To say that I am completely
overwhelmed by the last chapter's reviews, is a drastic
understatement! That was the most reviews that I have gotten for one
chapter and it made me feel a lot better:) I really appreciate all of
your guys' support because I was starting to feel a little down
about my story and didn't know if I wanted to continue writing
it.
Anyway, thank you so much to all that reviewed and I'm
pleased as punch that you liked their first kiss:)
DC: I keep
forgetting this, but I'm pretty sure you all already get the
picture but I'll say it one more time… Twilight belongs to
Stephanie Meyers and that is not me, unless I miraculously wake up
one morning and am her, I think you get that by now;)
BPOV
After standing there, jaw on the floor, watching that little annoying yet wonderful pixie walk away, I made my way into the kitchen. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful.
We had a very light supper and some light dinner conversation.
"So, Bella, tell us about yourself and your family?" Esme asked.
"Um, my mom and my stepdad live in Iowa. He couches baseball at a University there. I actually went to college there and after I graduated, I decided it was time to get out on my own and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I came to LA to visit my cousin who lives there, to see if I could make a life for myself there. I always thought it would be easier to live somewhere where at least I knew someone. I met your kids on the airplane out there, so I have never been without anyone the whole time I have been there. I have to admit, it's great having friends, so I didn't get so home sick" I informed her, while smiling at Alice. She had a huge grin on her face as well. I could see that she thought the same about me and that made my heart swell. They were the best friends anyone could ask for.
"How come you're stuck here with us this Christmas and not back in Iowa with your mom?" Emmett asked, with his mouth full of food.
"Oh, my mom and Phil, that's my stepdad, decided they were going to take a cruise this year to the Bahamas for Christmas. That's my mom though; she's always doing stuff at the spur of the moment. Sometimes I think she forgets that she's not nineteen anymore" I laughed.
"And your father, does he live in Iowa also?" Esme inquired.
"Uh… no. He actually lived in Oregon. He was the Chief of Police in a really small town, kind of like this one. He actually got killed in the line of duty a few years back" I told her, looking down at my plate, so that my watery eyes were hidden.
I heard a chair being pushed back and I was immediately engulfed in a huge hug from behind.
"I'm so sorry, dear. I'm sure it's very hard for you especially this time of year" Esme told me, with her arms still wrapped around my shoulders. It felt really nice, having her act so motherly towards me. It felt so nature and normal.
Carlisle and Esme decided to go to bed early and the rest of us, minus the kids who were sound asleep, decided to play some games.
After a few mean games of Phase 10, we all decided to go to bed. I wanted to try to get up early tomorrow; you know, maybe just once beat Edward to the shower and get him some coffee.
I set my alarm, something I had yet to do on this vacation, and crawled into bed. I fell fast asleep thinking about Edward and our amazing kiss.
I was awakened to the sound that everyone just loves hearing, that really annoying BEEP BEEP BEEP. The sound that just makes your skin crawl and makes you want to sleep next to a hammer every night so you can properly take care of that bothersome piece of plastic when it goes off in the morning. Although, I'm pretty sure that Esme would not take to kindly to me shredding her guest room alarm clock, and to be honest, that's the only thing that stopped me from opening the window and tossing it out onto the drive way.
I had to remind myself as to why I had set the alarm clock in the first place. I hopped out of bed, grabbed my stuff for the day, listening to the sounds around me to see if I could hear Edward. I opened my door slowly, so I didn't make him aware of my presence. Seeing that the bathroom door was directly across from his bedroom door and mine was a little down the hall, I didn't want him to hear me and run in there before I had a chance.
I could hear him lazily making his way around his room, doing whatever it was that he did in the morning.
I tiptoed my way to the bathroom and just as I was about to shut the door, I saw his door open. He was holding his clothes in his hands and was still in his pajamas.
He saw me and his mouth was a gape. He composed himself and looked like he was going to charge into the bathroom.
I giggled and slammed the door, locking it. I heard him sigh and place his head on the door. I hoped that I hadn't inadvertently woke up everyone up when I slammed the door. I wasn't thinking about anything but beating Edward and I cringed at the thought of my actions.
I stood by the door to see if I could hear any sounds coming from the other rooms on the top floor. I couldn't, so I got into the shower, smiling the entire time.
I finally beat him! I pumped my fist in the air and wanted to do my happy dance. I reminded myself that I was in fact in a slippery shower, so that idea went out the window before it had a chance to manifest.
I got out and took my time doing my daily rituals. I made sure to take extra time brushing my back teeth. I flossed twice and even brushed completely through my hair three times.
When I thought I had tortured Edward enough, I grabbed my stuff and opened the door.
There he was, sitting on the floor, propped up against his closed door. His clothes were in a pile next to him and he had his hands folded neatly in his lap. He was wearing that stupid crooked grin that he was famous for. The one that sent all the girls into a flutter and I was no exception.
