Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading this fanfic. I update between Mondays at 8 AM to Tuesdays at 11 PM CT at the latest.
Thank you Goldielover, JaelSarjenka, ArianaLovesDoughnuts, wolviegurl, and LadyAnnikki for the reviews! I do love to hear what you readers think of my writing. Thank you so much for all the favorites and follows. We're almost to 100 follows and 50 favorites!
Disclaimer that all of the Twilight universe characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, though Mina/Lily and her family are similarly structured to my own but not majorly based on my family. I hope you enjoy!
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~Tuesday, March 8th, 2005: Forks, Washington
Since her little adventure, Carlisle made sure to be around her at all times. Unlike some people where that would've come across as annoying, Lily adored having Carlisle all to herself for a whole day. They spent a majority of it in the garden, their morning spent tending to it and then enjoying a small picnic under the peach tree. The tree had bloomed not too long ago, a wonderful feeling of life filling the atmosphere of the lovely garden.
Lily had been tracing little nothings on Carlisle's sparkling hand while he seemed deep in thought. He lightly grasped her hand, his fingers lightly grazing the engagement ring but still said nothing. While normally, they could enjoy silence together, something seemed off to Lily.
"Carlisle?" she asked softly. It seemed to knock him out of his reverie. Looking at her, he smiled before lifting her hand to show to focus of his thoughts.
"Just wondering about the wedding," he said with a soft smile.
"Do you want to start looking into the details?" she asked curiously.
"Well, it is a rare day off from work," he teased. She giggled, leaning up to kiss him softly.
"Let's go then," she smiled, gathering some of the picnic supplies while Carlisle gathered the rest. When they made their way inside, they found Alice and Rosalie already at the dinner table with lots of books and magazines laid out on the table. Lily gulped, the project suddenly seeming quite daunting.
"Maybe we should wait a little more?" she asked meekly. Alice and Rosalie smirked at her sudden fears.
"The sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish, Mom," Alice smiled. Rosalie nodded, patting the two seats that were at the head of the table. It had been decided that all decisions were made together, no putting it all one on or the other. The girls sat on either side of the two.
"Okay, so it's going to be in the gardens?" Alice asked, having taken out a binder full of wedding information to fill in. Lily looked to Carlisle, who nodded slightly.
"It would be rather nice," Lily smiled. "It'll be the closest my parents can be to the wedding." Carlisle comforted her, patting her hand softly and kissing her temple before looking at the information.
"Catering?" he asked.
"We'll get to that later," Alice smirked. "So do you have a theme you'd like for the wedding?"
"A theme?"
"Yeah, some go for colours, others for a particular theme like 'Winter Wonderland' and such," Rosalie smiled. "Emmett and I usually go for fun themes like 'Masquerade' or 'Hollywood Stars'," she smirked, remembering when Emmett had gone full 'James Bond' for their last wedding.
"Oh, I never thought of it like that. What if it was just a simple wedding?" she asked Carlisle.
"I'm happy with whatever you choose," he began, though backtracked at the slight glare that Lily gave him, "but a simple wedding suits us both. You know I'm rather content with simpler things."
"You guys are no fun," Alice pouted, while Rosalie laughed at her woe.
"This is their wedding, Alice. We agreed to be as helpful as possible," she teased.
"Okay, fine! What were your ideas for the wedding?" Alice sighed, closing her books as the two girls looked expectantly at the couple.
They looked to each other before Carlisle smiled.
"Just a simple ceremony in the garden," he said.
"Our family and friends present," Lily finished.
"Okay, that's a good place to start! Guest list," Alice smiled, taking out an address book.
"Who would you like to invite, darling?" Carlisle asked.
"Well, I'd love if Maggie was there with her family. And Bella and her family," she added as an afterthought. Rosalie made a face at the name but didn't say anything. "I really don't know anyone else," she frowned. "Who are you inviting?"
"Well, since there will be humans around, it'll really just be the Denali clan. I've mentioned them before, love."
"Oh, the vegetarians in Alaska?" she asked curiously. "It'll be a great way to meet them!"
"There may be a few nomads that I'd invite, but they might decline since they don't acquiesce to our diet," he added. "But they'll send their regards."
"So there may only be about 15 people, give or take, which actually show up," Alice said, already having all the names down. Lily frowned, knowing that her family would have made that number considerably larger. Carlisle held her hand and kissed it lightly, knowing where her thoughts were headed.
"Okay, so since we've got the list down, what next?" Alice smiled.
"Colours?" Lily asked. "How about blue and yellow? Carlisle's colour is blue and mine is yellow, and they seem to go well together," she added. She looked to Carlisle, who nodded his head in confirmation.
"We could all wear blue with some sort of yellow accent," Alice beamed, already sketching out ideas in a blank sketchbook.
"That sounds nice, but you guys just wear what you want," Lily smiled. "You don't need to get anything specific."
"They're going to wear something extravagant," Carlisle smirked, "so it's best to let them do their thing when it comes to clothes." The girls all snickered before Rosalie gasped.
