A.N.: Hey everyone! next chapter! Gonna keep this AN short.

Sorry for not posting on Friday and for not replying to any reviews :( Time got away from me. I really do appreciate each and every one. Also hello to any new readers, too!

Thanks to kitchmill and JulieToo for beta'ing! :D

ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. All rights belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. The rights to Sweet Home Alabama belong to Touchstone Pictures, Original Film, D&D Films, and Pigeon Creek Films.

Chapter 9: Surprise Visit

BPOV

I hide out all day Monday, Memorial Day, in my parents' home, mulling over all that's happened this weekend. I ultimately decide to leave the next day. It's for the best. My life is in New York and I no longer have a reason to stick around. Edward did what I wanted him to do for five years—he signed the divorce papers—and soon it'll be official when my lawyer gets the paperwork in the mail.

After what transpired between us Sunday night, he told me he couldn't have just one more night with me, one last time where we could just "be" with each other. If we did, he wouldn't have been able to let me go. He said he couldn't bear to see me walk out of his life again, especially when I know he still wants me, loves me. He's willing to let me go now, and I don't want to hurt him anymore.

I'm marrying Riley Biers. When I return to New York, we are going to set a date, and I will go into wedding-planning mode.

Tuesday morning, I pack up all my stuff and start throwing the bags into my rental, with my mom following me outside when I bring the last of it out. I plan on going straight to the airport, having just bought a ticket online for the first flight out of here that'd get me up north. But my mother is being extra needy and clingy with me because I've only been down here a couple of days and she misses me.

"I have to go, Mom. I stayed down here longer than I planned, and while it's been one of the greatest weekends because I reconnected with my friends and got to see you and Dad, I have a life to get back to, and it's in New York. I have to plan my wedding now, and I have work to get back to."

"But …" she whimpers out, "when will you be back? When will we see you again? It's been months since the last time we flew up there. How long will it be before we see you again? When it's your wedding day?"

"Mom … I promise it won't be that long," I tell her. "I'm hoping to set the wedding date to be about six months from now, and I'm gonna need you to come up to go dress shopping with me and to help me with details. To be honest, Riley's mom is like a cold, dead fish. She's so … proper and stiff. I don't think her idea of a wedding is like my vision."

"I really do appreciate that you want me there. And what is your vision?"

"Not hers!" I laugh out. "I'm sure she'd want some big gala affair at the Plaza, but I want a church wedding." I sit down on the steps that lead up to the porch, my mother sitting next to me. I turn to her and give her my ideas. "I want small, but not too small. I want all my friends and my family there, so I'm gonna invite Alice, Jasper, Rose and Emmett … and Edward, if he wants to. I want you and Daddy, of course! My friends in New York are gonna be there. And then we have to invite Riley's family and friends. I don't want all these important people that his family wants there just to impress. I don't know them, and why should they be invited to my wedding? It's my day! If all they're gonna be there for is to get a free dinner and drinks so they can talk business when I want it to be fun, then they're in the wrong place. I'm in charge of the invitations, and I can guess Riley would back me up. He hates those functions he has to attend to only to end up not enjoying himself because of networking."

"You've got some of it figured out," my mom comments. "Anything else?"

"Well, a church that's also not too big or small … kind of like our church down here. I want it to be an evening ceremony and reception because it's more intimate that way."

"You're picturing the wedding you wanted, but didn't actually get when you married Edward."

"Mom, you know mine and Edward's wedding was wonderful. But I can go a bit bigger this time and get a Vera Wang dress like I've always wanted. I can afford it, and Riley's family is loaded, so expense is no object. Besides, I was eighteen when I married Edward. I didn't know much about planning a wedding. I just wanted to get married. I didn't know what I wanted then, but I know now."

"Then I can't wait, honey."

My mother and I hug, and I snuggle into her neck. It's been a long time since I had a little mother-daughter time with Renee Swan.

"Make sure you go say goodbye to your father. He's at the station."

"Of course. Bye, Mom. I love you."

"I love you, too, baby. I want to see you down here more often now."

"I promise I will. I need to show Riley my hometown. Perhaps we'll buy a summer home around here so we can spend a lot more time down here during summer and when we have kids … if we do have kids."

She laughs. "I want to be a grandma, but not yet. I'm still too young!"

If only she knew that five years ago she would have been if I hadn't lost the baby. Yep, even my own mother didn't know I was pregnant.

"I'll see you soon!" I call out as I get in my car and drive into town to say goodbye to my dad.

~OoO~

I head into town to go to the police station. From there I can easily drive the thirty minutes or so to the airport in Tampa.

I go inside and say hello to some of the officers I've known since I was either a child or because some of them, like Jasper, became officers after high school. In fact, Jasper is one of the first people I see when I come in. I automatically head into his arms.

"Hey, girl," he whispers in my ear as we hug.

"Hi, Jazz."

