The Wedding was over.
I was pretty happy with that fact; not that I wasn't ridiculously happy in general. But up until the very last minute I wasn't entirely sure I was doing the right thing. I knew with every part of me that it was right to be with Edward, but did I really want to be one of those girls who got married right out of High School? Now I finally knew, if it meant I would be forever linked with Edward, I most definitely did want to be one of those girls.
Thinking back, even over the last few hours, I seemed to get happier minute by minute, leading up to the moment; and the next thing I knew it was actually happening. I was walking down the aisle towards the most beautiful man I'd ever seen in my entire life; the Apollo. The Apollo that was about to make it perfectly clear to everyone here that he would always be mine. What made it perfect for me though, was knowing what a different meaning it truly had. The word eternity meant something very different to a family of vampires; a family that was about to gain one more.
It was unbelievable how wonderful I felt at that moment, and it had taken an awful long time to get there. A lot of doubt, pain, worry, and yet finally, finally it was decided. Edward and I would be together forever, and forever really meant, forever. I was nothing without this piece of my soul residing in the man just steps away from me. I was so preoccupied I barely even noticed the heap of fabric that Alice had stuck me in today; all that mattered was what was happening now, Edward was about to be truly mine.
Then there was what would happen next week which was an entirely different story, the date was set, three days from now I would become one of them. Edward would finally change me into a vampire. I would be, in every sense of the word, a Cullen. I hardly even thought about the pain I knew was to come anymore, I had been wanting this almost from the first moment I learned what Edward really was. As soon as I realized that I would grow old without him and that my fragile humanity may be the cause of our separation. The pain of the change was nothing when compared to what I was getting.
And then there was the present, which was definitely what I wanted to be focusing on, no more looking back, the here and now was far more exciting. And this, I wanted to be an entirely human experience.
The guests of the wedding had left only moments ago and we already desperately needed to be alone. Edward and I made our way up the stairs of the immaculate Cullen house where the reception had taken place. We tried to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, but Edward's family… my family, was impossible to fool even for a second. Before we could get far, Alice came bounding over to me in her characteristically graceful manner to whisper in my ear.
"Don't forget to be gentle with him… He's far more nervous than you are."
Before I could say anything she giggled and whisked away to where Jasper was sitting in the living room. I looked over at Edward who only chuckled and smiled his amazing crooked smile; he had known exactly what Alice was thinking before she'd even told me, and he didn't seem to mind a bit. I smiled back at him, butterflies started to flutter around in my stomach. It bothered me slightly that Alice probably already knew exactly what was going to happen tonight; though I liked to think that Edward had made some rules about her looking into our potential future – at least on our wedding night.
The rest of the family was much more subtle, Esme and Carlisle kept their cool, as always, they only smiled like proud parents. Jasper just chuckled when he watched Alice approach us. Emmett gave me a very conspicuous wink that said way too much information for such an innocuous gesture, and Rosalie, finally starting to get along with me, just smiled serenely, her beauty radiating as always.
We finally made it up the stairs and into Edward's bedroom; the dark night sky glistened on the surface of the lake visible out the wall-sized windows. The bed looked exceedingly appealing tonight, the gold cover shining slightly in the moonlight. I looked in his eyes, trying to figure out what it is he was thinking. Before I could even try to understand, I found myself falling lightly onto the bed with him smiling gently beside me; I'd gotten so used to his motions that I barely noticed I hadn't moved on my own accord.
"Bella," he said in his velvety soft voice. "You have no idea how happy I am right now." I smiled; amused he still thought I had a problem with what had just taken place.
"Edward, I could not possibly be any happier…" I paused for a second, hoping for dramatic effect, "Well, maybe a bit." I smiled again, a little more sly this time; I tried my best to be sexy, what I thought was sexy at least. It's not as though I've had much experience in this area, what with a boyfriend who's afraid to kiss for more than a minute for fear of crushing me with his bare hands. He'd seemed to have gotten over this the last time we were in the meadow, but who knows what this amount of time could have done to his confidence on the subject. It may have been my decision to wait until it was official, but I certainly hadn't had an easy time waiting; it was almost impossible to resist him.
He took my face lightly, his cold hands against my already flushed cheeks. He leaned in slowly, pausing briefly to stare in my eyes and whisper my name before pressing his cold, hard lips gently against mine.
I knew I had to take this slow, I'd learned that much at least, but my body burned for me to speed things up; I did my best to control it, I refused to mess this up. I pushed back slightly, opening his mouth with mine only a fraction so I could feel his cold breath against my lips. He didn't react badly, it was a nice change; he slipped his arm gently around my neck and pulled me closer.
"Are you sure about this, Bella?" He breathed into the side of my face as he broke away.
"Haven't we discussed this a ridiculous amount of times, Edward?" I tried not to get impatient, but I had waited too long, and it had been decided months ago.
"…If I hurt you… hours after our wedding, what would I do?" He actually seemed upset about it; I didn't like to see him this way.
"Then you would take another trip to Italy and have the Volturi rip you to shreds… at least I would expect you to. You'd kill me on our wedding night Mr. Cullen? I'm ashamed." I made an attempt at lightening the mood, as much as I wanted to this to happen… I wanted Edward to want to as well, he didn't look amused. I tried to ignore what I'd said, "You won't hurt me Edward, I'm more confident in that than anything else." I smiled, with a more serious look, staring into his deep, topaz eyes, trying to convey just how sure I was.
