Eternal Sun || Moonrise Sequel || Fanfiction

Chapter Thirty-Three - Bella's POV

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:

Bella's POV:

Elizabeth spoke her first word when she was exactly one week old. The word was Momma, which made my day. It probably would have been a little more special if she hadn't continued from her first word to her first sentence in the same breath- "Momma, where is Grandpa?", but I took what I got and George won five galleons from Emmett, well, the American dollar equivalent, anyway, due to his bet that she'd say 'Momma' before 'Dad', 'daddy', or some variation of that.

Elizabeth walked for the first time, fewer than three weeks later. She'd simply stared at Alice for a long moment, watching intently as her aunt arranged bouquets in the vases scattered around the room, dancing back and forth across the floor with her arms full of beautiful white and gold roses. Elizabeth got to her feet, not in the least bit shaky, and crossed the floor almost as gracefully.

I would have been terrified if it weren't for the advanced knowledge that her rapid growth was normal. Because she was growing rapidly- extremely so. At three months, my daughter could have been a big one-year-old, or a small two-year-old. But she wasn't shaped exactly like a toddler; she was leaner and more graceful, her proportions were more even, like an adult's.

By then, she could speak with flawless grammar and articulation, though she rarely bothered, preferring to simply show people what she wanted. She could not only walk but run and dance. She could even read.

I'd been reading from an old looking book of wizarding fairytales with a stained leather cover that Hermione had leant me with a nostalgic smile as she touched a funny symbol triangle symbol inked onto the page, to her one night, when Elizabeth reached up to touch my cheek, the image in her mind one of us, only with her holding the book. I gave it to her, smiling.

"There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight." she read without hesitation, "In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and—"

By Carlisle's calculations, the growth of her body was gradually slowing; her mind continued to race on ahead. Even if the rate of decrease held steady, she'd still be an adult in no more than four years.

It seemed unfair, that I'd only have my child for four years before she was all grown and didn't need me anymore. And I was worried about the Jacob situation- it was just wrong that my four-year-old would be mentally and physically old enough for my best friend to pursue.

But I didn't allow myself to think like that, not often anyway. Instead I concentrated on the moment, the best I could, treasuring days where my family was all together, and the nights when Edward and I made love until the early hours of the morning- Hermione was right, all those months ago, the day after the god awful graduation party Alice threw; vampire stamina was amazing!

Speaking of Hermione, like everyone else, my sister adored Elizabeth, and Elizabeth adored her Aunty 'Mione- and she adored her Aunt

'Mione's stories. To be honest, we all did, but Elizabeth was the only one who could really get away with asking for one, which she did whenever she could.

"Will you tell me a story, Auntie?" Was one of her earliest sentences, and Hermione was always happy to oblige. On this occasion, Elizabeth was three and a half months old, although she looked almost three now.

"Hmm," Hermione taps her lip teasingly. "What type of story, little ducky?"

"Tell me an adventure!"

"Well," Hermione started, after a moment of consideration, "when I was eleven-"

"That's not how you're supposed to tell a story," Elizabeth interjected, "it's supposed to start with 'once upon a time'!"