AN: Super long author's note at the end. To recap, Edward's grandfather passed away. Bella is not pregnant. Edward's mother is a shrew at times. Still Jewish and I still don't own this, but own the Jewishness of these characters. Huge thanks to wheather79 and arfalcon for beta-ing and pre-reading!
Chapter 14 – Welcome back, Cullenman.
BPOV
I had all but given up hope on Edward ever proposing. After Alice and Jasper's elaborate wedding to end all other weddings, I figured he would pop the question, but then he didn't. Then Rosalie and Emmett, in an effort to not repeat the shenanigans of Alice's wedding, eloped. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but it just hadn't.
Irv's death hit Edward hard – much harder than either of us could have expected. We ended up in a funk. Life kept getting in the way and I knew I didn't need a ring to tell me that he was my forever. We were just going through one of the many ups and downs that couples often went through. Unlike when we were younger, we weathered through it. It took a lot of convincing, but Edward finally sought help for his depression. The anti-depressants took a few weeks to kick-in, but they definitely made a difference. Well, they did until he felt he was good enough to go without them and then he sunk into a deeper depression than before.
It was ugly. I had to threaten to leave him in order for him to go back to the doctor and get back on his medication. Only when my suitcase was out and packed did he finally relent.
Oy vey – Alice being a bridezilla didn't help. Her wedding, and I say her wedding because Jasper was merely a gimp in tuxedo, was overdone past the point of being tasteful. Alice had decided she wanted a traditional Long Island Jewish wedding, despite growing up in Washington state.. The ceremony was pretty standard, but the reception – Oy! They had a smorgasbord cocktail hour, with passed hors d'oeuvres, a sushi station, pasta station, carving station, brick oven pizza station, Peking duck pancakes, vodka and caviar bar, and probably more, but that was all I could eat. Alice and Jasper made their entrance by being lifted up onto the dance floor from a hidden room under the reception hall. They came out of the floor surrounded by smoke from dry ice and then launched into their perfectly choreographed first dance. Of course, I still laugh when I think about Jasper mouthing, "one, two, three…" as he kept time with the music. Though, given the hot pink dresses Alice had us wearing, I try not to think back on that night too often. Well, except for dessert. The waiters kept coming out with more and more food, until finally they carried out candy bars in a kitchen sink. The fried Oreos were quite divine.
It was ridiculous. The whole thing was insane and we were pretty burned out from it. I had finished my MBA and started working for the March of Dimes. Edward was always knee-deep into work. So when Rosalie and Emmett surprised everyone with iPhone photos taken at the courthouse, it was more of a relief than anything.
Sure, I wanted Edward to propose and I wanted to get married, but I didn't want the elaborate celebration Alice and Jasper had and I didn't want the blink-of-an-eye ceremony Rosalie and Emmett had either. For Edward to propose, the two of us would actually need to spend some time together, which had not happened in quite a while.
And then my phone rang in the middle of the day.
Looking down at the caller id, I knew the number, though we rarely spoke on the phone anymore –texted – yes, talked – no.
"Edward, is everything okay?" I said, worried at first by the unexpected call.
"I was sitting here and realized that you and I have not had a quiet dinner with just the two of us in quite some time. It seems we're always going out to celebrate someone's birthday or going away party, but it's never just us. It looks like my current case is going to settle, so we should go out tonight. I don't think I have really enjoyed a good summer night of al fresco dining in the city all summer."
"Okay…" While it was not unheard of for Edward to take initiative like this, lately it had been quite infrequent.
EPOV
The whens had gotten in the way. When this is done, I'll propose, became a constant theme running through my head. Life just kept coming. It wasn't without constant harassment from my mother. She reminded me almost daily about her lack of grandchildren, but it had never seemed like the right time to propose. If I was to be honest with myself, after my last proposal attempt had led to our breakup and the darkest period in my life, I was a little gun shy to pull the trigger this time. I knew she'd say yes, but there was still a lot of anxiety.
When I woke up this morning and spied that small box sitting in my drawer, I knew I needed to shit or get off the pot. I was about to settle one of the biggest cases of my law career thus far and I knew that I would have some down-time before the next big case would land on my desk. The sun was shining on my way to work. There was practically no humidity, which is pretty unheard of for Manhattan in the summer. It was a glorious day.
