Chapter 27 Teaser

When they got closer to the famous jewelry store with the robin's egg blue boxes, Edward pointedly ignored the low rumbling chuckle of the annoying angel and strode directly toward the counter. He paid no attention to the myriad of looks of lust, desire, and sexual need thrown his way by the women in the store, he never did. Well, he hadn't in a very, very long time. He wasn't an idiot, he knew he was a good-looking man, he always had been. His looks along with the air of aloofness and almost aristocracy that constantly surrounded him had garnered him more than his fair share of attention from the opposite sex. Even way back when, when he only wanted to be left alone, women practically fell over themselves whenever he walked past. As his incredible and beautiful wife liked to tease him, apparently, for some unfathomable reason, women found him even more irresistible now. He really didn't understand it, nor did he try very hard because it was completely irrelevant as far as he was concerned. The only woman whose attentions he wanted were those of Isabella and she showed her appreciation of him in all the ways that mattered.

He really was one lucky man, he thought for the thousandth time as he approached the display case. The poor sales associate was stunned stupid for a second when he walked up, especially when he nervously ran a hand through his hair. Again, he patently ignored the pain in the ass invisible presence beside him and asked, "Um...I have a special order I'd like to pick up. For Cullen," he said as he shifted from foot to foot.

"Oh, ah...sure...um...let me go check and see if I can find it," the flustered woman said with a blush on her cheeks as she scurried off to find his item.

The chuckle from beside him was even louder than before and Edward whispered in a fierce voice, "Don't say a fucking word."

"Whatever, Eddie," the angel said with a gleeful twinkle in his eye.

The woman came back, carrying his item on a black velvet tray and when she laid it on the glass counter for him to inspect, Edward wasn't sure he'd ever seen anything more beautiful. "It's perfect," he whispered as he traced the pendant with his finger.

She took the velvet lined tray and was back in no time with a light blue bag and Edward handed her his credit card. Once the purchase was done he started to make his way to the door when he heard someone call his name, "Edward?"

He turned and was face to face with none other than Sophie Jameson.

Chapter 26 Teaser

Edward and Emmett hit golf balls for over an hour, talking and enjoying each other's company. It was a gorgeous fall night and because it was now the beginning of October, there was a definite chill in the air as soon as the sun started to set. Isabella was helping Nonna and Renée at church and Edward had figured it was a great opportunity to spend some time, away from the office, just the two of them. 

 

There wasn't any question that their relationship was in a much better place; hell, it was in a different stratosphere from where it was just a few short months ago. Edward rediscovered all those wonderful things about his brother that he chose to ignore over the years; his sense of humor, even if it did tip toward juvenile and crude from time to time, his ability to get to the heart of a problem without beating around the bush and his unwavering sense of family and a loyalty that few could match. 

 

For Emmett, it was like meeting his brother for the first time. He was amazed to discover how laid back Edward could be. It wasn't that big of a stretch to imagine how difficult it was to always be on guard, to always be afraid of saying too much or showing too much and now that Edward didn't have to do that any longer, he most definitely wasn't the Iceman everyone had thought he was for so long. 

 

Emmett found himself mesmerized more often than not at the office. He watched Edward with a new appreciation, marveling at how commanding he was, without seeming overbearing. How he could make decisions in the blink of an eye and never second-guess himself. How, now that he had let his guard down, he seemed to thrive even more than he had before and how everyone seemed to admire and love him even more because of it.

TGG Chapter 25 Pic Tease

Click image for a larger view.

A Message From Erin

Hello my friends...

I was going to only include this in review replies, but as this is something I would like to share with all of my amazing readers, I decided to post it here on the blog instead.

I would like to start with something I say every week but it is something I don't feel like I can ever say enough. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for taking this journey with me. It isn't an easy one, though I think that is more from the fear of the unknown than the story itself, at least I hope so. It is my hope that while there is a bit of difficult subject matter to deal with, the focus is on the love story between Edward and Isabella. That is my intention anyway and the main reason for the bonus scenes. I have always wanted TGG to be Edward and Isabella's story and the story of Edward's redemption; though it would be unreasonable not to include the thoughts and viewpoints of others, especially because this is written in 3rd person. I chose 3rd person POV for that very reason, even though I know it is a writing style not everyone enjoys.

With that being said, I'd like to address something else since we have the 'hard' chapters out of the way now. I still have to be vague in some things so I hope you'll bear with me. I know there are a lot of conflicting thoughts and feelings based on what Edward revealed and most especially Carlisle and Esme's actions once Edward went to live with them. I anticipated that and would probably find it really odd if everyone thought the same thing. We all have different thoughts and feelings that are borne out of our own life's experiences and those color how we interpret what we read.

The Greatest Gift is about forgiveness, plain and simple. I know there are a lot of you that don't understand how Edward could forgive Carlisle and Esme so easily and maybe if Seth never appeared he never would have, but we don't know. What we do know is that Edward was told he had little time left to live. Keeping that in mind, once he took the step to tell them all his past, it wouldn't make much sense for him not to forgive them, would it? His gift to his family is much the same as Isabella's to him...a second chance.