I smiled at him and started walking back to my room.
"Don't get to cocky Swan! You know I will beat you tomorrow!" he called after me.
I didn't turn around to look at him, because if I had, he would have seen my blush.
"We'll see about that Cullen, we will see!" I called back, over my shoulder.
I threw everything in my room and when I heard the bathroom door securely shut, I made my break for it. I ran down stairs and grabbed two cups from the cupboard. Thank God the Cullen's prepped their coffee the night before and put it on a timer. I poured our coffee and left mine sitting on the counter. I grabbed his cup, putting the appropriate amount of cream and sugar in it and made my way back up the stairs.
I was just setting the cup on his dresser, when I heard the shower shut off. I hurried out of his room, quietly shutting the door behind me and made my way back to my coffee.
I grabbed my coffee, the paper off the porch and sat down at the table to wait for Edward to appear. He came in, sat down next to me and I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He was looking at me, wearing a smirk.
"I could so get use to you bringing me coffee in the morning" he said, quoting me from earlier in the week. He had a huge grin plastered on his face. I was about to say something smart back to him when we were interrupted by the kids, who came squealing into the room. EJ was hiding on the other side of Edward and Emily had crawled onto my lap and was hiding her face in my shoulder.
Edward and I exchanged looks of bewilderment.
"What are you two…" Edward barely got out of his mouth before the answer became all too clear to us.
"ROAR! ROAR!! Where is my breakfast? They ran away! I AM HUNGRY!" Emmett came slowly pacing into the room with his arms up and his hands shaped like claws. He was stomping his big feet and walking slow and stiff. I looked up at him and he could barely hold in his laughter.
Edward jumped out of his chair and threw his arms out in front of him. "Not the boy! Girls taste better for breakfast!" he said in a mock scared voice.
Emmett turned to Emily and I, who were still sitting in the chair. I scooped her up in my arms and jumped up. I ran around to the other side of the table, so that it was in between Emmett and us.
Emily was giggling into my shoulder and peeking out from behind my hair. Emmett went to go around the table, so I took off around the other side. Unfortunately, Edward was blocking the other side and jumped in front of me to block off my exit. He had a gleam in his eye as Emmett made his way slowly over to us.
I set Emily down on her feet, "run for your life, and don't look back!" I told her. She giggled and went to run around Emmett who swept her up and threw her up into the air. He made his way back to me, with Emily thrown over his shoulder. He reached up with the arm that she was on and started tickling her.
"Oh Swany!" he sang before launching himself at me, tickling me with his free hand. I tried to escape but Edward and EJ were standing there and they joined in. Somehow, we all ended up on the floor in a pile, the boys tickling the girls.
We were snapped back to reality by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Every one of us on the floor froze; EJ, Edward, Emmett all froze mid-tickle and there was Emily and I curled up into balls on the floor; we all looked up at the very same time in a very slow drawn out way. If I was the one witnessing this, I would have thought it was funny because I'm sure we all looked very goofy and very guilty. We saw Rosalie with her hands on her hips, Alice with her hand up to her mouth holding in her giggles, and Jasper standing there pouting.
"Emmett, what did I tell you about getting the kids all hyped up before breakfast?" Rosalie huffed.
"Yeah and why am I always the one missing out on the massive tickle wars? I never get to have fun" Jasper said, stomping his foot, still pouting. Wow, the whole throwing a temper tantrum must be a family thing.
Edward was on his feet in seconds and Emmett followed. The kids had already skipped off into the kitchen to see what Grandma Esme would sneak them before breakfast. It was their morning ritual that no one ever spoke of. I couldn't wait to have grandchildren of my own to spoil someday. I saw a hand stuck right in my face. When I looked up, I saw it was Edward, always the gentleman trying to help me to my feet.
I decided to have a little fun with him on account of him feeding Emily and I to a 'bear'. I crossed my legs Indian style and crossed my arms over my chest.
"What are you doing?" Edward asked with a bemused look on his face.
"I don't want help up from you, the 'bear' feeder!" I told him, jutting my chin out and raising my head a bit.
I heard him laugh, a deep belly laugh and he plopped down on the floor next to me. He bumped me with his shoulder and tried to look serious.
"I'm sorry I feed you guys to the bear!" he said pouting.
I rolled my eyes in mock disbelief "yeah sure you are."
"No, really I am! Come on, you have to forgive me, it's Christmas Eve!" he reminded me. "I'll give you a present!" he sang.
