Merrimack, NH, 2015

I watched the gliding beauty of my daughter, wrapped in her new husband's arms. She was an angel adorned by gossamer and silk and the light of the hundreds of candles that Alice, Rosalie and Esme had lit for this moment. The soft glow complimented her blissful smile as she gazed up at the man she'd chosen to spend eternity with.

She was the perfect combination of me and Bella and for a moment I allowed my memory to take me back to our own wedding. The elation I'd felt that evening was so very similar to the joy I felt now, watching my girl joined with her soul mate.

I remembered Bella's sweet blood flushing her cheeks, the way her gown had rustled against the wood of the temporary dance floor that had been assembled beneath the expansive awning on the lawn back in Forks. I remembered her tiny, breakable frame pressed against mine as I'd guided her in our first dance as husband and wife; the way my hand had fit around her delicate waist; the gentle bounce of her mahogany curls that flowed down her neck, curls that my two sisters had adoringly crafted only hours before our moment on the floor; her strawberry and freesia scent wafting heavily from her overexcited skin; the overwhelming sparkle in her chocolate eyes that told me she loved me. I allowed myself a deep breath and my memory rewarded me with a perfect replica of the scent of her blushing flesh.

I slowly scanned the edges of the floor, looking for my family members: Rosalie and Emmett, their love existed in realms beyond understanding. I observed my brother wrapping his arms around Rosalie's waist. I saw the shining light in her centennial eyes as she observed the niece she'd so fiercely protected, not knowing what exactly what it was she'd been protecting, but she'd known it was life and she'd known it was right. My brother grinned at my daughter and son-in-law as he nestled his head into Rosalie's shoulder.

Carlisle and Esme, the constants in our family. Their quiet, determined love had pulled us all through. The example they had shown was beyond anything fathomable. It was simple and pure. It transcended the muddy grays that rule the majority of life here, on earth. My father and my mother gracefully stepped onto the floor and began to move in the unison that had defined them in all the years I had known them; uncomplicated, sure, enduring.

Alice and Jasper, the two wild cards to be thrown into the game of vampiric history. Independently they'd developed consciences, shunning the violence and carnage that had been dealt to them. Instead, they'd found each other and subsequently found their way to us, to the support they'd needed to uphold their decision. I watched their quiet passion, allowing myself, for once, to listen to the litany of pledges, promises that surged between the two of them as their hands met and they surveyed the spectacle of a new love being affirmed in the first dance of a husband and wife.

I remained in the shadows, overwhelmed by the years and the love that knitted them together in a fleeting yet memorable tapestry that told the story of my family.

Alice met my gaze and she quietly disengaged herself from her husband's embrace and joined me. Her hand gently found mine and she firmly wrapped her fingers over my knuckles. "It's time."

I nodded in silent affirmation, taking one last look at the embodiment of love, the fabric of my family, before we both turned and melted into the shadows.

The meadow at White Pines wasn't unlike the one I'd first taken Bella to all those years ago – a lifetime ago, it seemed, even though only it had been a mere decade; a fragment in the mosaic of time, for our kind at least.

I waited at its edge, just inside the tree line, hardly daring to move as Alice moved cautiously into the center, flowers and grasses mulching underneath her feet.

She stopped when she reached the exact mid-point in the roughly circular clearing, and sank to her knees.

And interminable amount of time seemed to pass with nothing happening, save for the occasional rustling of a fox on his nightly hunt.

Alice remained perfectly still, her mind a blank. Minutes passed, I think, it could have been hours, I wasn't sure. The only thing I was focused on was any sign of her appearing. Anything would do. I tried to keep my breathing slow and steady – searching every molecule for the first signs that maybe this could happen, maybe I'd catch the scent freesias on a turn in the breeze. Or perhaps I'd hear the smallest of sighs, like an awakening.

But there was nothing.

I couldn't wait any longer and I took a step into the meadow. Alice's hand shot out behind her, in my direction, the palm held up in protest at my impatience.

I froze.

I'd waited nearly 2 years for this moment. Idiot. Rosalie was right about me, I'd probably never completely learn. I did not need to cast this final chance I had into the mouth of oblivion.

More time passed. Alice hadn't moved a muscle, her arm still unnaturally extend behind her, palm held up in warning, her mind an utter void, still, very unnerving.

And then she convulsed. Once, twice, three times, her arms seemingly attached to invisible strings, commanded by a ruthless puppet master.

She cried out.

I rushed forward.

She shouted out to me to stop, to not move a millimeter, as her body continued to jerk and twitch, the movements gaining speed at an alarming rate.

I became acutely aware of the air around us; it was heavy with a metallic tang and a 2 mile radius of forest became deathly silent.

Alice's convulsions stopped as quickly as they had started. Her head was at an awkward angle, straining backward on her neck; face turned to the sky, her chest rising up, and up, until I could hear the minute cracking and splintering of her spine as it began to crumble under the pressure of an unseen force.

This was too dangerous. This had to stop. How could Jasper have allowed her to do this? She hadn't told me about this.

I'd almost reached her side when her entire body crashed to the ground, as if something of a great weight had slammed into her from behind. She was completely prone as I reached out my hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Alice?"

"I'm okay," she replied, her voice as strong and clear as always. She turned her head to the side, looking past me. "Bella?" Her eyes glinted in the moonlight and a small laugh of disbelief escaped her lips.

I held my breath, turning around slowly, hardly daring to look, emotions vacillating from fear to hopefulness and back to fear.

Would she look the same? Would she recognize me? Would she forgive me? Would she even be "her" after so long away, wherever she had been?

But there was nothing there. Nothing at all.

I shouldn't have allowed myself to hope. I shouldn't have believed in the impossible. And now Alice was injured too. I looked back at my sister, who was still smiling into the nothingness beyond me."Alice, stop, please, there's nothing there."

But she continued to smile, amazed, entranced. Oh God, it had affected her mind, what if it had caused her to regress? What if she would be forever trapped in some sort of half-minded state, pinned between this world and wherever it was she'd been trying to contact?

"Edward, you don't see her?"

This wasn't happening. How could I have agreed to this? I'd known it was dangerous. And impossible.

She sighed. "Oh, Bella, I've missed you too."