Author's Note: I published this final chapter on my birthday. And for my birthday I asked for Robert Pattinson! But if that wasn't possible, reviews! Thanks so much for all your support along the way!

My heart leaped when Bella emerged from the restroom and came over to where I sat at the airport gate. She had gone to wash her face after the tearful farewell with Renee. Anytime she was out of my sight, I could visualize her perfectly, but that was never the same as having her before my eyes. Seeing her pale skin, colored by the blood underneath, hearing the beating heart inside her alluring body, interpreting the vibrant expressions on her lovely face was completely captivating.

The seats in the airport lounge had armrests that helped travelers maintain some personal space. I didn't want to maintain any personal space with Bella, so we sat side by side on the floor with our backs against the wall. At least this way I could feel the side of her body right next to mine.

"What happened during your walk on the beach?" I asked. This was our first chance to talk it over. I picked up her hand and held it with both of mine on my lap.

"You tell me."

"Well, Renee is feeling more comfortable with me and our relationship now. What did you say to her?"

She was silent for a moment. Her brow creased in distress. "Edward, I feel awful."

"Bella!" My heart clenched. "What's wrong? Please tell me."

"I had to, I don't know," she stammered. She took a deep breath and rested her head on my shoulder. "I didn't lie to her, exactly. I tried to just sort of redirect her thinking. But really, I've been lying to her the whole time about how I feel about you. How we feel about each other." She tilted her head to kiss my neck. "Like you said, she was worried that we're so connected."

"And you denied it?" If she felt she had not been true to me in some way, I was confident I could fix that.

"I didn't know what to say. Everything she said is true. But I could tell she didn't want it to be true. She thought it was extreme and, you know, not appropriate. She was uneasy. She wanted me to downplay our relationship, so I did." Bella sounded miserable.

"So, you are unhappy because you feel you can't be open with her?"

"Yes, that's part of it. It's so many things." Her voice rose in frustration. "We used to be so close. I wouldn't have been able to lie to her. The fact that I succeeded just shows the distance between us. Why did that happen? Is it just because I moved away? Or is it because I've been trying to pretend that you're an ordinary boyfriend? Did I push her away by doing that? And then, why do I have to pretend? Why can't she accept and be happy that the most amazing person loves me and I love him? Your parents seem thrilled that we met. I don't know. I loved seeing her and Phil, and I was just having a good time, but then I felt I had to manage her. All of a sudden I wasn't just being with her. I was manipulating her. Do you know what I mean?" She sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't complain. You were so great. You put up with everything. You ate my enchiladas. You said I've changed you. You apologized to Renee for hurting me! You made it sound like you were kind of flaky when the truth is you suffered so much because you were trying to do the right thing for me. You are the most perfect--"

"Bella!" I wanted to let her speak and spill out everything that was on her mind, but I had to stop her.

"What?" She seemed startled by my interruption.

"Please, please, please, if you love me, do not be sorry for sharing your thoughts and feelings with me." I lifted her chin and kissed her softly. "Ever. OK?"

I could detect uncertainty in the tightness around her eyes.

"And I don't want you to shower me with praise for my conduct. I have a confession to make," I told her. She nodded apprehensively. "When we started this trip, I was determined to make everything go smoothly, and the person who I was counting on to help me was Alice."

She frowned slightly.

"We all rely on Alice to preview our lives for us. I'm a Cullen. That's how we make it work. They depend on me to monitor the present, and we depend on her to monitor the future." I paused to check her expression. She wasn't sure where my words were leading. "I wanted to shelter you from my responsibilities. I felt it was my job alone to blend in and to try to charm your parents. I wanted you to just have fun. But I can see now that was wrong. I shouldn't have tried to orchestrate a carefree weekend for you and do everything else on my own, just with Alice's help, leaving you out of all that. Because you and I are in this together."

She let out a breath and seemed to relax. I jumped to my feet and pulled her up. "We still have time. I'll make sure we don't miss the flight. Let me take you somewhere more private to talk."

Her expression brightened immediately. "Really?" she asked eagerly.

"Well, it's not actually private. This is an airport. But it's better than here." I led her to the far end of the terminal, where there was an unused gate. No agents were at the desk and no passengers were scattered around the lounge. I sat down on the floor again and arranged her on my lap. Anyone who came along the corridor would see us, but we were alone for the present, and of course I'd have warning if someone approached.

"Now, where were we?" I began. She kissed me. Automatically I pulled her closer. So delicious, so soft, so dizzying, so distracting. I shook my head and slid my hands to her shoulders to gently push her away.

"Wrong answer," I said. She lifted an eyebrow. "We were talking about this trip and our relationship and your mother."

"Edward," she said tenderly, leaning against my chest. "You said we are in this together. That makes me so happy. That's what I want forever."

"Forever," I promised. "But that means sharing our concerns. I didn't do that with you, and I'm sorry. If I had, you might have been more prepared for the part you had to play."

"I should have realized. I shouldn't have gotten upset at having to do something that you have to do all the time. I want you to be able to count on me. It just that I didn't expect, with Renee…" Her voice trailed off.

"It bothers you to hide the truth from her in particular," I guessed. She nodded.

"I understand. My whole life is a lie, except when I'm with you or my family. Everything about me is a lie. Even my appearance. People find me attractive, and that's just a mechanism to lure in my prey. People think I look fairly normal, and that's just because I don't let them see me in the sunlight. I have to hide my abilities. There has to be distance. There has to be deception. I accepted all that a long time ago. But it's difficult and even sickening to lie to someone you care about. That's how I felt when we first met. It's not pleasant or easy to play a part when you want the person to know you. I didn't like telling Renee my fake history. But it is very necessary."

