Hi everyone! I got home just in time to post this! Yay!
Wow, such passionate responses to the last chapter! Thank you so much for reviewing and sending me messages. I hope that the second half of the epilogue will answer some questions and assuage some people, and tie up (nearly) all the loose ends. I'm marking the story as complete tonight, but there will be a future-take, and I'll publish that at some point between now and Sunday, depending on my crazy work-schedule.
This chapter is longer than my usual chapters as a lot happens! I hope that doesn't bug too many people, but I couldn't decide on a good point at which to split it.
As ever, please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: The Twilight series and its original characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I'm just borrowing them for a while, making them British and making them do naughty things! This plot belongs to me, British-isms and all.
-cc-
Just One Night
Chapter 21
Epilogue- Part 2
That evening, after Alice had given them their bath, Leo and Ned asked for Jasper to tell them a bedtime story. He told them exciting stories adapted from his favourite Western and war movies, complete with voices and arm movements. The boys loved them. Meanwhile Bella was on the phone, asking Carlisle and Esme to come up to the cottage a day early, and Rosalie, Emmett, Charlotte and Peter to take a detour to the cottage instead of going to Manchester straight from London. She and Edward had talked to Alice and Jasper at length about telling the rest of the Cullens. In the end they decided that it would be best to tell them all at the same time, as soon as possible, in a Cullen Family Conference.
Alice found Edward in the garden, bundled up in his coat, cradling a brandy glass in his large gloved hands. She wrapped a thick tartan blanket around her shoulders and went to talk to him.
"Dad." He turned round and patted the spot next to him on the bench overlooking the pond.
"Hey princess."
"So I'm still your princess?" She asked in a small voice. Edward draped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side.
"You will always be my princess, but now, you're also Jasper's queen." He replied, a little sadly.
"I'm so sorry, Dad. We really thought this was the best way. That if you saw that we were 100% committed to each other, it would it easier for you to accept our relationship."
"I understand your logic, Alice, but I'm just so... right now, I feel like I've lost something. I feel this grief inside me."
"Grief?" Alice's eyes watered both at the bitter cold and at the depth the word conveyed.
"You're not my little girl anymore. And I feel like I've lost out on this last part of your growing up. The part where I watched you start dating, and warned your boyfriend to watch out for your curfew or where he put his hands if he wanted to hold onto his balls. I'll never get to do that. And then there's the bit where I hear you gush about your fiancé and get to meet him and then get to walk you down the aisle. I'll never get to do that either." Edward glugged a bit more of his brandy.
"Oh Dad..." Alice cried. "I never thought about it like that! We were only planning for the possibility that you would want nothing to do with us!"
"See, that's something else that really gets to me. What did I do for you to have so little faith in me? When have you not been able to come to me, talk through your problems? I've always liked to think that you and I had this amazingly strong bond, that you would tell me anything. But I guess was wrong."
"We are that strong Dad. My love for Jasper, is just..."
"...stronger." Edward finished. "You couldn't help but fall in love even though you knew you weren't supposed to. You couldn't help it. It was bigger than you and he."
"Yes! Dad, that's exactly it!" Alice exclaimed. Edward turned and looked at her, and waited for the penny to drop, and after a moment, it did. "Oh my God, of course you'd have understood. That's what it was like for you and Mama B!"
"Yes, exactly. All you had to do was talk to me, princess. You didn't need to be deceitful. I'll admit, I wouldn't have been happy about my teenage daughter and my teenage cousin falling for each other but I would have... I would have..." Edward paused a moment. "OK, I actually have no idea exactly what I would have done. All I know is that I would have supported you and Jasper to do things the right way."
Alice, overwhelmed by the realisation that she had completely underestimated Edward's love for her and how upset he was at not being able to complete his last rites of passage as her father, burst into tears.
"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, Dad! D-d-do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me?"
"You already are forgiven, my princess. Just make sure that I'm the first person you tell when you make Principal Dancer, and when you buy a house, and when you become pregnant, and when you get your first grey hair and..."
"I promise, Dad. From now on, you'll always be the first to know."
-cc-
When the rest of the Cullen family arrived in convoy the next lunchtime, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary at first. Edward was at the bottom of the garden playing football with Leo and Ned. Emmett and Pete immediately went to join in with the game. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Charlotte walked into the kitchen to see Bella making a big pot of winter vegetable soup and baking homemade bread. It was only when they hugged Bella did they see some strain on her face.
"Bella, are you all right? What's going on?" Esme asked.
