Bella's POV

We talked and held hands the rest of the way to the restaurant. When we pulled up, I was surprised to see a small, but cute and quaint little place. I guess I'd been expecting something much bigger and more intimidating, but this looked almost sweet and definitely romantic.

Edward rushed around the car at lightning speed and had my door open before I could even get my seat belt undone. He offered me a hand and helped me out of the car before closing my door behind me and locking the car with a beep.

When he offered me his arm, I took it gladly, and with a small smile to myself, I said, "Such a gentleman!"

"My mom and dad raised us with the belief that manners were simply something you did without thinking—especially in this day and age, when chivalry is all but dead. Besides, when you like someone, you should wanna treat them well, and you definitely deserve to be treated like a princess."

That final sentence brought the cutest blush to his face, and I quickly leaned over to kiss his cheek softly. "Thank you, Edward. That's very sweet. Your parents should be very proud."

By that time, we were inside the building and waiting at the hostess desk. Edward moved his arm, and I frowned inwardly at the loss until I felt his hand slip into mine. He had his jacket hanging over his other arm. When I looked over at him, he smiled that crooked smile I really loved seeing.

The hostess walked up and gave us a smile. "Welcome to Bella Italia. Just the two of you tonight?"

"Yes," Edward said, smiling. "A quiet booth in the back if there's one available, please."

She checked the chart on the stand in front of her before nodding. "There sure is. Follow me, please."

She led us back to a booth in an empty corner of the restaurant. The place was far from being empty, but it was still quiet, relaxing, and romantic. They'd done a wonderful job with the décor: the lights were low, and there were lots of candles and soft drapes on the walls to make a romantic atmosphere. I had a feeling that during the day, the lights were raised and candles were out to make it a more family-friendly, less-romantic atmosphere, which was good, too.

At Edward's polite motion, I slid into the booth first. He draped his jacket across the bench on the other side before sitting down beside me. I smiled and set my hand lightly on his thigh to let him know I was happy he was beside me. The hostess handed us our menus and then left us in peace.

"What do you feel like, Bella?" Edward's voice asked quietly.

I had to hold myself back from saying, "You."

Instead, I answered, "Angela was always raving about their mushroom ravioli, so I think I want that and a Coke. No wine for me; I'd like to remember tonight."

Smirking, he nodded. "Maybe we can go back to my place, or yours, for wine later? I'll stick to Coke for now, too. Do you like shellfish?"

"Mmm, yes, I certainly do."

"Excellent," he replied. "Trust me to order our starter, then?"

I smiled and nodded my acceptance. We chatted about his day at work until the waiter came over several minutes later.

"Hello. My name's Tommy, and I'll be your server. Can I start you out with something to drink and maybe an appetizer?" He smiled and looked at us questioningly.

Edward took the lead and answered, "Yes, we'll have two Cokes and the steamed mussels and clams for a starter. For the main course, I'll have the Tuscan Steak with red potatoes, and my beautiful date wants the mushroom ravioli."

I smiled and squeezed his thigh gently as he handed the waiter our menus.

"Very good choices. Your drinks will be out in just a minute, and the starter will be out shortly. Enjoy," Tommy said, smiling before he walked away.

Edward reached down and laced his fingers with mine before speaking. "So, little Isabella Swan. I still can't get over you being Chief Swan's daughter. I guess from everything I'd heard, I assumed you were still a little girl. That's why it shocked me so much last weekend!" He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

I laughed, too. "Well, to my dad's credit, I think I'll always be his little girl." Grinning, I said, "Besides, it's actually a good thing you didn't spend enough time in his presence to learn otherwise. I'd never date an ex-con."

My smile faltered when I thought to myself, No, I just date them before they get convicted for something. James still haunted my thoughts sometimes, and I knew I'd been lucky to get away from him before he became the serial rapist he'd turned out to be.

I shook off the cloud of my past in time to hear Edward stop laughing at my statement and look at me seriously.

"Are you okay? You suddenly tensed up and frowned."

"I'm okay," I told him. "Just remembering something unpleasant. It's in the past and will stay there, so..." I smiled and squeezed his hand gently to reassure him.

Once Tommy dropped off our drinks, I picked mine up and took a sip before speaking again. "So tell me more about you and your family. The girls mentioned that you'd gone to the University of Washington, but didn't say much else."

He smiled and nodded, taking a sip of his own Coke before answering. "I did, yes. I majored in music, with a specialty in piano, and minored in Italian."

"Ohh, really? Say something in Italian, please! I don't understand any of it, but I love hearing it. It's such a beautiful language."

