Seventeen
"How long will you be gone?" Bella asked Edward. They were standing outside his car in her driveway.
"I really don't know. It depends on a few things, probably two weeks more or less. But I'll call you, okay?" He leaned his body against hers and pushed her into the car. "Bella," he whispered into her ear, "could we go to your bedroom?"
They ran up the stairs together. As soon as Bella had unlocked the front door Edward swooped her up into his arms and carried her hurriedly to the bedroom. Bella only had on a sundress and it took her all of two seconds to undress. While Edward kicked off his shoes and unbuckled his belt, Bella reached for his shirt and undid each button, pressing her open lips to his chest, tasting him with the tip of her tongue. She lay back on the bed, eager to feel his flesh joined with hers again. Edward lay next to her kissing her breasts, her belly and the bones of her hips. He opened her thighs to taste her and bring her to excitement. "Now, Edward, please, now." She moaned, her arms reaching for him.
He could not get enough of her. The taste, the smell of her was in him like a drug. He moved into her and pushed his arms under her back reaching up to hold her shoulders. He pulled her down as he thrust up and Bella moaned. In minutes she was trembling in his arms, and he was shuddering in hers.
Making love to her, with her, was so perfect. Afterwards, lying in his arms, she said, "Edward?"
"Hmm?"
"Could you do something for me?" She kissed his neck, and breathed in his scent.
"Yes. Anything you want." He would willingly do anything she asked, give her anything she wanted.
"Could you leave me your shirt?" She hoped she wasn't revealing the depth of her addiction for him.
"So you want the shirt off my back?" He teased her.
"I'll sleep with it every night and imagine you here with me."
"Call me when you're in bed, I'll make love to you with my words." He moaned, realizing how much he wanted her again.
"You mean phone sex?" she squeaked. "I've never done that."
He laughed at her shocked face. "But do you want to?"
She nodded. "You'll tell me what you want to do to me, and I'll do it, is that right?" Bella was excited, thinking about their plans.
"Yes." He breathed into her mouth. She could really drive him crazy, if she wanted to.
"Edward, do you think that this is normal? For me to want you all the time like I do?"
"I don't think that it's abnormal. I think we're very lucky."
He rolled on top of her and kissed her lips. He ran the warm tip of his tongue in every crevice of her mouth. He was hard again. She knew it and without a word she opened her thighs for him again. She was so wet and warm and soft. Their breaths came in gasps and again Edward went wild for her. He moaned her name and thrust hard so that he could see her body tremble for him. Just for him.
"God Bella, you're beautiful, but my flight leaves in two hours, I have to go, now." He smoothed her hair from her forehead. He got up and put on his jeans and his shoes. He held his shirt out to her and she pulled him to her and kissed him. Edward ran his nose along her neck and inhaled her scent, after a long lingering kiss, he put on his jacket over his naked chest.
"Aren't you going home to get a new shirt? You're going to be hot on the plane, and even hotter when you land." She told him.
He nodded,"I don't have time to go to the marina, my flight leaves from SFO."
Bella suggested,"Do you want me to drive you to the airport? I can follow you to the marina and you can leave your car there. That way you don't have to waste time finding parking at the airport."
He thought it over for a few seconds and said. "That would be great, Bella. Thanks."
When they got to the marina, he stopped in for a clean shirt and Bella got him to the airport departure area in record time. He kissed her quickly and got out. "Your jacket!" she called him back.
"Keep it until I get back. I won't need it."
Edward had to run to check in, his flight was scheduled to leave in just over an hour, the security line wasn't too long but by the time he made it to the gate he had only a few minutes before boarding. He made one last call to Bella from his cell, she was already back in Berkeley. "You drive too fast." he told her "Be more careful."
Bella laughed. "Oh you don't have to worry about me. I'm a good driver."
He whispered into the phone, "Bella, I love …. loved being with you. You made me so very happy. Thanks."
"I loved being with you too. I had a great time, too." She whispered.
"Call me every night, so I know you're missing me."
"Okay. See you when I see you." And she hung up.
#
Edward was going home. He'd been thinking of this trip all week, since Sunday when his mom called. On the plane he couldn't relax, his muscles were tense, he was sure his neighbor switched seats because he had become annoyed by Edward's constantly twitching leg. All he could think about was Gracie, he couldn't think of anything else but her. Not six hours after leaving San Francisco he was in Honolulu. Edward's mom, Esme and dad, Carlisle met him at the airport with his three year old niece, Lila Grace.
