Hey Everyone,
To my old readers, I'm honoured to have you presence again.
To all the new readers, Welcome to my world of wedding planning.
This is the sequel to People who can't wed: Plan. I would advise reading the first story if you haven't. Otherwise some of the material of this story won't make sense.
To anyone who has read one of my other stories. They will know that my spelling and grammar have always been under question. I try to make sure that everything is ok before I post it. However, I do have a beta's to help me. So a massive thank you to TheHangingBracelet.
Please review. I don't like setting review limits and I try not enforce them. So please review.
This story is AH, AU AND OOC.
I hope to post a new chapter every other week.
If you have any ideas or suggestions to improve the story, then please feel free to PM me.
Also any suggestions for a new name of this story are welcome.
Hope you enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters/ locations etc from the series.
Chapter 1-
Bali
I unzipped the bag slowly, never taking my eyes off of Tiffany. This was, without a doubt, the most nerve racking dress reveal of my life. The zip hit the bottom, I took a deep breath, removing the dress from the bag. The dress itself was…well in a word, boring. It was not something Tiffany would have chosen.
The bride was a wedding planner herself. She decided that she wanted to relax and enjoy her wedding day without the stress that went with planning one. Therefore she had decided to let her fiancée Bradley plan their wedding. She had allowed him to choose everything from the food to the wedding dress. The most important dress of any woman's life and she let her fiancée choose it. Not even Tanya was brave enough to do that.
I hung the dress on the top of the mirror. Then, waited for Tiffany to start screaming. Only it didn't come. I watched her face as her eyes scanned the dress. She didn't look happy but then she didn't look sad. A small smile grew onto her face as she nodded her head. Acceptance. She didn't like the dress but she was accepting that this is what Bradley wanted her to wear. She was right. It wasn't terrible. It was a short, white strapless dress, with taffeta band at the waist.
"Are you okay?" Valerie, the mother of the bride asked.
"I'm fine. It's not something I would have chosen but it's something he wants me to wear. So I'm just going to wear it. It's not awful, that's the most important thing." Her acceptance was amazing. Her mother didn't look as convinced.
"That's one way of looking at it. Come on, let's get you dressed. Hopefully the rest of the wedding will be more traditional." Valerie removed the dress from the mirror as I left the bedroom.
I sat down on the sofa in the living room of the apartment, and naturally started biting my lip. A gesture I did when I was nervous or uncertain and right now I was feeling both. I was starting to feel slightly sick. Today was not going to be traditional in anyway. I knew that Tiffany wanted a traditional wedding. However, her crazy husband-to-be didn't. He had based the wedding off of how the two of them had met. Which would have been romantic, if they hadn't met the way they had.
Groaning, I rubbed my hands over my face. Only to have something hard push into my eye. Withdrawing my hands I looked for the source of the pain. It was easy to spot. Especially the way it was catching the sunlight, that was streaming through the window. My engagement ring. I couldn't help the goofy smile that appeared on my face whenever I looked at my ring or thought about my fiancée.
"When we get married, I'm not letting him plan a thing." I said out loud even though I knew there was nobody there.
As soon as the words left my mouth, the bedroom door opened. Tiffany walked out, fully dressed and smiling. Even though it wasn't a dress that she would have chosen; I had to give Bradley credit, she looked good in it.
"You look amazing." I said standing up.
Tiffany was one of those women that would look good in anything you put her in. She reminded me a little of Rosalie. I walked over to the table near the window and picked up a small bouquet made from lilies before holding it out for her to take.
"I want your legs." She laughed at my comment before taking the bouquet.
"Thank you Bella. They're are beautiful." She replied, admiring the bouquet in her hands.
"He chose them." I smiled. So far so good.
"He's doing really well so far." As soon as she said those words, the smile fell from my face.
"Yeah." I said softly as she watched my face. Just as she was about to comment on my worried look, her mother and maid of honor came out from the bedroom, both wearing dark blue dresses.
"You ready to go, Tiff?" Janelle asked, picking up her small bouquet from the table.
"Yeah. I'm ready. Let's go." She replied. She gave me one last suspicious look before walking out the door. I followed behind her, before climbing into the car.
I let out a breath. I really must learn to not express my emotions through my facial expressions.
Ten minutes later, we climbed out of the car. We were standing on a wooden dock. The gentle waves of the ocean were splashing on either side of us. In front of us was a white speed boat that had been decorated with flowers.
Everyone was silent.
I was really dreading this. From the second Tiffany handed all control to Bradley, he had been set on getting married underwater. You can imagine my combination of shock and horror when he suggested the idea. I tried to encourage him to compromise; like maybe getting married on a boat but he wasn't having it.
