Author's Note: Well you're finally finding out what the heck Alice was up to in this chapter. One more after this (where we will FINALLY earn that M rating) and the epi and then we're done. The epi is still with my wonderful beta, A Good Witch, who I need to thank again for helping me sort out my rough patches. Also a big shout out to all of you who made your way over from TLS (The Lemonade Stand) where Runaway Bride was featured this week. If you get a chance, I'd appreciate it if you'd pop over and vote for this fic and maybe it will end up being featured in a review! Thanks again for all of your great support. I'd missed this even more than I knew!
Chapter 7
Edward
Edward's head was still fuzzy as he departed the boat and made his way up the docks. Bella had been avoiding him ever since the helicopter flight, with the exception of their blurry little conversation the night before. He was pretty sure he must have hit on her by the way she was acting. Those should have been the least of his worries. The fact that it wasn't was probably more telling than his reactions to everything thus far.
Bella stomped ahead of him on the gangway, her head held high and her shoulders squared. To be honest, she looked like she was ready to do the confronting instead of him. Surely, he didn't piss her off that much. He was relatively certain that they just had a conversation about his asshatty relief in Alice running off and then just a little flirting before she left. He knew her well enough to know that wouldn't piss her off like that, so he'd have to figure out later what he'd done and kiss her ass from here to Seattle and back to make up for it. Of all the people he might lose in this whole debacle, Bella was the last one he wanted to see disappear.
A car waited in the parking lot and Bella slid right in, folding her arms and staring ahead of her. She tensed when he slid into the seat next to her, making Edward wonder what the hell he had done that he just couldn't remember. Once the car was in motion, Bella's stone mask crumbled as she looked toward him.
"Listen, I…Just…Ugh! I just want you to know going in here today that I didn't know about any of this stuff she was pulling when we came down here. I swear."
Edward frowned and reached out to rest a hand on her elbow. "I know that, Bella."
Bella nodded just as they pulled up to a lavish white building that looked as if it had been transplanted straight off a Georgia plantation. White columns lined the front portico and supported a long balcony overhead. The balcony and columns were all draped with boughs of flowering hibiscus that filled the air with the flower's powerful scent and fluffy white tulle.
Edward stood up and stared at it all with a sigh. There was no more hiding. This was all real and it was time to face the truth. He glanced back at Bella. Her face held a mix of compassion and apology. Edward nodded slowly before turning to walk into the building and face the inevitable.
Bella
Bella paced as she waited for Edward to emerge from the white mansion draped with the most obvious wedding decorations ever. He knew going in exactly what he was facing, but she couldn't help but feel bad that she hadn't given him more of a heads up. Arms crossed, she paced and paused to stare at the door before pacing again. It seemed like forever before Edward stormed out of the house and down the stairs toward the beach behind her. As he passed, he didn't even look at her.
"She's waiting to talk to you. If you need me, I'll be out there." He pointed toward the surf and kept marching.
"Are you okay, Edward?" She called out to his back. He shook his head and waved his hand dismissively toward the building. She watched him for a few beats longer before turning to walk up the white stone steps.
When she stepped inside it was like a whole other world with staff bustling around in hurried stress. Bella stepped past the room full of white chairs facing an arch covered in white roses and greenery. The roses and greenery stretched from the bottom of the arch to cascade down the steps up to the little platform and down the aisle to line either side of the lane Alice would soon walk down. It was so incredibly different from the wedding she had helped Alice plan back home, yet very Alice. Bella knew the time and energy it took to arrange such elaborate plans. There was no way Alice had pulled this together without months of preparation. Why would she ever do all of that prep work for a wedding she obviously knew she wasn't going to actually have? It made no sense, but more than that, it made Bella angrier and angrier with each passing second.
She stormed to the bottom of the stairs and grabbed the first service staff person she could find. "Where is the bride's dressing room?"
The small dark haired girl pointed timidly toward the second floor. "Door with flower glass."
