Bella's POV

"You about ready to go?" I called to Edward from the kitchen when I heard the front door close. I was making sure the pies I'd baked to take with us to Forks were ready to go while he took our bags to the car. He was back to carry the pies as I locked up and set the alarm.

His face appeared around the doorway. "Bags are loaded," he confirmed. "Those ready?" He gestured to the four pies on the counter in front of me—my grandmother's Maple Nut, Chocolate Silk, Caramel Pumpkin, and Rum Raisin Apple.

I nodded. "Just about. I've got a box in the hall closet we can use to carry them so they don't slide around. Can you get it while I finish putting tinfoil over this last one, please?"

"Sure, love."

I heard him open the closet door and then the quiet click as it closed. Soon, he was back with one flattened box in one hand and a smaller one in the other. Reaching over to the drawer at the end, he took out the roll of packing tape and made quick work of putting the bigger box back together.

We worked silently for several minutes, carefully loading the pies in two stacks of two, with the second flattened box in between the layers.

"That was a great idea," I told him. "I was kind of worried the top layer would squish the bottom one. Thank you."

He smiled, kissed my forehead, and then picked up the box. "Ready?"

"Yup," I said, grinning. "Lemme grab my coat and purse."

We walked into the living room, where I saw he'd already gotten my favorite winter coat from the closet and draped it over the back of the sofa. He was still bundled up from taking the bags out to the car, so as soon as I had my coat on, I picked up my purse, set the alarm, and pulled the door closed behind us.

"Here," Edward said, reaching out his hand. "It's a little slick."

It was the end of November, and the normal rainy Washington weather had already turned snowy and icy. I gladly took his hand, and together, we carefully walked down the steps to Edward's Volvo, which we were taking together to Forks. Once the pies and I were safely ensconced in the car, Edward strode quickly around to the driver's side and started it up, turning the heat on high. He'd cleaned off the windows while he was out loading the bags and had run the heater while he was outside, so it didn't take long at all for the inside of the car to be toasty warm.

"Wanna stop and get coffee?" he asked as he backed away from the curb.

I shook my head and chuckled. "I've had what feels like a gallon already this morning. You can if you want, though," I answered, smiling over at him.

"I'm good," he said. "The trip shouldn't take that long. The roads are nice and clear; Jasper called while I was loading the bags. He and Alice are already there."

"Oh!" I raised an eyebrow. "I thought they were meeting us at Rose and Emmett's place so we could caravan together."

He shrugged. "Apparently, Alice got a bee in her bonnet about wanting to make sure the house looked, and I quote, perfect, since it'll be your first time seeing my parents' house."

I grinned. "That's totally Alice. Okay, but Rose and Emmett are still gonna drive it with us, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," he confirmed. "Why? You don't think I can handle driving it on my own?" he teased.

Rolling my eyes, I laughed at his pretend wounded expression. "Hush up, you," I told him, shoving at his shoulder gently.

Twenty minutes later, we were back on the road, following behind Emmett and Rose in his big Jeep. Emmett had complained, again, about taking two cars to Forks, when all four of us could have fit in his Jeep. Rose smacked the back of his head—explaining to me that he'd already whined repeatedly about the subject—and explained once more to her husband that because of Black Friday shopping, we would need both vehicles.

I rested my hand on Edward's muscular thigh, feeling it tense and relax as he drove. I turned on the radio, and when I couldn't find a good station that wasn't playing Christmas music, I pulled my iPod out of my purse and plugged it in. I let my playlist run as my thoughts turned to the last two months.

Since meeting Edward's parents for the first time, they'd been up to Port Angeles several times to visit. Most of the time, we all got together at either Rose's or Alice's houses, but a couple of times, we'd all gone out to dinner and then a club for dancing. Carlisle and Esme were young and, most of the time, seemed like older siblings than parents. They had great relationships with all the "kids," and as the month of October had progressed, I'd begun to feel more and more like one of their own.

For Halloween, we'd all been invited to a party at a friend of the family's in Seattle. Carlisle and Esme had driven up to Port Angeles to meet us, and then we'd all driven up together. We'd gone as famous couples, but the women had gotten ready at Alice's house, while the men had dressed at Emmett's house. Alice had insisted we not see each other until the party.

~*~CIBD~*~

The first person we saw when we walked into the party was Carlisle, who was coming toward us, dressed as Ward Cleaver from Leave It To Beaver. He was wearing a simple black suit, white dress shirt, and black dress shoes. To complete the look, he'd sprayed his hair dark, slicked it back into the style of the fifties, and added a bit of baby powder to the temples to replicate the little touch of gray. He looked distinguished and handsome, even more so than normal.

As Ward's wife, June, Esme was dressed as the quintessential 1950's mother, in a stylish dress, heels, and a string of pearls around her neck. She'd opted not to color her hair the light blond of Barbara Billingsley, but she'd used hot rollers to give it the curls needed, and Alice had pinned it up a bit to keep it shorter. Together, they looked amazing.

"The boys are back through that way," Carlisle told us, tilting his head back the way he'd come. "You ladies look beautiful." He smiled at us before turning his head and kissing his wife gently, being careful not to smudge her lipstick.

Rose, Alice, and I walked through the crowd, thanking people when we got compliments on our costumes. When we got to the entrance to the large family room, we saw our men.

Rose and Emmett had dressed as Sandy and Danny from the carnival scene in Grease. Alice had sewn a tight, black T-shirt to look like the one from the movie. Rose was wearing it with skin-tight, black leather pants and red wedge sandals on her feet. Her hair was poofed up in giant curls, pulled up over one ear and secured with a black hair clip. Her husband looked deadly sexy in his own tight, black T-shirt—complete with rolled up sleeves—and he'd paired it with black jeans, black sneakers, and a black belt. Emmett smiled at us before sweeping Rose into his arms and planting a big kiss on her lips, ignoring her squeal of protest.

