A/N: So people were looking for this story? I feel so honored that it was good enough to be remembered! I love writing this and after I got that motivational private message and review, I knew I had to update as soon as possible.
I promise, if get all my usual wonderful reviews; there will be another four page update by Monday. You guys rock : )
"Edward?" I mused softly, paying more attention to the tall skyscrapers above me than my own feet. That was a dangerous thing when I was in a big crowd- it was the perfect opportunity to spill somebody's drink all over them, or trip over a particularly nasty patch of thin air. His arm was hooked in mine, a folded strip of newspaper tucked under his other one. "Do you really think these skyscrapers can touch the clouds of Heaven?" My own grandmother used to help run JLA, and she was a proud Puritan as ever. I didn't rely on magic or religion to fix the sort of problem America was in now. People like my fiancé did that through substantial business trade and the laundering of money.
"I do not know; would you like to see for yourself?" I whipped my head so fast in his direction that it almost hurt. I had never been in a tall building, and never assumed I would. They were meant for men, and as long as I was invited to speakeasies and any restaurant of my picking, I was content for now.
"Truly?" My eyes were wide with the anticipation to be that high up in this musky, Chicago town.
"Of course. I own the building; you can ride the elevator up and down the fifty floors if you so wish." I never saw him as suave or charismatic as when he told me I could do whatever I wanted. It was like an open invitation to do as I pleased! I held his arm closer to mine as we walked a few more steps and entered his building, Cullenciano Enterprise. I was wearing a two piece suit with a soft, pink tweed material- it really was nice and warm for the oncoming autumn that was soon approaching. Mrs. Cullenciano begged of me to wait until spring to have my wedding, and since I was in no honest rush to be wed, I agreed hastily. There was a chime of "Good morning, Mr. Cullenciano," and "You look swell, Mr. Cullenciano". It was like they couldn't find anything bad to say about him… although as soon as he slipped into his charcoal, pinstriped five piece suit, I didn't have anything negative to say, either.
"Do you pay them to compliment you so?" I goaded smarmily, wanting him to get riled up. I didn't feel comfortable with being lovey-dovey and excited with him. I much more enjoyed the teasing and hatred.
"No, that is all free will, love." I rolled my eyes, but kept my arm around his. I felt safe like that. We rode the elevator high up; I could literally feel the ground beneath my feet slip away as our floor dinged proudly. It was a rejuvenating noise, one of which I felt like I had never heard before. Truth was, my Aunt Jessica lived in Baltimore Hotel and a doorman saw us to the elevator every time and that odd sound would leave the shaft faster than I could catch it with my hands. As soon as we touched the fiftieth floor, he was quick to drag me along with him, right to his office. The floor wasn't busy or filled up, but it was very serene and almost too perfect- it was like no one real worked there. Edward shut the door behind me, took my hand, and faced us towards the window. It was a floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked every single part of Chicago- I could see the police station, and probably my parent's house if I looked hard enough. "Welcome to Chicago, Bella."
I smiled, a small blush making its way to my face at the mention of my name. Everything I experienced with Edward was so new, and so different. I met many boys, and most I wish I hadn't. But there wasn't any real experience with the lads that I had acquainted myself with, so there was no figure to compare Edward to. He was his very own specie, anyway. "I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen the city so… alive." I hesitantly let go of his hand and walked closer to the window behind his desk. "It feels like life is real this high up." I bit my lip and turned back to him. "This is what God must feel like when He looks down at us everyday."
Edward stared at me for a few heartbeats. "If by God, you mean big shot businessmen whom wish to monopolize everything to their own will, then you're poorly mistaken. Gods don't look over you, they look down at you. There is no such thing as a high power, and if there was, he certainly wouldn't be a man." We seemed to be nose to nose when I turned back around to face him after his revelation.
"We are all entitled to our own opinion, Edward. If you chose to place your beliefs with a bunch of political machines and men full of vice, then so be it. I find it perfectly scrupulous that I lay my faith with a "higher power". What's so wrong with that? At least I have something to look forward to on a bad day. Do you think any of these business tycoons could care about your personal life, when you have no one else around because you've stepped on them on your way up?" I licked my lips, feeling that familiar burn in my lower belly. "God speaks and listens to everyone, and he's never too busy or too good to be a friend."
