Epilogue
Two years later.
"Keep your eyes closed, boy." Alice growled. Rose's hands covered my eyes, so I couldn't see even if I tried.
"Okay, Rose." Alice chuckled. Rose's hands moved from my face and I opened my eyes to...
"What the hell?" The front room of this house, - the Cullen's, Alice, Jasper, Rose and myself had recently moved into on the outskirts of Forks, Washington - was covered in banners with the words 'Happy Birthday' printed on them. Instead of a cake, I was used to on my birthday, there were seven glasses of blood and by the smell of it, it was favourite; grizzly. There were a small pile of wrapped presents beside the blood all wrapped in silver wrapping paper. So this is what they had been hiding for weeks.
"You sneaky buggers." They all laughed, but I was gobsmacked at this. I didn't want to make a big deal of my birthday.
"We couldn't rein Alice in. She's like an unstoppable force of nature." Edward chuckled as Alice gave him an evil glare.
"It's understandable, bro." She turned the glare onto me. Then, it disappeared and she bounced up and down.
"Presents. Open. Now." I saluted her.
"Yes, ma'am." Carlisle handed me a small box.
"This is from myself and Esme." I ripped the wrapping off and opened the box, inside was think band of black material and on it was an oval with a coat of arms on. I just stared it, with my mouth open.
"The Cullen crest." Was all I could force out.
"Yes, you're part of this family now. It goes around your wrist, like Edward's and Jasper's. Alice got herself a ribbon choker, when she came with me." Esme grinned; she took it out of the box and put it around my wrist.
"Thank you."
"This is from us three and your mother." Edward gestured to Alice and Jasper then to the table which had three cylinder objects and three square objects.
"My mother?" They all nodded. I reached down and picked up one of the cylinder objects and ripped the wrapping of it. I gasped.
"A baseball bat!" I knew what the other two were and ripped open a square present. "A baseball glove!"
"You'll have to teach us how to play it Emmett." Jasper grinned.
"Wow."
"We had the bats made from metal, knowing we'd break wood ones easily. The gloves are from your mother. Two are new and one is your old one. We told her that we didn't need the gloves, but she insisted that it makes the game better. She wouldn't take no for an answer." Alice giggled.
"Yeah, that sounds like my mother all right."
"My turn." Rose simply said and handed me a tiny box. My heart gave a squeeze when the golden band on her wedding finger sparkled at me. I took the box from her.
"Thank you, wife." And, planted a kiss on her lips. She smiled so sweetly, my heart ached to touch those lips again. Ripping the wrapping off, like the last presents, and lifted the lid to reveal a key. A single key. I knew I must look confused.
"It's a key to our house." My jaw dropped to the floor.
"Wha-What?" The smile grew even bigger.
"I've been thinking that maybe it's time we had some time to ourselves. I still like we're newlyweds, you know, even though we've been married a year."
"It's amazing, Rose. I love it." I kissed her again, keeping it clean for the family. "I love you."
"I love you, too." The look she gave me said, she couldn't wait. I mirrored her look and her smile grew even bigger.
I couldn't wait to live the rest of my forever, with the woman next to me. My memory flicked up an image of the grave of my best friend. My heart shuddered, the pain of losing Abby will never leave me, but I knew it would bring me courage in my later years.
Rose gave my hand a gently squeeze and handed me a glass of blood.
"Emmett, my brother. I wish you a happy birthday." Edward rose his glass to me; we all drank a little bit.
"Emmett, my husband, who I will always love. I also wish you happy birthday." Rose raised her glass to me; we all drank a little bit more.
"To my friends, in the past, present and future. Thank you, for everything." I rose my glass to my new family and downed the rest of the blood.
A shiver ran down my spine and, I swear, I smelled Abby's scent. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday and a better start to my new life.
The End.