*EPOV*
After leaving Bella sound asleep in our bed, I left her a note explaining my absence in case she should wake up before I returned, then headed for the mainland to hunt.
I didn't make sport of it this time, as I was anxious to find a 24-hour drug store and get back to Bella before she woke up.
The jaguar population was on a decline, so I limited myself to just one, an older cat at the end of his life, and a couple of capybaras to make sure I was good and sated. Just as a precaution since Bella was on her courses...
I'd told her once before that I'd gotten over the call of her blood, and that was for the most part true.
The monster was locked up with no possibility for parole. But I would be lying if I said the increased level of physical intimacy didn't make the urges just slightly harder to ignore.
The Amazon was such a breathtakingly beautiful place, I briefly considered taking Bella to the mainland to explore. But it was so dangerous for humans who didn't have Bella's magnetism for danger that I quickly thought better of it.
That was all I needed was to have to change her, alone, in this strange place because she had the misfortune of being bitten by a blasted spider.
And besides...we'd have eternity to come back for a visit when she wasn't so delectable to venomous creatures.
My vampire abilities had made me complacent that I could rescue Bella from virtually any catastrophe as long as I were with her. However, her dolphin encounter underscored something crucial that I'd overlooked.
If Bella were to be swept away by rapidly moving water, if I lost sight of her and her scent-not being able to hear her mind, or her heart properly underwater, she was as good as dead.
It was a sobering thought, indeed. I wouldn't make plans to visit any more waterfalls after that humbling discovery.
I'd had to run all the way down to Copacabana to find a 24-hour farmácia.
Bella had insisted she was set on feminine hygiene products and didn't need anything else, but she was so miserable when she'd finally gone to bed that I wanted to do something to bring her some relief, even if she was too stubborn to ask.
A middle-aged woman with deep creases etched into her copper-colored skin rang up my purchases. She looked up at me with a tired, sympathetic smile.
A heating pad. Midol. An herbal tea called "Healthy Cycle," a dozen different types of chocolate bars, and a new novel to read if she didn't feel up to getting out of bed tomorrow. Also the condoms I'd set out to buy earlier in the week.
I wasn't so concerned about accidental transformations at this point, but I was starting to wonder about the possibility of other adverse bodily reactions. I theorized about the unexplained changes to Bella's eating and sleep habits.
The sudden onset of her menstrual symptoms tonight was bizarre, too. I could only think of one other time when she'd even mentioned her cycle, much less been slowed down by it. I laughed quietly to myself remembering it.
Blushing from head to toe, she had meant to ask if it was safe for her to be around us during that time of the month.
Angel of mercy that she was, Alice swooped in before Bella could get the words out and had a private girl-to-girl chat with her about the best way to proceed.
At that early stage in our relationship, if I'd had to be the one to tell Bella that tampons were better than sanitary pads, but that menstrual cups were better than tampons, I think I might have spontaneously burst into flames.
The Portuguese-speaking woman's thoughts revealed that she thought I must be very mature for my age to be buying such things, for his mother, she surmised. Until she got to the condoms, that is.
I smiled warmly at her, thanking her for her assistance. I then retrieved the plastic bag containing my purchases, and made my way back to the boat.
Once I was out of the harbor and into the open ocean, I opened up the throttle, smiling widely as I was pelted with sea spray.
I loved boating, even more than I loved driving, despite the slower speeds. As a mindreader, the ocean was a much more peaceful place to be than the interstate.
Speeding past much slower motorists was like mentally flipping through radio stations, never settling on one long enough to hear what song was playing. It was incredibly distracting, to say the least.
Taking Bella on the boat to Isle Esme, getting to enjoy that mental peace while still getting to delight in her company had made me positively giddy.
I used to always find Bella's silent mind so incredibly vexing, and sometimes, I still did. But it was moments like that when I appreciated her unique mind for the gift that it was.
To the east, the sun was beginning to rise. I cursed under my breath. I had been gone longer than I'd anticipated.
Due to the urban sprawl that had occurred in the last couple of decades, and the lack of subway tunnels in Brazil, I had to take a more circuitous route to avoid being seen, and the rainforest wasn't exactly close-details I didn't need to bother Bella with.
She still got anxious when I had to be away from her, and the feeling was mutual...tenfold, but still mutual.
I docked the boat, mooring it quickly, and dashed up to the house. Bella was definitely awake, that much was apparent by the unexpected sound of pop music coming from somewhere within.
