Although time usually passed quickly -- unnoticeably -- to vampires, I'd experienced long hours before. Many of them had been associated with Bella, usually when we were apart and I couldn't wait to have her in my arms again. More of them had been associated with that insane time I had left her in Forks, thinking I could walk away and leave her to live her life without me.

None of those times compared to that journey home.

Each second ticked by with exquisite slowness, each frustrating me with its stubborn refusal to speed up and bring us back to Carlisle as soon as possible.

Even worse, I knew that no matter how anxious I felt, it must have been nothing compared to what Bella was going through. She was so terrified by what was growing inside her at such an alarming rate, doing God knew what to her body, she could barely speak. If I asked her a question, she gave me a one-word answer, looking at me numbly through half-closed eyes. If I didn't ask her a question, she didn't speak at all. When I tried to reassure her, to comfort her with words promising that she would be fine, that we'd deal with this immediately before she could be harmed, she couldn't even acknowledge that she'd heard me. If I pulled her into my arms, she was rigid with her fear.

I supposed that the one way she fared better than I did was that at least she could pass the hours on the airplane sleeping, taking refuge in unconsciousness. She didn't seem to be dreaming, so I hoped that at least those moments had some peace for her.

I continued to be powerless, and knew I could do nothing for her until we got home. To avoid crushing some inanimate object in my frustration (the airplane seats, for example -- not helpful if you get thrown in jail as an air terrorist threat, Edward), I kept myself at least somewhat occupied by holding Bella and pressing kisses into her hair while she slept. If I held her, soft and fragile, I knew I would control my strength.

At last. The pilot announced our descent into the Seattle/Tacoma airport.

Gently, I gave Bella a nudge to rouse her, murmuring, "Wake up, love. We're almost home."

She blinked dazedly, widening her eyes as she looked at me and oriented herself.

"It's almost over. We're about to land in Seattle," I told her.

Reflexively, as she had been doing whenever she was awake, she placed a hand on her stomach. The sight pained me, the idea that the moment she was back to consciousness was the moment she was filled with such worry.

I didn't know how I was ever going to forgive myself for this one.

It was another slow 45 minutes before we landed, taxied to the gate, disembarked, collected our luggage and headed for the exit. I handled everything with one arm, refusing to let the other move from its place around Bella's shoulders or waist.

At first, I was surprised to see my entire family waiting for us just outside the restricted security area. It was very unusual for us to be anywhere in public all together like that, where our collective appearance would draw even more attention than our individual appearances did. There was such a jumble of thoughts among the crowds at the airport that I hadn't picked theirs out before actually laying eyes on them.

It briefly occurred to me that it made sense for Carlisle to be there, and perhaps Esme. Carlisle would want to see Bella immediately, and Esme would accompany him. But to see all of the others there, too? Even...Rosalie?

Thank God, there she is! Finally!

Even more surprising, the first discernable thought amongst them was Rosalie's, filled with anticipation and anxiety.

Before I could process that, Bella had shaken off my hold around her shoulders and sprung forward, rushing headlong toward Rosalie, who had her arms open to pull Bella into her grasp.

My jaw dropped.

I froze on the spot.

I could not have been more shocked if Rosalie had changed into a bat and flown up to the ceiling.

"I've got you. You're safe. You're both safe," Rosalie was murmuring into Bella's ear, while looking at me with narrowed eyes over Bella's shoulder. Her expression was one of...warning?

I was too stunned by the scene before me to move, or even to cast my thoughts through the minds of my family to see if they had any idea as to the meaning of what I was seeing. Somewhere in the back of my mind, however, it registered that they were all staring at Rosalie and Bella with just as much shock and surprise. Even Emmett had his mouth half-open, his eyes wide.

I don't know how many minutes passed like that before Alice managed to shake herself into motion. She could see that I was half-blocking the doorway, and other travelers were trying to edge around me with their luggage, glaring at me as they passed. She stepped forward quickly and took control of the baggage cart. "Come on, Edward," she muttered. "We can't just stand here..."

I managed to follow her a few steps forward, toward Bella. Far too fast, fast enough to have shocked a human observer if one had been paying attention, Rosalie whisked Bella behind her with one arm. Her eyes narrowed even further at me. That's far enough, Edward. No closer.

I struggled to find my voice. "Rosalie...what the hell..." I choked.