I looked up at the ceiling, tapping my finger to my chin. "What is it, and we'll see if it's worthy of my forgiveness" I told him.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a candy cane. He held it out in front of me and I smiled. I reached up for it but he pulled it back. "Am I forgiven?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Fine, just give me the damn candy cane" I huffed, trying to hold back my smile. He smiled in victory and placed the candy cane in my hand. "You're just lucky its Christmas Eve and I have a very big sweet tooth, Cullen!" I informed him.
He jumped up and reached for my hand to help me up. I finally took it and stood up.
The day was a fun hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for tomorrow. Esme had decided to do a semi-large dinner tonight and a huge dinner tomorrow. If what she made for dinner tonight was a semi-large dinner, I think very curious to see what she constituted as a huge dinner.
After dinner, we all just mulled around in the living room, no one wanted to move from their seats after sitting down.
"Thank heaven for maternity pants. They have elastic" Rosalie huffed, blowing out a huge breath and rubbing her belly.
"Hey baby, can I borrow some of those pants? I don't think mine with fit after tonight and tomorrow" Emmett declared.
We all had a good, painful laugh at his comment because quite frankly, I could see Emmett actually trying to wear them.
It was an unspoken agreement that the rest of the night would be spent wrapping Christmas present. I offered to keep the kids entertained while Rosalie dragged a pouting Emmett down stairs to wrap the present that they brought. According to Emmett, he would much rather play Candyland with us then have to listen to Rosalie yell at him when his corners of the wrapping paper weren't folded crisp enough or the bow was in the wrong spot.
After two games of Candyland and halfway through The Grinch who Stole Christmas, Emmett appeared and announced that he was dismissed and therefore I was relieved of my kid duty.
I ran up to Alice's room, where I knew she would be, and knocked on the door.
"Come in" she yelled.
"Hey Alice, I was wondering if you had any extra tape I could use?" I asked her.
She continued wrapping her presents and never even looked up at me.
"Um, no I don't but I know Edward does. He's in his room" she informed me.
"Ok, thanks" I told her, turning and trotting out of her room.
I went to Edward's door and knocked.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"It's Bella, is it safe to come it?" I questioned back.
"Oh yeah, come on it" he told me, sounding relieved.
I walked in and saw him sitting on his bed covered in scraps of unused paper, surrounded my wrapped presents. I walked over to the side of his bed and stopped there.
"Hey, do you have any extra tape I could borrow? I bought paper and walked off and forgot to buy tape"
"Um…yeah. It's here somewhere" he began shuffling through the piles on his bed. I noticed a very obvious blue box with a white ribbon sitting on his bed. I knew that box.
"Tiffany's huh? Wow, someone must be pretty special" I told him with a laugh.
"Yeah, it's for my mom. Would you like to see?" he asked.
"Sure, if you don't mind that is" I told him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
He took the ribbon off and opened the lid.
Sitting nestled inside, was the most beautiful locket. It was gold and had three little gem stones on the front.
"These are Emmett, my and Alice's birthstones on the front. I even had a professional shrink some pictures to put inside" he told me while opening the locket for me to see. On one side, there was a picture of the three of them when they were kids and on the other side, there was a picture of them as adults. I smiled at him and told him it was beautiful.
"There's more" he informed me, flipping the locket over. On the back, there was an inscription.
Always and
Forever, no matter what!
Love Edward
"Oh, Edward! That's beautiful, what does it mean?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that my eyes were full of tears.
"When we were young, my mom always made it a habit to always be here to tuck us in when we went to bed at night. I can only remember a handful of times when she wasn't. After we were all tucked in, she would walk to the door, and turn off the lights. Before she would shut our doors, she would always turn around and tell us 'I love you! Always and forever, no matter what!' It has always stuck with me, because I know that it's true. No matter what happens, the love that radiates in this family will always be the thing we can fall back on" he had a faraway look in his eyes when he told me the story and I couldn't help the tears from falling.
"Edward, that's a beautiful story! Your mother is going to LOVE that present" I told him.
I stood up from the bed and made my way to the door so he couldn't see that I was crying, again.
"Good night Edward" I told him, while facing the door.
"Oh Bella…" he said and I turned to face him. Our eyes met and we just looked at each other for what felt like an eternity.
"Merry Christmas!" he finally said with a half smile.
"Merry Christmas, Edward" I whispered.
I made my way to my room and shut the door before me. I leaned against the door and let out the breath I wasn't aware that I had been holding.
Merry Christmas Edward… I repeated in my head.
Yea, by far my longest chapter! I
wanted to get this out before I went and finished my killer homework
that is due tomorrow!
If you want the next chapter and find out
what Bella and Edward got each other for Christmas, it's going to
cost ya;) You all know what to do!
Oh, and I wanted to tell you
all, the poll is still open. I also put a picture up of Esme's
locket. I couldn't find the exact one that I was envisioning but
its close. I also put pictures of the stones in order of their
birthdays under the picture of the locket. Check it out!
