I smiled for Nahuel’s happiness and then thought that today belonged to happiness. Though Irina’s sacrifice was a dark shadow against the white light, keeping the moment from perfection, the joy was impossible to deny. The life I’d fought for was safe again. My family was reunited. My daughter had a beautiful future stretching out endlessly in front of her. Tomorrow I would go see my father; he would see that the fear in my eyes had been replaced with joy, and he would be happy, too. Suddenly, I was sure that I wouldn’t find him there alone. I hadn’t been as observant as I might have been in the last few weeks, but in this moment it was like I’d known all along. Sue would be with Charlie—the werewolves’ mom with the vampire’s dad—and he wouldn’t be alone anymore. I smiled widely at this new insight.
      But most significant in this tidal wave of happiness was the surest fact of all: I was with Edward. Forever.
      Not that I’d want to repeat the last several weeks, but I had to admit they’d made me appreciate what I had more than ever.
      The cottage was a place of perfect peace in the silver-blue night. We carried Nessie to her bed and gently tucked her in. She smiled as she slept.
      I took Aro’s gift from around my neck and tossed it lightly into the corner of her room. She could play with it if she wished; she liked sparkly things.
      Edward and I walked slowly to our room, swinging our arms between us.
      “A night for celebrations,” he murmured, and he put his hand under my chin to lift my lips to his.
      “Wait,” I hesitated, pulling away.
      He looked at me in confusion. As a general rule, I didn’t pull away. Okay, it was more than a general rule. This was a first.
      “I want to try something,” I informed him, smiling slightly at his bewildered expression.
      I put my hands on both sides of his face and closed my eyes in concentration.
      I hadn’t done very well with this when Zafrina had tried to teach me before, but I knew my shield better now. I understood the part that fought against separation from me, the automatic instinct to preserve self above all else.
      It still wasn’t anywhere near as easy as shielding other people along with myself. I felt the elastic recoil again as my shield fought to protect me. I had to strain to push it entirely away from me; it took all of my focus.
      “Bella!” Edward whispered in shock.
      I knew it was working then, so I concentrated even harder, dredging up the specific memories I’d saved for this moment, letting them flood my mind, and hopefully his as well.
      Some of the memories were not clear—dim human memories, seen through weak eyes and heard through weak ears: the first time I’d seen his face… the way it felt when he’d held me in the meadow… the sound of his voice through the darkness of my faltering consciousness when he’d saved me from James… his face as he waited under a canopy of flowers to marry me… every precious moment from the island… his cold hands touching our baby through my skin…
      And the sharp memories, perfectly recalled: his face when I’d opened my eyes to my new life, to the endless dawn of immortality… that first kiss… that first night…
      His lips, suddenly fierce against mine, broke my concentration.
      With a gasp, I lost my grip on the struggling weight I was holding away from myself. It snapped back like stressed elastic, protecting my thoughts once again.
      “Oops, lost it!” I sighed.
      “I heardyou,” he breathed. “How? How did you do that?”
      “Zafrina’s idea. We practiced with it a few times.”
      He was dazed. He blinked twice and shook his head.
      “Now you know,” I said lightly, and shrugged. “No one’s ever loved anyone as much as I love you.”
      “You’re almost right.” He smiled, his eyes still a little wider than usual. “I know of just one exception.”
      “Liar.”
      He started to kiss me again, but then stopped abruptly.
      “Can you do it again?” he wondered.
      I grimaced. “It’s very difficult.”
      He waited, his expression eager.
      “I can’t keep it up if I’m even the slightest bit distracted,” I warned him.
      “I’ll be good,” he promised.
      I pursed my lips, my eyes narrowing. Then I smiled.
      I pressed my hands to his face again, hefted the shield right out of my mind, and then started in where I’d left off—with the crystal-clear memory of the first night of my new life… lingering on the details.
      I laughed breathlessly when his urgent kiss interrupted my efforts again.
      “Damn it,” he growled, kissing hungrily down the edge of my jaw.
      “We have plenty of time to work on it,” I reminded him.
      “Forever and forever and forever,” he murmured.
      “That sounds exactly right to me.”
      And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever.

VAMPIRE INDEX

Acknowledgments