"Thank you for coming up early. Let's have lunch and get the kids settled, and then we need to have a talk, all of us." Bella glanced over to the other side of the kitchen where Alice and Jasper were walking in. Like Bella they seemed apprehensive, nervous.
"Gruncle 'Lisle! Grauntie Smay!" Ned ran in, keen to see them. "I gots a goal!"
"Did you? Well done!" Carlisle picked the little boy up.
"And I founds Pooh!"
"Oh, where was he?" Esme asked. Ned reached for her and she took him from Carlisle.
"In Lissy's room. But she didn'ts find him 'cause she ands Japsta was sleeping. I founds him all by myself."
"Well, aren't you clever?" Everyone apart from Bella looked at Alice and Jasper confused. The pair said nothing, but looked embarrassed. Suddenly the air in the room grew tense. Jasper and Alice were usually smiley and happy.
"As I said, we need to talk later." Bella said.
The nervous, tight atmosphere amongst the adults continued during lunch. Conversation mainly centred on Christmas activities, like finding a tree and decorating it, and going to Christmas carols services. After the meal, Bella got the boys settled watching Toy Story, knowing that after a morning of playing football followed by soup for lunch, they would be asleep soon. Rosalie and Charlotte laid their sets of twins down in their cots in one of the spare rooms and turned the baby monitor on.
By the time they returned, Edward had made the tea and everyone was waiting to start the talking.
"OK, now that Bella's back, will you all please tell us what's going on?" Carlisle asked.
"Alice, Jasper?" Edward gestured towards them. Alice's bottom lip was already trembling.
"Forever, no matter what." Jasper whispered into her ear before clasping her hand. "Everyone. Alice and I have some news." He lifted their joined hands onto the table. There was a gasp as everyone spotted the wedding rings.
"Jasper and I got married the day before yesterday at Gretna Green. We're in love. We've been involved for several years."
"What? Are you joking?!" Rosalie exclaimed.
"Really? This isn't just a pre-Christmas prank?" Emmett echoed.
"No. We're serious. We're really sorry for deceiving you, but we wanted to show you that this isn't just a passing fancy for us. We want a life together." Jasper said.
"When did you both find out?" Esme asked, looking at Bella and Edward.
"Yesterday. We were as taken aback as you seem to be." Bella replied.
"I don't understand. You two have grown up almost like siblings. When did that... how did that change?" Charlotte asked.
"It happened slowly over the course of a year. Then the summer before Edward's divorce, we found out that our feelings were mutual. We tried to resist for ages, but our connection was too strong, and we couldn't deny any longer that we fit together perfectly." Jasper replied.
"We do! We really do. I love everything about him, and I know he feels the same way! There's literally nobody out there more perfect for him than me and vice versa. We couldn't not be together." Alice echoed.
"What about when you want children?" Rosalie asked quietly, gripping Emmett's hand under the table. "The risk of birth defects, they're higher when the mum and dad are related, right?" She glanced at Carlisle, whose face remained neutral.
"We've thought about that, and we're going to contact a genetic counsellor when we're ready, but we don't think that we'll be having them until we're around thirty-two." Jasper explained.
"Yes, because we think that will be the point where Jasper will finish his training to be a fully qualified psychiatrist, and I think that will be the time that I'll be either thinking of retiring from the stage to teach or that I'll be well-known enough as a dancer to have a year off without it affecting my career." Alice continued.
"If it turns out that we're not able to or that we shouldn't have children naturally, we're going to adopt." Jasper added.
"And you're still going to live in Rosalie's maisonette?" Esme asked.
"If you're not happy for us to stay, Rosie, then we're going to rent somewhere else together until we can both access our trust fund monies at twenty-one, and then we'll buy somewhere. We've been saving as much as possible for the past year, just in case. I also took out a student loan and put it in a high-interest savings account."
"Seems like you've really thought things through." Carlisle commented.
"We have. We're not just playing house. We really do want a life together. Our relationship is so precious that we're prepared to go it alone, but we don't want that. We don't want things to change, other than that you accept that we're together, forever."
"What if things start to go wrong? If you two split up...?" Carlisle pressed. "The stakes are huge. It could cause a huge divide in our family."
"We won't, Dad. We've been through the most difficult times and we've done it whilst keeping the relationship hidden. Each time our relationship has come out stronger. Getting married was the natural progression to affirm our love and promise each other a life together, forever."
Silence descended as everyone thought about Jasper's last statement. Finally, Bella could no longer contain the words on her heart.
