As the days passed, I began to spend more and more time with Emmett—alone. But it wasn't hard. Actually, it was just the opposite. It was easy, and natural. Sometimes, we talked. Sometimes, we just sat in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable—it was just right. When we did talk, as we often did, the conversations lasted a long time, and led into others, and before we knew it, a day would have passed, us having done nothing but be with each other. We talked about love, what we believed the purpose of life was, our futures, Edward, our opinions on almost everything. When we didn't talk, I thought. I've always thought more clearly with him around, and I still do. I thought about much of the same things we talked about, but mostly two of them—love, and the meaning of life (my life in particular). Soon enough, the two topics merged in my mind. Love had become my purpose, because of him. I could think the same thoughts night after night, simply because they made me happy, and somehow they continued to make me happy. One particular night, Emmett and I sat out on the porch, on the bench swing Esme had bought less than a month ago. That was one of the nights we were silent. A thoughtful silence, as we leaned against one another.
"Rose…" he whispered, and I sighed in reply. It wasn't really a question. He just liked to say my name.
"Emmett…" I moaned happily in reply, very quietly, partly to answer him, mostly just because I loved to say his name too.
"Rose?" this time it was a question.
"Yes?" I kept my gaze fixed on the horizon
"Are you happy?" it was such an easy question now. Before I found him, it would have been impossible to answer. Happiness had come in bursts since I was changed—a funny radio show, beating Edward at a game, fixing a car, looking at my beauty in the mirror. But it didn't last. The melancholy did. It was always lurking, just under the surface, like a predator waiting under the water. At night, when I would crawl into bed, in my pink silk pajamas, just to feel more human, when I was alone, it descended upon me. I thought of how even though I had a family that loved me, I was alone, and how I would linger forever, without someone to truly share my troubles with. I was pleased that finally, I could answer the question truthfully, positively.
"Yes…I really am…" he put his arm around me tightly and I closed my eyes.
"Me too…" The heavy wind blew my hair back, and rocked the swing. Since he had come into my life, time had no meaning. Every day was just that—another day, not another agonizing marker of how long I had spent in this new life. The stars shone brightly, a sprinkling covering the navy sky. The crickets could be heard chirping loudly. Other than that, there were no sounds. I thought more. I wondered how he felt about me. Although I really didn't wish for Edward's gift, or his burden, as he called it, I wanted to know what Emmett thought of me. It was apparent how he loved me, already, but I wanted to know if he felt as I did. Not just love, but more than that. My reason for being, now. I never thought that I could be so dependent on another, but there I was. There was a crack of thunder, and then seconds later, bright lightening. Not just a bolt, but the kind that lights the whole sky. I counted the seconds between the sound and sight when I recalled a distant human memory—my father telling me that the number of seconds between the thunder and lightening is how many miles away a storm is. There were three. Within minutes, it started to rain. The downpour was blown onto us under the coverage of the porch, little by little, but by the time we went in the next morning, we were soaked. It rained all night, loudly. I don't know what time it was when he stared at me for the longest time, and then surely came closer to my face, as if looking for something. I followed. When he pressed his lips to mine, for the first time in a very long while, I thought of the night I saw Vera be kissed by her husband. My lips were occupied, but I smiled inwardly, that this was what she experienced, not what I had with Royce ever. It lasted for minutes, but I didn't want it to end. I considered what Edward said about our souls—that we didn't have them. Over the years, I've had ups and downs, and my opinions have fluctuated, but at that moment, I knew we had souls, although I had never thought about what exactly a soul was, or what it looked like, if it looked like anything. That was the only thing that could explain it. That was the night Emmett first kissed me.