A.N.: Hello! Happy Sunday! Hope everyone's having a pretty good weekend. I kinda am. It just has been so hot where I live & this past week we've been blasting the AC. We only did twice earlier this summer & just had fantastic weather for summer 'cause usually it's not. But then September made us its bitch & decided to turn up the heat & humidity, so I've been sleeping on the couch in my living room with the AC on every afternoon & night (not during the day because I'm student teaching now, so I'm not home) for the past week. Hopefully this week is bearable.

I want to apologize (AGAIN) for not really answering any reviews. As I said above, I'm student teaching now & while the schools have only been open to the kids since Thursday, I've been in the school since last Tuesday helping a few teachers & now my cooperating teacher set up shop. It's very time consuming & when your day starts at 7:40 (I'm waking up at 6 - not really happy) & doesn't end until after three & taking time to travel to & from the school, I'm exhausted & just want to crash. I haven't taught lessons yet (SOON THOUGH) but I now really know what preparation is like for teachers, & I know I'm not gonna be able to really take any down time once I do start writing up my own lessons. So honestly I may not be answering reviews except for maybe a few if you've got questions or want to strike up a conversation with me because my days & most likely a weekend or two (maybe more) will be to prep for a school week. I've read and saved your reviews that come in the emails FFn sends, hoping I'd get the chance to sit down & answer them, but I've failed :( I'm sorry! But as I always say, I do read them & I appreciate every one because you're taking the time to read my story & review the chapter. I really do.

Also a few of you have stated that in the last chapter Bella was very selfish, materialistic and a few other terms. I want to respect your opinion. I just hope that last chapter has not changed your view on the story. I probably should have informed everyone from the beginning that this is an OCC kind of story - Bella is not weak; she's (head)strong, she's quite bitchy and knows what she wants in life. Edward is a bit more sensitive than most other Edwards, including Twilight. He came off as an asshole in earlier chapters because he was angry and hurt and finally was able to lash out at Bella. Once he did, he calmed down. I know none of you hate Edward for becoming like this, and some say he should move on & find someone else that's not Bella. Some of you hate Bella and hope she's happy with Riley because she's become this materialistic woman. Maybe I should have rephrased some of went down in the last chapter, but I can't (okay, I can - it's mine & I can always fix up the last chapter by pulling it & reposting it, but I don't want to). I wanted her to think that Edward cannot take care of her in a financial kind of way because it leads to her finding out what he does. Remember she doesn't know what she does and only recently found out he's not the mechanic he was when she left him. She doesn't know that he has the means to take care of her or be able to be a couple that can support one another without one doing all the work - I probably should have said that in the last chapter instead of her asking herself if Edward could take care of her. "Can we both support each other and any kids financially?" She knows she and Riley can be comfortable together monetarily. Please don't give up on Edward and Bella because I promised an HEA for them (not for Bella and Riley). Everything is gonna be explained. Everything will come full circle.

Now for those wondering how everything is gonna go down now that Riley knows Bella and Edward were once married, stay tuned 'cause you're gonna find out now.

Sorry for the rant & for coming off defensive in this AN. But it's my story & I love how it turned out. I respect everyone's opinion, even if it made me a tad upset because I've gotten so much love for it so far. I'm glad none have mentioned that they're no longer going to read this because of how last chapter or have dissed this story - 'cause I would just say no one is making you read it. You can click the little red X at the top. Leave your negativity at the door (or more like the second you open up this story). Please hold on and root for Bella and Edward. I promise everything will turn out well for the two of them.

Thank you for reading this long ass AN if you did. Now you may go on and read this chapter. ENJOY! :D

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 10: Crashing Down

BPOV

"You were married?" Riley asks me.

I duck my head in slight shame, but then I think to myself, Why should I be ashamed? So what if I was married before? It's in the past. People remarry all the time, so why should my marriage to Edward be a problem?

I lift my head up and sharply nod, confirming Riley's question with a firm, "Yes."

"And you planned on never telling me, Bella?"

My eyes widen. Why is Riley being an asshole about this?

"What's it to you, man? So she was married to me," Edward confronts my fiancé. "Big deal! It was in the past."

"And I thought we had told each other about everything, including our pasts. She seemed to have left you out of it."

"With good reason. She's still married to him!" Jasper laughs out. And then covers his mouth. Again, my eyes widen, this time with complete shock. Then I narrow my eyes at my best friend, soon to be ex-best friend. How fucking dare he blatantly admit that with Riley here?

"Fuck. You. Jasper Whitlock." I storm out of my father's office. I hear Riley's footsteps not too far behind me. He somehow catches up to me and I honestly think he is going to confront me for some answers, but instead brushes quickly past me.

"Riley!"

"The wedding's off, Bella!" he yells when I run after him.