"This family is incredibly special. You are the only people I've ever met apart from my dad and Sue who have such a capacity for love and goodness. I know it's going to take some getting used to, but I think that in time, there will come a point when we will think of you as husband and wife first, and cousins second."
"Thank you Mama B." Alice kissed her on the cheek. "I hope so."
"I mean it. It could have been easy for you all to see me as this home-wrecking slut who slept with her sister's husband, got knocked up and got her claws into Edward. Instead you saw how hopelessly we fell in love, and accepted me for the person I am. Seriously, Cullens rule."
"Oh, my love." Edward, who was sat next to Bella on the other side to Alice, tilted her face towards him and brushed away a runaway tear. "I honestly don't know how I lived without you."
"Edward, that's how I feel about you too. I love you. I love all of you Cullens, and..." she took a deep breath. "...I'm ready to be one."
"Bella, are you saying what I think you're saying?" He asked, hope soaring in his heart.
"My timing sucks. I mean, here we are sorting out how we feel about Alice and Jasper being married, but I mean it. I was going to ask you this tomorrow, but...please, Edward, marry me? Let me be your wife? Make me a Cullen?"
"Yes! YES! But only if you're sure! I'm happy enough with things as they are, if you're still not 100% about it."
"I'm sure. I want to be your wife, and I want us to be far more than 'happy enough. I've been a complete idiot, putting up barriers to marrying you and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Maybe I don't feel like I deserve you and this wonderful life you've given me. But Jasper's right. I love you and want to show the world I'm only yours. Forever."
"Oh, angel..."
Edward ran both his hands into her hair and she slid onto his lap before he kissed her deeply.
They only separated when Emmett and Pete yelled, in chorus,
"GET A ROOM!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Bella apologised.
Wow, what an afternoon!" Esme exclaimed. "Carlisle and I thought this Christmas was going to be a quiet one. Yet, it's not even Christmas Day and we've found out that Alice and Jasper are married, that Bella's finally ready to marry Edward and what else? Oh, Pooh Bear has turned up!"
Everyone laughed.
"Jasper, Alice, whilst we wish that you'd told us about your feelings earlier, we respect your decisions. You've obviously thought things through. I'm not saying that it's going to be easy, because it won't be. Not everyone's going to be understanding, but we will stand by you and help you with any obstacles, in any way that we can." Carlisle stated. "Jasper, I love you son. You too, Alice. All we want is for you to be happy, and if you're happiest together, then so be it."
"I agree, kids." Esme said. "I just wish you had trusted that we wouldn't abandon you or cast you aside. I would have loved to have seen you get married."
"Mum, I'm sorry." Jasper said, hanging his head.
"You should be, you stupid-head!" Rosalie erupted. "The pair of you act like you're the only two people in the world that fell in love with someone off-limits, except that you have to take it that one step further and go and fucking get hitched! Without us!"
"Rosie, calm down, babe." Emmett caressed the back of her neck.
"Seriously, if we could accept Edward hooking up with Jessicow's cooler, prettier sister when he was still technically married, you should have realised that we would probably be OK with you two." Charlotte piped up.
"You're OK with us two?" Alice asked back.
"Puh-lease! What was it that Aunt Lizzie used to say? 'Jasper and my Alice are so cute! Like two peas in a pod!'" Charlotte mimicked Elizabeth's sweet, high voice perfectly. "I remember Jasper giving you his ice cream when he was three, because you dropped yours on the floor. And I remember when Jasper fell off the climbing frame age six, you ran over, hugged him and kissed him better. Aunt Lizzie was right."
"Yeah, she was." Rosalie said too, feeling calmer after her outburst. She leaned across the table and held out her hands to Alice and Jasper. "While you two have gone about this in a shitty way, believe me, we love you. Just don't fucking do it again. And don't even think about moving out of the maisonette. I'll never get tenants as obsessed with tidiness as you two."
"Done!"
-cc-
That night, after Rosalie and Emmett, and Charlotte and Peter had returned to Manchester, Carlisle and Esme double-checked that their door was shut, got into bed and finally talked about what was on their mind.
"What a day! I did not see it coming!"
"Not at all." Esme replied.
"Why do I get the feeling you're thinking about Elizabeth and Ed right now?"
"I am indeed."
"Should we tell Jasper and Alice one day, that they're possibly not blood relations?"
"I've been thinking about it all day. If we tell them, we'd have to tell Edward about the uncertainty of his parentage. Ed and Elizabeth were always adamant that they didn't want him to know."
