26. Somewhere in Time

EPOV

Kissing my wife is much more fulfilling than plainly kissing my Bella. Bella is and will always be my Bella, but now she is much more than that. I am tied to her as she is tied to me. There is nothing above us, we are as high as two people can get. By that I mean marriage is the highest title two people as a couple can achieve. It's much more than being partners anymore, it's about being one solid unit. If Bella falls, I fall; if I rise, Bella rises and vice versa. I get to go home every night to the chocolate brown eyes that will never haunt my dreams again. Bella will, every night for the rest of our lives, be lying next to me as we sleep.

The reception was nothing out of the ordinary. Except when it came to the father daughter dance. Bella and Alice danced around in a circle with Charlie who stumbled over his feet the whole way through. When the song was over Charlie handed them off to Jasper and I and we made our loops around the dance floor. Only, when we took our new blushing brides in hand, I took Alice and Jasper took Bella. We switched off when we passed one another and our friends and family cheered.

"Why hello Mr. Cullen," Bella said when I took her hand in mine and wrapped my arm around her waist—pulling her closer against me.

"Hello Mrs. Cullen," I smiled widely at the sound of that rolling off my tongue and the immense pleasure it brought along with it.

"I like the sound of that," she smiled sweetly and it just about took my breath away.

I leaned down and kissed my wife. "My wife," I said when our lips parted. A delicious pink flushed her cheeks as she looked away and at our feet.

"You lied to me," she smiled back up at me.

"What about?" I attempted to look back on our time together and I was coming up with nothing.

"You told me you weren't a good dancer."

I spun her around and held her close to me and the wonder and amazement on her face was almost laughable. "I told you that before I took lessons from Rose."

"Remind me to thank her later," she giggled then added. "I can't believe you're good at everything."

I sighed and brought her hand to my lips for a light kiss. "I am only good at everything because you see me that way. I'm terrible at cooking," I offered in my defense.

"Oh, you're right about that," she replied with a wrinkle of her nose. "And you're stick figures are the worst I have ever seen."

I spun her around in a fluid movement and dipped her with elegance—all thanks to Rose. "Yours are just as terrible, if not worse."

The honeymoon started just as soon as the reception ended. Jasper and Alice got into their limo and Bella and I into ours. We didn't go far, a cruise along the peninsula, and returned the next day to our Emilee. I continued to work at Lulu's, slowly working my way into recognition, people were beginning to know the name Edward Cullen. Not only for my dueling accomplishments, but for my "mind blowing" compositions. Day's were running into one another by the time Emilee reached her second birthday.

Bailey and Emilee both were progressing side by side. The same day Emilee took her first steps, Bailey did shortly after. We could all see the competitive side of their growing relationship, already they were showing each other up. When Emilee spoke her first word it wasn't to Bella or I, it was to Bailey. She said "Mine" and Bailey replied "Mine'. Their birthdays were shared just as Bella and Alice planned.

Bella stopped working shortly after Emilee turned two and she seemed to enjoy having the time with her. We have stayed happy and in love everyday of our marriage. Everyday just seemed to bring us closer in every way. There are no secrets, all our free time is spent together and I cherish every moment of it.

By Emilee's third birthday I wasn't just Edward Cullen, the dueling pianist…I was Edward Cullen the composer. In one of my compositions Bella sang, it was beautiful and touching. Her voice was perfect for the setting I was trying to portray in the notes that carried from my fingers. I fell in love with her all over again that day.

Today is our four year anniversary and I have been playing off that I forgot. I am going into work for a "double shift" and Bella hasn't said anything to me about the date.

"When will you be home?" She asked, folding some of Emilee's clothes on the couch.

I grabbed my coat off the hanger and threw it over my shoulders. "I don't know, it might be late so I don't expect you to wait up for me." I smiled while I faced the wall and my expression was blank when I turned to look at her.

"Okay," she said not meeting my gaze. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then," she placed one of Emilee's shirt's delicately on top of a pile of other shirts she had folded.

I hated making her feel like this but its all part of the plan. I walked over to her and kissed her lightly, "I love you Bella, sleep well."

I was out the door and walking down the hall moments later and stopping in front of the door three doors down. After three knocks the door came open and Angela smiled up at me. "I'm on my way out now, do you have the envelope?" I asked in a heavy tone.

Angela placed her hand on her hip in a no nonsense fashion, "Really Edward? You think I would just lose the envelope?" She turned into her apartment and returned before the door shut completely. "You're faith in me is insulting."

I smiled widely at the envelope in her hand. It is a creamy white with flowered bouquets embedded in the corners. The front of the envelope reads, in elegant font, "My Bella". The back of the envelope has only two lines. I looked back from the envelope to Angela, "Don't forget, she'll be really upset. Comfort her, but do not tell her anything."

