Blah, blah disclaimer, blah, blah. I am not Stephenie Meyer, I do not own Twilight…it's a sore subject. I'd rather not talk about it.
On a brighter note! I am posting this because (drum roll) I finished it and got three reviews within 24 hours of posting my last update! I'm hoping my lucky streak will continue. Review!
Chapter 10. Priceless.
"Meow!" Emmett hissed, clawing the air with his hand. Rosalie laughed and dexterously climbed up to his shoulders. Edward wrapped his arm around my waist and slung me up onto his. He handed me an end of the lily strand and a piece of clear tap. He glided over to the edge of the tent and I secured the strand to the tent. I repeated this on the other side, and then with the other two strands. Rosalie taped up two strands, as Emmett continued to distract her. This task took us ten minutes, which, in vampire time, was a very long time.
Rosalie was still on Emmett's shoulders, covering his eyes. Emmett was wandering around blindly, with Rose on his shoulders. I dropped off of Edward's shoulders and landed on my feet. I reached for Edward's hand and leaned up to kiss him. As soon as our lips met, I was so happy and complete. Only two people I knew could make me this happy, Edward and Renesmee. That was when I realized it.
"Edward." I said against his eager lips. He murmured,
"Mhm?" Back to me.
"Where is Renesmee?" He searched for the voices that he heard in his head, but couldn't find hers. His face was shocked and scared. He grabbed my hand and we both sprinted to the house.
"Alice. Alice, Alice, Alice, Alice." I called, as we made our way across the lawn. She popped her head out the door.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Renesmee." Edward said.
"Where is she?" I asked Alice.
"She is with Jacob, at Charlie's." Edward answered before giving Alice a dirty look. "You should have told us."Edward reprimanded Alice. "No. It's okay, just don't do it again." He said, answering her unspoken apology. She nodded.
"You can even take my car to go get them. I dropped them off when you were getting the lilies…actually now would be a good time to go get them." Alice supplied.
Pulling away from the curb Renesmee began blabbering.
"Mommy," She said.
"Yes, sweetheart." I answered, turning my head behind the passenger side seat.
"My party was really pretty last time. Is it going to be as pretty this time? Is everyone already there? What does it look like? Jacob told me not to talk about it in front of Grandpa, so I didn't, but now I have some questions. Is grandpa going? Or is that why I could talk about it, he wasn't invited? Why wouldn't you invite him? I thought we liked him. I thought we liked everybody…besides those creepy people in the black robes. I don't like them. They aren't coming, right? They would make the party really not pretty, is my party pretty? What does it look like?" She asked.
I was able to follow her fast train of thought, but Jacob was staring at her like she had five heads. I squeezed Edward's arm and pulled my shield off. She is so talkative. I laughed in my mind. Look at Jacob's face. Priceless. Edward took his eyes away from the windshield and looked at Jacob's face. Edward smiled and chuckled before whispering so low and fast there was no way Jacob could hear. "Let's train her to talk fast from now on." I giggled.
"Yes, your party is amazing. No, everybody is not already there. No, Grandma and Grandpa aren't invited to this one. Yes, we do like them. No, we don't like the Volturi." I could see Edward cringe slightly when I said their name. "Yes, there are other vampires coming. Finally, no, I will not tell you what your party looks like." I smiled at Renesmee. She crossed her arms playfully and pouted. She huffed, blowing air up past her nose, causing a stray strand of hair to blow up. I chuckled once under my breath and looked over towards Jacob. He was still in shock from the quick exchange between us. He understood he was the only one in the car who didn't understand.
He caught me staring at him with a gloating smile on my face. He shook his hair out and plastered a smile on his face. "With Alice planning it, it must be beautiful." He added, attempting to join the ended conversation. Renesmee looked at him, smiled and then continued glaring out the window.
I was glad we didn't take Alice's car. We didn't need to draw any more attention to ourselves. We got enough attention wherever we went, and stopping at the gas station was no different. Edward and I got out of the car, shutting the doors behind us.