You heard me. No. Closer.

I looked over her shoulder at Bella, who was looking between me and Rosalie uncertainly, as though she could not figure out quite what to do next.

But she made no move to come from behind Rosalie's protective arm.

I darted my eyes to Emmett's face. Surely if anyone knew what Rosalie was doing, he would.

His mouth was still open in surprise almost mirroring my own.

"Cullens! We cannot just stand here like this! We're attracting attention!" Alice hissed from between clenched teeth, just loudly enough for us all to hear it.

Carlisle was the next to shake himself out of his surprised stupor. "Of course not. There's nothing we can do here, in the middle of this airport. Let's go home."

Bella rides with me, Rosalie lobbed the thought at me just before she said it aloud for the benefit of everyone else. "Bella rides with me."

"Are you out of your goddamn mind, Rosalie?" It was my turn to hiss from between clenched teeth, not even caring that I had just sworn in the presence of ladies, including my wife.

"I think I'm more rational than you are right now, Edward," she retorted, her voice low and deadly. Her body was tense from the top of her blonde head to the tips of her painted toenails, ready to leap forward and...and attack me, if need be.

And suddenly it was clear. Everything in her mind was as clear as if it were written down in front of me.

Bella had called her from island. While I was outside taking the luggage to the boat, Bella had taken my cell phone and called...Rosalie. To beg for help. Because Bella was desperately afraid of...me.

The fear I had sensed was not because she feared for her own safety, for what was happening to her body.

She was afraid of me.

Not because of what she thought I might do to her, but because she was afraid of what I would do -- what Carlisle and I would do -- to the monster growing inside of her.

She wanted the monster.

To her, it was no monster at all.

And she had known that the only person she could count on to side with her immediately on the topic of children at all cost was...Rosalie.

Rosalie, who saw this as an opportunity. If she could keep the monster safe, if it could be allowed to be born, there would be a child in the family -- even if it killed Bella in the process. Perhaps even better if it killed Bella in the process, because then the monster could be...hers.

Emmett was between me and Rosalie just in time, just before I could reach her throat. Within another fraction of a second, the rest of the family had also placed themselves between us, and Jasper had my arms pinned to my side.

Carlisle was the voice of insistent reason. "Son...I don't know what's going on here, either, but I do know that this is not the place for this conversation. The best we can do is get home as soon as possible. We have two cars here and I know your car is also parked here, so let's just split up, get home, and talk there." He looked at me with calm but pleading eyes. Please, son.

He was right. No matter what, I couldn't tear Rosalie to pieces in the middle of the Sea/Tac airport.

Rosalie took Bella's hand firmly in her own. "Come on, Bella. You're with me and Emmett."

"Now wait just a goddamn minute..." I hissed. "I know what you're up to, Rosalie. I may not kill you here, but Bella is still my wife. I have no intention of..."

Finally, Bella spoke, quietly. "It's okay, Edward. I'll go with Rose and Emmett. I'll see you back at the house."

Rose? Rosalie was Rose to her now?

I seemed to have woken up in an alternate reality.

"Bella," I breathed. "I know what she's up to. How do I know she won't whisk you away to God knows where, and..." I wouldn't put anything past Rosalie to this point. Even if Bella didn't think it would happen that way, I could completely see Rosalie kidnapping her to some basement dungeon to force her to incubate the monster for her, no matter the consequences.

"I'll go with them," Carlisle said. "Esme can go with Jasper, you take Alice in your car. Just...let's go." We'll see you back in Forks, Edward. I promise.

I thought quickly. What was the one thing that would ensure Rosalie wouldn't just take off? What could I take of hers that she loved?

Emmett.

"Fine. Carlisle goes with Bella and Rosalie. But Emmett comes with me and Alice."

Oh, come on, bro'...do not put me in the middle of this. Emmett looked at me with wide eyes.

"You're already in the middle of it," I snapped. "You can't keep your wife from going insane."

"Hey, now..." he started to say aloud.

"Enough!" Esme surprised us all by stepping forward and shoving us into our three separate groups. I had very, very rarely seen her angry, but this looked to be one of those times. She was not about to watch her family dissolve into vampire civil war in the middle of the day in the middle of an airport crawling with humans. "We're going! See you all at the house! No detours!"