"Edward, Jesus Christ, give me the benefit of the doubt," she hissed and I blanched.

"Okay, thank you, for everything," I kissed her cheek and half sprinted down the corridor and to my car.

BPOV

Saying I do to Edward was something otherworldly. It reverberated through me and I never waited so impatiently to recite something in my entire life. Hearing him say it was, impossibly, more satisfying.

We boarded the cruise only hours after the "I do's". The cruise ship was large, four decks above and three below. Lights were strewn about the railings and along the corridors to the rooms and other quarters. The people on this ship were all of great stature, all of them carrying Louis Vuitton luggage and dressed to kill. I have never, in all my life, thought of myself in this group of social class. Never have I considered myself of the low social class but never of the high social class either. Maybe, somewhere in the middle. I suppose, now being married to Edward Cullen, maybe my class has risen to a higher one.

Thinking about all of this and watching Edward mingle with the people on this boat, I started to think that maybe this life isn't the life I am meant to lead. Maybe Michael was the man I was destined to marry. Destiny is not as set in stone as we might think. Nor does destiny always keep our best interest at heart. Destiny only keeps in mind the things in which are best and easiest for us. Destiny sometimes challenges us to find what is utterly important to us. If destiny has challenged me to find my true future, well it seems I passed that test.

I stayed on Edward's arm, him pulling me from person to person, greeting them as if he knew them personally. He introduced me every time saying, "This is my wife, Bella. We are on our honeymoon," and every time the woman of the group looked me up and down and the men of the group did the same. I couldn't be sure if they were judging me next to Edward, but if they were, well there's a big difference between us.

After meeting essentially everyone on the ship, we headed to our room where our luggage had already been delivered. I wanted to get the honeymoon officially started, I didn't even care to wave goodbye to the land we were leaving and wave hello to the sea where we were venturing. I just wanted Edward, in our room still wearing his tux, and me in the white under-lace I chose to wear for this night.

"Don't you want to see us off?" he asked after I kissed him once the door was closed tightly behind us. I smiled as I slipped my heels off and reached around in an attempt to unbutton my dress. Edward cleared his throat, "Let me get that for you," and spun me around, my back facing him.

He started with the top button, letting it unclasp slowly and drawn out. I waited impatiently for him to move on to the buttons below, but instead, felt his hot breath on the skin of my back just below my neck before his lips pressed hard and sternly against it. I felt my entire being warm at his touch and the excitement inside was harder to contain than ever before. His fingers trailed down and gripped the second button in line. He repeated his steps over and over again, causing me to shake and perspire with anticipation, until the last button was released. I dropped my arms and let the dress fall to the floor.

White satin was all that covered me and by the look on Edward's face I made the right choice in undergarments. It didn't take long for me to be exactly where I wanted to be, and where I waited patiently all night to be, which was in Edward's loving embrace. We spent the rest of the night in each other's arms and the next day too. A new chapter in our lives together was just starting for us and it only seemed to get better with time.

Emilee, now four and in preschool, is so much like her father. She is smart and has a way with winning people over. Her long bronze curls are now reaching to her lower back and her eyes are deep brown like my own, like they have been since she was born.

Mine and Edward's four year anniversary is in two days and Edward hasn't mentioned it at all. He's never forgotten but his work has been taking its toll on him and I cannot help but think his mind is elsewhere. I haven't mentioned it because I don't want to seem needy when he has so much on his plate already. Of course I threw in some hints here and there but nothing to blunt. When he left for work the day of, I was mortified. He'd completely forgotten and I let it happen. I started placing all the blame on myself, when in reality I should have been putting it all on him. When that reality hit me I was a little less than furious.

"How could he forget?" I asked myself while finally putting away the clothes I'd folded. "Why didn't I just remind him?"

"Remind who," Emilee popped into my room from the hall, her brown eyes curious. I turned to look at our beautiful daughter, her hair wild a top her head just like her fathers. That thought sent a ping through me.

"No one sweetie, don't worry about it." I sat the remaining clothes on the bed and kneeled down in front of her. "What would you like for dinner Em?"

She made a deep-in-thought—finger on her cheek—look and I recited the words as she said them, "Macaroni and cheese."

I rolled my eyes, "You cannot eat that every night Em, you need other nutrients as well." I laughed and she giggled.

"I know, but I love, love, love-e macaroni and cheese."

I reached out and tickled her on her sides and she collapsed into my arms. I carried her into the kitchen and let her help me make macaroni and cheese. "No more macaroni and cheese this week, okay?" I asked for her understanding and she nodded as she dumped the noodles into the boiling water with my assistance.

"Can we have it again next week?" she asked.

I smiled down at her and nodded, "Once every week."

There was a knock on the door that startled us both. "I'll be right back, don't touch the burner, remember…"

"It's hot," she finished.

