Chapter 2: The note you left for me

Bella

This was it. Carefully, I loosened Renesmee's arms from my neck.

"You remember what I told you?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she nodded. "I love you," she whispered.

Edward was watching us now, his topaz eyes wide. Jacob stared at us from the corner of his big dark eye.

"I love you, too," I said, and then I touched her locket. "More than my own life." I kissed her forehead.

Jacob whined uneasily.

I stretched up on my toes and whispered into his ear. "Wait until they're totally distracted, then run with her. Get as far from this place as you possibly can. When you've gone as far as you can on foot, she has what you need to get in the air."

Edward's and Jacob's faces were almost identical masks of horror, despite the fact that one of them was an animal.

Renesmee reached for Edward, and he took her in his arms. They hugged each other tightly.

"This is what you kept from me?" he whispered over her head.

"From Aro," I breathed.

"Alice?"

I nodded.

His face twisted with understanding and pain. Had that been the expression on my face when I'd finally put together Alice's clues?

Jacob was growling quietly, a low rasp that was as even and unbroken as a purr. His hackles were stiff and his teeth exposed.

Edward kissed Renesmee's forehead and both her cheeks, then he lifted her to Jacob's shoulder. She scrambled agilely onto his back, pulling herself into place with handfuls of his fur, and fit herself easily into the dip between his massive shoulder blades.

Jacob turned to me, his expressive eyes full of agony, the rumbling growl still grating through his chest.

"You're the only one we could ever trust her with," I murmured to him. "If you didn't love her so much, I could never bear this. I know you can protect her, Jacob."

He whined again, and dipped his head to butt it against my shoulder.

"I know," I whispered. "I love you, too, Jake. You'll always be my best man."

A tear the size of a baseball rolled into the russet fur beneath his eye.

Edward leaned his head against the same shoulder where he'd placed Renesmee. "Goodbye, Jacob, my brother…my son."

The others were not oblivious to the farewell scene. Their eyes were locked on the silent black triangle, but I could tell they were listening.

"Is there no hope, then?" Carlisle whispered. There was no fear in his voice. Just determination and acceptance.

"There is absolutely hope," I murmured back. It could be true, I told myself. "I only know my own fate."

Edward took my hand. He knew that he was included. When I said my fate, there was no question that I meant the two of us. We were just halves of the whole.

Esme's breath was ragged behind me. She moved past us, touching our faces as she passed, to stand beside Carlisle and hold his hand.

Suddenly, we were surrounded by murmured goodbyes and I love you's.



"If we live through this," Garrett whispered to Kate, "I'll follow you anywhere, woman."

"Now he tells me," she muttered.

Rosalie and Emmett kissed quickly but passionately.

Tia caressed Benjamin's face. He smiled back cheerfully, catching her hand and holding it against his cheek.

I didn't see all the expressions of love and pain. I was distracted by a sudden fluttering pressure against the outside of my shield. I couldn't tell where it came from, but it felt like it was directed at the edges of our group, Siobhan and Liam particularly. The pressure did no damage, and then it was gone.

There was no change in the silent, still forms of the counseling ancients. But perhaps there was some signal I'd missed.

"Get ready," I whispered to the others. "It's starting."

"Caius was some how able to convince Aro that you—" I nodded to Renesmee and she took my hand and rested it on her lap. "—had to be gotten rid of, as you know. And once you and Jacob got away Caius became very angry. The fighting lasted a while. It soon got dark and I found myself fighting one of the witnesses. He ran off into the forest and I chased him down." The whole memory played itself in my head like a movie. "I caught up with him as he had come across some humans walking through the forest. I didn't know what they were doing there, but I dragged him off before they noticed and I killed him." Jacob let out a fierce growl. "I turned and there…"I paused, unable to continue. Jacob wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I turned and Caius was standing there. He grinned at me and set himself into a crouch. I knew he would kill me and I was ready. Just before he pounced I heard a loud snarl from behind me. Edward was crouched in an identical position behind me.

'Edward…' I had murmured.

'Go.' He told me.

'Edward, I'm staying here.'

'No. Leave.'

'But…'

'I'll be fine.' He assured me, his position relaxing. He smiled and I walked away.

I walked for a little bit and stopped." I took in a shaky breath and continued quietly.

"I decided to turn back. I wanted to die with Edward. As soon as…a-a-as soon as I reached the clearing where Edward had been I saw…I-I s-s-s-saw….I saw Edward. The monster h-had his hands around Edward's throat." I whispered, "and I watched him rip Edward apart." I buried my head in my hands and put my head to my knees. My throat ached from wanting to cry, but being unable to. I sat like that for a long time, trying to compose myself enough to finish the story. Renesmee gasped and wrapped herself around me. Jacob comforted us. A few tears sliding down his dark cheeks.

"After that…"I continues slowly, barely audible, "after that I walked straight towards Caius to ask him to kill me. Before I reached him Jasper caught me and towed me away from the scene. The rest of them showed up the next morning once the Volturi had left. They saw me right here and jasper told them everything. They haven't let me do what I would so love to do since. I try not to think about it, and part of the reason that I haven't tried harder is you. I wanted to see you. I missed you." I couldn't say anymore. Jacob and Renesmee embraced me and we all sat like that, motionless, for a rather long time.

