Chapter Two

Bella

Well, this was it, my final day of... well, the last day I would be me, Isabella Swan, tomorrow night I would be Mrs Jacob Black a married woman. It had come along so fast, the last week flew by in a blur and I tried so hard to stay busy, focused on the wedding and Jake. We didn't see much of each other, his friends dragged him away for a three-day bachelor/wolf pack celebration so I spent most of my time with Emily, Leah, and Sue Clearwater who was arranging a celebration in the village after the reception, once the 'pale faces' had left. I knew it was quite an honor to be married on the reservation by one of the elders and I guess it would be as far from the kind of wedding Edward and I would have had as it was possible to get which wouldn't be a bad thing. I wanted no reminders of the Cullens on my wedding day, that wouldn't be fair on Jake.

So, I took a few hours away from everyone and drove then hiked to the meadow where Edward and I had spent one magical afternoon. I took along a couple of photo's of Edward and I that I'd kept hidden in an old pair of sneakers in the back of my closet, a bracelet he had bought me for Christmas and a couple of poems he had sent me.

I dug a small hole the meadow where I guessed we had laid in the sunshine a lifetime ago and first burned the photographs and poems leaving the ash at the bottom of the hole and placed the bracelet on top watching as it settled into the grey powdery ash. I read somewhere that if you don't leave your past in the past, it will destroy your future. Live for what today has to offer, not for what yesterday has taken away.

It was hard and painful but it was true. Edward was gone, he wasn't coming back and he had never loved me as I had loved him. Jake was offering me hope for a better future and the love of a good man. I would be mad not to grasp that chance especially as I did love Jake, just not with the all-consuming passion I had felt for Edward but maybe that was better. After a few seconds remembering the past I filled in the hole and replaced the grass I had carefully cut out for the purpose. That was it, the past was now buried and I could look forward instead of backward, all that was over and strangely enough I felt more at peace than I had since the Cullens left Forks and me behind.

Poor Charlie drew the short straw on Friday, he was the only one free to pick up Renee and Phil from the airport at the time their flight landed and although I offered to go with him he declined.

"If your mother is in one of her moods it's probably best if I meet them alone."

I really hoped she wouldn't give him a hard time but Renee seemed unable to see my dad without launching into some kind of verbal attack, maybe having Phil at her side would keep her from doing so today, Charlie really didn't need the hassle.

When he rang Emily's place to give me an update I was relieved to hear him sounding relaxed.

"Your mom and Phil have been safely delivered to their hotel and without a cross word spoken. It seems she's decided to bury the hatchet in honor of the occasion, and not in my head for a change. Anyhow, I'll see you tomorrow, all dressed in my finest thanks to Sue."

"Thanks, for everything, you've been a great dad. Just promise me that you'll make sure Jake behaves tonight please."

"Bella, he's meeting Phil and I for a couple of drinks then heading off home as far as I know. How much trouble can he get into? Of course, there's always the 'Amazing Amanda and her dance of the seven feathers' but I'll make sure he just looks."

"Amanda and... never mind, I really don't want to know, do I?

He was still laughing as he rang off leaving me praying that the girls hadn't arranged for the female equivalent for me. If I saw a strange man in uniform headed my way tonight I was going to run, in the opposite direction, a male stripper dressed as a cop or a firefighter I could do without!

We picked Renee up on our way into town as the sun went down, or at least where it would have disappeared if it had bothered to show its face today but as usual it had been grey and gloomy. She was all smiles and excitement as usual when she saw me and chatted gaily to the others as we drove to the restaurant for dinner.

A table had been reserved at the back of the huge room and I cringed as I saw it was decorated with silver balloons and a huge banner swung over my seat which proudly proclaimed to everyone there that I was the 'Bride to be'. I wished the ground had swallowed me up as cheers broke out all around us. I knew I was blushing terribly and tried to hide my face in my hands as Renee guided me over to my seat. It was a surprise to see a couple of my friends already there, Angela Webber and Jessica Stanley.

"We thought you might like to have a couple of familiar faces from Forks here. They can't stay for the whole evening but they didn't want to miss seeing you today."

I was happy to see my friends even though I'd given them such a hard time since, well.. they had forgiven me and that was all that mattered.

The meal was good but the servers were all giggly girls and the innuendos at the table got more and more outrageous as the meal went on. I was trying to hurry everyone but it made no difference, they were having too good a time.

Then Renee launched into the story about her wedding to Phil, a nightmare I remembered only too well. She had decided on a beach wedding so it took place with what seems like the whole of Miami looking on. She insisted we all wore bathing suits and I have never been so embarrassed in my life. The reception carried on straight afterward with a barbecue and beer for the men, wine coolers for the women. I'm sure it scarred me for life! Emily thought it was a real hoot and even Leah had to smile although she seemed rather subdued tonight. I tried to find time to talk to her but it was impossible to get her alone.

After the meal, we moved on to the dreaded nightclub, the kind of place that I usually avoided like the plague. It wasn't long before I was dragged onto the dance floor by Renee and couldn't get away until I demanded to be allowed a break at which point I fled to the restroom determined not to come out again until either the place closed for the night, the sun rose, or when the music finally stopped, whichever came first.