Bella nodded and turned to stomp up the stairs. She rounded the landing and reached the second floor, seeing the flowering mosaic of glass on the ornate double doors that led to a room. Bella knocked abruptly when she reached it, trying to steel herself for what she was about to see and not having much luck. The door opened and there stood a somber-looking Alice decked out in the most beautiful white ball gown style dress with thousands of tiny crystals embroidered along the fitted bodice and long sheer sleeves that clung to her slender arms. She looked every bit an angel. Behind her, Mr. Brandon sat in a chair decked out in a perfectly pressed tuxedo.
"Will you excuse us, please, Daddy?"
Mr. Brandon smiled sadly at Alice and nodded before standing up to cross the room. He paused when he got to Bella and smiled down at her with twinkling eyes. "You were always like another daughter, Bella. I was happy to do it for you."
He chuckled at Bella's bewildered expression. "Mary Alice will explain it all, dear." With that, he kissed her head and left the room, closing the door behind him with a muted click.
Bella stared at the place where he had just left before turning back toward Alice. "I feel like I'm losing my mind, Ali. What the hell is going on?"
"I'm sorry it had to be like this, but I knew I had to fix things before I married Jasper. I could never be happy if I didn't make things right."
Bella lifted her hand to her head and massaged her forehead. "You've lost me again, Alice. Why don't you try starting at the beginning?"
"Sure. Here. Sit down and have a glass of wine while I try to explain."
Bella let her lead her to the long white couch Mr. Brandon had just been inhabiting and poured a glass of wine for Bella before handing it over.
"Things weren't supposed to be like this, Bella. I was never meant to get between the two of you and I'm sorry for that. If I'd seen it sooner, I could have changed things, and then I thought that fate had changed due to my decisions. It wasn't until Jasper and I reconnected that I realized I should have ended things and let fate take its course long ago. I ruined so much for you, so I had to make it up to you."
"By breaking Edward's heart and planning a wedding you never intended to have? That makes no sense, Alice."
Alice smiled her bright knowing smile at Bella that almost always meant something freaky was supposed to happen. Alice had an uncanny ability to predict the strangest events around her and she was never wrong.
"When was the last time you saw me wear or decorate using anything purple? When was the last time I mentioned liking Calla Lilies? Have you ever known me to like cap sleeves?"
Bella blinked in confusion at Alice. "Then why choose them?"
"I didn't." She said with a Cheshire cat-like smile.
"I did," Bella whispered. "You asked me my opinion and you always did whatever I suggested. I thought you just liked my ideas."
"Oh, I did! You created a beautiful, perfect wedding. It's so you, Bella. Every accent, every color and scent, it's all you. It's yours if you want it."
"What do you want me to do with a wedding? You're making no sense!"
Alice's smile widened. "Why use it to marry your soul mate, of course, you silly! If I hadn't have let myself fall back into the easy way out with Edward after Jasper, the two of you would have been married years ago and probably had a baby or two by now. You and Edward…you're perfect for each other. I'm sorry I got in the way of that, and by the time I realized how bad the damage was, it was almost too late. You two had drifted so far apart…If I'd just broken it off with Edward and done things the way I really should have, I knew you'd never find one another again. I had to throw you two together and make you push past all the walls you both had put up. I saw it in his eyes the second he walked in here, though. It worked!"
Bella shook her head as she stared at her insane friend for a long time. "You're bat shit crazy!" She tossed back the glass and guzzled the entire thing. "This whole thing…you're nuts! I can't marry a man I could barely be in the same room with up until this past week! He can't…you can't…WE can't…this is insane."
Alice stood up, walked over to sit next to Bella, and took her hand. "Love is insane, Bella. Don't over-think…just FEEL. Trust me," she tapped her temple with her finger. "I KNOW this is right. Follow your heart and it will take you to your happily ever after."
Bella shook off Alice's hand and stood up. "You're not the person I thought you were, Alice Brandon. This game you're playing is cold and mean. Do me a favor and lose my number. Good luck with your future here. Poor Jasper is going to need it!"
