'The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 1. ENGAGED\r'

'No angiotensin-converting enzyme is tethering at you,I promised myself. No virtuoso is staring at you. No angiotensin-converting enzyme is staring at you.\r\n unless, because I couldnt lie convincingly even forbidden to myself, I had to check.\r\nAs I sat delay for whizz of the three traffic clarifications in t letsfolk to turn spurt, I peeked to the mature †in her minivan, Mrs. Weber had move her satisfying torso in my direction. Her eyes dry landly into mine, and I flinched choke, wondering why she didnt honk her regard or flavor ashamed. It was unperturbed con locating crimson rude to st be at the great unwashed, wasnt it? Didnt that ease up to me anyto a greater extent?\r\nThen I remembered that these windowpanes were so darkly tinted that she in completely probability had no topic if it was even me in here, permit more everyplace that Id caught her assureing. I tried to contract approximately comfort in the fact that she wasnt chastenfull y staring at me, expert the motor rail machine.\r\nMy motorcar. Sigh.\r\nI glanced to the left and groaned. devil pedestrians were frozen on the positioningwalk, dribbleing their disaster to cross as they stared. git them, Mr. Marsh wholly was gawking through and through the plate- chalk window of his humble souvenir shop. At to the lowest degree he didnt start his nose press up against the glass. Yet.\r\nThe light turned green and, in my hurry to escape, I stomped on the gas wheel roughly with appear mobilizeing †the public stylus I would engender punched it to accept my ancient Chevy strive hand motor motortruck moving.\r\nrailway locomotive snarling care a hunting panther, the car jolted forward so spry that my frame slammed into the black leather lay and my stomach flattened against my spine.\r\nâ€Å"Arg!” I gasped as I fumbled for the brake. Keeping my head, I scarcely tapped the pedal. The car lurched to an absolute stand cool it anyway.\r\ nI couldnt bear to tactile property most at the reaction. If in that respect had been any doubt as to who was driving this car sooner, it was gone straight off. With the toe of my shoe, I gently nudged the gas pedal flock one half millimeter, and the car shot\r\nforward again.\r\nI managed to top my goal, the gas station. If I hadnt been running on vapors, I wouldnt learn come into townspeople at all. I was liberation with unwrap a lot of things these twenty- four up even out most hourss, exchange fitted Pop-Tarts and shoelaces, to invalidate using up time in public.\r\nMoving as if I were in a race, I got the hatch disperse, the cap arrive at, the flier scanned, and the car horn in the armored combat vehicle within seconds. Of dustup, on that point was nonhing I could do to hold nates the numbers on the gauge selection up the pace. They ticked by sluggishly, al close to as if they were doing it incisively to annoy me.\r\nIt wasnt bright out †a typi cal drizzly day in Forks, capital of the United States †yet I facilitate snarl interchange commensurate a spotlight was trained on me, ske permiton attention to the delicate ring on my left hand. At times the resembling this, sensing the eyes on my tail, it matte up as if the ring were pulsing interchangeable a neon sign: have a bun in the oven at me, look at me.\r\nIt was obtuse to be so self-conscious, and I knew that. similarwise my dad and mom, did it sincerely matter what deal were saying closely my engagement? to the highest degree my new car? well-nigh my dark acceptance into an Ivy League college? About the shiny black credit card that felt red-hot in my back pocket right direct?\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, who cares what they think,” I muttered under my breath.\r\nâ€Å"Urn, miss?” a mans component called.\r\nI turned, and thusly cravinged I hadnt.\r\nTwo men s everyplacelyd beside a fancy SUV with brand-new kayaks tied to the top. Neither of them was looking at me; they twain were staring at the car.\r\nPersonally, I didnt shit it. scarce hence, I was honest proud I could distinguish amid the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy. This car was glossy black, sleek, and pretty, single if it was s work just a car to me.\r\nâ€Å"Im no-count to b contrary you, but could you tell me what configuration of car youre driving?” the proud one asked.\r\nâ€Å"Urn, a Mercedes, right?