A/N: Hi lovelies! Sorry for the delay here but lots of things occurred that just kept this chapter from getting out on time. RL craziness as usual and technical difficulties for my beta extraordinaire (computer death is never a good thing, just sayin')
A big thank you to said beta extraordinaire, Jessica1971, for all her awesomesauce skills at making my words prettier to read, 'cause let me tell ya my grammar sucks.
Without further ado...enjoy a little EPOV.
Chapter 25 Moonlight Declarations...
"I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you." ~Anonymous.
EPOV
Meeting Bella's father had been a much more pleasant experience than the initial encounter with her mother.
The cop side of Charlie Swan came out in the way he obviously watched every move I made. Charlie was first and foremost Bella's father, but he missed nothing as he observed my interactions with not only Bella but Olivia, as well.
I couldn't blame him. He only wanted to ensure I wouldn't wind up hurting both Bella and Olivia, though I had to admit it made me nervous as hell; if I were in his position I would have done the same thing.
I shivered as even the thought of Olivia dating made my skin crawl. I could only imagine how hard it was for Charlie after all Bella had gone through with losing Mike and Olivia's illness.
And after my massive fail with Bella the day before, though Charlie had no knowledge of it that I knew, I was even more nervous about meeting him the first time. Much more so than I had been meeting Renee, and that was saying a lot.
For most of the day before I arrived at Olivia's recital knowing I was going to meet Bella's mother and step-father, I fought waves of nausea. The nerves that overtook me when I arrived at the venue were worse than my first day as an intern.
Then to have that first introduction not exactly go according to plan… to say I hadn't held out a great deal of hope as to how things would proceed with Charlie would be an understatement.
I was wrong, thankfully.
It seemed that, so far, he wasn't finding anything overtly alarming and I was able to relax slightly as the day continued. It hadn't helped my nervousness that Bella thought she was being stealthy with her snickers at my jumpiness every time Charlie called my name.
It seemed Charlie and Carlisle were getting along famously, though, and I couldn't have been happier about that fact. I couldn't remember the last time I saw my dad more ecstatic than when he discovered Charlie shared his love for fly fishing.
He had definitely found a new friend in Charlie.
The two of them spent the entire day discussing the myriad of different fly fishing lures. Carlisle was pleasantly surprised to find out that Charlie actually made many of his own flies. I could see the excitement in my father's eyes when Charlie offered to show him how to do it himself.
Their conversation eventually moved on to the specs on a new Bayliner Carlisle had been eyeing for the last year or so. Though Jasper and I knew enough to occasionally interject an opinion, those two were lost in their own little world.
Even though I knew it would be to my benefit to at least attempt to stay in the conversation with Charlie and Carlisle, my attention continued to be pulled toward my girls who were laughing it up with my mother and sister as they relaxed on the seating area at the bow of the boat.
Sue, Charlie's wife, caught my eye on more than one occasion as my gaze would fall on Bella. She would smile knowingly before returning her attention to the conversation at hand.
I smiled as Olivia crawled up into Sue's lap and settled her head against her shoulder. It was obvious how much she missed both Charlie and Sue and I made a vow right then and there to make sure she and Bella made the trip out to see them more.
I knew from what Bella told me that the last trip they planned for a visit had been canceled because Olivia got sick. I was also well aware that, as a single mom, Bella wasn't able to afford many trips across the country for both her and Olivia.
Regardless of the help she got from her family, Bella was a proud woman and there was only so much she would accept before going ape about it being a hand out and there were just other things higher up the priority scale than plane tickets for a flight to Washington very often.
Seeing Olivia beside herself with happiness over the attention she was receiving from Charlie and Sue created a very nice feeling in the center of my chest.
Even more than that, she was totally and completely the center of my family's attention. Without a doubt my mother had fallen head over heels for her when they met in Atlanta. But the experience of seeing my father, who was an absolute goner as soon as he laid eyes on Olivia in the airport the day before, was not something I had ever given a great deal of thought to; I had to admit I liked the way he seemed to be almost as in love with Olivia as I was, and to say that deal was sealed when Bella allowed he and Esme to spend the day with her would be a gross understatement.
My parents were in absolute heaven.
And I would've had to be blind and stupid not to see how much Alice was enjoying getting to know not only Olivia but Bella, as well. Alice had never really tried to get to know Irina; she seemed to just 'know' as soon as she met her that she wasn't the one for me and didn't hold back in making it abundantly clear at every opportunity.
