A/N: Anyone want to go to a wedding?!

Bella had long ago come to the conclusion she had to tell her mother she was getting married.

Legal custody battles were strange things. There was no telling what Liam's lawyer would pull, or what he would claim was damning. The mantle of better parent was such an arbitrary thing. It terrified Bella to think that it would be up to a stranger to decide what was best for her child.

Then again, there was something comforting knowing that Liam wouldn't have any more control than she did. It was all about factors, as Emmett had said—marks in the good or bad column for each of them.

Bella wasn't about to let her mother become a bad mark. Renee was a kindergarten teacher by trade. She'd always been employed, had done her taxes, and kept her nose clean all her life. She'd been married for a decade. On paper, this wasn't a mother Bella should be estranged from.

And really, it wasn't that she was estranged from her mother. There was no real animosity between them and never had been. In a fit of temper, bereft at the loss of her daughter, Bella had simply banished her mother from her presence, not her life. Renee had always taken some patience, flighty and innocently irresponsible as she was. Bella had run out of patience; that was all.

"I met a guy," Bella said into the phone in a rush after she'd let Renee prattle about the latest adventure she and her husband, Phil, had been on. That was one of the draws with Phil. He traveled a lot for work, and work didn't mind if his wife tagged along. If Renee could have afforded it, Bella knew she would have helped her see her daughter ages ago.

Renee laughed, obviously startled. "That's great, baby. Tell me all about him."

As planned, Bella told mostly the truth. They'd gotten to know each other for years over small conversations every week. "You talked to him, remember? He was the one who got me to the hospital when I got sick."

"The one with the voice," Renee said gleefully. "He literally swept you off your feet. How romantic. He sounded handsome."

Bella rolled her eyes but smiled. "How does handsome sound?"

"That's not important. What's important is if he's handsome in person or not."

"Sure. Not if he's nice; not his ambitions, his interests or his criminal record. His handsomeness is what's important."

Renee chuckled. "I think I know you better than that. I'm sure he's very interesting and smart. It's just nice to have a picture in my head. Do you have one? You know, on your phone?"

"I don't have a smartphone." There was the sound of clicking on the other end. "Mom, what are you doing?"

"Looking him up on Facebook, of course. You're friends on Facebook, right?"

Bella sat back, resigned as her mother sleuthed. She counted off on her fingers to seven before Renee whistled. Even though he wasn't really hers and it was far from the most important thing, Bella smirked. There was no getting around the fact Edward Cullen was an unfairly attractive man.

"Wow. Okay, so now that we got that settled, tell me about him. All the really important stuff," Renee said.

"He's…" To Bella's surprise, a million thoughts sprang to mind, none of them she knew how to articulate.

How was she supposed to explain the depth of his kindness? She thought many, maybe even most, people would have made sure she got help when she collapsed. But he'd stayed. Bella had battled cancer alone. She'd woken in hospitals alone, faced diagnosis and tests and chemo alone. Had dragged her sorry carcass up three flights of stairs more often than she could count, fed herself whatever she could manage, and tucked herself into bed. The enormity of what it meant to have him by her side, helping her up the steps and cooking a week's worth of food—she couldn't explain what it had done to her soul.

How could she talk about how his presence, his existence in the same space as her, changed the temperature of the room? He was warmth and comfort—a sense of peace Bella had been without for long years.

There were stories in his sad, dull eyes she couldn't begin to fathom. Sometimes just looking at him made her ache, and she couldn't quite put her finger on why. But it made those rare times he smiled—and he did smile at her, with her—all the more beautiful.

"He's good," Bella said finally. It wasn't enough by a long shot, but it was also true. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm going to marry him."

Long beats of silence ticked by before her mother spoke in a soft voice. "Bella, are you sure?"

Bella had to press her tongue to the roof of her mouth to keep back her maniacal laughter at her mother's gentle question. She almost told Renee the truth. This kind of crazy plan would be right up her mother's alley, but therein was the problem. Bella didn't want her mother's gung-ho adventurousness right now. She was desperately unsure about what she was doing, and she needed to hear the note of caution in her mother's voice.