Renee

I knew my daughter would try to hide for as long as possible, it had been a struggle to get her on the dance floor, to begin with, so Emily and I waited a while and then went looking for her. The restroom, the place we expected to find her, was empty so we looked over to our table thinking that maybe we'd missed her returning in the crowd but that too was empty except for Leah.

Emily looked at me, a puzzled expression on her face.

"She wouldn't leave on her own would she?"

I shook my head.

"No, besides she's got no way to get home. I think she's probably hiding somewhere. I know my daughter, she'll be back, just pretend we haven't noticed her absence. Frankly, I'm amazed you persuaded her to do this at all."

"It wasn't easy but she wasn't going to argue with the combined weight of Leah, myself and you. Besides, it's traditional. She does seem happier today as if a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders. Maybe it was knowing she would see you."

I made a face.

"Oh, I think maybe a little talk she and I had a while back has finally sunk in. Bella tends to brood about things too much. She takes after her father in that I'm afraid."

As we rejoined Leah I glanced around and spotted my daughter dancing at the far side of the room in the strobe lights. Pointing her out to Emily I grinned.

"It looks like she decided to get into the party mood after all and found herself a friend. Let's leave her to it for a while, she's probably had enough wedding talk."

Even as I said it I felt a twinge of unease, this behavior was out of character for my daughter, unless nerves had gotten the better of her and she decided a friend was just the way to keep her mind off the big day. Maybe it was someone she knew from Forks, an old school friend, yes, that was probably it.

There were plenty of unattached men who made a beeline for a table of seemingly unaccompanied women and some stayed to talk even after discovering we were all spoken for. I was enjoying myself, it was good to be among young people again, I hated that I was getting old, and time passed without my noticing it.

When Emily finally looked at her watch she gasped and grabbed my arm.

"Renee, it's after three, we'd better get Bella and go or she'll be a wreck this afternoon. I'm surprised she hasn't come back on her own by now, I didn't know she had it in her."

I laughed although I had to agree with her.

"When Bella gets nervous she tries to forget what's worrying her. I'll bet she found someone here she knows and they got chatting. Either that or my daughter has inherited more of my spirit than I thought but you're right we'd better go and fetch her."

We scanned the thinning crowd as we talked and finally Leah gestured to the far corner.

"There she is, Bella, come on, it's time to go."

She shouted again but Bella either ignored her or couldn't hear so we made our way through the couples still dancing and I tapped her on the shoulder.

"Bella, we have to go or you'll look awful at your wedding."

As the woman turned I realized my mistake, it wasn't Bella at all, it had certainly looked like her from the back and the clothes were very similar but it certainly wasn't my daughter and as understanding hit I began to look around anxious now.

"Go and check the restroom again Leah while Emily and I try to find her among the crowd."

Half an hour later we were forced to admit that Bella had vanished, she certainly wasn't in the nightclub anywhere although worryingly her coat was still in the cloakroom next to mine.

Leah frowned looking around helplessly.

"Now what do we do? She has to be here somewhere."

Fishing in my bag for my cell phone I answered her absently.

"I'm going to ring Charlie, if Bella went home he'll know. Emily, you contact Sam and see if she's turned up there."

"What about Billy? Should I ring him too?"

"No, there's no point in worrying Jake yet. "

Worryingly with all calls finished we were still no further forward. Charlie hadn't seen Bella, she certainly hadn't gone home, and he was now on his way to meet us. He'd also contacted the Port Angeles authorities and asked them to keep an eye out for her which I thought might be a little over the top but men always panicked first. Sam hadn't seen her since she had left with Emily and Leah but promised to take a look in the village before also coming to join us with some of the other young men from the village.

I was pleased that they were willing to help but thought it a waste of time.

"I don't see what he and the boys can do that the police can't, Emily."

"Sam is a pretty good tracker, he might find a clue as to where she might have gone."

"But it's pouring with rain and pitch black out there."

Leah and Emily exchanged a strange look before the latter replied.

"You never know, they might strike it lucky and at least they're willing to try."

I was becoming more and more worried; what on earth had happened to Bella? Where was she? The more I thought about it the odder it seemed after all people didn't just vanish into thin air especially not in a sleepy little place like Port Angeles.

I had never been more relieved to see anyone than when Charlie walked through the nightclub doors accompanied by Phil who came straight to my side and threw a comforting arm around me.

Charlie asked us to tell him exactly what had happened and listened intently but he was most concerned that we hadn't noticed that Bella had gone for so long which meant we had no idea of the time she actually went missing. The last time we could say with any certainty we had seen Bella was when she left us to go to the restroom. Our sighting of her across the dance floor in strobe lighting could have been her but could equally have been the woman we had later mistaken for Bella.

The girl on cloakroom duty didn't remember seeing her leave but that wasn't a surprise with the volume of people coming and going. Charlie had the music switched off and lights switched on so he could make an announcement asking for anyone who had seen Bella to come and talk to us holding up an enlarged snapshot of her, taken from the house, as he did so. A couple of guys thought they had seen her talking with someone near the bar at some point but couldn't be more precise as to time or her companion or companions, it appeared that Bella had simply vanished into thin air after all.