"I know. It's not the lying so much as what I had to lie about. I have no impulse to tell her about vampires. I'm fine with keeping that secret. But I don't want to lie about our love." She was relaxing in my arms. How amazing. Our conversation was soothing her troubled spirits as effectively as Jasper could.

"OK. Here's what I think about that. I've read thousands of love stories. I'm familiar with movies, plays, songs, everything. But before I fell in love with you, I didn't know, I couldn't know what any of it meant. Some of those stories seemed extreme to me, until I knew exactly what they were talking about. She and Phil love each other, that is very clear to me, but it's not the same. If you don't understand these feelings, our relationship might very well seem frightening and baffling."

"Why frightening?"

"Bella, right now we're happy because we're together. But there was a time when we weren't together, and either of us could easily have died trying to stop the pain of that. We both had narrow escapes. It's a huge risk to need someone this much. Your mother is right to worry."

"Edward." I could never get tired of hearing her say my name. In her voice those two familiar syllables were infused with love.

"Yes?" My answer would always be yes.

"You are helping me so much."

"That's what I'm here for." I tightened my arms around her.

"So can I have another kiss?" She looked up at me pleadingly. There was no chance that I'd refuse.

"Yes, but I'm not through talking to you," I added quickly. She covered my mouth with hers. I felt her tongue sweep over my upper lip. My mouth fell open slightly in response and I let out a shaky breath. Every little thing she did made me want to grab her, to feel her skin under my hands and my lips. For once, she pulled away first.

"Thank you," she whispered. "You can keep talking now."

"After that?" I chuckled. "Were we talking?"

She wore an enchanting smile. "Yes, you were making me feel better."

"And you insist on my using words to make you feel better?"

She giggled. "Yes," she said emphatically. "Finish what you wanted to say. And then we'll see."

To amuse her I had pretended to be unaware we'd been having a conversation, but I truly couldn't seem to bring the most recent interchange to mind. "Honestly, love, I don't remember."

She laughed. "I made you forget?"

"You have so much power over me. I love it," I said fiercely.

"I have power over the man with superpowers. I like the sound of that," she said in a satisfied tone. "Well, I am going to use my power for good this time. You were saying Renee should worry that we're too close."

"It's all coming back to me now," I teased. "What I wanted to say is that it's natural for her to worry. She doesn't feel any differently than my family did. They never blamed you for everything that happened when I left you. They were very concerned about you and angry with me and my choices. But in some sense, they did wish we had never met, because they were so afraid for both of us. The reason they are delighted now is because they know my commitment to you is permanent. Renee doesn't have any way of knowing that."

"That's why you tried to tell her."

"Yes, but she knows that human hearts and minds can change, and she doesn't know that I'm different."

"We're different," she corrected.

"Yes, we're different," I agreed, giving her another squeeze. "If she could understand that, maybe she wouldn't worry, because it's a complete waste of energy to worry about something that won't change. I found a fragile human who is more gorgeous than any vampire and whose love is stronger than any immortal. I'll never give that up."

"Hmmm," she pondered for a moment, and then gazed into my eyes. "I found a powerful vampire whose soul is more beautiful than any angel and whose touch is gentler and warmer to me than any human. I'll never give that up."

I kissed her. Her mouth was the source of so much joy for me, from the loving words that she spoke and from the heat that swept through my whole body when she pressed her lips to mine. Without breaking the contact, I stood up, cradling her in my arms. For one moment I increased the pressure and savored the tingling pleasure of the kiss, and then I carefully set her on her feet.

"They're calling our flight, love. It's time to go home."

Author's Note: When my daughter first suggested writing this story and when I started thinking about it, I had no idea what would happen. The story definitely changed as I worked on it and I think became more psychologically and emotionally real and complicated. I am very pleased with the final product. If you go back to the first chapter, you can see that on the way to Florida, they didn't understand what was in store and they weren't really communicating. Bella gave no thought to the challenges Edward expected to face, and when he tried to tell her she just turned it into a goofy compliment. His goal was to pretend for Renee, and it turned out that he had to be real for her. Her goal was to have fun and it turned out that she had some work to do helping Edward and soothing her mother. Hopefully the story has unfolded so that Bella's realization (that he needs her as a partner) and Edward's realization (that it was bad for him, bad for her and bad for the relationship to try to manage everything himself) and their level of connection in this chapter all feel right. Of course Edward still feels entitled to hide things from Bella, when her safety is at stake. He doesn't come clean about the motivation for the trip until Jacob shows up to spill the beans.

Writing this was a very compelling and fascinating process for me. I often felt as if there were a movie of Edward and Bella in my head and I could just watch to see what they did and said. When I pictured the scene vividly, the words just flowed out. Of course, credit must go to Stephenie Meyer for creating such interesting and well-developed characters. Anyway, writing this was a tremendous pleasure, and it's been even more thrilling to know that people appreciate it. It is an absolute wonder and joy to me that people are reading and enjoying my work and taking the time to tell me about it. If you liked this story, I would love to know it. Please also consider reading some of my other stories and putting me on alert so you'll be notified when I publish new things, if you have not done so already. Thank you so very much for going on this journey with Edward, Bella and me.