Here's another chapter, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight (I just found out I have to do that!)
Oh, and if you want to see all the outfits for the party look at my profile, it has the addresses there.
Flashback:
"Maybe he's right."I said, pinning him down on the bed and kissing him hungrily.
"Fine with me."He said, rather breathlessly.
It felt like today's incident was a century ago, not just a few hours. Everything was nearly back to normal.
Well, nearly normal, I thought as I carefully pulled off the dress – Alice would be mad if I ripped it!
I don't know how long we stayed there, but it seemed like a decade, wrapped tightly in Edward's arms. Then again, it might have only been a few minutes.
"We should see is Renesmee is okay."Edward murmured. I nodded and sat up, reaching for my clothes. Edward handed them to me before putting his own on. It barely took a second before he was fully dressed, running his fingers through his bronze, tousled hair.
I changed nearly as quickly and straightened the sheets on the bed, plumping the scarlet pillows and smoothing out the embroidered duvet.
"Let's go." I said once I had finished, weaving my fingers through his and kissing his cheek softly.
He smiled and we made our way downstairs. I could hear Emmett's laughter through the closed door, but I didn't even attempt to guess what he was doing.
We entered the living room and my eyes scanned the room for Renesmee. She was still tucked up comfortably in Jacob's arms, leaning down a little so she could draw on a piece of paper. I glanced at the paper and smiled at what I saw, not surprised by how good it was.
On the sheet of paper there was a perfect, highly detailed drawing of Edward, sitting at his piano with no music book to play from. He looked nearly as breathtaking in the picture as he did in real life. She hadn't finished though. Her pencil continued to move backwards and forwards, sketching lines on the white background. Soon, the shape she drew began to look like something. It looked like . . . me!
I had one hand wrapped firmly around Edwards's waist, the other stroking his arm tenderly. I had a content smile on my face, whilst my amber eyes gazed lovingly at my beautiful husband. It looked wrong though, as if Edward didn't actually contemplate I was there.
Renesmee frowned and rubbed out his upper body, starting to draw him again. She was slower this time.
Eventually though, she finished him and leaned back so everyone could admire the result.
In the picture, Edward was now leaning towards me more, his face close to mine with the same adoring expression. His eyes were not focused on the piano – not that they ever were – but they were looking at me.
I wondered if we looked so loving in real life.
Probably not I thought in spite of myself.
Edward had made it clear he loved me, but I still had trouble imagining he could want me as much as I wanted him.
"It's so lifelike."Jacob gasped with wide eyes.
"I copied Auntie Alice's photo."Renesmee chirped.
"I've never seen that photo before. Show us, Renesmee." Edward remarked. She nodded and hopped daintily from Jacob's arms, landing lightly by my feet.
"Follow me!"
Edward, Jacob and I followed her upstairs and into Alice's room. Jacob looked around in wonder and I realized he had never seen most of this house.
"There it is."Renesmee pointed up to the mantelpiece where several photo frames rested.
The first held a picture of Alice, perched on Jasper's back. Her head was thrown back slightly as she laughed, her sparkling white teeth glinting. The moment had been captured perfectly. I wondered who had taken the photo.
The second was of Rosalie and Emmett at some kind of party. Rosalie was sitting on Emmett's lap, her flawless legs long and beautiful. Emmett was holding a glass of champagne and pretending to take a sip, while Rosalie rolled her eyes. Again, the picture looked so real, as if it was actually happening when I looked at it.
The third picture held a lovely picture of Carlisle and Esme. They were sitting on a rock in the forest, their fingers entwined and their bodies held close together. They both had a gentle smile on their lips as they looked at each other.
The last photo made me gasp in wonder. It was an exact replica of Renesmee's drawing. And I mean, exact. Every detail shown in the photo was there in her picture, making it even more fantastic as I realized she had drawn it from memory.
Then, I realized that this was how Edward and I looked in real life. If the proof was right there, how could I deny it? Edward loved me, just as I loved him.
I had a sudden urge to pounce on Edward and kiss him with all I had. Jacob and Renesmee were still there, though, so I managed to control myself. I did, however, move closer to him so that my skin touched his.
He shot me a quizzical look and I smiled at him, pushing my shield away.
I love you I though, reaching for his hand and clasping it tightly. He leaned down to kiss my cheek softly, much to Jacob's embarrassment.
"I'll, er, go downstairs."He muttered uncomfortably. Edward laughed.
"Don't worry, we'll 'get a room'."He chuckled, pulling me out of the door and downstairs again.