Again, she went over every facet of their plan, trying to find all the ways Edward could screw her over, if that was what he intended to do. The apartment was the biggest factor. It wasn't easy to find a place to live if he kicked her suddenly the curb. But besides that, she had no money to her name. No assets.

Well.

It had occurred to her—as a woman in a vulnerable position it had to occur to her—that Edward could be full of shit when he said he didn't expect anything from her. To sleep in the room next to his, in his home, left her vulnerable. This man would have power over her.

But, she also believed what she'd just told her mother to the depths of her soul. Edward was good and kind. She wasn't naive. Edward could be any one of a million bad things, but she had to trust.

"Is there any such thing as sure?" Bella said to answer her mother's question. "I'm terrified, but aren't you the one who always told me just because something is scary doesn't mean you shouldn't do it?"

"I was talking about skydiving, Bella." Renee made a disgruntled noise. "This is your life to live, baby. I'm not trying to say you're wrong. What would I know? I'm just confused. Why jump straight to marriage?"

Bella's lip twitched. She'd asked a similar question when Bella announced she was marrying Liam. Why jump to marriage? Then, still reeling from the death of her father a few years earlier, she'd craved the idea of permanence and stability—the desire for another person in her life she could count on without question.

But life had proven there was no such thing as permanence. Liam, after all, hadn't set out with the intention of hurting her. As far as he was concerned, she betrayed him first, murdering their child without a second thought. Neither one of them could have predicted the depth of the pain they'd cause each other.

"Being on my own hasn't done me any favors," Bella said wryly. "I know why you're concerned. I wish I was financially stable, that I could say I wouldn't be dependent on Edward in any way. That's not a reality for me at the moment."

"But it could be. Bella—"

"He wants to try to help me get McKenna back, Mom," Bella said quietly.

Renee was quiet at that, and Bella sighed. "I think this could be a good thing." She hated how her voice shook.

"Okay, honey. Enough with the heavy. You're due for something good. It sounds like he is too." Her tone perked up considerably. "It's a terribly romantic story."

Bella rolled her eyes fondly. Sometimes, she thought it would be nice to live in her mother's world of fantasy and romance. It was a nice daydream—to think this might be the beginning of the beautiful life she'd promised herself she'd have to spite fate and her ex-husband if nothing else.

Sometimes, she found herself wondering what it would be like to kiss Edward Cullen.

But this was reality. The chance to get her daughter back was more of a miracle than she ever could have expected or hoped for. She had to keep her feet on the ground and her wits sharp.

~0~

The whole week had already been next-level crazy.

But good. Really, really good in a way Bella couldn't quite wrap her head around. For the last two and a half years, she'd had so little in the way of social interaction. Doctors. Nurses. Jessica, sure. Now, on the day of her fake-wedding, she was surrounded by family—people who might not have loved her but genuinely cared for her.

By far the scariest of the Cullen clan was Rosalie Cullen, Emmett's intimidating wife. She was just as tall as he was and had a bite that far exceeded her bark, as though she was making up for her husband's deceiving softness.

Rosalie had made it clear that she thought Bella had made the wrong choice. The baby, after all, had in all likelihood not been sick. Theoretically speaking, it's chance of survival was much better than Bella's. For her, like for Charlotte, the decision would have been a no-brainer. She couldn't terminate a pregnancy.

Alice had whispered to Bella later that Rosalie's own pregnancies were hard won. Not only did she have trouble getting pregnant, but she had trouble staying that way. She and Emmett had two children. Rosalie had been pregnant eight times.

On the flip side of that, Rosalie also couldn't get behind Liam's decision to kidnap Bella's daughter. She was with them all the way in their plan and hoped Liam would step out of line so she'd get a chance to knee him in the balls.

Jasper Whitlock, Alice's husband, was a quiet, peaceful presence. He reminded Bella a little of Edward. His scars were visible—littering his face and arms—but like Edward, the story of how he got them was held captive in his eyes. He also seemed to understand how Bella felt without her having to say it out loud. They were both outsiders brought into the fold, though not unwelcome.

"It's safety," Jasper observed when he was alone with her one day. "The Cullens, I mean. They're a port in the storm."

