Last chapter of Loving! The next installment will be published sometime tomorrow or Monday. I also want to give you a little quiz before you read on, and answer in your review. What are the two things identical in every installment of The Only Exception series? I just want to know if anyone notices my OCD-ness. I don't own anything recognizable, and please review!
After a little while, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," I called, pulling myself from Embry's arms and sitting up, which made him pout.
Mom opened the door, smiling a bit. "Good morning, and Merry Christmas."
I smiled back at her. "Morning, Mom."
"Merry Christmas," Embry supplied, hauling himself up.
"I was just seeing if you two were up yet. We closed your door when Cassie got here so we wouldn't wake you," she said, leaning on the doorframe. "And Embry, we all got your point last night."
I raised an eyebrow, looking from her to Embry, who had a look of recollection on his face. "Oh, yeah… That's why I left the door open."
"Why?" I asked, laughing at his silliness.
Mom came into the room and sat at the end of the bed. "Seth made a comment to Embry last night that was dripping with innuendo, so Embry left your bedroom door wide open so anyone who wished could see that you two were only sleeping."
I rolled my eyes. "What did Sethy say?"
She bit her lip, trying not to smile. "I'll let the boys tell you later. Get up and get dressed so we can have lunch and open presents."
I kicked my covers off and stood up, leaning over to shake out my hair before pulling it into a messy bun. It was getting long, but I didn't mind it much. I'd gotten used to running with a lot of fur, and it felt kind of nice once I got past the twigs and dirt. I pushed Embry -who'd got up and stretched- out the door, then closed it to change after Mom left. After slipping into a pair of jeans and a green and red striped long sleeved shirt, I opened the door to leave, leaving a semi-irritated Embry to go into my room to grab something to change into, which made me realize how much of his stuff was actually in my room.
I went to the living room, where Seth and Charlie were sitting with Cassie, then went to the door when it rang, right before I sat down. After I let Edward, Bella, and Renesmee in, Embry came out of my room and swatted at me as I slipped past him into the kitchen to see if Mom needed any help. After she kicked me out, insisting the only thing left to do was get down the plates and take a few things out of the oven, I went to living room and sat next to Embry on the couch, since Seth had the chair we'd occupied the night before, and because it probably wasn't that good an idea to attempt eating Christmas lunch around each other.
"Merry Christmas, Aunt Leah," Nessie said, smiling from her seat on Charlie's lap.
"Merry Christmas, Nessie," I replied, smiling back at her.
I glanced at Embry -who was smiling- and then around the room, my eyes landing on my left hand. I leaned my head on Embry's shoulder, slipping a hand into his. He gave my hand a squeeze.
Edward leaned over to whisper something in Bella's ear, and her eyes snapped to my left hand. They looked at each other knowingly, then both smiled in my direction. Nessie, who was watching the exchange, looked from her parents to Embry and I, pursing her lips thoughtfully.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing to my hand, where my ring sat proudly, sparkling ostentatiously.
Embry glanced over at me, holding back a laugh. Shall we?
The mind reader knows, and now so does my stepsister. I thought back, giving a mental eye roll.
Edward chuckled. "Yes, we know."
"I want to know!" Nessie said, looking haughtily at her parents. "What do you know?"
Charlie smiled affectionately at his curious granddaughter, then let her down when she started wiggling.
"Please, I love to know new things. I'm really good at keeping secrets, too. Please, tell me what you know." It was adorable, her eagerness.
I could only imagine that got messy when her oaf of an uncle used sexual innuendo around her. Edward caught my eye across the room and made a face, answering my question with an obvious 'hell yes', and he chuckled when he heard my thought, then leaned over to whisper it to Bella again, who chuckled as well.
"Renesmee, maybe you should ask Aunt Leah and Uncle Embry," Bella said gently to her bouncing baby.
The baby ran over to us, then stared intently, waiting for an explanation. Embry held out his hands to her, and she eagerly jumped into his arms, sitting on his lap patiently. He then took my left hand and held it up so she could see it. "I gave this to Aunt Leah."
She tilted her head, studying the ring intently. "What is it? What does it mean?"
I smiled as Embry finished explaining it to her. "It's an engagement ring. It means that we're going to get married."
Nessie smiling brilliantly, jumping off of his lap and skipping around the room, singing at the top of her lungs. "There's going to be a wedding! There's going to be a wedding!"
I leaned back to watch the spectacle, unable to refrain from laughing. After she felt she'd gotten her point across, she ran back to us to give us hugs. "I'm so happy for you! You get to have a wedding! I wish I could have a wedding, but Daddy says I can't do that until hell freezes over."
"Renesmee!" Bella said, shooting her husband a glare. "We do not say things like that. And Daddy shouldn't say things like that, either."
"Sorry, Momma," she said, making an 'oops' face. "I forgot I wasn't supposed to tell you he said that. Sorry Daddy."
Edward leaned back, smiling sheepishly at his wife. "Congratulations, you two."
"Yes, congratulations," Bella added, giving us a brief smile before glaring at her husband again.
The baby went back to Charlie, who was red with restrained laughter, and crawled back into his lap. Cassie, who'd been watching the entire show, was laughing at the ordeal. She was handling the entire magical world especially well, and thought Nessie was adorable. I almost suspected her of being a mysterious, supposedly mythical, creature, and showed Embry that. He simply laughed and shook his head, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
Finally, we all ate lunch, talking and laughing and joking around. Presents were fun, and we all enjoyed watching Nessie play with her new toys, choosing to allow her to open first. Mom and Cassie kept exchanging suspicious glances, then began passing out the 'adults'' gifts.
