The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: #2
Pen Name: MinaRivera
Characters: Esme, Edward
Rating: T
Word Count: 411
Beta: Mauigirl60
Photo prompts can be found here:
thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts
Cherished Moment
Edward opened the shoe box and found more faded photos. This batch was clearly taken in Europe, and he immediately began to browse through the memories frozen in time. The majority of them show a young couple clearly in love, with big smiles on their faces. Some had only the man in them; in others, the couple looked older and they were with a child, and a few were of the woman by herself. Some were taken while posing, but most were candid shots, with the person behind the camera clearly taking a photo without the other knowing.
He was about to pop open the second shoe box when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," he called out quietly.
He looked up to find the woman in the pictures staring back at him.
"What are you doing, Edward?"
He blushed, and looked down. "It was supposed to be a surprise."
Esme smiled, seeing the empty leather-bound album and the shoe boxes filled with old photos spread out on her son's bed. She remembered when they'd all moved from Chicago and some of the albums had suffered water damage along the way—some photos had been lost, so she'd asked her husband Carlisle to keep them in a safe place.
"You went to the attic to look for these?" Esme asked her son, riffling through a few photos of her time as a young college student in Paris.
"Yeah, I thought about putting together an album, like the ones you used to have, as a Christmas present."
Esme smiled, sniffing silently and feeling so lucky to have such a thoughtful son. He was only twelve years old, yet he had such an old soul, always so considerate and thoughtful. He was so much like Carlisle, it filled her heart with warmth.
"I won't say a word and I promise to act surprised on Christmas Day," she told him secretly, adding a wink at the end. "If you need any help, you let me know, okay?"
Edward looked up at his mom and smiled. "Okay," he said, hugging her waist quickly, before getting back to work.
As Esme looked upon her son from the doorway, she vowed to cherish this moment in her heart forever. As she closed the door, she sent a prayer to the heavens, wishing that one day her dear boy would live out a love story like the one told in the photos inside the boxes.
Thank you for reading. xo ~Mina