A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts!

Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine.

Chapter 26 - Believe

Later that afternoon, Edward, Tristan, and I headed to La Push and First Beach.

It was one of those atypically sunnier than normal days here in the Forks surrounding area, even balmy for a day that fell within the rainy period typically considered summer around these parts. The beach swelled with more than the usual gray, majestic ocean waves. Today, those waves were subdued, sloping like mild, rounded hills rather than like steep, peaked mountains before rippling at the shoreline, then fizzling into a milky froth.

Today, wave after wave of summer tourists ventured to the pebbled coastline for more than surfing the Pacific Northwest's famous currents, more than hiking the picturesquely rocky terrain, and more than laying back on what was usually frigid, wet sand to admire an ocean commonly as far from turquoise and calm as a coastland could be. Today, tourists and Forksters alike were here to hail the sun.

From the shoreline, Edward, Tristan, and I waved at our friends as they strolled by – Emily and Diego, Eric and Harry, Ty with a girl I didn't recognize as he shot us a Shaka sign and yelled out,

"Bella, how ya been, loca! And my dude, Edward, Attorney-at-Law! How's it hanging?"

"Hey, Ty!" I shot Ty a high Shaka in return, showing Tristan how to do so properly as well.

Meanwhile, Edward offered his own half-hearted version, followed by an under his breath, "Thank God he's got his own girlfriend now so he can leave mine- oof!" he exclaimed, chuckling when I dug my elbow into his ribs.

"Yeah, you didn't hear me muttering joyfully under my breath when Gianna walked by a few minutes ago with an out-of-towner."

"Just cuz I didn't hear it doesn't mean you didn't do it," he smirked while I snickered guiltily.

Because it was all good. See, whenever the sun rolled into town, we in this part of Washington State rolled out the proverbial red carpet. Today, swimmers splashed around, showing off swimsuits rather than wetsuits. A group nearby tossed a bright red frisbee back and forth while another set up a volleyball net. Everyone flashed skin along with smiles and blossomed in that manner living organisms have of unfurling and coming to life when bathed by sunlight. Even the last holdouts to falling in love with an admittedly brisk Forks summer were now sprouting about. They laid splayed atop blankets and towels, slathering on thick layers of sunscreen, popping open the season's top trashy novels, and tuning their music subscription to songs that, come fall, would bring wistful reminders of the previous season.

On a regular day, I would've been one of the sun's biggest cheerleaders, whooping front and center minus pom-poms; instead, I displayed my spirit via surfing, hiking, and other activities that tended to raise my godfather's hackles—or simply lying back with a broad smile and with my face up to that glistening circle.

But today, I was still in recovery mode from my latest episode, and I had to take it easy. What was more, during recovery, brightness, such as that offered by a clear, sunny day, tended to bring on headaches. It was one of the facets of my condition that made the usually cloudy, non-flashy town of Forks a godsend.

Today, I'd needed my shades all day, which was fine. There was a time when wearing my shades all day dimmed my view of the world, literally and metaphorically. As much as I tried not to bemoan their need – because at least I still had a view of the world – they were a constant reminder of all those things in life, big and small, I'd miss out on.

Not anymore. If the tradeoff to a sunny, warm beach day with Tristan and Edward was having to spend it in calmer pursuits while wearing dark shades, then…it was no tradeoff at all. For a life that had always had a knack for meeting me halfway, lately, it was downright giving me fairy tale vibes.

And speaking of fairytales, Edward's eyes were suncatchers beneath bright sunshine, snagging the sun's rays then like magic, turning them into a prismatic light show of emeralds, sapphires, and smoky quartz crystals. The rays teased out his natural bronze and blond highlights, crowning him in a gilded garland. Despite having applied sunscreen, his cheeks were already flushed, and for a split second, I felt what Midas must've felt – that pull, the need to touch, the inability to resist the draw of that golden glow. His wetsuit had always outlined and emphasized a tall, lean, yet athletic build, but today…today, the entire picture sent butterflies fluttering wildly in my stomach.

Unlike most of the tourists, Edward, Tristan, and I still wore our wetsuits today because though we may have been in Sunny Summer Day mode, we weren't stupid. But stupid wasn't the right word; we were simply in the know. As a local, I knew that, in these parts, the Pacific couldn't care less what games the sun above it was playing. It would take much more than an anomalous day or two to warm up these waters.

So, we took advantage of the afternoon's sedate waters and laid into the beginnings of a swimming lesson for Tristan. First, we showed him the basics of floating, then how to spread out his arms and legs. Edward and I each held a palm on his back beneath the water's surface, slowly and cautiously releasing him while remaining right there.