Nobody was there anymore, not even Esme or Carlisle. I could hear them upstairs somewhere, I wasn't really concentrating much. It is very hard to think straight when you have the most perfect vampire ever to walk this planet kissing you passionately.
"Jacob is outside the door, he doesn't know whether to come in or not."Edward whispered into my ear. I sighed.
"I know, I could hear him even when I had you to distract me."I rolled my eyes before raising my voice. "You can come in, Jacob."I called.
He opened the door noisily and walked in with Renesmee. He gulped when he saw how close I was to Edward. I untangled myself rather quickly, but Edward just stood with an amused expression, pulling me back to his chest.
"Momma, take a picture."Renesmee giggled, handing me a digital camera. I laughed and held it up to my eye, snapping a sweet picture of Renesmee smiling.
"Smile, Edward."I ordered jokingly. He grinned crookedly, my favourite smile.
"Get Renesmee in the picture."I urged, lifting her up from the floor and placing her in Edward's waiting arms.
"No, Bella has to come in the shot too."He argued. "Give the camera to Jacob."
I shrugged and thrust the device towards him. I took a seat next to Edward and he shifted Renesmee to the side a little, so she was shared between us. I rested my cheek against Edwards shoulder and pulled our daughter closer towards us. I didn't even blink when the camera flashed. Jacob handed the camera back to me and I started snapping random shots of the furniture, the ceiling, the floor, the outside view from the huge glass wall. I carried on taking pictures until Alice and Jasper got back from their shopping trip.
Then, I spent ten minutes taking pictures of the two of them in all their new clothes.
"I'm gonna go get some photo paper so I can get these developed."I said when I had finished going round the house, taking pictures of everyone and everything.
My family nodded and said 'bye', Edward giving me a kiss for extra.
"See you later."He said before I flitted out the door and to the shops.
When I got back, approximately five minutes later, everyone was watching telly. It was a programme about cooking; I wondered if they were getting ideas for Renesmee's human meals.
"Hello, love." Edward said when I sat beside him and rested my head on his marble chest. I smiled and lifted up the photo paper.
"I need a computer."I told him standing up again. Once he had downloaded and printed the pictures onto paper, we brought them into the living room.
"I wanna see, momma!"Renesmee squealed, reaching out.
I laid the photo's onto the coffee table and everybody crowded round to see them.
They were all so beautiful.
"Do you mind if I have this one, Bella?"Carlisle asked, pointing towards a picture of Esme and him together.
"Go ahead, I don't mind."
The photo's started to disappear as everyone claimed them.
"That one is really lovely."Rosalie said, picking up a photo that had fallen onto the floor. I took it from her and examined it, surprised. It was Edward, Renesmee and I on the couch, when Jacob had taken the picture. We were like three statues, pale, extraordinary and very, very beautiful. Edwards face was the thing I was instantly drawn to, smiling my favourite smile and, his eyes simmering like liquid topaz, nearly identical to mine. If anybody else looked at this photo they would think we were related.
"We're having this one."I shouted above all the arguing.
Edward looked at it over my shoulder, grinning, and Renesmee peeked too, clutching a picture of Jacob.
"It's me!"She exclaimed, pointing at the picture of her. I picked her up and kissed her neck before kissing Edward's, wrapping my arm around his waist. I felt empty if he wasn't close to me.
"Momma, I'm thirsty."Renesmee complained. She wanted to hunt; her eyes had turned a shade darker from their usual green. Jacob hovered over her, ready to fetch anything she needed.
"Jacob, take her to the woods, she wants to hunt."I told him, handing Renesmee to him.
"Come on, Nessie."Jacob murmured into her curly bronze locks. "Catch a big one."
He disappeared with Renesmee through the door and they ran swiftly to the trees. It was a lot quieter in the room, now that the two usual beating hearts were out of earshot.
Suddenly, Alice leapt to her feet.
"Guess what? At our old school they're having a reunion party for all the people who graduated. We are soooo going!"
My mouth fell open. "No way, they'll think I had plastic surgery or something!"
Alice rolled her eyes. "Well then, just tell them that age finally changed you. We are definitely going, I saw it."She paused for a moment, staying very still as she had a vision. "Yep, we're still going. Everyone was there except Jacob and Renesmee."
"Edward!"I cried in desperation.
"Alice, it's not happening."He said, finality ringing in his voice.
"Oh, but it is!"She laughed and skipped out of the room.
"Don't worry; I won't let her take you."Edward pulled me closer, his sweet breath blowing strands of hair around. I just nodded weakly.