"Aloha, son." his mother reached up to kiss him on both cheeks. His Dad gave him a warm hug. And Lila Grace said, "Aloha, uncle." He swung her up in his arms and gave her a big hug, "Aloha, how's my favorite little girl, huh?"
"Fine." She giggled and scrunched her head into her neck when he tried to tickle her under her chin. They walked to the car and Edward sat in the front, next to his dad, while Esme buckled Lila Grace into her car seat and got in beside her.
"I thought Gracie would come with you." He said to no one in particular.
"Oh, she wanted to, son. She went to take a nap and asked me to wake her, and honestly I tried, but that girl sleeps like the dead." Esme laughed , "I gave up."
"She must be tired." Edward muttered, he was disappointed that he had to wait another half hour to see her.
He was quiet on the drive as he listened to his mom talk. And he remembered...
#
Edward met Gracie when she was placed in his arms, shortly after being brought home from the hospital. Esme had told him and Gus that they had to be perfectly still if they wanted to hold the new baby.
"All babies," she'd said, "need to be handled very gently. But this baby needs even more gentleness. She has hip dysplasia. That means her hip needs special help, and she has to wear a brace."Esme looked from one to the other. "Do you think you can be extra gentle?" They both nodded earnestly.
Edward had never sat so still in his life and he looked down at her as she lay quietly sleeping in Gus's arms, marveling at how tiny her nose and lips were. Her little chest moved up and down with each breath; he waited and waited and finally could wait no longer.
"Gus, it's my turn, now." He insisted impatiently.
"She's my sister." Gus whined.
"Let's give Edward a turn Gussie. You'll have many more chances to hold Gracie." And Esme took Edward's future and placed it right in his arms.
Edward's smile was broad and although she was just a few days old, she opened her big brown-black eyes and looked right into his. "I think she likes me mom." Edward said in an awed whisper.
"I think she likes you very much Edward." She took the baby from his arms. "Now you boys can go out and play while I take Gracie up to Auntie Liz. Make sure you play in the side yard, we want them to rest as much as they can." The boys nodded and ran off to play in the arbor alongside the house, it was their special hideout.
Auntie Liz, was not really Edward's aunt, she wasn't even a relative, she was Esme's best friend and their soon to be next door neighbor. Uncle George, Auntie Liz, and Gus had lived with them for two whole months before the baby came, waiting for their new house to go to closing. Gracie's mom had had a difficult second pregnancy and an even harder delivery and as a result she had to have a hysterectomy directly after Gracie's birth. She needed to heal and it didn't take much for Esme to convince George and Liz to stay with them for an extra two months.
Edward, almost five, was Gus' best friend for life, and he bonded with Gracie in those two months. He was enraptured. He helped to bring the diaper bag, when Auntie Liz needed it, he watched over Auntie's shoulder as Gracie was burped, "I think she did it, I heard it." And as they sat at dinner he would press the baby monitor close to his ears, listening intently for the slightest cry, "Auntie, Gracie is awake!"
Esme and Liz laughed indulgently at Edward's devotion. "Edward's going to miss Gracie when you leave us. Good thing I'm having a daughter soon, Lizzie. Otherwise, I don't who he'd take care of once you're on the other side of the fence."
"Esme, I never imagined a boy could be so… I don't know how else to put it… maternal; Edward is a great little boy, Gussie couldn't care less about whether or not Gracie is crying. Only if it interrupts his TV time.
But when his little sister, Carly, was born, Edward, like Gus, displayed no special concern for her, the way he had for Gracie. Gracie's hip got better with bracing and by the time she was toddling, no one could detect the slight limp, unless they were looking for it.
A year and a half after Carly came, Edwards's little brother, Evan, was born. Evan, Carly and Gracie were lumped together and referred to as the 'little ones' and Gus and Edward were the 'big boys' The little ones played together and Gracie gradually moved out of Edward's sphere of interest. He grew up and played big boy games with Gus and ignored the little ones as much as he could. When he was ten he took Tae Kwon Do and chased the little ones around to get some practice in.
Edward was a rough little boy; whenever Esme heard a cry from Carly or Evan, she was certain Edward was the cause, and she was usually right. But Edward never caused Gracie to cry. As a matter of fact as the years went by, he continued to look out for Gracie.
