*EPOV*
"Do you think she'll like it, Mom?" I asked, suddenly unsure of the contents of the box over which Esme was tying an intricate loopy bow with a wide red ribbon.
"Do I think she'll like it?" Esme exhaled sharply, the graceful movements of her snowy white hands freezing in place before she could finish forming the final loop of the elegant bow.
"Edward…what you've done here," she began in a low, soothing voice, carefully placing her palms on the gift box as if it contained something more valuable than gold, "is brilliant and thoughtful and creative and romantic…
"If Bella doesn't love it, well then her shield isn't the only abnormal thing about her brain, do you hear me? So just get that thought out of your head," Esme insisted in a pointed, almost scolding tone.
I nodded sheepishly, suddenly feeling silly about my attack of nerves.
"It's our first anniversary together. I just want it to be perfect," I murmured. She deserved perfection.
"Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?" Esme's tone was teasing now.
"Once or twice. Thanks, Mom," I grinned crookedly at my mother and accepted the proffered box. I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek in thanks for her advice just as much as her gift-wrapping services. I then excused myself from the room that served as Esme's office so that I could put the rest of my plan in motion.
*BPOV*
"Hey Dad, how are things?" I asked on our weekly call. We frequently spoke more often than that, but we always talked on Monday afternoons. It wasn't planned or anything, it just worked out like that because that's when Sue volunteered to teach a Quileute language course at the school in La Push.
He chose that time to call me because he had the house to himself and it meant he could gossip more freely about the goings-on in Forks, La Push, or occasionally about my mother in Florida.
I'd had to ask him to keep the updates about Renee to himself, though, because as cowardly as it may have been, it was just easier not to think about her, Phil, or my sister if I could possibly help it.
"Seth and Sarah are back on again, so all's right with the world," Charlie reported dryly.
"Aww, that's great! Seth must be so happy! So what happened with the other guy that she took to prom?" I asked simply for the sake of being nosy.
Charlie snorted derisively. "One big misunderstanding apparently. It would seem that Sarah never actually wanted to go with the other kid, she just said that to make Seth jealous because she wanted to see him phase.
"…And you know how Jake and Sam won't let the younger kids phase for just any old reason. They have to be provoked. The whole thing just got way out of hand," he sighed wearily.
"Sounds like it! And here I bet you thought your life would be drama-free when I moved out," I teased good-naturedly. "I'm glad it got sorted out. I hope she apologized for stirring up all that trouble."
"Did she ever!" Charlie whistled. "Turns out Sarah's mom made her go to the dance with the kid Seth beat up. I was a chaperone that night and, boy, did she look low. I mean..not as low as her date did with two black eyes, a broken nose, and a busted lip…
"Anyway, Sarah found me at the dance and gave me a note to give to Seth since Sue took his phone away when she grounded him…" Charlie explained.
"And you read it, didn't you, you big snoop?" I teasingly accused.
"Of course I did! I figured while Seth is grounded he is an inmate in our house. Inmate mail gets monitored. If you don't want to do the time, don't do the crime!" he spouted, sounding incredibly rehearsed.
"Been working on that rationalization for a while now, have you?" I ribbed.
"We'll talk about it when you're raising teenagers, how 'bout that?" he spat, clearly done with the topic.
I knew that it was just a generic thing that parents said when they wanted to put their kids in their place and that Charlie didn't mean to say anything hurtful or malicious.
But I couldn't help feeling a little wounded over the fact that he'd still say that to me knowing full well that I'd never get the opportunity to raise a teenager or a child of any age for that matter.
I inhaled sharply, feeling like I'd just been struck.
"Shoot, Bells, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it like that," he backpedaled, instantly contrite.
"Yeah, I know. Let's just drop it, ok?" I said not wanting to delve any further into the sore subject.
Not sore for me, because I didn't have any regrets over that particular choice. But Edward would always feel intensely guilty about "robbing me of my potential," as he always put it whenever the subject of my infertility arose.
"If you say so," he agreed but his hesitant tone made it clear there was more he wanted to say on the matter.