I excused myself and stepped away from the conversation my father and Charlie were carrying on to lean against the rail at the stern, looking out over the water.
There was a peacefulness I felt every time I came out on the lake and I understood on some level my father's fascination with being out here and why he had always spent so much time on the boat.
I had forgotten how much I loved it as well, and not for the first time in the last forty-eight hours I was glad I made the trip home, gladder still that Bella had accompanied me even with the issues from the previous day.
Though I still felt horrible for not being completely open and honest with Bella about my past, she forgave me and to my immense relief was more understanding than I could have ever asked.
Thoughts of the last two nights with Bella flashed through my mind and I knew once again I needed to talk to her about where our relationship was going.
I knew things would be different when we returned to Atlanta and I just wasn't sure that I could let her go home as I went back to my empty apartment, alone. Now that I had both of my girls with me and didn't have to say goodbye at the end of the night, I knew there was no way I could go back to the way things were before.
I wanted Bella with me - always.
I was startled out of my thoughts as I felt a slight tap on my upper arm. I turned to see Charlie offering me a beer, which I gladly took before he leaned on his elbows beside me as the sun began its fall, casting yellow and orange over the broken surface of the lake.
"You have a real nice family, son, and I'm gonna assume that your intentions are good when it comes to my daughter and granddaughter," Charlie said, his voice low and gravelly.
Bella told me he stopped a few years ago after having a heart attack, but it was still obvious in the rasp of his voice he had a long history of smoking.
"Yes, sir," I nodded before adding. "I love them both very much, sir."
Charlie nodded.
"You're alright with Olivia's…" he trailed off with only a slight grimace on his face.
I knew how difficult it was for me to think about Olivia's condition; I really couldn't imagine how hard it was for Charlie, especially with the fact that he only saw her once or twice a year, in a good year.
"Yes, sir," I nodded, looking down at the bottle in my hand and swallowing thickly.
I saw Charlie nod from my peripheral vision; clearing his throat, he took a deep breath and looked out over the lake at nothing in particular as he released it slowly through his nose before turning to me and nailing me with a hard look.
I swear they must teach that in the police academy; it was intimidating.
"Don't hurt my girls, son."
He walked away without so much as a second glance in my direction, rejoining my father just as he navigated the boat into a hidden cove and to a small dock on the island our family frequented.
Carlisle and I spent the summer I turned sixteen constructing that dock. He had jumped through whatever hoops he had to getting approval from the Core of Engineers so we could get to the island without wading through the shallows.
That year had been a bad one for me, as it is for most boys growing out of adolescence and trying to become an adult.
Being a skinny, awkward boy with a huge crush on the most popular girl in school that had no idea I even existed... I was not the most eligible bachelor back in the day - not by a long shot - and had no idea what the hell I was doing with myself most of the time. Looking back on that summer, I had come to realize that time spent with my father for what it really was; it wasn't just an opportunity for him to get free labor, which I most definitely remember thinking that was exactly the case at the time, but he used that time together to help me work through my frustrations.
By just being there and letting me talk about what was going on in my life - or not, depending on the mood of the day - he let me figure out all by myself that although the girl of my dreams was more interested in the good looks of the captain of the football team than she was in the little geeky guy who helped or more like did her Calc I homework for her, the pretty packaging wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
He was trying to help me understand that one day - with patience - I would come into my own and everything would work out, eventually.
I should have learned that lesson and remembered what he had tried to teach me when I came into contact with Irina. Obviously I wasn't always a quick study and it took a damn long time for everything to work out as it should.
Even still, I knew I definitely found what my father tried to tell me was out there waiting; I just had to be patient.
As my eyes landed on Bella standing beside my mother, the late afternoon sun catching the auburn in her hair, I felt the smile pull at the corner of my mouth and realized, yet again, that my father was a brilliant man.
The smile on my face stretched even wider as I saw Charlie catch Olivia in mid air as she launched herself off the deck of the boat to where he stood on the dock.
I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me as she squealed with delight when he spun her around before hefting her up on his back and taking off at a gallop toward the beach.
Bella turned and looked up at me with a soft, happy smile on her face and I felt a warm sensation spread through my chest as her eyes said much more than any words ever could.
If I hadn't known it before - though honestly I did - in that moment I knew there was no way I would ever let that woman go. Without doubt I would walk through fire to make sure she was always mine.