Later, when Renesmee was sound asleep upstairs, we all sat in the front room, talking quietly. Jacob was practically out of it; his eyes drooped sleepily and his head lolled on the side of the couch. When he was finally asleep, Esme tucked him into a blanket and carefully lifted his head so she could stuff a pillow underneath. We took it from the cottage in Renesmee's bedroom, so that he wouldn't complain of it smelling 'vampirish'.
Alice was upstairs, bustling about in her huge wardrobe. Soon afterwards, I heard her high-heeled boots on the stairs.
"Bella, look at this dress."She practically screamed.
In her hands was a long, black ball gown. The silky material on the puffy skirt had elegant embroidery down the back, complete with a panelled bodice and shiny silver beadwork. The top part was a halter neck, with a corset-like lace up at the back.
It was so beautiful.
"Alice, where did you get this?"I breathed in awe.
"I made it."She announced proudly. "Do you wanna see mine? It's nearly the same as this one, except it's a different colour.
I followed her to her room, stroking the soft material. Her dress was lying on the bed, just as spectacular as mine.
At first, all I saw was a big pile of bright blue fabric. But then, as Alice lifted it up and shook away all the creases, it took my breath away.
Hundreds of crystals covered the corset top, stopping at the skirt line but snaking all the way around the halter neck-line. The skirt puffed out like my dress, maybe a little more.
Alice was right; it was similar to mine, except the embroidery was slightly different and the vibrant aqua colour was much brighter.
"Will you come to the party now?"She asked, her eyes shining.
My face hardened immediately. "No!"
"Please!"She whined. "You'll get to wear the dress."
I shook my head and Alice sighed, irritated. She stomped out of the room, flinging the dress on her bed.
I returned to the living room and Edward pulled me onto his lap, whispering softly in my ear.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to, but you would look amazing in that dress, even more than you do now."
I smiled at his compliment.
"Try it on."He suggested, his voice seductive. I sighed.
"Fine, but I'm only trying it on."The truth was, I really wanted to see what it looked like on my perfect vampire body.
"YES!"Alice screeched from upstairs. I rolled my eyes and went upstairs, Edward close behind me.
I opened Alice's door and snatched up the dress from her bed, taking only a few seconds to put it on.
"You look so pretty."Edward gasped when he saw me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my bare shoulder. I shuddered delicately.
"But you are just as pretty without the dress."He continued, grinning. I knew what he was getting at. He lifted me into his arms like a bride and carried me to his old room – the gorgeous dress made it feel even more like a wedding.
"This is the second time today."I laughed breathlessly as he lowered me onto the bed and began to untie the lace-up on the back. His fingers were so gentle; they never even pinched my skin, not that it would hurt if he did.
"I just can't get enough of you."He murmured, leaning down to kiss me. His fingers were nearly done with the ties, I couldn't wait much longer.
Suddenly, the bedroom door flung open as a camera flash filled the room.
I stayed frozen on Edward's lips for a sixteenth of a second, then jumped away from him like he was red hot, quickly pulling up the dress.
Emmett's laughter echoed around me.
"What the hell are you doing?"Edward growled, buttoning up his shirt in super-speed motion.
"Alice paid me."He shrugged.
"Give me the camera, Emmett."Edward snarled menacingly. Emmett shook his head.
"Alice said to think of a way to make you come to the Reunion Party, so I did. She promised me an Italian sports car – one of a kind."He said.
"How on earth will this help?"
"Because, if you don't go to the party, I will print photos of this picture all over the continent of north America, maybe even more, if I can be bothered." He sniggered, waving the camera tauntingly of front of our faces.
"Emmett, please don't."I said in desperation. "We'll go to the party, just don't you dare!"
Alice clapped her hands in excitement downstairs and Emmett punched the air.
"I'm getting a new car!"He yelled.
"Shh, you'll wake Renesmee. Now, give me the camera."Edward ordered. Emmett snorted, holding the camera behind him so we couldn't reach it.
"In your dreams, you'll have to catch me first!"He shot out of the door, Edward at his heels. I watched them race faster than bullets across the field, disappearing quickly into the woods.
"Here, let me help."Alice said, coming up behind me. She began to do up the laces, but I pushed her away.
"Don't bother, I'm taking it off."I muttered.
"Are you mad? I didn't know he would go that far."
I sighed and slipped out of the dress, pulling the cashmere dress back on and turning back to the window.
Edward was running back now, the camera in his hand. Emmett was very far behind him. Edward stuck his tongue out childishly at Emmett before turning to grin at me. I laughed out loud, and so did Alice.
"Am I forgiven?"She asked with hopeful eyes. I laughed again and hugged her.
"I guess I'll have to endure the party, it can't be that bad."
I just hoped that was true.