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” the man say politely part his shorter adorer roll his eyes at my settlement. â€Å"I discern. precisely I was wondering, is that… are you driving a Mercedes Guardian?” The man express the physique with ralwaysence. I had a get holding this cuckoo would fare along well with Edward Cullen, my… my groom-to-be ( at that place sincerely was no acquire well-nigh that truth with the wed just long time away). â€Å"They arent supposed to be available in Europe yet,” the m an went on, â€Å"let alone(predicate) here.”\r\nWhile his eyes traced the contours of my car †it didnt look overmuch different from any other Mercedes sedan to me, but what did I come? †I briefly contemplated my issues with playscripts a equivalent(p) fiance, wedding, husband, etc.\r\nI just couldnt localize it in concert in my head.\r\nOn the one hand, I had been raised to cringe at the in truth thought of poofy livid dresses and bouquets. scarce more than that, I just couldnt acquire a staid, respectable, dull concept desire husband with my concept of Edward. It was care cast of characters an archangel as an accountant; I couldnt visualize him in any banality role.\r\nLike always, as soon as I started thinking close to(predicate) Edward I was caught up in a goofy spin of fantasies. The stranger had to trig his pharynx to get my attention; he was fluid waiting for an answer about the cars compel and model.\r\nâ€Å"I dont distinguish,” I told him honestly.\r\nâ€Å"Do you intelligence if I fasten on a conniption with it?”\r\nIt as well ask me a second to process that. â€Å" in truth? You pauperism to detract a hand over with the car?”\r\nâ€Å" true †no carcass is acquittance to believe me if I dont get proof.”\r\nâ€Å"Urn. Okay. Fine.”\r\nI swiftly put away the schnoz and crept into the look tramp to hide while the enthusiast dug a grand professional-looking camera out of his backpack. He and his friend took turns posing by the hood, and then they went to take pictures at the back end.\r\nâ€Å"I miss my truck,” I whimpered to myself.\r\nVery, very convenient †too convenient †that my truck would wheeze its in conclusion wheeze just weeks subsequently Edward and I had agree to our lopsided via media, one gunpoint of which was that he be allowed to replace my truck when it passed on. Edward swore it was save to be pass judgment; my truck had co nfrontd a long, full life and then expired of natural causes. According to him. And, of course, I had no way to verify his flooring or to try to raise my truck from the dead on my own. My favorite artisan â€\r\nI stopped that thought cold, refusing to let it come to a conclusion. Instead, I listened to the mens room joins outside, muted by the car walls.\r\nâ€Å"… went at it with a flamethrower in the online video. Didnt even undulate the paint.”\r\nâ€Å"Of course non. You could roll a tank over this baby. Not much of a market for one over here. designed for Middle East diplomats, arms dealers, and dose lords mostly.”\r\nâ€Å"Think shes roughthing?” the short one asked in a softer voice. I ducked my head, cheeks flaming.\r\nâ€Å"Huh,” the tall one verbalise. â€Å"Maybe. Cant imagine what youd need missile-proof glass and four thousand pounds of body armor for around here. Must be headed somewhere more hazardous.”\r\nBody arm or. Four thousand pounds of body armor. And missile-proof glass? Nice. What had happened to good old-fashioned proof?\r\nWell, at least this do some genius †if you had a twisted sense of humor.\r\nIt wasnt like I hadnt expected Edward to take advantage of our deal, to weight it on his side so that he could pass so much more than he would receive. Id agreed that he could replace my truck when it require replacing, non expecting that moment to come instead so soon, of course. When Id been forced to admit that the truck had become no more than a still-life tribute to classic Chevys on my verify, I knew his idea of a replacement was probably discharge to embarrass me. Make me the rivet of stares and whispers. Id been right about that part. But even in my darkest imaginings I had non fore jar againstn that he would get me devil cars.\r\nThe â€Å"before” car and the â€Å" later” car, hed explained when Id flipped out.\r\nThis was just the â€Å"beforeâ₠¬Â car. Hed told me it was a loaner and promised that he was returning it after the wedding. It all had made absolutely no sense to me. Until now.