#
"Gracie, don't jump into the deep end, you'll drown."
"I know how to swim, Edward, I'm six, I'm not a baby."
"You are almost a baby…ahhh, Gracie! Why d' you throw my sandwich into the pool?"
"Cause."
"Cause?"
"Cause you're mean."
#
"Gracie you really shouldn't ride your bike on that ramp without a helmet."
"Mind your own business, Edward."
"Auntie Liiiiiiz…"
"I said I'll put it on in a minute, Edward, tattle tale, Cullen. I'm nine years old you know. I don't need you. I can take care of myself."
#
"Gracie, you look ridiculous with all that make-up on."
"Thanks, a bunch, jackass."
"You know you're not supposed to be wearing make-up, you're barely thirteen."
"Of course I can, Carly does it all the time, and she's younger than me."
"Carly shouldn't either."
"Well, then why don't you go bother her instead of me, Edward."
#
The day before their high school graduation, Edward and Gus and their girlfriends drove to the North Shore to surf and have a picnic with their friends. Carly and Gracie, begged their parents to make the boys take them along. Against their will the boys were forced to endure the company of their little sisters. When they got to the beach, Gus, Edward and their friends took their boards and went in. The surf was excellent, not too high, and the boys took advantage of the conditions to hone their skills. When they returned to the circle of blankets they had quickly spread and left, it was to find Carly, all long reddish-blonde hair and tall for her age, flirting with a college freshman. Edward dragged the guy aside and told him that Carly was his little sister and she wasn't even fourteen yet. The guy paled and slinked away, embarassed.
When Edward returned to the blanket there was no sign of Gracie. "Where's your sister gone to?" He asked Gus.
"I don't know, food I guess." Gus was busy kissing on his girl.
Carly piped up, "I think she's talking to some guy about buying a surfboard."
Edward scanned the beach,"What guy? I don't see them."
"I think she went to the parking lot."
Carly hadn't even finished her sentence when Edward took off for the lot, when he got there he spotted Gracie, clad in a miniscule teal bikini, talking to a guy.
Gracie saw him approaching and explained. "Hey Edward, Kai here has a sweet board he'll sell me for cheap."
"Oh, yeah? How much? Let me take a look at it."
"I didn't bring it today, but I'm giving Gracie my number, so we can talk about it."
"Give me your number, I'll bring Gracie by to look at it."
The kid was miffed, "She your girl?"
"No, she's my best friend's sister."
The kid had the nerve to turn his back on Edward. "Well, Gracie, here's my number, I'll come get you…"
Edward interrupted, "She just turned fourteen last week…"
"Edward…" Gracie wailed, embarrassed by Edward's betrayal."
"So what man? I'm sixteen, it ain't illegal."
"Edward, go away and leave us alone." Gracie yelled at him.
"Not on your life! Gracie, go back to the blanket!"
"No, I won't."
"GRACIE, GO! Now!"
And Gracie went. Giving Edward the finger and a resentful look.
Edward gave Kai a warning not to mess with Gracie; he told him that Gracie's dad was a cop and wouldn't like Gracie to date an older guy. Then he returned to the beach.
He looked down at Gracie who was pursing her lips staring up at him."Gracie, that guy probably doesn't even have an extra surfboard, he's just trying…
Gracie was annoyed and she made him know it."So what? Edward you are so clueless….
"Gracie, doesn't want a surfboard, stupid. She just wanted to talk to him." Carly chimed in, rolling her eyes at Edward and nudging Gracie's shoulder with her own.
Edward was baffled and turned to Gracie. "Are you saying that you like that turd?"
Gracie swooned, "Yeah, he's sooo cuuute." and Carly and Gracie started to giggle putting their heads close together, whispering about boys and dates and who knows what else.
Edward rolled his eyes and ignored them for the rest of the day.
#
That August Edward enrolled at Chaminade University and pursued a degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in English. Two years later at age twenty he took the police exam and passed, and, like his father and his grandfather before him, Edward became a Honolulu police officer. Edward Cullen and a uniform was a lethal combination, and women fell at his feet. Gracie and Carly would poke their heads out of Carly's window, trying to see who his latest girl was, and they critiqued everything about them. Gracie being a little less kind than usual.
