Chapter Six
Note: first off, as always thanks for the reviews!! It's good to know that people are reading! That being said, this chapter was actually really difficult for me to write. I had a lot of debates with myself regarding details and how I wanted to write it. Now normally I'm not a fan of stories that change perspectives all the time, so I started writing it from Bella's point of view. Part way through, I realized that I wanted it from Edward's. I figured it would be more entertaining, especially getting to hear the thoughts of the people in the church, and I didn't really want to write "I had to remind myself to breathe" a thousand times. That being said, Stephenie also gave us a chapter from Jacob's point of view, so I figured I wouldn't burn in hell for writing one from Edwards. Okay well, here it is, I hope no one is disappointed, I did my best! :)
Disclaimer: not Stephenie Meyer. Oh how I wish I were. The only characters I own are the ones you don't recognize. Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Edwards POV:
I couldn't believe the moment was finally here; it was a long time coming. I stood at the altar of the tiny St. Peter's Catholic Church in Forks, and any second now Bella would be walking up the aisle with Charlie to become my wife. My wife. At the thought of it, a great smile spread across my face. I had never felt that anything was missing in the more than one hundred years before I met Bella, and suddenly the next thirty seconds it would take her to appear seemed like an eternity.
I stood there waiting, trying to be as patient as possible, and desperately trying to tune out the thoughts of all of the occupants of the tiny church. Some, however, managed to seep through, no matter how hard I tried to tune them out.
Ugh, she is so lucky to have landed Edward Cullen, what does he see in her anyway? The voice of Jessica whined from a few rows back. She's so plain, she's not that pretty… He could do so much better than her, like me.
Yeah, enough of that, I thought, and started humming to myself.
Edward. Edward. EDWARD! Alice's voice screamed inside my head. It's time!
I looked up to see her peeking through the door at the back of the church. Just give me a nod if you're ready, she thought. I nodded. Okay, then here we go!
The congregation suddenly went quiet, and I saw Phil head up the aisle with Renee on his arm. She was wearing a dress that I'm sure Alice was in love with; it was a lovely shade of green that complimented her complexion and eyes, and had elaborate, ornate beadwork adorning it. Phil had a simple tuxedo, with a handkerchief that matched the color of Renee's dress. They looked wonderful.
As soon as they were seated, I saw that Carlisle and Esme were next. They were both stunning as always, even though Esme had chosen nothing more than a simple, floor-length gown of pastel blue and Carlisle was wearing a classic black tux as well. As they walked up the aisle, they smiled at me, and thought words of encouragement.
She looks lovely, I heard from Carlisle, and she's so excited. You're going to be wonderful together. I smiled and gave him a very small nod to acknowledge his thoughts.
Oh Edward, I'm so happy for you, Esme thought, and I think if she were capable of crying, she would be doing so now. You've been alone too long, it's so great that you've found someone as amazing as Bella to make you happy.
It meant so much that they were supportive of what I was doing; sometimes I doubted myself, doubted that this was the right decision for Bella and for myself, but I was too selfish to care. I couldn't leave her, not now, so this was my decision. Right or wrong, as long as she wanted me, I would be there.
As soon as Carlisle and Esme were in their seats, Pachelbel's Canon in D began to play, and the entire congregation stood and turned to face the back of the church. I stepped slightly closer towards the center aisle and looked up to see Rosalie and Emmett coming through the door together. Rosalie was nothing less than stunning in her scarlet red, off the shoulder gown, with her hair pulled up and elaborately curled. Emmett too looked extremely handsome, with a small red rose to compliment Rosalie's dress. The entire congregation was awed by their appearance, and many of our classmates whom Alice had chosen to invite on Bella's behalf were thinking less than pure thoughts about the two of them.
Way to go man! Emmett thought with a grin on his face, Only took you a hundred years, but you finally did it!
I rolled my eyes at him, and looked to Rosalie. Oh Edward, I'm so sorry for all of the negativity I've directed at Bella since she moved here. You do know that I'm so glad you've found her, and that she's becoming part of our family, right? I dipped my head so slightly at her that no one else in the church could've possibly noticed the slight gesture. Good, she thought, I'm so happy for you both.
They made it up to the altar and parted, Emmett coming to stand near me on the right side while Rosalie went to stand over to the left. Jasper and Alice followed, their outfits matching Emmett's and Rosalie's, respectively. Bella had asked Alice to be her maid of honor because of the bond that had grown between them, especially after her encounter with James and their little fieldtrip to Italy. I honestly couldn't choose between which of my brothers I would want for my best man, so I took the easy route and asked Jasper, figuring that this way, they could walk up the aisle in their own respective pairs. It didn't really matter to me who did what, as long as my entire family was there.
