Chapter Twenty-Five

When I re-entered the living room, all of the furniture had been returned to its original place. I glanced around at the scrupulously-designed room. "Your handiwork, I trust?" I said to Emily.

She nodded. "Mostly, yes. Tara helped as well. She has an excellent eye, but she hates shopping. I can never get her to come with me when I go to buy accessories."

Aunt Alice sighed. "I will never be able to understand that."

"Nor me," Emily agreed.

I shuddered. Thankfully, Mom and I had been able to get out of house-shopping thus far, but with eternity stretching out before us, our chances of getting out of it entirely were rather grim.

"Well, would you all like to see the house?" Emily asked.

"Of course!" Aunt Alice said brightly.

"You haven't already seen it?" I asked.

"Unlike some, Alice was quite busy helping me with the party," Emily said accusingly.

I felt a slight twinge of guilt. It was enough to bring a burst of colour to my face.

"Never mind that now," Emily said. "Come on." She showed us the main floor first, most of which Tara had already showed me, and then descended the stairs to the basement. The infamous "games room" was our first stop.

"This is where Ian spends the majority of his time," Tara said.

"Unfortunately," Emily said, gazing at the video game set. Well, sets. "We are endeavouring to break him of the habit."

"How's that working out?" asked Mom.

"Not well, let's put it that way," Emily said. "Now then, moving on."

Once Emily and Tara had finished showing us the house, Aunt Alice went to admire Emily's closet while Tara, Mom and Aunt Rose went to the library. I went to change into more comfortable clothes.

When I re-emerged from Emily and Rob's cavernous bathroom in the pyjamas that Aunt Alice had brought for me, everyone was already gathered in the bedroom.

"There she is!" Aunt Rose smiled. "Come on."

I took a seat beside Tara on the bed. She was devouring a plate of candied strawberries enrobed in copious amounts of whipped cream. I raised an eyebrow. "Loading up on the sugar, are we?"

She nodded and popped another one into her mouth. "They're Em's specialty."

"So," Emily said. "Since Nessie will soon be one of us, I thought perhaps the rest of us could lend her some advice."

"Marvellous idea," Aunt Alice said approvingly.

"'One of us'?" Mom asked.

"Married women, of course," Aunt Alice said.

"Couldn't we just, you know, sleep?" I asked hopefully. "I'm kind of tired, and–"

"Liar!" Emily crowed. "Come now, Nessie, don't ruin our fun. Besides, we both know that we don't need all that much sleep."

"Besides," Aunt Alice said. "Had you actually imagined that you were going to be sleeping at some point? It's like you don't know us at all," she said with a wounded expression.

"I don't know," Mom said, looking at me.

I smiled hopefully at her.

"One all-nighter isn't going to kill her, Bella," Aunt Alice said, rolling her eyes.

"It's not going to help her, either," Aunt Rose pointed out.

"Can you two try to act less like overbearing mothers and become teenagers again for just one second if that's not too much to ask?" Aunt Alice said dryly.

"Well, could I sleep for just a little bit?" I pleaded.

"Maybe," Emily said. "So. Who's going first?"

"I will," Aunt Rose said. She looked at me. "Now then, never assume that just because he's nodding, he's actually agreeing with you."

"Mmm," Emily agreed. "Good one, Rose. Yes, that's a rookie mistake. Not even my gift helps me with that. Rob's found ways around it."

I nodded and committed the tip to memory.

For the following hour, Aunt Alice, Aunt Rose, Tara, Emily and Mom took turns besetting my ears with marital acumen. My head was spinning by the time they were finished. I was beginning to get nervous now. Marriage was so much more complicated than I'd realized. I hadn't thought that things would change much after Jake and I were married.

"Helpful?" Emily asked at the end.

I nodded, still slightly disconcerted by the rush of information.

Mom laughed at something in my expression. "You'll get the hang of it. You're a fast learner."

I hoped desperately that she was right.

A phone buzzed from somewhere nearby.

"Oh, that's me," Emily said, jumping up with a slight frown. She opened a drawer in the nightstand on her side of the bed and withdrew a red phone. She flipped it open, her frown deepening. "Cael?"

Tara half-squealed.

I stared at her in shock.

She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "Sorry," she said quietly.

Emily raised an eyebrow at her sister, and then flicked her eyes flicked to a clock. "Haven't you heard of time zones?" She chuckled at something on the other end. "Yes, I'm sure you're sorry." She chuckled again. "Did you get my message?" Silence. "All of you? Are you sure? Yes, of course we'll pay. Yes, just wait one moment." She moved the phone away from her ear for a moment and looked at me. "Nessie, some of our friends will be coming for Tara and Ian's second wedding," Tara groaned at this. Emily silenced her with a glare. "And I was wondering if it would be possible for them to attend your wedding as well. They'd like to spend some time with us, and they're also most eager to meet the infamous Cullens."