We part and together we head to his office. As Sheriff, he gets his own and no longer deals with a desk in the main area. More picture space, as he calls it. The office is filled with pictures of him and Alice and baby Emily.

"So what do I owe this visit?" Jasper asks as we enter the office.

"Just want to say goodbye to Dad. I have a flight to catch in a couple hours."

Jasper turns to face me, making me stop short and run into him. "You're leaving? You—you just got here, Bells!"

"I need to go home. I have a wedding to plan and a job to get back to, as well as my fiancé. He knows I was coming down here and was going to stay for a while, but it's time," I explain, sitting down in the chair on his side of the desk.

"Don't you run the company? Aren't you automatically given free rein as to how much time you can take off?"

"Well, in a way, that's true, but things need to be done. A new collection is in the works, and I need to go over a lot of things involved in it—marketing and advertising, research, testing samples … plain old fucking paperwork—it's my job, my life. I can't put it on hold forever to spend time with everyone."

"Just when I thought we were all reconnecting, Bella." Jasper huffs.

"If you think you're gonna lose me again, you're not. I promise! I'm going to make a point to come down here as often as I can. I even told my mother that perhaps Riley and I will get a summer home down here or something so I can be here."

"And I also thought that Edward—"

"Jasper, Edward and I are done. He signed the papers, after five years of constant trying. He's letting me go. I let him go a long time ago, and I'm getting married again. I can't hold onto him."

"Bella … think about it. This weekend you got to remember your life back here. You're not an uptight New Yorker deep down, and now that you're home, the real Bella is visible, not the New York Bella. Face it—you're not that person. And I looked up Riley Biers. He's the guy you're marrying? He looks uptight and boring. And his parents—my fucking God! They look so stiff, and even just their background makes them sound like they're snippety people."

"Did you just say 'snippety'?" I snort. I'd yell at him for sneaking behind my back and checking up on the man I'm marrying, but I can't. I know from first-hand experience how my soon-to-be in-laws are, and there's nothing to hide about them.

"Yes, I did."

"You're right. They are. They're snippety and uptight, and I don't like them all that much. But I love Riley. We're alike and we get along really well. Rarely do we fight."

"How long have you known the guy?"

I sigh and roll my eyes. Because Riley isn't around, Jasper has to interrogate him by interrogating me. Such a protective best friend.

"I've known him for about a year and a half, and we've been dating for about a year now. I'd gotten to know him through events we attended when my cosmetic line launched, as well as my knowing the right people to get me to those events. Same thing with him—he comes from an influential family, and he is a lawyer for a top firm. Eventually, we started going out for a drink, then lunch, and then dinner dates and shows … I fell in love with him. Is it so wrong for me to fall in love again?"

"Of course not, Bells. It's just … we all started to notice how you became the girl you once were these last couple of days, and last night … you and Edward looked cozy, just like old times. I'm just concerned that you're running away again, just this time from your feelings for Edward."

I stand up from the chair slowly, knowing I've got to get out of here before Jasper really convinces me I should stay and give Edward another chance … give myself another chance with Edward. Yes, in my heart, I love Edward and always will, but we drifted apart a long time ago because I lost our baby and our dreams clashed. I am a different woman now, and I have to give myself a chance at happiness again with someone new.

"I'll always love Edward in my own way, but we've grown up and it's time to move on," I tell Jasper.

I can't live in the past with my wishful thinking about what we could have been. I have to be realistic now. Besides, I don't know how Edward could take care of me. I don't know his big change because no one is telling me, and neither is Edward. He rarely works at the garage anymore tweaking cars. I'm my own woman and can take care of myself, but Riley definitely has the means to monetarily care for me at this point. Can Edward?

"Okay … it's time that I go. I really need to say goodbye to my father, get on my plane and go home to New York. I'll be back soon, and look for an invitation in your mailbox. I want everyone up there for my day."

"All right, if you must. And I don't think Alice would let me say no to us seeing you get married."

"Hell no, would she. Besides I'm gonna need her, Rose, and my mother's help 'cause I'm not voluntarily seeking out Riley's mother's input on my wedding. Her taste and my taste clash."

Jasper and I hug, and he gives me a smacking kiss on my cheek. I ask him to tell the others I had to go and that I didn't have time to say goodbye personally to them. We exchanged numbers and email addresses, so we'll definitely be in contact.

As I step out of Jasper's office, I see my dad come in. I grin widely, but then my mouth drops open when I see who is with him.

"Riley?" I call out in question. Riley sees me and smiles, speedily walking towards me, pulling me into his arms and pressing a light kiss to my lips, I guess for my father's sake. As well as Jasper … and Edward, who happened to come in right behind Riley looking kind of grim.

"Hi, sweetheart," Riley says, keeping his arms around me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I decided to come down and see you. I wanted to surprise you. I figured you were going to be here a bit longer since you never did give me a date you were coming home, and thought I could come see you before heading out on a small business trip to Phoenix."

"What's happening in Phoenix?"

