Bookends By: Bella's Executioner.

Rating: M- this means if you're under 16 you are agreeing to break your own ToS by reading this and I'm not your mother so be responsible for yourself.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the sole owner of the world of Twilight. She is Bella's creator. I am Bella's Executioner.

A/N: Bookends is the very first fanfiction I started writing. It's been on this site, moved and come back. It has errors, fuck ups and lots of proofs that I'm human but it also has all of my heart and soul in it. I welcome you into this world of pain and love and hope that you enjoy. I also welcome your thoughts as you read—pm me or review and I'll be happy to discuss the story with you.

This is a story that spans the lives of these characters- we're now in the year 2017 (sorry that I'm lame with keeping up with reminding us of dates). We haven't jumped suddenly into the future, the story began in the year 2004, it's been 13 years since that first night in Victoria.

Ps I was told to put a "keep a change of panties close" warning for this chapter from my Beta. It's a PSA, for your own good.

Thanks to my amazing beta who is more than a fixer of my mistakes- she's a great and wonderful friend who I treasure.

Chapter 38: Can you imagine us

-**-Bookends-**-

"Can you imagine us years from today…" (Old Friends, Paul Simon)

Cause maybe someday
We'll figure all this out
We'll put an end to all our doubt
Try to find a way to just feel better now and
Maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud
We'll be better off somehow
Someday
Cause sometimes we don't really notice
Just how good it can get
So maybe we should start all over
Start all over again

(Someday, Rob Thomas)

-**-Bookends-**-

BPOV (December 2017)

Nearly six months to the day that I moved into this house with Edward, I stood in the kitchen, picturing our lives decades from now.

It was the weirdest moment in my life.

I'd never had a vision of my future. When I was a kid, I was too busy being weighted down by memories in my past. I never considered what I should do with the years in front of me.

But as I looked out the window, towards the backyard of our property, I could see it.

There was a small lake, not big enough for much but swimming. Between the house and the water sat an expanse of open grass that Edward told me reminded him of the meadow we used to enjoy back before we left Forks. He had ideas for a garden, flowers, and covered patio where we could sit and watch the rain like we did one cold night in Victoria.

And I could see it.

I could see a gray-haired Edward sitting on a bench, facing that water with his arm over my aged shoulders, my white hair pulled back into the bun that my mom wore every day to work.

A sun setting just over the trees that surrounded our home.

I shook my head and sat at the kitchen table.

I was working on a new novel—unfortunately fueled with recent events in my life that kept my brain buzzing with the need to write.

Recent. The event that plagued my mind had happened half a year earlier, but it still felt like yesterday. I didn't think that the ache caused by losing Rose and Em would ever lessen—no matter how much time passed.

So I wrote. It was my number one coping mechanism. I still talked to Alec—mostly over the phone now. And of course there was always Edward and his heart and mind to keep me balanced. But writing had become my way of seeing what I was thinking.

I hadn't devoted much time to writing since Edward came back into my life. In some ways, I'd thought that being a novelist peaked with the one and only book I had published.

It was just a collection of stories and thoughts from some of the most troubled years of my life. Seeing it on the shelf at the bookstore in Port Angeles made me feel accomplished.

But I never considered the idea that anyone would actually read it.

Mom had wanted a copy but I never believed she read it. Jazz read it and proceeded to discuss it with me. Em and Rose had a copy on their bookshelf but neither of them had read it. And frankly… I didn't care if anyone else in the world had even looked at it.

It never occurred to me to want to know if it was a best seller or how well it sold in the few bookstores that picked it up.

Then… I found Edward's copy.

I'd never asked him if he read it before. I assumed he knew about it…since I assumed the money that I needed to publish it had come from him. But once he was back in my life the purpose of the book was less…pressing. It was like my version of that painting he gave to Kate. It was a different me and a different time in my life.

It helped me grow and now I was ready to live.

But he did have a copy.