"This is a gift for the both of you. You can figure out who it's from," Mom said, handing a large, flat box to Embry and I.
We worked together to tear the shiny silver paper off of it, then gaped at the portrait. It was a painting of Embry and I, standing together with his arms around me. It looked like an amalgamation of several pictures of us, but it was unique, and very beautiful. I looked at the bottom right hand corner, to see my brother's signature.
"Seth?" I said unbelievingly, looking up at him. "You did this?"
He shrugged, giving a smile. "Yeah. It was my final for art class. The teacher loved it."
I rested it against the couch and attacked my brother with a huge hug, kissing his cheek and squeezing him hard. "Thank you, Sethy."
Seth, the happiest guy in the world, couldn't fake being mad like he always did when Embry and I were being overly affectionate, and his smile lit the room up. "Consider it your first decoration for your house when you guys get married."
"I love you, Sethy," I said, giving him one more tight squeeze and another kiss.
"Love you, too, Lee," he said, hugging me back.
Embry stood and he and Seth shared a 'man hug'. "Thanks, bro."
Seth smiled. "Welcome."
No gift topped my brother's. It was unreal, how truly amazing the portrait was, and I loved it so much that I couldn't feel jealous that he got the artistic genes. Embry and I got several other joint-gifts for our house or for us to share. A photograph here, a trinket there. Finally, I had to ask.
"Was I really the only one that didn't know he was proposing?"
Everyone looked around, shrugged, or simply said a collective, 'Yes' or 'Pretty much'.
"And what were you going to give us if I said 'no'?"
"We knew you'd say 'yes'," Mom said with a roll of her eyes.
I accepted that as an answer, not really arguing. At this point, I'd have run to Vegas to elope if he'd asked. He was right when he said that while we had forever, we couldn't wait for forever to start. After everyone opened their gifts and we had 'family time', we all split off.
Embry and I went on a walk around La Push. We ended up in the little cemetery where my father was buried. I hadn't visited his grave in a long time, and I was surprised to see a bouquet of peace lilies. I sat down in front of his headstone, running my left hand over his name. I couldn't help but tear up. Embry stepped back several feet, giving me a moment.
"Hi, Daddy," I said softly, feeling foolish for talking to a headstone. "It's Leah. It's Christmas, and I wanted to see you, but this was as close as I could get. I've really missed you, especially in these last few months." I wiped a tear away, trying to keep my composure. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm getting married. To Embry Call. He's my imprint, and I'm his. We've really fallen in love, and I know that I'm only nineteen, but I'll always be nineteen, and we want to start our life together." My voice was breaking. "I really miss you, Daddy, and I love you." At that point, I fell apart, being completely transparent, just like Embry said I could.
Embry was next to me in an instant, his arms surrounding me. He held me tightly, letting me cry. "It's okay, beautiful. I love you."
After a while, he helped me to my feet and wiped my face off with his sleeve. I gave him a watery smile before turning back to kiss the top of my father's headstone. "By, Daddy."
We walked hand in hand out of the cemetery, and a wave of calm washed over me. I expressed this to Embry in my mind, and he gave my hand a squeeze, silently agreeing. We walked around for a while, then he led me along in a different direction than we'd even been. We walked for a long time, even ran for some of it, in human form, and finally, we came to a large plateau on the side of a mountain, where the view was spectacular, and the only way to get up to it was by a hiking trail, or by the small dirt road.
"Welcome to our home," Embry said softly, giving a dramatic sweep of his arm. "We can live here forever without anyone bothering us. We can catch up with the Cullens whenever we like, but we'll always have our home here to come back to."
I stared in awe at the land, taking in the grassy area and the spectacular view. "This is my present?"
He nodded, smiling at me shyly. "Do you like it?"
I slipped my arms around his waist, hugging him with my head on his chest. "I love it. I love you."
His lips found my hair, and he hugged me back. "Let's go back before it gets dark. We can come back whenever you like. Hell, let's camp out here sometime soon."
"Thank you, Embry," I said, smiling up at him. "This is amazing."
He blushed a little. "It's for you."
We got back to my house later that night, where Mom and Cassie were talking and looking through old photo albums. They acknowledged us when we came into the kitchen to get something to eat. We ate at the counter, then went to the living room. Before I slipped out behind Embry, Mom caught me and pointed to a picture.
"Leah, would you like the wedding dress I wore when your father and I got married?" she asked, showing me the picture.
I was amazed by how much I looked like her. I'd seen the pictures before, but I never thought about it until now. She was beautiful, and she looked amazingly happy in the wedding photograph with my father, young and handsome. "Oh, Mom…"
"Think about it. I think it would be nice for you to take some photographs in it, and maybe have your own for the ceremony," she said thoughtfully. "Just think about it."
I nodded, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "I think photographs would be nice. I'll definitely think about it."
She smiled brightly, then turned back to the album. I went to the living room to sit on the couch with Embry, and after while, we went to the Call's home with Cassie, since it was her 'turn' to have us.
Embry and I laid in his bed, talking about nothing in particular. I brought up the idea my mother had, about her dress. He was surprisingly excited about the idea of doing photos with my mother's dress. I didn't quite understand it.
"You know what that means?" he asked, smiling widely.
"What?" I asked, half laughing at his excitement.
"We've made our very first wedding plan," he said, smiling proudly.
I kissed him on the mouth, then smiled back at him. "You're crazy, but I love you."
Embry leaned in for another kiss. "I love you, too."
Christmas was coming to an end, but for Embry and I, life was just getting started.
A/N: Review, please, and don't forget the little quiz, if you don't mind. The next installment - not yet named, sorry! - will be posted soon.
~Sidney