It surprised me to hear that Jasper wasn't thinking anything in my direction; he was thinking about how gorgeous Alice looked in that dress. I chuckled quietly to myself, and looked to her, instead.
Oh zeg zie je bij het begin van de vroege licht wat we zo trots bejubeld op de schemering de laatste glanzende, I heard from her. What the hell? She was singing the Star Spangled Banner in Dutch. (AN: okay, to be perfectly honest, I just used a Google language translation, so my apologies in the event that someone does, in fact, speak Dutch and this makes no sense. Blame Google for that one.) Only Alice. My face must've given away my confusion at the song no one else could hear, because she laughed to herself and thought, well I didn't want to think about Bella and give anything away before she got up here!
Of course. I mumbled a low, fast "thank you" to her that no one but my family had any hope of hearing. They too reached the altar, and parted ways, with Jasper coming to stand next to me and Alice going to take her place by Rosalie.
Next an adorable little boy and girl whom I had never seen before came up the aisle, him in a little black tuxedo with an off-white rose, and her in a cute poofy little champagne colored dress. I think one is like, a third cousin of Angela Webber's twice removed, and the other is actually Mike Newton's little nephew, Alice thought. At the mention of Mike Newton, I tried to hide my scowl, but subtle as it was, she picked up on it. Hey, we needed a flower girl and ring bearer, she insisted in her mind. Bella doesn't have any young cousins or anything, so I had to dig some up. That was so typical of Alice, to drag random strangers into an event just to appease herself. It reminded me a lot of our graduation party, where Alice had invited most of the teenage population of Forks, though none of us had ever spoken so much as two words to more than three quarters of them.
Once the little couple had taken their proper places, the music changed in anticipation of the moment I had been waiting for all my existence, but hadn't realized until about a year and a half prior. Mendelssohn's Wedding March began to play, everyone in the church shifted, leaning to look down the aisle. I tried to see Bella and Charlie as they made their way through the doors, but everyone leaned forward so much that my view down the center aisle was completely obstructed. Damn them, didn't they realize how long I'd been waiting for this moment? I heard thought after thought, all very much the same; how lucky I was, how beautiful she was… how hot I looked in this tux…? I turned to Jessica in time to see her blush a deep scarlet at having been caught staring at me, and she turned back towards Bella. I would have to have a few words with Alice about the guest list, and insist on having the final say for future endeavors.
Finally, almost like a scene from a film, I saw Bella and Charlie making their way towards me, taking small paces up the aisle. I can't let her trip, I can't let her trip, Charlie was chanting to himself in his head, and my smile grew wider, if possible. Charlie may have been worried about Bella tripping, but if she was as well, she never showed it. Her face didn't give away even an ounce of anxiety; I was amazed at how serene and calm she looked. She was also the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life.
Edward, breathe! Alice hissed to me through her thoughts. I wondered how long I had been standing there holding my breath; quickly, I drew in a sharp breath, and Bella chuckled at me. They had now reached the end of the aisle, and Charlie kissed Bella on the hand. He was about to pass her off to me, when suddenly she threw both her arms tightly around his neck, hugged him, and whispered, "thank you dad, I love you."
He smiled, tears welling in his eyes, and hugged her briefly before whispering, "I love you too Bells, now get up there." He chuckled lightly, grabbed my hand and placed hers in it, then patted them lightly. He smiled whole-heartedly at both of us and thought to himself, take care of my girl, Edward; I came very close to answering him before I realized that he wasn't aware that I could hear his thoughts. He turned and took his place next to Renee, and then Bella and I continued up the rest of the way to the altar.
The wedding went perfectly, and finally Alice got one detail right: I was so glad for the professional video recorder we had. I was so enraptured with Bella that I could barely remember a single detail of the whole ceremony other than her smile. On occasion my family members had offered me mental reminders to breathe, reminders that on a few occasions, I had to pass on to Bella as well. It was slightly more essential for her to have oxygen than I, but there would still be a lot of questions if I didn't breathe once through the entire ceremony.
After what seemed like only moments, the minister was informing me that it was time to kiss the bride. As I leaned in, I whispered, "please try to control yourself Bella, we're in a room full of people." She chuckled, and innocently kissed me for a moment before pulling away.
"How'd I do?" she teased, smiling up at me. I responded with no more than a smile and a nod, because the roaring applause and cat calls from the congregation were so loud, I don't think she would've heard a word that I said.