He kept it in his nightstand. I found it cleaning one weekend…just shortly after…the crash. The pages were worn—dog-eared in some areas to the point that the words were faded from the page. There was duct tape holding the spine together and he'd made notes in the margins.

He hadn't just read it, he'd experienced it.

When Edward got home that night I showed it to him and he just smiled.

That was the night I started writing again. I pulled out my laptop and let my mind just flow from my fingertips. It was like opening a floodgate of emotions—so many thoughts and words that at the end of each day my mind ached from the effort of sorting them all out and getting them on to paper.

I was writing a story about my brother and the woman who was his world. A couple that were destined to be together no matter what obstacles were before them. Who were intrepid in the world of love.

Two people who weren't afraid to live life.

I took a deep breath and finished the thought that I'd had before I was caught daydreaming of the old couple in the backyard again.

"Morning, baby," a sleepy voice murmured.

A mess of bronze hair lowered to my face and my lips touched his softly seconds later.

"Morning, lover."

I smiled as the light dusting of stubble on his cheek tickled my own.

God, time flew by so fast. I remembered the first time I met Edward. And now he had to shave every morning.

Weird.

"Did you enjoy your night out with Jazz?" I asked as he poured himself a cop of coffee and joined me at the table.

He smirked, that damn oh-it's-a-good-thing-Alice-had-you-occupied-last-night smirk.

"Yes. It was nice to see the gang again."

His voice was gravely like he'd been yelling all night. I laughed at the thought—he probably had been yelling, howling at the moon if I knew that group.

"Proper send-off?" I inquired quietly. The group had been a tight circle of friends when we were growing up. Emmett and Jacob had been a part of the gang from the formation of the group. This weekend was the first time they all could be in town together since the plane crash.

He nodded and sipped his coffee. I felt his hand on my thigh in silent support. How easily he read me—and how quickly his touch calmed me.

He knew better than anyone that I still had a hard time dealing with what happened.

Alec reminded me that the crash was a trauma to my body no less intense as the loss of my child. He reminded me that losing people I loved was like having surgery on my skin. The wound would need time to heal. I would have to train my body to go back to feeling normal. And in the end, there would be residual affects from the cuts that would forever be with me.

Reminders.

There were still some nights that I found myself waking up in tears for no real reason.

There was a reason—I missed my brother. I needed him here. He would be happy to see me finally content with life. I wanted to share my stable life that Edward and I had built with Em and see the pride in his eyes.

He was more than my big brother. He was like a father to me too.

Someone might think it ironic that I lost two fathers in the same year. It didn't bother me all that much to lose Charlie. It frustrated me to know that what I needed from him would never be realized since he was gone. In some twisted way I missed the pain… the sharp slap of hurt that I would feel to see his face in person. Or even the pulse of anger that I used to get to hear his voice. But I never knew him. I couldn't miss the man, because I didn't know who or what it was I'd lost.

But I missed my brother.

Missed the way he made me feel safe just knowing he was in the room. Missed snuggling under his covers when I had a nightmare. Missed his smile.

And most of all I missed his laugh.

I cleared my throat before I let my mind wander down an all-too-easy path of pain. I couldn't bring him back. All I could do was keep him alive in my memories.

I attempted to lighten the mood.

"How's Paul?" I asked sarcastically.

Edward growled into his coffee cup. "Still alive," he grumbled.

I knew it was my fault for what happened that night—I was the idiot who took the drugs. But I couldn't help but feel a small satisfaction from finding out that Paul was serving a life sentence in prison. He visited the reunion via satellite phone call.

Edward changed the subject.

"Did you get any writing done?"

His eyes were still slightly droopy from sleep. His hair was tousled from the three-a.m.-sex-wake-up call that he had greeted me with when he finally got home. And he wasn't wearing a shirt.

I pouted. I hadn't finished any writing today and in about five point three seconds I was going to pounce on my boyfriend and end all thought of writing for the rest of the day… maybe even the rest of the weekend.

