Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. No Copyright infringement intended.
Isabella Swan.
I stared into the distance for a long time at Liam after saying her name out loud. Just having those words fall from my lips was jarring, like hearing the sound of my own voice after a long silence. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say, or how much I needed to get off my chest.
I leveled my eyes with Liam and waited for his gaze to return to mine. He looked up waiting for me to start as he ran a rag over the bar's counter top.
"She was the most beautiful woman I have known, inside and out," I began.
"We met as juniors in high school. She was new to Seattle, and I belonged to one of the wealthiest families in the Pacific Northwest. She was the new step-daughter of the state's Supreme Court Judge Phillip Dwyer. Dwyer's marriage to Isabella's mother Renee was the scandal of the year, and at first my parents didn't approve of my courting her. Over time, my parents warmed up to her, my mother and her were civil and my father stopped reminding me of the social ramification of associating with what our circle of acquaintances called, 'One of the Swan girls' - even though Renee had changed her last name to Dwyer. Isabella was fiercely loyal to her biological father, and although many thought it proper she change her last name, she refused vehemently. Renee and Philip could have forced her, but, perhaps out of guilt they let her keep the Swan surname.
I thought the name was perfect – she was my swan. Pale, lovely, quiet, fierce when she needed to be. Like a Swan on land and then water, she could appear clumsy in one moment and devastatingly graceful in the next. She was intelligent, thoughtful, introspective, compassionate, and industrious. Isabella was made for me. She was my everything.
Renee was not readily accepted into the upper crust families of Seattle. For one, she was a divorcée, and second, she and Isabella did not come from a wealthy family, so they were somewhat ignorant of our customs. I know that Isabella often found her lack of knowledge embarrassing. I myself found it sweet and endearing, and I enjoyed teaching her the ins and outs of life among socialite families. Isabella was a keen observer and a quick learn. It wasn't long before she was behaving in ways that made both her and I more comfortable.
Mrs. Dwyer, on the other hand, seemed to go out of her way to behave in a contrary way than what was expected in a woman of her position. Her antics were grist for the gossip mill that ran endlessly during Saturday afternoon tea at one society woman's house or another. When talk of her divorce and subsequent coupling with Judge Dwyer, Renee's intentions were speculated; some believed she faked a pregnancy to trap him, others believed that she was blackmailing him. Truthfully Renee was beautiful, and almost 20 years younger than her husband, so some believed that Judge Dwyer was looking for a trophy rather than a wife. Her attractive and youthful looks only spurned some of the more weathered society ladies.
Renee's…ways didn't help. She insisted on keeping a vegetable garden, although her husband could have paid 2 or more staff to keep one for her. My mother's friends spent weeks tittering about Judge Dwyer's wife bent over like a common woman pulling weeds. While it was considered acceptable for a woman of our status to keep flowers and cultivate roses, they didn't usually grow food. That was for women who couldn't afford to pay others to grow it for her.
Mrs. Dwyer kept up an innumerable amount of hobbies that only fed everyone's negative view of her. For myself, I came to know her better than any society lady or gossiping old bitty. I met her on several occasions while visiting Isabella.
In many ways, Renee and Isabella were different like night was to day. Isabella was very practical, contemplative, and careful. Renee was child-like. She was fascinated and enthusiastic about everything, and didn't allow social conventions to limit her curious mind. Isabella obviously inherited Renee's intelligence, but was able to take it to a level further than her mother due to her studious and determined nature. While Isabella was always a homebody who preferred cooking and reading, Renee was always outdoors. Whether she was pulling weeds or riding a bicycle in downtown Seattle, Renee loved to be active.
Physically, Isabella was like a younger version of her mother, but with darker hair and eyes. Renee was sandy blond with blue eyes, while Isabella had hair like chestnut and mahogany and eyes like dark chocolate. They both had soft curvy features, high breasts and slender yet feminine hips. Was I a pervert for checking out my girlfriend's mother so closely? Perhaps, but I was never aroused by it, so I suppose it was more a product of my observant nature than my youthful urges.
"Remind me again of this young lady's name, Edward?" My mother eyed my over her tea cup while Mrs. Stanley and Mrs. Mallory looked on with sour expressions on their face.
