interpreted as well-justified frustration — frustration at my weakness, my slowness, my unruly human reactions…
He put his hands carefully on both sides of my face. 'I infuriate myself,' he said gently. 'The way I can't seem to keep from putting you in danger. My very existence puts you at risk. Sometimes I truly hate myself. I should be stronger, I should be able to —'
I placed my hand over his mouth. 'Don't.'
He took my hand, moving it from his lips, but holding it to his face.
'I love you,' he said. 'It's a poor excuse for what I'm doing, but it's still true.'
It was the first time he'd said he loved me — in so many words. He might not realize it, but I certainly did.
'Now, please try to behave yourself,' he continued, and he bent to softly brush his lips against mine.
I held properly still. Then I sighed.
'You promised Chief Swan that you would have me home early, remember? We'd better get going.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
He smiled wistfully and released all of me but one hand. He led me a few feet through the tall, wet ferns and draping moss, around a massive hemlock tree, and we were there, on the edge of an enormous open field in the lap of the Olympic peaks. It was twice the size of any baseball stadium. I could see the others all there; Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie, sitting on a bare outcropping of rock, were the closest to us, maybe a hundred yards away. Much farther out I could see Jasper and Alice, at least a quarter of a mile apart, appearing to throw something back and forth, but I never saw any ball. It looked like Carlisle was marking bases, but could they really be that far apart?
When we came into view, the three on the rocks rose.
Esme started toward us. Emmett followed after a long look at Rosalie's back; Rosalie had risen gracefully and strode off toward the field without a glance in our direction. My stomach quivered uneasily in response.
'Was that you we heard, Edward?' Esme asked as she approached.
'It sounded like a bear choking,' Emmett clarified.
I smiled hesitantly at Esme. 'That was him.'
'Bella was being unintentionally funny,' Edward explained, quickly settling the score.
Alice had left her position and was running, or dancing, toward us. She hurtled to a fluid stop at our feet.
'It's time,' she announced.
As soon as she spoke, a deep rumble of thunder shook the forest beyond us, and then crashed westward toward town.
'Eerie, isn't it?' Emmett said with easy familiarity, winking at me.
'Let's go.' Alice reached for Emmett's hand and they darted toward the oversized field; she ran like a gazelle. He was nearly as graceful and just as fast — yet Emmett could never be compared to a gazelle.
'Are you ready for some ball?' Edward asked, his eyes eager, bright.
I tried to sound appropriately enthusiastic. 'Go team!'
He snickered and, after mussing my hair, bounded off after the other two. His run was more aggressive, a cheetah rather than a gazelle, and he quickly overtook them. The grace and power took my breath away.
'Shall we go down?' Esme asked in her soft, melodic voice, and I realized I was staring openmouthed after him. I quickly reassembled my expression and nodded. Esme kept a few feet between us, and I wondered if she was still being careful not to frighten me. She matched her stride to mine without seeming impatient at the pace.
'You don't play with them?' I asked shyly.
'No, I prefer to referee — I like keeping them honest,' she explained.
'Do they like to cheat, then?'
'Oh yes — you should hear the arguments they get into! Actually, I hope you don't, you would think they were raised by a pack of wolves.'
'You sound like my mom,' I laughed, surprised.
She laughed, too. 'Well, I do think of them as my children in most ways. I never could get over my mothering instincts — did Edward tell you I had lost a child?'
'No,' I murmured, stunned, scrambling to understand what lifetime she was remembering.
'Yes, my first and only baby. He died just a few days after he was born, the poor tiny thing,' she sighed.
'It broke my heart — that's why I jumped off the cliff, you know,' she added matter-of-factly.
'Edward just said you f-fell,' I stammered.
'Always the gentleman.' She smiled. 'Edward was the first of my new sons. I've always thought of him that way, even though he's older than I, in one way at least.' She smiled at me warmly. 'That's why I'm so happy that he's found you, dear.' The endearment sounded very natural on her lips. 'He's been the odd man out for far too long; it's hurt me to see him alone.'
'You don't mind, then?' I asked, hesitant again. 'That I'm… all wrong for him?'
'No.' She was thoughtful. 'You're what he wants. It will work out, somehow,' she said, though her forehead creased with worry. Another peal of thunder began.
Esme stopped then; apparently, we'd reached the edge of the field. It looked as if they had formed teams. Edward was far out in left field, Carlisle stood between the first and second bases, and Alice held the ball, positioned on the spot that must be the pitcher's mound.
Emmett was swinging an aluminum bat; it whistled almost untraceably through the air. I waited for him to approach home plate, but then I realized, as he took his stance, that he was already there — farther from the pitcher's mound than I would have thought possible. Jasper stood several feet behind him, catching for the other team. Of course, none of them had gloves.
'All right,' Esme called in a clear voice, which I knew even Edward would hear, as far out as he was. 'Batter up.'
Alice stood straight, deceptively motionless. Her style seemed to be stealth rather than an intimidating windup. She held the ball in both hands at her waist, and then, like the strike of a cobra, her right hand flicked out and the ball smacked into Jasper's hand.
'Was that a strike?' I whispered to Esme.
'If they don't hit it, it's a strike,' she told me.
Jasper hurled the ball back to Alice's waiting hand. She permitted herself a brief grin. And then her hand spun out again.
This time the bat somehow made it around in time to smash into the invisible ball. The crack of impact was shattering, thunderous; it echoed off the mountains — I immediately understood the necessity of the thunderstorm.
The ball shot like a meteor above the field, flying deep into the surrounding forest.
'Home run,' I murmured.
'Wait,' Esme cautioned, listening intently, one hand raised. Emmett was a blur around the bases, Carlisle shadowing him. I realized Edward was missing.
'Out!' Esme cried in a clear voice. I stared in disbelief as Edward sprang from the fringe of the trees, ball in his upraised hand, his wide grin visible even to me.
'Emmett hits the hardest,' Esme explained, 'but Edward runs the fastest.'
The inning continued before my incredulous eyes. It was impossible to keep up with the speed at which the ball flew, the rate at which their bodies raced around the field.
I learned the other reason they waited for a thunderstorm to play when Jasper, trying to avoid Edward's infallible fielding, hit a ground ball toward Carlisle. Carlisle ran into the ball, and then raced Jasper to first base. When they collided, the sound was like the crash of two massive falling boulders. I jumped up in concern, but they were somehow unscathed.
'Safe,' Esme called in a calm voice.
Emmett's team was up by one — Rosalie managed to flit around the bases after tagging up on one of Emmett's long flies — when Edward caught the third out. He sprinted to my side, sparkling with excitement.
'What do you think?' he asked.
