3 years later

"Mom! Dad! Come on! Hurry up or I'm gonna be late for the first day back!" Lily roars furiously as she pounds on our bedroom door.

Edward groans and rolls over, burying his face deeper into the pillow. He was working a late shift last night so he'd only gotten in in the early hours of the morning. I decide to let him sleep a bit longer and I get dressed and make my way downstairs to deal with our prematurely teenage daughter.

"Calm down," I scold, as I enter the kitchen and am met with her angry expression. I roll my eyes at her and say, "We still have like an hour to get there."

She just huffs and turns her attention to the bowl of cereal I place in front of her. I pour myself a cup of coffee and smirk to myself. I have a feeling getting to school has a lot less to do with actual learning than with seeing Jay, the cute little boy who transferred into her class last spring. Only eight years old and already getting herself in a tizzy over a boy. Her aunt Alice would be proud.

As soon as the last few flakes of cereal are cleared from her bowl, Lily mumbles a quick 'thanks' and rushes upstairs to change out of her pyjamas, almost knocking over her father in her haste to get upstairs. Edward rubs his eyes sleepily, his bronze hair sticking up in every direction, as he walks into the kitchen barefoot and wearing nothing but his flannel pyjama pants

I pour my handsome sleepy-head a cup of much needed coffee and add the milk and sugar just how he likes it as he comes up behind me and snakes an arm around my waste, pulling my back into his bare chest and nuzzling his chin into my neck.

"What the heck is that about?" he asks me yawning. "Who actually looks forward to the first day of school?"

I lean back into him and turn my face up to place a chaste kiss on his jaw. "I think she's just looking forward to seeing her new boyfriend," I smirk.

Edward pulls back a little, looking into my teasing eyes in shock. "Boyfriend? She's only eight years old!"

"Relax, babe," I say, running my thumbs comfortingly over his hands which still linger around my waste and tracing the outline of his wedding band.

We'd gotten engaged maybe a year after we'd started really dating, and married not three months later. It had been a simple affair with just close family and friends in attendance. Alice and Rose had been my bridesmaids, Lily the flower girl, and Emmett and Jasper were Edward's groomsmen. It had taken place on the beach at sunset, the rays from the setting sun glinting off Edward and Lily's hair and the reflection of the sun on the sea casting a beautiful orange and yellow glow all around us.

Our family had been there to support us, Edward's mother crying her eyes out as we said our vows and even my dad's eyes had looked a little watery when he gave me away. But nothing stuck out in my mind as much as the breath-taking smile that Edward wore as I made my towards him in my white dress.

It had been a magical day, and my life had been incredible ever since. Sometimes I still had to stop and pinch myself and remind myself that this was all real, that I really was this lucky.

Edward, Lily and I had all officially moved in together not long before our engagement. Edward had sold his house, I'd stopped renting my little cottage and we'd bought a house together on the outskirts of Forks, a bigger one to make room for the family that we wanted to have someday, with a huge garden and a white picket fence, our names side by side on the lease as equal owners.

Money hadn't been an issue for me anymore. While sales of my book hadn't exactly taken off as soon as it was published, after it had been on the market for a few months it started to disappear off shelves. It increased hugely in popularity first simply by word of mouth, then people started to discuss it on radio shows and soon I was being flown out to LA to discuss it on a talk show, and then it had to be reprinted, and then reprinted again as it continued to sell out. I had published the sequel last year, which had spent ten months at the top of the bestseller list.

I spend a lot of my days now writing, working from my home office, but I still work a couple days a week at the publishing company in Port Angeles. As much as I enjoy writing my own stories, I also love helping other authors with their work as well; especially new authors who are just starting to make their mark on the literary world.

"You know it's completely innocent at their age," I reassure Edward. "The most that she'll do is hold his hand or kiss him on the cheek."

"Kiss him?!" Edward exclaims. "Over my dead body!" he growls.

I laugh at how ridiculously protective he is of his daughter. To me it's endearing, but it's going to be the bane of Lily's existence when she hits her teens.

I stretch up on my tiptoes to kiss him and I feel him instantly relax. I pull way quickly before we get swept up into something we can't finish.

"You better get dressed or we actually are going to be late," I tell him.

"Okay," he sighs. "But this isn't over, Mrs Cullen." He winks cheekily at me, his voice taking on a husky tone. "You said you were taking the day off, so how about we drop Lily off and then come back here and make the most of us both having the day off and Lily being back to school?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, letting his fingers trail lightly down my sides.

I shiver. "As nice as that sounds, I'm supposed to have coffee with Alice and Rose this morning."

"Ditch them," he says dismissively, letting his breath ghost down my neck.