"True. Ed was so thrilled that he and Elizabeth were back together and that she was pregnant that he didn't care that he might not be Edward's biological father. They were both adamant that he be raised as Ed's son."
"Yes, especially after that whole mess with Cynthia."
"Indeed. I think it's best to let sleeping dogs lie. What would it change, other than when Jasper and Alice plan to have children? There's no genetic disease on either the Cullen or Masen sides that I can think of, that would prevent them from having kids, right?"
"Right, my darling. I completely agree."
Flashback: Forty-two years earlier.
Ed Cullen nervously knocked on the door of the house in Little Venice he had, until a month earlier, shared with his wife Elizabeth. They had separated following several months of arguing, but Elizabeth had called him tearfully at the hospital, where he was staying in the doctors' rooms, saying that she wanted to talk.
They had been married for just a couple of months when things had started to go wrong. Elizabeth's parents, the Masens, who were becoming quite elderly, had become unable to care for her younger sister Cynthia and she had moved in with Ed and Elizabeth. Cynthia had been labelled 'backwards' by psychologists. She had epilepsy. She could read and write, but only to the level of a child of eight. She didn't seem to understand social situations in the same way as other people. She had a volatile temper, throwing tantrums like a toddler if she didn't get her way. As she grew older, she became prone to huge mood swings, elated for no reason one day and then so depressed she couldn't move the next.
Elizabeth was virtually the only person to whom Cynthia listened, but if she was at work in her research lab, Cynthia could cause chaos and nobody else could soothe her. Worse still, she detested Ed. She saw him as the person who had stolen her sister from the Masen family home. At first, when she was told that she would be living with Elizabeth, she was delighted because she thought that meant Ed was leaving. However when she realised that it meant that she would be living with both of them, the tantrum was epic.
Elizabeth had found herself torn between her husband and her little sister, who was twenty. The only thing that seemed to soothe Cynthia was being allowed to tinker with Ed's beloved grand piano, but she couldn't actually play and it distressed Ed greatly to hear Cynthia bash and bang at the keys of the beautiful instrument. Ed was a hugely talented pianist; he could have played professionally if he hadn't felt a calling to become a surgeon. Eventually they decided to hire a tutor for Cynthia in the form of Stefan Romanov, a Romanian pianist who taught in between gigs.
Cynthia adored Stefan; her piano playing and her behaviour soon improved. Ed and Elizabeth were delighted and they set about trying for a baby. However, after several months, Elizabeth was not pregnant and sex between them had started to become a chore. The stress started to show and they began bickering. Cynthia, meanwhile, had developed quite the crush on Stefan, who in turn had developed quite the crush on Elizabeth. He was spending more and more time at the Cullens' house, attempting to flirt with her, and Ed was consumed by jealousy.
By Carlisle and Esme's wedding, around fourteen months after their own, Ed and Elizabeth were barely speaking. Ed had gotten blindingly drunk during the reception and staggered around being obnoxious, flirting with the waitresses. Elizabeth had been mortified and they had an epic row the following day whilst Ed was hungover. Elizabeth ended up demanding that he move out. Ed tried to get her to change her mind, telling her that Stefan was poisoning her against him and that he was sorry, but Elizabeth felt so angry and humiliated that she didn't want to hear it. She had come to see Stefan as a confidant, and couldn't see that he was trying to seduce her.
Ed spent a miserable month living in the doctors' rooms at the hospital. Every day he called the house in Little Venice to try to speak to Elizabeth. Every day she or Cynthia put the phone down on him. He wrote letters. He didn't get a reply. So when his wife called, asking him to come to the house as soon as possible, he didn't hesitate. There were no words to describe how much he had missed her.
Elizabeth answered the door. She had lost weight and had clearly been crying.
"Hello."
"Hello, Ed." She beckoned him inside and into the music and reading room.
"No Cynthia?"
"She's visiting Mum and Dad with Siobhan." Elizabeth replied, referring to Cynthia's live-in care worker.
"Oh." Ed said, suddenly feeling nervous. "So, how have you been?"
"Terrible. I missed you."
"I missed you too, darling." He leant across and held her hand. "Please say that we can work things out."
"I want to, love. I really do. I love you so much, but it's not so simple. I know that Cynthia is difficult but she's my sister and I'm not going to kick her out or send her to an institution."
"And I don't want you to. I'm sorry I've not been as patient as I could have been. I guess I've been selfish, wanting you all to myself."