"Eh…it can wait," I remarked flippantly.

He smiled. "So, what do you want to do today?"

I sighed. "You."

He smiled grew wider. "Hmm, I like the sound of that."

He leaned over the table and planted a hard kiss on my lips.

"You know," he started in a husky whisper, "we've never properly broken in the kitchen."

I blushed and returned his possessive kiss.

That was Edward's thing—making the house ours. I'd be standing next to the closet at the entry way and suddenly we'd be inside the tiny space, making out. Once his lips pulled back from mine he'd say, "Just breaking it in, babe".

I couldn't remember a time in my life when I had been happier or felt more loved than these past six months with Edward.

I was rather surprised to realize we hadn't broken in the kitchen yet.

"Maybe that's because we're always too busy eating in here," I teased.

Edward's eyes grew wicked as he continued to lean closer to me. He moved his lips to my neck, licking and biting the skin just below my ear, making me shiver with anticipation.

"Was that an invitation?" he whispered against my skin.

My eyes rolled back in my head and I whimpered. The man was pure sex when he wanted to be.

"What delicacy did you have in mind?" I asked seductively.

"Hmm," he hummed along the column of my throat. "I wouldn't mind sampling a taste of pure Bella."

I melted in the chair at his words. When it came to Edward, I would gladly be an all-he-could-eat-buffet.

I blushed at the thought.

Edward told me once that I held my own with him when it came to sex. That I gave as good, if not better, than I received.

When he was this close to me, touching me with those skilled fingers of his, I just felt helpless.

I was totally his—an instrument for him to play, like his baby grand piano that sat in our family room.

"Well I think you're in luck," I assured him. "There's plenty of Bella to go around."

He stood, smirking at my lame excuse for verbal foreplay. He didn't waste time with waiting for me to stand—he just wrapped his arms around me and lifted me in the air. I squeaked and wrapped my legs around him as he walked us over to the counters near the sink.

I landed on the counter with a soft thud.

We'd remodeled the kitchen a month after moving in. It was one of those things that Alec had suggested we do-take on a project together that helped us build trust and feel ownership of our home.

Thank God he talked me into higher set cabinets.

I'd argued that I would be to short to reach anything in them. He promised me that in the long run it would be best to have the higher clearance for the counter space.

Now I finally understood his nefarious plot.

I'd be banging the back of my head on the bottom of the cupboards at the moment if I had won that argument.

"Now," he said, putting his hands on the ledge on either side of my legs. He leaned over so that our eyes were level.

"The problem with eating Bella," he explained.

I giggled and he winked.

"Is that you're always hungry for her again in an hour." He pouted.

"Well, there's always appetizers to start off the meal," I offered, pulling off my shirt-it was actually his shirt. I was never a girl for nightgowns. I just slept naked with one of Edward's shirts over me when I thought to put something on at all.

Since I'd only been out of bed for an hour, the shirt was all I had been wearing.

I sat on the counter completely naked-literally an open buffet for his feasting.

His eyes roamed my body hungrily.

I smirked-maybe I was good at holding my own with him.

"Oh," he grunted. "I do like a good starter to my meal. Hmm…" He leaned down and captured my right nipple between his lips.

He sucked, bit, and licked me into a frenzy-stopping only long enough to trade to the other side of my chest and do the same.

I felt his finger slip between my thighs. I moaned and opened myself to him hungrily. I could feel myself leaking at his touch.

I'm going to have to find industrial strength sanitizer for these counters. It's take out Chinese or microwave meals for us till then.

"Hmm," he said, pulling his finger out and bringing it to his lips. He sucked his middle finger into his mouth, tasting the evidence of my arousal on his tongue.

He growled. "Looks like dinner is served."

I pretty sure I could live a hundred years and never get tired of Edward touching me. There were days I wanted to go back in time and smack my younger self over the head for denying us this pleasure for so long.