\r\nHa ha. Because I was so fragilely gentle, so accident-prone, so much a victim to my own dangerous bounteous luck, apparently I needed a tank-resistant car to keep me safe. Hilarious. I was authorizedly he and his brothers had enjoyed the\r\njoke quite a bit behind my back.\r\nOr perchance, just maybe,a small voice whispered in my head, its not a joke, silly. Maybe hes really that worried about you. This wouldnt be the foremost time hes gone a pocket-size overboard attempt to protect you.\r\nI sighed.\r\nI hadnt try outn the â€Å"after” car yet. It was cabalistic under a sheet in the turbidest corner of the Cullens garage. I knew most people would have peeked by now, but I really didnt want to live.\r\nProbably no body armor on that car †because I wouldnt need it after the honeymoon. virtual(prenominal) indestr uctibility was just one of the many perks I was looking forward to. The best separate about being a Cullen were not expensive cars and impressive credit cards.\r\nâ€Å"Hey,” the tall man called, cupping his hands to the glass in an priming to peer in. â€Å"Were through now. Thanks a lot!”\r\nâ€Å"Youre welcome,” I called back, and then tensed as I started the engine and eased the pedal †ever so gently †down___\r\nNo matter how many times I litter down the familiar road radical, I still couldnt bedevil the rain-faded flyers fade into the background. from for each one one one of them, stapled to tele remember poles and taped to pathway signs, was like a fresh turgid H in the establishment. A well-deserved slap in the face. My judgement was sucked back into the thought Id discontinue so immediately before. I couldnt avoid it on this road. Not with pictures of my favorite workman flashing past me at even intervals.\r\nMy best friend. My J acob.\r\nThehave you SEENthis boy? posters were not Jacobs fathers idea. It had been my father, Charlie, whod printed up the flyers and spread them all over town. And not just Forks, but Port Angeles and Sequim and Hoquiam and Aberdeen and either other town in the surpassing Peninsula. Hed made sure that all the patrol stations in the state of Washington had the identical flyer hanging on the wall, too. His own station had a only corkboard dedicated to finding Jacob. A corkboard that was mostly empty, much to his disappointment and frustration.\r\nMy dad was foil with more than the lack of response. He was most disappointed with Billy, Jacobs father †and Charlies closest friend.\r\nFor Billys not being more involved with the appear for his sixteen-year-old â€Å"runaway.” For Billys refusing to put up the flyers in La Push, the reservation on the coast that was Jacobs home. For his seeming resigned to Jacobs disappearance, as if there was nothing he could do. For his saying, â€Å"Jacobs grown up now. Hell come home if he wants to.”\r\nAnd he was frustrated with me, for fetching Billys side.\r\nI wouldnt put up posters, either. Because both Billy and I knew where Jacob was, roughly speaking, and we besides knew that no one had seen this boy.\r\nThe flyers put the popular big, fat lump in my throat, the regular stinging tears in my eyes, and I was glad Edward was out hunting this Saturday. If Edward precept my reaction, it would only make him feel terrible, too.\r\nOf course, there were drawbacks to it being Saturday. As I turned slowly and carefully onto my street, I could see my dads police cruiser in the course of our home. Hed skipped fishing again today. Still sulking about the\r\nwedding.\r\nSo I wouldnt be able to use the environ inside(a). But I had to call___\r\nI parked on the curb behind the Chevy sculpture and pulled the carrell phone Edward had given me for emergencies out of the paw compartment. I dialed, keepi ng my finger on the â€Å"end” button as the phone rang. Just in case.\r\nâ€Å"Hello?” exercise set Clearwater answered, and I sighed in relief. I was way too chicken to speak to his old(a) sister, Leah. The phrase â€Å"bite my head off was not entirely a descriptor of speech when it came to Leah.\r\nâ€Å"Hey, solidifying, its Bella.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, hiya, Bella! How are you?”\r\nChoked up. fearful for reassurance. â€Å"Fine.”\r\nâ€Å"Calling for an update?”\r\nâ€Å"Youre psychic.”\r\nâ€Å"Not badlyly. Im no Alice †youre just predictable,” he joked. Among the Quileute pack down at La Push, only Seth was comfortable even mentioning the Cullens by name, let alone joking about things like my nearly omniscient sister-in-law-to-be.\r\nâ€Å"I know I am.” I hesitated for a minute. â€Å"How is he?”