Bella slammed open the door and dashed out into the hall. She tried to ignore Alice's words as she stormed down the stairs.
"You say that now, but someday you'll understand. By your fifth anniversary we will be best friends again, and I already forgive you!"
Bella flipped Bridezilla: Psychotic Edition off as she sprinted through the foyer to the front door and sprinted down the steps toward the beach.
She looked left and right as she ran, finally spotting Edward about a quarter of a mile up the beach, his shoes off and sitting on the sand beside him as he buried his feet in the sand. Bella was out of breath by the time she reached him. She panted as she settled onto the sand beside him.
"Are you okay, Edward? I'm…I'm so sorry about all of this. I promise you, I had no idea. She's lost her mind! Did she tell you what she did?"
Edward just sat there like a statue.
"Edward?"
When he turned toward her, his eyes were watery.
"Did she tell you everything?" He asked.
Bella shifted her body to face him, her legs crossed between them as she reached out to take his hand on top of his knee.
"Yeah. I don't know what she was thinking! I mean, can you imagine? We would kill each other before the ink dried on the license…which we don't actually have so it wouldn't be legal anyway."
Edward cocked his head slightly and stared at Bella's hands on his. He flipped his hand and twined his fingers with hers. "You really think so?" He finally whispered.
"Don't you?"
He looked back up at her again and Bella's breath caught. She knew those eyes…missed those eyes. They weren't full of anger and disdain. They weren't even full of concern and care as they had been in the chopper. No, this was HER Edward, the one she had fallen in love with in college, the one that disappeared about that same time that they began drifting apart after he got with Alice. This was the Edward that was her best friend when she had no others. The one that held her hand as she stumbled her way through her first year of college. That held her hair the first time she ever got drunk and puked her guts out all night at a party. That stayed up all night before their very first finals, drilling her with her note cards until she knew them inside and out. This was the Edward she knew and had once loved…the Edward she knew she could easily love again.
"No, Bella, I don't."
In a move so quick, she barely had time to think, Edward leaned forward and captured her face in his hands to pull her closer, capturing her lips with his own. She was stiff for the first few seconds, her hands clutching his forearms in shock, before the warmth of his touch pushed past the cold shell of surprise. Bella hummed and melted a little into his embrace. The pleasurable feelings pulsing through her as their lips moved together was overwhelming and more mind blowing than any she'd felt before.
She shifted closer, her hands smoothing up his arms to his hair where her fingers curled and pulled him closer. Edward's hands slid from her face to find her waist, pulling her closer still as his mouth opened to hers. She immediately responded by opening her own and flicking her tongue across his lower lip.
Edward moaned and pulled her with him to lay on the sand, her torso stretched above his as their legs tangled. They kissed for several more delicious minutes before the need for more air forced them apart. They panted and stared at each other in bewilderment before Edward reached up to push some of her hair behind her ear.
"I missed you so much."
"This is probably a big mistake you know? I don't want to be some rebound girl."
Edward's smile made her heart skip a beat. "I've spent the last ten years with the rebound girl. You're no rebound."
"So where do we go from here?"
He smiled crookedly. "I say we go home."
"And the wedding?"
He kissed her lips softly and pulled her up to sit next to him again. "We have a very long plane ride to discuss that…if you want."
Bella swallowed hard. "If you want."
He stood up and reached his hand down for her. He pulled her up to stand in front of him. "I definitely want." The look in his eye made it unclear if he was talking about the wedding or something else entirely, but at least they were in a place to sort out the truth regardless.
Bella just nodded and then smiled as he leaned back down to kiss her again. He took her hand and led her down the beach. They were almost to the car when Bella glanced up. "Is it wrong that we're in this place less than an hour after you found out your fiancee is marrying someone else?"
Edward lifted her hand and kissed it. "Probably, but wrong never felt so right."
Bella giggled and blushed before letting Edward open the door for her. Together, they climbed back into the car that had brought them from the docks.