I'm not sure what was reflected in my expression, but evidently the burning desire I felt to make her a permanent fixture in my life was showing because Bella's eyes widened slightly before her smile spread across her entire face and she nodded.
I watched as Alice looped her arm through Bella's and shot me a knowing look before pulling Bella up the dock. Their heads leaned toward one another just before Bella threw hers back and her lovely laugh rang out.
"You've got it so bad, my friend," Jasper drawled from behind me and I turned to see him shake his head, chuckling as he lifted one of the large bins of food my mother instructed us to bring on shore from the boat.
A picnic with my mother was never a simple affair and yet again she had not disappointed. The amount of food she stocked in the galley along with the basket she hefted on deck before we set out was enough to feed a small army.
"Can you blame me?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him as I lifted my own bin of food.
Jasper looked at me for a long moment, a knowing smirk on his face.
"Nope, not at all," he finally said, turning and making his way up the dock toward where the rest of our family waited.
~O~
I looked down at Olivia's sleeping form as she lay on a blanket beside a small fire Jasper and Charlie started a short time before. Night had fully fallen and the nocturnal sounds of nature reverberated all around us.
It was peaceful and I felt more relaxed than I had in a very long time.
Bella sat just on the other side of Olivia and smiled up at me as our eyes met.
I leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek before whispering in her ear.
"Take a walk with me?"
Bella looked around at our family who were carrying on quiet conversation about the party the following day.
My mother was still trying to convince Sue and Charlie to stay overnight at the house and attend.
Unfortunately, Charlie was on duty the following day and they had refused, politely, but repeatedly. My mother wasn't one to take no for an answer and seeing how well everyone seemed to get along, she wasn't ready to let them off the hook easily.
She could be very persuasive; I didn't doubt that by the time we made it back she had at least talked Sue into staying.
Bella nodded and I stood quickly.
"Bella and I are going for a walk," I said, holding out a hand to help Bella stand as well. "Would you guys-"
"No need to ask," Sue cut me off, standing to take Bella's seat beside Olivia and waving a hand dismissively. "You kids go on, we'll watch over our girl, here."
"Thanks, Sue," Bella said and bent to kiss her step-mother on the cheek before taking my hand again.
I led her down to the water's edge before starting toward the destination I had in mind. We walked for quite a long time in a comfortable silence, neither one of us really willing to break the magic of the night with words. There was just something about being outside in the night air. Though it was the end of May, the night was crisp and still; it was peaceful.
Turning to look out over the lake, the moonlight danced on the water's surface and I felt a smile pull at my lips. Images of the day spent with our family, knowing that the woman at my side was more than I could have ever hoped for and feeling immensely thankful that she had come into my life.
"What are you thinking about?" Bella's voice was soft, barely above a whisper as she looked up at me with those big brown eyes that I truly got lost in every time I looked at her.
"I…" I hesitated, not sure exactly how to explain what I was thinking, what I was feeling. I brought her hand to my lips, pressing a kiss to the inside of her wrist and breathed in the scent of her skin, whispering, "I was thinking about how much I love you."
Bella smiled and searched my face. I could see so many things she wanted to say, to ask, burning in her eyes, but at that moment we reached the area I was looking for when we set out on this little journey.
I looked down at her then and smiled, pulling her along the rocky bank.
"Ah, Edward," Bella said, laughing. "Slow down, you know I'm a klutz."
"Come on, baby," I turned as I reached the top, taking both her hands in mine and helping her over one of the larger rocks and out onto the flat surface of a mammoth boulder that created an overhang into yet another small cove on the other side of our island. "You know I would never let you fall."
Bella looked up into my eyes then, a slow smile spread across her face as she breathed, "I know."
Reaching up to frame Bella's beautiful face between my palms, I brought her lips to mine softly and felt her melt against me.
I couldn't stop my next action anymore than I could have stopped the sun from setting or the moon from rising.
There was absolutely no thought, no planning, as the words tumbled out of my mouth. Though they had been bouncing around in my mind for weeks, I truly had no intention of giving life to them at that moment; they were strictly my heart speaking its utmost desire.
"Marry me, Bella," I whispered against her lips.
Bella's entire body went completely rigid and for a moment I was taken aback at her response to my kiss until I replayed the last thirty seconds in my head.
My eyes shot open to see Bella staring at me, jaw unhinged, in a complete stunned silence.
"I….I," I stammered, not sure what to say at that moment and slightly in shock myself.
Had I actually said those words to her?
Holy hell…I really had just proposed to her.
Oh god!
