YOU BURNED DOWN THE REZ AND FORKS!??!?!?!?!?!?!? Wow! Brave. So, I'm venturing a guess that everyone is not at the wedding to celebrate, but to act as bodyguards. not that we are anywhere close to that. We know in the long run that Bella is healthy, but I'm dying to hear the necessary soul-lashing that Edward is going to get!

 

He's not douglas, but this picture makes me happy:

http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/small/0909/the-baron-baby-wearing-an-oversized-fake-monocle-demotivational-poster-1254247257.jpg

 

Love

Jene

Author's Response:

Hi there Jene!

That picture is adorable. And you're right it totally makes me smile, too. Thanks so much for sending the link! And the review!

And yes, I did burn down loads of stuff. I wanted my story to be different. So I went there. :) And for the record we already HAD the wedding. Bella just doesn't know about it. So yes, for the ceremony that is mentioned in the front arc of the story she most definitely has bodyguards all over the place. I just kinda sorta neglected to mention that part. Oops. :) Does it make you take a new read on the significance of that pesky Thriftway incident?

Best,

Books

Sorry I've been MIA the last few chapters. I've been unbeleivably busy! Anyway, they rocked. Seriously, I love Jaspers excitement at Marcus' ass kicking. And I loved how all the Cullens joined up to pick on arria. Awww sweet family bonding moment! Everything is starting to come together and lots of things are falling in place in regards to the first few chapters! But now I have more questions. Like, what happened to the twins, I don't remember any mention of them in the first few chapters? I'm so excited for more I can hardly wait, I hope you're updating again soon because I want to know why the hell forks is on fire!? I seriously can't wait for more!!!

Author's Response:

Hi there smiles!

No need to apologize, hon. I totally understand how RL can at times get in the way. Can't the world just understand our need for fanfiction and stop for an hour or five? Huh? I'm delighted you are enjoying the chapters, especially the contrast in family bonding. The Telecles clan gets together and goes out and hacks apart enemies. They feel so much better after that. The Cullens? Have verbal arguments in the face of superior firepower. Who knew? The twins are asleep during this entire chapter being held by others. I didn't mention them. I think. And I did not mention them in the first few chapters deliberately, so don't go looking for references to them - I don't want to send you on a fool's errand. :) 

And if you go to the thread you'll see a teaser that should let you know why Forks is on fire. :) Seriously.

Marcus is waving at you.

Best,

Books

Wow! So much happens in your chapters and they are so brilliantly written! What will Emmett and Rosalie do with the twins? And in what condition will Bella wake up? Edward seems to be realizing the magnitude of what has been happening and I am interested in seeing how he comes to terms with it all. Wonderful chapter!

Author's Response:

Hi there pomme_de_terre!

Thanks so much for the review! And I had a hard time with the writing of this one, so I appreciate your kind words. One of my betas correctly pointed out to me that the dialog needed work. So I rolled up my sleeves and started cutting. Okay, the snarky side of me when I read your question about the twins immediately thought, "have them with red or white wine?" Ew, I know. I think the question that Emmett and Rosalie will have to deal with at present is if they can handle the responsibility of being parents. I don't have children. But I do believe that longing for them does not equate being ready for parenthood. And Rosalie has just had her dream tossed into her lap. I always felt like Book Rosalie picked the whole childless dealio as an empty argument or a flimsy excuse for her bitter worldview. She hated being a vampire yet wanted children. Huh? So she can pass her "I hate what I am.." onto another generation? Lovely. And I felt like there was nothing preventing her and Emmett from adopting children. They could have adopted human ones or they could have done what Carlisle and Esme did and take in newborn vamps (hopefully not create them). So to me although it was predictable that Edward gave these little humans that he has no right to give over to Rosalie and Emmett, I wanted his motivation to be different. He's dropping her dream in her lap with the hopes that it will distract her (Emmett, too) and keep them from their bloodhound like honing in on his personal shortcomings. In my mind, just because Edward understands that HE loves the Cullens, Bella, too, doesn't translate that he accepts that THEY (the cullens in this case) unconditionally love him back. In his mind, if they knew the real him, they'd be revolted. So he's being munificent with children for self-protective reasons. Hope that made sense. 

Writing Edward starting to figure things out has been a challenge. I didn't want it to occur to him all at once. So I'm starting with him realizing, "hey, there's something wrong with Bella," followed by him realizing that maybe he went a bit overboard back there in the Volturi catacombs and showed off a little too much. Because now he's the talk of every immortal. He should know. He can hear them. :)

Best,

Books

What a way to start the weekend! A new update :D Now that's cause for celebration! 

