❄ Twilight Forever ❄ Book 1 ❄ Cold Fall ❄

❄ 10 ❄️ Even Grounds ❄️

❄ 10 ❄️ Even Grounds ❄

Hyde Park
Wednesday, January 12, 2007

Rhys pulled his black Audi R8 Spyder to the curb outside Hyde Park and turned off the ignition. Wren gazed out of the window at the sea of green and brown. She turned in her seat and smiled brightly at Rhys.

"I haven't been here since I was a small child!" she gushed as excitement filtered throughout her body.

Rhys smiled back at her, his golden topaz eyes sparkling knowingly. "I know."

Wren gasped dramatically and glared at him. "Who told you?!"

Rhys looked slightly confused as he answered her. "Bell told me?"

"I'm going to banish her from shopping for a month!" she replied in a half shout.

He stared at her horrified. "I didn't mean to get her into trouble. I thought we could spend the day talking more."

Wren burst into laughter as he stared at her again as if she had suddenly gone crazy. Her giggles intensified at his expression. Rhys blinked his golden topaz at her for several minutes before chuckling himself.

"You are crazy," he said quietly, playfully.

"I've been told I was by both Bell and Bri, so it's nothing new," she replied, grinning back at him mischievously.

Rhys shook his head as he climbed out of the car and came around to her side. He opened the door and she slid out of the passenger seat. He closed the door behind her and they both walked towards the entrance of the park. Wren sped up until she was running, a trail of giggles issuing from her mouth. She paused beside a swing set and sat down on one of the swings.

Rhys sat down on the swing beside hers, smiling at her excitement. Wren began turning in circles, twisting the chains until she couldn't turn anymore. She pulled up her knees and the swing began twirling, picking up speed. She squealed as her ice blonde hair swirling about her in a vortex until the swing jerked to a stop. Laughing, she pushed her hair out her face and tried to focus her ice blue eyes on Rhys.

He laughed and she could imagine that her expression seemed comical to him. She smiled back at him until her thoughts corrected themselves and the world seemed to become steadier.

"You must have done that when you were a child," he said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Wren replied, nodding her head and sighing as the memory played through her mind.

Silence echoed between them as she twirled around in the swing again. She watched as parents played with their children or sat around on benches talking with other parents. Some of them waved at her and she waved back. Whenever the weather was warm and permitting, she would take the children to this park to have picnics or play games. Wren smiled again as she swiveled around to face Rhys.

"Have you ever been to the park when you were a child?" she blurted out suddenly.

Rhys turned his head to look at her, his eyebrows rising with surprise. Wren blushed and grinned at him sheepishly.

"Yes," he answered her after some thought. "My mother used to bring my younger brother, cousins, and I to this very park before my father became very ill."