"I think Renesmee's hungry. I would feel better if she ate something. I don't want her to be sick." He said, reaching out for the gas nozzle. I nodded and reached into his pocket, searching for some money. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a crisp twenty between his fingers. I huffed and my hand retreated out of his pants pocket.
I came out of the store and saw everyone waiting in the car.
"Honestly, even as a vamp you still take forever to get anything done." Jacob said, reaching for a bag of chips. I swatted his hand, probably dislocating one of his fingers.
"Better set that fast, Jake, wouldn't want it to heal crooked." I snapped. He put his hands up in a defensive position and I handed Renesmee the bag of chips and the packet of gummies. She took them, but had a sickened look on her face. "Honey, I know it doesn't taste great, but we are just worried. You haven't had anything the whole day."
She raised one side of her mouth into a disgusted expression. "It would make us feel better." I said referring to Edward and me.
"Okay." She said, making it sound like there were four syllables instead of two.
She opened the bag of gummies and popped one in her mouth delicately. A smile spread slowly across her face. "These aren't that bad." She said. I grinned at Edward. He grinned back. We knew Emmett and Jasper had a bet going on, whether she would like sugary food or salty human food better. Jasper would win, again.
Back at the house, Alice was rushing back and forth between the tent and the house. Renesmee gasped as she caught sight of the garden, castle like structure in the backyard.
As soon as the car stopped, she rushed out and over to the tent. She ran around once before going through the entrance. By the time she exited, Edward, Jacob, and I were all walking across the grass.
She ran out the door and over to us. "It's amazing!" She exclaimed, quickly darting off to find Alice.
I heard her call for Alice as soon as she was in the house. "Auntie Alice! It's like a castle! I have a castle!" She shrieked. Jacob jogged off towards the house and scooped Renesmee up on her way out. She giggled and jostled around in his arms. Then Alice appeared from the side of the house.
"She loves it, Alice." I told her. "You should have heard her in the car." Alice laughed and shook her head.
"Well, it is every girl's dream to have a castle." She bragged, shrugging her petite shoulders.
Her face fell, and her eyes were blank, her face expressionless. This lasted three seconds, and as abruptly as it started, it stopped. She looked excitedly towards us.
"They should start arriving in five minutes." She whispered excitedly, dashing towards the house. I pulled Edward to follow Alice, but when we reached the back door she ushered us out.
"No, no. Esme and I will bring the cake out. You can't see it yet." She instructed. Just as she had said, Esme emerged from the kitchen. She was carrying a large, three layered, wedding like cake. It was about the same size as before. The cake was covered by a sheet of opaque plastic. "Move." Alice directed. She guided Esme into the secluded tent. As she was stepping out, Renesmee attempted to enter the tent.
"I don't think so." Alice sang, scooping Renesmee up. Alice kissed Renesmee on the nose, placed her on the ground, and sent her running off the other way.
I wondered how she timed that. She couldn't see Renesmee, how did she know exactly when Renesmee was coming in.
Edward shook his head playfully, "Her timing." He murmured. It still amazed me how similar our thoughts were.
Edward and I sat on the piano bench with Renesmee in between us. Her fingers flew up and down the keys, playing a song Edward taught her last week. She had perfected it, and was now working on adding in her own special touches. A gold escalade made the turn into the driveway going at somewhere around 85 miles per hour.
Carlisle and Esme fluttered out of the kitchen, Alice and Jasper filtered in from outside, and Emmett tugged Rosalie down the stairs. She turned and studied herself in the mirror. Her perfect complexion and beautiful caramel eyes stared back at her, she flipped her hair and smiled, happy with what she saw.
Renesmee darted over to the window and then sped past Carlisle, who was standing in the open doorway. She paused on the steps as Kate, Garrett, Tanya, Carmen, and Eleazar emerged from the gold car. Renesmee was positively beaming.