Hope you are well. I am following you on Twitter BTW :p Im EternalSummer79.

Ok, time to get serious... to a reasonable extent that is.

An English Mea Cupa opener! You naughty, you! ;) It just keeps creeping up on you doesnt it? hahaha

The 2 Mamma's going head to head. Yep, that had been brewing for a while. Kudos to Esme for her restraint up til now - even if she (as you mentioned in your last reply) has a tendency of babying her grown-up children too much. Maybe the fact she's lost an infant child when she was changed is influencing her behaviour. You know, the whole frozen emotions part of the change.

As for Rosalie, well, she's Rosalie. Moving ahead like a tank. Dont. Get. Her. Upset! (oops! wrong character. the again, if the shoe fits...)

What a future Arria had planned for Bella. Turning her into one of those battery hens, well kind if. With maybe an Octo-Mom component thrown in as well for good measure. Tsk, tsk, tsk! Bad!

One third into the chapter and I expected SSE to hyperventilate. His knees are going to leave a mark on his prayer bench from all the time he is going to spend on it. He will need something to distract him some. Too bad Emmet doesnt know him, Im sure he could have come up with a good idea. VS catalogues can only help so much. Of course Im talking about browsing those in order to find appropriate attire for CCBella. Honest. No perving. Ever... Maybe some study of human female anatomy on occasions, but nothing more.

Boy am I glad I am not part of Arria's family! That little test of her... not to mention the consequence. SO ok, she was technically following family traditions - probably hoping Daddy M would congratulate her on it as well - but really... I suggest starting collecting funds to buy "Motherhood for Dummies" and have the book sent to her. Anonymously. No need to take unnecessary risks.

Carlisle had a good point though, with the whole modern parenting thing. Even if he said it to help Arria save face, he was pretty spot on I think. Him and Esme have moved on from ancient parenting, although probably not enough (i.e. the CCEdward babying you mentioned in your last msg)

Go Emmet and Jasper! Way to go, putting Arria back in her place. Fierce team - not as fierce as Rosalie/Marie Alice though, but close enough). They're the Chip and Dale of the Cullen family - or is it Chippendales???

CCEdward is scoring points! Reinforced in his status as CCBella's mate by Marcus once again and taking responsibilities for some of his actions. He's on the right track. A less murky one at least. Still slippery though. Lets hope his Vampire agility will help him stay up right (not THAT kind of up right. Agility has nothing to do with it!!)

I think I need to read up on Sun-Tzu.

Aaw, after all this time CCEdward got some sort of cuddling-to-Bella time. All for a good cause naturally. In a completely chaste way. A totally justify moment, nothing selfish, no pleasure gained at all. A vampire mate's got to do... you know how it goes.

MemoryWinterBella... Had her balance been better, maybe she could swapped crampons for skating blades? Im sure Arria would have appreciated and could have probably supplied a couple of customised blades as well.

No surprise really at how efficient Daddy M and Family and guards are. Get the job done. It's all about action/reaction. Sometimes a spring cleaning is needed, even during wintertime.

Hurray for the return of a conscious Bella AND Douglas in next chapter :) Maybe he could befriend ChipJazz and DaleEmm?

Thanks again for an awesome chapter. I might have to re-read some old chapters soon though cos the amount of events that have happened or are happening and that are influencing current events is getting huge.

Until next time, my friend!

 

Author's Response:

Hi there Summerc79!

Thanks so much for the review and I'm laughing at your mea culpa joke. Honestly, that was just the place where I divided the chapter by chance. It wasn't done on purpose. Sort of. I think what I was trying to say in my last review is that Carlisle and Esme for the best of intentions have played a role in the continuation of Edward's mental delusion. They treat him differently than the other Cullen children. In CC they treat him more like a 17-year old. I had someone point out to me that it really should not be necessary for Carlisle to have a sex-chat with a 104 year old male. For Carlisle and Esme to sit him down and discuss physical boundaries....to me that "showed" that while they love him, they are a bit blinded that they coddle him. Mary Alice started to point it out not long before they left. 

I'm laughing about the SSE comment. I should have had Mizra put in worn patches on the bench where his knees have been all these years. And I'm dying about the idea of Emmett in a room with SSE. I don't know that Emmett would have much patience with him. I can see Emmett putting him in a headlock if he got all preachy. 

