Chapter 25 – Mother in Outlaw

Over the next several days, I received many packages, some hand delivered by Edward, Jerry and occasionally a timid Alice. There was a couple that had been mailed. But by the look on Edward's face, he knew they were coming. I opened the first box to find a cake topper. I hadn't really thought about what would be on my cake. I think Eddie had his and Lizzy's old cake topper around somewhere, I was sure I'd be able to find it, but then it wouldn't have been custom-made like the one that had been sent to me, or should I say, us. It was addressed to me, but the custom-crafted figurines looked just like Edward and I. The next box was a garter, and the third I received in the mail was a set of toasting champagne glasses with Mr. Edward Cullen and Mrs. Isabella Cullen engraved on them.

"She didn't know the date." I about leapt out of my skin, when Edward spoke behind me.

"What?"

"My mother asked me when we were getting married, so she could have the date engraved on the glasses as well, but we hadn't reserved a church yet," he said gently.

I knew I was dragging my feet. I needed to call and find a date, when a local church was open. Jerry had brought me a list. It wasn't in his handwriting, but he seemed impressed with it and gave me his opinion on a couple of the churches. Apparently, one had a preacher who was way too liberal to ever be legitimately connected with God, and so we shouldn't use him to marry us, because it might not stick in heaven.

I gave the list to Edward, knowing he'd have a better idea of who he'd want, since he'd actually lived in Port Angeles his whole life. If either of us were going to have ties to a place or an opinion, it would be him.

Alice brought me something on Thursday. She handed me the thick envelope nervously. She was still jumpy around me, and she was right to be.

"What's in this?" I asked, taking the thick manila envelope of pictures from her.

"They're of the different churches set up for weddings."

"Why are you giving these to me?" I asked a bit forcefully, and Alice stepped away. I noticed Jasper's worried eyes start to follow our conversation.

"My mother wanted you to have a better idea-"

I cut Alice off. "Why is she sending me pictures and wedding crap, Alice?"

Her eyes darted over to Jasper and then back to me. I noticed he gave me a bit of a warning look. She had nothing to do with her mother's sudden interest in me and the wedding, and Jasper wanted me to remember that.

"Edward's her son, she loves him and wants his day to be special," she stated, like it was common knowledge.

"Yeah, well, your family can be a little off when it comes to affections and loyalties."

"Don't hold my transgressions against her," Alice tried to defend her mother.

"Oh, I don't, I hold her own actions against her, including her taking your side."

Alice's eyes watered, and she shook her head at me. "Things were…please." I didn't know what she was trying to say, but if she was asking me to forgive her mother all willy-nilly for trying to steal things from Edward's house on her behalf and nearly hurting Eddie, then she was out of luck. I scoffed and turned away from her. I was sure Jerry was waiting for me.

"She thinks you don't want her there. She knows you won't invite her, even if she is Edward's mom," Alice snapped harshly.

"Alice, I think it's time for you to go," Jasper said sweetly.

"Whatever," she fussed. "You act like she's freaking perfect. Her behavior wasn't angelic-"

"What's going on?" Edward came out of my massage room. I knew for sure that Jerry was waiting for me.

"Jasper was just showing Alice out," I said curtly. When I went to walk past Edward, he stopped me, cupped my cheek and then kissed me.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what she did-" he started to apologize for his sister's behavior.

"It's not your fault. You can't control what your family says or does."

He let out a sigh and then noticed I was holding the package of pictures. "What's in there?" he asked curiously.

I slapped them against his chest. "They're pictures of churches, pick one already, so we can get this over with." I regretted saying the words as soon as they had left my mouth. He looked so hurt. "I didn't mean it like that. I do want to marry you, Edward. I swear I do. There's just so much…" I waved the pictures around, trying to convey my frustration.

My sweet perfect man gave me an understanding smile and kissed me again. "So, you really want me to pick the church? This isn't some sort of woman's test on how well I know you, right? Emmett was saying-"

"I'm not marrying Emmett, and you know I wouldn't test you like that. This church thing is important to you. We're doing this for your family. I'm fine with nothing, but…"

He nodded in understanding. "But my family butted in and insisted on something. Alright, so, do you want me to just tell you when to show up or something?"

I let out a sigh of relief. Having no one to work on the wedding stuff with me wasn't just depressing, but overwhelming. "Please, I promise to be there on time, and I'll even dress up for you, too."

His eyes looked so sad, even though he was smiling. He cupped my cheeks again and kissed me once more. "Okay, I'll handle it. Do you mind if my mom helps me?" he asked nervously.

I shook my head no. "Tell her to knock herself out." I tugged him down and gave him another quick peck on the lips, before heading back to my massage room.

Before I entered, I turned back to face a sneering Alice. "By the way, I never planned on keeping your mother away from our wedding. Edward wants her there, and that's all that matters to me." I gave him a smile, letting him know that I truly meant it.

His grin grew, and he turned back to his sister and waved the manila envelope of pictures around. "Tell mom to come get Grandpa, I need to talk with her," Edward ordered Alice.

She left, stunned.

I took a few deep breaths before getting to work on Jerry. "That bad?" he asked.

"What?"