To meet us? What was so exciting about us? "Um…sure. Are they vegetarians?"

"No. But I'll tell them that B.C. and Washington are off-limits."

"Thanks," I said. "And yeah, that's fine."

"Great," she smiled. "Yes, that's fine, Cael. But there is to be no hunting in Washington or British Columbia, understood? Excellent. All right. We'll see you in two days, then." She hung up the phone and sighed. "Rob and Ian will be so thrilled that they're coming."

"How many friends, exactly?" Mom asked.

"Well, Cael said they're all coming, so that will be…six."

"They're a coven?" asked Aunt Rose, surprised.

"No, no," Emily said. "They're nomads, but they've all been friends for decades. Rob and Ian were sort of the ones that connected all of them. Cael and...Julianna," she said, a dark look crossing her face as she spoke the name, "have been traveling together since the twenties, and sometimes Austin and Adair join them, but Dahlia and Henry generally travel alone."

I thought for a moment. "You mentioned Austin before, didn't you?"

She nodded. "He became Rob and Ian's third brother, but he had no desire to come to Canada."

"He was the German soldier?"

She nodded again.

"So who're the rest of them?"

"Various nomads that they met while traveling through Europe," Tara said. "They're an interesting group. Adair, for instance." She and her sister exchanged glances and then giggled in unison.

"Or Cael," Emily added. She chuckled. "Rob and I were determined to set Tara up with someone, so if things between her and Ian hadn't worked out – which we had absolute confidence that they would, but in the event that we were wrong – we would have tried to set her up with Cael. We decided to give Ian a century or two–"

"WHAT?"

Everyone jumped in surprise at the sound of Ian's shriek.

"Shh!" Uncle Emmett muttered, and then there was muted thud.

"Ow!" Ian hissed.

Mom, Aunt Rose, Aunt Alice, Tara and I all crowded around the windows to see my Jacob, my father, my uncles and the Winter brothers standing in the backyard, eavesdropping.

I crossed my arms. "Eavesdropping, are we, gentlemen?"

Jacob laughed warily with a sheepish look on his face. "Nessie. Fancy seeing you here."

"No, Jacob, fancy seeing you here."

There was the sound of rushing wind, and then Ian was standing in front of the open window at the side of the room, glaring murderously at his sister as he rubbed the back of his head where my uncle had hit him. "Tell me that this is simply one of your sick, twisted jokes, Emily. Tell me that you hadn't actually thought of setting my wife up with Cael Shane, of all people."

Emily laughed uneasily and backed away from him. "Well…" She bolted from the room.

"I am going to kill you!" Ian snarled, flashing after her.

Everyone laughed, except for Tara, who was still gaping.

I looked down at Rob. "He's not actually going to hurt her, is he?"

As if to answer my question, there was the sound of something breaking, and then Emily's hysterical laughing. "You missed! Aw, come on, Ian, not the bowl. Not the – OW!"

Rob chuckled. "No, not really."

"What are you doing here?" Mom asked all of them.

"It was Emmett's idea," Dad said automatically.

"Was it now?" Aunt Rose said, placing her hands on her hips.

Uncle Emmett gave Dad a withering look and then shot my aunt a smile.

"Should have known," Mom muttered.

"Sheesh, Jake, I don't know," I said with mock seriousness. "I don't know if I can marry an eavesdropper."

He dramatically imitated being stabbed in the heart.

Mom, Aunt Alice and I laughed.

"I wish," Aunt Rose muttered.

I sighed.

She shrugged apologetically.

"Say it!" Ian shouted.

"No!" Emily shouted back.

There was more crashing.

"Say it!"

"Say what?" I asked Dad.

Dad chuckled. "He wants her to apologize."

"SAY IT!"

"No!"

Rob sighed. "I'll go break them up before they destroy the entire house."

"No, no," Uncle Emmett laughed. "Don't. This is fun."

Rob rolled his eyes.

When he managed to calm things between Emily and Ian, the men left again, and Emily returned to us, with only a thin red line left on her arm to tell the tale.

"What'd he hit you with, anyway?" asked Aunt Alice.

"Freaking bowl," Emily muttered darkly. "Big glass one."

"Expensive?" I asked.

"No. I got it from Ikea. But I liked it."

I chuckled.