"Hey," I started in a brighter tone, changing gears. "What did you get mom for your first wedding anniversary?" I asked.
"Jeez, Bells, I don't know. That was a long time ago. I'm not real good at remembering stuff like that. But neither was your mother!" he chuckled. "So we never made a big deal about it…Maybe we should have..." Charlie admitted in a quieter, more contemplative tone.
"For what it's worth, I remember your anniversary," he gently added. "Do you and Edward have anything special planned?"
"I'm sure Edward has some spectacularly romantic overblown gesture planned that Alice has seen coming since before he even met me or something like that. But I have no idea what to get him and it's stressing me out!" I moaned, hiding my face in my hand.
"That's the problem with your generation. You think a gift always has to be some thing, some trinket you can buy on the internet with free two-day shipping. Why not make him something instead?"
I thought about that for a moment. "Like what? Renee's crafty gene must've skipped right over me," I blew out a frustrated breath of air through puffed-out cheeks.
"If memory serves, Renee's crafty gene must've skipped right over her, too," Charlie quipped.
I rolled my eyes at the jab. "Funny but not really helpful."
"Look, I'm not proposing that you do anything totally crazy or unrealistic like assembling a piece of Ikea furniture for the guy," he crowed, laughing a little too hard at his own joke, "But why not–"
"Dad, I'm going to have to let you go. I hear Edward coming up the drive. But thanks! I think you just gave me an idea. And stop reading Seth's mail!" I chided just to be a brat.
Charlie grunted something unintelligible before saying, "Alright, kid. Love you. Talk to you soon. Oh, and tell Edward thanks for Marlin. He arrived yesterday."
I really did need to get off the phone, but I couldn't help asking, "Who's Marlin?"
"The fish I caught when I visited. I named him Marlin. Edward had him stuffed so I could mount him on my wall. Sue's a little miffed but she'll get over it. Can't wait for Billy to see it. He's going to fall right out of his chair," Charlie chuckled.
"Oh my God, Edward has got to stop sucking up to you. This is getting ridiculous!" I muttered. "And you're totally taking advantage," I accused testily.
"I thought you had to go," Charlie deflected.
"Grrr. We are going to talk about this later. Bye, Dad."
No sooner did we hang up did I receive a photo message of the massive surfboard-sized fish mounted to his living room wall with the caption, "I think it really ties the room together."
"Sue is a saint," I muttered to myself as I tucked my phone away in my pocket.
"There's my beautiful wife!" Edward said rather cheerily as he strode inside the front door, closing it behind him with a soft snick.
He crossed the room, kissing me softly on the lips, and pulled me into his arms. Edward held me like that for a long moment with his chin resting on the top of my head and his hands folded behind my back.
"I can't wait to spend the evening with you, Mrs. Cullen," he murmured, reverently kissing my hair. Then he sighed a bit wistfully and released me. As if it would do him physical harm to stop touching me, his fingertips skimmed all the way down my arms until he clutched both of my hands in his own, refusing to let them go.
"Why do I sense a 'but' coming?" I asked, looking up at his face, a bit wary of his tone.
"Because Alice won't let me run off with you until she's styled you first," Edward grumbled.
"Ah," I nodded in understanding.
"That's it? No stomping your feet? No protesting?" Edward's thick brows knit together in disbelief.
"I mean I could, but when has it ever helped? Alice is going to get her way regardless so I may as well go quietly and get it over with," I shrugged indifferently.
And besides, high heels weren't so terrible anymore with my new sense of balance. Plus, I would get the satisfaction of watching Edward's eyeballs pop out of his head when he saw me in whatever ridiculous getup she insisted I wear. And it wasn't as if I had ever regretted anything Alice had ever dressed me in, had I?
"Very sensible of you," Edward smiled, kissing me once more softly on the lips.
I kissed him back. "You know me. Sensible is my middle name."
In all honesty, I was just relieved I had some more time to come up with a plan and hoped Alice would be able to help.
"In here!" Alice called from inside her meticulously organized walk-in closet.
