[BamaFan121s]

Edward chuckled lightly, “More crowned jewels, I presume.” He shook his head in amusement.



For the briefest moment, I sensed Jacob stiffen beside me. It may have been my imagination, but in that instant, he seemed to protectively pull Renesmee even closer to him. Although our unlikely friendship and his loyal dedication to Renesmee had helped him overcome his aversion to the Cullens, he did not regard other vampires in the same manner. He’d explained that it merely “went against his nature.” However, I knew that his deep rooted hatred for those his pack knew as “the cold ones” was most fiercely reserved for one, most elite Italian coven—the Volturi. It was not so many months prior that they had come to Forks with the intent of destroying Renesmee, the very center of his universe, not to mentioned the rest of the Cullen family and any others who opposed them.



With Aro at the heart of this most sacred coven of vampires, they’d come to enforce punishment on those whom they’d believed had risked their exposure. Ever since the incident, Aro had extended his hand in friendship to Carlisle and was eternally trying to make amends for the misunderstanding. His most favored way of displaying his resentment for their hasty actions was through the many extravagant gifts that he bestowed upon Renesmee.



Carlisle had visited with Aro, Marcus and Caius in Volterra on several occasions in prior months. Once convinced that Renesmee posed no threat to exposing vampires to humankind, he had not been able to mask his deep interest and fascination of her very existence. He was always eager for Carlisle to divulge his most recent discoveries regarding the rare existence of half-vampire, half-human beings and to learn what developments Renesmee was making.



Carlisle viewed his visits as opportunities. He hoped that in time, he would be able mend the relationships amongst vampires that had been broken as a result of the confrontation in Forks. Carlisle’s rapport with the Volturi was one of great respect and he remained hopeful that he would eventually be able to persuade them to see reason in the antiquated, biased guidelines that they expected others to conform to, by force when they deemed necessary.



As Jacob lowered Renesmee to the floor, his apologetic words pulled me back to the present. “Bells, I really hate to go so soon, but I promised Billy I would help him out with a few things today.”



“Oh sure Jake,” I acknowledged, “You will come back though when you can? We have so much to catch up on!”



“Sure sure,” Jake agreed, “I’ll be back later.”



“Time for your flea bath?” Rosalie asked, a smirk playing on her lips.



“Ouch Blondie!” Jacob exclaimed, throwing his hands over his heart, feigning insult, “After all the time we’ve spent together…I really thought we had something special.” He threw her a look of mock pain as I bit my lip to keep my composure.



Emmett’s booming laughter was matched by Jacob’s. The sound shattered the tension as he reached over to slap Jacob on his back, obviously finding humor in his witty reply. Edward bowed his head, bringing his fist to his mouth as he cleared his throat to hide his grin, obviously finding the exchange quite entertaining. Rosalie narrowed her eyes at Emmett and threw him a look that would kill, if that were possible. She turned on her silver stiletto heel and stalked off towards the garage in a flash of golden blonde hair.



“Aw Jacob, see what you’ve done now! Rose, awww come back Rose, we were only kidding around….” Emmett followed Rosalie towards the garage. Just before disappearing through the door after her, he turned quickly and something silver flashed from his hand and flew through the air. “Oh Jacob here….Jeep keys,” and then he continued on his way to beg for forgiveness from Rosalie.



“Jeep keys?” Edward inquired smiling, turning to Jacob, one eyebrow raised as if expecting an explanation.



“Er, yeah…well…I really need to be on my way,” he cast a mournful glance towards Renesmee before swooping down on her to give her one last hug and then turned to make his escape out the front door, muttering something unintelligible as he descended he stairs.



I stepped forward to shut the door behind him. Renesmee had followed Jasper, Esme and Alice to the living room where Alice was animatedly showing her all the clothes she’d bought for her. Renesmee, bouncing with excitement, peered eagerly in each bag as Alice pulled out first one garment and then another. Edward found my side, casually draping his arm over my shoulder, “You are aware that she’s completely ruined now? Alice will spend the rest of the day dressing her up.”



I nodded in acknowledgement that he was probably correct in that assumption. I watch for a moment and then looked around the house, really taking in all the details I’d missed in the past months. The bright décor, the open floor plan, Edward’s piano…. I inhaled deeply letting the various scents assault me—pine, freesia, leather, vanilla, fresh laundry, and just a hint of werewolf I noticed, reflexively wrinkling my nose lightly.



“So, Mrs. Cullen,” he began, taking both my hands in his, turning me to face him, “whatever are we going to do with ourselves today?”



“Oh, I believe I could think of a few things we could do today,” I responded, my voice thick with implications.



Edward reached up to take my chin, leaning in face closer to mine with exaggerated slowness and murmured, “You truly are the most dangerous creature I’ve ever met…” He met the distance between us and pressed his lips gently to mine. He released my hand and began to lightly trace up the length of my arm, leaving a trail of sparks with his fingertips. I stretched upwards, encouraging him not to break contact.



We ended the exchange at the sound of Alice’s voice ringing from the adjoining room, “Would you two mind saving that for later…you’re kind of starting to make Jasper feel sick.”



Before either of us could muster any sort of response, our attention was pulled to a sound on the gravel driveway, which quickly transitioned into steps ascending the wooden stairs of the porch.



“Emmett must have managed to coax Rosalie from the garage,” I mused.



“That’s not Emmett….” Edward trailed off…



Before he could finish his statement, the front door to the Cullen house swung open.



“Carlisle!” Edward exclaimed, walking forward to greet him. It was as he crossed over the threshold, stepping into the foyer that we noticed—Carlisle wasn’t alone.