Really, really sorry for the long lack of chapters! Hope that this chapter will make you want to stay with the story :)
One of the things that Ashley had allowed Alice to convince her to do was to plan a party for her fiancée.
"We haven't really had a chance to celebrate our victory over Raver, or your engagement, or anything really", the shorter vampire said and climbed into her car. Ashley rolled her eyes and climbed into the backseat while Bella took the one next to Alice.
"So, why not just celebrate it all on Carlisle's birthday?"
"I still don't understand why we have to go to Plymouth and shop for this feast", Ashley said. "I mean, I'm the only one who's going to eat anything and I'm happy with a sandwich."
Alice grinned as she started her car and drove away.
"You'll see."
Ashley later made a note to self; never ever let Alice drag you along unless you know exactly what you will be doing.
Because Alice stopped right by a store that sold wedding-gowns, a sight that made both Ashley and Bella groan.
"Alice, we still haven't..."
"Oh, I know", Alice interrupted and waved off the excuse as she dragged her through the golden doors of the store. They were immediately met by a female shop-assistant who eagerly listened to exactly what Alice was looking for.
"Word of advice; just let her do all the talking", Bella muttered in Ashley's ear right before the two others dragged her away.
Ashley felt how her head started to spin as the pile of dresses grew. What the hell was Alice up to? She and Carlisle hadn't decided a date for the wedding yet and they were already checking dresses? There was no way that Alice would be pleased with the result if they choose the wrong date – then the dress would be too old-fashioned for her taste.
At least Bella tried to be sympathetic, but unable to speak due to the constant chatter that took place between Alice and the shop-assistant (whose name was Kate) she used her face to show that she knew exactly how Ashley felt as she was forced to try one dress after the other.
"That's it!" Alice suddenly exclaimed. Ashley blinked, wondering if the fitting was finally over. The look that both Alice and Bella gave her indicated that it was and Kate brought one of the large mirrors over so that she could look for herself.
The sight even took her breath away. The gown was simple to start with; shaping itself around her breasts and stayed up without straps, before falling down in a slightly wider skirt, but around her waist was a red ribbon, rising slightly at the front only to turn sharply back to its old place once it had touched her heart, and on one side of the skirt was a pattern of red roses.
"Alice, you've outdone yourself", Bella muttered as she came up to stand beside them.
"I know", Alice said and smiled. "What do you think, Ashley?"
Ashley slowly raised her right hand to touch the place where the ribbon touched her heart and the small, red stone that was attached there.
"It's amazing", she admitted and found herself smile. Alice looked pleased.
"But I'll never be able to afford it", Ashley continued, turning towards her friends.
"Of course you will", Alice huffed. "Carlisle has already offered to pay for the whole thing."
"What? He shouldn't have to..."
"Look, he wants to do it", Alice interrupted. "I'm quoting him when I say that he will be repaid thrice when he 'sees you walking down the aisle'."
Ashley blushed and looked at Kate, who had just come back from fetching a veil. She helped Ashley put it on and then turned her towards the mirror once again. Oh God, Ashley thought, this is what I'll look like when I marry him. And she found herself close to tears, knowing that whatever day they choose she would remember it as the happiest moment of her life.
"Ashley, your cell-phone", Bella said, interrupting her thoughts. "It's Carlisle."
Ashley immediately grabbed the phone that Bella handed her and answered it.
"Hi Carlisle!"
"Ashley..."
She felt a cold hand gripping her throat as she heard him say her name like that. This was not good, this was definitely not good. She even looked at Alice for confirmation and noticed that her friend looked terrified.
"Carlisle, what's wrong?" she asked silently as Bella pulled Kate away, followed by Alice, to give her some privacy. "What's happened?"
"Ashley, I'm sorry..."
"Carlisle, what's happened?"
"It's your father... he's dead..."
Carlisle had had the morning-shift that day and had forced himself to leave Ashley in the middle of the night to go to Dartmouth & Kingswear Hospital, where he nowadays worked. He knew that Alice would want to drag Ashley along on a shopping-tour this day, which was why he really hated to leave; the longer he could keep Ashley from experiencing a shopping-frenzy with Alice the better, as Alice probably only had the wedding in mind. But now he had no choice but to go to work and let the girls do whatever they wanted to do – or whatever Alice wanted them to do.
The morning had been very quiet; not many patients had been brought in and Carlisle found himself in his office for most of the time, reading through some reports and journals of the patients they had.
For some reason he had decided to turn on the radio as the morning progressed. It wasn't his usual habit; he liked to read through his papers in silence, but today he had turned it on.
At around ten, the newsflash started.
"New traces of an old life in Dartmouth has been found at... today, Plymouth holds its yearly... the Denver County race is taking place..."
Carlisle listened only briefly to each headline, not hearing anything that interested him.
"Not more than two months after his colleague's passing, Harold Tyler, head of the company Raver & Tyler Corporations, was found dead this morning..."
Carlisle yanked his head up from the papers he'd been studying and turned up the volume, despite being able to hear the voice perfectly already.
"The first diagnose is that he died from a heart-attack. His wife, Diane Tyler, woke up to find his side of the bed empty. Instead he lay by the sofa out in the living-room. Mrs Tyler has refused to speak about this right now."
He turned off the radio as quickly as he had turned it on, rose and walked over to the window, while pulling up his phone from his pocket. Having Ashley's number on speed-dial, he soon found himself waiting for her to answer.
Four signals later, he heard her voice at the other end of the line.
"Hi Carlisle!"
She sounded so happy. Obviously she hadn't heard the news, which surprised him; Alice should have seen this happening as she was so close to Ashley already.
"Ashley..." he said, trying to find the right words. The silence that followed indicated that she knew that something was wrong.
"Carlisle, what's wrong? What's happened?"
Her voice was worried and Carlisle found his own voice shaking as he replied.
"Ashley, I'm sorry..."
"Carlisle, what's happened?"
"It's your father..." he begun, speaking slowly. "He's dead..."
I wanted to write a bit about what Carlisle was doing as well, hope you liked that. Next chapter is on the way!