And Wow! people really have a hate on for Arria LOL. I did not intend to make her sympathetic, but I did want to put some mud in the mix so to speak. From the way I see it, Arria was treating Bella just like she had been treated. She was expected to have as many children as she could for the coven before she was turned - as were all the other human members. I have not stipulated that people had a quota or anything - just that this was their contribution to the coven and then if they chose, they'd be turned. In my mind, not everyone wanted to be an immortal in the lost covens. I can also see some of the vampires in some of the covens refusing to turn someone who is, say a jerk. or judged deficient in some manner. And the problem with writing Arria is that she has been trained from a young age not to show emotion - so showing her having "feelings" for her daughter is difficult. I'm glad the Carlisle point worked for you. I was afraid when I wrote it that I sounded like I the author was lecturing the audience - which is why I wrote the context in there. That sounded like something that Carlisle would say, but I also wanted to emphasize since I have Carlisle in the room with Marcus - that Carlisle has under appreciated skills. And in my mind, it totally blows to be Arria. She's raised from birth thinking she is the sole survivor of the raids on her family. So she is, despite all the pressure, the Queen of her coven, meant to take over the lost covens at some point and doing a great job actually at establishing a power base. Then she finds out that her Mom isn't dead - oh and she has a brother - meaning male heir - which makes her in her time superfluous. Then she goes and meets her Dad for the first time and he's criticizing her. And THEN she finds out the she has four other brothers who don't even bother to acknowledge her. Her oldest child died because she tried her best to keep her coven sheltered from the world and she only has Bella left and she had to stay away from Bella due to other things you don't know about yet - take it as her trying to protect her daughter. So Arria's world seriously sucks. She rescues her daughter only to be told that despite the fact she's following the Telecles norms to the best of her ability, she's a deficient mother. And even her own clan thinks that. 

Glad you liked Emmett and Jasper. I wanted them to irritate the blazes out of Arria by arguing with her father rather than with her. Neither in going over her head was showing her that they considered her worth dealing on an equal level with that power play. 

I wrote in Marcus telling Arria that Edward was her mate as something that Marcus did - not because the situation provoked it, but because he could sense the relationship between her and Bella as well as Arria and Edward - and he wanted to ensure that his daughter respected the mate bond. So he had to point it out to her out loud in public. And her answering him back in the way that she did was her attempt to stand up for Bella. 

We shall see about her future relationship with Bella. :)

Thanks so much for your thoughtful review, and making me think. :) You made my night. :)

Best,

Books

in Chile we don't say Mija that much... grannies and grandpa's say Mijita (o)....

in here we use diminutives of our names, or nicknames... 

Author's Response:

Grannies say it too in the states, but it is common in some parts of the United States to say it to friends. :)

Here's your personal spoiler for the next section:

 

I said to Marcus, "Phoenix is headed towards the reservation. We have about twenty minutes before he gets there."

Marcus sighed, "How impressive is his mighty force this time?" He barely avoided sarcasm, but made his disdain clear.

I reached out for Grace who tentatively responded to my apologetic, 'Fine. I'm flat-out-groveling,' greeting; and ‘thanks for saving, "Sweet Girl.'" Grace showed me that Phoenix at least in his boast, had not been kidding.

"I estimate eight thousand, Marcus."

Marcus scoffed, "Surely you jest."

"No."

"Is that all?" Marcus sounded truly offended.

 

hi books!!... nice chapter.... and now i begin!!... Carlisle cured Eve mmmm... i didn't remember that, (was it mentioned in another chapter?)

Marcus idea of parenting... LOL!!!

So that was Arria's plan for Bella... to breed?.. WTH is wrong with her, even though i kinda get the thing about keeping the human lines of the family and such...

"I will not scream-it is" followed by a round of "I will not slay-it is" with a dash of "i will not ,aunch and detonate like a rocket-it is"... LMAO that was brilliant... i was laughing so hard i almost peed myself... =D

So Arria will have Edward's nuts if he leaves and treats her bad again... lovely... what's with everyone wanting Edward's nuts?... hahahaha....

it's hard for me to imagine Aro "giddy with glee"....

and the end.... OMFG!!! Forks and the Reservation are burning... WTH!!!... what's wrong... gah!!!!...

it's been a long time since i reviewed this long....

cuidate... saludos

JaJiTaXx

Author's Response:

Hi there JaJiTaXx!

Eve first came into the story in HOD Mammoth Sized Mongrels. Carlisle tells the story of how he met her almost at the end of the chapter. She showed up at his work, sick, refused to give him a name and wouldn't drink blood. 

