"Oh, not at all," Carlisle assured Bella. "Where are you going to start?" he asked Edward.
"The Waggoner" he told Carlisle, and suddenly Bella's heartbeat sped up. I smiled to myself. Probably Edward was just spinning her to look at the wall that had the pictures on it, but her heart reacted in every situation. Poor Bella, she must be embaressed with Carlisle there listening, not even knowing that the rest of our family could hear the delicious thump-thump of her heart...
No, Esme! I mentally screamed at myself. She was Edward girlfriend. There was no way that I could think like that.
"London in the sixteen-forties" Edward suddenly said, talking to Bella.
"The London of my youth" Carlisle added, walking over to the same spot where they were standing. Bella's heartbeat sped up momentarily as he surprised her, then went back to its previous beating, faster than normal for a human. Edward was probably still touching her, I assumed with a low chuckle.
"Will you tell the story?" Edward asked Carlisle. There was a pause.
"I would," he replied. "But I'm actually running a bit late. The hospital called this morning-Dr. Snow is taking a sick day. Besides, you know the stories as well as I do," he said, probably turning to Edward. I heard Carlisle walking out of the room after a moment, coming towards our room. The door opened at the split second that I predicted it to, and I smiled up at Carlisle. It was like the first time we'd met - his beautiful features filling the room.
"Bye, love. See you later tonight." Carlisle said, coming over and kissing me quickly. I frowned at him.
"Carlisle, why didn't you tell me? I would have let you go, you know that!" He smiled at me.
"Because, I was just so happy where I was," he told me with another kiss. I grinned and gave him a hug.
"Bye, Carlisle. Hurry back," I told him, then went back to my book.
A while later, I heard Alice skipping merrily towards my room, Jasper in pursuit. They paused outside my room quickly. I opened my mouth to tell them to come in, but Alice beat me to the punch.
"She's decent, and we can go in," she trilled, opening the door. I put my book aside, memorizing the page number quickly.
"Yes?" I asked.
"There's gonna be a storm! Do you want to play baseball?" I smiled.
"Yes! Thank you, Esme!" she chirped happily, having seen my being at the clearing. Alice and Jasper were out of the room before I could blink, the door closed again. I heard Alice skipping toward Edward's room, and listened to hear what he would say. I knew Carlisle would be there, he never missed it. And, of course, Rose couldn't keep Emmett away. And if Emmett was there, so was she, that was for sure.
I frowned, thinking about Rose. She could be a little nicer to the human girl, whatever her problem was. But then again, Rose had never liked Edward, and didn't feel - or appreciate - the difference between the Edward that had Bella and the Edward that didn't have Bella. I knew there was a difference, and I knew that Jasper and Alice could feel it too. So could Carlisle, and Emmett, even though he thought that Edward was weird because of his mind-reading. Personally, I'd always thought of Edward as the gentleman of my foster sons, even though I loved them all equally.
Alice and Jasper has reached his door now.
"Can we come in?" Alice called. Edward was chuckling while Bella's heart was pounding. Hmm. Her face must have been something to see. I'd heard all of it, of course.
"Go ahead." Edward replied to Alice, still laughing quietly. Alice entered, sitting down in the center of the room, while Jasper paused at the door.
"It sounded like you were having Bella for lunch, and we came to see if you would share." Bella's heart sped up, and I chuckled quietly at Alice's humor.
"Sorry, I don't believe I have enough to spare," Edward said cheerfully. I could hear the smile in his voice, and Bella's frantic heartbeat. Good, he was still in control.
"Actually," Jasper said, finally walking into the room. "Alice says there's going to be a real storm tonight, and Emmett wants to play ball. Are you game?" There was a pause, about half of a second, my mind calculated.
"Of course you should bring Bella," Alice told him. So that's what he was deliberating about. I was slightly worried about the visitors coming, but not too worried. Or family of seven could take them on easily, although they were probably only curious.
"Do you want to go?" Edward asked Bella, excited. I could only imagine the effect that had on her answer. Whenever Carlisle got excited on me, I couldn't dissappoint his happy face.
"Sure." Bella told him. "Um, where are we going?"
"We have to wait for thunder to play ball-you'll see why" Edward told her.
"Will I need an umbrella?" All three of the vampires in the room laughed.
"Will she?" Jaser asked Alice for her.
"No. The storm will hit over town. It should be dry enough in the clearing." Alice told them.
"Good, then." Jasper said.
"Let's go see if Carlisle will come" Alice said excitedly. As though she didn't already know the answer. I listened carefully, knowing that her words meant that he was coming home soon. Sure enough, I heard his care pulling up in the driveway, as well as a door closing upstairs and the sound of Alice and Jasper coming down the staircase. I stood up, and walked out to the living room. I watched as Alice ran out to Carlisle with Jasper in tow, not even waiting for the engine to stop. She started talking to him excitedly through the glass, not doubt he could hear her. Carlisle stopped the engine, and climbed out.
"Sure, Alice" he told her. "You know I'm always in." Alice squealed, and turned to Jasper.
"Come on! Let's check with Emmett and Rose." Jasper nodded, up for anything that Alice was up for. They ran off into the woods, and I concentrated on Carlisle's face. He smiled when he saw me, opening the door and locking it behind him. He turned around to face me, holding his arms out to me. I smiled, throwing myself across the room and into his arms.
"Welcome home" I murmured.
