And then, after a few miles, there was some thinning of the woods, and we were suddenly in a small meadow; or was it actually a lawn? The gloom of the forest didn't relent though, for there were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protective shadow right up to the walls of the house, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped around the first story.
I don't know what I had expected, I guess a cave, but it definitely wasn't this. The house was timeless, graceful, beautiful, lusty, and probably about a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall, rectangular and well-proportioned. The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration, but either way they were great. My car was the only truck in sight. I could hear the river close by, hidden in the obscurity of the forest.
"Wow." I wondered if he—if we—would inherit it when his parents died but then shook my head: vampires don't die.
"You like it?" He smiled.
"It... has a certain charm."
He pulled the end of my ponytail twice and chuckled.
"Ready, dummy?" he asked, opening my door.
"Not even a little bit—let's go." I tried to laugh, but it seemed stuck in my throat. I smoothed my hair nervously.
"You look lovely." He took my hand easily without thinking about it.302
We walked through the deep shade up to the porch. I
301. An allusion to the caduceus, a symbol of Hermes, who is the god and protector of merchants, shepherds and other lowlife scum.
302. Little did Bella know, Fredward had planned it all along.