"Mom! Your dress!" Rosalie called out, making her nearly jump.
"What about it?" she asked, curious as to why she was so passionate about it.
"We have to help you pick one out," Rosalie beamed.
"Well, since the ceremony is in the garden, I was thinking of a shorter dress. One that goes a little past my knees or halfway down my calf," she added after a thought. "Kinda 20s or 30s style," she added as an afterthought.
"Oh, I know what you're talking about," Carlisle smiled. "They had lovely dresses like that then, although also in the 40s and 50s, too."
"I'm sure we can come up with something," Alice beamed, Rosalie nodding in agreement. "Well, I think that's all we can really cover for now! Edward's been wanting to talk to Mom," she teased as the tall Cullen came into the room.
"Oh, sure, hun!" Lily smiled, motioning to go to the garden. "Edward and I will talk in the garden, love. I'll see you soon," she smiled, kissing his cheek lightly before they made their way to the garden. Once they were sitting under the peach tree, she motioned for Edward to start talking.
"I'm worried about her!" he frowned. "I want to follow her around everywhere and make sure she's safe. She's so clumsy! I'm so worried she'll trip and stab herself on accident and I won't even know it until her funeral," he paced. She giggled, remembering when she talked to Bella. "You talked to Bella?!" he looked to her shocked. "When? What did she say? What did you say?" he pleaded, already on his knees before her like a little child. She only giggled more before patting his cheek lightly.
"Edward, hun, why don't you ask her yourself," she teased. He stood up quickly, beginning to pace again.
"But I'm a danger to her," he pouted. She sighed with a sad smile.
"Edward, hun. Go to her," she smiled. "She is just as curious about you are as you are of her, and I honestly think she's a lovely girl worthy of your interest and affection."
Edward looked to her for a good while before beaming, kissing her on the cheek.
"Thanks, Mom. And I'm glad you're marrying Dad," he smiled, disappearing before her eyes. Carlisle appeared not a moment later, taking Edward's place.
"Let's retire for the evening, love. It's getting dark," he smiled, holding a hand out to her. She easily accepted, following Carlisle inside.
The rest of the evening was rather uneventful: Carlisle helping her make some chicken fettuccine Alfredo and garlic bread, eating some raspberry sherbet for dessert, and cuddling up next to Carlisle for a movie. She had just gotten out of the shower and into some of Carlisle's pajamas when Edward slammed open the door. She rushed down the stairs to see all of the Cullens looking extremely murderous.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly. They all nearly jumped, not expecting her to be there. Edward and Rosalie looked equally pissed, something she wasn't used to.
"Bella was attacked," Edward growled. Lily gasped, immediately worried that she was hurt. "She's fine," he added, picking up some scattered thoughts of worry. "But they got too close for comfort. I nearly disposed of them right then and there because of their vulgar thoughts. She was not their first victim."
"Let's take care of them," Emmett growled, the situation sounding too much like Lily's for his comfort. "We can take out our anger on these guys since we can't take care of—," he started, but stopped when he saw Lily's sad face.
"Must you… kill them?" she asked sadly. "We can't just get them arrested like… like…" she started, not quite sure what to call 'Gregory' since she doubted that was his real name.
"I'm sure we can find a way to have them arrested," Jasper replied quickly. "Edward, you want to lead us?"
The boys disappeared, Rosalie and Alice deciding to have a girls night to take Lily's worry away. But nothing, not even after doing her hair, nails, and watching goofy rom-coms, could make her stop her worry for Bella.
When the boys came home, they were surprised to find her still awake when it was the early hours of the morning.
"Lily, love, you have school in the morning," Carlisle frowned, going to comfort her. She sighed, relaxing in his arms. She looked to the boys tiredly, but she wanted information.
"So what happened?"
"We were able to knock them out and leave them in front of the police station. They had some hardcore drugs on them so it wasn't hard to make sure they'd be in for a while," Jasper said. They didn't mention the state they left the men in.
"That's good," she sighed, nearly asleep in Carlisle's arms. "You should go make sure Bella is alright," she told Edward. He nodded, not liking being away from Bella much like Carlisle didn't like being away from Lily. Edward was gone before she could blink.
The boys kissed Lily's cheek goodnight before going to meet their own mates. Carlisle quickly swept Lily into his arms and helped her get comfortable in their bed. He hummed softly, recognizing their song before she crashed into a dreamless sleep.
A.N. Bella's night in Port Angeles. If you've noticed, I put the dates in the beginning of every chapter. I do this to help keep to the timeline so if you ever want hints about chapters, go see where it is on the Twilight timeline ;)
*Things have been busy with Christmas coming around and trying to get into a university. I've been accepted and have orientation this Thursday! So I apologize that this isn't 100% what I wanted but I have been fleshing out a timeline for New Moon and Breaking Dawn's section.
If you ever have any ideas you'd like to see in the story, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Reviews and comments are always welcome! I'm always really curious as to how other people view my works and you guys really do inspire me to continue posting!
Have a wonderful day!
Ellie T.