As the evening continued, the conversation inevitably turned towards wedding planning. Aunt Alice, Emily and Aunt Rose had the majority of the wedding worked out. They were choosing music now.

"Who should do the music?" asked Aunt Alice.

"I've been wondering that myself," Mom said. "We'll need Edward and Rose for the ceremony."

"Ooh," Emily said. "Easy. Rob can do it."

"I didn't know Rob played the piano," I interjected.

"Oh yes," she said. "He's an incredible player. His mother was a teacher, so she had him started by the time he was four. Believe me, Nessie; he'd be more than happy to."

I felt a little twinge of guilt. I was trying to like him. It had become easier over the past few months. He'd even formally forgiven Uncle Jasper, but he didn't seem to quite be able to take the malice out of his eyes when he looked at him.

"Would you like to see your dress?" asked Aunt Rose.

I blinked. "My dress? Um…all right."

She passed me a photograph. I gasped quietly. It was quite possibly the most lovely, elegant dress I'd ever seen. It was white and flowed elegantly, with a tastefully modest train. The front was decorated with silver roses. The rose pattern also formed a strap over the right shoulder. It was perfect, without question.

"Don't you like it?" asked Aunt Alice worriedly.

"I…I…" I could feel their eyes on me as they waited expectantly. "It's gorgeous. It's absolutely perfect. It's the prettiest dress I've ever seen."

Aunt Alice hugged me with joy. "Excellent. I had it made especially for you. Now we have two options for the veil: we can do a veil and a tiara or simply the veil."

I looked at my little aunt as she studied my face intently. I half-smiled. "I'll let you have a bit of fun, Aunt Alice. Order the tiara as well."

"I have the best niece on the planet!" she declared, crushing me against her again.

"Hurting…Aunt Alice. Unlike you…I actually have to…breathe…" I gasped.

She released me automatically. "Oops."

I chuckled. "It's okay."

"All right," she said. "I will phone these in."

"Well, what shall we do now?" Emily asked as Aunt Alice drifted to the side of the room and withdrew her phone.

"Sleep?" I suggested hopefully.

She gave me a withering look.

"Let's watch a movie," Aunt Alice suggested brightly.

"I still can't believe you guys have your own mini-theatre," Mom said, shaking her head.

Emily laughed. "It was Ian's gift to himself for his sixty-seventh nineteenth birthday. T, do you want to put something into the projector while I get some snacks?"

Tara nodded and flitted out of the room.

"I'll help," I volunteered.

"No, no," Emily said quickly. "This is your night. You aren't to lift a finger."

"Emily, come on," I said, rolling my eyes. "I can at least help you get snacks."

She sighed. "All right, all right." She led me to their sprawling kitchen. "Why don't you sit?" she suggested. "It really will be faster if I do this. I already know where everything is."

I shrugged and took a seat on one of the stools at the island in the centre of the kitchen. I picked a particularly shiny red apple out of a fruit bowl in front of me and toyed with it as I watched her flash around the kitchen. I glanced back at the apple and spun it on the countertop absently. "Did Rebecca ever call you back?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

Emily was silent for a moment. She pursed her lips. "Yes. Almost a month ago."

"A month?" I asked, surprised. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to make an issue of it."

"Well what did she say?"

She turned away from me. "They didn't find him. When Rebecca and Ajay took the Volturi back to the home that William and his family were living in, they had burnt it to the ground and they were long gone. They couldn't find Joham, either. They're gone and no one has any idea where they went, not even Demetri."

Not even Demetri? How on earth was that possible? "Do you think he has another shield?"

"I have no idea," she said, sighing. "Aro and Marcus decided to allow Rebecca and Ajay to live, despite Caius's wishes. He wanted them executed on the spot, naturally. They're somewhere in Europe at the moment, but they'll be here by August at the latest."

I nodded as my mind drifted back to the clearing. A thousand questions burned at my tongue, but one was particularly irritating. It was one that had been prodding at me ever since. "Why did you look so afraid on the field?" I asked her finally.

She turned to look at me. "What?"

"Well, if you knew that Rebecca and Ajay were going to come, why did you look so afraid? Were you just acting?"

"No, not at all," she said, chuckling slightly. "The fear you saw was genuine. I didn't know for sure if they would come. I hoped, I desperately hoped that they would. But I explained to them from when I first met them that they owed me nothing and that whatever happened with our family, it had nothing to do with them. I didn't want them involved unless they were absolutely certain of what they were involving themselves in. Ajay was initially hesitant, but Rebecca insisted." She twisted her ring absently. "I tried at first to dissuade her, but stubbornness seems to be a family trait." She looked at me again. "But they were always my back up plan. My primary plan was to offer myself."