"Mom," Renesmee murmured, "you look thirsty. You need to hunt. It's not safe for you to let yourself suffer like this."

"I know. I just haven't been able to."

"Come on. I'll go with you. Let's go." She said, standing up and gently pulling me with her.

"I'll wait for you to come back." Jacob said. Renesmee stared back at him as she pulled me out the door.



Alice stood right in front of me, on her tiptoes to better stare me in the eye, and gripped my wrists in her hard hands.

"Focus, Bella. Edward is waiting for you down there."

I took a deep breath, willing myself into composure.

The music slowly morphed into a new song. Charlie nudged me. "Bells, we're up to bat."

"Bella?" Alice asked, still holding my gaze.

"Yes," I squeaked. "Edward. Okay." I let her pull me from the room, with Charlie tagging along at my elbow.

The music was louder in the hall. It floated up the stairs along with the fragrance of a million flowers. I concentrated on the idea of Edward waiting below to get my feet to shuffle forward.

The music was familiar, Wagner's traditional march surrounded by a flood of embellishments.

"It's my turn," Alice chimed. "Count to five and follow me." She began a slow, graceful dance down the staircase. I should have realized that having Alice as my only bridesmaid was a mistake. I would look that much more uncoordinated coming behind her.

A sudden fanfare trilled through to soaring music. I recognized my cue.

"Don't let me fall, Dad," I whispered. Charlie pulled my hand through his arm and then grasped it tightly.

One step at a time, I told myself as we began to descend to the slow tempo of the march. I didn't lift my eyes until my feet were safely on the flat ground, though I could hear the murmurs and rustling of the audience as I came into view. Blood flooded my cheeks at the sound; of course I could be counted on to be the blushing bride.

As soon as my feet were past the treacherous stairs, I was looking for him. For a brief second, I was distracted by the profusion of white blossoms that hung in garlands from everything in the room that wasn't alive, dripping with long lines of white gossamer ribbons. But I tore my eyes from the bowery canopy and searched across the rows of satin-draped chairs—blushing more deeply as I took in the crowd of faces all focused on my—until I found him at last, standing before an arch overflowing with more flowers, more gossamer.

I was barely conscious that Carlisle stood by his side, and Angela's father behind them both. I didn't see my mother where she must have been in the front row, or my new family, or any of the guests—they would have to wait till later.

All I really saw was Edward's face; it filled my vision and overwhelmed my mind. His eyes were a buttery, burning gold; his perfect face was almost severe with the depth of his emotion. And then, as he met my awed gaze, he broke into a breathtaking smile of exultation.

Suddenly, it was only the pressure of Charlie's hand on mine that kept me from sprinting headlong down the aisle.

The march was too slow as I struggled to pace my steps to its rhythm. Mercifully, the aisle was very short. And then, at last, at last, I was there. Edward held out his hand. Charlie took my hand and, in a symbol as old as the world, placed it in Edward's. I touched the cool miracle of his skin, and I was home.

Our vows were the simple, traditional words that had been spoken a million times, though never by a couple quite like us. We'd asked Mr. Weber to make only one small change. He obligingly traded the line "till death do us part" for the more appropriate "as long as we both shall live."

In that moment, as the minister said his part, my world, which had been upside down for so long now, seemed to settle into its proper position.

I saw just how silly I'd been for fearing this—as if it were an unwanted birthday gift or an embarrassing exhibition, like the prom. I looked into Edward's shining, triumphant eyes and knew that I was winning, too. Because nothing else mattered but that I could stay with him.

I didn't realize I was crying until it was time to say the binding words.



"I do," I managed to choke out in a nearly unintelligible whisper, blinking my eyes clear so I could see his face.

When it was his turn to speak, the words rang clear and victorious.

"I do," he vowed.

Mr. Weber declared us husband and wife, and then Edward's hands reached up to cradle my face, carefully, as if it were as delicate as the white petals swinging above our heads. I tried to comprehend, through the film of tears blinding me, the surreal fact that this amazing person was mine. His golden eyes looked as if they would have tears, too, if such a thing were not impossible. He bent his head toward mine, and I stretched up on the tips of my toes, throwing my arms—bouquet and all—around his neck.

He kissed me tenderly, adoringly; I forgot the crowd, the place, the time, the reason…only remembering that he loved me, that he wanted me, that I was his.

Our hunting trip was a blur. I did actually satiate my thirst this time, my eyes a warm gold in the reflection from the mirror. The gold color was not quite as light as the rest of the Cullen's, as it still had some crimson in it. I gasped as the pain in my chest throbbed in a way that felt like a knife carving a larger hole, picking up where it left off so long ago.

I closed my eyes and played the kiss Edward and I had shared that day over and over in my head, taking in the feeling of comfort that gave me for the moment. That's all that mattered; just the moment I was in.