"La lingua non è bella quanto voi. La vostra bellezza interna rende la vostra bellezza esterna pallida nel confronto."

I might've moaned a little bit, I wasn't sure. All I was sure about was that he sounded almost as beautiful as he looked when he said whatever it was he'd said.

"What'd you say?" I asked. "That was excellent!"

He smiled, blushing. "I'll never tell," he said, shaking his head.

I put on my biggest pleading look, complete with puppy dog eyes.

Groaning playfully, he said, "Not the puppy dog eyes! Anything but that!" I giggled, and he sighed before murmuring, "The language is not as beautiful as you. Your inner beauty makes your outer beauty pale in comparison."

I felt my cheeks heat, and I swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. "That's beautiful," I finally told him, feeling the weight of the moment pressing in on me.

He smiled then. "It's true." When I blushed again, he chuckled and must've decided to lighten things up because he said, "So tell me about college for you."

Taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I shrugged. "I attended Seattle University and majored in English Lit with a minor in Creative Writing. Boring, I know."

He brought our joined hands up and kissed my fingers softly before shaking his head. "Nothing about you is boring, Bella." When I blushed, he grinned and set our hands back on his thigh before continuing. "So you like to write, hmm? Are you working on anything now?"

"Slowly, yes. I tend to be a perfectionist, so unfortunately, it takes me forever to get a page, let alone a chapter, finished," I told him honestly.

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of our starter. Edward squeezed my hand once and then released it before moving the dish my way. "Ladies first," he said with a smile.

I spooned some of the mussels and clams onto my small plate and waited until he'd gotten some for himself before taking a bite. "Mmm, those are wonderful," I gushed. "Perfectly done, aren't they?"

Edward nodded, his mouth too full of food to speak. We were quiet while we ate for a couple of minutes, and then he asked, "You were interested in hearing more about my family, right? Did Rose tell you about the name of the garage she and Emmett own?"

I laughed. "Yeah, she mentioned it when we were working at putting the sheets on the bed and stuff. I think it's hysterical."

"Don't ever tell Emmett that! You'll only encourage him," he said, grinning. "Anyway, they met at college, same school that I was at, where he was a football player and she was a cheerleader. They met their freshman year, got married their junior year, and are really perfect for one another. She puts up with his crap, but doesn't let him get away with stuff he shouldn't, and he treats her like the princess she sometimes thinks she is." He smiled affectionately, so I could tell he loved his brother and sister-in-law, even if he did like teasing them.

"They do sound perfect for one another. What about Alice and Jasper? I know what they do, but how'd they meet?"

"Alice and I are twins—fraternal, obviously. She majored in fashion design at The Art Institute of Seattle. Jazz roomed with Emmett in college, which is how he met Alice. They've been together as long as Rose and Emmett."

I started to speak, but waited as Tommy brought us refills and took away the now-empty bowl and our plates. When he was gone, I said, "Alice is so hyper and intense. Jasper seemed really mellow last weekend. It's no wonder they're perfect for each other; they balance out one another, just like Rose and Emmett. That's very cool."

"Yes, they definitely balance out one another. Alice keeps him from being quiet and introverted all the time, and he can calm her faster than I can blink sometimes." He shook his head, smiling, and again, I could see his love for his family. It was just one more thing to add to the growing list of things I liked about Edward Cullen.

"What about your parents?" I asked, curious. "From some of the things you and Alice have said, I gather that you're adopted. Emmett, too?" I frowned, shaking my head. "Sorry, if that's too personal, just forget I asked."

He smiled. "No, it's not too personal. Yes, we're adopted, and yes, we're all biological siblings."

"How old were you?"

"Our parents adopted us when Emmett was three and Alice and I were two." He nodded when my eyes widened.

"That's really young," I said, frowning again.

"It is. Our birth parents were both declared unfit. Drugs were involved, and neither could hold down a job." He frowned and fiddled with his napkin until I reached across the table and laid my hand over his in support. Smiling, he took a deep breath before continuing. "A lady in a neighboring apartment called the cops when we'd been crying for hours and she didn't get an answer when she knocked on the door. Our father had been over at some friend's house, getting high, and our mother had passed out in the bedroom. She'd been so out of it that she hadn't roused for our cries or the neighbor's repeated attempts at knocking on the door."

"God, Edward," I breathed, feeling tears well up at the thought of those poor babies. "I can't even imagine." I squeezed his hand gently. "You don't have to tell me more if you don't want to."