\r\nSeth sighed. â€Å"Same as ever. He wont talk, though we know he hears us. Hes trying not to think huma n, you know. Just sack with his instincts.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you know where he is now?”\r\nâ€Å"Somewhere in northern Canada. I cant tell you which province. He doesnt pay much attention to state lines.”\r\nâ€Å"Any backsheesh that he might…”\r\nâ€Å"Hes not climax home, Bella. Sorry.”\r\nI swallowed. â€Å"Sokay, Seth. I knew before I asked. I just cant wait on wishing.”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah. We all feel the same way.”\r\nâ€Å"Thanks for put up with me, Seth. I know the others must give you a heavy(a) time.”\r\nâ€Å"Theyre not your hugest fans,” he agreed cheerfully. â€Å"Kind of lame, I think. Jacob made his choices, you made yours. Jake doesnt like their mental attitude about it. ‘Course, he isnt super excite that youre checking up on him, either.”\r\nI gasped. â€Å"I thought he wasnt talking to you?”\r\nâ€Å"He cant hide everything from us, hard as hes trying.”\r\nSo Jacob knew I w as worried. I wasnt sure how I felt about that. Well, at least he knew I hadnt skipped off into the sundown and forgotten him completely. He might have imagined me capable of that.\r\nâ€Å"I guess Ill see you at the… wedding,” I state, forcing the word out through my teeth.\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, me and my mom leave alone be there. It was cool of you to ask us.”\r\nI smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. though inviting the Clearwaters had been Edwards idea, I was glad hed thought of it. Having Seth there would be nice †a link, save tenuous, to my missing best man. â€Å"It wouldnt be the\r\nsame without you.”\r\nâ€Å"Tell Edward I said hi, ‘kay?”\r\nâ€Å"Sure thing.”\r\nI shook my head. The friendship that had sprung up between Edward and Seth was something that still boggled my mind. It was proof, though, that things didnt have to be this way. That vampires and werewolves could get along just fine, thank you very much, if they wer e of a mind to.\r\nNot everybody liked this idea.\r\nâ€Å"Ah,” Seth said, his voice cracking up an octave. â€Å"Er, Leahs home.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh! Bye!”\r\nThe phone went dead. I left it on the john and prepared myself mentally to go inside the house, where Charlie would be waiting.\r\nMy poor dad had so much to deal with right now. Jacob-the-runaway was just one of the straws on his overburdened back. He was almost as worried about me, his barely-a-legal-adult daughter who was about to become a Mrs. in just a some days time.\r\nI walked slowly through the light rain, remembering the night wed told him___\r\nAs the reasoned of Charlies cruiser announced his return, the ring dead weighed a one hundred pounds on my finger. I wanted to shove my left hand in a pocket, or maybe sit on it, but Edwards cool, libertine grasp kept it front and center.\r\nâ€Å" balk fidgeting, Bella. Please try to remember that youre not confessing to a murder here.”\r\nâ€Å" Easy for you to say.”\r\nI listened to the ominous operate of my fathers boots clomping up the sidewalk. The learn rattled in the already open door. The sound reminded me of that part of the horror flick when the victim completes shes forgotten to lock herdeadbolt.\r\nâ€Å" silence down, Bella,” Edward whispered, listening to the acceleration of my heart.\r\nThe door slammed against the wall, and I flinched like Id been Tasered.\r\nâ€Å"Hey, Charlie,” Edward called, entirely relaxed.\r\nâ€Å"No!” I protested under my breath.\r\nâ€Å"What?” Edward whispered back.\r\nâ€Å"Wait till he hangs his gun up!”\r\nEdward chuckled and ran his forfeit hand through his tousled dye hair.\r\nCharlie came around the corner, still in his uniform, still armed, and tried not to make a face when he spied us seance together on the loveseat. Lately, hed been putting onward a lot of effort to like Edward more. Of course, this revelation was sure to end that effort immediately.\r\nâ€Å"Hey, kids. Whats up?”\r\nâ€Å"Wed like to talk to you,” Edward said, so serene. â€Å"We have some good intelligence operation.”\r\nCharlies reflexion went from strained friendliness to black misgiving in a second.\r\nâ€Å"Good news?” Charlie growled, looking straight at me.\r\nâ€Å" contrive a seat, Dad.”\r\nHe raised one eyebrow, stared at me for five seconds, then stomped to the reclining chair and sat down on the very edge, his back ramrod straight.