A/N: Hi! Happy reading. :)

Chapter-20: Cryptic

EPOV

I felt like one of those pansy-ass fuckers in Romance novels as I failed miserably to keep the smile from my face.

Yep, I was a goner the moment she touched me for the first time.

Bella.

"Why are you smiling?" her voice sounded close to me as she asked. I could feel the heat of her skin radiating near me ... warming me.

My smile only grew wider as I opened my eyes and looked at the girl lying next to me on the forest ground. "You can't keep your hands to yourself, can you?"

Her eyes widened at my snarky question and a reddish glow took over her face. She's blushing, I realized, feeling an uncharacteristic sense of giddiness for being able to make her do so.

I closed my hand around hers where it was lying on my palm and asked, "You're really not running for the hills yet?"

She laughed at the question, the sound of her laughter bouncing off the trees that surrounded the meadow we're in. "Apparently not," she answered me after a moment. "I gotta tell you though … the fact that your skin glows in the sunlight was a very unexpected discovery."

"You're dating a vampire and that's what you find unexpected?" I asked.

"Mmmhmm," she hummed, closing her eyes for a second and opening them before looking at me. "I'll take the glowing over shriveling up and turning into a bat in daylight anytime though."

This time, it was my turn to laugh as I looked into her eyes … twinkling with mirth. "You're so different," I said to her, pulling her to my chest.

She came willingly to me and placed her head on my chest before asking, "Is that a good different or …"

I could detect the insecurity in the slight wavering of her voice so I lifted her head and kissed her lips. "It's the best kind of different," I told her, and she smiled.

Yeah, I'm turning into a pansy alright.

The sound of my phone beeping broke the silence that surrounded us all of a sudden. Bella lifted her head slightly and asked, "Do you need to get back to the hospital? I'm not keeping you from work, am I?"

She seemed horrified by the idea, making me realize just how amazing she was once again … always putting others needs before hers. "You're not," I assured her. "Carlisle can take the patients for one afternoon. Even though I'm the better doctor, I think he'll survive," I added with a wink.

"Wait," she said abruptly. "You're a doctor? Already? I thought you were aspiring to be one?"

I screwed my eye shut before half-opening one and replying to her. "Another thing I lied to you about. Sorry. I did the whole medical school thing back in the forties."

"Wow. Definitely something I wasn't expecting," she said after a short pause. "And for that lie, you're forgiven. I understand that you were trying to keep up with the appearances."

"Thanks," I said before pulling my cell phone out of my pocket. The message I found waiting for me made me grimace.

Alice said she saw that you'll be forgiven. Why don't you bring her home to meet us? ~Esme

Before answering her, I saw another message in my inbox.

Oh and Edward, I wasn't asking. Bring her home. ~Mom

"You look like you want to laugh and cry at the same time," Bella's voice pulled me away from the text messages, and I focused on her, putting the phone away.

"It looks like we've been summoned," I told her instead.

"We? By whom?"

"My mother."

Her eyebrows pulled up in confusion. "I thought your mom …" she trailed off, looking uncertain.

"Is dead," I finished for her. "I meant my adoptive mother," I explained. "Carlisle's wife, Esme."

"Oh!"

"Yeah," I said, a sigh escaping me at the thought of my own mother. "She's been like a mother to me for decades now."

Bella reached out to squeeze my hand. "I'm glad you had someone to love you all this time."

Letting her comment about people who loved me, I gave her an impish smile as I said, "That someone is eager to meet you."

She froze in whatever she was going to say and looked at me with panicked eyes. "You told her about me?" she asked.

"Alice," I said in a manner of explanation. "She saw you coming to me."

"Right," she said with a nod of her head, and then she went silent.

When I couldn't take the silence anymore, I tried to calm her obvious nerves. "Hey, you don't have to be afraid. My … family, they don't drink human blood. They've learned to control their thirst. So you'll be safe there. I'll keep you safe."

A snort—that's what followed my reassuring words before Bella started to laugh. "You thought …" she paused to let out another hearty laughter and continued again. "You thought that I'm afraid that they'll have me for lunch?"

Frowning, I nodded. Wasn't she?

"I'm not worried for my safety. In case you didn't notice, I've spent the better part of the last hour kissing a homicidal vampire," she said once she had calmed down. "I'm worried that they won't like me," she admitted quietly.

I started to shake my head at her thoughts then. "No chance in hell. They're all stoked to hear that I've found you."

She stood up and motioned for me to do the same. When I was standing next to her, she took my hand and smiled shyly. "We've found each other," she said. "Let's go meet your family then."

If her sweet innocence and forgiving nature hadn't made me her slave yet, that moment would've done it.

BPOV

"Here we are," Edward said as he stopped the car. "The house of the vampires."

All I could do in response was to let out a small gasp. I didn't know what I had expected to find, but this clearly wasn't it.

The house of the vampires, as Edward put it was a little less than a mansion, and it was the most beautiful house I had ever seen. "Wow," I breathed as I took it all in.

Edward chuckled. "I think the word you're looking for is ostentatious."

I felt my cheeks heat up at his remark and said, "I just didn't expect it to be so …"

"Stark? White? Human-like?" he offered helpfully.

"Elegant," I finished.

He smiled, raising an eyebrow in question. "What did you expect? Coffins? Dungeons? Or crypts?"

I shook my head. "No, that's not it. This just doesn't seem to fit in a small town like Forks. It's so beautiful."

"Esme is bursting to thank you for your appreciation of her work."