I blinked, still holding her face in my hands, and tried to take in a breath though my chest suddenly felt two sizes too small for my lungs.
"Bella," I choked as she continued to just stare at me, "I'm…. I don't know what… look just forget I said-"
"Stop," she said, coming out of whatever comatose state my epic fail had sent her into, her voice shaky and weak.
She stepped back slightly out of my grasp, staring up at me wide-eyed and confused.
Fisting a hand in her hair and shaking her head, she dropped her gaze to the rock's surface.
"Just stop a second."
She looked up and blinked rapidly several times before releasing a heavy sigh, staring straight through me.
I felt my stomach churning and knew that the heavy meal we had eaten just a short time before was definitely going to be making a return trip very soon if she continued to look at me with that expression on her face.
Running a hand through my hair repeatedly, I tried to get my breathing under control before I passed out. At that moment, I wasn't sure which was going to happen first - the passing out or the puking.
Bella turned and walked to the edge of the rock quickly before pacing back toward where I stood rooted in place.
"Ed-…Di-….you…" she stuttered and stopped, covering her mouth with her hand as she stared at me then turned to make the same trip out to the edge of the rock and back.
When she stood before me again, I had gotten some control over the hyperventilation, though I still felt as though I was going to puke at any moment. I swallowed thickly as she stared up at me with an unreadable expression on her face.
Finally, after what felt like a hundred years, she spoke.
"Did you just propose to me, Edward?"
I couldn't tell if she was angry or just shocked, but I nodded all the same. This wasn't exactly how I ever, in my wildest imagination, thought this moment would go. It didn't change the fact that a) I wanted more than anything to make her my wife, b) I had been thinking about making it a fact for quite a while, and c) I had actually proposed.
"Why?" she breathed.
I blinked and jerked back as though I had been sucker punched in the gut as all the oxygen in my body was sucked out, violently.
It was pretty obvious to me in that one word that Bella and I weren't as much on the same page about where our relationship was going as I had thought. Although I had not planned on making my intentions of where I thought we were headed so obvious at that very moment in time, I certainly hadn't expected that response.
I felt sick and swallowed as the bile rose in the back of my throat, knowing it was a stupid thing to have done, even unconsciously, after what had occurred between us the day before. I just didn't realize it would hurt so much when she refused me; I took a shallow breath, still unable to breathe properly. It seemed my lungs had been sucked out of my body along with all of the oxygen.
"I'm sorry, Bella," I choked.
"Edward," she said, stepping into me and wrapping her arms around my middle.
My eyes closed and as much as it probably makes me a pansy to admit it, they were burning with tears as her rejection tore my heart to shreds.
As much as I was hurting at that moment, I couldn't stop myself from wrapping my arms around her and pulling her into a tight embrace, burying my face in her hair as she pressed her cheek against my chest, her hands curled in the fabric at the back of my shirt.
I could feel her body shivering in my arms.
"I just meant, why now?" she murmured into my chest. "Why this moment? Why tonight?"
She pulled back slightly to look up at me and even in the moonlight I could see her eyes shining with unshed tears of her own.
"Why, Edward. Not no," she whispered. "Just why would you ask that now?"
I sucked in a breath and thankfully didn't puke or pass out as her words hit me square in the chest, seeming to re-inflate my lungs.
I figured my best plan of action in this situation was complete and utter honesty. So that's exactly what I did, I told her the truth.
"I honestly don't know, Bella," I said, brushing a stray hair blown across her face by the night breeze behind her ear before meeting her eyes again. "That wasn't my intention for asking you to come for a walk with me; I just wanted some time alone with you. I've thought about it quite a bit lately. I can't help it but I hadn't planned on asking you to marry me tonight."
I dropped my forehead against hers and closed my eyes, trying to get the words to come out right, to explain what I had been thinking for the last few days.
Hell, I had been thinking about it since the moment I met her if I was honest with myself.
"Bella," I murmured, opening my eyes and sliding a hand around her neck, my thumb grazing the soft curve of her jaw. "I love you more than life itself and I can't think of anything I want, or have ever wanted, more than to make you my wife. I swear to you that I had no intentions of doing this tonight, but that doesn't mean it's not something that I want so very badly. I know it's maybe not something you're ready to discuss just yet, and after yest-"
"Edward," she said, placing a finger over my lips, effectively stopping my rambling explanation. I pursed my lips to kiss her fingertip and she smiled. "I love you, so… so much... but I'm not going to lie, you shocked the hell out of me just now."