"It's understandable. I guess we both thought that we'd have more time just the two of us, but between Daddy's poorly heart and Mummy's arthritis, they just couldn't do it anymore. I don't want to be with anyone else but you. I want to have babies with you and grow old with you and live here with you. But I have a responsibility to Cynthia. I have to look after her until the point where I'm no longer capable."
"And I'm willing to try harder. I'll do anything. Whatever it takes for us to be happy together."
"I want that too."
"Elizabeth..." Ed scooted closer and pulled her into his arms. He brushed her dark auburn wavy hair from her face and kissed her lips softly. His wife melted into the kiss but then suddenly pulled away. "Lizzie?"
"Before we reconcile, there's something I need to tell you. It may change your decision about getting back together."
"Nothing can keep me away from you."
"You say that, but..." She started crying softly.
"Lizzie, please... what is it?"
"The night before last, Stefan was here giving Cynthia a late lesson. He ended up staying for dinner, and after Cynthia went to bed, we stayed up, finishing a bottle of wine." Elizabeth told him, wiping her wet cheeks.
"Lizzie... no..."
"I'm so sorry Ed! One bottle turned into three, and the next thing I knew I was waking up next to him wearing not very much!"
"You slept with Stefan?!"
"I didn't mean for it to happen! I don't have any feelings for him at all! He totally took advantage of me when I was upset. I was crying on his shoulder because I was missing you so much and somehow, he managed to turn it around, get me drunk and get me into bed."
"I knew that dick wanted you!"
"You were right. And I totally didn't see it! When I asked him to leave he was really unpleasant, really creepy." Elizabeth shuddered. "Needless to say I've fired him. I dread to think how Cynthia's going to take the news." She looked at Ed with her glistening big green eyes. "Please, Ed. I don't want anyone but you. I love you so much. Do you think you can forgive me?"
Ed answered her with a kiss.
"If you can forgive me, I can forgive you. I love you and I'm sorry, my darling."
"I'm sorry! I love you so much!" Elizabeth launched herself back at him and covered his face with kisses. Within minutes they were continuing their reconciliation in the bedroom.
-cc-
Exactly nine months later, Ed and Elizabeth welcomed Edward Anthony Cullen into the world. He looked nothing like the blond, classically handsome Ed, but he didn't have any of Stefan Romanov's darker Eastern European features either. He looked very much like Elizabeth, but Ed thought that he actually looked more like Cynthia. It was a difficult birth and Edward was born by Caesarean section. The obstetrician told them afterwards that it was likely Edward would be an only child and that they should consider it a miracle that Elizabeth conceived at all.
Cynthia was devastated when Stefan never returned. Elizabeth tried to explain on several occasions, but all she could see was that Stefan was gone and Ed had come back. She was assuaged to some extent when Elizabeth hired a new piano teacher, Liam Macleod, an Irishman who was a music teacher rather than a performer. He had experience working with children who had learning problems. He managed to unlock her abilities, and helped Elizabeth and Ed to manage some of her problem behaviours. When baby Edward came along, Liam suggested ways in which they could help Cynthia adjust. His ideas worked, and Cynthia was utterly smitten with her new nephew.
It seemed that things were finally settling down in Ed and Elizabeth's lives when one day, when baby Edward was around three months old, there was a knock at their door. It was Stefan.
"I hear you have baby! It is mine! I must see!"
"He's not your baby! He's my son!" Ed yelled back. "And if you don't go away, we will call the police."
"I go nowhere until I see baby and Elizabeth."
Elizabeth stood at the top of the stairs cradling baby Edward in her arms.
"Stefan, please leave. He's not your child."
"Elizabeth, please! I love you! We can be happy!"
"Bloody hell, she doesn't want you! If she wanted you, she wouldn't have gotten rid of you! She wants me! She loves me and that's my boy!"
"Stefan, Ed's right. I never wanted you. If it wasn't for the three bottles of wine you gave me, I'd never have ended up in bed with you. It was a mistake, one I regret hugely. The only good thing to come out of it was that it made me realise how much I love Ed."
"No, no, no! You get brainwashed. You stay because of convention. Because you don't want to be divorcee. I can look after you. We can run away together and be happy! Elizabeth, I love you!"
"You're crazy! Please leave." Elizabeth reiterated. Baby Edward was upset by the noise and started fussing. She held him up and rocked him gently. "Before Cynthia realises you're here. I don't want you upsetting her."