In high school, Gracie came into her own and turned out to be a brilliant and dedicated student. She was also the editor and the entire writing staff of her high school newspaper, producing brilliant articles about everything from environmental changes on the island to political commentary to interviews with locals. One such interview of a septuagenarian who had been awarded the silver star for service in World War II, and was now living in poverty in one of the many shabby hotels on Bishop Street, received a lot of attention from the local press. Gracie became a cause celebre for a short time, as well as the valedictorian of her graduating class at Mercy High School. Naturally, when she applied she was accepted into Brown University's writing program.
#
Gracie did her parents proud, she was on the Dean's list every semester. An over achiever, she seldom came home for holidays instead she took courses during summer session, or studied abroad.
One June afternoon while Edward and Gus were on duty, Auntie Liz asked them to stop by the house. It was a surprise to both of them when Gracie came running out to greet her brother, tackling him to the lawn and tickling him. She was ebullient, joyful and confident; in other words, the same old Gracie, home for her twenty-first birthday. She had blossomed into a true beauty; her dark shining eyes, long black straight hair and golden skin positively glowed. Her freckled face had lost its round softness and she had cheekbones, and arched eyebrows and lush lips. Gracie had become a woman while she was away at Brown. Edward, was momentarily stunned but he rallied his wits and gave her a big hug, telling her that he had missed her pain in the ass ways. Gracie jabbed him in the gut and marched them both into the house to meet her boyfriend, the first one she had ever brought home. He was a nice enough guy, good-looking, well-scrubbed and shiny like a brand new dime, but Edward couldn't help but think that Gracie was way too good for him.
It took quite some time for Edward to get Gracie alone, because she had to take Matt to see Hanauma Bay, or Diamond Head or Chinaman's hat or any number of tourist attractions. He had to stoop to guilting her, begging her to come with him to pick out her birthday gift, and lamenting that she seemed to have little time for her oldest friend. They enjoyed the day, laughing and talking and reminiscing about old times.
As they sat drinking smoothies at the food court in the Kahala Mall, Edward quizzed her about her experiences at Brown, her trips to Europe and her boyfriend Matt.
"You guys are serious?" he inquired lazily.
"I don't know." she shrugged "I like him, a lot."
Edward's heart squeezed. "Does he like you a lot?"
"That's what he says."
"Hmmm, interesting."
"How about you, Edward? Still playing the field, a new girl every week?" Gracie teased him.
"Hardly. Maybe every other week." They both laughed, knowing it was close to the truth.
"Pretty soon you're going to run through all the available girls on the island. Gus said, you're going to have to start branching out to the other islands."
"Ha ha, Gus thinks he's funny. He likes to call me a player, just because he has a steady girl."
"Well, Gus is talking about proposing to Mariko." Gracie said, happily contemplating her brother's future.
"Yeah, I know he told me." Edward took a long last draw on his drink and rubbed his hands on his thighs.
"So, you haven't met that special someone, yet?"Gracie asked, uncapping her cover and slurping the smoothie.
"You've got a mustache." He laughed at her.
She licked her top lip and asked him again. "So, there's no special someone, Edward?"
He smiled and said, "I met my special someone long ago, Gracie."
"Really? Who? Do I know her?" Gracie was excited, eager even.
He nodded, "Yep, you know her."
"Come on tell me." She wheedled then she suddenly gasped in horror. "Please don't tell me that it's that awful Laura Townsend. Please, please tell me it's not her."
"It's not her."
"Nor Symone Nagaoki. Please, please not her."
"It's not her."
"Edward, you're going to have to tell me who, because I have at least eighty names to go through."
"Eighty? Eighty? Come on, Gracie, stop exaggerating."
"Well, sixty, at the very least, just stop stalling and tell me."
He took hold of her hands in his, they were ice-cold from the smoothie. "It's you Gracie."
Gracie sat there, mouth wide open, staring at Edward.
"Gracie, you're my special someone. You've always been."
Gracie pulled her hands out of his and stuttered something unintelligible. Her chair clattered to the ground as she hastily stood up, and the eyes of the other patrons suddenly turned to the frozen tableau of the quiet seated man and the rigid upright girl. Then Gracie turned and ran away, as if the devil were at her heels.
Edward wandered the mall, giving Gracie some time. He drove them there and unless she was willing to call a cab, she would have to wait for him. After a couple hours, he found her sitting on the hood of his car, in the shade of a banyan tree. He came to stand two feet in front of her. "Gracie, I love you, I've always loved you. And I've always known you'd be mine."
