I don't own Twilight or its characters. Stephenie Meyer does.
Cheryl and Gabby, thank you for pre-reading, and April, thank you for editing. Any mistakes left are my own.
Epilogue: (8 years later)
"I hope the reason you're not answering your phone means you're almost here." I left Edward a message on his cell before hanging up.
I looked out the window to spy on the family down by the water with a smile before checking the bottle I was heating up. When it was ready, I headed out to everyone.
Emmett had taken his oldest twin boys, Bryan and Ryan, and my six-year-old daughter, Vanessa, out on the boat fishing with Jasper. Alice was playing in the water with Rose and Emmett's five-year-old twins boys, Peter and Patrick. Tanya was in the sand building a sandcastle with my four-year-old, Thomas, and her two-year-old son, Christopher. Esme, Rosalie, and Elizabeth sat on chairs in the shade nearby. Carlisle and my dad were both working and would be up this weekend. Peter didn't like the country, so he was in Chicago—we only saw him a few times a year.
"Bottle is ready." I gave it a small shake.
"Thank you." Tanya brushed her hands, shifting to get up.
"Oh, let me, dear. I don't get to do this too often," Elizabeth offered as she continued to bounce Tanya's six-month-old, Tyler.
"That would be great." Tanya gave her a smile.
I handed over the bottle and then turned to Tanya with a smirk. "You know there was a time I didn't think I'd ever see you playing in the dirt."
"Ha ha." She rolled her eyes, then turned back to her son. "No…no…not the hair," she exclaimed as he dumped a shovel full on top of his head.
I stifled a giggle and turned back to an uncomfortable-looking pregnant Rosalie. "Can I get you anything?"
"An Igloo." She half-smiled.
"How about lemonade or decaf iced tea?" I offered.
"Half and half?" She gave me a pleading smile.
"Sure." I started back for the house.
"I'll get it. You've been running back and forth." Esme got up.
"Thank you," I said to her.
I took her seat after she left and turned to Rose.
"So, do you know what you're having? I asked.
"With the way they kick…kangaroos," Rosalie said with a laugh, then sighed. "Two more boys. Don't get me wrong I love them, but I was hoping this time around for a couple of girls. We're getting outnumbered."
"You could always try again?" I teased.
She shook her head. "Oh no. Six mini-mes of Emmett is plenty. I don't know if I can take the risk."
"It's too early to know who these two will be like." I pointed at her belly.
"Maybe. But I'll leave it up to you and Tanya to add a girl to this crazy mix." She rubbed her belly tenderly.
"I think I'm done," Tanya stated, trying to brush the sand out of her son's hair.
"I already added one girl," I reminded them.
"And she's just like you when you were six—pure tomboy." Esme laughed, returning with Rose's drink.
"There's nothing wrong with that." I grinned.
"No there's not." She winked at me. "Edward finally got here. He went straight upstairs to change."
"Oh, before my preggo brains kick-in, Heidi is coming this weekend with her family," Rose announced.
"It's going to be a full house." Elizabeth smiled.
I went back to the house to greet him. I met him on the stairs on his way down. He looked tired and stressed.
"I'm so sorry, love. The emergency call took longer than I thought it would," he apologized.
"You're here now, that's all that matters. You look like you could use a nap," I said.
He shook his head and wrapped an arm around my waist as we continued our descent. "Naw I missed enough."
"Have you eaten?" I asked.
"A candy bar on the way," he admitted.
"Edward, you need more than junk food. Come on, I'll make you a quick sandwich." I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the kitchen.
"You don't have to, I can do it," he protested.
"I don't mind." I shrugged.
"Hold on." He stopped me. He leaned down and kissed me. "One night is too long from you let alone two. I belong to you and the kids for next week and a half."
"Good." I kissed his cheek.
I made him a quick sandwich and sat with him as he ate. B.B. made her appearance, rubbing up against his legs. He paused for a moment to give her a scratch behind the ears.
"Do you need to talk about it?" I asked.
"I can't give you many specifics. Sometimes I think the hardest cases are the kids who don't even realize they're being abused by their parents. These poor kids think it's acceptable to be hit and demeaned for spilling a glass of milk." Edward shook his head. "But this time it was the foster parents who had taken kids in for the money and were equally abusive."
"That's heartbreaking," I agreed.
"We had a hard time finding a foster family to take three small girls on short notice without splitting them up."
"Did you?" I wiped a tear away.
"Yeah, but it's only temporary." He sighed.
"What does it take to become foster parents?" Alice startled us.
"Sorry." She turned bright red as she stood awkwardly in the doorway. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I'll just ..." She started to back up.
"Hold on, Alice, it's okay. Are you and Jasper interested in fostering?" Edward asked, knowing they couldn't have their own.
"We've talked about adopting. Is there a huge difference?" Alice asked.
He nodded. "There are some differences. I can sit down with both of you this week and we can talk about it."
"I'd like that." She smiled.
"But for now I want to take my wife out on our boat." He winked at me.
"Emmett borrowed it to take some of the kids fishing," I told him. "But they should be back soon."
"Perfect." He placed his plate in the sink.
"Did you even taste it?" I teased.
"Yup and it was delicious," he said.
We walked to the beach just after the boat finished docking. Our daughter jumped over the edge and ran up the hill with her messy ponytail bopping behind her.
