I woke up suddenly, feeling nervous and lost, like I didn't know where I was. The fire was too low to offer any light to my weak eyes, so I began searching for him with my hands. I crawled over to the other side of the massive bed, but there was nothing to be found. "Edward?" I whispered cautiously, it wasn't like him to leave me alone in the dark. "Edward?!" I called him more forcefully this time, fear seeping into my voice. I saw a beam of light as the bedroom door was opened and I scrambled to get off the bed. In the midst of my irrational panic, I forgot how close I was to the edge of the bed and fell off it, landing on the hardwood floor on my back. I cried out in pain as my head hit the floor, but it was only for a second and then cold hands were carefully picking me up and putting me back on the bed. "Edward? Is that you?" I whispered.
"No Bella dear, it's Esme. I'm sorry I scared you." Suddenly the hands were removed from me and the lamp at the far end of the room turned on, filling the room with a soft glow of light. I saw Esme race back to me and stand next to the bed with an anxious look. "Are you alright Bella? Should I go find Carlisle?" She spoke to me in such a motherly tone, I found myself wanting to call her 'mom.'
"No Esme I'm fine, I was just surprised. Where's Edward?"
"Emmett, Rosalie and I came back a little early to give him a chance to hunt, and Alice and Jasper will be along shortly." I immediately felt guilty for keeping Edward to myself this whole time, not only had I been keeping him from his family, I'd been keeping him from his food.
"I guess I didn't realize he needed to hunt already, he's getting better at hiding that from me."
"Well he doesn't want you to worry about him losing control because he's hungry, so he'd rather not bother you with it."
"Why not? I bother him with my need for food at least three times every day. I think he deserves to do the same thing to me every two weeks." Esme just smiled at me and kissed my forehead.
"Don't worry about it Bella. He'll be back in the morning and while he's gone we'll be here to watch over you." And with that she floated out of the room, turning off the soft light as she went, but leaving the door cracked behind her. Esme really was the perfect mother, she even knew when to leave a night light for a silly human girl who was irrationally scared without a pair of strong, cold arms holding her while she slept.
I tossed and turned for what felt like hours when I finally gave up and got out of bed in search of something to help me sleep. As I was rummaging through my bags I heard a light knock at the door. "Edward?" I asked tentatively.
"Nope, guess again!" I heard the light and eager voice as Alice appeared in front of me. "You didn't pack anything that will help you go back to sleep."
"Thanks Alice," I grumbled as I started to make my way back to the bed. Alice danced along beside me.
"So, what do you want to do?"
"Well, I'm thinking you lift me while I jump and we'll be able to get me back on this thing." I said, motioning toward the enormous bed.
"No Bella!" She giggled fiercely, "now that you're awake, what do you want to do?"
"Um, go back to bed?" I was confused, I wasn't sure what time it was, but it was still dark outside so I knew it was too early for me to be thinking coherently.
"Bella…" she sighed and rolled her eyes, "you're not going to be able to go back to sleep." I opened my mouth to protest, but she lightly tapped her forehead, signaling me that she had already seen this in the future and I wouldn't be able to change it. I looked at the bed longingly and gave up with a defeated sigh.
"Alright Alice…" I yawned, "whatever you say." I stepped into my slippers and followed her out of my room.
As we walked down the hallway I wondered why Alice was walking next to me instead of speeding ahead, then suddenly I heard a loud crash and instinctively grabbed onto Alice. She looked at me and smiled, "It's okay Bella, Jasper and Emmett are playing 'slap jack.' You should relax a little before you go in the living room; Jasper is feeling a little extra sensitive these days." I let go of her arm and took a few deep breaths before I asked her.
"What is 'slap jack' exactly?"
"Well," she explained eagerly, "you get a deck of cards, or in our case we usually use eight or nine decks, and anyway, you split the cards up equally among the players and then you each lay a card from your stack down one at a time on the pile in the middle. And when someone lays down a jack, you try to be the first one to slap it. It's really fun!"
She skipped into the living room ahead of me and sat down next to Jasper as she watched the game. Turning back to me before I could ask, she answered my unspoken question. "No, they won't let me play because I can see when a jack is about to be played." I laughed as she crinkled her little nose, upset at being kicked out of the game. I sat on the couch next to Esme and saw what the noise had been. She was holding two halves of what used to be the coffee table that sat in the middle of the room.
"What happened?"