I watched the reactions of the three women standing in front of me. They ranged from confusion to worry. I kept my mouth shut and allowed everything to set in.
"What are we doing?" Valerie asked looking at the boat in horror.
"We're getting married at sea?" Oh I wish I could say yes to you, Tiffany.
"Sort of." I said really quietly.
"Bella?" Tiffany pleaded with me.
"I've been told not to tell you anything. I'm sorry." Tiffany took one large deep breath before nodding her head. Once again accepting her fate.
"Okay. Let's get going." She said walking forward and climbing onto the boat. That was easier than I thought.
The boat sped out into the open ocean. The water was crystal blue and transparent. You could see the reef and fishes. It was stunning.
Eventually the boat stopped in the middle of the ocean.
"Bella?" Confusion was evident in Tiffany's voice. I smiled, said nothing and just handed her the note from Bradley.
We all sat in silence watching Tiffany read her note. It was easy to see her emotion growing, very soon she had tears falling from her eyes.
"He's totally crazy." She said with a massive smile on her face. She turned to face her mother. "I'm getting married underwater."
"YOU'RE WHAT?!" I watched as the colour drained from Valerie's face.
"Does she mean; getting married on the boat or underwater?" Janelle asked me. I didn't need to reply, from the tone of her voice she already knew which one.
"He can't be serious. Tiffany, you don't have to go through with this." Valerie said with slight hope in her voice. "We can get the boat back to the mainland and organise the wedding from scratch."
Tiffany wasn't listening. She just smiled even more brightly before turning her attention back to me.
"He based the wedding on how we met. I taught him to swim." She looked at me for confirmation. All I did was nod. "Let's do this." She said with so much confidence.
"Are you sure?" She nodded putting her bouquet down on the deck.
She was really going to do this. She really did love him. I walked to the front of the boat and pulled out a gas tank. Valerie and Janelle looked on in horror as I helped the diving instructor strap the breathing equipment onto Tiffany. I think it took about three seconds for everything to sink in, once it had Valerie and Janelle went into a complete frenzy.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"You really are getting married underwater?" Janelle was still finding the situation a little herd to believe. "Is he crazy?"
"How can you be agreeing to this?" Valerie wasn't giving up. I rolled my eyes.
Finally paying attention to her mum and bridesmaid, Tiffany replied to there their questions.
"He's my husband. We have been together for five years. He has always been crazy. I promised myself that I would let him do this wedding the way he wanted it done. If he wants to get married underwater, then I'm happy to do that. At least he has chosen an underwater wedding in Bali and not a community pool." She added with a giggle. "I'm doing this. You can come down or not."
I watched the two women. Janelle merely shrugged and stood up so she could be fitted with her breathing equipment. Tiffany and Valerie were locked in some form of silent communication, after a few second acceptance settled onto Valerie's face.
"If you're happy." She said before standing up and being fitted.
While all the other women were given a brief safety talk, I sat down. That was more draining than it needed to be. Finally I watched as Valerie and Janelle sat on the end on the edge of the boat before throwing themselves backwards into the water. Tiffany remained seated looking at me.
"You not coming, Bella?"
"I don't do open water. Don't worry, Tianna's down there."
"Alright. I'll see you soon." She smiled before putting in her mouthpiece and throwing herself backwards.
I had done that once. It was an eye opening experience. It opened my eyes to the fact that I was terrified of vast open water. I would never be doing that again, hence the reason my assistant was down there and I wasn't. I did feel bad in a way. One of the most important rules of Divine Matrimony was that the planner and their assistant must always be present at wedding they organised. I should be down there but at least they had Tianna. If Jayde was still my assistant then neither of us would have been down there. Jayde had a fear of fish or so she claimed.
Around fourty minutes into my waiting, a newly married Tiffany and Bradley hit the surface of the water. Both them giggling and clinging to each other. They both had a glow of happiness to them. I watched them both as they climbed onto the boat still refusing to let go of each other. Soon after them Valarie, Janelle appeared, both smiling as they wrapped themselves up in towels. I take it everything went well. Finally Tianna, the registrar and a few safety instructors stumbled onto the boat, quickly removing their breathing apparatus. I watched as Tianna grabbed a towel and the flopped down into the chair next to me.
"That was amazing! So beautiful. You should have seen it Bella." Her voice was high with enthusiasm. Her hazel eyes shining with excitement. This was her first experience of an underwater wedding. I had to admit they were a lot more common then they used to be.
"At least you got to experience something new. Don't get used to it though. Knowing our luck our next wedding will probably end up with us in the North pole." I laughed lightly but I wasn't completely lying. Anything was a possibility in this business.
Before she could reply the boat jerked backward, throwing us off our seats as it sped towards land.
