Disclaimer: I am NOT Stephenie Meyer and I don't own any of the Twilight series' characters or stories. I borrowed the dialogue and storyline from Breaking Dawn, but the rest is my own take on the story, as seen through Edward's eyes.

A/N: No, this is not an April Fool's joke – I REALLY did update Beyond Dusk!

Chapter 22

Miracle

Jacob stared a moment at the now sleeping Bella, her words still stinging.

"She's exhausted," I offered. "It's been a long day. A hard day. I think she would have gone to sleep earlier, but she was waiting for you."

"Seth said it broke another of her ribs," he said, his voice deadened, as though the news were nothing more than what he expected.

"Yes," I sighed. "It's making it hard for her to breathe."

"Great."

I shoved my hands in my pockets, suddenly feeling strangely awkward. "Let me know when she gets hot again."

"Yeah," Jacob mumbled, not bothering to look up, his focus instead on the goose bumps that ran the length of Bella's arm. Noting his thoughts, I picked up one of the blankets Esme had set on the arm of the couch and draped it over her.

Well, the mind reading thing saves time, at least, Jacob thought.

I crossed the room to the window, looking out into the quiet wilderness, its serenity juxtaposing the torment that roiled within me.

Jacob's thoughts quickly turned to Charlie. Seth must have told him of the conversation Bella had with her father and her intentions to maintain contact, even after her change. It seemed that he and I shared the same optimism for the conclusion to this pregnancy – and the same anger over the unnecessary pain her plan would cause. What a mess!

"Yes." I nodded. "It's not a good idea."

"Then why?" She's only making it worse.

"She can't bear his anxiety."

"So it's better –"

"No." I shook my head sadly. "It's not better. But I'm not going to force her to do anything that makes her unhappy now. Whatever happens, this makes her feel better. I'll deal with the rest afterward."

It's not right. She wouldn't…she must have some other plan.

"She's very sure she's going to live," I offered.

"But not human," he countered.

"No, not human. But she hopes to see Charlie again, anyway."

Oh, this just gets better and better… "See. Charlie," he spat the words through his teeth. "Afterwards. See Charlie when she's all sparkly white with the bright red eyes. I'm not a bloodsucker, so maybe I'm missing something, but Charlie seems like kind of a strange choice for her first meal."

I sighed, Jacob's exasperation echoing my own. "She knows she won't be able to be near him for at least a year. She thinks she can stall. Tell Charlie she has to go to a special hospital on the other side of the world. Keep in contact through phone calls…"

"That's insane."

"Yes," I agreed.

"Charlie's not stupid. Even if she doesn't kill him, he's going to notice a difference."

"She's sort of banking on that."

He stared at me as though I had lost my mind. He wouldn't be very far off base.

"She wouldn't be aging, of course, so that would set a time limit, even if Charlie accepted whatever excuse she comes up with for the changes. Do you remember when you tried to tell her about your transformation? How you made her guess?"

"She told you about that?"

"Yes." I nodded. "She was explaining her…idea. You see, she's not allowed to tell Charlie the truth – it would be very dangerous for him. But he's a smart, practical man. She thinks he'll come up with his own explanation. She assumes he'll get it wrong. After all, we hardly adhere to vampire canon. He'll make some wrong assumption about us, like she did in the beginning, and we'll go along with it. She thinks she'll be able to see him…from time to time."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Insane," he mumbled under his breath.

"Yes."

He's weak to let her have her way like this, he thought.He tumbled the idea over and over in his mind in an attempt to understand my reasoning. It didn't take long at all for him to determine that I was merely making her happy, believing that she wouldn't live long enough to execute her plans.

"I'll deal with whatever comes," I whispered. "I won't cause her pain now."

Jacob let out a slow breath. "Four days?" he asked.

"Approximately."

"Then what?"

I didn't know where he was going with this. "What do you mean, exactly?"

His thoughts dwelled on what little he had gleaned about the pregnancy and the creature growing within her. How does that work? How does it get out?

"From what little research we've been able to do, it would appear the creatures use their own teeth to escape the womb."

Jacob swallowed loudly. "Research?"

"That's why you haven't seen Jasper and Emmett around. That's what Carlisle is doing now. Trying to decipher ancient stories and myths, as much as we can with what we have to work with here, looking for anything that might help us predict the creature's behavior."

