Echoes from Anna

Chapter 7

Carlisle's POV

I watched as my son hopped around the room, with much less grace then I knew he was capable of. His awkward movements and puzzled demeanour was owing to the fact, that apparently, he had lost his shoe. Now he was walking around the living room with one shoe on, in search of the other.

I found it hard not to watch my son closely. It was like looking at a completely different person and an amusing one at that. I briefly wondered if he had lost his mind, especially when he froze, raked his hand through his hair and furrowed his brow.

He smiled widely at me and shook his head.

"They were right here" he promised me with a laugh, obviously reacting to my thoughts that were playfully questioning his sanity.

His hair was wet, his shirt was only half buttoned and for the first time in almost a hundred years, I found myself seeing him as the boy he was before I turned him. For the first time in a long time, Edward reminded me of the teenager that he was forever immortalised to appear as.

"Here it is" Bella announced picking the shoe up from under the sofa.

"That's odd" Edward remarked as he took the shoes from her, an odd grin appeared as did a crease in his brow.

I could see him scanning through his own memory, trying to figure out how the shoe had travelled so far from the place where he had taken them off. Finally he rolled his eyes to himself and sat down, putting it on and doing up the remaining buttons on his shirt. He seemed to finally just accept that the shoe had simply been misplaced on accident.

Edward looked across the living room, watching Bella as she wondered back in, doing her own mental checklist to assure she was also ready to leave.

His eyes softened and scanned her over before he got to his feet slowly. He approached Bella with an inviting smile, a smile I wanted the rest of his family to witness, because this particular smile was one we had never had the pleasure of seeing it before. There was much more contentment in it then I ever knew he was capable of.

I ducked my head down, trying to give them some privacy, but it was almost impossible to take my eyes of Edward.

"I will see you very soon" Edward said carefully as he took Bella's face in his hands and kneeling slightly, to line his eyes with hers.

"You will" Bella replied, returning the smile and leaning into the simple kiss he was offering her.

When the kiss ended the smiles on their faces grew slightly before he turned to me and gave me a swift nod.

Bella chewed her lip as she watched him leave. She was quite obviously a little dazed after the affectionate goodbye and I was a little lost myself.

Edward was not known for being a physically affectionate person.
He was sensitive, he had a great deal of empathy and he was a very loving and devoted member of our family. He himself could accept physical affection, but he rarely offered it out. He simply was not known for being very tactile. But it seemed that he had found someone who he was eager to be physically close to.

I cleared my throat to bring Bella back from her daydreaming. She jumped slightly and turned to face me, revealing the crimson flush that had fallen over her cheeks.

"Does he do that a lot? He's usually not very forgetful" I asked as I picked my briefcase up.

Bella smiled and walked over to the coat hanger to retrieve her jacket. "He isn't forgetful at all"

"You understand it's quite strange for our kind to loose their shoes. We have pretty good memories"

Bella glanced out the window and watched as Edwards car slowly pulled out of the drive way.