But I wouldn't be the me I was now if I did that. And the me I was now was what the Edward before me craved.

"So fucking delicious," he whispered, running his finger from the center of my chest, down my body and back to my aching center.

His eyes followed the path of his finger and I was lost in a trance watching him devour me with those eyes.

I gasped when his hands grabbed my knees and lifted my legs farther apart. He pushed my legs back till my heels were resting on the ledge of the counter.

And again, thank you Edward for suggesting deep counters.

I rested back on my elbows against the cool marble.

"Now, be a good girl and stay still while I eat," he commanded, winking at me.

He took a minute to step back and look at me. I could feel myself blush all over my body as he gazed at me. I must have been a sight. Spread eagle, perched on our kitchen counter like I was the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

Edward looked like a lion ready to pounce on an unsuspecting zebra.

He licked his lips.

I broke out in a sweat. My heart thudded in my chest so hard I felt like I was the zebra running from his attack.

He lowered his head-right there. No wasted time in making sure I was ready for him. No "here I come"…though that wasn't far off for me at that moment.

I moaned the second I felt his tongue.

No. This would never get old. I would never get enough of this beautiful, amazing creature who loved me so much.

I watched Edward's head between my legs for a long while, letting the sensations wash over me and remind me how wanted I truly was.

He knew me.

He knew what every little hitch of my breath meant. He knew the exact combination of stroke and suck to turn me into a moaning mess in his hands.

He never forgot what I liked, what he liked to do to me, or what we could do together.

I yelled his name as I felt the pressure building inside of me burst. He moved his arms around me, propping me up to a sitting position as he removed his boxers.

I was twitching slightly as I came down. I could feel him wind my legs back around his waist.

In one quick motion he slid me off the counter and thrust inside me.

I cried out , feeling myself clench around his length as a second orgasm rocked through me. It was really his fault-he teased me too thoroughly.

I'm not entirely certain he had thought this next move out. Being horny fucked with your deductive reasoning to begin with, though.

There was nothing behind me but air and Edward was standing in the middle of the kitchen when he decided he needed to thrust.

For as strong as my love was, gravity was always going to win.

We landed on the ground, Edward under me.

I heard him grunt as I landed on him-his erection still buried in me and suddenly impaling me slightly.

I moaned as he hit a new, deeper spot inside of me.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I realized he was rubbing his head.

He laughed lightly. "Not my most graceful move…I'm fine."

I leaned down and kissed his lips, then his forehead.

"I prefer you not to be good at everything, babe," I told him. "I wouldn't be able to stand you if you were perfect at everything."

He laughed again.

"Totally human, that's me."

I nodded.

"How bout I give you some dessert?" I asked.

He put his hands behind his head to prop it up to watch. He smiled.

"I love dessert."

"Hmm," I said, bringing my head down to his chest.

"Just to make sure you still have room after that large meal you just ate."

He winked at me and ran that wicked tongue of his along his bottom lip.

I flicked my tongue over his left nipple.

He groaned and I felt him pulse within me.

"Oh," I said mimicking his teasing of my chest earlier, "there's a second one here…" I leaned down to bite his right nipple gently.

His hips rocked up, his hands moving quickly to my hips.

"Ice cream's melting, babe," he choked out with labored breaths.

I smiled.

"Can't have that."

I sat back on my heels, loving how much sharper and deeper he was at this angle.

He watched me, his hands staying locked on my hips to help stabilize me as I rode him. His eyes were like a second pair of hands on my skin.

I moved my hands along my body by the silent commands of those eyes.

Raw passion burned in their depths as I teased my body to his liking.

In no time we were both writhing, moaning creatures. I screamed his name as I released and felt him following closely behind me. He moaned my name and collapsed against the tile floor.

We were sweat and tangled limbs, pants of breath and tingles of pleasure.

Bliss.

We lay there for a few minutes, catching our breaths. He rolled us over so that I was resting under him. He nuzzled his nose against my neck. I ran my fingers through his hair.