I followed her voice into the obscenely large closet and watched with amusement as an Alice-shaped blur flitted around the room composing outfit options.
She lurched to a stop in front of me and dragged me by the arm over to the full-length three-way mirror where she had lined up a selection of outfits to choose from.
"You're giving me a choice? This is new," I beamed at my favorite sister.
"Well, I read somewhere recently that toddlers are less prone to tantrums if you offer them choices. It gives them the illusion of control. I thought it sounded applicable," Alice shrugged and raised an eyebrow, daring me to contest the word 'toddler.'
I pursed my lips but let that one slide. I was a toddler vampire, after all.
"I like that one," I said, nodding toward the more modest sleeveless smocked midi dress. It had a vintage look to it that reminded me of my favorite peasant blouse.
The flowy ivory cotton dress hit just below the knees and looked pretty and feminine but also comfortable, unlike the other two options that would fit me like a second skin.
"The Lisa Says Gah Agatha smocked midi. Excellent choice! Pairs perfectly with everything from pearls and pumps to sneakers and a sun hat," Alice remarked as if she was reading a blurb straight from the catalog.
She then thrust a bejeweled pair of nude Manolo pumps into my hands. "I said that you could wear sneakers with it, not that you're going to," she said, sticking her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes at her but otherwise didn't complain.
"Now that that's settled, go get ready for hair and makeup," she said, shooing me out of the closet toward her salon chair.
Once I was seated in front of another large mirror, Alice wordlessly went to work on my hair, and I finally worked up the nerve to ask for gift advice.
"Alice–"
"You're still undecided, but the idea you were toying with is a good one. Stick with that," she said, holding a bobby pin gently between her teeth.
"Is it really a gift though?" I frowned doubtfully.
"That's the problem with your generation!..." Alice started in as she curled, twisted, tugged, and pinned my hair into submission while I feigned attention.
That was the nice thing about my roomy vampire brain. I could be distractedly thinking about a dozen other things and still be able to perfectly recall every word Alice spoke if quizzed on it.
It was no wonder the Cullens didn't have to try at all in school and they still managed to maintain perfect GPAs, the bunch of cheaters!
"...And if it makes you feel any better, Edward didn't spend a dime on your gift," she concluded, haphazardly waving a curling iron in the air as she spoke, not that she could have burned me with it.
My eyebrows flew up into my hairline upon hearing that. That did make me feel better.
"Thanks, Alice. I knew you'd be able to help," I smiled up at her reflection in the mirror. "Wow, I look as close to perfect as I'm ever going to get. Great job, as always!" I praised, turning my face this way and that as I inspected my makeup. Just the way I liked it. Barely there with a touch of smokey eye, some color on my cheeks, and a little lip gloss.
Matching the retro style of the dress, my hair was twisted up into a boho kind of bun with a few loose tendrils to frame my face and a braid woven around the crown of my head. It actually reminded me a lot of my wedding hair, but not quite as intricate.
She did a little curtsy and unfastened the protective smock around my neck. Then Alice helped me get my dress on carefully over my head without messing up my hair or getting any makeup smudges on the off-white fabric.
"Tell me how it goes!" she squealed excitedly as I was just about to leave to go find Edward for our anniversary date.
"Why don't you tell me?" I joked and hugged her goodbye.
"Ha! Nice try! I know everybody's usually like 'Don't piss off the pixie,' but I wouldn't recommend pissing off the mind-reader, either. Unless you want your mental browser history known to the world," she said with a wry smirk. "I guess that doesn't really apply to you."
I shook my head with a smug grin. I thanked her again for her glam services and went looking for Edward. I didn't have to look far.
He was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, carrying a single red rose and looking as dashing as ever in a sharp navy blue suit with black satin lapels, matching black satin tie, and a crisp white shirt underneath.
I felt the breath being stolen from my chest as I looked him over. He looked like he was ready for a red carpet event, and if my heart still beat, it would have been thumped unevenly in my chest at the sight of him. And even more attractive than his perfectly formed physique in the tailored slim-fitting suit was his face.