I was confused by his words. "What?" Looking around, I found us alone in the driveway leading to the house. "She's here?"

He nodded. "They all are, and in case you didn't know, they can hear us from inside the house. We've got excellent hearing," he said, flashing me a grin.

Of course you have, I thought dryly.

Edward led me to the house and held open the front door before giving me a slight bow of his head. "After you, Ms. Swan."

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

Entering the house, I could only admire it more. The décor matched the elegance of the house. I was in the middle of taking it all in when my eyes fell onto the black baby grand piano sitting on the living room. Its glossy surface called out to me, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of it, letting my hand ghost over the surface.

"Do you play?" the sound of a female voice behind me made me drop my hand as I turned around to find a woman with reddish brown hair standing next to Edward where he stood watching me.

"Um … no …"

The uncertainty in my voice seemed to jump-start Edward's social skills as he moved to stand closer to me and said, "Bella, let me introduce Esme, my mother. Mom, this is Isabella Swan."

I noticed Esme's smile widen when he introduced her as his mother. She held one hand out to me and greeted, "Hello, dear. Sorry if I startled you. I was just very anxious to meet you."

"I'll say," Edward murmured.

Esme gave him a mock glare as she shushed him and shook my hand. Her hand though cold like Edward's was soft, her touch felt motherly, and I couldn't help but smile back at her. "Hi. Your home is beautiful."

"Thank you," she said, beaming.

"That's a home run for getting Mama Cullen's approval. Your girl is smart, Ed," called out a loud voice as I saw two men come into the room.

Edward scowled at the bigger, burlier man as he muttered, "It's EdWARD, Emmett."

"Riiiiiiight," the guy I assumed was Emmett rolled his eyes. "My apologies, your Royal Highness."

I heard Edward scoff as he pointed at the newcomers. "As you might've guessed already these are my brothers: Emmett and Jasper."

"Hi!" Emmett greeted me with a wave of his hand.

Jasper, the empath as Edward had told me earlier, gave me a nod and then said to Edward, "It's incredible, really. She doesn't seem to be afraid of us."

Edward wrapped an arm around my waist and smiled. "She's incredible." He squeezed my side before whispering to me, "Alice is coming."

I saw a flash of black approach me before I was engulfed in a hug. "Oh!" I gasped at the sudden sensation of being hugged like that. No one in the Home had been much of a hugger so it was very new to me to be greeted like that.

"I see what Edward's been talking about," the girl who must be Alice said in a manner of greeting. "You do smell good."

"Alice!" Edward scolded her and pulled me back to him.

"What?" the girl lifted her shoulders in a shrug, grinning innocently at him. "I was commending her choice of perfume."

"I'm sure you were," his tone sounded sarcastic as he answered. Then he addressed me. "Bella, this is …"

"Alice, I guessed," I said with a smile, turning to Alice. "It's nice to meet you."

She waved away my formal tone and hugged me again. "We're going to be best friends. Whenever you need dirt on your boyfriend here, you come to me," she said with a wink.

And that's when it hit me. Edward was my boyfriend now. For real.

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

Edward stood with his back against the door as he looked at me from across the room. "They didn't overwhelm you, did they?" he asked, pointing to the door behind him through which we had escaped his family to his room a few moments ago.

"They didn't … much," I replied.

He groaned, his head falling back against the door. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For subjecting you to their insanity," he said, closing his eyes.

I walked up to him and placed a hand on his smooth jaw. "Hey, look at me," I said softly. He did as I asked, and I couldn't help but kiss the corner of his mouth. "Thank you for bringing me to meet them. They seem like they love you."

His arms came up to hold me to him as he slowly opened his eyes, confusion swimming in them. "How do you figure that?" he asked, his voice tight.

"It just felt like …"

He shook his head, stopping me before I could finish the thought. "They're just my family. Not all families are bound by love."

I could see that he wanted to believe me, but he wasn't ready to … not yet. So I gave him a silent nod, not of agreement, but of understanding.

He tightened his arms around me and tipped my head back so that he could brush my lips with his. I gave in, holding him to me, wanting to take away the glimpse of hurt I had seen in his eyes moments ago.

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

It wasn't until after Carlisle had come home and asked Edward for a consult on one of his cases that I met his other sister, Rosalie.

I was in his room, taking in the shelf filled with music he had in there when I heard a throat clearing. Looking at the doorway, I saw a beautiful blonde woman standing there. She didn't smile or greet me like the rest of the family had, instead, she entered the room and held my gaze as she made her way to me.

She didn't stop until she was standing right in front of me. Then she said, "You're changing him."

"Excuse me?" That was not the greeting I was hoping for.

She tilted her head to the side, examining me carefully before offering some kind of explanation. "Edward. The smile hasn't left his face for long since he brought you home. That's a rare occurrence. Usually, he's just silent or speaking his favorite tongue—sarcasm."

"Really?" I asked, having seen him smile a lot that day as well.

She nodded. "It's gonna be a relief to not see him look like he's got a stomachache every time he spends time with us as a part of this family. Thank you."

I nodded back and wondered, "I thought vampires are supposed to be constant … never changing, I mean."

"They are," she responded, already starting to walk out of the room. "Until they find their mates. You, Isabella, happen to be Edward's."

Before I could make sense of what she had said, she was gone, leaving me open-mouthed at her parting words.

I'm Edward's mate? What is that supposed to mean?

A/N: It's shorter than usual, but it felt like the place to stop.

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Song rec for this chapter: Smile by Sixx: A.M.

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Ann