My brain wouldn't shut off from the thoughts that I'd been having before Edward joined me in the kitchen. I pictured us decades from now sitting in this room and sharing in the memory we'd just made.

I didn't think I'd be able to dice tomatoes on that counter again without picturing his beautiful head between my legs.

I shivered-that memory was still fresh enough to make my whole body tingle.

I continued to pet his hair and walk down an eventual memory lane.

"You know…it's not fair," I teased.

Edward raised his head to look me in the eyes. "What's that, love?"

I kissed his lips softly before finishing. I would never take for granted the opportunities that I had to show him I loved him.

"I'm not a Cullen," I pointed out.

His eyebrows lowered as a frown formed on his lips. "I'm technically a Masen, dear."

"No, you were adopted, and anyway you are related by blood to Carlisle so you're an honorary Cullen by birth. But…Em and Rose were the last Swans other than me. Mom changed her name when she married Carlisle. Alice and Jazz go by Cullen… I'm feeling a little left out here," I mock-pouted.

Edward's mind was spinning behind his eyes…I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

"What are you saying, Bella?"

He looked so…terrified. We both knew what I was talking about.

Marriage. Man and wife and rings and vows and joint bank accounts. Me taking his last name and him carrying me across the threshold of our home.

Though we never talked about the 'M-word' that much I always believed we would get married.

I understood the fear in Edward's eyes. I could only imagine he had a plan for proposing marriage to me and naked on the kitchen floor was not part of it… well, it might have been a part of the after part of it.

Always such a romantic, that boy.

It was mean of me to catch him off guard like that. I tried to make up for it with a half-joke.

"I'm saying I think I should finally make an honest man out of you."

He swallowed.

Great. My joking was only making this worse.

I sighed, feeling stupid and a little confused with how he was reacting. I made a move to get up, though it was impossible to move with him sprawled out on top of me.

"Marry me?" he said quietly.

I shot my eyes to his face-a more nervous and nearly scared to death Edward I had never seen. His eyes were solid with fear. His body was tense for a rejection.

Somehow that little two word question, thrown out like an afterthought rather than an intended proposal was a thousand times more romantic than some big staged proposal with a ring hidden in a fortune cookie, or something like that.

"Yes?" I replied with a mirror of his expression on my face.

We were such a perfect pair.

"Really," he whispered. He relaxed on top of me, amazement spreading across his handsome face.

I laughed out loud. "Of course I'll marry you, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen."

I put my hand against his cheek. "This is where I belong," I promised.

His smile was dazzling. "I fucking love you, woman."

I sighed to cover up the sudden wave of panic that swept through me. I had feared being Edward's one true love for most of my life. It was an awesome responsibility to know that someone counted on you so fully. I feared breaking his heart. I was worried I would ruin this life we had together and hurt him.

Then I reminded myself that I'd done that already. I put Edward through hell and we spent years apart because of things I'd done and said.

And we were sitting here today, together.

There was nothing we couldn't face together.

He was going to give me his heart, his whole heart, and I would honor and protect that with all of mine.

"I love you too."

-**-Bookends-**-

Christmas

"You ever regret it?" I asked, handing Mom the ugliest ornament in the box. It was one of those third grade school projects. The one where your teacher gives you a picture and a Christmas tree cut out and you make a "frame" and decorate it for the tree. This particular tree was colored fifteen different colors and had splotches of glitter glued all over it. It held a picture of our family at the time.

Mom, Em, me and Charlie.

Mom smiled at the god-awful thing in her hand—her eyes lit up like it was a beautiful, priceless diamond.

"I can never regret marrying your father, Bella. He gave me you."

She put her hand against my cheek and hung the ornament front and center on the tree.

"Damn, I sucked at coloring," I tried to tease.

Mom laughed. "I'm not going to say you were Picasso, baby, but that one is your brother's work."