For the record, we don't really know all of what Arria planned for Bella. We do know that she had her on purpose in order to continue her line. That alone isn't a crime so to speak, she's just following the norms of her time and culture. Now stealing Bella's eggs or forcing her to marry someone? Arria insists she never would have gone there. Jury is still out on that one. Arria, in my opinion  is a layered character - you see good and you see bad. She sincerely loves her daughter although she does not show it in a manner that you or I would expect. Arria was raised by soldiers, she did not have a mother figure in her life to follow. So she's not into expressing tenderness or sentimentality. And she most definitely is disturbed at how Edward left Bella. So expect fireworks over that. I had her NOT out Edward in this chapter not because she owed him anything, but because she did not want to humiliate her daughter - and she knew her daughter would not want the Cullens to know. 

Yes, Forks is burning. The reservation too. 

I am evil. :)

Best,

Books

Picturing Jasper following after Edward was too funny in my mind. :o)  I think it was a good move on E's part to "give" the toddlers to Rose & Emmett.  I am super anxious to hear from Bella.  She has been quiet for far too long. And don't even get me started on how I have missed Douglas. :o)  WTF?! Forks is burning? Who the hell . . . Guess I'll have to wait to find that one out.  
Marcus' indifference to the mistreatment of Bella kinda bothers me.  Yeah that was how things were done in his day, but hell, he has been around a mighty long time.  You'd think he would have picked up a few things along the way in regards to how things have changed through the years...but what do i know huh?  Looking forward to the next installment . . . anxiously . . .

Author's Response:

Hi there Rgwmnks!

Thanks so much for your review! And I completely agree with you that Marcus' behavior is curious. You had exactly the reaction i hoped that people would have. I did not want to characterize Marcus as perfect in every way. I also wanted to show that he is ruthlessly pragmatic. Thousands of years may have passed, but his clan has held onto their traditions. And they matter, so he is defending his daughter's right to put Bella to the test. This was not made clear in the chapter - but since you raised the subject - ...In Marcus' time using such rituals meant the person was officially accepted into the coven. If Arria had prevented Bella from doing them, she would have been signaling others that her daughter was unfit. So Arria in her mind, took a huge chance and by the standards of her time was being generous with Bella in allowing the rituals to take place. She knew there was a chance that Bella could not pass them. Yet she insisted on letting her try. Because since she has passed - now Bella wins initial acceptance into the coven. And they did not really have a refined attitude towards people with disabilities in Marcus' time. Men with them had better be good thinkers because they were useless in battle. So Marcus takes Arria's side in this fight although he thinks that she could have handled it better. He also is aware that he is not privy to all the facts which is why he is defending his daughter with lines like, "I'm sure Arria had a reason for what she did," etc. 

Thanks so much for making me think!

Best,

Books

LMAO GREAT CHAP love the chip bag pic!  I am onto the next chap!

Author's Response:

Well hello there silly sad sarah twilighted!

Thanks so much! Mizra made that and it totally made my day. :)

Best,

Books

That's the best squirrel picture ever.

Just a quick note tonight Books, I am off to bed in a minute, but FORKS IS BURNING??? Not good.

I liked when Esme put Arria in her place. Gave me a sense of righteousness.

Thankyou, as always, for the update, and have a great weekend

Stacy

Author's Response:

Hi there Stacy!

Thanks so much for leaving me a review! And I keep finding pictures of squirrels to post. It's a new hobby. :)

And yeah, Forks AND the reservation are both burning. 

Glad you liked Esme, I had fun writing her losing her temper and telling Arria off in a lady-like manner. 

SSE wants to know if you'll take him to mass. He most definitely feels the need to go to confession after what he has seen.

Best,

Books

Emmett is waving at you. He wants to know if you liked his rant at Arria. 

Oh noz!  Now Marcus is holding Doungles captive?  How could he do such a thing?  Oh, yeah...and Startched Shirt Edward, too.  That's not good. *snicker*

 

I loved Arria getting the smackdown by Pops.  You really don't want to mess with her old man.  He brokes no funny business and WILL hold you accountable for your actions.

Author's Response:

Hi there Rogue,

Thanks so much for the review! I had loads of fun writing Marcus and Arria. And all I'm saying is that if you liked Marcus in this chapter, you'll really love him in the next one. *evil grin*

Douglas is blinking at you wistfully, SSE, too, and thanking you for thinking on their behalf. 

SSE says you're a peach.

Best,

Books

I'm excited!