He nodded. I knew it was just his way of avoiding a long-winded argument, which I was fine with. I had the rest of my life to convert him to Christianity…I shuddered at the thought. Forever… did I really just put us on a timeline? I mentally shook my head and looked out at the sky again, slipping off my silk linen gloves and tucked them tenderly into my new leather clutch. "A million dollar view." I murmured, tipping my beige suede morning top back to clear my vision. My mother always wore hats of French design, and I only knew how to follow in tradition- I loved French designers, French embroidery, French people… France was a beautiful place to be, and the language was just so romantic! I felt Edward's arms wrap around my waist and his chin rested on my shoulder.
"Perhaps I need to buy a building for you? The penthouse?" I laughed heartily.
"I already told you! I don't want to live this into the city. I want to stay on the countryside, where I can grow some of my own fruit and own rambunctious animals. But I don't mind too much the alive feeling I get when I walk with a large crowd on the sidewalk. It's like we all have this morphed energy by just being alive and walking in the same direction!" It was his turn to chuckle.
"You favor power then?" His soft lips kissed the dip between my neck and shoulder, a secret soft spot of mine. "It is not a wonder we were destined to marry." There was a load of sarcasm dripping from every word as he spoke, and it made me want to shrivel away in a dark corner. "By the way, it is not "morphed energy" that you feel when you walk with a big crowd "in the same direction". It's the way an Emperor feels when he looks around at his servants and workers- its power."
One Week Later-
The new vinyl record played smoothly on the player as I fiddled with one end of the new, ecru satin tapestry that just came in mail that morning. "So?" Rosalie inquired from a few feet away. I looked away from the bay window in the main sitting room to send her a puzzled look. Rose just loved to pop questions out of no where in particular and expected you to know where she was going with it. "Have you bought a car yet? Those Fords are a hot item on the market as of late."
I shrugged, going to back to my much more important work. "I don't know, Rosa." I stuck a thin pin into one side and attached the second layer to the instrument. "Cars aren't a priority right now." Rosa thought that if a woman owned a car to herself, she was an independent woman of suffrage. Well, I had a newsflash for here- it wasn't! Owning a car just meant you had to walk less and more friends would ask to have you take them around town! Even if I had Edward buy another car (just for me), I wouldn't be driving anyway. He had hired drivers that wanted to take me everywhere.
Her evil scoff made me twitch visibly. "Oh, but daintily trying to fix a perfectly fine curtain is a priority? Have some pride, Bella! Have some independence!"
I sent her a sharp look. "There's no need for that awful, patronizing voice of yours. And second, I am not daintily doing anything. I am just poised and naturally soft-natured, unlike you!" I huffed, standing atop the stepping stool and attaching the cloth to the side of the window that I had been contemplating for half an hour. "It is not a curtain, it's a tapestry. Have some pride, Rosalie! Have some lessons in history, Rosalie!" I could have pat myself on the back had I not slipped while I climbed down the only two steps to the height inducer. I fell fast, way before either of us had the time to stop my flailing body. I grabbed for something in the air, but found nothing and successfully landed on my bum. The hardwood floors had never been so uninviting.
Rosa approached me slowly, her high-heeled steps carefully made as that of a cougar on a witch-hunt. I was too shell-shocked and sore to stand up on my own, so when she got to me I sighed in relief. "Yes, real poised and soft-natured." My blond bombshell of a cousin laughed and walked away, leaving me to get up by myself and dust off my behind, my long polka-dotted skirt swaying with my movements. Rosalie usually wore more polka dots and striped, because she was so tall and super firm, while I was short and flabby where it had to be- I believed legs needed meat and bone needed some warmth. "Good thing you're so tiny, else you would have had a higher fall." She was still chuckling as she walked into my kitchen, scoping out the scene before her. "What, I don't believe it! There is no tapestry in here! Seems Edward isn't keeping you busy enough." She smirked, always having to get the last word.
I allowed her what she thought would be a victory! Fighting with that woman got no one anywhere, so I wasn't going to test her limits and try to antagonize her as she did me. So what, she didn't understand the importance of hanging tapestries, and so what if she didn't believe in holy matrimony like I did. I was constantly surrounded by sharks in such a world, I got used to it. I knew she loved me, underneath it all.