Sadly it was too late. Cynthia had heard the heated exchange, when Stefan had declared his love for Elizabeth and suggested that the baby might be his.
She was devastated. For a year, Cynthia had harboured a fantasy starring Stefan as a knight in shining armour, who would see how well she could play the piano and come rescue her, in order to make her the princess of a castle. She had filled whole diaries full of writing about it. She had no idea that Stefan coveted Elizabeth, and suddenly he turned from a knight into a villain, yet another man who was trying to take Elizabeth away from her.
Upset and overwhelmed, she decided to run away. She packed a bag containing her favourite book, a picture version of The Wind in the Willows, a chocolate bar, her piano book and a jumper. She left a note in her childlike handwriting addressed to Ed and Elizabeth, saying that she was going back to her parents' house. Finally she snuck out of the back door into the rainy autumn night.
She never got to her parents' house.
The Masens and the Cullens searched high and low for Cynthia with the help of the police. They found her bag a week after she disappeared by the side of the River Thames at the Kew Bridge; the copy of The Wind in the Willows was missing. They trawled the water, but didn't find anything straight away. Two weeks after she went missing, her body was finally found a little way up the river at Putney by some rowers; the copy of The Wind in the Willows was tucked into her jacket. The police guessed that she had dropped it into the river by accident, gone after it and then drowned in the fast-flowing waters of the Thames.
Elizabeth was tormented by guilt. She got up and functioned only to look after Edward. If Cynthia was mentioned, she would shut down for a while. Ed's solution was to simply not talk about his sister-in-law, but he knew that Elizabeth needed to talk to someone and eventually got her to see a counsellor.
It helped. In time, although she would always hold some guilt, she managed to find some enjoyment in life, and eventually, thanks to the love of her family and her joy in being a mother to Edward, she was able to live again. But if she was reminded of Cynthia, grief and regret flooded her, so she and her beloved Ed avoided talking about her special baby sister and the events that led to her tragic demise.
End Flashback.
-cc-
The next morning, Carlisle and Esme came downstairs to the kitchen to find a very happy Edward and Bella, kissing, giggling and being a little handsy with each other as they stirred pancake batter; Elizabeth's engagement ring graced Bella's left ring finger.
"Well, you both look happy!" Bella blushed deeply at Carlisle's comment.
"Yes. We are!" Edward replied.
Jasper and Alice padded in a moment later, each carrying a pyjama-clad little boy.
"Boys, did you wake Jasper and Alice up?" Bella asked. "I told you not to!"
"Sorries, Ma! I wanteds to show Lissy ands Japsta my picture!" Ned said, waving around a piece of paper with crayon-scribble on it.
"And I wanted Jasper to play football with us! He didn't play yesterday!" Leo added.
"We didn't mind, honestly. We were up reading the newspaper." Jasper said.
"I'm glad you're all up, actually, because Bella and I have decided something." Edward gestured for everyone to sit down.
"What?" Alice asked.
"We can't wait to get married. So we're not going to."
"Sorry?"
"We decided that we didn't want to go back to London and organise a wedding. So we're going to follow your example and get married at Gretna Green tomorrow, and we'd like you all to come." Bella explained.
"Tomorrow?" As in, 24 hours from now?" Alice checked.
"Yes. We rang a couple of Gretna venues first thing this morning, and one has a slot free tomorrow afternoon at 2.30. We're going to get married then, have a slap-up champagne afternoon tea, come back to the cottage and get on with Christmas." Edward said.
"But what about your parents Bella? Charlie and Sue would love to be there too!" Esme asked.
"They're free and are coming over tomorrow. They think we're crazy but said that they wouldn't miss it."
"What about Rosie and Lottie?" Alice asked. "And your brother and sister?"
"Rosalie and Emmett, and Charlotte and Pete, are coming up from Manchester too, with Leah and Jake, Seth and Rebecca and Emily and Sam. They are all going to be there."
"What about a dress?" Alice pressed excitedly.
"Fancy a shopping trip to Kendal?"
-cc-
The next afternoon, Christmas Eve, Cullens and Clearwater Swans gathered in the small old coaching inn at Gretna Green where Alice and Jasper had married just three days earlier.
Bella had found a floor length dark blue gown with a matching jacket and a cream coloured cashmere wrap. Edward was wearing a dark grey suit with a cream shirt and dark blue tie. Alice, as matron of honour, was going to wear her wedding dress again, but this time added a dark blue ribbon around her waist and partnered it with a grey coat.