Rosalie was the first to turn on her heel and start walking away, still clutching Bella's hand. Bella turned her head to cast a long glance at me over her shoulder, mouthing the words, I'm sorry.

I felt like my useless, dead heart had been torn from my chest. By Rosalie.

"Come on, Edward, Emmett..." Alice muttered, still in charge of the baggage cart as she led the way to the outside long-term parking garage where my car was parked. I was still staring after Rosalie, Bella and Carlisle, but Emmett gave me an elbow to the ribs to get me moving.

"The sooner we can get home, Edward, the sooner we can get this straightened out," Alice added.

Grudgingly, I followed.

* * *

Alice insisted on driving, insisting that I was far too upset to pay attention to my speed and we'd get pulled over by the police, causing an even longer delay before we could get home and I could get back to Bella.

Once Emmett wrestled the keys away from me and tossed them to her, I didn't have much choice in the matter. I settled into the front seat sullenly, and turned on Emmett as soon as he was situated in the back.

"Rosalie is your nightmare, Emmett. What in the name of all that's holy is going on here?"

"Wait just a second, there, Edward. I've never called your wife..."

"Oh, please!" Alice snapped as she deftly maneuvered us through exiting airport traffic. "Save the insults! Save the arguing! Don't we have enough to worry about?"

"Don't even get me started on you," I growled at her. "How in the hell did you miss this? Any of it? You even packed all of that...that stuff, those clothes for Bella, knowing that..."

"I saw none of this, Edward! None of it!" she yelled. "Everything was perfectly fine until yesterday morning, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unexpected. Then all of a sudden, boom! Bella's nothing but a blur. Her whole future...gone! I don't know what happened! Why do you think I was so worried, why I called you immediately? I acted as soon as I knew there was anything to act on!"

"And I had no idea Rosalie was going to act like this! She didn't say a word to me!" Emmett added. "I almost fell off my chair this morning when she said she was going with Carlisle and Esme to meet you at the airport. She wouldn't explain herself, so I figured I'd better go along and see what was up."

"So Jasper and I decided we'd better tag along, too," Alice said. "Especially when I couldn't get a read on what Rosalie was up to, either. I can see everything about her, about all of us, except, it would seem, where Bella is concerned."

Truth. It was the truth. Both of them. I could tell from the most cursory review of their thoughts.

"But from the words between you and Rose back there, it looks like you have some kind of an idea now, don't you?" Emmett demanded.

I exhaled loudly and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to get myself under control. I had overreacted. My whole family wasn't conspiring against me, least of all these two. Only Rosalie was. That bi....

I took in a deep breath. "Bella called her from the island, after we spoke to Alice and Carlisle on the phone. I told her we would go home so Carlisle could look at her and do something about this...this thing inside her, and she got all quiet. I thought she was just scared about what was happening to her, but it turns out she was scared about what we were going to do to...the thing. She's seeing it as a...as a baby. Like a normal baby. She knew Rosalie was the only one crazy enough to help her. To help it."

Emmett opened his mouth to protest, but Alice spoke first. "Enough of that, Edward. It's not helping. Rosalie has her own perspective on this particular issue, you know that."

I snapped my teeth together to keep from launching into a rant about Rosalie's so-called 'perspective'. Alice was at least right about the fact that getting into an argument with Emmett was not going to help anything.

With a sigh of his own, Emmett also seemed to decide that he would refrain from defending his wife to me for the moment. "Do you have any idea why you didn't see any of this, Alice?"

"None." She looked none too pleased about it, either. She hated running into impediments to her talent. The werewolves irritated her all the more because of their annoying way of avoiding her visions. "I can only assume it's like it is with the wolves...something about the baby interferes."

I growled. "Can we not call that thing that is going to kill my wife a 'baby', please?"

"None of us know what it is, or anything about it, Edward. Is it necessary to assume the worst right off the top?" she retorted.

"She's right, Edward," Emmett said. "Ever since Carlisle got off the phone with you, all six of us have been poring over every source we could get our hands on for information about this...situation. All any of could find were unsubstantiated legends, rumours and fairy tales. Hardly conclusive." I should have realized something was up from the fact that Rosalie was helping us with that research, he added silently with a somewhat apologetic look in my direction. But we were all too freaked out...it didn't occur to me to analyze that.

