And here's the Epilogue.
"Bele!" his voice called upstairs. "C'mon, darlin', we're going to be late."
"I'ma comin'," I called down to him brushing off my dress and rising from my dressing table in our room. I hurried across the landing to the top of the stairs to see Jasper leaning on the bottom post his attention now on our 4 year old daughter who had inherited his wavy golden blond hair that she was having him clip out the way. Our younger son hovered at his side, brown eyes glancing around the room impatiently - I think he's been far too much time with it because neither Jasper or I were that impatient.
"Wow, Mama, you look so pweety," my daughter noticed me at the top of the stairs - she had yet to get her 'r's right. "Doesn't she, Daddy?"
I laughed as she prompted Jasper to turn and compliment me, starting to make my way down the stairs. He turned round slowly and smiled up at me, that twinkle of mischief in his brown eyes that I loved shining brighter than normal.
"You look the same," he said with a straight face and I rose one eyebrow at him, now only a step off the ground. I saw our daughter throw out the corner of my eyes at her father's response. Jasper's face broke into a smile, "which is to say, beautiful."
I felt my blush coat my cheeks thickly and Jasper chuckled, placing one foot on the bottom step to lean and kiss my cheek. He loved that he could still make me blush bright crimson. Savannah, our daughter (Jasper and I hadn't gone with the traditional naming instead naming her Savannah Renesmee Whitlock), giggled at the same time, the high sound contrasting with her father's deep chuckles, my son however didn't find it so amusing, probably because I'd passed the impossible-to-hide blush along to him.
"Thank you," I gave him a soft smile, trying to ignore the feeling in my stomach that was still there even after being married five years and I often wondered if it would ever leave but always quickly came to the conclusion that I hoped not and I highly doubted it would, not with Jasper. My love for him and my reactions to him hadn't faded one bit since the day we met at my debutante.
"C'mon, let's go," Jasper offered me his hand. "Mama's goin' to be furious: we're goin' to be late."
Esme was being her usual family-oriented-self and was insisting the whole family came for dinner meaning Jasper, me and our children along with Rosalie and her two Emmetts were all going to the farm tonight to eat. Honestly Jasper and I lived the closest since we still actually lived on the farm, far enough away from his parents for privacy but close enough that Jasper could still help Carlisle who was starting to age now on the farm every day. Esme loved having them so close especially the kids and I quite liked it as well being so close to Esme and Carlisle who had always been like second parents to me.
Mary-Alice still lived in the centre of the city with Mama and Daddy but she was moving out as soon as she and Edward got married - they were engaged for the moment. Edward had been quite surprised to find out her feelings for him. She was 17 when he returned and quite different from the 15 year-old she had been when he left. He had walked into the house a few hours after Jasper had returned with his parents to join the growing number of people in the house - Jasper hadn't been to see his parents before coming to mine so they had been quickly sent for - and Mary-Alice had literally flown at him and placed a kiss on his lips. He had frozen in surprise but Jasper kicked him in the back of the leg - a friendly response that made me wonder back then if they had gotten to know each other while at war - but instead of kissing her like I had inwardly hoped he'd do, he lead her out of the house. To this day, I have no idea where they went but Mary-Alice came back smiling and her lips were very clearly swollen from being kissed, not to mention her ears turned red as soon as I rose an eyebrow at her just like Daddy's did when he was embarrassed.
I had spent most of that evening curled in Jasper's embrace on the sofa and was not willing to let him out of my slight in case he disappeared and was just an illusion or a dream. It took me a long time to get past that and sometimes I still wake up at night thinking his return was just a dream and that he was still gone or, worse, dead. Now, I could look over though and see him sleeping peacefully beside me, an arm usually slung over my waist, his curls array and his face more relaxed than you would ever see when he was awake. I usually kiss him softly and then snuggled back down into bed, though closer than I had been before just so I could feel his body and know he was there - generally his arms tighten to keep me there and the terrified feeling soon leaves as I drift off to sleep.
Back then I couldn't do that though but the first night he returned, he and his parents stayed here. I didn't know that until the morning when I woke up on the sofa next to him after the best night's sleep I had had in three years.
I think Jasper still wakes up in the middle of the night as well though I lot less rarely than I do because on occasion I'll wake up to the pressure of his hands caressing my face or a soft kiss pressed to my lips or forehead.
Jasper had wasted no time asking Daddy for my hand in marriage and Daddy apparently hadn't even paused in agreeing to it. So we were married so quickly. We were married before I even turned 20 in the September of the year he returned though not by much. I was only a week away from being 20 but we were so tired of being apart from each other that we wanted to be married as quickly as possible.
"Bele," Jasper clicked his fingers in front of my face, "shall we go?"
"Yeah," I beamed at him, slipping my hand into his loving the way the skin tingled at his touch.
We slowly made our way out the door and allowed the kids to run ahead of us through the fields, Savannah's long her waving behind as she run and their laughter echoing around, as we walked hand and hand through the dusk light towards his parents' house.
