Return

Edward managed to smooth things over; a few reassuring words and his captivating smile was all it took. He promised me that I would get to experience everything that I wanted, as soon as I was ready, after I was transformed. Though we both wanted my transformation to come before the end of the summer (within the next two weeks, basically), he was adamant that Carlisle be present when he changed me for my own safety, which eliminated the practicality of him making the attempt on our honeymoon. And while I may have been willing to wait a bit longer for Edward, I was no masochist. The thought of spending any more time on that island without trying to have sex with him would have been pure torture.

That being said, I managed to convince Edward to cut the trip short. That did put a bit of a fly in the ointment- our honeymoon was supposed to last three weeks, and merely six days had passed since we took our vows. Though I suppose I could have gone straight to the Cullens'and have Edward transform me the next day, I instead casually suggested to Edward that we set the transformation date for when the end of our honeymoon would have been. I had a completely selfish motivation- truthfully, I was really hoping that I could change his mind and we could try again sometime in the next two weeks. I wasn't ready to let go of the idea of having the most amazing human experience I could imagine before transforming. The honeymoon environment no doubt added extra pressure; I was hoping that someplace familiar to us and low-key might be even more meaningful without creating the additional expectations. The meadow, yes… Edward raised his eyebrows and accepted my proposal immediately; no doubt he had his own motivations as well, namely, keeping me human for as long as possible, hoping to change my mind. So after a brief discussion, it was decided that I would go to spend the next two weeks with Charlie. I think I would have rather spent the next two weeks with Mike Newton than alone with Edward if all he wanted to do was spelunk.

The only minor detail was that I had not yet run this by Charlie. Edward and I had just landed from our flight back to Seattle and were in Edward's Volvo when I figured that I might want to run it by him. I picked up my Edward-borrowed cell phone.

"Charlie?"

"Bells! How's the honeymooning? Don't tell me too much!"

"Uh, not so great, Dad. We, uh….had a lot of bad weather. Start of hurricane season, you know. The island was, uh….evacuated," I stammered. A pretty pitiful lie, but I think Charlie was probably happy at the news, so he at least pretended to buy it. Edward looked amused.

"Oh, okay, Bella," he replied, "I'm sorry…..you know, the weather isn't much better here…so what now? Are you, uh, going to be staying at the Cullen's?"

"Actually, Dad, I was hoping that I could stay with you. Get a little extra quality time in before heading off to…..Dartmouth," I quickly lied. "School starts in two weeks."

"Well, that's great, Bella!" Charlie sounded genuinely happy. "I missed your cooking up here. Though we need to get a new microwave, I forgot what you told me about microwaving metal lids…" I chuckled silently. How did he ever get along without me? It made me feel needed. Like I made the right decision. For now.

"So where are you? When should I expect to see you? Do you need someone to pick you up at the airport?"

"Uh, actually, Dad, we're on our way right now, we should be there in a few minutes," I said. "Edward's going to help me unload all of my stuff."

"Okay, Bella" was the warm reply, "I can't wait to see you."

As Edward's silver Volvo cruised up towards my old house he slowed it down drastically for Charlie's benefit. Charlie was waiting outside, in the pouring rain under a big umbrella, with a gigantic grin on his face. "Hey kiddo!" he exclaimed. "It's so good to see you."

I got out of the car and dashed toward Charlie, as much as to evade the rain as to see him, it had been less than a week after all, but gave him a big hug anyway. "You, too. It's good to be back, home, whatever," I mumbled.

Edward helped me unload the belongings Alice had packed for the honeymoon back to my room. Of course, everything looked the same from me being gone. Charlie hadn't changed anything, even though he didn't know I was coming back. I should have known.

Edward seemed to understand that I wanted to spend some time with Charlie, and that I probably didn't need to spend my first day or so back with him, after things had been so tense the last few days. After bringing the last of my bags to my room, he held me tightly in a hug.

"I'm going to go hunting with Emmett this weekend," he whispered. "I'm leaving tonight. I'll probably be back tomorrow evening or so. You're probably getting pretty tired of me."

"I could never get tired of you," I promised him. "But thanks. It will be relaxing to hang out with Charlie this evening. I'm going to cook him a nice dinner." I smiled.

Edward smiled back. "Good idea. Good night, Mrs. Cullen. See you tomorrow." He gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

After taking an hour to unpack and check my email, I went to the kitchen and started poking around for potential dinner possibilities. I decided to avoid making all phone calls- Renee, Angela- until I had a better excuse for why my intended three week honeymoon came to such an abrupt halt after less than a week. An excuse that a woman would actually buy. I had just discovered some veggies in the back of the fridge and was poking around for a protein to serve with them when Charlie came into the room and cleared his throat.

"Er- Bella, I spoke with Billy Black after I spoke with you. I told him that you were home early. I would expect a call from Jacob sometime soon."

Ah, Jacob. The other phone call I was avoiding. I had managed to block out our exchange at my reception for the last week, but I knew I couldn't avoid it forever, as much as I wanted to. I sighed. I had no idea what to say to him.

I suppose I wasn't going to have time to figure it out. Right then, the phone rang.