"No! Riley, please! Let me explain!"

He sharply turns around to face me. "No! I think I've heard enough explanations! You're still married? To him?! Why would you keep that from me? Actually, why would you date me and accept my proposal when you're still married? How dare you ask me to let you explain anything? This is complete and utter bullshit, Bella. Is there anything else you're keeping from me?"

"Riley, please understand. My marriage to Edward is in the past. It's been over for years. I've had a difficult time getting him to sign the divorce papers and he finally did when he found out that I was getting married again."

I have to lie to Riley a bit more. There is no way I am going to tell him about my past and what had happened that led to Edward signing the papers. I'd rather tell him more white lies just to have him get over this. I want to prove to him that Edward and I are over, and that Edward understands that as well. Even if Edward is always going to be hung up on me and I will always have some feelings for him.

"Bella, you lied to me. You kept vital information from me. And if you're still married, why would you ask we push up the wedding to happen in two months?"

"I'm not married to him anymore! He signed the divorce papers! In a matter of days, when my lawyer gets the documents in the mail, it'll be official."

"It may be official, but it still won't erase the fact that you lied to me. How can I trust you? How can I know that you're not lying to me or will never lie to me?"

"Because I love you, Riley. I kept it from you because I loved you and I didn't want to lose you. But now we can have each other because Edward and I are done."

"I'm sorry. I can't do this. Goodbye, Bella Swan."

Riley then walks back to his car and speeds out of the police department's parking lot. The tears spill from my eyes, and I'd have collapsed to the ground if someone wasn't behind me to catch me. I'm turned into the person's body and by the smell of the shirt they're wearing, I recognize it as my sort-of-still husband's tee shirt. I break down completely, and of course it's Edward that has to witness it. He's not mine anymore, yet he still treats me as his. He cares for me. He loves me. And I can't really give him anything in return, especially now.

"It'll be okay, Bella," Edward whispers, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "Everything will be okay."

But I don't think it will.

~OoO~

Edward walks me back inside and tells my dad that he's going to drop me off back at home. I have my car there with all my shit, but even I know I'm not fit to drive. Later I'll go get it. I see Jasper looking completely remorseful, but right now I can't even look at him. He betrayed my trust my blurting out my secret to Riley. While I was pissed at him to hear him mumble to Edward that I was once married to Edward, it was a whole other ball park when he admitted I was still sort-of married to Edward. Papers signed, be damned. Until it's filed officially, Edward and I are still married.

Jasper Whitlock better come up with some real fancy way to win back my trust.

"You get her home safe, Edward. You hear?" my dad tells Edward. Edward just nods and takes me by my hand and out the door we go.

I'm helped into his pickup truck and brought back to my parents' house. Right now, I wish we could go to our home. In a way, I don't want my mother to see me like this because then she'd break down. One woman being emotional is enough. But when there're two, it's too much for any man. And that's why my dad escaped to his office at the department or to Masen's for a beer and some pool when the two of us were on the rag or something else happened to cause my mother and I to cry.

I'm really just about to ask Edward to take me to the house we shared, but we're already at my childhood home. He helps me out of the car, and the two of us slowly walk to my front door. He opens it for me and we step inside. My mom is vacuuming but looks up and sees us, stopping the vacuum.

"What's wrong?" she asks when she sees my face. I can't even say the words; I just break down. She rushes to me and pulls me into her arms. My mom knows what happened without me even saying anything.

"I'll just leave you two," Edward says.

"Thank you, Edward, for bringing her home," my mom says.

"Yes … thanks, Edward."

"No problem. I'll stop by later, okay?"

I nod and he leaves. Why does he have to be so nice now?

My mom and I talk it out, and afterward she tells me that Riley is not the one if he can't find it in his heart to forgive me. Everything is in the past. While maybe I should have come down here a long time ago to make Edward sign the divorce papers—because then this mess would've been long taken care of—those papers are signed and Riley should have no grudge with me for keeping it from him. I chose him after all. I risked keeping it all from him because I love him and want to marry him.

It's late now and I offer to help my mother make dinner for the three of us when Dad comes in. He isn't smiling, but he isn't frowning or scowling either. It's just a straight face.

"Look who I found at the airport," he says.

Then Riley comes in, looking solemn.

"Riley? What are you doing here?" I ask.

"To … apologize, Bella. I was wrong blowing up at you like that and not giving you a chance to explain. Your father … well, he really laid into me."

"I threatened him, too, baby. Scared him because I was serious," my dad adds in with a smirk.

"Daddy!" I exclaim. "What did you threaten to do?"

"I won't tell."

"And I can't either," Riley chuckles.