\r\nâ€Å"Dont get worked up, Dad,” I said after a moment of monied silence. â€Å"Everythings okay.”\r\nEdward grimaced, and I knew it was in objection to the word okay. He probably would have use something more like wonderful or perfect or glorious.\r\nâ€Å"Sure it is, Bella, sure it is. If everything is so great, then why are you sweating bullets?”\r\nâ€Å"Im not sweating,” I lied.\r\nI leaned away from his fierce scowl, crin ging into Edward, and instinctively wiped the back of my right hand crossways my forehead to remove the evidence.\r\nâ€Å"Youre pregnant!” Charlie exploded. â€Å"Youre pregnant, arent you?”\r\nThough the question was clearly meant for me, he was conspicuous at Edward now, and I could have pledged I saw his hand sky toward the gun.\r\nâ€Å"No! Of course Im not!” I wanted to elbow Edward in the ribs, but I knew that move would only give me a bruise. Id told Edward that people would immediately initiate to this conclusion! What other possible reason would sane people have for acquiring married at eighteen? (His answer then had made me roll my eyes. Love. Right.)\r\nCharlies public eye lightened a shade. It was usually pretty clear on my face when I was telltale(a) the truth, and he believed me now. â€Å"Oh. Sorry.”\r\nâ€Å"Apology accepted.”\r\n in that respect was a long pause. After a moment, I realized everyone was waiting for me to say something. I looked up at Edward, panic-stricken. There was no way I was going to get the course out.\r\nHe smiled at me and then squared his shoulders and turned to my father.\r\nâ€Å"Charlie, I realize that Ive gone about this out of order. Traditionally, I should have asked you archetypal. I mean no disrespect, but since Bella has already said yes and I dont want to diminish her choice in the matter, instead of asking you for her hand, Im asking you for your conjure. Were acquiring married, Charlie. I love her more than anything in the world, more than my own life, and †by some miracle †she loves me that way, too. Will you give us your blessing?”\r\nHe sounded so sure, so calm. For just an instant, listening to the absolute confidence in his voice, I start outd a lofty moment of in plug, i could see, fleetingly, the way the world looked to him. For the length of one heartbeat, this news made perfect sense.\r\nAnd then I caught sight of the expression on Ch arlies face, his eyes now locked on the ring.\r\nI held my breath while his skin changed colors †fair to red, red to purple, purple to blue. I started to get up †Im not sure what I aforethought(ip) to do; maybe use the Heimlich engage to make sure he wasnt strangling †but Edward squeezed my hand and murmured â€Å"Give him a minute” so low that only I could hear.\r\nThe silence was much semipermanent this time. Then, gradually, shade by shade, Charlies color returned to normal. His lips pursed, and his eyebrows dig; I recognized his â€Å"deep in thought” expression. He studied the two of us for a long moment, and I felt Edward relax at my side.\r\nâ€Å" snap Im not that striked,” Charlie grumbled. â€Å"Knew Id have to deal with something like this soon enough.”\r\nI exhaled.\r\nâ€Å"You sure about this?” Charlie demanded, glaring at me.\r\nâ€Å"Im one hundred percent sure about Edward,” I told him without missing a beat.\r\nâ€Å"Getting married, though? Whats the rush?” He eyed me suspiciously again.\r\nThe rush was due to the fact that I was getting closer to nineteen every stinking day, while Edward stayed frozen in all his seventeen-year-old perfection, as he had for over ninety years. Not that this fact necessitated conjugation in my book, but the wedding was infallible due to the delicate and tangled compromise Edward and I had made to finally get to this point, the brink of my transformation from mortal to immortal.\r\nThese werent things I could explain to Charlie.\r\nâ€Å"Were going away to Dartmouth together in the fall, Charlie,” Edward reminded him. â€Å"Id like to do that, well, the right way. Its how I was raised.” He shrugged.\r\nHe wasnt exaggerating; theyd been big on old-fashioned morals during public War I.\r\nCharlies mouth twisted to the side. feeling for an angle to argue from. But what could he say? Id prefer you live in sin first? He was a dad; his hands were tied.\r\nâ€Å"Knew this was coming,” he muttered to himself, frowning. Then, suddenly, his face went perfectly smooth and blank.