I watched for a moment as Jasper, aka Rhett Butler, bowed low in front of Alice and said in a sweet, southern drawl, "You are definitely the belle of the ball, Miss O'Hara. May I offer you something to drink?"

She giggled softly and nodded, holding out her hand. "Why, thank you, Captain Butler. I do believe I shall have that drink," she said, looking over at me and winking before taking Jasper's proffered arm. Soon, he whisked her off through the crowd.

They looked amazing together as they walked away. Jasper wore an old-fashioned black suit with charcoal gray ascot, vest, and black dress shoes. Alice had sewn a dress very similar to the one Scarlett had worn at the barbecue. It was white, with a green floral print, dark green sash at the waist, and a great big straw-like bonnet with the same dark green sash to tie under her chin. Her tiny frame was highlighted by the hoop skirt under the dress, and her feet barely peeked out from under her dress, but I knew her heels had been dyed green to match the outfit. Since her hair was so short, she was wearing a brown, shoulder-length wig in loose curls.

I turned my attention back to Edward, who looked absolutely dashing and debonair dressed as Humphrey Bogart in the final scene of Casablanca. He was in a gray suit, with a tan trench coat and fedora. I was also in a suit, with a calf-length skirt and women's jacket. My hair was slicked back into a knot at the base of my neck—finally long enough that I could wear it like that if I chose to—and I was wearing a hat very similar to the one Ingrid Bergman had worn.

"Hi, love," Edward murmured before picking up my hand and bringing it to his lips, brushing a soft kiss across the back of it. "You look beautiful."

Before I could reply, he pulled me to him and kissed me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me to him. I snuggled in and began to deepen the kiss...

~*~CIBD~*~

"A penny..."

I was pulled out of my memories by Edward's voice.

"Hmm?" I asked, confused.

"For your thoughts, love," he continued. "You were awfully quiet."

Chuckling, I said, "Yeah, sorry, was just remembering Halloween. It was fun."

"That was a good night," he agreed, smiling over at me.

I nodded before changing the subject. "Tell me more about your parents' house," I requested, leaning forward to turn the music down slightly.

"It's just outside of Forks, north of the Calawah River," he told me, and even though I'd heard some of this before, it still made me happy to hear him describe the place with such warmth and obviously fond memories. "The house is off the main road, so even if people turn onto the unmarked, barely visible unpaved side road, they normally don't travel the few miles before the house becomes visible."

"Sounds like it would be great for privacy," I said almost wistfully.

He chuckled. "Yeah, that's why my parents like it so much—especially after Emmett, Alice, and I all moved out. They can stay at home and simply get away from civilization.

"The house is surrounded by forest, and there are some huge cedars that shade it. It's painted a soft, faded white, is three stories, and has a deep porch that wraps around the first story."

"It's old, right?" I asked curiously.

He nodded, barely glancing away from the road to smile at me. "Right around a century."

"And your room's on the third floor?" I seemed to remember that from our previous conversations.

"Yes, my room, my parents' room, and the library. Alice's and Emmett's bedrooms are on the second floor, as well as Dad's office and small studies for both Jasper and my mom. Jasper's office used to be part of Alice's bedroom, but once she and Jasper became a serious couple, Mom redesigned it so they could section off a small part to allow him to have his own space."

"Esme really likes interior design, doesn't she?" I mused.

He looked over and grinned. "She and Alice had a lot of fun with that project."

"So," I prompted, "tell me about your room."

Edward made a small half-hum, half-sigh of contentment. "I love my room. It's right above Emmett's and faces south, so the sun never shines directly in, but the wall-sized window has a fantastic view of the Sol Duc River, through the forest, to the Olympic Mountain range."

He smirked. "You've seen my CD collection at home. One wall of my room at my parents' house is covered with shelving for my music, some of which is still there, and one corner has my old stereo. When I moved into the apartment above the store, I bought that new system and left my old one for when I came to visit."

I shook my head. "I can't believe you have that much music," I said, laughing.

"So says the woman with more books that I could count," he replied with a wink. "Anyway, on the wall opposite the windows is a black leather sofa, and there's nice, thick carpet on the floors and a huge, King-sized bed." His voice dropped suggestively, and he looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"No way," I said, laughing. "We are not doing that in your parents' house!"

"We'll see," he teased, yelping when I pinched his thigh through his jeans.

I was just about to say more, when my phone rang with my dad's ringtone. I pulled it out from my purse and said, "Dad?"

"Hey, Bells," he said, sounding cheerful. "I told Edward's mother I'd call and find out where you guys are."

"Oh!" I said, surprised. "You're already over there?"

He chuckled. "Yes, Sue and Esme decided we should come over at eight this morning so they could start the turkey. Little Alice and her young man showed up about an hour ago."

I looked at the clock on the dashboard. He and Sue had been there for almost two hours already.

Putting my hand over the mouthpiece, I asked Edward, "How far are we from Forks?"

"About twenty minutes from my parents' house," he answered.

"Okay, Dad," I said into the phone. "Edward says we should be there in less than half an hour."

"All right. See you then," he said. "Drive safely."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled and said, "Always," before hanging up the call.

After putting my phone back in my purse, I moved my hand back to Edward's thigh. I couldn't resist smiling when he picked it up and threaded his fingers through mine before resting them back down on his leg.

I leaned forward, turned the music back up a bit with my free hand, and then relaxed against the seat. We were quiet, just enjoying the time together, for the rest of the trip.