Ch. 47 Happiest Boy In The World

"Houston, we have a problem." I stood over my bed, staring at the clothes Esme had laid out for me. They were beautiful, of course, but there were too many pieces. There were silky shorts, a corset looking thing with clips, a bra, a slip, a mauve blouse with small white flowers that had flouncy sleeves and a tie in the front, a tan colored pencil skirt with a matching coat, stockings, and t-strap heels. Evidently Esme was the one to dress the family before Alice came along...

"I don't get your odd references sometimes," Edward stated bluntly but with a smile in his voice from behind the bedroom door. He would not enter my room. He said to view a lady in such "intimate quarters" went against everything his mother, Elizabeth, had instilled in him. So life in the 1930s was going to be tons of fun apparently. Sigh...

"Where's Esme? I think I can figure out which body part most of these pieces are supposed to cover, but I need explanation for how they work..." Or you could come show me yourself...My bite won't hurt you, after all...I giggled as I could almost picture Edward's face at that remark. I was not disappointed.

I heard Edward make a choking noise in response, and then clear his throat. Edward at this stage was so unrestrained, yet so tame at the same time. "Iris," he spoke in a low voice. "Please. This is already difficult for me to be near you. We will get there, hopefully, in due time, but it's not...appropriate just yet." I heard him take a deep breath. "Esme should be here shortly. She just went to see Carlisle at the hospital for a few minutes while you napped."

"Ugh. Come on. I'm covered. I promise! Look!" I walked over to the mirror showing Edward in my thoughts that the long, champagne colored silk and lace robe that I put on after my bath covered every piece of me from collar bone to ankle.

"Iris..." he growled. "You are beautiful, but do you have to tempt me so? I'm trying extremely hard not to break this door down as it is." His voice sounded wonderfully rough, but a different kind of rough than in the alleyway before...no, this was a completely different emotion entirely...

I walked over to the door and swung it open, surprising him. He momentarily appeared to turn into a statue as he stared at me, obviously trying his damndest to not look below my eyes. "I'm from a different era. You saw more than this the first time we met. I was wearing tiny little cotton shorts, a fitted t-shirt, and sneakers." I laughed as he read my thoughts which replayed our first time in gym together.

Edward relaxed just a bit, his eyes looked like molten lava as they darkened but continued to bore into mine. It was his lustful face. "I haven't existed long enough to accept such drastic shifts in fashion, and we're currently living in my present. Could we keep our morals in line with the 1930s for just a bit longer? I'm not sure I can keep up." I laughed at the line which sounded so similar, but opposite, from his line from the book. Poor Eddy looked so troubled. I wouldn't force him to do anything, but he needed to know that he didn't need to protect my innocence. This was all about him. "Please don't call me that..."

"What? Eddy?" I asked innocently, but he wasn't fooled.

"Edward will suffice."

"What about darling?" I purred.

"I think I could get used to that."

"I don't know...I think...lover...has a better ring to it..." His eyes darkened again, and I shook my head. I knew I would most likely have to fight this battle again, but for him to not even be able to look at me? Ridiculous.

"Iris—"

"Edward, If you're really that uncomfortable, then turn away. I promise I won't force you to do or see anything you don't want to, but I am your mate. If you'll have me, I want to marry you one day and have a baby with you. I want you to change me and spend eternity with you. Compared to those events, you seeing me in a robe now which covers me nearly head to toe is nothing. If you look at me, I will be flattered, not offended. But don't let me sway you from your morals." I raised my brows at him. He was such a sweet, innocent boy compared to the Edward who had just days ago run his hands up and down my exposed rib cage as we made out like the teenagers we appeared to be...

"You would marry me?" His gaze became even more intense if that were possible.

"In a heartbeat, and mine beats pretty fast since I'm always an anxious mess." Edward chuckled, but then frowned suddenly.

"Did you just call me a boy?" Maybe. Does that get you all hot and bothered, Eddy? Hot, definitely... A growl emanated from his chest again.

"If I did?" I bit my lower lip, and Edward's eyes finally dropped below my lower lash line to stare at it. "It's ok, you can shut the door. It won't hurt my feelings. It was wrong of me to push you to your limit by exposing myself to you this way. You can see all of my ankles...so scandalous." I said playfully. What's it going to be, darling?

He watched as my lip broke free from my front teeth, and his eyes trailed just a bit lower to my chin, then my neck, and finally rested on my half-exposed collarbone. He stopped there, and I figured that was as far as he could get without figuratively blushing.