I waved a hand at him to show that I was past blaming him for his wife's conduct. The idea of Bella contacting Rosalie for help and Rosalie actually agreeing was too off the wall for any of us to have anticipated.

"There's a tribe in Brazil...Remember Kaure, one of the cleaning staff on the island?" I asked.

"The Ticuna woman?" Alice's small eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think back. It had been a number of years since she and Jasper had last made it to Isle Esme.

"Yes. She suggested that her people had seen it...this...before. And the women always..." I couldn't form the rest of the words. "It always turned out very badly," I finished lamely instead.

How in the world did you get into that conversation with her? Emmett thought in surprise, but I just shook my head, not wanting to relive those particular minutes right now.

"So what?" Alice sniffed. "More legends. Same thing, different people. She didn't say she'd seen it herself, did she?"

"No. But from her thoughts...her grandmother had. Or said she had."

"Her grandmother told her stories, that's all."

Emmett shrugged. "I think she's right, Edward. There's no reason to assume the worst right now."

"What has Carlisle said?" I asked.

"Well..." Alice could not keep the image of Carlisle, frenetically scouring old books of legends and new books of the latest medical information, from her mind. Carlisle on the phone, calling in favours, ordering stockpiles of supplies. Carlisle's eyes tight, his lips pressed together in concentration and concern. "He's a doctor, Edward," she said lamely. "He has to prepare for everything." She and Emmett exchanged a look.

An it's-up-to-us-not-to-let-Edward-freak-out look.

"Let's just get home and wait for him to look at Bella, bro'. There's nothing else we can do right now." Emmett reached out to give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

I tried not to flinch at the contact. People wanting to touch me is what had gotten me into this godforsaken mess.

"What are we going to do when we get home, then? About Rosalie?" I asked. That was something he should be planning for right now. He was the only one with even a remote chance of getting her to see something resembling reason.

"She's not going to eat Bella, Edward," Alice answered. You don't know how badly she wants a baby -- any kind of baby, I thought bitterly. She might if she thought it would help that goal. Alice continued, "I'm sure Rose will wait for Carlisle's assessment, too."

"I agree, and I know her better than anyone. She's not a psychopath," Emmett added.

Yeah, right.

"I'm not going to tolerate it if she thinks she's going to keep me twenty paces away from Bella at all times, or something insane like that. Just be prepared for that, Emmett. You may not want to be in the middle, but you will be."

Alice shot me a sidelong glance. "You seem to ignore the fact that Bella is the one who called Rosalie, Edward. It's not like she's just an unwilling prisoner."

"The woman has a mind of her own," Emmett nodded. "They're like that in this century, bro'. You should get used to it."

"Hilarious," I muttered, just as I noticed a highway sign indicating Forks was only another 20 miles. Thank God.

The other two vehicles were already in the garage when we finally arrived at the house. I was out of the car before Alice had come to a complete stop, and inside in another fraction of an instant. I searched for Carlisle's mind immediately. He was already upstairs with Bella.

Blowing past Esme and Jasper in the living room, I streaked up the stairs to Carlisle's office.

Rosalie was standing sentry outside the door.

"Hold it right there, Edward," she sneered, raising a hand to stop me. "That's as far as you go."

"Get the hell out of the way before I throw you out of the way, Rosalie," I snarled.

"I'd like to see you try."

I'd had just about enough of this, and reached out once again to grab her by the throat.

Once again, Emmett's large hand clamped down over mine just in time. "Hold it right there, brother," he said quietly.

I turned my snarl in his direction. I'd warned him about being in the middle...

Just as Rosalie crouched into a fighting stance of her own, Esme, Jasper and Alice also arrived outside the door. "Boys! Rosalie!" Esme yelled. "Enough!"

The door was yanked open before I could reply, or react. Carlisle was there, his stethoscope around his neck. "Bella says you can come in, Edward," he said calmly. I looked over his shoulder into the office, and could see that he'd half-converted it into a medical examination room. Bella was reclined on an examination table, her t-shirt hiked up over her stomach. Positioned that way, the slight bulge was readily apparent. She was chewing her lower lip anxiously, gazing back at me from behind Carlisle.

"Wait a second...Bella..." Rosalie half-turned to face the room, but did not completely turn her back on me. "Both of them in there? Out here I can listen for anything if it's just Carlisle...but the two together? With Edward able to read Carlisle's thoughts?"

