Chapter 11
Esme and Renee both came to give me one last kiss before they went to take their seats in the Church. Alice helped to line up all of the bridesmaids; she was the maid of honour so she would be the last one to walk out before me. The music started to play and they opened the doors, my last minutes of being single were coming to an end. As Rosalie began to walk down the aisle Charlie came and stood to my left and I put my arm into his.
"Bella you look beautiful, I have never been prouder to be your father than I am right now." he was tearing up and all I could do was hand him a tissue, "I love you Bells."
I didn't know how to express how happy I was that he was here, "I love you too dad, thank you for coming."
Alice was almost at the altar, which was our cue to start towards the doors. As the wedding march began to play everyone stood and turned their attention towards the door, to me. While everyone looked at me my eyes were on the man standing at the altar waiting for me. Edward had a huge smile on his face and he didn't take his eyes from mine the entire way down the aisle, he looked so happy. As I got to the altar Charlie kissed me on the cheek and passed me up to my future husband, "That's the second time I got you into a dress and you look even more beautiful than the first time." He smiled his crooked smile and I melted.
The ceremony was much like any other and it seemed that the figures that I had seen in my dream were nowhere near here, again just another of my silly dreams. As the time approached for us to state our vows I felt my nerves begin to kick in, they were so insignificant to how I really felt. As previously agreed Edward would say his vows first and I expected what I was given, something right out of a fairytale.
"Bella, the first time I saw you something in me caused me to know that you special and even then I could tell you were going to become a very important person in my life. I promise to love you for all eternity, in good times and in bad and I promise to protect you from all the obstacles that life may throw in your way, which we know it does on a daily basis. Bella, I love you with all my heart, now, always and forever."
The priest handed Edward the ring and asked "Edward, do you take Isabella Swan to be your wife." He replied with two simple words that meant the world to me, "I do."
Now it was my turn and it was not easy to remember what I had prepared once Edward stared at me through those gorgeous butterscotch eyes. "Edward, through all we have been through you have shown me what true love is. I know I am not the easiest person to get along with or keep safe but you have shown me that true love conquers all. Without you I would not be alive today. When I am without you my heart stops beating, you put the life into me. I promise to be with you for all time, through the good and the bad, forever and always."
The priest then turned to me and asked the same question he had asked Edward, "Bella, do you take Edward Cullen to be your husband?" Edward looked at me a little apprehensively for a moment but then I smiled and said the words I knew he was waiting to hear, "I do."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Edward wasted no time, he bent down and wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me close. He put his lips to mine and kissed me, but this wasn't any kiss, it was something more, for once he kissed me as if we had nothing to fear, there were no boundaries. I didn't argue until we parted and he pulled me along down the aisle towards the limo, I didn't want it to end.
As we climbed into the limo the crowd followed us through the doors of the church and crowded the steps to throw the flower petals they had been provided with at the door. Most of the people at the wedding had been friends and family of mine with only the Cullen's and some of Carlisle's friends from the hospital who had come to know and love all of the Cullen children.
"I love you Bella, you look so beautiful, I can't take my eyes off of you." And it was true, not once had he looked away from me since I had walked through the doors at the end of the aisle.
"You're looking pretty handsome yourself, I love you so much." We leaned out the window to wave at all of our wedding guests as the limo driver began to drive us to the clearing where we would be having the reception. "Alice was right about one thing, this is the best day of my life, I can't imagine it any differently than it was today. The wedding was perfect."
That was all the talking we did before we got to the clearing because once I had stopped talking Edward leaned over and began to brush his lips from my hand all the way up my arm until his lips met mine and we kissed until we arrived at the clearing, today there were no boundaries and I was going to take full advantage of that.
As we got out of the limo it was a relief to realize that no one had shown up yet. Though the path to the clearing had been cleared and a nice neat path now led to it, in my wedding dress any walking that I had to do was a safety hazard. Edward seemed to realize this as he scooped me up into his arms and held me close to his hard chest. Then we were running through the forest and we were there in a matter of a minute or so.
He put me down and I looked around, Alice had kept her design plans for the clearing a secret as well and the scene that was in front of me almost made me fall over. It wasn't a sunny day, something we had on our side, and there were tents and tables in the same peach and pink colours as there had been in the Church. The three tents were placed around the wooden dance floor that was placed right in the center of the clearing. Straight ahead was the head table and the two side tents housed the guest tables.
Edwards soft voice broke in to my thoughts, "What do you think? Did Alice do a good job?" I was still speechless and all I managed was a "yes" before I hugged him and broke down in tears. Alice showed up a second later accompanied by Jasper.
"Edward, don't make her cry, she will ruin her makeup." Edward just shrugged his shoulders.
"It's you that did it, not me." I let go of Edward and ran over to hug Alice. Nothing could ruin this day for me, it was more than I had ever expected and I wasn't going to let anything change the way I felt about the day.
When I turned back to Edward he no longer looked happy, he was in a crouch staring at something in the forest that I couldn't see. Alice and Jasper were both looking cautiously in the same direction. "Bella, get behind me, NOW!" I did as he said, now slightly afraid.
It was a few minutes before I saw what the others had seen, it was like something right out of one of my dreams. Three black hooded figures emerged from the forest and began their approach towards us, I must be dreaming. But it was too real, there was no way this was a dream.
The leader of the group walked right up to Edward and removed his hood; it was Marcus, one of the three leaders of the Vulturi. The other two quickly revealed themselves to be Jane and Felix, we had met all three during our visit to Italy and it hadn't been a pleasant meeting.
Edward spoke first, in a hiss that I had first heard when we had met James in the baseball clearing, "What can we help you with on this lovely day?" Alice and Jasper were close on either side of me with Edward crouched in front.
Marcus spoke for the three, "Well, seeing as you can read minds you know exactly what we are here for, you promised us the girl was to be transformed and yet she stands here smelling as sweet as ever. We have given you over a year, her transformation is far overdue. Aro has sent us here to kill the girl, unless you plan on changing her whilst we are here." He had an evil smirk on his face, he wanted to kill me.
The rest of the Cullen family emerged from out of the forest and from the sounds of it they had brought the wedding guests along with them. "Oh, so you are having a party. Well from the smell of it there will be quite a few humans around and I think it would be best if we left, for now. We will give you a week, and don't try to run, you know we can see you." With that they quickly disappeared into the forest as the guests began to emerge from the trees.
Edward quickly regained his composure and came to take me into his arms; he was trembling, or was that me?