Moments later, we were walking down the center aisle, Bella's hand gripped tightly in mine, afraid of falling; she needn't have worried, I would never let her fall. We took the thousands of standard pictures; in front of the church, in front of the altar, kissing on the steps, in front of our limo, each one growing more ridiculously romantic than the last. Bella even insisted that she wanted a picture of just Charlie and I: I couldn't talk her into joining us for that one. She insisted that she have a photo of "the two most important men in her life."
As we were posing for that photo, Bella ran off to gather Renee, Phil, and the rest of my family for a big family portrait. I was glad that she was getting so engrossed in the event; for the first time since I'd known her, she seemed genuinely happy to be the center of attention. "Okay gentlemen, you're all set," the photographer said after snapping one final picture of Charlie and I.
As we stood there waiting for Bella to reappear, Charlie turned to me with a very serious look on his face. "Now Edward," he began, and I was so glad to be able to read his thoughts; at first, I had thought a lecture was coming, but I was pleasantly surprised and waiting patiently for Charlie to speak. "I know I've given you a very hard time concerning Bella since she moved here. I'd like to take a moment to apologize."
"Charlie," I started, wanting to reassure him that I had never taken anything he'd said to heart. I knew he was a concerned father, and was looking out for his daughter. If we were able to tell him the whole truth about our relationship, I knew he'd feel a lot differently about me right now.
"No, Edward, please, let me finish. I don't think I've ever given you the true credit that you deserve. Sure, you and Bella had your rough patches, and I think I may have looked upon you a little too harshly during those times. I just wanted to do what was right for Bella, and I never wanted to see her unhappy.
"I realize now that you make her happier than anyone she's ever met; when she's with you, she glows. Thank you so much for everything you've done for her thus far, and I have no doubt that you'll do everything in your power to keep her happy in the future." He reached out his hand, and I grasped it firmly. After a moment, his eyes began to well with tears; he laughed and said, "Oh, get over here Edward," and pulled me into a tight hug. It was a really fantastic moment for me, to finally be completely accepted by Charlie after all we'd been through.
Just then Bella reappeared, saw us mid-hug, and burst into tears. "I knew you didn't hate Edward!" she sobbed, and pulled the green handkerchief out of Phil's pocket to dab her eyes. He awkwardly started to protest when Renee smacked him on the shoulder and everyone laughed.
"We're all here now," she said to the photographer and grabbed my hand, pulling me in tight. He arranged the whole family around us on the church steps; Bella stood on my right, Carlisle on my left, and Esme next to him. Charlie stood to Bella's right, with Renee next to him, and then Phil on her other side. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper stood a few steps up behind us, arching themselves behind Bella and I.
What a beautiful family, the photographer and on-lookers all thought as we stood there, and I flushed with pride; it felt good to be a big happy family.
Finally the picture affair subsided, and it was time to move on to the reception. Alice had decked out our home in the most lavish decorations imaginable, and was practically bouncing with excitement, anxious to see how our guests would respond to her hard work. Like clockwork, our white stretch limousine pulled up, and everyone gathered around outside began to cheer.
"Shall we, Mrs. Cullen?" I asked, grabbing Bella's hand and flashing her the smile I knew she loved so much.
She flushed scarlet, and nodded. I helped her into the car, then slid in beside her and rolled the window down. We leaned out and waved goodbye to our guests as the car pulled away and headed back down the way to the house.
Once we were out of sight of the church, I rolled the window back up and turned to Bella, surprised to see her sobbing silently. "Oh love, what's wrong?" I questioned, once again upset at my inability to read her thoughts.
"Nothing's wrong," she insisted. "It's all perfect. Too perfect."
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close, and she leaned into my shoulder. I kissed her lightly on top of her head. "Oh now don't say that," I whispered in her ear. "It can't be perfect yet; how am I supposed to top perfect later tonight?"
She laughed, and the tears abruptly stopped. "Thank god for waterproof mascara," was all she said before leaning up to kiss me again. Then she leaned back into my shoulder and settled in for the ride.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked, a minute later.
"Oh, not much," she said, thoughtfully, "just mentally preparing myself for whatever Alice has got in store for us when we step out of this car in a few minutes."
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okay well there it is! I really hope you enjoyed it, and that the Edward's point of view bit wasn't too weird. Please review so I know if you liked it, I'm totally open to re-writing this one if people aren't happy... It took me a long time, and I'm still not sure if I'm totally okay with every single detail.