"Okay, be right back." I grabbed the hand towel hanging from the oven and ran my hands through it as I made way to the front door. I wasn't expecting to see Angela. I have lived in this apartment complex for well over four years and not once did I speak to her. I saw her on a few occasions but never stopped to introduce myself. Edward, on the other hand, is so open and friendly that he introduced us. He had met her while bringing over some of his things and they had ended up becoming friends. Her and I—Alice too—have become close friends, but I still wasn't expecting to see her at the door.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, um well," she stumbled over her words which only confused me. "Edward gave this to me and asked me to give it to you." She held out an envelope between us and I took it, further confused then when our conversation started. "Come see me after you've read it." She turned and walked back down the hall to her apartment and I stood in the doorway watching her retreat.

"Mommy, the water is bubbling," I heard Emilee call from the kitchen. I hurried back into the house and let the door shut its self. I helped Emilee with the rest of dinner and when she was all set up and eating at the table; I pulled out the envelope that Angela gave to me.

On the front of the envelope was "Bella", written in Edward's calligraphy. When I turned it over and read the words he'd written, my eyes filled with tears, only from happiness.

Four fanfuckingtastic years together.

Looking forward to the years that are to come.

I couldn't get the envelope opened fast enough to uncover what was within.

I love you for so many reasons, large and small.

I love you for all the special qualities that make you "you", one of a kind, the only one in the world for me.

I love you for the silent times when your eyes and your arms tell me all I need to know.

I remember our first official date, our first kiss and our very first "I love you's".

I remember how natural it felt to start out together, how comfortable we were despite all the crazy things that were happening in the world around us.

I knew I had found a companion for the journey ahead, someone who would stay beside me no matter how the road turned or where it took us.

More years than I can believe have slipped by us, but I feel the same way now, as I did all those years ago…

I feel anything is possible—I know we can count on each other, and I want to go on sharing everything on life's journey with you.

I love you because you know how to bring out the best in me.

I love you…just because I do…because now, in a place where there was nothing before, in the deepest part of my heart…there is love… and there is you.

If you forgive me, my Bella, for acting like I didn't remember or that I didn't care at all, please meet me at Lulu's and wear whatever you like.

Your Edward, always and forever.

With tears straining down my face and the largest lump in my throat I think I have ever experienced I managed to tell Emilee I would be right back and sprinted toward the door. I left the door open and knocked on Angela's door.

After only two knocks she opened the door with a wide smile on her face and a bag in her hand. She didn't greet me but walked out the door and shut it behind her. "Don't worry about how late you're out; I'm Emilee's for the night. I don't want anything for it because that little girl is such a joy to be around and that's payment enough."

All I could manage to say was, "Thank you."

I didn't get dressed up, he said wear whatever I like and that's what I did; jeans and a t-shirt. When I arrived at Lulu's there was nobody around except a limo parked out front. I waited in my car for Edward to show me where he was and was startled when there was a knock at my window.

"Are you Mrs. Cullen?" a well groomed man in a suit and hat asked. He smiled genuinely as if to calm my fears and with a shaky hand I rolled the window down.

"Who's asking?" I kept my finger hovering over the window button just in case I needed to put something between us.

"My name is Gerrald and I'm with Cecilia's Limo's. A Mr. Edward Cullen asked me to park here and wait for his wife. Are you her?" This man was kind and looked the part. I rolled up my window, pulled the keys out of the ignition and gathered what small amount of things I had and followed the man to the limo. He held the door open for me and shut it snuggly behind me.

Inside, there was an envelope on the seat along with a box wrapped in paper sitting next to it. I opened the envelope and inside was another letter.

Bella,

There are so many words I want to say to you but none of them convey the feelings I hold for you because they just cannot be expressed in words. I am so fucking proud of us Love. We have defied the odds and made it through the toughest years of our lives. We've both put a lot of the past behind us and given up things that maybe we shouldn't have. There is one part of our past I want to bring back. Something I know brought you a lot of joy at one point in your life and I think there's enough room for this something to make a reappearance.

So please open the gift that sits beside this letter and meet me at the only place the gift makes sense. I have one more surprise for you and yes it is probably exactly what you're expecting.

I love you.

OME, it has been too long since I updated. I wanted to make this longer but it just wasn't happening and I didn't want to make you wait any longer. [see how nice I am LOL] I am going to use school as an excuse once again because it is true. I am reading Don Quijote in my novels class and that's like 40 pages every two days on top of the business book I have to read (a chapter every two days). So I know I said I would updated once a week, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. I hate to say it but SH just can't be my top priority, as much as I wish it could be.

Anyways, I feel like the end is upon us, two chapters left and an epilogue. The whole story to me feels like a preface and an epilogue, so I don't know how an epilogue will make sense but I'll do my bestest. I have really enjoyed all your thoughts and suggestions.

Please leave me sum luv...lil' button just below

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