The Greek god standing tall and proud at the bottom of the staircase was staring up at me, awe-struck. His square, chiseled jaw hung slightly agape at the sight of me as if I had exactly the same effect on him. It was hard to imagine.
Just then, Emmett came ambling out of his and Rose's room to see what all the fuss was about.
He looked back and forth between Edward and me, shook his head, and chuckled.
"Bella, love, you're stunning," he imitated Edward's slightly higher-pitched timbre. Then he turned his large body 180 degrees and mocking me in a husky alto voice, he argued, "No, Edward, you're stunning."
He turned his body back again, in his Edward voice, "We're both stunning."
And then, mocking me this time, he falsettoed, "Let's bang." Emmett gave a dramatic little bow, and then turned and went back into his room without another word.
"We have got to get our own place," Edward muttered.
And then from somewhere upstairs, Esme called in a near growl, "Emmett, a word, please."
From the living room, Jasper, who had been playing a game on the Xbox, snickered, "Busted!"
"Bet you wish you were still an only child," Edward grinned, handing me the rose as I reached the bottom of the staircase.
Breathing in the sweet fragrance of the flower, I cackled, "Heck no. If I were still an only child, who would I beat at arm-wrestling?" I laughed in earnest at Emmett's answering snarl.
Edward laughed too, his warm smile reaching all the way up to his butterscotch eyes. "Shall we?" he asked and extended his elbow for me to loop my hand through.
*EPOV*
"Is it weird that I miss taking you to restaurants?" I chuckled lightly as I opened the passenger door of the Vanquish and waited patiently for Bella to lower herself into the seat before closing it behind her.
Dashing around to the driver's side, I slid behind the wheel.
"I thought you hated taking me to restaurants because you had to listen to what other men were thinking about me," she countered, a dubious expression on her exquisite face.
"That's true. I don't miss that," I agreed. "But there's something to be said for the ambiance of a nice restaurant. And how sensuous it was to watch you eat and drink and react to new foods," I added thoughtfully with a little shrug.
"You know what I don't miss?" Bella snorted in amusement. "Gas. Indigestion. Zits, Needing human moments. Worrying about farting in my sleep. And generally feeling like a grotesque sack of human frailty next to all of your perfection," she fluttered her hand in the space between us, gesturing broadly in my direction.
I threw my head back and laughed loudly at that. "You were so funny! So worried that your completely normal bodily functions would be off-putting to me. Meanwhile, I was terrified of all the ways you would find me grotesquely alien and inhuman.
"A match made in heaven, you and I," I sighed, a contented sound, and affectionately squeezed the top of her thigh in the seat next to me. Replacing my hand on the gearshift, I upshifted and took off down the driveway in a spray of gravel, leaving a cloud of dust in our wake.
It had been a cloudless, sunny August day so we'd had to wait for sundown to leave the house. I hated that we had to stay stuck inside and out of sight on such a special day, though it gave me the time I needed to put the finishing touches on Bella's gift that was carefully stowed away in the trunk.
I honestly had no idea what Bella might've had planned as a gift for me. She hadn't brought anything with her except a small clutch. It didn't matter. Because in an odd reversal of roles, I was now the one who felt uncomfortable being the recipient of gifts.
There could be no greater gift than the one she'd already given me. The gift of eternity. So for Bella to gift me with anything else in addition to that truly did feel "out of balance," as she had put it so often when we were first dating.
As far as I was concerned, every anniversary (and every day in between) for the next millennia and beyond should and would be spent with me showering my wife with my undying love and gratitude for her sacrifice, not the other way around.
"Where to?" Bella asked as she looked out the window at the twilit sky.
"Are you up for being around people? There's a performance in the park that I thought we could check out?" I suggested casually, sneaking a glance at her out of my peripheral vision.
She turned to look at me and smiled pleasantly. "Sounds nice." There was nothing in her expression that led me to believe she felt otherwise, so I stepped on the gas and headed for the Palace of Fine Arts.