I had just come into the house on a Saturday afternoon after enjoying a impromptu game of baseball with a few of my school friends. Isabella had sat in the shade and watched while I busted my body on the diamond trying to impress her. I entered through the back door of our house intent on cleaning up before I approached mother with my request, but my mind and my lips were bursting with my love's name and face, and before I realized my mother had company, I called out to her in the great room, announcing to her that I had seen "my girl" and that she was a lovely as ever.
"Isabella, mother. Isabella Swan." I gulped nervously. At 17 years of age, I was many things: A varsity athlete; a charismatic member of the student body; school president; homecoming king and a chronic momma's boy.
"Hmmm," My mother replied, "Is that Judge Dwyer's new step daughter? I haven't met her, although I have met her mother." The two ladies in my mother presence tittered and eyed each other at the comment. "Tell me Edward, what's she like?"
"Well," I began nervously, clearing my throat. I had heard of the newly married Renee Dwyer, and the reputation that had followed her from Forks Washington upon marrying a local Judge. Therefore, I knew to steer clear from any adjectives that may place Isabella in remotely in the same light, "She's…quiet, a bit shy. She's very good in academics, especially English and History, but she's not so good in athletics. She's…self-conscious maybe? She's-"
"You mean she's clumsy?" Mrs. Mallory interjected. I felt my body stiffen as I controlled the ungentlemanly remark that was straining to escape from my lips. It wouldn't be very becoming of me to remind Mrs. Mallory just how much her daughter has shown her physical capabilities to most of the male students at the Academy.
"I…well, I wouldn't say clumsy. Like I said, she is shy and sweet and she becomes nervous when attracting attention…" Oh god, this wasn't going well.
Despite the fact that I wanted to tell my mother just how wonderful Isabella Swan was, I couldn't seem to do anything but highlight her weaknesses. Thankfully, my mother managed to maintain a sense of decorum in front of the local gossips, "Well my dear son, I hope you had a good time. Tell me, when can I expect to meet young Miss Swan?"
"That's what I would like to ask of you mother, I would like to invite her to brunch on Sunday. May I?"
The two women flanking my mother continued to scowl, while a sweet and small smile crept over her mouth…
Courting me made the vipers at our circle target Isabella even further. Due to my family connections and apparent good looks, every society girl coveted my affections, and it was considered highly unjust that the new girl – "The Swan Girl"- was the one I favored. In my mind, there was no contest. The other girls came across as false. They seemed more concerned with material wealth that their character as people. Isabella was exactly the opposite. Her sincerity and honest ways were perfect for me. I wasn't oblivious to her trials, and together we stuck it out and made through the catty nature of the other teenage girls.
After the cruel pranks that Lauren Mallory pulled, I would never be able to find blond women attractive. Just imagining her platinum hair and ice blue eyes made me shudder.
"By the end of our high school career, we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Over Christmas of 1934, I telephoned Isabella's father and was granted his blessing for her hand. Out of courtesy, I also asked Judge Dwyer. The smile that graced his face upon my request still chilled me 12 years later. He didn't look like a caring step father whose daughter had found true love – he looked more like the Cheshire cat finishing a feathered meal. His grin was more reminiscent of victory than pride.
"For reasons I can't recall, Isabella and I decided it would be best if we kept our engagement a secret until graduation. Perhaps it was to avoid further scrutiny, or to distance ourselves from the jealous people in our lives. I had accepted a scholarship to Stanford, and Isabella told me time and again, that as long as she was with me, she was home. She was a smart girl, but we both knew that my education came first, as I would be the breadwinner in the family. I could see it in her eyes however; she longed to attend college as well. Fortunately Isabella was also accepted to Stanford, and Judge Dwyer agreed to help her finance the cost. Isabella was ecstatic, so we knew that we would attend college together so long as it didn't interfere with her duties as a wife. I have a feeling that this also worked to the Judge's benefit. Isabella often alluded to the fact that Judge Dwyer found her presence stifling to his new marriage. In fact, Renee and Philip tried to convince Isabella to live with her father more than once; I think if I hadn't been the in picture, she may have considered it.
So life was very good, and not long after our engagement, Isabella and I even chose to…consummate our relationship." I couldn't help but blush deeply at this admission. Though I was almost thirty years old, that time with Isabella was deeply intimate, and as close to sacred as I had ever experienced. I didn't want to hand out the finer details to a strange barkeep, but I couldn't help but recall them…
A/N: I'm trying to keep the chapters relatively short, so although this is a strange place to end this, I am posting the next chapter ASAP. It was the only reasonable place to break the chapters without having one very long chap.