"I floating!"

"Yes, you are, sweet pea!"

"Now, we're going to try something a bit different. You got him?" Edward asked. With Tristan in my arms, I nodded, and Edward removed his palm to stride deeper into the water, where the waves weren't quite as benign. Before an oncoming wave broke, he dove straight into it.

My breath caught, and I heard Tristan's gasp. A handful of heart-pounding seconds later, Edward emerged, cutting through the water and back toward us with smooth, powerful strokes. The strength in his sure movements made my heart skip.

Tristan looked up at me in awe. And maybe there was just a little bit of healthy fear in the green of his eyes.

"The daddies and the mommies do that, not the little boys," he said, shaking his head decisively from side to side.

My brow furrowed in a bit of confusion, wondering where he got that 'mommies' part from. Still, I offered him a reassuring smile and nod.

"Yes, sweet pea. That's for the daddies and the…uhm, mommies to do. Not the little boys. Not yet."

He touched my face curiously, tilting his head. "Bella, is you-"

"Like scissors, buddy!" Edward called out, instantly reclaiming Tristan's attention. "See? Like scissors!"

"Yay! Bella, look! Look! Dad's a scissor!"

I laughed. "Yeah, buddy. Dad's a scissor!"

When Edward returned to us, we tried again, both of us with a palm on Tristan's stomach now, while he moved his arms and legs, and we explained the concept of doing it in sync.

"Look at me! I learning to swim!"

"You're learning, sweet pea! You're learning!"

"But don't hold me!"

"For now, we'll do it like this, sweet pea."

"As you get a chance to practice a bit more, Bella and I will begin to let go, okay, buddy?"

Behind us, someone shrieked. Instinctively, my arms went around Tristan, and I plucked him out of the water, holding him against my chest.

It was one of the seasonal tourists – a young woman in her late teens to early twenties and in a pretty pink and frilly two-piece. Apparently, she'd streaked into the water in her shimmering swimsuit and sprinted forward so eagerly that she'd waded in waist-deep before the water's temperatures registered in her brain.

"Holy craaaap!"

With a sharp about-face, the girl rushed out. Her group of friends – a half dozen or so who'd waited just out of the froth's reach – exploded into peals of loud laughter. She glared at them, her arms wrapped around her torso as if that would keep the chill from clinging to her skin and the pretty yet unsuitable swimsuit. But then she laughed right along with her friends, puffing out her triangle-shaped bikini top, displaying peaked nipples that pulled like tentpoles at the small bits of material.

"Look at my nips! Look at them! They're icicles! I can kill with these!"

I pressed my lips together to stifle my own amusement. When I turned away from the group's antics, my gaze met Edward's, who'd wrapped an arm tightly around me and, thereby, around Tristan. Edward rolled his bejeweled eyes, apparently not as amused by the group's antics as I was. I chuckled inwardly because the staid attorney in him still sometimes reared his beautiful head.

Then, I wondered if perhaps I shouldn't have found it funny.

I mean, I was only learning how to be a…a caretaker, a protector, a role-model to Tristan. What did I know? Who was I to think I knew better than Tristan's own dad? After all, it wasn't as if I was Tristan's…

Well, some wishes were just too inconceivable, too fantastical to entertain, regardless of the summer's fairy tale vibes. And anyway, what would I do if suddenly, my sweet pea looked up at me through his bright, inquisitive eyes and asked me to explain nips?

Edward must've read the abrupt alarm in my expression. Yet, instead of reassuring me via some prosaic banality regarding his confidence in my abilities, he shot me a mischievous grin and said,

"Yeah, I'll leave his questions about those to you. Good luck."

I threw back my head and burst into peals of laughter. Finally getting a handle on my mirth, I looked at Edward again, only to find the impish grin gone. In its place was a tender smile.

"God, I love it when you laugh like that."

"No, don't try to sweet talk me now," I chuckled, warm all over despite the cold waters. "I would've volleyed those questions right back at you."

Quick as a flash, his free hand broke the water's surface, and he splashed me.

Behind the relative safety of my shades, I watched the world suddenly liquefy into a vividly iridescent eruption of colors. It was almost like those fireworks I wasn't supposed to look at directly. Yet somehow, it was a thousand times more vibrant.

Edward roared in amusement, though I couldn't exactly see him doing so through the droplets clinging to my sunglasses. His laughter died at the same moment that my vision cleared, and I caught him wearing an expression of horror.

"Bella, I'm so sor-"

Before he could finish, I splashed him, shrieked, and threw the hand up in a triumphant fist at the look of shock that rounded eyes.

