32. Treat or trick?

It had been a few days since I'd started the outline for my new story. I'd been distracted when I'd saved the document and had possibly mistyped the name or selected the wrong folder for it to live in because I couldn't find it anywhere.

Opening yet another folder, I scrolled down, looking for the date. There were countless half-baked ideas stored in that particular folder – notes on characters, disjointed scenes and lines of speech – all of which might one day come into play.

My eyes alighted on a three-year-old document that I had no recollection of creating. It became clear it wasn't mine the moment I opened it.

It was only a short piece and yet, as I recalled, he'd been typing for quite a while.

How many words had he written and deleted before he'd deemed it finished? What thoughts and feelings had he chosen not to share?

.

Bella,

If you have found this and I have gone, know that I love you. Know I would come back should you ever need me. Know that I would stay should you want me to. Know that I would make you mine forever should you wish for it.

If you have found this and I am with you still, then you know I love you. If I have made you mine forever, it is because you wished for it, because you love me back.

I would like a life with you like this, sitting opposite you at your kitchen table as you write memories of your father in the notebook Carlisle retrieved from my father's study, using the pen he stole from my mother's bureau.

Would you like to add one more memory to your own?

We had a conversation that day, your father and I, part silent, part spoken. Perhaps you heard some of it.

He knew what I was straightaway and asked if you knew too. I replied that you did but would not accept it. I fear you never will.

He told me where to find his gravestone and asked if I would take care of you. I said I would if you would let me, but whether you let me or not, whether you know it or not, I will always be here for you.

He asked if I loved you, but I could not answer him out loud. I could not risk you overhearing me for your rejection would have surely broken my heart then just as it would today.

Your father was not afraid of what you might become if you chose an eternity with me; he only wished for you to live a long and happy life.

That is all I wish for too, Bella. If you have not done so already, please make my wish come true.

Edward

.

I wiped a finger under each eye, closed the laptop down and pushed back my chair. I walked over to my closet and changed into my emerald green wrap dress and knee length boots. Then I wrapped my red velvet cloak around my shoulders, picked up my purse and left my apartment.

As I drove my truck across town to the offices of the Daily News, I passed several groups of accompanied children dressed in elaborate costumes – a variety of fairy tale princesses, a witch, a wolf, a girl in a red hooded cape, a huntsman with an axe, a brother and sister trailing breadcrumbs behind them, and a tall, lanky boy with his hair slicked back, wearing a long, black cloak.

Each child carried either a plastic bucket, a woven basket or a canvas bag in their hand, excited and hopeful that it would be filled to overflowing with candy before they had to make their way back home to bed.

Shrieks of excitement filled the air as I slowed my truck and parked in front of the Daily News office building.

Leaving my cloak with the girl at reception, I walked up the stairs and turned left as instructed on the invitation.

The first thing I spotted through the glass wall of the conference room was the huge banner covering the end wall. Set against a black background, an arc of gold lettering curved up and over the image of an orange pumpkin lantern, its wide grin displaying its pointed fangs.

Reading the letter on my laptop had made me arrive a little later than I'd intended. The room was already full of people and, with the heating on, it seemed as if I could smell every single one of them.

I turned my head toward the stairs, inhaled the last lungful of reasonably fresh air I was going to get for a while and then strode into the room.

"Congratulations, Bella!" Angela said, handing me a glass of champagne. "I told you you just had to change your game and look, you have an international bestseller on your hands."

"I had to change more than my game, Angela."

Arms wrapped around my belly from behind. "You shouldn't be drinking that, Bella," Ben said, resting his chin on my shoulder.

Angela looked over the top of her glasses at her husband. "Where are the kids?"

"Their uncle has them."

With my glass of champagne in hand and Angela and her camera in tow, I worked the room, talking to the various guests about my novel. Angela took photograph upon photograph, although only a select few would be likely to make it into the newspaper.

"So," Mike said, slipping an arm around my waist and kissing me on the cheek, "when is the sequel due out?"

I laughed. "It will be a while, I should think. I have to write it first and the idea I have is for more of a companion story than a follow-on."

"An alternative point of view?"

"Ah, that would be telling."

"I'm afraid Jacob's here," he said, pulling a face.

I glared at Angela. "Who invited him?"

She raised her hands in defence, her camera dropping to hang on its strap around her neck. "Nothing to do with me, but I expect my boss had invitations sent out to all the local businesses. No doubt Eric has his work cut out tonight, trying to sell them all advertising space."

Mike laughed and gave me a gentle squeeze. "And there was me thinking my invitation was personal." He knew it was. I'd handed it to him myself.

Angela sighed. "I'll go see if I can put the dog out before he does something offensive on the carpet."

Mike gave me another squeeze before he let me go and I turned to greet the woman that had come up beside me. As we shook hands, I noticed a tall, bronze-haired man leaning against the far wall. He had a scowl on his face.

"Please excuse me," I said to the woman. "I'll be right back."

As I worked my way through the crowd toward him, the man's face softened until it displayed the most enticing smile.

"You do know you can't drink that champagne, don't you?" he said.

"Holding it makes me feel… normal. Where are the kids?"

"With Ben," he said.

"So, you came." The room was packed so he was no doubt hating every second spent in it. I wasn't overly comfortable myself.

"I said I would come if you wished me to," he said.

"I never told you my wish because, as you once so rightly pointed out, that's a surefire way to guarantee the wish won't come true."

He frowned. "How much longer do I have to wait for you?"

"Another hour, I'd say." I winked and stepped as close as I could considering the company we were in, but he reached out and pulled my body flush against his.

And then he leaned down and kissed me.

I was vaguely aware of my glass being removed from my hand and a camera flash going off to my right. So long as I got a framed copy, I did not care one jot if that photograph was splashed across the front page. The whole world knew already that I was in love with Edward Cullen.

And when he let me go, I looked up into his smiling face and answered his unspoken wish with a yes.

Author's Note

If I've left you sitting bewildered atop a pile of mattresses and a dried pea, please feel free to ask questions. I'll do my best to answer them.

To all of you: I cannot thank you enough for joining me as I've spun this yarn. Your response has overwhelmed me.

Thanks again to those who have left reviews – I've loved talking to you – and to those who have recommended this story to others.

Thank you to my daughter for being a (sometimes reluctant) sounding-board and to my dear friends within the fandom (you know who you are) for (often unwittingly) inspiring or supporting me throughout the writing and posting process.

And finally… Belle, this one was for you. xx