XOXOXOXOXO
"So, Bradley and I would like you all to raise a toast to the two most amazing women, who made this day possible." I blushed and ducked my head. I was always embarrassed when the couple felt the need to do this. I glanced at Tianna who was studying the bubbles in her glass of wine. "To Bella and Tianna."
A chorus of 'Bella and Tianna" echoed around the small group causing me to blush even more. I smiled and nodded my appreciation towards the happy couple before taking a small sip of my champagne. I was never really a drinker, plus I had a flight to catch. I looked down at my watch waiting, it was nine o'clock, early for a wedding but I was anxious to get back to New York. Not that I wasn't appreciative of where I was and that I was at a wedding.
It had been beautiful. I had missed the underwater part but the reception had been just as amazing. After we had stepped back onto solid ground. Tiffany, Janelle and Valerie had all been ushered into rooms at the hotel and restored to their exquisite selves. Every hair had been put back in place. Tiffany had received her second wedding dress. This dress was perfect for her. It was a Grecian styled Slim line gown with a one-shoulder neckline and corset closure. She looked even more beautiful then she did this morning.
"Bella?" Tianna's gentle push brought me out of my daydreaming. "We should be going or we're going to miss our flight." Was it time to leave already? I nodded my head eagerly, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Let's go." I smiled.
"Should we say goodbye?" Tianna said gesturing toward the happy couple who were currently posing for some rather interesting photos. I giggled gently just as Tiffany looked directly at me. I nodded and smiled softly towards her. She got the message. Instead of running over to say bye, she smiled back, the appreciation evident in her face. She blew us both a kiss as we turned away for the party.
Tianna and I climbed into our rental and drove toward the airport.
We hauled our bags through the airport and up to the check desk. From years of experience I learned to travel light whenever I was going away for business. Tianna however hadn't travelled light. I forgot that she was still learning. The women behind the desk was tapping away at her computer. At our approach she looked up.
"Welcome. Check in?"
"Yes." I said to the women behind the desk before replying to Tianna.
"Ah yes. You two are the last to board the flight." I was having two conversations at the same time. "You're very late. The plane starts boarding in two minutes."
I turned to Tianna.
"One sec. Erm Thank you..." I scanned the women's name badge. "Mary."
I handed her our passports and tickets before checking in our bags and practically running to destination. We got through airport security very quickly and before I knew it we were both seated in the over sized, red seats of first class.
"Do you always leave without saying goodbye?" Tianna asked.
"It depends, I guess." Was my reply. What kind of answer was that?
"Depends on what?"
"The planner, the wedding, the bride. There are is a lot of things. If you have a bride who is really emotional then she'll want to hug you and thank you personally. Whereas other brides won't say goodbye but will probably send flower or something. Others don't care what you've done for them so they don't bother."
"What was Tiffany?"
I smiled at Tianna before answering.
"Expect flowers in a few days." I said before snuggling down into my seat and closing my eyes.
XOXOXOXOXO
"Come on bag. Hurry up." Just my luck that my bag would be last to come off the plane. Tianna had been on the first round of bags. Six more and mine still hadn't made an appearance.
"Patients is a virtue Bella." Tianna said in a smug voice. I glared at her, that was something I say to my colleagues when they became inpatient and I remained calm. However, now I was being a bit of a hypocrite. I hadn't stopped bouncing on my feet as my eyes swept over the conveyor belt.
"Not right now, it isn't" I said in a menacing voice causing her to roll her eyes. I went back to chewing my nails. Finally, I saw the familiar red ribbon of my bag. I ran forward and snatched it off the moving thing before practically running towards the exit.
As soon as the automatic door opened, my eyes began searching until they found the one thing they needed to see the most.
There he was. Leaning against that bloody Volvo.
Edward.
As soon as I spotted him my smile grew large and my heart rate increased.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Bells." Tianna said from somewhere but I had barely heard her. My attention was focused on the god standing a few metres from me. Without thinking I ran towards him, dropping my bag and launching myself into his arms, settling my face in his neck. His arms were around me, holding me tightly against him.
"Bella." He whispered so softly in my ear. I tightened my grip.
"I missed you." I whispered before pulling back and kissing him directly on his mouth.
A week was far too long.
"I missed you too." He replied when I finally allowed him to breathe again. My breathing was hard but I couldn't care less. Edward let go of me except for my hand. The other he used to pick up the bag I had dropped in my hurry to be in his arms. "Let's go home."
I smiled up at him. Home indeed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters/ locations etc from the series.
Please review! All reviews help to encourage me to write more.
A massive thank you to TheHangingBracelet, who helped edit this chapter.
xxx Red as a Rose xxx