Stories? If there are myths, then…

"Then is this thing not the first of its kind?" I finished. "Maybe. It's all very sketchy. The myths could easily be the products of fear and imagination. Though – your myths are true, are they not? Perhaps these are, too. They do seem to be localized, linked…"

But… "How did you find…?"

"There was a woman we encountered in South America. She'd been raised in the traditions of her people. She'd heard warnings about such creatures, old stories that had been passed down."

Jacob's eyes grew wide and I could hear the fear in his voice. "What were the warnings?"

Kaure's memories flooded back, giving me a fresh glimpse of the gore her imagination evoked by the telling of those stories. I briefly squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the images away. "That the creature must be killed immediately. Before it could gain too much strength."

Just like Sam thought. But was he right?

I shrugged. "Of course, their legends say the same of us. That we must be destroyed. That we are soulless murderers."

Two for two.

I laughed at the sarcasm in Jacob's thoughts, irritated with myself for hoping that he would think of us as anything other than monsters. Of course, why would he bother to give credence to the notion when I, myself, felt much the same? No matter how we tried to overcome our nature, it would never change what we are. Bella groaned in her sleep, as though for emphasis.

"What did their stories say about the…mothers?" Jacob asked.

The emotions I had been struggling to keep at bay flooded forth at his words. Images from Kaure's memories, from what research we had been able to gather, and from my own nightmarish daydreams overwhelmed me and I had to squeeze my eyes shut, leaning against the glass façade for support before my feet could give out.

"Of course there were no survivors," Rosalie answered, her voice cold and detached. "Giving birth in the middle of a disease-infested swamp with a medicine man smearing sloth spit across your face to drive out the evil spirits was never the safest method. Even the normal births went badly half the time. None of them had what this baby has – caregivers with an idea of what the baby needs, who try to meet those needs. A doctor with a totally unique knowledge of vampire nature. A plan in place to deliver the baby as safely as possible. Venom that will repair anything that goes wrong. The baby will be fine. And those other mothers would probably have survived if they'd had that – if they even existed in the first place. Something I'm not convinced of."

With each syllable, my anger built. My sorrow turned to rage as I listened to my sister so callously explain away the dangers as though they were inconsequential, as though the pain and danger was worth the potential sacrifice of Bella's life. For what? To bring another monster into the world, one that we couldn't possibly conceive of controlling, and one that would likely expose us all. It wouldn't be the first time, but I found myself wishing that the Volturi had done away with me back in Italy when I had requested they end my existence. So much pain and suffering could have been avoided if they had just granted my single appeal. What my sister failed to see was not just the loss of Bella, but the potential death of us all at the hands of Vampire law.

The baby? Is that all that matters? How could she…

I could feel Jacob's eyes on me as I spun around in a crouch, ready to charge myself at Rosalie.

Allow me. I watched with some manner of curiosity as Jacob lifted the bowl Rosalie had to carefully crafted and threw it right into the back of her head, creating a satisfying clang as it flattened against her skull and ricocheted across the room.

"Dumb blonde," Jacob muttered under his breath.

Rosalie turned to face Jacob, the fury on her face bordering on comical. "You. Got. Food. In. My. Hair," she seethed.

I found myself smiling as Jacob burst into laughter and Alice followed shortly behind. Emmett appeared at the top of the stairs, frowning slightly when he took in the scene below, but fighting back a chuckle as well.

In all the commotion, Bella began to stir and I cringed as she slowly opened her eyes, wincing as she awoke to the ever-present discomfort.

"What's so funny?" she mumbled.

Jacob reigned in his laughter long enough to reply. "I got food in her hair."

"I'm not going to forget this, dog," Rosalie sneered.

"S'not so hard to erase a blonde's memory," he retorted. "Just blow in her ear."

"Get some new jokes," she snapped. Luckily her angry reply drowned out the quiet laughter that Emmett was so desperately trying to hold in.

"C'mon, Jake," Bella grumbled. "Leave Rose alo –" Her speech was halted by a sudden gasp for air. Her face contorted in a grimace of pain as her back arched upward. I crossed the room and threw back the blanket, unsure if I was prepared for what would lay beneath the folds of fabric.

"He's just…stretching," she managed before clenching her teeth together.

I couldn't ignore the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach that there was something much worse going on than just stretching. I placed my hands on either side of her face, hoping my touch would sooth her.