He shook his head, smiling softly. "It's okay. We were all young enough that we don't remember any of it. Our earliest memories are really of Carlisle and Esme—our parents." Shrugging, he said, "We were taken to the hospital for malnutrition and to make sure we were otherwise healthy, and that's where Dad saw us for the first time. He likes to say that fate put us in his ER that night, that we all had a guardian angel who was just waiting for the right moment to bring us to him."

"That's beautiful, Edward. You, Emmett, and Alice were really lucky, weren't you?" I felt stupid, thinking that what I'd just said was kind of dumb, considering their birth parents, but when Edward beamed and nodded, I knew I hadn't offended him.

"We were—we are," he amended. "Our parents truly saved our lives and gave us more love and support than any child could ever ask for." He squeezed my hand once more and smiled. "So, what about your family? I mean, I know you told me about your mom and Phil, but I'd love to hear more about them both."

"That's another heavy conversation," I said quietly. "How about we save that for after dinner?"

His hand took hold of mine and squeezed gently. "Sure. Anytime you wanna talk about it—or never, if you'd prefer—is okay with me. I'll be here," he assured me.

Our dinners arrived shortly after, and for a few minutes, we were too busy eating to talk about anything at all. Edward made me try a bite of his steak, so I insisted he try a bite of my ravioli, and by the time our plates were empty, we'd pretty much shared both meals equally.

"Do you wanna get some dessert to go and take it back to my place? I have some wine we could drink with it, and I can tell you about my family."

"I'd love that," Edward said, smiling softly at me.

He waved Tommy over and asked to see the dessert menu. We had a hard time choosing since everything looked so good. In the end, we finally decided on one cheesecake and one chocolate mousse, realizing that we would end up sharing them anyway.

Edward paid the bill for dinner, and we got the bag with our desserts. A few minutes later, we pulled up outside our apartments. As we walked up the stairs holding hands, I felt excited at how the date had gone so far. Reluctantly, I released his hand to unlock the door.

"There are several bottles of wine in the kitchen. Would you mind choosing one and pouring us a couple of glasses while I change into something a little less dressy? I don't particularly feel like having this conversation all dressed up," I said quietly.

Edward set the bag and his coat down on the sofa and then came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. "Bella, we don't have to talk about it if you aren't comfortable. Honestly."

I turned to face him, wrapped my arms around his neck, and rested my head on his shoulder. "I know. Thank you. I do wanna talk about it. It's just a sad story and one I'd rather tell while wearing something extremely comfortable." I looked up at him and giggled. "Alice might not approve of it, but she's not here."

He laughed and then kissed my forehead. "Okay, make yourself fairly comfortable, and I'll get the wine ready."

"Thank you," I said, smiling before turning and walking to my bedroom.

I quickly changed into leggings and a cute, oversized T-shirt and put socks on my feet so they wouldn't get cold. When I got back to the living room, Edward had the wine on the coffee table, along with both desserts and two spoons.

"Still gorgeous," he said, grinning.

I blushed, causing him to laugh and pull me gently down beside him on the couch. I realized he'd untucked his shirt and taken off his shoes to get more comfortable.

"I think you need your eyes checked, but thank you for the compliment, nonetheless." I smiled when he just shook his head. "Okay, let's eat, and then I'll talk."

We made quick work of both desserts, feeding ourselves and each other. When we were finished, I took the trash and spoons into the kitchen while Edward poured us both a second glass of wine. I grabbed the box of tissues on my way back in, knowing I'd probably need them during our talk.

I settled in beside Edward on the couch, his arm around my shoulders and his other hand crossed over to hold my hand in his on his thigh. Sighing, I said, "Well, you've met my dad, so you know that part of my family. He and my mom divorced about twenty years ago, when I was only a few years old. My mom was single for a few years, and then she met Phil, a semi-professional baseball player. They fell in love almost instantly and were married about six months later. He was great. They were kind of like your family. Completely different, but perfect for one another." My voice broke, and I took a deep breath when Edward squeezed my hand gently.

I leaned up and took a big drink of wine before settling back against him. I'd told him already about my mom and Phil, but going into more detail was hard. "Almost four years ago, about a year after I started college, they were driving home from a game and were hit by a drunk driver. They were both killed instantly, as was the driver of the other vehicle."

I broke down then, not used to talking about this with anyone anymore. Edward leaned up and grabbed some tissues, handing them to me before pulling me onto his lap. I cried for a few minutes, and eventually, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back calmed me enough my sobs turned to occasional sniffles.

"If you don't wanna continue, Bella, it's okay," he said quietly.