"Dad, you're here, you're here," Vanessa squealed running toward us.
"Daddy?" Tommy jumped up and started scrambling up the hill.
I quickly stepped out of the way so I didn't get trampled. The kids ran into Edward's legs nearly knocking him over. He scooped them, up one in each arm.
"Dad, guess how many fish I caught?" Vanessa asked.
"Um…four." Edward kissed her cheek.
"Six. That was more than the boys." She grinned proudly.
"You're just like me," Edward teased her.
"Uncle Emmett said I was just like Mom." Her eyebrows furrowed.
"I guess that's true," Edward admitted with a snicker. "And how about you, Tommy, what have you been up to?"
"I taught Chris to pee behind a tree and Auntie Tanya wasn't too happy. But Grammy and Auntie Ezzie thought it was funny." Tommy giggled.
Edward pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. "How about we use the toilet inside from now on, buddy?"
"Kay." Tommy shrugged, then wiggled to get down. Once on his feet he ran back to the sand.
"Can we eat my fish for dinner?" Vanessa asked.
"You know the rules, you have to clean them." I tried to fix her ponytail.
"I know." She nodded.
"Sounds like dinner is on you then." Edward winked at her.
After Edward said hello to the others, and we checked with them to see if they minded watching the kids, we went out on the boat. I drove us out across the water to our secret spot.
"You know I keep expecting we're going to come here and find some teens in our spot," Edward said as he kissed my neck.
"I hope not." I got up from my seat and sat on his lap. "Happy Anniversary."
"Our anniversary is Wednesday." He gave me a questioning look.
I raised an eyebrow. "Um…"
His eyes widened. "I missed three days? How?" He ran his hand through his hair and tugged on it.
"You've been very busy." I shrugged. "It's okay. I understand, your job doesn't always have normal hours."
"Still...I'm sorry, love." He sighed. "Happy Anniversary. You probably deserve a bigger gift for putting up with me."
"Stop it. I'm not mad. However, remember back when we got married and I said you owed me one free pass." I bit my lip; I wasn't sure how he was going to react.
"What did you buy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing. I'm pregnant," I announced.
He gave me a weird look, then smiled. "Why would that make me upset?"
"It's twins." I bit my lip nervously.
His eyebrows furrowed. "It's twins...wait, you already had a scan and without me?"
"I didn't plan to. I thought it would only be a confirmation appointment. But after what happened the last time, the doctor didn't want to wait." I referred to my ectopic pregnancy two years ago. "I didn't want to tell you before in case I got both our hopes up. Especially, since you've been so stressed at work, I didn't want to add to your plate."
Edward frowned. "I should've been there for you. I don't want to be like my father."
"You're not. What makes you think that?" I argued.
"The fact I'm away from you and the kids so much. You needed me and I wasn't there. I wasn't there the last time either, I was on a case and Emmett rushed you to the hospital," he lamented.
"You had no way of knowing. There was a child who needed you that day. I never blamed you for not being there."
"I should be putting you and our kids first," he insisted. "I don't want to fail you."
"You're not," I promised. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I first suspected. You're good at what you do. The kids and I don't feel neglected—I promise. You're nothing like your Dad. You're more like your Uncle Carlisle."
He gave me a small smile as his hand ghosted my stomach. "Twins...wow." He looked around. "Wait, should we be on a boat?"
"You say this every pregnancy." I rolled my eyes. "It's fine as long we don't hit any bumps too hard."
"No wonder you were driving slow for you." He smirked. "Does anyone else know yet?"
I shook my head. "No. But once they do, there are several who're going to be hoping for girls. Apparently, the numbers are very uneven." I laughed.
"Let's get back and tell them. Then I'll take you to dinner." He kissed me.
"We told Vanessa she could have her fish. Take me tomorrow night." I ran my fingers through his hair.
"Deal." He gave me one more kiss before slipping into the driver's seat.
He drove us back home. I tried not to laugh at the snail's pace he went. We were pretty much going headway speed the whole way.
As we got close to our beach, we passed two kids sitting on a large rock together fishing. One of them was our daughter. I gave her a wave.
"Who is that with Vanessa?" he asked, frowning.
"Seth Cheney. Angela and Ben's son. They're renting a timeshare a couple houses down," I explained.
"What are they doing there alone?" he demanded.
I smirked. "Fishing. We've let her go there before with her cousins."
"Yeah, with her cousins, not some boy." He scowled.
"Seth is a sweet boy," I defended him. "We were the same age when we were fishing alone."
"Exactly my point," he huffed.
"Aww. Do you think she met her soulmate?" I couldn't help but giggle.
"Bella, you're not helping." He frowned.
"Teddy, you're being ridiculous." I laughed. "They're only six...well he's seven, but still. Relax and let them have fun."
"Hmpf," he grumbled.
"Do you wish you never met me all those years ago?" I asked.
His face softened. "Of course not. Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me."
"Good. I love you, Teddy." I smiled.
He reached over for my hand and kissed the back of it. "As I will always love you."
A/N: We have reached the end of our tale. Thank you for reading and sharing with me your thoughts. Up next I plan on expanding my Thirst entry. It probably won't start posting for a couple of weeks though. I want to bank a few chapters before I start.