Gracie started to cry, walking around in circles flapping her elegant hands. "Edward, you never, ever…" She pointed at him. "You've never even kissed me, you've never even tried, how was I supposed to know?"
"The same way I know Gracie. I just know. When I think of my future, I only think of you. Who do you think of Gracie? When you see your future, who do you see?"
She swallowed and turned to lean against the trunk of the banyan.
"Oh, Edward, I only see you. It's always been you."
He came up behind her and put his arm around her, pulling her back against his chest, and letting out a long breath.
"You have to tell Matt to go back to Rhode Island. Tomorrow.
She nodded in agreement.
"Are you going back?"
She shook her head.
He turned her around in his arms, "Are you going to stay with me?
She nodded.
Their first kiss was under the spreading branches of the banyan tree in the parking lot of the Kahala Mall.
He and Gracie beat Gus and Mariko to the altar; they got married within two months of their first kiss.
#
When his parents pulled up to the house, Edward barely waited for the car to come to a complete stop. He ran inside the house and took the stairs two at a time up to the bedroom Gracie was in. The bedroom was dark, the wooden shutters were drawn closed against the late afternoon sunshine, the ceiling fan and the open sliding doors to the lanai lent a cool breeze to the shaded room. Edward stood at the open door for a while, looking at the sleeping woman sprawled in abandon across the chenille bedspread.
He walked slowly to the bed. She was still the same Gracie that he loved, that he would always love. He sat on the chair next to the bed, and reached for her hand. He sat there looking at the woman he had loved every day for the last eight years of their marriage and for the last twenty-nine years of his life.
Her face was a little changed, not much. She still had the little smile that never went away, even when she was angry, it made her look like she was keeping a secret; and the dimple at the right corner of her mouth that he used to love to lick was still there. Her silky ink black hair lay on her pillow, a cloud around her head, she was still the same beautiful girl he fell in love with. Her fingers were the same. He remembered how gracefully she would move them when she danced the hula. She was well-named, his Gracie. He held her hand and kissed each finger, lingering on the solid gold ring he had placed there when they married eight summers ago; back when they were just a boy and just a girl, very much in love.
He wanted to lay down in the bed with her but he was a little afraid of disturbing her, she needed her sleep. His throat ached with the tears he had been keeping in check and now they spilled over onto his cheeks. He picked up her hand and wiped his tears with them. He whispered so she would know, "Gracie, I love you, and I always will."
He cried as if he were a child again. He buried his head on her slim little shoulders. He kissed the curve of her neck and the soft fall of black hair.
Gracie stirred and he tried to hide his tears. "Edward? Sweetie what's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing, I've just missed you, that's all." and he sniffled.
"Oh, Edward, come here." And she scooted over and made space for him next to her.
He lay his big, long body close to hers and held her tight to him.
"Something is wrong, Edward. I can tell." She was running her hand through his hair, trying to soothe him.
"Nothing is wrong, I swear." his voice was hoarse.
"Fine don't tell me, but I'll find out, just you wait."
"Gracie. I said nothing's wrong and I mean it. I just miss you so much."
"Hold me tight then." He brought her closer to his body. "Tighter Edward, you can do better than that."
"Any tighter and I'll break you." he whispered.
"You can't break me Edward, I'm strong. I may look weak, but I can take it."
They cuddled, and he ran his hands over her arms, and torso, reacquainting himself with the feel of her.
"Edward, I love you." She said softly.
"I know. I love you too."
"Edward, I want you to be happy, again."
"I am happy, just here with you."
"You can be happier, Edward. You deserve it."
"Stop it, Gracie, please. I don't want to talk, I just want to feel you."
They lay there for long, long minutes saying nothing.
"Let me see you, Gracie."
"No, I don't want you to."
"Please, Gracie."
She tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast. "No Edward. If you keep asking, I'll kick you out of this bed."
After a while he asked, "Gracie, do you believe, I love you?"
"Yes, of course." She responded immediately.
"And do you believe that I love you and not just your body?"
"Yes."
"Do you think I'll stop loving you if I see your body?"
"No, Edward. If I believed that I would show you my body, because more than anything else I want you to stop loving me and start loving someone else."
"Don't say that Gracie, I can't love anyone but you."
"Oh, Edward. I think you can, and you will. There's someone out there for you, I just know it."