SHORT RESUMÉ OF How to Mend a Broken Heart (though I recommend you read it before reading this one):
Esme is killed by a vampire while out hunting with her four adoptive children. Wishing to leave the place where it happened, Carlisle moves his family to Dartmouth, UK. A few months later they get a new neighbour, Ashley Tyler.
Against Edward's will, the other Cullens get closer and closer to her and Carlisle finds himself falling for the human girl. Not until Raver, an old "friend" of Carlisle's, shows up, Edward is able to accept that Ashley is now part of the family and after finishing up with the other vampire, Carlisle asks Ashley to stay with him forever.
"Ashley, what about this one?"
"Alice…"
"What?" the black-haired girl said and acted surprised. She held up the magazine in front of Ashley's face.
"You would look great in this! Admit it; it would be perfect for an autumn-wedding…"
"Alice, we have been engaged for two months and we have not set a date for the wedding yet", Ashley protested and tried to concentrate on the thick book in her lap.
"Oh, you have", Alice said and grinned. Ashley looked up.
"What, you've got a vision or something?" she asked.
"Well, when I said autumn, you thought of a certain date and…" Alice said and twinkled.
"Yes, the day that I first saw Carlisle, when I arrived in Dartmouth", Ashley groaned. "What else do you think I relate to autumn nowadays?"
"Hm, you're right, how about a spring-wedding, then?" Alice asked and flipped the pages in the wedding-magazine. "Oh look, that would be so perfect!"
She held up the page she had found and Ashley saw a woman with dark hair wearing a long gown that shimmered in pink.
"You would look so good in it!" Alice continued. "And then we could have rose-petals in the same colour falling over the two of you…"
"Alice!" Ashley exclaimed. "Please, I have to study for the test tomorrow."
"Don't worry, you'll get a top grade", Alice said and pulled up her legs.
"Yes, but only because I have decided to study. What if I decide not to?"
"Then you will get a top grade as well", Alice answered. "Ashley, you have been studying for the past four days, reading that book over and over again. You know it perfectly by now, I assure you! Come on, look at this. Imagine yourself in it."
Ashley sighed and put the book away, trying to concentrate on the picture once again.
"You think Carlisle would like it?" she asked.
"Ash, he loves you in anything and this one would make his knees buckle!"
Ashley blushed slightly.
"Well, whatever you say looks good, Alice. You've got way more time for this than I have."
"Yep, that's why you'll put me in charge of fixing everything until your wedding", Alice said with a new grin.
"When we decide a date, I'll keep that in mind", Ashley said with a smile and reached for the book once again. Suddenly Alice was on that side of her to snatch the volume away.
"No more of that today", she said.
"What? Give it to me!"
Ashley rushed up and tried to grab it from the agile and fast pixie-like vampire. An impossible task, of course, but she could not help being nervous about the test. And she needed a top grade.
Alice was standing in the doorway that led from the living-room to the hall, waving the book over her head and grinning. Ashley lounged forward but, of course, Alice jumped away so fast that she was a mere blur to Ashley's human eyes. Instead she found herself falling towards the floor. A pair of strong, pale hands caught her just in time and pulled her up again.
By looking at the coat, she could have guessed that it was him. Her fiancée, the talented and famous doctor Carlisle Cullen. He smiled at her before looking at Alice.
"What is going on?" he asked, even though he had probably heard a lot of the previous conversation due to his excellent hearing.
"Nothing", Alice answered with a grin, before placing Ashley's book on the table and skipping away from the room.
"You're alright?" Carlisle mumbled in Ashley's ear.
"Yeah, I'm just stressed out by the tests", Ashley sighed. Carlisle placed a soft kiss on her brow.
"Don't be, I know you'll do great."
She smiled at him before he let her go and disappeared up the stairs. Grabbing the book yet again, Ashley sank down on the sofa, but she found it hard to concentrate on the words now that Carlisle was close yet again. Bella had said that she had had the same trouble with Edward earlier, while she was still human. It was one of the many effects that vampires had on them.
And sure enough, a mere minute later Carlisle appeared in the door once again, walking into the room in human speed and sitting down next to her.
"What's this?" he said, grabbing the magazine that Alice had left behind.
"Alice insisted that I'd look through it", Ashley answered, trying to seem like she was fully concentrated on the book in her lap. In the corner of her eye, though, she saw Carlisle smile as he looked at the pictures.
"She wants to plan the wedding, doesn't she?"
"Yep."
"She did plan Edward's and Bella's wedding", Carlisle continued.
"You are trying to make me say that she can do it", Ashley said and looked at him. Carlisle smiled.
"Well, it would make it easier for you", he said. "You've got school, Ashley, she has already taken all of her current courses before."
"I know", Ashley muttered and returned to the book. She hesitated when Carlisle gently placed an arm around her shoulders.
"You do not have to decide anything right now, Ashley", he said softly. "The most important thing is that we're together. Nothing is going to change that."
"What about the Volturi?" Ashley asked silently, looking at him. He frowned.
"Raver said that they would not let this go on forever, that they were keeping an eye on you and would not allow you to expose the vampires to a human... to someone like me."
"I would never allow the Volturi to get close to you", Carlisle answered, his voice stern. "They would have to kill me first."
"What if they do?" Ashley whispered. "I cannot have you die because of me, Carlisle."
"And I will not let you die because of me", Carlisle answered sharply. "Whatever happens, Ashley, we are in this together and we will get through it, together."