Pinned but Fluttering

Chapter 41

A/N: Sorry about all the delay--here it is at long last!!!!

And today is the 1st Anniversary of Pinned but Fluttering; I started writing it a year ago TODAY. :)

From Chapter 40:

But I didn't want to be coddled; I deserved the truth, so I asked rather bluntly, “Did one of you make me into a vampire?”

Silence greeted me as the Cullens exchanged nervous glances.

After thirty seconds of awkward silence, Edward pushed off from the stair banister at the far side of the room and walked toward me, deliberately not meeting my eyes until he stood directly in front of me.

Slowly he raised his gaze from his shoes until his beautiful golden eyes met mine.

“I did it, Isabella,” Edward confessed solemnly, his musical voice almost trembling with suppressed emotion. “I was the one who turned you into a vampire.”

Chapter 41

Although he stood mere inches away as his newly-golden eyes bored into mine, Edward did not touch me consolingly as I expected. Yet his quiet confession, so full of barely-controlled feeling, stunned me.

My new, roomy mind seemed to spin, then somehow collapse in upon itself with shock. After all I had felt from Edward and for him in the short time since I had awakened as a vampire....

He was the one who did this to me?

He was the one who made me into a horrific, blood-drinking monster?

I couldn't believe it.

“How could you?” I choked out, my hands trembling as I stepped away from him.

Taking a step back as well, Edward appeared astounded, as if my whispered words were a slap across his face. Shock filled his eyes; he could not avoid the accusation in my words and in my eyes.

Carlisle stepped forward to speak, but I put up my palm to halt him. “I need to hear this from Edward, please,” I stated in a hard voice. Carlisle nodded sadly but kept his place as if he feared for Edward's safety.

Oh, right.

I was a dangerous, out-of-control newborn vampire.

They didn't trust me.

And, perhaps irrationally, that thought angered me all the more.

The beautiful warmth in Edward's eyes, which had so drawn me to him since my burning time had ended, flickered like a candle in a draft, then was extinguished completely as he gazed at me without hope.

Even though it was apparently impossible for a vampire to feel physical exhaustion, Edward looked tired, worn, empty.

And so, so very sad.

It was his seeming exhaustion and deep sorrow that quenched my anger and plucked at my compassion.

Perhaps there was a good reason behind his action?

I barely noticed Carlisle and Esmé subtly herding everyone from the room, leaving Edward and me alone.

I swallowed hard, then asked him one word in a low voice.

“Why?”

Too agitated to remain still, Edward ran a hand through his hair and began pacing back and forth in front of me.