As luck would have it, the popular tourist attraction (and a commonly used site for wedding ceremonies) hosted a "Piano at the Palace" free concert series, and the Parks & Rec department was always looking for pianists to donate their time and talent.
The Vanquish lurched to a stop in a parking spot reserved for authorized personnel only, the one the park designated for volunteer musicians, though Bella had no way of knowing that. I quickly retrieved the wrapped parcel from the trunk and helped Bella out of her seat.
Built around a small artificial lagoon, the Roman-inspired Palace of Fine Arts was a massive rotunda held up by thick, stately columns casting a warm orange glow over the inky black water that surrounded it on three sides.
I walked Bella over to a smattering of folded chairs provided for concertgoers and sat her down in a reserved seat in the front row. Taking the empty seat next to her, I turned in my chair to face her and placed the box on her lap.
I took a deep, fortifying breath and dove into the speech I had been mentally rehearsing.
"Bella, " I began, taking one of her pale, petite hands in my own."Today marks one year to the most joyous day of my existence. Three-hundred and sixty-five days ago, you made me the happiest man alive," I said that last part with a wry smile, a little private joke between the two of us.
"I've spent the last year watching you grow and blossom, admiring your strength and resilience through all the adversity you've faced…" So. Much. Adversity. More than she should have ever had to bear, I inwardly lamented.
"Every single day you inspire me. And this," I patted the box on her lap, "is the product of that inspiration."
Bella carefully tugged at Esme's perfect bow. The red satin ribbon fell away from the box and she slowly unlidded it with steady hands and stuttered breath.
Inside was a thick stack of musical staff paper, my most ambitious composition in a century. Three hundred and sixty-five pages to be exact, a musical journal of the last year spent as husband and wife. It was the score, if you will, to our life and love thus far.
On the top right-hand corner of each page, I'd jotted down the highlights of each day so that she could follow along as I played.
"Oh Edward," she sobbed, the fingers of her free hand flying to her face, covering her mouth in stunned surprise.
I stood up then, straightening the invisible wrinkles in my suit, and headed straight for the single black grand piano that was placed under the broad dome in the very center of the monument.
I sat down at the piano bench and nodded once in acknowledgment to the growing crowd, keeping my eyes locked right on Bella.
I mouthed the three most fundamental words in the English language to the most significant face in the world. With gleaming golden eyes, she mouthed back four of her own.
And with that, my fingers began to perform the piece that had begun playing in my head since the moment she took those first tremulous steps down the aisle toward me and this wonderful life we've only just started building together.
*BPOV*
My eyes burned with unshed tears as Edward poured his heart out through his music for me and all of the city of San Francisco to hear. It was easy to distinguish the good days from the hard ones based on the tone and tempo of the notes that he played. I hardly needed to spare a glance at the notes he'd written to follow along, to remember.
It was our story, in musical form. And though I was only hearing it for the first time, it was almost as if I already knew how it went.
When he finally finished nearly an hour and a half later, the entire crowd and I sat in stunned silence for one pregnant moment. That's when the ovation began as the entire audience clambered to get to their feet. Loudest of all was the six familiar faces in the back row who were clapping and cheering riotously.
I don't know what gave me the courage just then, but before the applause had completely died down, I found myself moving in Edward's direction, joining him under the rotunda. He was standing up then, taking a polite bow. Smiling broadly, he watched me curiously as I joined him on stage, holding out his hand for me to hold.
When I did, Edward smiled that glorious megawatt smile that he reserved for truly momentous occasions.
I took a deep breath of my own. If Edward felt inclined to shout his love from the proverbial rooftops, then so would I. I turned my back toward the crowd so that I could concentrate on him and not lose my nerve.
"Edward, I've spent the last year watching you, too. Watching you tirelessly learn how best to love me as I've…grown and changed. I've watched you spend every waking moment," I smiled cryptically at the intended redundancy; every moment for us was a waking one, "trying to right the wrongs of the past."
"Here and now, and in front of all these people," I added in a quavering voice as I gestured to our audience, "I would like the opportunity to do the same."