Carlisle, Edward's father, made Bella ache for her own father. He was paternal, a parent in the way Renee, as loving and well-meaning as she was, never had been. Carlisle exuded quiet strength and told bad dad jokes. He was affectionate with all his children—the first to hug his son when Edward announced they were getting married—and clearly proud of them.

And cautious. Both he and Esme, Edward's mother, watched Edward with pinched concern in their eyes. Natural, Bella told herself. Like her own mother, they had to have questions about she and Edward marrying so suddenly. But whatever reservations they might have had, they took their son at his word this was a good thing.

After a whirlwind week, Bella woke up in the guest room of her almost-in-laws house. There was a dress hanging on the back of the closet door. A dress she, by some strange miracle, really liked. It was deep blue, swishy, and just frilly enough to look slightly fancy. More surprisingly, she'd enjoyed shopping for it. The process had involved several glasses of wine, Alice's obnoxiously large laptop, and a contest to find the weirdest dress on Amazon. An hour and a lot of cackling later, she was the owner of a dress she loved and a pair of strappy blue shoes for under $55 dollars.

She showered, and emerged in the comfy, ridiculously fluffy robe she'd been gifted at the impromptu bachelorette party Alice, Esme, and, surprisingly, Rosalie had dragged her out on. The three of them were waiting for her with a decadent breakfast of fruit, pastries, and coffee. Rosalie took up residence at the windowseat, doing her own nails while Alice did Bella's. Esme set about turning Bella's short hair into soft waves with her curling iron.

The women were happy as they worked, chattering and cackling about the stumbling blocks they faced at their own weddings.

"My mother, the damn drama queen, wore a white wedding dress on my wedding day," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and shaking her head. "With a beaded white headband! Thank God for you, Esme. I was five seconds away from being arrested for murdering my own mother."

Alice grinned wickedly at Bella. "Mom accidentally tripped and spilled red wine all over Ms. Hale."

Behind Bella, Esme chuckled. "I don't know what you're talking about. I can just get a little clumsy now and again."

Bella sniffed. "My ex-mother-in-law would have worn black to the wedding if we'd had one."

There was silence for two beats, and Bella realized she'd hardly said a word all morning. Her throat went tight. She'd been trying not to act weird, but this whole experience was surreal. She had the sensation of being out of her body all week, as though she were watching herself. She couldn't quite convince herself that this was her life, all of this was really happening. She was really marrying a kind stranger whose family treated her with respect. More than simple respect, they lavished attention and affection on her. She loved it and it hurt, and she hadn't quite figured out what to do about all of it.

Lean in, a voice in her head urged, but she couldn't yet.

Esme caressed her hair in a quick, maternal gesture. She cleared her throat and spoke quietly, getting back to the task at hand. "She didn't approve?"

That was an understatement. "No one in his family reacted well to news we were engaged. Liam and I were already fighting about what we wanted in a wedding. He was, of course, very traditional, and I don't like the symbolism behind most wedding traditions." She scoffed. "His mother asked me if I was so against a white dress because I was impure."

The other woman made vague noises of disgust. "Impure. Jesus." Alice rolled her eyes. "I can't take anyone seriously who talks like that. As though virginity is some kind of virtue and thinking sex can be fun is a sin."

"Yeah," Bella said with a small smile. "In the end, we eloped because we could tell it was going to be drama from beginning to end." She glanced down, watching Alice spread the final sheen of paint on her nails. "I guess we weren't wrong either way, huh?"

Esme squeezed her shoulder. "You're here with us, now."

The bedroom door opened and Vera, Emmett and Rosalie's five-year-old daughter, scampered in. She ran to her mother, begging to be made, "All fancy."

Bella tried not to watch. She tried not to think of what this whole scene might have looked like in a different context. If she were marrying for love and her own little girl was back in her arms. She ached. Her heart screamed her daughter's name, screamed in agony for all the time lost, the things she'd missed that she would never get back.

She wanted her baby. That's what this was about.

"Here you go." Esme stepped up behind her again, and Bella was startled to feel a weight against her neck. She looked up, eyes wide as Esme fastened a gorgeous sapphire necklace at her nape. She smiled at Bella in the mirror. "What do you think? For your something borrowed."