"Work. The firm is considering opening a branch there, and some guys and I were picked to seal the deal."

"Are you going to be sent to Phoenix permanently?"

"How about we talk about it when you come back to New York and after my trip is done? There hasn't been exact details about it," Riley says. I'm freaking out about having to move to Arizona if Riley is offered to relocate there. I don't want to go there. Home is New York. I like it there. My job is there, and while I can run things from another state, why should I have to?

"Okay," I agree.

Riley and I move into my father's office with everyone—Dad, Jasper and Edward—and we talk more. I kind of wish we had privacy; everyone else doesn't need to see or hear us talk.

"Also you weren't answering your phone yesterday. The trip down here was spontaneous on my part, but there is also a reason I need to speak with you. It's about the wedding," says Riley.

I glance at the three other men and wonder to myself if Riley is calling it off. And in front of three men who'd probably kick his ass for breaking my heart—my father, my best friend and my sort-of-ex-husband. They'd do that to Riley, and I probably wouldn't stop them if he did break up with me.

So I ask for clarification. "Are you calling it off?"

"No! No, no, sweetheart. It's just that we might need to delay it a bit. See, in a matter of two months, a few of us at the firm are going to need to head to London and we're unsure how long we'd be there. It might be about six months. There's a case, which you know I can't talk about because of confidentiality, with a client who can't leave London, and it's going to take about two months for us to figure things out before we head over there. It's going to be madness as we're most likely going to have to stay for quite a while."

"Oh," I reply flatly.

"Yes."

"So you want to postpone it?"

"It may come down to that. If we're going to have a big wedding, it's going to take months of planning anyway, but I don't think I'd be able to take time off while in London to come back to get married and have a proper honeymoon with you. Getting married, yeah, one amazing day, but I'd have to head back right after. So postponing would ensure you having plenty of time to plan, and in about a year we could get married."

But I don't want to wait a year. I want to get married within six months, and as Riley said, it might be six months after the two months coming up that he'd be back—eight months plus! I don't want to do that. And with my idea of a wedding, it shouldn't require eight months of planning. I want what I told my mother.

So I suggest this. "How about we move the wedding up? Get married sometime before you leave. We can have a honeymoon and then from there you go to London. I don't want to wait eight months to marry you, and I actually don't want that big of a wedding. I only want the people who matter most to us there and not people of high society who'd mooch off of a free dinner and an open bar just to talk shop when we're celebrating."

Riley steps back a bit. "You want to get married in less than two months, Bella? Don't you think that's fast? I can agree with you in wanting it somewhat smaller with only people who are important to us, but booking the Plaza for a spot in two months probably isn't going to work. And you know my mother. She wants it big, and to have big, it takes time."

My face screws up into a scowl. "Why does it matter that your mother wants it big? It's our wedding. Not hers. I don't want big. You just said you don't want it big either. So why should we go big? Because your mother says we have to?"

"I just think you need to take a lot of time to plan," Riley argues back. "And your job is going to be just as stressful with planning a wedding on top of it, and because you're rushing, it's added stress neither of us needs."

"Riley, with the wedding I'm dreaming of, it doesn't need a lot of time. And I'm going to have plenty of help."

"I don't know, Bella. Waiting is probably what's best for us."

"You're not even going to take my suggestion?" I ask with a slight shrill in my voice.

"I am. And I'm giving you mine. You're not going to consider my suggestion?" he answers back, thunder in his voice.

"It doesn't make sense to have to wait so long because of a fucking business trip that may take longer than the six months you're predicting! If there were no business trip, I'm sure getting married in less than two months would sound completely insane, but wonderful because that means we're starting our life sooner."

"Two months is completely insane, Bella!"

"Okay, I don't think that here and now is the time to fight about what kind of a wedding to have and when to have it. Why don't we head back to the house?" my father suggests, seeing that our arguing is getting out of hand and doesn't need any witnesses around to see what may happen next.

"No," I quickly say. I reach into my purse and pull out my ticket, shoving it into Riley's hands. "Go back to New York. You can still make the flight if you leave now. I'll stay. I need time to think. I was coming home because I wanted to. I was going to see you and get back to my life in New York, but now I know I need to stay and you need to leave."

"You were going to leave?" both my dad and Edward shout. I look at Edward and notice he looks upset. It must be because I was once again running away. Now I know that Sunday night we made it clear that having one night wasn't a good idea because he knew I'd just leave anyway, but he still had it in his mind that I was sticking around for a bit. He's the reason I was planning on ducking out of town.

"Yes. I was. But now I'm staying."

Riley and I argue a bit more about me giving him my ticket to just go home when I overhear Jasper mumble to Edward, saying, "My God, the fight you and Bells had with your parents about getting married at eighteen is nothing compared to this, I swear. And they're just arguing about sending him back to New York."

The arguing stops. Riley looks over at Edward and Jasper. "Come again?" he inquires.

Fuck.

DUH DUH DUH!