I hate the way that I reacted to your proposal, I thought so that only Edward would hear. I hate thinking about how awful I must've made you feel. Or like there was even a small part of me that didn't want to be yours forever. I'm so sorry I ruined such a special moment being stupid and scared. So without further ado…
In front of Edward, my entire new family, and dozens of strangers, I laced the fingers of my right hand through the fingers of his left and got down on one knee.
"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, even on the hard days, especially on the hard days...marrying you is the best thing I've ever done. I love you. Now and for every single day of forever. Would you keep doing me the extraordinary honor of being my husband?" I asked, looking up at his stunned face through thick, mascaraed lashes.
Using movements that were probably a touch too fast for human eyes to properly follow, Edward scooped me up off the ground and wrapped his arms around me in a bone-crushing embrace.
With unmistakable sincerity in his eyes, he growled the words "Until my dying day," and smashed his lips fiercely against mine. The crowd went wild, not that either one of us noticed.
*EPOV*
I was flabbergasted. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined that my painfully shy, reserved wife who hated to be the center of attention could be capable of making such a public declaration of love.
My first instinct was to snatch her off the ground because there was something so wrong with seeing an angel lower herself before me. But I could see how important this was to her and could hear the burning regret in her thoughts.
Regret that I never knew was there. I never thought of that day as anything other than a joyous occasion because she ultimately said yes. To me. Bella Swan had said yes to marrying me! Her initial reaction was meaningless compared to that.
I rejected a secondary reaction to feeling emasculated by Bella's brave public display. Her proposal, however romantic, had ever so slightly rubbed against the grain of my early 20th-century sensibilities that rankled at the gender role reversal.
I told that deeply-ingrained side of myself to sit down and shut up while Bella was talking because I didn't want to miss a word of it.
As we walked hand in hand through the congratulating crowd, we stopped to enjoy the moment with our family who had sneakily managed to get here in time to witness my performance and Bella's ensuing speech.
"Wild horses couldn't have kept me away. Happy Anniversary, sweetie," Esme wept quietly with maternal pride and joy into my shoulder as I hugged her back.
"Aww, mom," I murmured over a rising lump in my throat and squeezed her tighter before letting go. Bella hugged her too and promised to see her at breakfast the following morning.
The others offered their love and well wishes. Being such a romantic himself, Carlisle was especially proud of the gesture that had taken me a full year to pull off. Emmett's reaction was the most surprising of all.
My usually unmoved older brother grabbed me into a tight hug, slapped me on the back, and sniffled, "That was beautiful, man." Humbled, I thanked the big softie.
After saying our goodbyes, I walked Bella back to the car and held the door open for her, then walked around to the driver's side and sat down beside her.
"Edward, that was–"
"Bella, that was–"
Finally alone, we both clambered to get the words out at the same exact time. We laughed a little awkwardly and I gestured for her to go first.
Raising a soft, dainty hand to cup the side of my face, Bella whispered, "That has to be one of the sweetest, most remarkable gestures anybody has ever made in the history of time. I don't have the words..or the notes," she laughed once without humor, "for just how touched I am or how undeserving I feel. Just know that…I feel exactly the same way and I always will."
I turned my face slightly to the side to kiss her palm and pressed my lips firmly against the golden band of her wedding ring.
For once, I was the speechless one. "Ditto, Mrs. Cullen. Ditto."
Bella's face broke into a wide smile. Then her deep golden eyes flashed with mischief and she bit the corner of her full lower lip in the sexiest way. "Let's bang," she suggested, resurrecting Emmett's joke from earlier.
I grinned and revved the engine loudly. "Yes, ma'am."
A/N Oh my gosh, these two lovebirds are giving me a toothache! It was so satisfying getting to retcon Bella's atrocious reaction to Edward's proposal!
IMHO, Bella was peak-level annoying in Eclipse when she kept on shutting Edward down because of her shitty "OMG what will people think?" mentality. She didn't seem to care what people thought when she kissed Jacob the very next day after getting engaged. 😒 /end rant. Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Til next time, lovelies!