Author's Response:

Hi there blueschicka!!!

Many thanks for the love, hon. :)

Douglas can't wait for Edward to get home. He's waving at you. :)

 

Great chapter! Edward's quip about Bella expecting him to be a mind reader had me snorting with laughter. And Marginal Dog (crazy giggling)?! Where do you come up with this stuff (LOL).

I adore Jurgurtha. The guy clearly does not believe in modesty (cos clearly he doesn't need to - lol) cos psst... don't tell Real Edward (RE) but I do believe that Jurgurtha really is brilliant and smarter than RE, Dream Edward (DE) and SSE to boot (hehe).

Wow, Edward gave CPR to Genghis (stunned eyes and smirking lips). He must really ADORE Bella (lmao). I can definitely see that Bella is related to Arria. Arria wants to name her daughter and Bella names her dog Genghis (rolling my eyes with disbelievement). I don't want to imagine what Bella will name her children (chuckling madly) - Vlad maybe? You have to admit it would fit right in (lmao)!

I love that RE here is imagining children with Bella, where as Edward in the Twilight Saga was all doom and gloom and woe is me. RE here has a mission (if not exactly a plan - lol) and by Telecles, Cullen and the Old Geezers Committee he's going to make his currently silent bottle cap Grandmaster his bride (lmao)! Have to admit though that it is a little bit creepy how obsessed (for their own purposes!) everyone seems to be about Bella's ovaries - Billy Black, Arria, Edward, the Telecles clan, hel* even the VampVerse at large (shaking my head despondently).

I LOVE the Geezer committee! I can so vividly see picture them as this boisterously mutinuous old men with mischievious and naughty little boy humor and glee. They are seriously adorable.

Bella has SCARS?! Where the F where the Fake Canadians while she was being tortured by Victoria???!!! I am so P 'ED OFF. How long was our poor bottle cap carved up like a Halloween pumpkin? I don't even want to know what Victoria did to her - I'm too scared (sad face). I hope Marcus uses Victoria as an example on "How to Lead Minions and Terrify Your Enemies". I think it would be a number one best selling DVD in VampVerse (lol).

You do AMAZING work and I LOVE this story.

Author's Response:

Hi there AliciaZA!

Oh how you spoil me so! Reviews on two sites. I'm totally fangirling over you. :) One of the main sources of conflict between men and women is when women get mad at men for not living up to their unexpressed expectations. And the guy is like, "Why didn't you just say that?" And then if he has to ask what she wants, he's totally in the dog house. So I wanted to mock that with Edward. 

The marginal dog is actually a true story. I had a relative trying to train her sheltie how to do a trick. And he had a hard time with it, either he'd do it perfectly, or he'd fail. And she was getting frustrated so she said, "Bad dog." Her husband who is this hilarious taciturn math geek, said to her, "He's not being bad."

"He's not being good, either," she complained.

"So why don't you say, 'marginal, dog, marginal?'"

We died. I had to use that in a story. 

Given the instant mutual loathing that Genghis and Edward had for one another I had to mock that. I thought doggie CPR given Edward's snarky comments about Genghis' stench to be something he deserved to have to do at this point in time. And yes, he does indeed adore Bella. In his mind, he is sacrificing his manly dignity before an immortal audience (which is absolutely the truth in the case of Marcus' family) in order to save her dog. 

And you make a really good point about Bella and Arria. I didn't do that on purpose, actually. Genghis Khan used Tibetan Mastiffs in battle and Bella is a battle history nerd so to her it was just logical. Arria, on the other hand - the name Atilia is a name from her time period and I picked it because I know examples of people who found a name they loved but did not understand that naming their kid that would create problems. So I wanted to mock that. I have a friend who was bound and determined to name his son Moctezuma. We had to explain to him the phrase Montezuma's revenge. He was deeply unhappy. 

You know, I never really thought about RE thinking of children as an example of him being more positive than Book Edward, although I don't disagree with your point. In my mind, it served several functions in the story. First, he imagines this life like a normal human - the life he had hoped to have had he lived. And it's bittersweet because he can never have that. Second, to me it also was ironic because he's imagining children and marriage with Bella in this story before he ever got around to asking her out on a date or letting her know he was interested in her *that* way. Third, I thought it ironic because he never has to this point asked Bella what she wants out of life, so here he is imagining a life with marriage and children - and although at 18 she's awfully young, I still found it this kind of oblivious optimism on Edward's part. Hope that made sense. 