We all emerged from the house, converging around Renesmee. Edward scooped her up into his arms. He settled her on his right side, and wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me closer to him.
Tanya was leading the way. I could see a flash of disappointment when she saw Edward and Renesmee with me, reminding her of the things she didn't and couldn't have. Her smile didn't falter, but I could see it hidden behind her eyes. Maybe I was just overreacting, seeing things. I would ask Jasper later, he would know exactly what she was feeling.
Calisle and Esme stepped down, greeting each arrival separately. Tanya kept her eyes on Edward and me, until she realized that I was looking back at her. She politely averted her eyes to Esme's smiling face. Hugs were spread around and Renesmee was eager to go greet everyone. Edward placed our daughter on the ground and followed her, tugging me with him, towards the group of people.
We were accepted into the circle of hugs, even Tanya and I shared a quick embrace.
Soon Alice began herding everyone into the backyard, in the direction of the tent. The Denali Coven was dispersed within the walking mob. Once they took in the massive lily-decorated-castle-tent they all paused. Eleazar was the first to speak. "Alice…" He managed to choke out. Even to vampire eyes, the castle was beautiful. It was straight out of a fairytale. Alice had taken the left over flowers and pined them in the cracks of the stones, and vines danced freely across the walls. The porch was lined with tea candles, leading inside.
Using vampire speed, everyone rushed into the tent. We all stopped short yet again. Behind the waterfall there were sparkling lights, and floating in the pond there were tea candles.
In the middle of the room, there was the ornate pedestal. On it sat a three tiered cake, covered in a white sheet. What was with the Cullen's and surprises? I detest surprises. Why hide something from someone when they will find out eventually anyway? I guess that's kind of the way the Cullen's live their whole existence. That's how I will live my whole existence. I guess I should start spending ridiculous amounts of money. I chuckled to myself, imagining myself shopping with Alice, me spending more money than Alice.
Edward cocked his head to the side and gave me the frustrated what-are-you-thinking look. I flexed my shield around Edward, allowing him to see the vision I just had. A slow grin spread across his face while he tried to muffle his chortling.
"Oh!" Alice exclaimed, "Guests!" speeding out of the tent. We all slowly dribbled out of the tent, walking at human pace, out to the front where Alice was bouncing up and down. Jasper strolled over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Alice, please." He pleaded, eyeing her. They seemed to be having one of their private, silent exchanges.
Next arrived the Irish Coven, followed closely by the European Nomads. Within the next five minutes, the Egyptian Coven, the Romanians, and a few of the American Nomads arrived. There was a large meet and greet out in the front of the house. Lastly, the Amazon Coven arrived.
Zafrina had a strong liking to Renesmee, even from the first time they had met. They shared a similar power, uniting them. Renesmee remembered Zafrina, and, of course, upon her arrival she was the happiest. Her joy at that moment was contagious, it reminded me of Jasper. Seeing her this happy, being surrounded by her friends and family, was priceless.
Renesmee sped to Zafrina, who instantly scooped her up.
"Well, hello, my little friend. My how you've grown!" She exclaimed. Renesmee lifted her hand to her face, making Zafrina laugh. "You had another birthday? You got two parties? You are a very spoiled little Halfling." She joked. Renesmee smiled and giggled guiltily before hopping out of Zafrina's arms and tugging on her hand.
"Let me show you something." Renesmee begged, pulling Zafrina. The rest of the group followed.
Renesmee's castle had a similar effect on the new guests. They all paused mid stride, gaping at the massive structure designed specifically for her party.
"Come on!" Renesmee cried, sprinting into her fortress. We all followed, and, again, the room had changed slightly. There were now speakers in every upper corner of the tent. There was also a large, curving bar in the corner across from the entry way.
A bar? Why would any of us need a bar?
Hehehe. Yay! I finished another chapter! That is three this weekend…I am on a roll! Please review. It means the world to a writer when people care enough to respond. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Bitsy!