Chapter Three – Hold the ladder steady

The next day I saw Charlie off to work and, as I was 'going over to the Cullen's' for the night, he said he would head straight down to La Push as soon as his shift was done and spend some time with Billy, no doubt watching sport, playing cards or fishing, and that he'd see me sometime Saturday afternoon. As soon as the cruiser was out of sight I raced upstairs and checked my bag for the hundredth time. Because we were going to be away for less than a day, I was not taking any luggage with me so I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed in my handbag. I had cash in my purse, lipstick and, wet wipes, deodorant, the instructions of how to get to the chapel and a printout of the booking and receipt for the ceremony itself. I think I had everything I needed. Except now I had a lot of time to kill before going to meet the others. Edward, Alice and Jasper were out hunting just to make sure they were not in any way thirsty during our quick trip out of town so I couldn't even go and hang out with them. There had to be something better to do than watch the clock. I tried watching television but I swear my dad only subscribes to sports channels. I tried watching a DVD but couldn't concentrate. The same went for reading a book. Finally I achieved distraction by actually looking at some of the college enrolment information that Dartmouth had sent me. I spent quite a long and surprisingly enjoyable time picking subjects, making notes and structuring a course of study. I had a lot of Literary-type selections which was not really a surprise. I began to wonder where such a course of study might lead. A teacher or a librarian or a writer perhaps; they were the three obvious possibilities I came up off the top of my head. Without thinking about what I was doing, I went a step further; I imagined myself older, kind of sophisticated, hair pulled back and wearing silver rimmed glassed and helping a classroom full of students to appreciate and understand Romeo and Juliet. Then I imagined a book I'd written with a picture of myself on the back cover. Again it was an older, more stylish version of me. I certainly wasn't a vampire in either of the fantasies.

Huh.

It made no sense to imagine myself as aging! I was going to be a vampire – I would never age; and yet, older and sophisticated - that was the image I created in my own mind. I had to wonder at the possibility that, despite everything, despite my certainty, I still seemed to have an element of doubt, or disbelief, about what I was planning to do. Momentarily I was swamped by sadness that we wouldn't really be going to college, that there would be no career for me, at least, not for a very long time. Carlisle had taken decades to get to the point where he could practice medicine safely. And of course, I would always be nineteen. That alone would limit my vocational options. Would I have to repeat high-school over and over like Edward and his brothers and sisters? Maybe I would be too old for it to be believable now. What would I do with myself all day, every day for eternity? I hadn't really thought about that part very much. Perhaps I should have.

I shook my thoughts away and pushed the college information to the side of my desk. This was my wedding day for goodness sake! This was not the time to be second-guessing my decisions. Besides, what did it matter if, just maybe, I didn't want to rush into becoming a vampire right away? Edward wouldn't mind, I knew that for a fact. The point was; I still wanted to marry him regardless. If worse came to worse, I still had a few years up my sleeve until we would begin to look really silly together – It wasn't like he looked like a stereotypical seventeen year old and it wasn't like I looked way older than my age or anything. It would be fine. None of it affected the fact that I was marrying Edward in less than six hours. And that fact alone made me incredibly happy; it was a happiness that was completely independent of the bargain we'd made, the desire for him to be the one to bite me, the fact that the whole engagement had originally been a compromise so that we could both get something we wanted even though it meant that we both had to do something else we didn't want to do. None of it mattered now. It was all incidental detail. I wanted to marry Edward because I loved him. End of story.

I killed another hour by showering, washing my hair, shaving my legs, dressing in my new clothes and doing my hair. I looked in the mirror for a moment once I was done; the jeans looked great, so did the top and necklace Alice had given me but I sure didn't look like someone about to get married and for some reason that made me laugh a little at my own reflection. But I didn't regret my choice of attire.

Finally it was time to go, which was a massive relief because I knew that once I was actually doing something the nervous anticipation would dissipate. I drove to the Cullen's house trying to resist the urge to use the speed that my new sports car was easily capable of producing. Edward was waiting in the driveway. He looked nervous too. I parked my car in an empty space in the garage and Edward opened the car door and helped me out before pulling me into a deeply satisfying embrace-slash-kiss.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as we broke apart.

"Amazing," I replied, my head swimming slightly from the intensity of the kiss, then added, "Oh, you're asking about the getting married part."

Edward smiled appreciatively.

"Actually, I feel really good about it. It's been a long day of waiting though," I told him.

"Not nervous or having second thoughts?"

"Little nervous and no second thoughts, about getting married. You?"

"I'm feeling fine. Calm as calm can be."

"Then why were you pacing up and down the driveway when I got here?"

Edward looked embarrassed for a moment, and then admitted, "Okay, you've caught me out. I couldn't concentrate while we were out hunting and I was a little, shall we say, concerned about whether you would show up or not."

I was offended. "How could you think I wouldn't?"

"Forgive me Bella; it was only a very small thought, but quite vocal. I kept thinking that you didn't really want this, that I'd forced your hand so to speak."