You are totally right on the creepiness of everyone being obsessed with the Swan DNA. Although for different purposes. Billy believed - and golly the moron was right - that it would somehow get him access to that unlimited source of power - although he was still wrong - he thought it would get him the land and the land was not the key. Arria in having a human child was simply being pragmatic because all the other covens kept human lines and had them have children across generations in order to increase their immortal ranks without being obvious about it. If people started disappearing all over the place, then the Volturi would have caught onto that. So to me what the Lost covens did was totally sneaky. So Arria was simply doing what everyone in her and the other lost covens have done for generations. Now the whole vampverse now has motivation to be obsessed with Bella's, Arria's, and Alice's ovaries. Ew. 

Your comments about the geezers are making me all misty-eyed. That's exactly how I envisioned them. You totally made my day right there. I think of old men sitting underneath a porch looking down at Earth and watching it like a sporting event, saying what they would do differently, and now they have free reign to act and are all kinds of excited about it. Stubborn, too. And to me, it was important to show that Edward isn't this all powerful being. Sure he has scary powers but they don't work consistently, they sure hurt to use, and he really does need the geezers to help him out. 

Bella has scars on her shoulder - and it's creepy but not as bad as I think you are thinking. Remember there were these bodies of human women that were being discovered that Jane and Alec were trying to find the killers? The bodies had initials carved in them? Well, now you know who was partly responsible. Victoria carved her initials into Bella's shoulder and Bella let her - which is why the birds didn't quite activate. If you re-read the Fine I love Bella Swan chapter, you'll see that happening although Edward wasn't aware that Bella was getting engraved at the time. He just saw that she was in agony and bit through her lip. To me it was symbolic that Bella was willfully sacrificing herself for the welfare of the tribe and I wanted to "show" the extents she went through. And how insane Victoria was.

:)

Thanks so much for your review! I love how you make me really think about the story. :)

Best,

Books

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I utterly lurved this chapter when I read it, which was sometime before Christmas. Because of the abscence of an internet connection at home and my immense procrastination skills, I review only now that I've forgotten most of what I read. Luckily, I found some sort of notes I'd made while reading. So hopefully you'll know what I refer to even if I don't anymore. There goes.

 

Interesting conversation between Edward and Bella there. Bella thinks Edward is comforting her, which he is, while simultaneously interrogating her about her dreams with the aid of the whole family. Weirdly many-layered. The vampire scents (of the red-eyed people) do sound very vampirey.

If Jugurtha represents the id, Edward has a very intelligent id, doesn’t he? I suppose a vampire’s instincts would be finely tuned.

 

I very much liked Edward’s „practice with the teeming masses”. It’s scarily close to how I perceive communication. It’s the same with the “meaning to talk”, I do it all the time.

 

The artificial insemination idea = Billy totally lives up to his creep status.

As usually, you are so funny in a completely good way. Loved Rosalie’s „empathize with her you moron” line. „Hot stuff” makes me laugh every time. The scheduling of the death of Billy Black, just lovely. I liked Starched Shirt Edward as a crucifix in a suit, and the image of Emmett carrying Bella from class (it was the Irish tune that did it for me). Oh, and “collecting things in anticipation of her canonization”, what a good idea.

By the way, I plan to give up procrastination for Lent, to see if it can be done, so you *will* hear from me more often in the future. Otherwise I'll show myself.

 

Best wishes to you and the Edwards,

Cavriola

Author's Response:

Well hello there Caviriola!

It totally made my month to hear from you! I'm so glad to hear you are well! And thank you so much for the review! You are hitting the part of the story that to me is my favorite, so I'm all kinds of excited to hear your thoughts. It was important to me to "show" the way that the mind works of someone who is very shy - which is why I had so much fun with Edward. At the same time, I wanted to "show" how his family has infantized him - with Edward's complete blessing because that way he can continue to pretend to be the perfect immortal child. I wanted to "show" how the Cullens, for the best of motivations - in their own way, have helped Edward construct and maintain this delusion that he lives in by treating him like a 17-year-old, rather than a 104 year old. 

And you are right - I have taken liberties with Jugurtha in order to play of the irony by making him a rather disciplined id. And yeah, Billy in this story is a monster. I'm glad you enjoyed Rosalie - she's so much fun to write. And I had to have Emmett be the one to pick her up because everyone would expect Edward to do it. And I liked showing how Edward was trapped by the unfairness of life having to take multiple tests otherwise he would have been there for Bella. 

I am all with you on the Lent program and will be keeping you in my prayers. :)

Best,

Books