I don't think I had ever been so offended in my entire existence. The idea, the very idea that Rosalie thought she needed to protect Bella from me?

Bella's eyes fixed on mine. "Edward's not going to try and…do anything right now. Are you, Edward."

It was a statement, not a question.

"You know I would rather die than hurt you, Bella," I choked out. The way she was looking at me, her eyes fearful…she had never looked at me that way before, not even when she first found out what I was.

"It's not you hurting her that I'm worried about!" Rosalie snapped.

"No one is going to do anything or hurt anyone right now," Carlisle said calmly. "We're just investigating. No one is going to act rashly."

Rosalie opened her mouth to protest, but Carlisle held up a hand to stop her. "No, Rosalie, no arguing. There's no one else who can act as Bella's physician, so everyone is going to have to trust me. Everyone," he stressed, directing his gaze at me. "Now come in here, Edward, and close the door."

Rosalie scowled at me as I rushed past her. She called out, "I'll be right out here, Bella. I'm not going anywhere," just before I slammed the door in her face behind me.

It made me feel considerably better to see that Bella had her arms out to hug me before I even reached her side. Consciously reminding myself to be gentle, I clutched her to my chest. "Bella…"

"I'm sorry about all of that, Edward. I just…I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know what you had planned for when we landed." She pulled away a little and looked up at me with eyes brimming with tears. "You were just so angry…"

The anger had certainly left me now. Other than my anger at Rosalie, of course…but I would deal with her later.

"I would never hurt you, Bella. I would never do anything to you…without your consent. But I can't let anything else hurt you, either. I won't…"

"We need to gather information before we get too worried about that, Edward," Carlisle interrupted before I could get too far down that path. He walked around to Bella's other side. "It's not helpful to panic." Think of Bella, son. Don't make this any harder on her by overreacting.

Easy for you to say, I thought, but agreed that I didn't want Bella to feel any more anxious than she already did. And I certainly couldn't tolerate the idea that she was afraid of me in any way.

I took a deep breath and prepared to look at the situation rationally. Or at least try to.

"What have you learned?" I leaned up against the side of the examination table and put an arm behind Bella's shoulders. She looked up at me gratefully, and took my other hand in hers.

"Not much so far. I had barely gotten Bella up here on the exam table when you got here." Carlisle turned to Bella, his hand a few inches over her exposed stomach. "May I?"

"Of course. Whatever you need to do," she replied without hesitation.

He ran both palms over her abdomen, side to side, up and down, pressing gently with his fingertips. Then he put the stethoscope in his ears and began moving it in a similar fashion, searching. He seemed to find the spot he was looking for, and smiled slightly. "Definitely pregnant. I'm getting a heartbeat. It's quiet, but it's there…quite rapid, too."

"Quiet? Rapid?" Bella repeated, looking at him with wide eyes. "What does that mean? Is that good?"

"Well, I think the only reason it seems quiet is because of the placenta. I'm sure you've noticed how…well, how hard your abdomen feels to the touch. I'll bet that the placenta is something like our skin. Vampire skin, I mean. So it's muffling the sound through the stethoscope. It's probably why none of us can hear it without the stethoscope the way we can hear your heartbeat, Bella."

Vampire skin. My love had somehow grown a layer of something freakishly like my horrific marble skin inside her soft body. I bit my tongue to keep from gasping at the idea.

Bella, however, broke into a wide smile. "Of course. That makes sense." She held her free hand out for the stethoscope. "Can I listen?"

"Certainly." Carlisle smiled back and positioned the instrument in her ears, then held the other end in the same place on her stomach.

She listened intently for a moment, then broke into another wide smile. "There it is! Hello, baby!" Her voice was reverent, joyful. After another moment of listening, she took the earpieces out of her ears and pressed them into my hands. "Listen, Edward."

I couldn't keep my lower jaw from falling open slightly. I could not process the notion of this…creature even having a heartbeat, much less listening to it beating insidiously away inside my wife, waiting to grow large enough to kill her in the process of fighting its way into the world.

But Bella's eyes were wide with her happiness and excitement. She wanted me to share this with her, and was not the least bit afraid for her own safety. As usual.

Carlisle shot me a look as I hesitated. Go ahead, Edward.

I swallowed my revulsion and took the stethoscope carefully. For her, I thought to myself. For her, for her.