I groan and pull out of his tempting grasp. "You are a bad influence, Mr Cullen," I groan.

His laugh echoes behind me as I go to hunt down Lily and we get her out the door to school.

In the end I do manage to meet Alice and Rose, shaking Edward off with promises that this afternoon I'm all his.

Alice is already sitting in a booth at the little café when I arrive. She's positively glowing as she cradles her tea in one hand and the other trails over her sizeable baby bump. The first baby Whitlock is well on its way.

She stands up to greet me and I kiss her cheek before taking a seat across from her.

"How's my future little niece or nephew?" I ask grinning.

"Still cooking," she answers tiredly.

"And how are you doing?" I ask slightly worried. Alice's pregnancy has certainly forced her to slow down, the near constant exhaustion taking its effect on her normally energetic attitude.

"I'm really starting to look forward to just popping this kid out," she moans. "At least then I might not feel so exhausted and queasy all the time."

I laugh. "Don't count on it."

Just then Rosalie stumbles into the café looking frazzled, little Harry on her hip and his changing bag slung over her shoulder. I take my godson from her as soon as she approaches, pulling him down onto my lap and starting to coo at him. He's such a cute little boy with Emmett's dark curls and dimples and Rose's bright blue eyes.

"Thanks, Bells," Rosalie sighs, flopping into the booth beside Alice. "Sorry I'm late. I'll never get used to how freaking long it takes just to get out of the house with a baby. I swear they need more stuff than Alice does!"

I laugh and Alice scowls playfully. As much as they moan and gripe about it sometimes I know how happy they both are. Rosalie took to motherhood like a duck to water, and I know as difficult as it can be sometimes, she and Emmett are both wonderful parents. And I know Alice and Jasper will be soon too.

And soon Edward and I will be taking on that challenge again too, not that anybody else knows it yet. I only found out yesterday and I haven't even told Edward yet. I smile secretively to myself at the mental image of him cradling our newborn son or daughter. He hadn't gotten to experience the miracle of childbirth, the exhaustion of night time feedings, diaper changes and sleepless nights with Lily, but I know he'll be amazing. And I can't wait to do it all with him.

Rose, Alice and I spend an hour catching up and sharing a couple pieces of chocolate cake, before I make my excuses and plead out to go home to where my sexy loving husband is waiting for me.

When I enter the house I find Edward in the laundry room and smile wide. My nicely domesticated husband has spent the morning doing chores.

I clear my throat to draw his attention and his breaks into my favourite crooked smile as soon as his gaze lands on me, leaning against the doorframe watching him.

He ditches the laundry basket, crosses the room in a few quick strides and buries his face in my neck, growling "finally" against my collarbone. I giggle as his stubble tickles my neck and then his mouth is covering mine. He moans against me, picks me up and almost sprints upstairs to our bedroom.

As much as we try our best to make time for each other, with both of us working and Lily we don't get a lot of time to be completely alone like this, so when we're done making love, we just lay tangled up in each other for a while, letting our breathing go back to normal and just enjoying each others' company.

"We're going to have to get up soon and go get Lily," Edward groans, kissing my neck and pulling me closer in contradiction to his words.

I curl myself around him and say teasingly, "I could always give Jay's mom a call and see if Lily and Jay could have a play date this afternoon."

Edward grumbles indignantly, "I don't think so."

I laugh. "She's not a baby anymore, Edward. We have to let her grow up sometime."

"Nope," he says, kissing my neck again. "She's gonna stay my baby forever. She's never gonna grow up, she's never gonna date and she's never gonna leave home."

I giggle again. "You might start rethinking that in about eight months when we've got another baby sucking up all our attention," I whisper.

He pulls back from my neck abruptly, his surprised eyes looking into mine for any indication that I'm just joking around. His eyes travel down my naked body to land on my flat stomach before coming back up to meet my stare.

"Really?" he says, his voice hoarse. "You're pregnant?" His eyes shine and a smile starts to spread across his handsome face.

I bite my bottom lip and nod, and suddenly his lips are crashing down onto mine again.

As I lay awake in bed that night, blissfully exhausted, I can't help but reflect on how my life has changed for the better. Three and a half years ago I was a young single mother, jobless and recovering from an accident that had nearly killed me and left me unable to remember some of the most important people in my life. Now I have the best family and friends anyone could ever ask for, a husband who loves and adores me, a beautiful and spirited child, and another one on the way. I ghost my hand over my stomach and gaze at Edward sleeping peacefully next to me. My life couldn't be more perfect.

I can't believe this is actually finally finished, and it only took me like 8 years :/ sorry about that, a girl gets busy. Thank you for sticking with me this long and please leave me a review and let me know what you think.