"I told you I wanted to marry you, didn't I? I meant it. I mean it. I organised it! Speaking of which, we have a plane to catch."

Alice and Jasper made a timely appearance and without delay or preamble we all hopped into Edward's car and headed for Port Angeles. We made our flight in good time and the journey to Las Vegas was surprisingly quick thanks to a tail wind. From the airport we got a cab straight to the wedding chapel. This was it…

The Amour Wedding Chapel was, well, it was exactly what you would expect a Las Vegas wedding chapel to be; everything shiny and white except for the blood red carpet and oodles and oodles of colourful silk flowers all over the place. I began to wish I'd gone for the drive-through option afterall. However we were here and it was paid for and this was going to do. I went to the reception desk with my receipt, rang the bell and waited for someone to assist me. A minute later a woman, with the most enormous white beehive I've ever seen came to the desk.

"Can I help you hon?"

"Um, yeah, I, uh, we have a booking for a wedding at seven."

She checked the screen of the computer on the desk said "Miss Swan and Mr. Cullen?" I nodded. "Excellent. Just a few formalities and then we'll get you good and wed."

She handed me a few forms to fill out, which I handed to Edward (his writing is so much neater than mine) and I signed in the appropriate places.

"Whoa, that's quite a rock you've got there young lady," The receptionist remarked when she caught sight of my engagement ring. "We have a selection of beautiful wedding gowns available for hire that would do your ring justice. We can outfit the whole party and provide flowers too for a very reasonable fee."

I looked at Alice's face and nearly burst out laughing. At least I'd found something that was even more distasteful to her than my getting married in jeans. The thought of hiring formal clothes from a wedding chapel was obviously abhorrent to her.

"No thankyou, we're fine. This is kind of what we want."

"Oh." The receptionist was taken aback, but only momentarily, "Okay. Well you all take a seat and I'll call you through in a moment."

"You sure you don't want to dress up honey," Jasper teased Alice gently, "I'm sure they've got some lovely frocks."

"Knock-offs no doubt, and second-hand" Alice replied dismissively. "Better to be under dressed than badly dressed!"

"You know, I think she's coming around to the jeans wedding," I remarked with a grin

"Nothing wrong with a jeans wedding," Edward assured me. "I happen to think you look extremely beautiful."

"You're biased, but I think you look really great too; well, gorgeous would be more accurate actually."

And he did, of course. He wore jeans too, which he'd teamed with a dark blue dress shirt and matching tie and jacket. He looked more stylish than me, but that was nothing new really, I was used to him being the more attractive one in our mismatched partnership. It really didn't bother me anymore. I was just happy that it was me that he loved and that he was apparently blind to my general ordinariness. Of course, Alice and Jasper looked awesome as well and were sweet enough to keep my wedding theme consistent by wearing jeans too. Alice wore hers with a beautiful, embroidered peasant blouse, a jewelled belt and ballet slippers. Jasper wore a white dress shirt with a grey cashmere sweater over the top. The three of them looked like something out of a Vanity Fair or Vogue. I could only imagine the joint impact of them if I'd let them dress up in proper formal attire. Admittedly, that was something I'd like to see one day, but let it be on someone else's special occasion. Maybe Emmett and Rosalie would get married again sometime soon and we could all dress up for that?

A few minutes later and the doors of the chapel burst open and a newly married couple stumbled through. She wore an ill-fitting gown that suggested that they'd gone for the hired outfit option. They looked very happy though. They and their friends were ushered out of the foyer and into another room while the receptionist from before went into the chapel armed with a dust-buster. Two minutes later she called us to come through.

The chapel itself was quite nice; less gaudy than the reception area had been. The celebrant called us forward, "Uh, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan? Okey-dokey, come on down the front here, and your friends too and we'll get you married off right and tight. Now Missy, you come and stand here."

The celebrant positioned me to the right side of his lectern. "And sir, you stand over here." He directed Edward to stand opposite me. "And friends you both come and stand here and here," he motioned for Alice and Jasper to stand beside us. "Now isn't this nice and cosy?"

It was. . . It was perfect. I think a little sliver of me had been worried that I would regret not doing the whole big white wedding thing, but now I was certain that would never be the case. Edward reached for my hands and took them in his. They were cold, but I hardly noticed. For the moment I was lost in the warmth of his eyes; they seemed to be particularly golden tonight. So captivating was the sight that it took me a moment to realise the celebrant had started the ceremony.

"Today, Edward and Bella, you will be bound together; you take each other as husband and wife. Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. There is only one life before you, and your seasons will be good and long. Best Man, Have you got the ring?"

Jasper nodded and dug into his pocket retrieved a ring which he handed to Edward.

The celebrant continued; "Do you, Edward, take Bella to be your wife?"

"I do."

"Will you love, respect and honour her throughout your years together?

"I will."