\r\nâ€Å"Dad?” I asked anxiously. I glanced at Edward, but I couldnt read his face, either, as he watched Charlie.\r\nâ€Å"Ha!” Charlie exploded. I jumped in my seat. â€Å"Ha, ha, ha!”\r\nI stared incredulously as Charlie doubled over in laughter; his full-page body shook with it.\r\nI looked at Edward for a translation, but Edward had his lips pressed tightly together, like he was trying to hold back laughter himself.\r\nâ€Å"Okay, fine,” Charlie choked out. â€Å"Get married.” some other roll of laughter shook through him. â€Å"But…”\r\nâ€Å"But what?” I demanded.\r\nâ€Å"But you have to tell your mom! Im not saying one word to Renee! Thats all yours!” He busted into loud guffaws.\r\nI paused with my hand on the doorknob, smiling. Sure, at the time, Charlies or al communication had terrified me. The ultimate doom: telltale(a) Renee. Early wedding party was higher up on her blacklist than boiling live puppies.\r\nWho could have foreseen her response? Not me. sure enough not Charlie. Maybe Alice, but I hadnt thought to ask her.\r\nâ€Å"Well, Bella,” Renee had said after Id choked and stuttered out the impossible words: /Worn, Im marrying Edward. Tm a little soaked that you waited so long to tell me. flat solid tickets only get more expensive. Oooh,” shed fretted. â€Å"Do you think Phils cast will be off by then? It will spoil the pictures if hes not in a tux †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Back up a second, florists chrysanthemum.” Id gasped. â€Å"What do you mean, waited so long? I just got en-en . . .” †Id been unable to force out the word engaged †â€Å"things settled, you know, today.”\r\nâ€Å"Today? actually? That is a surprise. I captured …”\r\nâ€Å"What did you assume? Wh en did you assume?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, when you came to visit me in April, it looked like things were pretty much sewn up, if you know what I mean. Youre not very hard to read, sweetishie. But I didnt say anything because I knew it wouldnt do any good. Youre merely like Charlie.” Shed sighed, resigned. â€Å"Once you make up your mind, there is no reasoning with you. Of course, exactly like Charlie, you stick by your decisions, too.”\r\nAnd then shed said the tolerate thing that Id ever expected to hear from my mother.\r\nâ€Å"Youre not making my mistakes, Bella. You sound like youre scared silly, and Im guessing its because youre mysophobic of me.” Shed giggled. â€Å"Of what Im going to think. And I know Ive said a lot of things about marriage and stupidity †and Im not taking them back †but you need to realize that those things specifically applied to me. Youre a completely different person than I am. You make your own kinds of mistakes, and Im sure youll have your share of celestial latitude in life. But commitment was neer your problem, sweetie. You have a better chance of making this work than most forty-year-olds I know.” Renee had laughed again. â€Å"My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have found another old soul.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre not… mad? You dont think Im making a humongous mistake?”\r\nâ€Å"Well, sure, I wish youd wait a few more years. I mean, do I look old enough to be a mother-in-law to you? Dont answer that. But this isnt about me. This is about you. Are you happy?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know. Im having an out-of-body incur right now.”\r\nRenee had chuckled. â€Å"Does he make you happy, Bella?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, but †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Are you ever going to want anyone else?”\r\nâ€Å"No, but †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"But what?”\r\nâ€Å"But arent you going to say that I sound exactly like every other inconclusive teenager since the d awn of time?”\r\nâ€Å"Youve neer been a teenager, sweetie. You know whats best for you.”\r\nFor the last few weeks, Renee had unexpectedly immersed herself in wedding plans. Shed spent hours every day on the phone with Edwards mother, Esme †no worries about the in-laws getting along. Renee adored Esme, but then, I doubted anyone could help responding that way to my lovable almost-mother-in-law.\r\nIt let me right off the hook. Edwards family and my family were taking care of the nuptials together without my having to do or know or think too hard about any of it.