I look away from Riley. He comes closer to me and then says, "Look, Bella … I don't care about what happened in your past. Who doesn't have a past? It's yours and it's behind you. You did what you did to protect me and because you love me. I see it now. So, Bella … will you forgive me? And if you'll still have me, I'd really love to marry you."

"Of course, Riley," I reply, smiling. I walk into his awaiting arms and we hug. He also kisses me gently on my mouth.

"Let me officially introduce you to my parents. Riley, this is my mother, Renee Swan. She's the kindest, craziest woman you'll ever meet. Nothing's ever dull with her around and I love her for it. And you've met my father, Charlie. Don't let him scare ya. His threats are all talk. But he's really an amazing father. He supports me in everything and helps me out when I need him most.

"And this is the house I grew up in. It isn't much, but it's home."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both finally," my fiancé says. "Now … I'd really love to hash out some details with all of you about our wedding. Chief Swan, you know what's going on, but Mrs. Swan, I don't think you want to be kept in the dark."

"Oh, none of that Chief-Swan-Mrs.-Swan-shit," my mom says with a huff. "It's Renee and Charlie, Riley. And yes, I want to know what's going on!"

We all laugh at her slight hysterics and then we go on to talk about what transpired hours before. Riley tells her about his upcoming business trip that's taking him out of the country for months on end and how he is unsure when he'd be back, bringing up pushing the wedding back a bit—leading me to once again exclaim that eight months is too long!

We finally bring up my suggestion of having the wedding in two months. My mom is a little shocked at my suggestion, but she doesn't bring up how this has happened before when Edward and I sat down at his parents' home when we were eighteen asking to get married as soon as possible after we graduated high school. It was actually less than six months after graduation that we got hitched and moved into the home that only Edward currently resides in, but we had wanted to get married less than two months later. So it is a shock to my mother to hear that I want to get married within two months of my engagement.

She also replies with, "I don't know, Bella. Isn't that kind of soon? Don't you want to take your time planning it?"

"Mom, you know what I want. We discussed it this morning."

"Yes, that's true, but things will fall into place better if you take the time to put all the effort into it."

I turn to Riley and again suggest some things. "Look, I don't want a big wedding, and especially not one at the Plaza. I may look like I'm one who likes things fancy, but I'm not extravagant. I still kick myself over and over again when I buy a pair of Louboutins 'cause those are extremely expensive. I'm realistic and I'm a simple girl at heart. I don't want big. I want it small and intimate and just our loved ones, as you know."

"So what do you want, Bella?" Riley inquires.

Then a light bulb goes off in my head. "How about we get married here? We're away from the city life and all those people who don't matter to us and those who want to get in our business. Your family's influential in New York, so obviously there are people flashing your face in the paper. I don't want my wedding to be one that's on the front page of the Times, nor do I need it to be criticized. We can lead people on to believe we're having a New York wedding when in reality we don't. We have it here in the small church in town, and there's a decently sized reception hall close by. We just invite the people we want and keep it simple and intimate. No extravagance. No paparazzi. No business talks. Just us getting married and celebrating it with our close family and friends."

Riley smiles. "You know … I think it's perfect, Bella. My mother won't be happy, but who cares what she thinks? What you said a while ago is true. It's our wedding; not hers. And I sure do want to see her get upset."

"Then it's official. We're going to have to inquire about a lot of things if you're going to get married in such short a time," my mom throws in with a grin.

"Don't worry. It won't be much when I get Alice and Rose to help." I turn to Riley. "I want you to meet all my friends. You're gonna see them a lot once we're married. I'm not separating myself from them like I did before. So it's only right you get to know them some."

"I'd love that." He kisses me and then says he's going to go call his mother. I let him use my room, and I can see him sitting on my bed holding his iPhone ten inches away from his ear because his mother's shrill screams coming from it. I grin because I'm happy to see that I've brought him over to the dark side in pissing off his mother.

"You know … I don't think I'm ever gonna like your mother-in-law if she's like that," my mother admits softly as we finish making dinner, glad to know we have enough for Riley. So what if it means my dad doesn't have leftovers for lunch? His baby girl is getting married … again.

"Don't worry. I don't even care if you don't see them," I whisper to my mom. "If it weren't for Riley, I wouldn't put up with her, but I don't expect you and Daddy to, too."

"So tomorrow we gotta start planning, honey."

"I can't wait. Maybe you, me and the girls should meet up for lunch tomorrow and talk it all over. I gotta return to New York in a bit because I need to look for my wedding dress. If there's one thing I want from New York, it's a Vera Wang dress, and I'm going to get it on Madison Avenue. You want to fly up with me to help?"

"Of course! Shopping on Madison Avenue! I can't wait!"

Okay ... so they're back together :( But I promise it is an BxE story. They will get their HEA! If you've seen Sweet Home Alabama, then you know how this story is gonna turn out.