It was too much. I started dry sobbing with happiness, and Edward tilted my chin up with one long pale finger until I saw his topaz eyes. That was the last thing I saw, his eyes smoldering with exultance, before our lips met. I snaked my fingers through his hair and his strong arms crushed me up against him, our hunger for the other’s body nearly insatiable.

Alice coughed some minutes later, once my hands went for Edward’s belt buckle. “Edward, listen!” Jasper reigned in the lust and adoration and turned up the attentiveness.

I listened too. I heard many voices, the loudest ones right outside the door and the lowest ones all the way across the city. Once I began picking through them, however, I found one that I would recognize anywhere.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, and listened to the voice of my father-in-law as he attempted to convince Aro of the truth.

“Carlisle, my old friend, and Esme too, oh what a pleasure! What an unexpected visit! Where are your lovely children? Has Bella been graced by immortality by now?” Aro’s voice was flamboyant and jovial as usual.

“Actually, Aro, that’s why we’re here,” Carlisle’s voice was strained, as if he had been suffering an innumerable amount of stress. The amount of pride I held in him shot up through the roof. “You see, Bella has been changed, and by Edward himself.”

“Excellent! And when shall we get to see the glorious new addition to the family?” Aro was so ignorant sometimes.

“Well, the thing is, Bella was changed a decade ago. Five years after her change, she was kidnapped. I have not seen her since, but I do know of her whereabouts.” I heard the rustle of cloth and a minute shuffle of feet. Esme had moved closer to Carlisle.

“Oh dear, how terrible! But why are you here, if you know where she is?”

“Because she is here, Aro, right underneath you, in fact.” It was Esme who supplied this answer, and her voice was harsher than usual, as if she had been crying.

Aro chuckled, and I heard his distinct footsteps begin pacing back and forth. “I assure you there is no one underneath us at the moment, friends, for I would know if there were.”