I took a deep breath and listened.

There it was. Quite faint compared to a normal human heartbeat. And fast. Too fast. There was something wrong about that. It couldn't possibly be a sign of anything good. It was unnatural, all of it. As unnatural as I was. As monstrous as I was.

Before I could pull the stethoscope from my ears, Bella's warm hand closed over my cold one once again and she squeezed my fingers. "Do you hear it?" she murmured hopefully. "That's your baby, Edward. Our baby."

My jaw slackened again as I looked at her, her chocolate brown eyes shimmering with blissful tears. Our baby. The words rang through my head. I couldn't make sense of them. There was no way any of this was possible.

She shouldn't have been able to get pregnant by me.

But she had.

And it couldn't possibly be…just a baby.

Could it?

Could it?

Bella looked so radiantly happy, so pleased, so excited. It was hard not to be overtaken by her unmitigated joy. From the expression on his face, even Carlisle seemed to have been affected by it.

I was almost relieved when there was a soft knock at the door, interrupting the need for me to find something to say. I knew it was Rosalie before she spoke. "Bella? It's me, Rose. Can I…?" She turned the knob and eased the door open a few inches. "Can I…?"

The expression on my sister's face was unfathomable. For once, not arrogant, not haughty…just full of a deep, quiet need. Like she knew she was asking for a great privilege, and hoped for nothing more than to have her request granted.

Bella laughed lightly, swiping at her eyes with the back of her free hand. "Of course! Come in, come in!" She knew exactly what Rosalie wanted and reached for the stethoscope. Rosalie was at Bella's side with the instrument in her ears in less than a blink of an eye.

"Oh my God!" Rosalie's wind-chime laugh rang through the room after she had listened for a few moments. "There it is! Bella!"

"I know!" Bella laughed again, and gave my hand another squeeze. "Can you believe it? Isn't that amazing?"

Suddenly Alice materialized at the foot of the exam table. "Bella, if she gets to, surely I…"

"Wait your turn!" Rosalie retorted, but her voice was light, as good-natured as I had ever heard it. I was astonished to realize that for about the first time since I had known her, her thoughts were full of an overriding sense of pure joy. I was semi-aware that my jaw was now hanging open rather stupidly, but I could not seem to find the ability to close it.

Esme, Jasper and Emmett had all edged just inside the door. Emmett was thrilled by his wife's happiness, and Jasper was soaking all of the good feelings up like a sponge. Esme was beaming at all of us. She was next to slowly walk towards the exam table.

"I hope you don't mind, Bella…may we come in, too? It looks like this is the place to be right now."

"Of course I don't mind!" Bella laughed again. She was the center of attention, but for once, didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. "You can listen, too, if you want…Grandma."

It was a good thing my mouth was already open as far as it would go, or I think it would have hit the floor. Grandma? Grandma!?

I stared from face to face as my family took turns with the stethoscope, babbling to each other excitedly about what they heard. Emmett clapped me on the back and made some joke that involved the word Daddy, but I barely heard it.

I was too stunned.

Part of me wanted to strike out at them, push them away from Bella and scream at them to get hold of themselves. They were…celebrating. Celebrating a disaster. It was beyond tolerance. I couldn't comprehend how they could possibly be acting this way. They had read the legends! They knew the same things I knew!

But their thoughts told me why they were acting this way, down to the last one of them. Even Carlisle.

They had hope.

The legends were legends. In a sense, they were no different than any of the other legends…that we hated garlic…that we couldn't go into churches…that we burned in sunlight…none of which were true.

My family seemed to have decided that for now, at least, no one knew what the truth was yet. So they were choosing hope.

Alice caught my eye as this realization sunk in. Enjoy this, Edward, she thought, looking at me evenly. I told you before, right now, there's no reason not to think this won't turn out okay. Better than okay. The best. Maybe you're being given a gift beyond your wildest dreams. It happens. Why not to you?

Why not indeed?

I'd already been given one gift beyond my wildest dreams.

I glanced down to see that gift looking back at me with chocolate brown eyes brimming with love. She smiled tentatively, then more widely, and reached once again for my hand.

Suddenly overwhelmed, I instead wrapped my arms around her and clutched her to me, burying my nose in her hair so I could pepper the top of her head with kisses.

Maybe, just maybe…she would turn out to be right.