have even registered.
"It's getting easier to be normal around...people. Like when I was buying my bike, I was so excited I sort of forgot for a little while that I was even talking to a...er...person.
"But it's harder when I'm bored. I had to excuse myself at the Ferrari dealership," I bit my lip and looked down at the ground, ashamed.
"There's no shame in that. We all have to take extra precautions every now and again. And you're still so young! Edward said you handled yourself perfectly, so don't even give it another thought," Esme reassured warmly.
I smiled at her. "Thanks, Esme. And San Francisco was a great idea, by the way. I'm loving it here so far!"
"I'm so glad! Me, too!" she agreed with a wide smile.
"Esme, can I ask you a question?" I asked in a slightly higher voice than normal.
"Anything, sweetheart," she encouraged in a gentle tone.
"Well…does it ever make you jealous when the female doctors and nurses go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over Carlisle at every new place he works? Doesn't it get exhausting having to stake your claim at every new hospital he ends up at?"
Esme laughed lightly, laying a hand over her heart. "I suppose it might be if I wasn't also 'cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs,' over Carlisle," she mused, her voice still touched by her laughter. "But I enjoy making Carlisle's eyes pop out of his head just as much as you seem to with Edward," she winked.
"As for the other women, I don't pay them any mind at all because neither does Carlisle," she shrugged impassively, utterly unconcerned. "Neither will Edward. Nor should you," Esme counseled, nudging me a little with her elbow.
I nodded, smiling a little. "You're right. I know you're right. I just wish he didn't have to hear them." Then, in a voice too low for human ears, I whispered, "I can't shield them all. It takes enough of my energy just to mute Rose when he's around. No offense, Rose!" I quickly added.
"None taken," Rosalie replied, exiting her dressing room wheeling an entire rack of keepers behind her. "It's nice not having Edward rooting around my head and judging me from across the room," she admitted, rolling her eyes and tossing her gleaming flaxen hair over one shoulder.
"As your older, wiser sister let me just tell you that first of all, it's a waste of your time and energy to worry about what other girls are thinking around Edward….Even if they're drooling over him the way you used to do from across the cafeteria," Rosalie snickered, but her tone was teasing rather than snide.
"It's like Esme said. Edward's nose is so far up your ass that he doesn't even know which end is up, much less cares about the lewd fantasies of a bunch of fleshy co-eds."
If I'd been human, I would've been fifty shades of garnet at Rosalie's graphic description, particularly the bit about Edward's nose being up my you-know-what after he did that thing to my you-know-where.
"I'm not sure that's quite how I'd put it..." Esme ruefully interjected.
"You know what I mean! If you want to worry about anything, worry about Edward acting like a murderous psychopath when he hears what other men in your classes are thinking about you. It's way harder for him to tune that stuff out," remarked Rosalie.
"True," said Esme and Alice both at the same time, and then we all dissolved into laughter.
*EPOV*
It took everything I had not to pace a groove into the front porch when I heard Rosalie's BMW turn onto our long front drive.
When Bella was human and she was away from me, I would get intensely anxious about some unseen danger befalling her. Now that she was sturdier, I still worried, but now I worried about the dangers that befell the world around her.
Bella's control was getting better with every passing day. For a newborn, she was quite controlled. But her human act was nowhere near perfect.
Bella was often too still, and she sometimes moved and spoke just a little too fast. All things that would improve with time and practice, of that I had no doubt.
But still, I worried. What would she do if she crushed a doorknob in front of somebody? She hadn't done it in a few weeks now, but every now and again she would forget herself.
More than any of that, I missed her. Missed her terribly, even knowing she'd be back in just a few hours.
Beating Jasper on my Ducati wasn't even as fun as it should have been because she wasn't there to watch and cheer me on.
I flew out the front door when I heard the M3's tires crunch to a halt on the gravel path in front of our cottage. Bella opened her own door before I could get it for her, so instead, I went around to the rear so I could retrieve her shopping bags from the back of the car.
Rose popped the trunk and I quickly collected the bags and shoeboxes that had Bella's scent attached to them.
I looped the bag handles over my wrist, and balanced the stack of shoeboxes on one palm, freeing up the other arm to wrap it around Bella's waist as we headed back inside.
"Thanks, Alice," I called to my favorite sister through the open passenger window, noting how Bella seemed in much higher spirits since I last saw her this morning.
"Tell Jazz I'll send him the bill," I snickered, motioning to the armload of Bella's purchases. Alice smiled and stuck out her tongue at me as Rosalie stepped on it, spinning her tires and pelting my back with kicked-up gravel.
What a brat, I thought, rolling my eyes.
"I'm so glad you're back! I missed you! Tell me all about your day," I exclaimed with all the enthusiasm I felt as I hugged her to me with the arm that was wrapped around her waist.
"So you did win?" Bella's eyebrows shot up with keen interest as she walked through the front door.
"Did you have any doubt?" I chuckled with a smug smile, putting her things down on the small round breakfast table.
"Of course not, silly. I picked out the bike," she replied, equally smug.
*A/N* Holy crow, you guys! You nominated me for a Golden Onion Award for SMBP and I had NO idea until they posted the winners last night! I didn't win, but I'm just so thrilled and flattered to be nominated! Thank you so much! On the bright side, you've all been spared the last month of me begging for your votes hahaha.
In other news, as well as going to the Forever Twilight in Forks Festival in a couple of weeks (who else is coming?!) My hubby surprised me with meet & greet tickets for none other than Alice Cullen aka Ashley Greene at an event near one of the filming locations in St. Helen's, Oregon in October! Who's the happiest little Twihard in the world?! 🙋
Thank you as always for reading, reviewing, and holy moly, thank you for nominating me for The Golden Onion Awards' Sold Short Fic of the Year! So blown away by the continuous support of my amazing readers. You humble me! Til next time my lovelies, have a great week! 😘😘