"Carlisle?" I called.

He appeared at my side, the concern on his face matching my own. "Right here."

"Okay," Bella sighed. "Think it's over." She managed a tight smile that looked more like a grimace as she gingerly patter her swollen belly. "Poor kid doesn't have enough room, that's all. He's getting so big."

It won't be much longer, Carlisle thought. I'm concerned about the internal damage that the fetus could inadvertently cause if we continue to wait for labor to begin naturally.

My eyes tightened as I glanced between Carlisle and Rosalie, knowing full well that she would fight ardently against any attempt to induce labor.

How can she talk about it like that? Makes me wish I could throw something at Bella too.

My eyes met with Jacob's for a fraction of a second, both in warning and in agreement. It seemed that even something as brash as that would have little effect on Bella's resolve.

"You know, he reminds me of you, Jake," she whispered.

"Do not compare me to that thing!" he spat.

She shook her head slightly. "I just meant your growth spurt," she explained. "You shot right up. I could watch you getting taller by the minute. He's like that, too. Growing so fast."

I could hear the turmoil in Jacob's mind as he mulled over her words, but my focus was on her. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when the pain appeared to subside and she eased herself back into the cushions.

It is an intriguing comparison, Carlisle mused. I wonder if there are more similarities than we realize, if the knowledge we have of the wolves' physiology – of their genetics – could help us to better understand what we're dealing with. "Hmm…"

Jacob's train of thought was broken and he turned to Carlisle. "What?"

"You know that I was wondering about the fetus's genetic makeup, Jacob. About his chromosomes."

"What of it?" Jacob asked, seeming confused.

"Well, taking your similarities into consideration –"

Jacob bolted upright. "Similarities?" There's more than one?

Carlisle raised a hand in defense. "The accelerated growth, and the fact that Alice cannot see either of you. Well, I wonder if that means that we have an answer. If the similarities are gene-deep."

Carlisle's musings continued. If a human has twenty-three pairs of chromosomes and we have twenty-five pairs, then it stands to reason that, like Jacob, the fetus would have…

"Twenty-four pairs," I finished.

"You don't know that," Jacob argued.

"No," Carlisle agreed. "But it's interesting to speculate."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Just fascinating."

-x-

With much relief, the evening passed without incident. Bella slumbered quietly with only the occasional hint of distress in her breathing. Jacob didn't sleep quite as soundly – even in his dreams, he was a focused protector, formulating a plan to lead Carlisle to the life-saving blood we would need for what we hoped would be a safe delivery.

Shortly before sunrise, Bella's face began to flush and a light perspiration broke out across her brow. I placed my palm against her forehead and felt the fever rushing into my cool skin. Careful not to wake her, I lightly jostled Jacob awake as I eased myself next to her. He yawned widely, stretching his arms above his head before rising from the couch.

Might as well get to work, he thought.

"Thank you," I whispered, acknowledging that I had seen Jacob's plans in his mind. "If the route is clear, they'll go today."

Jacob nodded. "I'll let you know."

He disappeared into the darkness; my hopes going with him that he would be successful in his plans.

Carlisle appeared and sat in the chair across the room. He pinched his brow before rubbing his thumb and index finger over his weary eyes. Although we could not physically tire, it was evident that the situation we found ourselves in had drained us all emotionally. He looked up at me with pitch black eyes, yet even with the hunger so apparent, it remained an inconsequential thought in his mind.

"You need to feed," I whispered.

He nodded tiredly. And we need to replenish our stores for Bella. We won't be able to wait much longer.

"Jacob has a plan," I offered. "They're running a perimeter as we speak, determining the presence Sam's pack has or has not maintained around the territory. If he believes you can exit safely, he will let us know."

Carlisle nodded, a weak smile curving the corners of his mouth. "That's good." Today would be best…we don't want to be caught unprepared.

I feared that no amount of planning would adequately prepare us for the unknown we were preparing to venture into. I leaned my chin against the top of Bella's head and closed my eyes, selfishly relishing in the warmth that would soon disappear. There was nothing more I could do but wait and the passage of time seemed to tick by at an agonizingly slow pace, yet flew by much too quickly. We were at the mercy of the creature growing within my love and there was nothing we could do, or nothing we would be allowed to do. My own impotence continued to eat away at me.