"I love you, Bella." He looked down at me, his eyes showing what his brain hadn't yet fully come to terms with. He wanted to do this as much as I did.
"You are my life now." I said, remembering when he first said the same to me.
His didn't answer; his eyes smoldered and he pulled me forcefully towards him, pressing his lips deeply to mine.
From here it went a little differently than in the past, normally it would be me being forceful and getting pushed away; this time it was Edward pressing himself against me with a sense of urgency, and I certainly wasn't denying him. I trembled slightly at the chill of his body against mine, he broke away only for a second to smile seductively at me. I liked this Edward – being married wasn't going to be as hard as I'd thought.
It was only got more exciting from here, I groped greedily at his hair, gluing myself to him. He responded harder and more restlessly than he ever had before, his cold lips took on a new edge, his tongue tracing the opening of my mouth. He put his arm on the small of my back and with one swift motion he had me pinned under him on the massive golden bed. I had to break away for a moment, gasping for air, sometimes I think he forgot I actually had to breathe. My ragged breaths showing just how much I needed him. His throat gave a deep chuckle and he moved to begin kissing slowly down my neck; it sent shivers up my spine, and this time it wasn't because of the temperature of his skin.
His cool mouth moved slowly back to mine and I took this opportunity to begin unbuttoning his shirt, he still had on the charcoal tux he'd worn at the ceremony, though he'd removed the jacket already. Once I had the shirt open I groped my hands roughly over his perfect ivory chest, caressing muscles I was sure no human possessed. He was much too perfect; it was overwhelming.
He broke away for a split second to whisper in my ear, "You'll be the death of me Bella Swan… you're too… warm, it's incredible."
I smiled at the intensity of his tone, "you're not going anywhere before I'm finished with you, I want you fully functioning for this; and its Bella Cullen, thank you very much." I replied and pulled his face back to mine.
I'd had too much; I had to be closer to him, in every way possible… maybe with less of these pesky layers of clothing in the way. I reached behind my back to unzip the dress I'd been wearing – a little sundress Alice had stuck me in once I'd finally had it with my wedding gown – but before I could get far, a cold hand touched my arm.
"Allow me" he murmured, his voice warm.
My mouth couldn't seem to form any words, my brain had shut off the second any sound had escaped his mouth. All I could think about now was him; this was really happening, finally.
His cold fingers traced down my spine until they met the zipper of my dress, he unzipped slowly; entirely aware of what he was putting me through. My breathing became ragged as the tension grew. I knew what I should be feeling right now, self-conscious, apprehensive, and unsure. I had never done anything like this before – hell, Edward had never seen me out of my pajamas – yet I felt none of that. It was like everything was happening exactly as it should of, I felt completely at ease, other than the burning desire to have Edward's hands touching every inch of my body.
And then, my wish was granted, apparently that's another good thing about being with a vampire… they can be everywhere at once.
I reached greedily up and wound my fingers into his perfect bronze hair; nothing had ever been more satisfying than this very moment.
At least I thought so, that is, until he dragged his ice cold fingers down my shoulder bringer the strap of my dress with it as he finally reached my hips and he curved his hands against my bare, flushed skin. I shuddered slightly and opened my eyes, only to find him staring down at me, his eyes now black and smoldering.
"Bella…" he whispered softly, "you are the most singularly beautiful thing I've ever seen – I still can't believe you picked me."
I ignored the very subtle reference to Jacob; I didn't want to think about that right now; I was exactly where I wanted to be.
"So you finally see how I've been feeling since the minute I got into your car in Port Angeles, I've been forever wondering why you picked me." I smiled, I knew this would bother him; he always fought me on comments like this.
He smiled back at me, knowing I was pushing him on purpose, "I love you", he simply stated, seeming to stare into my soul.
"I love you."
The next thing I knew, it was happening, it had all moved so fast, but we'd managed to finally rid ourselves of the rest of our clothing and retreated under the soft golden cover of the bed.
I'd thought a little bit about the specifics of how it would happen, he was a vampire, and I'd never been sure whether that would change anything… physically. I didn't have anything to compare it to, obviously, but I did know one thing–
This was the most incredible experience of my life. His hard lips pressing against almost every inch of my body, his cool skin writhing against mine in perfect unison. If I was ever sure of anything in my life it was this, and it was just confirmed to be completely true: Edward Cullen was amazing at absolutely every thing he did. I bit my lip and made a little sound that proved exactly how wonderful this was.
We had shifted around now and he was beneath me, his pale, perfect skin glowing slightly in the moonlight, his face, the Greek god staring back at me with so much love and desire in his eyes I could barely stand to look at him without blushing. I gasped greedily for air as waves and waves of overwhelming pleasure took me over. He, no doubt, felt the same way, some of the noises he was making I was sure were normally only reserved for intimidating a predator… But there was an edge to it, and there was definitely a note of pleasure in the sound. I was so happy this was something he'd be able to fully share with me, and he most definitely was sharing it.
After what seemed like hours of the most unbelievable… everything, we lay together unmoving, completely content in relishing the bliss we'd just experienced. Silence overtook us both, there was nothing either of us could say to intensify the moment, it was already far too perfect.
Finally my exhaustion overtook me – however hard I tried to stay awake and fully appreciate the afterglow – while lying contentedly in Edward's cold, flawless arms I fell into the most peaceful sleep I've experienced in what seemed like a lifetime. I would be eternally happy in my new husband's grasp.