"Would you please just tell me how to put these things on? Esme took my other clothes to wash them, or else I would just wear those again for the time being. Please. I promise to behave." He narrowed his eyes at me as if I were up to something. I threw my hands up in surrender. "Hey, you're the mind reader. I'm just a human...no way I could trick you. Wait til Alice comes along in a couple of decades. Then you'll have met your match..."

"Fine." He sighed and timidly took a step inside the room. I went to stand against the wall, trying to respect his obvious discomfort. "This is your...brassiere. It goes up top. It clasps like so...I only know this by concept of course." He looked nervous, and I bit back a giggle. Poor, innocent Eddy. He rolled his eyes. "Ahem, these are the undergarments which go on the...lower end. Then this is the...girdle which has clips that attach to your stockings. Next would be the petticoat—"

"Ok, ok...got it." I smiled. Edward really looked like he might pass out if he could if he had to say one more thing about my panties. "Sorry, my love. Thank you. That's all I needed. The formality in fashion will be lost over the next few decades." I explained. "I really wasn't trying to torture you. I just figured the quicker I dress, the more time we would have to explore the city before night."

Edward looked down at his shoes. "Iris, I can't go out."

What? I came all the way through time and he wasn't even going to show me around?! "Why not? It's cloudy. No one will—"

"I can't for two reasons. The first is my eyes. My dietary choices as of late have made my eye color rather...conspicuous for daylight hours. The second reason is that I don't trust myself around humans yet."

"You've been great around me..." I began to protest, but he stopped me.

"I love you, and you are just one person. I don't want to scare you, but even now it takes most of my concentration to not want to sample your delectably scented citrus blood right now. It's quite distracting really. I thought you would understand."

"Oh, right...no, I get it. I didn't think...I'm sorry." Duh, Iris. Stop being so vapid. This was not as easy as Edward was making it look. It had been mere hours ago that he fed. It would only be more difficult for him the longer he tried to abstain..."So you might have to be away from me for some time?" I wanted to cry at the thought of being separated from him for any amount of time, especially now that I was here so far from everything that I knew. I didn't even have Alice to keep my spirits up.

"I'll try my best, love, but I won't risk your life. If I feel even the least bit of weakness, I plan on isolating myself for a time in a remote cabin in Wisconsin which Carlisle used with both Esme and myself after we changed. I promise to write all the time, though." He placed his hand on my arm. Shi—shoot—Aw hell. Fuck. Tears spilled over. "I'm not leaving you, yet, and if it does come to that you won't be alone. Esme and Carlisle would never mistreat you."

"I'm not worried about that...it's just..."

"I know. I'll miss you too, but it's for us, for our future. I won't be a monster...I have to be stronger than this. I will be, right?"

"Right." I tried to smile through the tears that were still falling.

"Besides, I have to be a good example to you." He laughed and it sounded like music. Ugh, even when I was crying he found a way to be smug. I couldn't help but laugh with him.

"You're really ok with me changing? In the future, when we first met, this was a big argument. What about my soul?" Shut your trap, Iris. Why are you talking him out of turning you? Shut. Up.

"I have your memories, so I've seen how convincing you can be. Plus, if you've travelled across worlds, dimensions, time, and space to be with me, I would be the biggest idiot on the face of the planet to let you slip through my hands like sand." He chuckled to himself, nervously running his fingers through his hair. He sobered pretty quickly then. "I'll admit that I have struggled with this...monster within me. I have gone back and forth with the idea that someone as horrible and evil as myself must not have a soul, but then I saw you yesterday. You arrived out of nowhere in a ball of light, like an angel. You announced yourself as my mate, but I couldn't believe it. How could someone as horribly evil as myself have deserved someone as pure in intention as you? Then when you kissed me, I felt it. I felt our souls, two of them, fusing together to form one half of another. You were the piece I was missing. You not being with me was the reason that I felt empty inside. Now, I know that I have a soul, one that I share with you."

Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks. "Damnit I almost had myself under control..." I was laughing as I swiped at my eyes.

Edward grinned and pulled me snugly into his shoulder, kissing my temple as I rested my head there. His cool breath tickled my head as he talked into my hair. "Iris, with you by my side, I can do it all. I can have everything. Thank you for this gift. You've made me the happiest man—boy—" he teased, "—alive."

I didn't answer him verbally, but I knew he felt my joy through my thoughts. I was soaring.

Like, Follow, and Review please and thank you! :)