The evening gave way to morning as the sunlight gradually climbed over the mountains, bathing everything in its amber glow. Carlisle had returned to his study, continuing what seemed to be fruitless research. The rest of my siblings, with the exception of Rosalie, busied themselves as best they could. Emmett aided Carlisle with his research. Jasper had taken a break from their searching to console Alice, who was increasingly agitated by her incapacity to see Bella's future. Esme hummed quietly to herself as she prepared breakfast in anticipation of Bella's waking.

I gently ran my finger across the length of Bella's arm, tracing humanly indiscernible patterns on the surface of her skin. A delicate shudder rippled through her and I lifted my hand seconds before she sucked in a desperate gasp of air. Her eyes flew open and she clutched her belly, biting down on her lip so hard that it turned white from lack of blood flow.

"Bella, what is it?" I asked. "Bella…" My eyes hurriedly scanned her body for injury, for evidence of trauma, but none was visible, save for the ever present patchwork of bruises along her abdomen. Any damage at this stage would likely be internal.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her chin pressed to her chest as she struggled to cope with the pain. Then, without warning…crack. Her lips parted and a scream echoed through the house.

"Carlisle!" I yelled, panic surging through me. "Carlisle!"

Carlisle appeared, immediately beginning assessment of Bella's state. An internal trauma? Another break?

"I heard a crack, Carlisle."

"I didn't hear a thing," countered Rosalie.

I spun around, staring at my sister. "If I say I heard a crack, I heard a crack!" I seethed.

Hearing things now? You're starting to lose it.

Ignoring Rosalie, I scooped Bella up in my arms and bounded up the stairs to Carlisle's study. Alice flattened herself against the wall as we breezed by her. I laid Bella gently on the examination table as Carlisle readied the x-ray machine. She seemed to be breathing easier, but her teeth were still clenched as though she were trying to keep from crying out.

Carlisle stepped beside the table and gingerly pressed along Bella's ribcage and abdomen, testing for the site of the break. She winced as his fingers moved along her already fractured ribs, but her face went pale when he reached her lower abdomen.

"It could be her pelvis," Carlisle murmured. "We'll need the x-ray to be sure."

"It wasn't a break," Rosalie insisted from across the room.

I didn't even bother to look at her, instead maintaining my watchful eye on Bella.

"That's enough, Rosalie," Carlisle reprimanded.

The machine whirred to life and Carlisle positioned it over her lower abdomen, preparing to take the images that would determine if indeed her pelvis was broken. And if it was…what then? Would she finally allow us to induce labor? Would she wait until it crushed her spine? The scenarios flew through my mind and I had to release Bella's hand for fear of crushing it.

The images glowed on the monitor and I watched Carlisle's mind as he examined them. There doesn't appear to be a fracture. The fetus could have been pressing on a kidney or putting pressure on the pelvic bone without actually causing breakage.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"With certainty." He nodded, patting my shoulder reassuringly. "I don't see any breaks."

"See, I told you I didn't hear a crack," Rosalie scoffed. "You need your ears checked, Edward."

Carlisle looked warily between the two of us and Emmett appeared in the door, clearly prepared for a physical confrontation. Esme breezed past him with a cup in hand.

"Here you go, Sweetheart," she soothed, handing the cup to Bella.

"Thank you," Bella smiled, taking a long sip of the red liquid and sighing with relief.

It's almost gone, Esme thought, looking at both me and Carlisle. We need to go today.

I could hear Jacob's thoughts from the floor below. I prayed that he had come with good news.

"Take me back down?" Bella asked.

I wanted to protest, but had little strength left to argue and if staying away from the life-saving equipment made her feel better, then who was I to deny her. I carefully lifted Bella up in my arms and began carrying her back downstairs, brushing past Rosalie in my exit from the room.

Jacob stood with Alice at the base of the stairs. Their eyes met mine as we began to descend.

"Jake," Bella whispered.

I gently placed her on the couch and sunk down to the floor beside her. Rosalie filed in behind me, sitting a safe distance away.

"Carlisle, we went halfway to Seattle," Jacob began. "There's no sign of the pack. You're good to go."

"Thank you, Jacob. This is good timing. There's much that we need." Both for Bella and ourselves.

Jacob nodded. "Honestly, I think you're safe to take more than three. I'm pretty positive that Sam is concentrating on La Push."