"You can't have seriously thought that was going to work," I said.

She was silent for a moment. "Not really, no. I didn't think that alone would stop them. But I knew that it would provoke a reaction."

"How so?" I asked, frowning.

She smiled as she studied me. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Renesmee, your family has had a tremendous impact on the vampire world. Everyone knows about your family, everyone. None of us had ever even considered the possibility that the Volturi could be stopped once they set their minds to something. We all thought they were invincible, and we had reason enough to. They've been in power for thousands of years. But when you defied them and won, the whispers that had already been circulating grew louder and spread wider."

Now I was really confused. "Whispers?"

She made popcorn as she spoke. "For centuries now, in secret, there have been whispers. Some have come to view the Volturi as decadent, corrupt, overzealous and false. They say that they do more harm than good. But this point of view has been kept almost entirely silent. Everyone knows how powerful Aro, Caius and Marcus are and they don't become less powerful the more they age, they become more powerful, which makes them even more dangerous to oppose. Such thoughts were strongly discouraged and were never discussed in public, for fear of being found out. Aro would have made up an excuse to destroy them. He's done it before. The Volturi don't take well to mutinous chatter.

"Until we learned of your family, we hadn't realized that it was possible to survive a confrontation with them. But as soon as you did, what had once been mere inklings became thoughts, and what had been thoughts became whispers, and what had been whispers became conversations. Even those who never before had had a real problem with their rule have become discomfited with their saintly façade and the Volturi know it. They fear it. They love their power more than anything else. I knew that even if they killed me, they would have great difficulty in destroying all of you. There is an overwhelming amount of sympathy with your family now. Carlisle has been greatly respected in our world for centuries as it is, but after the first confrontation, many saw their actions as overstepping their brief. To be perfectly honest with you, it's half the reason our friends are so eager to meet all of you."

I mulled that over for a moment. "And what's the other half?"

She bit her lip. "To many, you also represent revolution."

I shifted uncomfortably. So they expected us to be deliverers of some sort? I hoped that the thoughts were kept as quiet as Emily had said, or they would be placing us in a rather perilous position. The last thing we needed was the Volturi watching us even more closely. If they felt threatened, they would find any and every reason to try to bring us down. But surely they knew Grandpa Carlisle well enough to know that he would never desire to rule?

"I've explained to them that Carlisle would never consent to starting a revolution. They were his friends, after all, but the idea for them is tantalizing. Don't mistake me, though. The Volturi have many loyal supporters, and there also many who feel neutral towards them. I believe that the favour is still generally with them, but only marginally. It's not nearly the majority that they're accustomed to."

I fell silent for a moment as I considered what she'd told me. There was so much to take in. I hadn't realized that we were such a phenomenon. I wondered if anyone else in my family realized how famous we were. Grandpa Carlisle must have had some idea. He seemed to know everyone.

"Can you give these to your mom and your aunts?" she said, passing me three blood packets from the fridge.

"Is there enough for us to have any?"

She shook her head. "I only have enough for them. Besides, we have food."

I glanced longingly at the blood packet.

"Oh come on," she chuckled. "Embrace your partial humanity."

I sighed and gave the blood to Mom, Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose.

"Mm," Aunt Alice said. "A-positive. Excellent."

"I prefer a good AB myself," Aunt Rose said.

I glanced down at the packages. "Sorry, Aunt Rose. I've just got B and O-negative."

She glanced over her shoulder at Mom. "Bella? Which one do you want?"

"Is there a huge difference?" Mom asked.

"Not really," Aunt Alice replied as she opened hers and inhaled deeply. "It's just a matter of preference."

"I feel like such a newborn," Mom said, reaching for the B.

"Technically, you still are," Aunt Alice pointed out.

I handed Aunt Rose the O-negative and took a seat beside Mom. Emily and Tara appeared seconds later. Emily passed me a bowl of popcorn and then took a seat a few rows behind Mom and me, Tara sitting adjacent her. She clapped twice, and the lights dimmed automatically. She clapped once more, and the movie began.

The movie started with a dark landscape. Then, slowly, the sun began to rise, enveloping the horizon its warm glow. The sun continued to rise until it hung at the very centre of the sky. I lost interest shortly thereafter. My thoughts drifted towards the wedding. I glanced down at my engagement ring. Even in the dimly-lit mini-theatre, it sparkled. I feared to imagine how many karats it was. Jacob must have spent a fortune on it. I pondered the glittering, multi-faceted depths of my future with a warm satisfaction for a moment. A smile crept over my face slowly as my eyes slid shut.