I followed the music and the smell of bacon that wafted out from the kitchen.
Bella hadn't noticed me standing there in the doorway, so I took the opportunity to whip out my phone and open the camera app. My memory was flawless, but hers wasn't. Not yet.
Bella was a thing of beauty, standing there in front of the stove wearing a tank top and cut-off shorts, a towel twisted into a turban on the top of her head.
If I didn't know the sight and scent of her so well, I might've worried I'd walked into the wrong house.
I had caught Bella, my Bella dancing like no one was watching. I mashed my thumb into the record button because this was something that needed to be captured for the sake of posterity.
She shimmied her hips and pumped her tongs-wielding fist into the air to the catchy rhythm of Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling."
I couldn't help myself any longer.
"Crikey! What a beauty!" I bellowed in a perfect imitation of Steve Irwin. Bella jumped right out of her skin and wheeled around to face me.
Her face was burning and her heart hammered in her chest. I danced over to her and eased my arms around her as she irritatedly flailed in my arms.
"Edward, don't do that. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She slapped me lightly on the chest, but I wasn't done teasing her yet.
"Settle down, sweethawt, settle down now," I crooned in my Aussie accent as if I were trying to calm a wild animal, holding her tighter as she giggled and wiggled in my arms.
I spoke into the camera, "Look at the be-yootiful color on this one!" I stroked her cheek with the back of my hand.
I bent down and kissed her behind her ear. "Glad to see that you're feeling better," I murmured in my own voice, slipping the phone back into my pocket. She settled into my arms, burying her face into my chest.
"Feeling much better after having a shower. I'm glad you're back. You were gone a long time." Her voice was muffled by the fabric of my shirt. "It was a long night. It's really hot when you're away."
"I'm so sorry, love," I grimaced and swiped at a bead of perspiration that had dewed up on the nape of her neck. "I didn't think about how hot you'd be with me gone. I'll have an air conditioner installed before the next time I need to leave."
I took hold of the forgotten tongs on the counter. Behind her turned back, I quickly flipped the bacon onto a plate before it burned, then shut off the heat.
"I come bearing gifts, though!" I added cheerfully.
I flashed back out into the foyer, retrieving the shopping bag where I'd left it by the door, and handed it to a bewildered-looking Bella.
Bella pursed her lips, "What did you do?" she accused. She opened the bag and inspected the contents.
Bella gasped, and then threw her arms around me, bag and all. She stretched up on her tiptoes and tipped her head back for a kiss which I enthusiastically obliged.
"Thank you. That was very, very thoughtful of you. And bonus points for the chocolate. Though..." she pushed back against my shoulders so that she could look at me.
"...Who are the condoms for? If you're worried about STDs…" she almost made it all the way through the question before her stern face broke into an amused smile.
Shit. I'd forgotten to take the condoms out of the bag.
"Ah, yeah. I thought...if there was going to be a lot of...destruction," I borrowed her word from days before, "that it would probably be safer for you if you weren't repeatedly exposed to my fluids. And it might help with the, um, cold."
Very articulate, Cullen. I rolled my eyes at my awkwardness.
"Like I said," she growled, pulling herself closer to me with fistfuls of my shirt. "I like the cold."
She kissed me again to illustrate her point. "But you're right," she said, pulling away. "It's probably smarter."
Her eyes grew wide as if suddenly remembering something. "Holy crow! The bacon!" And then her heart rate dropped back down to something approaching normal when she realized I'd already seen to it.
"Edward saves my bacon, yet again," she grumbled, pulling the towel from her hair and combing her fingers through her damp strands.
I chuckled. "Breakfast time for the human?" I asked, sliding a chair out from the table and gesturing for her to sit. She quickly assembled her plate, grabbing the waffles from the toaster, some fresh fruit salad, and a few strips of bacon.
Noticing Bella hadn't poured herself a drink, I offered her some juice.
"Actually, would you mind putting on a kettle? I'd love to try that tea you got for me," she smiled brightly. I beamed at her.
*BPOV*
It had been a long night. The sudden onslaught of cramps and nausea that had me hauling ass to the bathroom didn't let up for most of the night.
Edward had never seen me like that before because he was in the strict routine of leaving to hunt every 1st and 3rd weekend of the month, a schedule that perfectly coincided with my own. But with all the wedding and honeymoon excitement, the schedule had gotten thrown off.
