9. The Day After

     I woke up the next morning, feeling wonderful at first. I looked up seeing Edward leaning on one hand looking at me. His face was guarded. I went to hug him, and gave out a gasp. Edward closed his eyes, clearly in his own internal pain. I suddenly remembered that as incredible as my night with Edward had been, his reservations about waiting had not been completely unfounded. He had tried very hard to be gentle with me, but his ardor had gotten the better of him several times, and I felt the full force of his love. As I tried to move, I felt the bruises that were now covering various parts of my body, but I knew I didn’t care. Making love with Edward had been everything I had hoped and dreamed of. The rough stuff was not exactly pleasant, but it did not diminish the pleasure we had experienced. We belonged to each other body and soul now. And although we had a week to go on our honeymoon, I was ready to move on to the next stage of our life. As I thought about these things, I gently stroked his chin, and pulled him down to kiss me.

“I’m sorry Bella, so sorry” he said miserably.

I put my hand over his lips. “Don’t, it was wonderful Edward, I have never been so happy in my life. And I wouldn’t have changed anything about last night.”

Edward looked at me stunned. “How can you say that Bella, after what I did to you last night?!”

“I rather enjoyed what you did to me last night” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. It wasn’t working.

“It’s not funny Bella,” he fumed. “I could have killed you last night!”

“No, you couldn’t have” I said matter-of-factly.

“Oh really?” He said, becoming angry. “You don’t think the bruises on your body are an indicator of my ability to kill you?”

“Edward, I am perfectly aware that you can kill me. But I know you wouldn’t have killed me last night because you were in control.”

“Look at yourself, look at your body! You call that controlled. How can you call that controlled?”

“Because, when you became…um…over excited…when I asked you to stop you did. You told me all I had to do was ask, and when I did, you stopped. You were in control.”