Remember Me (A Twilight fan fiction)

21. Epilogue

Epilogue

"And then what happened?"

Sitting on the frilly pink comforter of the huge bed in Edward's former room, Bella furrowed her brows in confusion and looked to her husband beside her for explanation. "What do you mean?"

"What happened after your memory came back?" Renesmee asked curiously.

With the petite frame of a nine-year-old, she still looked small in the huge bed, her back propped up against several lacy pillows. Her aunties Alice and Rosalie had delighted in redecorating Edward's room in pinks, pale blues, and a lot of lace with long heavy draperies covering the wall-sized windows. Lined up along the bed were an assortment of teddy bears, dolls, and other stuffed animals. While she did not spend the night with Grandpa Carlisle and Grandma Esme regularly, the story of Bella's memory loss had taken several hours, and Esme offered to have Renesmee stay the night, always delighted in keeping the little darling.

"Oh, well...we told everyone the next day, of course, and everyone was very relieved." Bella continued.

"And Grandpa Carlisle examined her again, and after a few weeks took off the bulky cast. Then she only needed to wear a brace after that," Edward explained.

"What about the headaches?" she asked.

Bella smiled, unable to resist reaching out to touch one of Renesmee's long, bronze, waist-length curls. The child was endlessly inquisitive. "The headaches never came back," she told her, stroking the silky soft lock of her hair. "And I never passed out again," she added for good measure.

"So, did Auntie Alice's vision come true?"

Edward smiled at the thoughts inside her question. "Yes, I took Momma to the prom, just as Auntie Alice predicted."

Bella had looked stunning in Alice's royal blue tiered dress that contrasted the ivory of her skin, and he could still recall the perfect rosy color of her cheeks as she gazed up at him. That night, Edward had been convinced that he had never seen her more beautiful...of course, he was wrong. Her exquisite features continued to amaze him every day, and then sweet Renesmee was just a smaller version of her mother with her adoring chocolate brown eyes.

With a nod, Bella still recalled, even within her dim human memories, the hours Alice had spent primping, brushing, styling, blushing, and dressing her as though she were her very own Barbie doll. "Yes. Against my will, Daddy took me." Under false pretenses, she thought to herself, but did not say aloud. This was hardly something she wanted to share with her daughter at this point in time.

"If I recall, you did not have such a horrible time," Edward put in, smiling.

It was true - the way Edward had held her on his toes as they danced prevented quite a few disasters. And, as she recalled the memory of him in his black tuxedo, looking like a devastating angel, it had been easy to block out everyone else around them as he held her in the security of his iron grasp. In the three years they had been married their love for each other only grew deeper every day.

"But, Momma. I don't understand why you didn't guess that Daddy was a vampire." Renesmee's befuddled expression made Bella want to laugh.

"I guess it's because, at that time, I had thought that vampires were supposed to be scary...and Daddy was..." Bella paused for a moment, reflecting on Edward's behavior - so gentleman-like, so sweet. "A perfect human."

Edward took Bella's hand in his and ran his thumb along her pale, ageless fingers. His butterscotch eyes filled with warmth as he granted his wife her favorite lopsided grin.

"And, the fact that he ate food really threw me off," Bella said with a laugh.

At that moment, Renesmee's tiny little nose scrunched up, and Edward chuckled at her thoughts.