In the morning, Alice had talked to Charlie and Renee and convinced them to let me sleepover at the Cullen’s, now that the wedding was postponed. When I walked out the door with Alice, she took me shopping. Despite my protests, I had 8 new outfits.

I wore a hyacinth blouse and black pants home. When we arrived, a stunned Edward met Alice and me at the door. It was clearly the outfit because he never took his topaz eyes off me the entire way to his room.

Upstairs, he locked the door behind us, set me down on the bed, and paced for several minutes as I silently watched him.

He finally came to sit next to me. I moved to be on his lap and he wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my hair.

“I love you,” he murmured.

“I love you too,” I mumbled into his chest.

He held me tighter and I felt the urgency in his voice. “Bella, you need to leave Forks.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he put a finger over my lips.

“Bella, love, I don’t want you to worry. Please, for my peace of mind, leave Forks for a few days.”

This time, I beat his finger. “Why, Edward? I know you’re not going to leave you as long as I want you, so why do you want me to go?”

“My love, I will always be with you, for all eternity, but you must leave. I can’t bare to let you out of my sight, but you can’t be around Forks for the next few days.”

I looked up at him skeptically, waiting for a reason. He turned his head away and sighed.

“The Volturi are coming.”