Disclaimer: Still not mine
EPOV
She looked nervous as she got out of the car, but she didn't need to be. Sure, I'd been locked inside my head since my father dropped that bomb at dinner, but Bella's bomb had hit me hardest. She loved me; she returned my feelings. I thought my heart might explode in that moment.
I got out of the passenger seat and ran around to the driver's side, grasping her face in my hands. "Say it again," I pleaded, looking into her eyes.
"I love yo—" I didn't even let her get her statement out before I kissed her with as much passion as I felt inside. I literally thought my heart could burst.
"I love you too," I said after I was finished ravishing her mouth before going in for another kiss.
A car honking as it drove past us brought us out of our lip lock, and I pressed my forehead against hers, laughing. She joined in with me. I grasped her fingers in mine. "I mean it, Bell. I love you too. I don't know what took me so long to say it, but it doesn't make it any less true. What do you say we go home and sort some stuff out, okay?"
She nodded her head. "You feel like driving now that you feel better?" she asked.
I grinned and nodded, walking her around to the passenger side of the car, helping her into the seat and buckling her seatbelt for her. As I moved away from her, I dropped several kisses to her lips. She shook her head at me, laughing. I closed the door and got into the driver's seat.
I pulled up outside Bella's house and killed the engine. I knew once we got inside the house everything was going to change for us … for the better.
BPOV
Once we got inside, we both got changed into our pajamas. I think we both wanted to be as comfortable as possible for the conversation we were about to have. I had some questions, and I'm sure Edward did too. The first one being: what in the world his father had been so upset about.
Edward came back to the couch after getting us some beers from the fridge. "I called in an order for pizza since neither of us got any dinner."
I smiled at him. I noticed he had his phone with him. I wondered who he was going to call this late at night. I didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Hey, Jenks, it's Edward." He paused, listened to the person on the other end, and then chuckled without humor. "He already called you, did he? I want to know what the fuck he's talking about." … "Yes, you can tell me." … "I have the right to know, Jenks, since it obviously affects me."
I could see the range of emotions flickering across his face. He went from sad, to hurt, to mad, to awed, to full-on shock. "I, I, I …" He seemed at a loss for words before finally stuttering out, "I'll call you back in the morning."
He closed his phone and sat there for the longest time. I didn't know what to do, so I placed my hand gently on his arm. He breathed deeply in and out a couple of times before turning to me with a huge smile on his face.
"So, I just talked to Jenks." I nodded, knowing that already. "It seems as if nobody was entirely truthful with me after my grandfather died. My father said I didn't need to be present for the reading of the will; that everything in it didn't affect me until I was older. He told Jenks that I had to go back to school and asked if it was okay if I wasn't there. Knowing my family for years, Jenks didn't even question it. He figured I'd be told. Anyway, apparently, the money that was left for me in trust, there was a stipulation added that I would receive it before my thirtieth birthday if …" he paused looking at me, "if I got married."
My jaw dropped. Edward jumped from the couch, doing this little wiggly dance, and I started laughing at him.
"Isn't this awesome, baby?" he asked. "We're going to be rich! We won't have to worry about presents to furnish the place or the cash to open the shop. We won't need to worry about any of that. We can just do it all ourselves."
I was stunned. I couldn't accept that. I stuttered out an apology and ran upstairs to my painting room, slamming the door and locking myself inside. Thirty seconds later, Edward was banging on the door.
EPOV
I watched as she ran out of the room, and all I could think was what the fuck? She couldn't what? We needed to talk about this. So far, we'd been doing well with communicating, and I wasn't about to let that slip now. I followed her upstairs to her painting room and tried the door—it was locked.
"Bell, come on. Open the door," I pleaded with her. "Don't shut me out; talk to me."
I could hear her sniffling on the other side. I prayed silently that she'd open up and let me in. After an agonizing minute, I heard the lock click, and the door opened. She was standing there with her head down, hands clasped in front of herself, wringing them nervously.
"You want to tell me what that was all about?" I whispered to her, taking her hand in mine.
"It's just," she hesitated, "I can't take your money like that. I should be able to support myself too, you know?"
"If my dad hadn't dropped the bomb at dinner that he did, would we still be getting fake married?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Okay then, so what's the issue? We would have gotten the money anyway. Half of it would be yours when we divorced in six months." She opened her mouth, so I cut her off. "We wouldn't have known about it, so don't say the word pre-nup to me, Bell." She closed her mouth. "The only thing that's changed, so far as I'm concerned, is that we've actually established that we really love each other and want to get married still. You do still want that, right?"
I bit my lip nervously, waiting for her answer. It didn't take long, to my relief.
"Yes."
"Then what are we waiting for?" I asked. Her eyes snapped to mine. I shrugged "I just want you, Bell. I don't need the bells and whistles. I was thinking that we could just hop a plane, go to Vegas, and get hitched. Now that I know about the money, I would feel bad taking gifts and stuff from anyone. So we'll just go and do it quietly. Without the fuss and speeches about brides stuffing their bras and picking their nose."
Bella started to laugh, and I grabbed her, pulling her into me. "I do love you." I got down on one knee. "Will you, Bell? Will you fly with me to Vegas tonight and get married?"
She got down on her knees in front of me and, grabbing my face with both hands, kissed me and said, "Yes!" I was the happiest man alive.
BPOV
It was a whirlwind after that of packing and calling airlines. I was so excited. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. More than once, Edward caught me, sitting on the bed, just staring off into space. He would just laugh and prompt me to hurry up. We had forgotten all about the pizza he ordered until it showed up, so we ate while we packed and got everything ready.
I was still a bundle of nerves as we boarded the plane. Edward was giddy. He told everyone who would listen that he was "whisking away the love of his life to marry her." Some people looked at him like he was straight up nuts, but some (mostly women) would smile and say "awww" like it was the most romantic thing they'd ever heard.
I'd never been to Vegas before, and it was a little overwhelming. We decided to get a room for the night and do the wedding thing in the morning. I didn't think Edward was ever going to get to sleep that night, and truthfully, I didn't think I would either. But by the time we laid our heads down on the pillow, we were both out like a light.
The next morning dawned bright and sunny. We got up and showered, separately to my chagrin, and dressed for the day. While we were eating from the buffet breakfast, Edward suggested that we go look at rings for the ceremony. We shopped around until we both found simple platinum bands that we liked. Neither of us was ostentatious in any way, so they were pretty similar with a simple small diamond in his and three larger ones in mine. I loved them. We found a small wedding chapel that offered what we wanted: pictures and a video that we could bring home to share with our loved ones.
The ceremony was simple and traditional. We had just wanted to get married. We didn't really need all that much of a fuss. I wore a white lace-covered dress I had found in the back of my closet, probably one of Alice's shopping finds that she had put in there, and Edward wore a nice pair of dress pants and a white button-down shirt. We exchanged vows and rings, signed the forms, and were officially husband and wife. I couldn't have been happier, and the smiles on both of our faces in the pictures and the brightness in our eyes could literally be felt by any who would look at them. It was perfect for us.