Annora |E. Cullen|

TWENTY-THREE

"Will you marry me?" Emmett turned to me randomly as we were seated on one of the highest branches of the tallest tree by the house, he pulled out a ring box and opened the top.

I didn't have to look at the ring to say yes, although, it was a beautiful sight. "Of course," I smiled and kissed him.

He slid the ring on my finger and kissed me back, "I love you."

"I love you, too," I smiled like a small school girl.

"What, are you excited or something?" He joked.

"I've been wondering when you'd ask," I kissed him. "I couldn't quite put my finger on it. You were going to ask a couple of times last week, but then decided against it."

"How do you know these things?" He groaned playfully.

"I quite literally have the power of observation," I giggled.

"How about you come observe in bed?" He tried to be smooth, he made a face when he realised how bad it sounded. "That was-."

"Bad? Yeah," I laughed, "It's okay, though," I smiled and began to make my way down the tree.

Emmett was more daring than I, he let himself fall from the branch and dive down toward the ground, once he was almost to the bottom he grabbed onto a sturdy branch and swung over it before touching the ground. I then jumped from my position lower in the tree and waited for him to catch me. Once he did, he didn't let go. He kept me in his arms as he bolted from our spot to his bedroom, I giggled the entire time.

"Alice is going to want to steal you from me, I don't know if I'm quite ready for that," he kissed my neck. "I'm weak, what's wrong with that?"

"Absolutely nothing," I grinned and bit his lip.

Rain started to pour heavily from the sky, it created a certain level of chaos that aided our fun. After a while it decreased to a steady rain, not harsh, not too light, just the perfect amount. Our clothing was strewn out all over the room and the sheets were draped over us as I watched the rain.

"Does it still call for you?" Emmett questioned.

I nodded lightly. "A calling toward chaos, it's beautiful."

"You're beautiful," he kissed my cheek sweetly.

"You're too kind."

"I'm honest."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Em."

We could only lie peacefully for a certain measure of time, the universe made sure of it. Our solitude was cut short by a quick and urgent rasp on the door.

"Come in," Emmett's voice flowed through the room.

I pulled the sheets up to my chest as the door opened, Alice came in from the hallway and shut the door behind herself. She looked at the two of us and attempted to put her finger on whatever she had hypothesised. She looked to my hands and found her answer.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She squealed and rushed over to the bedside to hug my body.

I hugged her quickly and then let go as the only thing covering my skin was a thin, white sheet. "Sometimes people like to celebrate occurrences alone before they share them with other people," I laughed.

"Not fair! You should have told me right away! We have so much to do!" She exclaimed.

"Do you really think I haven't planned things out? Of course, everything is tentative, but I've got a folder," I rolled my eyes.

"Where?!" She possessed the largest smile I had ever witnessed.

"In the box on the right of the closet. The tallest shelf, very bottom."

Alice rushed over to the walk in closet that accommodated Emmett's and my clothing, shoes, accessories, things of that sort. She easily dug through boxes, lifting with one finger and moving with ease. She pulled out the box that I had been talking about and set it down on the floor.

The first item her fingers grazed over was a picture frame, "Who's this?"

I sighed and pulled my hair over my shoulder, "That's my mom."

"She's beautiful, Annora."

"Thanks."

She dug through the box some more and found awards, certificates, and legal documents like my birth certificate and social security card. At the very bottom was a large, three ring binder with a fat stack of papers inside. Post it flags descended in perfect position down the side of the paper.

Her eyes lit up, "Can I take this with me and look through it?"

"Of course," I smiled.

"Thanks! I'll be back in a few hours," she noted and then left the room with the box still on the floor.

I grabbed the shirt that Emmett had been wearing and put it on so that I wouldn't have been walking around completely bare. I bent down in front of the box and picked up the picture of my mom. I held it in one and and grazed her face with my fingers. It had been years since I had even considered looking at a picture of her.

"Are you okay, love?" Emmett questioned as he watched my reaction to the picture.

I smiled lightly, "Yeah."