I tried to ignore the lump in my throat at the thought of Em. He loved Christmas. Being the eternal kid that he was, it was the perfect holiday for him.

"How can you tell?" I asked, shifting through some broken ornaments and pulling out an ornament of a flamingo dressed like Santa.

"Let's just say your brother had a way with crayons."

She winked and I raised an eyebrow at the gaudy flamingo.

"I was never one for themed trees," Mom admitted. "Some people pick a color and only buy boring ornaments in that color and make their Christmas tree look like a magazine cover. That's just never suited me. My tree is memories."

She reached for the unconventional flamingo.

"I got this ornament while on a trip to Vegas with your grandmother. It was the dead of summer when we went there…for some show that she had been dying to see. I don't even remember who we saw," she said, shaking her head. "But she saw this and said it reminded her of me."

I snorted. "Grandma was one interesting gal," I joked.

Mom's eyes got all misty like they did when she looked at Em's craft project.

"Yeah…well… I was never one for a boring old themed Christmas tree," she said again.

I nodded.

"I'm not sure how festive Edward and I will be at our house this year. I haven't been…in the spirit."

Mom smiled back at me and started hanging tinsel on the branches of the tree.

"The trick to Christmas, sweetie, is to remind yourself of all that you have and all that you have been able to treasure in your life."

"There's been a lot of shit in my life, Mom," I said quietly. I started to mirror her movements and put tinsel on the back side of the tree.

"Shit is life, baby," she explained, putting her arm over my shoulder and hugging me gently. "Anyone saying anything different is high on PCP and looking to spend the next ten to twenty in lock up."

I rolled my eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Alice's voice was yelling from the kitchen.

"What?" Edward shouted back. I sighed and headed to the room to help prevent a yuletide homicide.

"What's up?" I asked when I reached the kitchen.

Edward was leaning against the counter with an apple in his hand. He was smirking- which meant he was getting into trouble.

Alice's cheeks were flushed and she looked ready to cut him down to her size.

"Hello, baby," Edward greeted me as if Alice wasn't even in the room. I kept distance between us to save his life and turned to my best friend.

"What did he do?" I asked, resigned to the fact that he probably did something wrong…or at least something to push Alice's buttons.

"This idiot," Alice spat waving her arm at the love of my life, "was stupid enough to take my son out on one of those death machines."

I looked from Edward to Alice and tried to figure out where we were keeping Mad Max style cars.

Edward sighed dramatically. "Alice, all of us kids rode those bikes growing up. Hell, Dad made them!"

Oh, she was talking about the motorcycles.

I couldn't help but smile whenever Edward called Carlisle 'Dad'. Most of the time he preferred to think of him as his uncle. I could never decide if that was a result of him wanting to pay respects to his father, Ed Masen, in some twisted way or if it was because he still felt ashamed in some way that Carlisle had saved his life.

But there were those rare occasions that he would slip and call him 'Dad' as if he'd always thought of him as his father.

"Don't you smile at that man and agree with him!" Alice yelled, turning her assault on me.

"I…I….oh come on, Alice. He has a point."

Edward chuckled and opened his arms to me. Against my better judgment I walked over and wrapped my arms around him.

If we were going to be offed by Alice at least holding each other was a good way to meet that fate.

"Isabella Marie Swan, I finally decided to become a parent. I will not put my child's life in danger."

She didn't mean it the way it hit me. I couldn't blame her and call her insensitive for saying it. She was a mother now and she had every right to protect her child.

But there was a double meaning to her words that stole all the air from my lungs.

I had risked the life of my child. I had not only risked my child's life…I ended it.

I felt faint, my legs ready to buckle. All these years, all the ways that I had overcome this self-loathing and it was still just as fresh as before.

Thank God Edward was holding me up or else I would have dropped then and there.

No one noticed. Alice was still fuming. And Mom was just shaking her head and being a mother who knew better than to get worked up over something as stupid as riding those bikes.