As I hung up the phone with her and tried to calm my jimmy-leg, I realized she probably had no clue it was coming. Despite my best efforts, my leg continued to bounce throughout my entire day as I awaited this evening.
She of course beat me home and was wearing a flowing long dress. Maxi dress or something I think they're called.
"Let me just change out of my suit and then we'll go," I called as I put my laptop bag down and headed into our bedroom.
Bella's scent was everywhere and her presence was apparent. Our apartment was truly ours, especially because she tended to be a bit messy and had left some dirty clothes on the floor. I picked them up and threw them in the hamper. I swear sometimes she's like a thirteen year old.
Once I was in a pair of grey slacks and a casual button down, I grabbed the box.
I didn't take her anywhere special, just our regular neighborhood Italian bistro with an outdoor seating area in the back. Bella kept talking about her day and about some new research.
"I heard from Alice today," Bella started to say.
"How are they doing down in Atlanta?"
"She hates it and wants to move back to the city."
"Wasn't it her idea to move? It seems like Alice will always be that girl who always wants what the person next to them ordered."
"Ugh, don't get me started. Rosalie quit her job," Bella informed me, taking a bite of the last toasted ravioli.
"What? She loved working for Ferrari."
"You don't know this yet, but she's pregnant. Doesn't want to work anymore. She is going to do these parties and sell purses or jewelry or something. I don't know. She says a lot of the new moms do that in the burbs."
"Well, I guess it beats trying to raise a kid in the city," I replied, but then regretted mentioning kids. We had been super careful since our one and only ever pregnancy scare, but Bella wanted a family.
Shit or get off the pot.
"Fuck this!" I cried. "Bella, I have been carrying this ring for far too long. It should be us in the suburbs planning for our first child. It should have been us exhausted from an ungapatchka wedding. I don't want to let work, family, and the craziness of our friends keep us from living our lives…" I stood up from my chair and dropped to one knee, looking up at her bright face.
"Isabella Miriam Swanstein, I have loved you for almost half of my life, maybe longer. You know me better than I know myself. You are my soul mate. We are beshert. I have lived life with you and I have lived life without you and my life is richer and so much better when you are in it. Will you please do me the pleasure of being my wife?"
BPOV
Fuck. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Hola.
I couldn't stop laughing. It was nervous laughter, but I couldn't stop myself.
It took me several tries to collect myself. "Yes, of course I will marry you." I was finally able to get out with a sigh of relief.
"So glad you said yes this time…"
"Oh, shut up. Of course I am going to say yes, you asshole. So, do you want to call Esme or should I?"
"I'll handle my parents if you handle yours, just make it clear to your father that you are not pregnant," he replied.
"You know they are going to want to all have a hand in planning our wedding. Wow, not to be a total girl, but that sounds awesome–our wedding."
"Let's call them later and enjoy tonight just for us."
"Edward, this wasn't how I thought you would propose. You're usually all for grand gestures, why such a casual thing?"
"I had originally, and this was eons ago, planned to take you back to that piano bar and serenade you with 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry' by Chicago. The words have always reminded me of us. It just never came together."
"This was perfect. That would have been ridiculously sappy and embarrassing for both of us. Even worse if you had put it on YouTube or something. This was so effortless, it's actually good." I said, looking down and taking a longer glance at the ring that now adorned my finger.
"You can stare at it. We don't have to talk."
"It's perfect. You are perfect…"
"Swanstein, just stare at it."
And I did.
AN: ungapatchka: a Yiddish word that describes the overly ornate, busy, ridiculously over-decorated, and garnished to the point of distaste.
Yes, I am updating after over a year. I never gave up on these two, but I lost my mojo during pregnancy. My daughter was born early and with several complications and was in the NICU for over a month. She is the sweetest thing in the world, but we struggle to get her to eat and fight for ever milliliter we put in her. I hope to have this wrapped up in another chapter or two. I am not going to write kids into the story for these two. Despite what happens in a lot of fics out there, babies are not sexy and can strain even the best of relationships, but I guess that is why it is fiction. More to come. Not a lot of Jewish stuff in this chapter, besides a few Oy veys. Next chapter will be like a how-to on Jewish weddings.
Oh, and Alice's Long Island Jewish wedding is taken from my real experiences at real weddings on Long Island. Usually, you eat during the cocktail hour and no one ever eats the meal that is served.