He slipped the ring on the second finger of my left hand. I was stunned to see, not a plain gold band but a diamond studded gold band. It was beautiful and (I was sure) outrageously expensive, but you know what? I didn't care. I loved it on sight. My attention was called back to the wedding by the sound of the celebrant asking for the other ring and Alice dropping it into my palm. He then asked the same simple questions to me.

"Do you, Bella, take Edward to be your husband?"

"I do"

"Will you love, respect and honour him throughout your years together?"

"I will."

I slipped the plain gold ring onto Edward's finger. It fit perfectly. God bless Alice for telling me the right size! Edward examined his hand for a moment and then looked at me with an expression of such deep love that I almost buckled at the knees. I hoped he knew that I was just as happy and just as deeply in love. I hoped my expression was a mirror of his.

"Edward and Bella, this is a commitment made in love, kept in faith, and eternally made new. Share all that life brings, be faithful to one another, give willingly, receive freely, speak openly, listen intently, support unconditionally and grow in unity. Now by the power invested in me by the State of Nevada I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

Icy lips met warm ones. The kiss was sweet and tender and lingered for the exact right length of time; long enough to be very romantic but not long enough to cause embarrassment for our onlookers. A cleared throat from the celebrant reminded us that we still had one small formality to complete; Edward and I signed the marriage certificate and Alice and Jasper also signed in the appropriate place as witnesses.

"All done," The celebrant announced. "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, may you have a long and happy life together." He picked up a camera and snapped an unexpected picture. "Your complimentary photograph; we'll pop that in the post when it's ready, you'll get it in a couple of weeks."

That was that. We were married. Both Edward and I thanked the celebrant before the four of us all left the chapel. Once we were back in the foyer congratulatory hugs were exchanged and Alice produced from her handbag a small digital camera and proceeded to take some more photographs to mark the occasion. The receptionist came over and offered to take a group shot of the four of us too. I was sure that Alice's pictures would be better than the surprise shot that the celebrant had taken, I was grateful that she's remembered to bring her camera and that I'd have some wedding photographs afterall.

Once we were done we went outside to hail a cab.

"So what do we do now?" Alice wanted to know.

"Don't you two want to go and get a room somewhere?" Jasper asked us, a mischievous grin on his lips.

I went red with embarrassment, Edward laughed and Alice was mortified, "Jasper!"

"They just got married. Isn't it kind of traditional?"

"No, traditionally the honeymoon follows a reception," Alice explained with patience. "And Edward has the honeymoon under control so the four of us can go and have some fun now."

"We're on the first flight out in the morning, so we've got all night," I told them. I was all for the going out and having some fun plan. I didn't relish the thought of Edward and me spending our first night together with Alice and Jasper watching the clock outside. I was intrigued, however, to hear that Edward had the honeymoon plans under control. He hadn't said a thing.

"Where are we going?" I asked Edward quietly

"Somewhere warm"

"Oh. When are we going? All my summer clothes are at Mom's."

"Don't worry, Alice had had a lovely time packing for you. And we can go whenever you want. Mrs Cullen."

I smiled at his adding my new name to the end of his sentence. It sounded so funny. I was a 'Mrs'. But it felt….right.

Seven hours later we were on a plane heading home. Edward's arm was wrapped tightly around me and I rested my head on his shoulder. My eyes were shut but I didn't sleep. I was enjoying the euphoric sense of satisfaction that my marriage had bought me while I could, before I had to face the task of telling my father about my runaway wedding. It had been a great night. After leaving the chapel we'd caught a cab to one of the big casinos and had a tremendous night of fun and celebration. First we'd had dinner (and I mean 'we' as in me). It was a strange experience going out to dinner with three vampires who all ordered three courses from the menu but actually ate none of the food. And they didn't just send their plates back full either. They were masters at making their food disappear without me even noticing. I still don't know how they did it or where the food actually went.

After dinner we went into the gaming room. I played the slot machines for a while but got more enjoyment from watching Alice play for a time then offer her machine to some unsuspecting patron who would, after a few coins, invariably hit a jackpot. It was very good sport. Jasper played poker. He was very good too and possessed legitimate skill, a throw back to his confederate army days, not to mention a poker face that was literally like stone and offered his opponents no clue as to what was in his hand. He won seven hands straight before calling it quits with a sizable stack of chips. Edward didn't play poker; he said there was no challenge in it when you knew exactly what was in your opponent's hand. He did like games of chance though, craps and roulette. And, while he didn't win as much as Jasper, he did, as I always suspected, have amazing luck and came out in well front. Once we'd all had enough gambling Alice dragged us all into the nightclub where she and Jasper took to the dance floor with enthusiastic abandon. It must have been contagious or perhaps it was my existing state of elation that made me forget about my phobia of dancing because they even succeeded in getting me to join them.

It has to be said; I am a dreadful dancer. I never know what to do with my arms and legs and where Alice looked like she could win 'So You Think You Can Dance', I looked like I was having a seizure or something. The others laughed but I didn't even care. I was actually having fun. And it was even better when the music slowed down for a bit because then Edward wrapped his arms around me and everything else simply ceased to exist.