Edward noticed.

His arms secured me in place. His lips were on my skin. He was whispering reassurances that everything was going to be okay and he loved me.

And as if I didn't already adore the man more than anything else in this world, he changed the subject and saved me from myself yet again.

"Speaking of that," he said. "That…Isabella Swan business," he clarified.

"She's not gonna be much longer."

Alice gasped. Mom slammed the cupboard above the sink a little too hard in shock.

"Did you just mean what I think you meant?" Alice asked with wide eyes.

I smiled.

"Yeah, I proposed and he accepted."

Mom walked over to congratulate us, hugging us as one since Edward refused to release his hold on me.

"That's my girl," she said.

We were congratulated and answered questions about the how's and when's…well, excluding the kitchen sex and naked part of the proposal.

"So, what are you all doing in six days?" Edward asked once everyone was seated around the dinner table.

"Six days!" Alice nearly screamed. "You're only giving me six days to get this all arranged?"

I rolled my eyes and Edward just shook his head with a coy grin.

"There's nothing to arrange Alice. We've worked it all out, we just need you all to show up."

Alice snapped her mouth shut like I just slapped her.

"Hey, squirt," Edward said to get her attention. "This is our wedding, okay?"

Alice conceded and nodded. "Yeah…okay."

She pouted through the rest of dinner, but once we were all back in the living room opening presents, her grump-fest was ended.

Marcus had never had an official Christmas celebration before. He was so full of excitement and joy that we were all able to just be happy that night.

Em and Rose were missed but we all didn't let their passing keep us from living.

Marcus lit up opening his gifts and it was like I was looking at my brother sitting in front of me.

It was a good day.

-**-Bookends-**-

I stepped out the shower and dried off.

The memories of the day still making me smile. I needed the shower to help me relax though.

Ever since Edward and I agreed on the date, I'd been on edge. First it was nerves over telling Mom and Carlisle, seeing how they would react to the news. Then I was worried about telling Alice; she actually handled it a million times better than I had expected.

Now… I was restless.

I wanted the big day to be over so I could just start being Edward's wife.

I smiled, slipping on my robe and heading to our bedroom.

"Bella," Edward yelled from downstairs. "Can you bring me the stuff on the desk, please?"

"Sure," I yelled back. I turned to the desk, noticing a small package sitting on it.

Edward and I had agreed to wait to give each other gifts until Christmas morning.

I looked at the clock, midnight. I smiled.

Typical Edward.

I walked over my breath catching as I saw what was actually sitting on the table.

There was a postcard, just like all the postcards that I had treasured throughout my life. The picture was of me, wearing a gorgeous heirloom ring. The color of the stone matched my eyes.

On top of the postcard sat a ring box-nestled inside the black velvet fold of the box was the ring that the me in the postcard was wearing.

The air in the room was full of electric bliss. Edward had entered the bedroom silently, but I knew he was there.

I felt his arms wind around me from behind. His lips were at my left ear, whispering.

"Be my partner in this whole living thing?" he asked.

"Yes," I promised.

He kissed my shoulder and leaned forward to remove the ring from the box. I could've burst into flames at the depth of emotion in his eyes as he held my gaze and slipped the ring on my finger.

"You make me happy, Isabella Swan."

I smiled. "You make me feel wanted, Edward Cullen."

He kissed my lips. Then he lifted my ring-swaddled finger to his lips and kissed my new ring-the symbol of me belonging to him, and only him.

"I had another ring for you. Bought it long before I really was ready to marry you. But this one…" He ran his thumb over the green jewel.

"When I found this one, I just couldn't get the image of you wearing it out of my head."

I kissed his hand on his tragically naked ring finger.

"I really can't wait to see a matching one here," I whispered.

He smirked. "You're gonna buy me a bling ring, baby?"

I laughed and playfully smacked his arm. "You know what I meant."

He nodded, stepping forward and claiming my lips.

"Soon," he promised.