"If you think so," Carlisle agreed. "Alice, Esme, Jasper, and I will go. Then Alice can take Emmett and Rosa –"

"Not a chance," Rosalie cut him off. "Emmett can go with you now."

"You should hunt," Carlisle encouraged.

"I'll hunt when he does," she hissed, jutting her chin in my direction.

Hearing the word hunt, both Emmett and Jasper appeared, eager to have the opportunity to sate their thirst. They flew to the back door where they were joined by Alice and Esme.

"Thank you," Carlisle said, placing his hand on Jacob's arm. I was surprised when Jacob didn't flinch. Then Carlisle disappeared, following the others for the hunt. It wasn't lost on me that now would be the perfect opportunity to make a move. Rosalie had no Emmett to protect her now. Jacob and I could easily subdue her…but Bella would never forgive me if I did.

Jacob walked across the room, stretching out in the chair between Bella and Rosalie.

"Ew," Rosalie complained. "Someone put the dog out."

Jacob chuckled to himself. "Have you heard this one, Psycho? How do a blonde's brain cells die?"

"Well?" he prodded when she didn't answer. "Do you know the punch line or not?"

She still refused to respond.

"Has she heard it?" he asked me.

"No," I mumbled. I would have heard the answer in her mind if she had.

"Awesome. So you'll enjoy this, bloodsucker – a blonde's brain cells die alone."

There was silence for several beats before Rosalie opened her mouth. "I have killed a hundred times more often than you have, you disgusting beast. Don't forget that."

Jacob chuckled. "Someday, Beauty Queen, you're going to get tired of just threatening me. I'm really looking forward to that."

"Enough, Jacob," Bella interjected.

Guess yesterday's good mood is long gone. "You want me to take off?" he offered.

"No! Of course not."

As much as I appreciated everything Jacob had done for us, the old embers of competition still smoldered within me. No matter what we did or how we lived our lives, it was apparent that Bella would never be willing to let him go. I wondered if she understood how unfair that was, both to me and more so to him.

"You look tired," she observed.

"Dead beat," Jacob grumbled.

"I'd like to beat you dead," Rosalie muttered under her breath.

Uncomfortable silence enveloped the room until it was replaced by the loud suctioning as Bella emptied her cup. "Rosalie?" she asked. "Would you mind…?"

Before Bella could finish her sentence, Rosalie had taken the empty cup and disappeared up the stairs for another.

Might as well take a nap, Jacob thought.

The room fell into silence once more. I could hear the sound of liquid being poured on the floor above me, the sound of two beating hearts and two sets of lungs and…

"Did you say something?" I asked, turning to Bella.

She stared back at me with a curious expression. Was it possible? Had I heard her? It was unlike the thoughts of the others that are a string of words and emotions, this was more like the impression I felt when Jasper projected his ability, saturating the room with emotion. But Jasper was gone.

"Me?" Bella asked. "I didn't say anything."

But there it was again, the undeniable feeling of contentment emanating from Bella. Had something changed? How was it that I could now hear her, but hear merely her feelings and not her thoughts? I leaned up, staring at her face, trying to connect the feelings I could sense and the expression in her eyes.

"What are you thinking about right now?"

She stared at me for several seconds. "Nothing. What's going on?"

"What were you thinking about a minute ago?"

"Just…Esme's island. And feathers." She blushed. The sensation was still there, but the feelings I was sensing didn't seem to connect to Bella's emotional state. I should hear confusion, embarrassment, but all I could feel was an overwhelming sense of contentment. Could it be…

"Say something else," I whispered, leaning closer to Bella's swollen abdomen.

"Like what? Edward, what's going on?"

Contentment. Affection. Happiness. Could it be the fetus that I was hearing? The thoughts were not formed like those I had become accustomed to. They were emotions rather than words. And the emotions seemed to grow stronger with the sound of Bella's voice. Was it possible that I had been wrong all along about the thing growing inside of her?

My hands quivered as I reached out, gently placing them on her abdomen. Her eyes widened at the gesture and I could hear Jacob's surprised thoughts as well. Amazing.

"The f –" I stopped myself. This wasn't merely a creature, wasn't merely a fetus. The being inside of her had feelings and emotions far superior to what I would expect from the demon I believed to be growing inside of her. "It…the baby likes the sound of your voice," I whispered.

"Holy crow, you can hear him!" Bella shouted.