"Hah! That's what you get for that ridiculous sentence you were about to utter! And anyway, I would've volleyed the questions back at you!"

For a moment, he stood as still as a statue while salty water clinging to his eyelashes dripped onto his angular jawline and fell reclaimed by the ocean with a plink. The gently ebbing waves near the shoreline lapped around his muscular thighs. Then, we dissolved into a splashing war.

With Tristan between us, he first watched us with a bemused grin, his head swinging back and forth between us as if observing a fast-paced tennis match. At the same time, I wondered if he was having trouble discerning whether his dad and I were playing or upset. Just as I resolved to stop splashing Edward long enough to explain, Tristan gasped excitedly.

"Dad, Bella, I splash too! I splash too!"

Edward reached out abruptly and took Tristan from me, pulling his son's back against his chest.

"All right, buddy," he said, mischief dancing in his sparkling gaze, "help me splash Bella!"

My breath hitched with exaggerated theatrics for my sweet pea's benefit. "Edward, you cheater!"

"Tough, pretty girl!" he retorted.

I watched with a grin as Tristan dipped both hands underneath the water's surface at his father's urging. They emerged cupped, and as Tristan shot me an impish grin, I prepped myself for the splash. Instead, Tristan swung up and back like a catapult. The result was two handfuls of cold ocean water to Edward's face.

He blinked.

I laughed until my sides ached, and all the while, Tristan's sweet, childlike giggles rang out. He kept saying something that I couldn't hear at first through my chortles. Over and over, he said it. Until finally, I heard.

"I splash you, Dad! Not my mommy! You, Dad! Not Mommy! Mommy, Mommy, I don't splash you! I splash Dad!"

I cried out then– a sound I'd never before heard myself make, never expected myself to make because...

Because once, I'd stopped believing in Happy Ever Afters. In magic. In fairy tales. More than that, I'd thought I'd never be granted the privilege to feel what I felt in that indescribable moment. It was a cry that related pure, unadulterated joy mixed with fear and blended with realization before morphing into affirmation, promises, gratitude, and…

And it made sense now why other people were usually around when a brand new mother made that sound. It was too much for one person to bear without her legs going weak.

Which is what happened. My legs gave, and I fell backward into the water. Yet before even the day's gentle waves could wash over me, Edward's arm snaked around my waist. In the next moment, he, Tristan, and I were in a sandy, wet, laughing, and crying heap at the shoreline.

"He called me Mommy," I sobbed quietly.

"I know," Edward laughed, pushing up my shades to kiss away my tears. I saw his own tears streaking his face before he pulled my shades back down. "I know."

"He called me Mommy," I whispered over and over.

"Mommy's okay, Dad?" Tristan asked. "Mommy, is you okay?"

"Mommy's fine, sweet pea," I beamed. With Tristan sandwiched between us, I hugged him fiercely, then kissed his face until he giggled uncontrollably. "I'm…perfect. But is it okay?" I asked Edward over Tristan's head. "Is it okay? Can I be-"

"Pretty girl, he already picked you," Edward said, his voice shaking. "He picked you the moment he met you."

I nodded erratically, laughing and crying. I heard Icicle Nips Girl and her group laughing somewhere behind us.

"Did you see that? The kid duped his dad into thinking he was gonna splash his mom!"

"Yeah, but he splashed his dad instead!"

"That's cuz little boys love their mamas!"

"Aww, what a cute family!"

Edward's mouth pulled up in a one-sided grin. His eyes glowed. His Adam's apple bobbed.

"Little boys love their mamas," he breathed. "And guess who else loves-"

"I love you too, Edward," I said before he could, chuckling at his smirk through my tears. "I love you, too."

"Come on," he sighed in feigned annoyance at my having beat him to it, "let's go home." He took my hand and sat me up with Tristan on my lap.

"Home?"

"Well…our summer home. For now." He brushed his lips across my forehead, then across Tristan's forehead. "Our true home…Tristan's and my true home happens to be wherever you are. Right, Trist?"

"Uh-huh," said Tristan, already elbow-deep in sand play and no longer interested in our conversation.

"So, I suggest we start figuring out all the details, yeah?"

"Just like a lawyer," I snorted.

"An arrogant lawyer," he corrected. "Don't forget the arrogant part."

"I never do," I teased.

Edward kissed me softly. Tristan ignored us.

"Hey. I picked you, too," he breathed against my mouth.

"When?" I smiled.

"The moment I read your article."

"You didn't know me then. And it was written anonymously."

He pulled back, pulled up my shades, and kissed first my right eye, then my left.

"I guess that…arrogant lawyer or not...I believe in fairy tales."

A/N: Thoughts?

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