"You OK, Dad?" Alice had popped her head round the door of the small room where Edward was waiting with Carlisle who was acting as his best man.
"Yeah, how's Bella?"
"She's great. She's going to be ready in about fifteen minutes. Charlie wanted some time with her alone so I left them to it."
"And the boys?"
"They're sitting with 'Grauntie' 'Smay in the front row! The registrar is making funny faces at them, so they're entertained."
"Great. You look beautiful by the way, princess. New dress?"
Alice looked down at the ground sheepishly.
"Err, yeah."
"Alice, is this the dress you wore when you and Jasper got married?" Edward asked, correctly reading her facial expression. Alice looked up and brushed away a tear of guilt and regret before nodding. "It's stunning, princess."
"Thank you, Daddy."
Edward suddenly had an idea.
"Alice, I'd like you to just come with me a minute. Uncle Carlisle, I'll be back shortly."
"OK."
Fifteen minutes later, the doors to the ceremony room opened and Pachelbel's Canon in D started playing. Edward entered first, with Alice on his arm. When they got to the end, Edward gave Alice's hand to Jasper, who was standing next to his father. They moved to stand on the left. Edward stood on the right and then looked back to the doors of the room where Bella was starting to walk in. He could hardly breathe as they walked towards him. Just one day earlier he had been preparing himself to expect Bella to say no to his proposal for the umpteenth time; now here he was watching her walk towards him at their wedding.
Bella's heart was thrumming with excitement. She didn't see anybody else's face but Edward's as she made her way towards him on Charlie's arm. When Edward finally took her hand from his future father-in-law's, she trembled with anticipation and with the current of electricity that ran through her every time her skin touched his.
"Angel, I didn't tell you before but you look... breathtaking!"
"Right back at you, baby!"
"Yous ready?" The registrar asked.
"Yes sir." Edward replied. "Bella?"
"I'm ready." She turned to Edward. "Sorry I made you wait."
"Six joyous years, three happy children... what an amazing way to wait." He murmured.
They beamed at each other and resisted the urge to kiss, before turning back to the registrar.
"We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Edward to Bella, and the reaffirmation of vows between Jasper and Alice..."
-cc-
Edward and Bella decided to have a proper month-long honeymoon at Easter, to Australia, after Bella's work at Volturi Industries was over for the year and the financial year had drawn to a close. Edward had never been, and wanted to change the association he held between the country and his parents' death by making new, happy memories of the place. They planned to take Leo and Ned with them, as they could not bear to be apart from their sons for any longer than a night or two. They offered to take Alice and Jasper too, but Jasper would be in the midst of midterm exams at medical school, and Alice would be in training for the Royal Ballet's late spring run of Giselle, and she was determined to get a solo. Instead, they planned to go to Paris and Brussels in the New Year for a week before Alice's return to training.
However, Carlisle and Esme were determined that Edward and Bella should have some time alone after getting married and so booked them into an exclusive 5* hotel nearby for a night's mini-moon between Christmas and New Year, whilst offering themselves up for babysitting duty. They would not take no for an answer, so four days after their wedding, Bella and Edward found themselves checking into their luxury suite.
"Wow, it's gorgeous!" Bella exclaimed as they entered the suite. She made her way to the floor-to-ceiling window, which overlooked a deer park and ancient forest. "Look, there's deer!" Edward didn't answer. He merely took in his wife's lithe, curvaceous form from his position just inside the suite. Bella turned round and her breath caught in her throat as she took in the predatory look in her husband's eye. Wow. He's looking at me like I'm prey. Like I'm one of those deer and he's the hunter.
"Bella, my darling wife, the deer are lovely, but you are lovelier."
"I am?"
"You are. At least I think you are, Mrs Cullen. It's hard to tell when you're wearing so many clothes."
"You think I should... lose the clothes?"
"I do."
"Right here?"
"Right here, right now, Isabella Cullen. Strip."
Bella kept her eyes focussed on her husband as she shed her coat, and slowly undid her pale grey angora ballet cardigan. Her white camisole swiftly came over her head and landed on the floor, revealing her breasts, encased in elegant silver satin.
"I think I need a little help, Mr Cullen. Do you think you could come over here?" Bella said coquettishly, sitting down in a nearby armchair and indicating her black knee-high boots. "Maybe help me with the zips?"
"Well, I guess it is my duty as your husband." Edward dumped his coat, walked over, as fast as the rock hard erection straining against his jeans would let him. He knelt in front of her and eased the boots off her long, coltish legs. Bella started to get impatient and began unbuttoning her denim skirt. She got the first three buttons undone before Edward's impatience took over and he yanked the skirt down her hips in one swift movement.