The feelings of contentment quickly shifted to fright and Bella winced as the baby jostled within her. I moved my hand, rubbing her belly in slow circles.

"Shh," I whispered. "You startled it…him."

Her eyes widened and I could see the shock in her expression at this new revelation. "Sorry, baby," she soothed.

I tilted my head toward her belly, leaning my ear closer. I tried to recall if I had ever heard this tenor of thought before, but had ignored it. I never imagined that I could hear the thoughts of the thing growing within her, but even more than that, I never dreamed that the thoughts would be like this. Blood, death, destruction…that was its mantra. Or so I thought. But no…love, contentment, adoration. If I wasn't hearing it for myself, I never would have believed it.

"What's he thinking now?" Bella asked.

"It…he or she, is…he's happy."

Tears welled in Bella's eyes and tricked down her cheeks as she smiled at me. I couldn't believe it. How had I been so wrong? I thought that it was a demon, a monster, but the more I could hear of its thoughts, the more I came to understand that it was a being like us with feelings and emotions…capable of so much more than mere devastation.

"Of course you're happy, pretty baby, of course you are," she crooned. "How could you not be, all safe and warm and loved? I love you so much, little EJ, of course you're happy."

"What did you call him?" I asked.

Her cheeks stained crimson. "I sort of named him. I didn't think you would want…well, you know."

She was right. I had been so bent on destroying the abomination that I never conceived of caring for it, let alone naming it. "EJ?"

"Your father's name was Edward, too," she explained.

"Yes, it was." I nodded. The thoughts emanating from her belly altered and I found myself startled. "What – hmm."

"What?"

"He likes my voice, too."

"Of course he does." She beamed. "You have the most beautiful voice in the universe. Who wouldn't love it?"

"Do you have a backup plan?" Rosalie interjected. "What if he's a she?"

"I kicked a few things around. Playing with Renée and Esme. I was thinking…Ruh-nez-may."

"Ruhnezmay?"

"R-e-n-e-s-m-e-e. Too weird?"

Rosalie shook her head. "No, I like it. It's beautiful. And one of a kind, so that fits."

"I still think he's an Edward." Bella smiled, rubbing my hand that still rested on her belly.

As Bella spoke, I could feel the emotion emanating from her belly swell until it was an overwhelming and undeniable sense of adoration and love. The thing inside her, the…baby…loved her. And, for whatever reason unknown to me, it recognized my voice and felt an attachment to me as well. I could feel the ice that had built up around my heart begin to melt away. The fear of the unknown began to disappear and, for the first time, I felt myself become eager to meet the child growing inside her.

Realization dawned on me that what we had done on Isle Esme, the death I was so sure I had doomed her to, was nothing like what I had thought. We had done the impossible. Bella and I had created life, created a life out of love. And that made me something I never, in my hundred years, thought I could be…a father.

"What?" Bella asked, breaking my concentration. "What's he thinking now?"

I couldn't help myself. I felt the need to be as close as possible, to feel even a fraction of what Bella had felt, to attain the connection she had from the moment we discovered this miracle. I pressed my ear to her belly, feeling the warmth of her skin against my cheek and sensing the movements within.

"He loves you," I whispered, still amazed by this discovery. "He absolutely adores you."

I heard Bella gasp before she laid her hand against my head. I had been so wrong…so absolutely wrong. Something that could love Bella as unconditionally as this child does, whose love could only rival my own – how could something capable of such emotion be evil? For all the time I spent hating myself and hating him, I couldn't conceive of harming him now. He was a part of me, a part of Bella. A miracle.

A/N: If you read this chapter, I have to thank you for not giving up on me or this story.

I have to thank everyone who checked up on me the past few months. I appreciated all your notes and concerns. I can't apologize enough for the long hiatus I took from this story. It was unintentional. It began with the holidays that kept me busy and snowballed from there with responsibilities at work and home taking up most of my time. For those who follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I have a custom painting business that I do in my spare time. I had quite a bit of traffic in December and January with that and any free time for writing I would have had was taken up by painting. If you're interested, check me out on Etsy – my shop is called CustomChucks.

With that said, when I did have time to write, I found myself in a bit of a rut and had difficulty getting back into the proper mindset to write Edward. After quite a bit of floundering, I can thank my beta, Nellybear85, and my writing partner, misticbutterfly, for helping me get back on track. Thanks ladies!