Edward

A week later we called another family dinner or rather my mother did after blackmailing Bella. We hadn't been able to refrain from telling my parents and the day after our engagement we went to tell them.

Esme had, of course, been ecstatic, I was the first of her children to be married despite being the youngest and it made it much more exciting for her. Carlisle simply joked:

'What took you so long?'

To my surprise my mother agreed. Apparently they had been expecting our engagement much earlier. I looked down at Bella to find her having some sort of silent conversation with my mother about which she was thoroughly confused and quickly I excused myself and towed my father away to give them some privacy.

Bella

I had been having a silent conversation with Esme when Edward abruptly excused himself and dragged a protesting Carlisle off to look at 'something' in the garage. As soon as they were out of earshot Esme dragged me into her beautiful office and gestured for me to sit down in a comfy chair.

Her office had simple white walls with a large archway window reaching from ceiling to wall flooding the room with light. Her desk was a sight to behold. It was a Georgian writing desk with rows upon rows of pigeon holes each one assigned to one of her projects. Esme had designed our house and renovated it as a surprise for Edward and me.

'So,' she began, as I began to worry what she was going to say. 'When are you going to tell Alice and all of the others?'

I groaned. 'Alice is going to go into hyperactive mode isn't she? And Rosalie will encourage her.'

'Yes. So, before you tell them you need to decide on a rough date and any other important details that you would like to decide yourself. 'I loved the way that Esme could be so practical most of the time and yet be such a mother figure, so caring and sweet.

Esme stood up and hugged me tightly before telling me everything I needed to hear, 'You make him happy you know.' She said. 'You deserve him and he deserves you.'

I replied emotionally, 'Esme, you always say the right things. Thank you.'

'I learnt from my mother's mistakes and try to do the right thing where she didn't. I'm glad you find it helpful. I do try!'

We slowly wandered back down the stairs and at the foot I saw Edward waiting. Esme quickly went to join Carlisle and then turned to look at us before saying:

'We're having dinner in a few days with everyone again so it would be the perfect time to tell the others if that's okay with you.'

I looked up at Edward, resisting the need to kiss him and he nodded at me.

'That would be perfect. Thank you.' After being hugged once more by both of them we were bundled out of the door and had free time to spend as Edward's job at the hospital with Carlisle did not start until the next week and I had not yet found a job.

After a long walk we had decided on some details for our wedding. We didn't want to wait too long and as it was already July we settled for October giving us at least three months preparation. I also had a colour theme which I knew would please Alice no end; I had decided on white and green, simply because I liked the colour. However there might have been something to do with Edward's eyes in my decision.

Edward

The evening of the dinner we arrived back at my parents' house a little before the others so that we could get ready to tell them the news. Bella looked as beautiful as ever in a shimmering blue skirt and simple white top. Esme and Carlisle were working away in the kitchen and had forbidden us to enter so I sat on the sofa with Bella curled up against my chest. Gently I kissed the top of her head and she turned her lips to mine. Quickly we forgot ourselves until Carlisle appeared in the doorway and cleared his throat as he chuckled.

'Good thing Emmett isn't here yet!' he laughed and left the doorway.

Bella had he face buried in my chest in embarrassment. Luckily my parents were extremely easy going and had accepted that we had all grown up now so they wouldn't mind. I gently lifted Bella's head from my chest, kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled her toward the door as the knocker sounded. Quickly I opened the door.

Both of my siblings had arrived with Jasper and Emmett and the party was complete. We brought them through to the living room and called to my parents. We decided earlier to put everyone out of their misery quickly before they began to guess at anything they could imagine. Once everyone was sat down I began:

'We just wanted to let you know that we are now officially engaged!'

Immediately mayhem broke loose, Alice jumped up and ran over to Bella squealing and Rosalie ran around to join in with the interrogation about the wedding. Emmett and Japer both offered me their hand across the table and smiled craftily at each other. Great! I thought what were they going to do?

All evening Alice quizzed Bella and was outraged that we had been engaged for nearly a week and she hadn't known about it. Finally we escaped the house when Bella was nearly asleep and Esme managed to hold Alice and Rosalie off of her. It was about midnight by the time we got home and I had to carry Bella up the stairs and put her to bed. She looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake her.