"You only do breathing exercises on bad days, and you just did breathing for five minutes. So, that bad?" he asked again.

I let out a sigh. If there was anyone neutral, it was Jerry. "Just wedding stuff."

"Is Esme driving you crazy yet?" he asked me.

"No, not really. It doesn't really matter anymore, anyway. Edward said he'd take over for me."

"Do you not want to get married?" he asked gently.

"I do, more than anything, I want to marry Edward, but…"

My chest tightened just thinking about what my parents were missing out on. He looked up at me and saw I was nearly in tears.

"Hey, what's really going on?" The tenor of his voice seemed to pry the pain right out of me.

"My parents won't be there."

"Nonsense," he scoffed. "Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they won't be there. I'd bet my life that they'll be there, along with my Mabel and Ed's Elizabeth. I told Esme you need to keep Mabel's seat open next to me, because I know for a fact that she'll be there. I'm sure Ed has asked the same. There's no reason not to leave your parents' seats open. I'm sure that Black fellow you have walking you down the aisle won't mind moving a couple of seats down for them."

I was trying to pull myself together, wiping my tears away. Jerry reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. "They'll be there, Bella. Don't doubt that, don't doubt them. Do you really think they'd miss your wedding?" I shook my head no, fighting off a new round of tears. "No, they wouldn't dare miss it. I'll bet they're thrilled you met my little Edward. I know Mabel and Lizzy have been talking him up. They could brag on that boy like nobody's business."

"Well, Edward is easy to brag about," I agreed.

He chuckled. "That, he is."

That night, Edward nervously opened our front door to Esme. The pair's eyes darted to me several times, before I just left the room. I didn't plan on jumping her anytime soon, as long as she behaved. They were camped out on the kitchen table, and both looked up at me surprised, when I walked in to put Eddie's water glass in the dishwasher. I saw several stacks of things in front of Edward and felt a little guilty for dumping everything on him. "Do you need help?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted to help. The look on Edward's face let me know I couldn't abandon him, though.

"Please," he begged, sounding so hopeful. I slid into the chair next to him, and he quickly pulled me into his arms and kissed me. That was the end of it for me. There was no way I could get up and walk out.

"Edward and I were just discussing flowers. I was wondering if you knew what your parents' favorites were, but he didn't want to ask you."

"Mom, stop, don't-"

I cut Edward off. "My mother loved a kind of Rose call Blue lady, it's lavender, and though my father would never admit it, the jasmine at his house was always well taken care of. In fact, it was the only flower he ever planted. I don't know if you can do something with that."

"They'll be lovely and smell wonderful. I think they'll be the perfect addition to the wedding. The other thing I wanted to ask about was memory wreaths. The idea is to have them set up as placeholders, if you're amendable."

"That sounds nice," I answered, and Edward squeezed me a little tighter, lending me support.

"Now, the question is, do they each have their own distinct wreath with only their flowers or do we mix them all together to match them to the rest of the wedding?" she asked, looking at the both of us.

"My bouquet." They looked at me questioningly. "We could mix them all together in my bouquet, so they can be distinct and still match everything."

"That's a great idea," Edward finally chimed in.

"Are you sure? It wouldn't just be your mother's Blue Lady roses and your father's jasmine. My Carlisle loved snapdragons. He used to make them talk for the kids. Mabel loved chrysanthemums, and Elizabeth loved lavender. It'd make for an odd bouquet, but still doable."

"What do you think?" I asked Edward.

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I…uh…yeah, I think that'd be nice. That's a good idea."

"Okay, so, how do we find someone to make it?" I asked Esme.

"I have the number for the florist who did…" Her perfect mask slipped. Her lip quivered, and she looked down, straightening some papers in front of her. "I have someone in mind. I think that's enough work for tonight, don't you think, Edward?" Esme said dismissively.

"Yeah, thanks for helping us out, Mom." He got up to follow her out. I didn't miss how he hugged her extra long before she left.

"So, did you pick a place?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, the little chapel on the corner of Fourth and Main, it has more garden than cemetery. We could have the little reception outside, if the weather is nice. They have an opening for a month from Saturday. I made the reservation already, is that okay?" he asked worriedly.

I pulled him down for a kiss. "It sucks that we couldn't do it sooner, but now it'll give me time to find a dress to go with the rest of this fancy wedding we're planning." My talk with Jerry had really helped.

"We're?" he asked hopefully.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but you're still doing the lion's share," I poked him in the chest to emphasize my point. He grabbed my finger and kissed it.

"Just call me your lion. RAWR!" he roared at me, making me giggle. He was such an adorable goof.

The next morning, we woke to a police officer knocking on the door. The vandal had struck again. They had slashed all four of Emmett's tires, while his truck had been parked in front of the shop. He had stayed over at Rosalie and Tanya's several nights in a row. He had the name "Cullen" on the side of his truck, so if they knew who owned our store, they might have taken their anger out on Emmett by mistake. The police weren't sure the vandalism incidents were related, but Billy had contacted them about the last one and told them who I was related to, and they apologized for not doing more sooner.

"We're sorry, Ms. Swan. We're pulling traffic cameras for both nights. Hopefully, we'll get something this time."

"Thank you." It was all I could say. It was good to know they were finally taking things seriously.