Forgiveness is a process, and Isabella tells Edward in Chapter 26, "Forgiveness doesn't automatically make things all better, it just makes it easier to go forward." Because of Edward's supposed timetable, his process is accelerated, but he isn't going to go from calling Carlisle by his name to Dad overnight, he's just opened the door to having a relationship with them both that is more significant than it has been.

Carlisle and Esme's actions and non-actions as the case may be, are confusing, I know they are, but I wrote it that way on purpose. When they decided to selflessly...(please note I did NOT say selfishly!) to take Edward in, they didn't consciously set out to hurt him. Nothing could be further from the truth actually. Edward was already so damaged when they got to him that they were in over their heads before they even had a chance. Perhaps if Edward hadn't overheard what he did things would have been very different; but he did...and all the actions that followed were because of that. He was fourteen-years-old when that discussion took place and again like Isabella told him, he had no idea of what their life was like with William always berating Esme or that Carlisle's natural instinct was to try to protect his wife.

I think that is kind of the way real life situations happen though, and that is what I wanted to portray. Someone overhears something, doesn't say anything, and then resentment builds and builds until a wall is formed that nothing can get through. Guilt, jealousy, bitterness...all are emotions that will eat away at you slowly, bit by bit, until you are a different person and that is what I have in my mind happened to Edward. He isn't totally blameless in all of this either. When he was younger, he had an excuse, but twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, surely he was self-aware enough to know that his actions were unreasonable. Of course, taking that first step and admitting it is the most difficult, and it was only after he got a rather abrupt wake-up call that he really took a hard look at his life. Would he have done it without Seth? Who knows, but the point is he did. He could have resisted Seth, though let's all admit, who could really resist our favorite angel, but he could have dug his heels in and said no.

So, I hope that by sharing these thoughts with you, you all will have better understanding of where I was coming from when I wrote those chapters. Your views and/or beliefs may be different and if they are, your perceptions and interpretations of what I write will be influenced by that and that is what makes FFn so great. We can all read the same thing and every one of us will take something different from it, and that is okay. I just thought it would help to share what I hoped to get across.

Love, unconditional love, is a force that can heal everything and make life worth living.

Forgiveness is a gift and a second chance to correct a mistake... everyone deserves that.

I truly do love and appreciate each and every one of you and the feedback and support you've given me and this story means more than you can possibly imagine. We're not done yet, Edward still has some work to do, so I hope you are planning on sticking with me until the end. I know I've said it before, but I'll keep saying it, have faith in me...I promise to give you all the ending Edward and Isabella deserve. You'll see!!

Thank you again for...everything!

See you Sunday. Feedback from betas and pre-readers indicate this is the favorite chapter so far. I'm excited to hear what you all think.

Hugs and much love,
Erin~

TGG Chapter 25 Teaser

When he parked and then got out to help her from the car, he couldn't help but give her a sexy smile when she stood up. The weather outside was absolutely perfect, sunny with just the slightest bit of chill in the air and when the sunlight bounced off her hair and the diamonds around her neck, it was almost as if heaven was shining down on her. A totally cheesy thought he knew; one which he blamed the annoying angel person for, but it didn't make it any less true either.

Just as he was about to step forward and kiss her, he heard the sweetest voice...besides Isabella's of course. "Uncle Ebbard!" Emma squealed as she let go of Rose's had and ran to him.

Edward turned from his wife and toward his niece bending over to swing her up into his arms as soon as she was close enough. "How's my second favorite pretty girl today?" He chuckled at her while she squeezed him around the neck.

"Good. Mommy let me pick out my dress today, isn't it pretty?" she asked him and giggled when he pretended to have to think about his answer.

"I dare say, Miss Emma, you will be the prettiest little girl in the whole church today," he answered and then gave her a raspberry on her cheek.

She squirmed as she tried to get away from him and then held his face in her tiny little hands and very seriously said, "I missded you."

Well, that melted Edward's heart and kind of made him feel like the luckiest guy in the world, which he pretty much thought he was anyway. "Missed you, too, angel. Want to sit with me during Mass?" he asked, not wanting to let her go.

"Can I Mommy?" Emma asked when she turned toward Rose.

Rose rolled her eyes and tried to stop from smiling at how utterly adorable Edward was with her daughter but failed...miserably.

TGG Chapter 24 Teaser

Somehow, on some level deep inside his subconscious, he'd always known that it was up to him to fix things. He wasn't sure why and up until the appearance of the annoying but very loving angel, he never wanted to think about what that meant, but since the very first moment Seth made his presence known, Edward knew what was ultimately going to need to be done.

The Edward Cullen that Seth first encountered all those weeks ago wasn't the real him, not even close. It was a persona developed over time to protect himself from getting hurt...again. From feeling like he wasn't wanted or needed. From feeling like he wasn't worthy.

He wasn't the cold, distant man most people assumed he was. He wasn't uncaring or unfeeling. He wasn't arrogant or selfish and he was tired of people thinking he was all those things and more. He was ready to show the world who the real Edward Cullen was and now that there were no more secrets, nothing standing in the way, he was going to do just that, with Isabella rightfully by his side.

He had no idea how much time he had left, but it didn't really matter. One day, one week, month, year...or fifty years or more...it didn't matter. He was going to live each day loving his wife and his family and being the man he was always destined to be.