"Keen, baby?" She leaned forward, fisted his wild auburn hair in her hands and kissed him hard.
"Fucking hell, yes!" He encircled her waist with his arms and pulled her towards him, out of the chair. They fell backwards onto the thick pile rug behind them. Edward pulled off his shirt before rolling Bella onto her back and feasting on her neck. "Angel, you taste even more delicious now you're my wife!"
"God, Edward! You feel even better now you're my husband!" Bella cried as Edward removed her bra and cupped her large tits in his hands. "I need you baby! Now! Please!"
Edward picked up her left hand and pressed his lips to her wedding ring, a simple white gold band.
"Your wish is my command, my love. Forever."
It took no time at all for Edward to lose his jeans and boots, and for him to make sure Bella's silver satin thong was lost. He hovered above her and his hard cock stroked against her wet, slick heat.
"Forever, Edward. Always." She murmured, tilting her hips into his.
He brushed her hair away from her face. Her eyes fluttered closed with the rush of sensation his body heat against her skin and the feel of his fingers stroking the sides of her face. Edward kissed her closed eyelids, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, and finally, her lips. As his tongue probed deeper into her mouth, he slid up inside her welcoming body.
They continued to kiss and let their hands roam as they moved together. Their lovemaking was a well-practised dance after six years, and yet Bella and Edward always found some new way to find pleasure and excitement from each other's bodies, when they wanted to. However, sometimes, they simply wanted to be as one in each other's arms and truly feel.
Bella's legs curled up around Edward and she pressed her heels into his firm ass, driving him deeper inside her. He placed one hand on her pubis and tipped his finger just inside her slit in order to tease and tickle her clitoris. She cried out at the dual sensation of him inside her and his fingers at her nub. She squeezed her muscles around him and pressed her delicate hands into his back.
Edward groaned and sped up his thrusts. Bella moved with him, and covered his hand at her clit with her own, making him press harder and faster until the sharp sparks of arousal deep inside her burst into flames and her orgasm ripped through her. He soon followed with his own explosive release, filling her with his hot seed before falling into her waiting arms.
They lay together on the rug quietly for a while, watching the deer scamper and play in the distant forest. When the sun had set, they moved to the bathroom where they set up a candlelit bubble bath in the giant tub.
"Edward, I want to run an idea past you." Bella began, once they were settled in.
"What's that, angel?"
Bella took a deep breath.
"Another baby?" She turned round to face him. "It's just an idea. I'm perfectly happy with just our little boys, but I don't know... I had this dream last night, where we had baby girls as well as Leo and Ned. One looked just like you and one looked like me. It was amazing. They were as beautiful as Alice, and they made our lives complete."
Edward didn't hesitate.
"Yes! Definitely! Being a parent with you is the best thing in the world! I'd love to do it all over again!"
"Really?"
Edward nodded and beamed at his wife. Bella squealed and launched herself into his arms, extinguishing all but the most distant candles with the splash, plunging the bathroom into near-darkness.
"Oops!"
"Never mind! It's more atmospheric this way!" Edward replied before kissing her. "Were they twins in the dream? The baby girls?"
"I don't know. Wouldn't surprise me though, given the family history."
"What, because of Rosalie and Charlotte? I think twins are inherited from the mother, my love."
"No, because of Mum and Jessica." Bella replied, confused. "Did you not know?"
"Know what?"
"My mother was a twin. She had a twin sister called Jane, who died when they were eleven, of a brain tumour. Hence Jessica's middle name- Jane."
"Shit. I never knew that. Neither ever told me. But wait, you said Jessica too?"
"Jessica had a twin brother, called Alec. He was stillborn. Mum was devastated apparently. She got really bad postnatal depression."
"Wow. Maybe that's why she was such a distant mother." Edward wondered. "And why Jessica was such a midget!"
"Maybe!"
"Unlike you. You're the best mother in the world, angel."
"Only because you're the best father in the world. If our Leo and Ned grow up to be even half as well-adjusted as Alice, I'll be happy."
Edward kissed her, and relaxed back in the tub. Bella curled into his side.
"So, Mrs Cullen... seeing as we've got just one night here, why don't we start the baby-making, right now?" He suggested, nipping her shoulder lightly.
"Just one night here..." she ran her hand up his thigh under the water. "...but countless nights of joy to come."
Fin
-cc-