I sighed and let my eyes close in contentment, resting there in his hands.

"Now will you answer a question for me? The whole truth, not sparing my feelings?" he asked.

"Of course," I answered at once, my eyes opening wide with surprise. What would he want to know?

"I thought she learned by now to never answer 'of course' to one of your questions," Alice said, shaking her head.

"Edward was honest with her. She should do the same," Esme said. "They really need to talk like this to each other."

He spoke the words slowly. "You don't want to be my wife."

"Oh... I suppose I really do what her to answer this one," Alice smiled. "It will make it easier for you to make her want to marry you."

"Told you it would be a good thing," Esme smiled, looking just as hopeful as Alice was.

"No, Bella, don't answer that," Emmett said. "Stall until the end of the book!"

My heart stopped, and then broke into a sprint. A cold sweat dewed on the back of my neck and my hands turned to ice.

He waited, watching and listening to my reaction.

"That's not a question," I finally whispered.

He looked down, his lashes casting long shadows across his cheekbones, and dropped his hands from my face to pick up my frozen left hand. He played with my fingers while he spoke.

"I was worrying about why you felt that way."

I tried to swallow. "That's not a question, either," I whispered.

Emmett chuckled at that.

"You know that she's not going to get away with that," Alice rolled her eyes.

"So... it's still funny," Emmett continued to laugh.

"Please, Bella?"

"The truth?" I asked, only mouthing the words.

"Of course. I can take it, whatever it is."

I took a deep breath. "You're going to laugh at me."

His eyes flashed up to mine, shocked. "Laugh? I cannot imagine that."

"You'll see," I muttered, and then I sighed. My face went from white to scarlet in a sudden blaze of chagrin. "Okay, fine! I'm sure this will sound like some big joke to you, but really! It's just so . . . so . . . so embarrassing !" I confessed, and I hid my face against his chest again.

"That's right, it's so embarrassing to be married to this idiot," Emmett laughed.

"Emmett!" Esme glared at him and he stopped laughing immediately. "I don't want to hear from you, any of you, until we hear Bella's reasoning."

"Okay," Emmett agreed, it was obvious that Esme really wanted to hear the reason behind Bella not wanting to marry Edward.

There was a brief pause.

"I'm not following you."

I tilted my head back and glared at him, embarrassment making me lash out, belligerent.

"I'm not that girl, Edward. The one who gets married right out of high school like some small-town hick who got knocked up by her boyfriend! Do you know what people would think? Do you realize what century this is? People don't just get married at eighteen! Not smart people, not responsible, mature people! I wasn't going to be that girl! That's not who I am. . . ." I trailed off, losing steam.

Edward furrowed his eyebrows in thought, looking a little down at that.

"Don't worry, Edward, she'll come around," Esme said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It's just a stereotype that she has to overcome... she loves you more than she cares what other people think."

"I know... it's actually not so bad," Edward said, "it's just the way she said it. Do you realize what century this is... I was just thinking how different things are now."

"Does this mean that I can talk again?" Emmett asked.

Esme sighed, "I guess."

Edward's face was impossible to read as he thought through my answer.

"That's all?" he finally asked.