Chapter 3: Changes
Midnight found Edward and I curled up on his leather couch, Debussy playing steadfastly in the background. I had stopped watching the clock on the wall tick away a couple hours ago… time just seemed inconsequential now. After a year and a half of constantly watching the clock, waiting for time to swallow me up and take me from Edward with all its swift moving alacrity, not worrying about the passage of time was refreshing. No longer was I constantly nagged by the thought that eventually Time itself would steal Edward from me. After the family meeting had broken up with the decision I was to stay and become a member of Edward's family, I had felt a vast weight disappear from my chest. Not only was I now as eternal as my true love…I was just as unbreakable and powerful as him.
Slowly stroking hands found their way confidently up and down my back, soothing me into the most comfortable rest I had ever felt. While I didn't feel tired or a need to sleep due to my newfound vampirism, everything in me was experiencing an utter stillness. It seemed that even though it was now impossible for me to sleep, I could still be stuck in a dream. How else would all these seemingly impossible and wonderful things be really happening? I certainly wasn't in a state of shock any longer, but it wouldn't be truthful to say my head was completely out of the clouds. My existence was perfect at the moment and it seemed everything on the outer edges of my mind that threatened worry weren't really all that important.
Upon first reaching his room, the first thing Edward did was sweep me up into his arms, only to deposit me onto his couch. For hours we had simply rested in each other's arms, unwilling to let go. After the initial kiss downstairs which had been met with smiles from the family and cat calls from Emmet, Edward hadn't stopped kissing me. Every couple of minutes another sweet and irresistible kiss would be placed upon my lips…and every time my newly dead heart felt as if it would burst. Even though Edward was free now from any worry of killing my very breakable, mortal self, he seemed cautious to not encourage anything too involved. I understood perfectly. Everything was so new now…and Edward was making sure I could handle it all. While once upon a time this might have irked me, I was in complete agreement with our current decision of not pressing our relationship further before everything had settled. He was right to be cautious…even as relaxed and free from worry as I felt, I knew the realization of everything that had happened would eventually come crashing down upon me. And when the inevitable awareness of just how much my life had changed dawned on me, I wanted Edward by my side.