I shook my head. "Thanks, but I'm okay." I smiled weakly before continuing. "It was a couple of weeks later when I got a phone call from their lawyer. Phil had come from money, and along with that, he and my mom had been able to save quite a bit during their marriage. After paying off their few debts and donating some to charities, the rest of it was left to me. Neither of them had any other family, so I got almost all of it. It was a large enough sum that I was able to buy the store and all the furnishings outright, and I'm still able to comfortably live off the interest. When I got it, I donated a lot to charities myself before investing the rest. Until the store, I hadn't spent a dime of it. Angela was the one that finally talked me into it. She told me that my mom and Phil had known that owning my own bookstore and becoming a published author was my dream. By not using what they'd left to me to fulfill that dream, I wouldn't be honoring their memories. I realized she was right, and when I found this place, it was like...I dunno. It felt like it was meant to be."

My tears hadn't stopped as I talked, and Edward was caressing my back with one hand and wiping away my tears with the other. "They would've been proud of the woman you've become," Edward said quietly. "You sound like you loved them both very much, and if they were smart, I would bet they loved you just as much. Thank you for telling me about them. Do you have any pictures?"

I smiled. "Help me unpack boxes tomorrow, and I'll show you when I find them," I teased, feeling immensely better than I had a few minutes before.

He laughed. "It's a deal. How about I bring lunch over, and we unpack after we eat?"

I nodded and was stilled when Edward suddenly pressed his lips to mine softly.

"Sorry, I've been waiting to do that all night."

I hushed him by kissing him in return. "Never be sorry for wanting to kiss me," I said breathlessly after we parted.

"As much as I would love to continue that, I'm gonna be a gentleman and say good night. Go out with me again tomorrow night? The coffee shop down the block has poetry readings on Sunday nights. I've been a few times, and they're pretty interesting. We can get some dinner together while we listen to the readings."

"That sounds good."

He smiled, and I knew it sounded as good to him as it did to me.

I climbed off his lap, and he held my hand in one of his as he gathered his things in the other. Walking me to the door, I opened it for him with my free hand.

"Thank you for going out to dinner with me and for trusting me enough to tell me about your mom and Phil," he said quietly.

"Thank you for taking me to dinner and for listening." I leaned up and gave him one more kiss, and then he let go of my hand and turned to go. "Good night, Edward."

"Good night, Bella. Sweet dreams tonight."

I watched until he'd unlocked his door, and then I closed mine and locked it behind me.

I cleaned up the coffee table, leaving my glass of wine, the bottle, and the box of tissues, but I threw away the used ones and put Edward's glass in the sink. As I headed back into the living room, the flowers Edward had brought me at the beginning of the date caught my eye, and I remembered the note. I grabbed the envelope from the table and took it into the living room with me. Sitting down on the couch, I folded my legs up under me, grabbed my glass, and opened the envelope.

Bella,

Just like last time, these flowers have a special meaning as well. First, daffodils mean new beginnings, while tulips have always meant romance. Our relationship is definitely a new beginning, and I felt the tulips were a beautiful indicator of how I hope it grows.

The colors of the flowers are also significant. Red and yellow flowers symbolize joy, happiness, and excitement. The yellow expresses the current friendship, while the red expresses the desire to move things toward a romantic relationship.

I hope the thought of this makes you smile as much as it does me.

Edward

My smile reached from ear to ear by the time I finished reading Edward's handwritten note. I decided this was the perfect way to end my day, so I finished my glass of wine and put the rest away. I smelled the flowers once more and then walked down the hall to my bedroom, turning off lights as I went.

Pulling off my leggings and socks, I set my alarm, climbed into bed, and grabbed my phone before turning off the light.

~*~*~CIBD~*~*~

Edward's POV

I unlocked my door and stepped inside, turning just in time to see Bella close her door. I smiled to myself when I realized that she must've watched me until I'd made it into my apartment.

As I undressed from our date, my heart broke when I thought about Bella's story. No wonder she seemed so tough sometimes. She had to be, going through what she had, especially to come out as strong as she was.

I got undressed, climbed into bed, and picked up the latest book I'd been reading. A few minutes later, my cell phone beeped. I grabbed it off my nightstand and flipped it open to find a text from Bella.

Thank you again for the wonderful dinner and even better company. The meanings for the flowers were perfect. See you tomorrow.

I grinned so hard that my face hurt. I quickly typed my reply.

I'm glad you had as much fun as I did! See you tomorrow.

I decided that there was no way I was gonna get interested in the book now. I put it away, closed my eyes, and fell asleep thinking of where else I wanted to take the beautiful Bella on a date.