Swept up in the adventure of Isle Esme, I hadn't been keeping track of the days. PMS plus the physical exertion of having Edward as my tireless tour guide this past week could easily explain the binge eating and the exhaustion. Hmm, well that solved that mystery, I thought, sipping my tea.
"How was your breakfast?" I asked, setting down my mug. Successful, I could tell, by the buttery gold color of his eyes.
"It was no irritable grizzly bear, but I guess they can't all be," he sighed longingly.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" I asked, nibbling on a strip of bacon.
"You tell me," he smiled. "You seem to have made a miraculous recovery. I kind of figured after last night you'd want to lay low."
I shrugged. "I'm fine. The first day is always the worst. You usually are never around for that because of your hunting schedule."
Edward's eyebrows shot up, then furrowed. "I had no idea! I swear I didn't plan for that. I...hate that I wasn't around to care for you if you were unwell…"
I rushed to put the smile back on his face. "Oh, I know. It was just sort of a convenient coincidence. And at the time, I preferred to binge eat Ben & Jerry's and ugly cry in private," I blushed and looked down at the tabletop.
He nudged my chin back up to look at me. "It's different now that we're married and live together. I realize that." I nodded in agreement, feeling the pressure of his cool stone hand under my jaw.
He looked at me thoughtfully, "And I'm learning that there's lots more that I don't know about you. But I want to know everything about you. Every gory detail," he smirked.
"Same," I said emphatically. "I guess it will just take a little getting used to...I used to think that we spent basically every moment together.
"It felt like that because the moments I got to spend with you were the only ones that mattered to me. And now...well I'm realizing that there was more time that I spent away from you than I realized."
Dinners with Charlie. My job at Newton's sporting goods store. The time I spent at La Push with...I didn't want to think of his name for fear of rattling that drawer loose.
And if I was being brutally honest, I had some modicum of privacy. I had a moment to be me when no one was watching. I could dance in the kitchen, or pick my nose, or have a freaking bowel movement without him hearing. Or smelling, I cringed.
That was one big fat tally under the "Change me ASAP" column. It was absolutely no fun to be human around my unfairly perfect vampire husband 24/7. One whole semester of college was starting to seem like an awfully long time.
Edward smiled, nodding with understanding. He took my hands in his own, softly stroking the backs of them with his thumbs.
"Married life is a big adjustment, even for normal human couples. There's a reason why they say the first year is the hardest. Though...we've only been married a week, so I really hope you're not sick of me already," he smiled crookedly.
My eyes widened. "No!" I shouted, aghast. "That's not what I meant-"
He smiled again and squeezed my hands. "I know, love." He examined my eyes for a moment.
The expression 'The eyes are the windows to the soul,' felt a whole lot more literal when he did that.
"Alone time is important. I've had more of it in the past ninety years than I care to remember, but I'd hate to deprive you of that.
"Would it be helpful to you if I made myself scarce during a certain part of the day...to give you some breathing room?" Edward asked, carefully watching my face.
I nodded shyly, relieved that he seemed to understand me better than I did sometimes.
"When?"
"Just for like an hour in the morning? Before breakfast, when you'd normally be leaving my house to pick up your car?"
"Done," he promised. "Don't be afraid to tell me what you need, Bella. Ever." He brought my two hands together and kissed the backs of them.
"Ok then," I said, taking the last swig of my tea. "Every gory detail. Here's another Bella factoid for you to file away…"
Edward's eyes widened in interest and he nodded for me to continue.
I serenely put my mug back down on a ceramic coaster while I conjured my poker face.
"I'm not overly fond of being surprised by vampires with recording devices." I wrinkled my nose but smiled to take the sting off.
His eyes clenched shut and his chin dropped down to his chest in a show of understanding and deep remorse. "And why would you be?" He muttered.
"The Steve Irwin imitation was cute though," I added genuinely, hating to see him so hard on himself.
He peeked up at me with one eye. "It was, wasn't it?" he grinned.
*A/N* Thank you for all of your very supportive words after the last chapter. I was really nervous when I posted it that I would upset some people-and if I have, I hope we can still be friends! 😊💜
Going forward this is going to be like BD, the alternate ending: If everything had gone according to plan. (As well as it ever can, anyway.) Really looking forward to throwing the book out and having some angsty, lemony, newlywed fun with these two. I hope you stick with me for the ride!