She gave me a soft smile and gestured to the four vampires sitting on the floor, "Slap jack involves hitting a pile of cards, and that's unfortunate if you're the table supporting a game played by a group of superhumans with no regard for antique wood." At that moment I saw Alice perk up and Jasper shot forward. I covered my ears at the sound of Emmett and Jasper colliding head on in the middle of the floor.
"I got to it first Emmett!"
"Only because you felt Alice get excited when she saw it was coming, you're totally cheating!"
"Boys!" Esme scolded softly, "you've already killed the table. I ask that you please leave the floor boards intact." It was amazing to me how this soft reprimand from gentle Esme could have such an effect on two unimaginably strong beings. But Esme had a motherly authority in this family, and it was obvious in the way that Jasper and Emmett immediately went back to their seated positions and apologized. "Now Alice, it really isn't fair for you to cheat for Jasper, so try not to get so excited the next time you see a jack coming." Alice approvingly agreed and abandoned the game, coming to sit next to me on the couch, but not before giving Jasper a soft stroke on the back of his neck. Their relationship was so deep; I always felt that simple little gestures like that were incredibly intimate and private.
"So Bella, are you excited about your surprise later today?" Alice turned her attention eagerly to me.
"Oh, I guess I had forgotten about that, what is it?"
"Are you kidding?" She looked innocently surprised that I would ask her to spill the secret, "I would never ruin Edward's fun by telling his surprise."
"Yeah you're right; I wonder what I'll wear though." I looked her straight in her beautiful golden orbs and waited for her to crack. It took less than ten seconds, I know, I was counting. Jasper laughed as he felt her resolve disappear.
"Oh Bella, don't wear your big puffy coat!" She cried as if she were in pain. "Let's go pick out the perfect outfit! That's not really telling you the surprise, it's just telling you how to dress and that's okay!" She yanked me up from the couch and rushed me off to her room.
"Um, Alice, my clothes are in my room," I reminded her.
"Well the clothes you brought are in there, yes, but not the clothes that I brought for you."
"Alice?! You packed extra clothes for me?" I couldn't believe this little pixie, she was seriously insane. Only she would think to pack clothes for someone else.
"Bella don't be mad," she sighed, "I saw what you were going to pack and I just wanted to add a few things…just in case you might need them." As she tried to smooth over her most recent craziness in the name of fashion, I jumped onto her bed, which wasn't nearly as high as mine, and slid to the center to watch her throw random fabrics from the closet. It was like a shower of cloth and color, dresses and shirts and pants flying everywhere. I would have to remember to duck if she started picking shoes. "Okay I've got it!" She announced excitedly as she emerged from the closet with something long and black.
"Alice…tell me that's not a dress," I was practically begging her. It was too cold here for a dress, and if I was already cold, it would make it that much harder not to shiver if I touched Edward's icy skin.
"No silly, it's a cloak," she said matter-of-factly.
"A cloak? You mean…like a cape?" Once again, her fashion sense escaped my logic and understanding.
"Yes, like a cape, and you'll have to have something stunning on underneath it," she was mostly talking to herself at this point, rummaging through all the things she had thrown out of the closet.
"I'm…confused. Why am I wearing a cape, we've already celebrated Halloween on my planet, Alice." That got her attention and she turned to me with a patronizing smile.
"It's not a costume Bella; it's to replace your hideous puffy coat."
"But it's freezing outside, how is that one piece of fabric going to keep me warm?" I was beyond questioning her; it was ridiculous to think that this cape was going to be as warm as my arctic coat.
As if she sensed my determination, she threw the cape at me and instructed, "Put it on." I did as I was told, but as slowly as I could manage, just out of spite. But when I had it on I was surprised at how heavy it was, and I hated to admit it, but she was right, I was already hot underneath the thick fabric.
"Good god, what is this thing made out of, lead?"
"No," she giggled as she turned back to the clothes on the floor and draped over the furniture, "it's just several layers of heavy fabric and animal fur to keep in the heat. And don't worry about the weight, Edward will be carrying you so it really doesn't matter how heavy it is."
"He'll be carrying me? The whole time?" My curiosity flared as I started to wonder what this surprise could be.
"Don't try to figure it out. You never will and you'll ruin it by trying to prepare for something that's not going to happen." She didn't even look up as she told me what my future would be if I attempted to guess the surprise. I sighed as I accepted the fact that I'd just have to wait.
"Alice?" I waited until she stopped sifting through the piles on the floor, "Will I like the surprise?"
A breathtakingly beautiful smile spread across her face, "Definitely."