Bella raised a hand to touch the stone, her throat tight. "Are you sure?"

"Of course." Esme patted her cheek. This whole family never shied away from touches, and Bella would be lying if she said she didn't like it. "It's fun to make a little bit of an occasion, right? Even if it is something mundane as a wedding." She winked, just teasing.

Bella flushed. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"Speaking of which." Alice reached for a box she'd set on the edge of the bed ages ago and opened it. "I got this at a thrift store just for fun." She removed the half-circlet and tucked it into Bella's now-wavy hair. "As a finishing touch?"

Bella tilted her head this way and that, examining the tiny, pearl-esque flowers that now flowed on either side. They were delicate and lovely.

She'd never told anyone, but she'd always wanted to wear a ring of flowers in her hair.

"Thank you," she said, voice thick with tears that threatened to overtake her. She hugged Alice and Esme. Rosalie, still busy with Vera's hair, offered her a small smile.

This was about her daughter, and maybe that was why it sometimes felt so wrong that she got so much out of this whole arrangement. Parts of her she'd let go cold years ago warmed now and glowed. To be accepted, a part of something, not an island adrift on a raging sea—it was all so overwhelming. The hope that she might have her daughter again seemed like too much of a miracle already, like perhaps it would be too much when she'd already benefited from this arrangement.

What, she wondered again, did Edward get out of this? What did his brother, sister, and their spouses gain?

Another half-hour later, she was downstairs, in the Cullens' living room. The space had been decorated tastefully but, as Alice had promised, cheaply. Fresh flowers dotted the mantle and the coffee table. She'd spent $70 each on two trees that her mother would reimburse her for after she moved them to a house she was staging. The trees were beset with twinkle lights. Emmett stood between them with Edward and Bella holding hands in front of him.

Despite the fact she knew this was all fake, an inexplicable tenderness came over Bella as she looked in Edward's eyes. Emmett had been the one to suggest a Pagan hand-binding ceremony instead of traditional vows—since his wife had absolutely forbidden him to wing it as he'd originally planned. The words, especially in this context, seemed more genuine. The ceremony did not dictate "as long as we both shall live," but had the couple promising instead to walk together as long as the bond of matrimony bound them.

Edward looked as Bella felt. There was, for the first time, a real light in his eyes. It was a dim one, filled with uncertainty at times, but also reflected her own emotion.

This didn't feel wrong. It didn't feel false. She wasn't making a true vow of commitment to Edward, not promising to be his wife in anything but name, but she was honest in her vow to be a partner. His hands were steady in hers. His voice soft as he agreed with her to bind their lives together.

Emmett, as he spoke, tied their hands with a ribbon. He flashed them a grin. "Get it? That's where we get tying the knot."

His family snickered, and Bella smiled, a warm fondness for everyone in the room filling her.

"And you may now kiss the bride," Emmett pronounced.

Bella sucked in a breath. Somehow, she'd forgotten this part. She felt a jolt go through Edward. Clearly, he was on the same page. They stared at each other, and she wondered what he saw. When she looked at him, she saw true beauty, inside and out. She was, she had to admit, in awe of this man.

His gentle smile deepened, and he held her eyes as he tilted his head. She tilted her chin up, accepting his invitation and meeting him. They kissed—a sweet, soft caress of lips that lasted one, two, three seconds.

A thrill went down her spine and a shiver through her body in the heartbeat before Edward pulled away. Realization hit her like a bolt of lightning as they dropped their joined hands and turned to face his family.

Imagine that. She loved her new husband.

It was an undefined love. So much of him was still a stranger to her, but it was there—all intense emotion and connection.

He turned and slipped his hand from the loose bind, putting a tentative arm around her waist and pulling her against him with a shy smile, both of them posing so Alice could take a few pictures. Bella's heartbeat pounded hard against her chest.

She loved her husband.

What a strange, bewildering world this was.

A/N: So that happened! How we doing? I have a cold. And I can't take anything for it. I am not best pleased.

Cheer me up? Review? Yes? You know you wanna.