Beautiful Days

Chapter 34 -An Even Heartbeat-

(Carlisle’s POV)

“Carlisle, stop tickling me,” Esme squealed as I carried her from the bathroom back to our bedroom that evening. “Are you still mad at me?” I asked playfully. “No, but under one condition,” she challenged me and couldn’t hide a grin. “Okay,” I replied, intrigued by her words. “No tickling,” she warned me and scrutinized my expression. I had to smirk and she sighed heavily in response. “No tickling for tonight,” I promised her solemnly. She shook her head annoyed but at the same time I could detect a trace of amusement. “That will do, I guess,” she smiled and laid her head on my shoulder. I leaned my cheek on her still wet hair and breathed in the strawberry scent of her shampoo. I didn’t even remotely like strawberries, being a vampire, but that scent of her hair was heavenly to me.

I walked through the hall right into our bedroom, but paused before the door as I heard her sigh sadly. “My love?” I asked and leaned back a bit to see her face. “You have to work tomorrow,” she stated. “Yes… Wednesdays are always bittersweet. I would like to stay home tomorrow, but I have classes till 5 in the evening and I also have my office hours for the students on every Thursday,” I told her sadly. I loved my work so much, I really did, but leaving Esme and all my children day after day made me reconsider nearly every day. It wasn’t easier now that Haven was born and still so small and Carlie mastered something new every day. I couldn’t help feeling left out when Esme, Rosalie, Alice or Jasper proudly told me about a new mile stone that I had missed… “I will hurry home as fast as I can,” I smiled and leaned down to kiss her cheek. She smirked as she noticed my move and strategically turned her head and kissed me passionately. I didn’t mind that either… “Promise?” she asked and looked up at me with bright eyes. “Promise,” I declared and took her hand so that I could lay it over my silent heart to show her that I was serious.

Her warm palm pressed against my chest and she put her left hand right over mine as I held hers. “I love your hands,” she whispered. “Smooth change of topics,” I laughed and lifted Esme’s left hand to my lips. “I love yours very much,” I replied and kissed each of her slender fingers, saving her ring finger for the last and kissed the butterfly of her engagement ring. She smiled broadly and again laid her head against my shoulder. “Alice doesn’t stop talking about the wedding, you know,” Esme giggled, but rolled her eyes nonetheless. “We could still ditch out,” I joked. She looked shocked at me. “No,” she exclaimed and looked at the glistening stones of her intricate ring. “Or we could run off to Vegas for the weekend,” I chuckled. “Are you trying to copy Edward now?” Esme smirked. “Hm?” I asked surprised. “You know… Edward proposed marrying Bella in Las Vegas, because she didn’t want a big party and all. Alice could talk them out of that,” Esme told me. “I didn’t know that,” I said and didn’t know what else to say. Surprise after surprise here… Esme shook her head amused and giggled. “You were here, right?” she joked. “Yes, my beautiful wife, you should know that,” I playfully glared at her. She slapped my chest lightly and then let go all of a sudden so that she was dangling in my arms. Her slowly drying curls flowed down over my arms and her hands tangled in the air. She looked totally carefree as she was still giggling like a small child. I smiled and slowly walked over to our bed, our heaven…

I lay her carefully down on the covers and observed how her thick curls flowed around her face and her creamy legs stood out against the white covers. She was so human… It wasn’t a flattering adjective per se, but it was so different. I still couldn’t get over how much she had changed… Her lips were an unbelievably deeper red; her cheeks were cream with embedded roses… Her skin was sun-kissed even in the winter, but the most adorable feature were the freckles though… They reminded me so much of my 16-year-old patient so long ago. It gave her soft, feminine body a childish, mischievous feature that I adored so much.  “What are you staring at?” Esme asked me with a grin. “You,” I admitted boldly. “Do you like what you see?” she asked me cheekily. “I love it,” I grinned and joined her on the bed. “No tickling,” she warned me as my fingers stroked over her waist. “I wouldn’t dare,” I grinned and savored the sensation as I held her beautiful face in my hands. She looked so delicate and now she was also less unbreakable, one wrong move and I could hurt her… Remembering that, I let my thumb run over the soft skin of her lips and sealed the touch with a small kiss. Her hands secured me there and I obliged…