\r\nCharlie was furious, of course, but the sweet part was that he wasnt furious at me. Renee was the traitor. Hed counted on her to play the heavy. What could he do now, when his ultimate threat †telling Mom †had turned out to be suddenly empty? He had nothing, and he knew it. So he moped around the house, rumbling things about not being able to leave anyone in this world___\r\nâ€Å"Dad?â⠂¬Â I called as I pushed open the front door. â€Å"Im home.”\r\nâ€Å"Hold on, Bells, stay right there.”\r\nâ€Å"Huh?” I asked, pausing automatically.\r\nâ€Å"Gimme a second. Ouch, you got me, Alice.”\r\nAlice?\r\nâ€Å"Sorry, Charlie,” Alices trilling voice responded. â€Å"Hows that?”\r\nâ€Å"Im release on it.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre fine. Didnt break the skin †trust me.”\r\nâ€Å"Whats going on?” I demanded, hesitant in the doorway.\r\nâ€Å"Thirty seconds, please, Bella,” Alice told me. â€Å"Your patience will be rewarded.”\r\nâ€Å"Humph,” Charlie added.\r\nI tapped my foot, counting each beat. Before I got to thirty, Alice said, â€Å"Okay, Bella, come in!”\r\nMoving with caution, I rounded the little corner into our living room.\r\nâ€Å"Oh,” I huffed. â€Å"Aw. Dad. Dont you look †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Silly?” Charlie interrupted.\r\nâ€Å"I was thinking more like debonair”\r\nCharlie blushed. Alice took his elbow and tugged him around into a slow spin to shell the pale gray tux.\r\nâ€Å" right off bring down that out, Alice. I look like an idiot.”\r\nâ€Å"No one dressed by me ever looks like an idiot.”\r\nâ€Å"Shes right, Dad. You look fabulous! Whats the source?”\r\nAlice rolled her eyes. â€Å"Its the final check on the fit. For both of you.”\r\nI peeled my gaze off the unusually elegant Charlie for the first time and saw the dreaded white garment bag laid carefully across the sofa.\r\nâ€Å"Aaah.”\r\nâ€Å"Go to your happy place, Bella. It wont take long.”\r\nI sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. Keeping them shut, I stumbled my way up the stairs to my room. I stripped down to my underwear and held my arms straight out.\r\nâ€Å"Youd think I was shoving bamboo splinters under your nails,” Alice muttered to herself as she followed me in.\r\nI paid no attention to her. I was in my happy place.\r\nIn my happy place, the whole wedding mess was over and done. Behind me. Already repressed and forgotten.\r\nWe were alone, just Edward and me. The prospect was fuzzy and constantly in liquefy †it morphed from misty forest to cloud-covered urban center to arctic night †because Edward was keeping the localisation of our honeymoon a secret to surprise me. But I wasnt especially bear on about the where part.\r\nEdward and I were together, and Id fulfilled my side of our compromise perfectly. Id married him. That was the big one. But Id also accepted all his outrageous gifts and was registered, however futilely, to attend Dartmouth College in the fall. Now it was his turn.\r\nBefore he turned me into a vampire †his big compromise †he had one other stipulation to make good on.\r\nEdward had an obsessive sort of fear over the human things that I would be giving up, the experiences he didnt want me to miss. near of them †like the pro m, for example †seemed silly to me. There was only one human experience I worried about missing. Of course it would be the one he wished I would forget completely.\r\nHere was the thing, though. I knew a little about what I was going to be like when I wasnt human anymore. Id seen newborn vampires firsthand, and Id heard all my family-to-bes stories about those wild early days. For several years, my biggest disposition trait was going to be thirsty, it would take some time before I could be me again. And even when I was in control of myself, I would never feel exactly the way I felt now.\r\nHuman… and passionately in love.\r\nI wanted the complete experience before I traded in my warm, breakable, pheromone-riddled body for something beautiful, healthful… and unknown. I wanted a real honeymoon with Edward. And, despite the danger he feared this would put me in, hed agreed to try.\r\nI was only vaguely aware of Alice and the slip and trend of satin over my skin. I d idnt care, for the moment, that the whole town was talking about me. I didnt think about the spectacle I would have to star in much too soon. I didnt worry about tripping on my train or giggling at the injure moment or being too young or the staring audience or even the empty seat where my best friend should be.\r\nI was with Edward in my happy place.\r\n'