I nodded as she dropped her hand to my chest just over my heart, still with a soft smile on her face.
"I'm also not going to lie to you and say that I haven't had the same thoughts about things being more… permanent between us."
My eyes widened and my heart slammed against my ribs, making my head swim slightly as what she said sank into my brain.
"But…I think that this is something we need to talk about," she said before pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. "I… there's more than just you and I involved in a decision like this and I think that… maybe… maybe let's just leave it on the table and discuss it a little more when we get back home. Okay?"
"Okay," I whispered.
Bella smiled as she looked up into my eyes. I could see everything she felt for me burning in those chocolate depths and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was the absolutely luckiest man on the face of the Earth.
I pulled her face toward mine and finally brought my lips to hers once again in a slow, tender kiss. I tried to put everything I was feeling at that moment, all the love and all the promise I could muster, into that one kiss.
"I love you."
~O~
When we returned to our family neither of us mentioned anything about what had transpired with my little impromptu proposal. Though I caught a strange look on my mother's face, she didn't say anything.
As I stood off to the side of the back lawn of my parents' home talking with one of my father's oldest friends I found myself taking in the site of the party my mother and sister had put together to celebrate the upcoming addition to the family. There was nothing like a party thrown by those two and again they had outdone themselves.
I had watched both my mother and Alice talking and laughing with guests all day long. It had not escaped my notice how they took Bella under their wing and introduced her to everyone in attendance.
It was a beautiful sight to see how easily Bella had slipped right into the folds of my family.
Watching Bella laughing at something the governor's wife was saying, I replayed the night before in my mind once again as I pretended to pay attention to what the man to my left droned on about.
I couldn't help the slight feeling of disappointment at not being able to actually call her my fiancée, even knowing that, for now, tabling the idea of marriage was the best solution.
I tried to take some comfort in the fact she had not said no and slapped me for being such an idiot to propose without any conscious thought as to what I was actually doing at that moment. Bella being Bella had, on the contrary, made it quite clear that we were indeed on the same page about our future; we were just putting further decisions and discussions on hold for the time being.
Honestly, I wasn't sure how long I could wait to continue that discussion and that's what I was thinking about as I felt a small hand slide into mine and looked down to find Olivia looking up at me with a smile on her face.
"Hey, princess," I said, returning her smile though I noticed it seemed a little off. "You having fun?"
"Yeah, I guess," she shrugged and then cocked her head in the same adorable way I had seen Bella do on so many occasions when she wanted to ask me something but wasn't sure how to do it.
"What's up?" I asked, excusing myself from the conversation with Carlisle's friend. "You look like you have something on your mind."
"Who's that woman over there?" she asked, turning to point at the one person I had hoped would get sick or fall and break a leg or something and not show, but unfortunately the Gods were not smiling on me that day.
Irina stood talking with a group of women I knew to be the wives of a couple of Carlisle's partners.
"Um…that's uh," I stammered for a moment, trying to figure out just how to tell Olivia who Irina was to my family. "You remember Marcus, right?"
She nodded, looking at Irina and then back up at me once again.
"Well, she's with him… she's his girlfriend," I shrugged. "She wasn't with him when I introduced you guys a little earlier."
"Oh, okay," she said, but I could tell there was something still bothering her.
"Hey," I said, squatting down where I was on eye level and placed a hand on her cheek. "What's the matter?"
Olivia furrowed her brow and scrunched up her nose in yet another very Bella like expression. I bit the inside of my cheek and looked down quickly, trying really hard not to laugh.
I turned back to look at Olivia when I felt in a bit more control of the laughter.
"She…" her voice trailed off and she dropped her eyes to her shoes as she picked at an imaginary piece of lint at the hem of her top.
I reached out and curled a finger under her chin, lifting her face back up to meet my eyes.
"She what, sweetheart?" I asked, feeling slightly nauseated at the thought of Irina coming into contact with Olivia alone.
"I…. it's weird, she keeps looking at me funny… like she's mad at me or something and I don't know… I just didn't know who she was," she shrugged, looking at her shoes and trailing the toe of one in a circle.
I felt an anger engulf me that I didn't know could even exist as Olivia met my eyes with a completely confused and injured expression on her face.
She truly couldn't understand why someone she didn't even know could look at her in such a way. I stood quickly, picking her up and hugging her tightly to me.
"She's not mad at you, okay?" I said as I held her with one arm, placing a hand to the back of her head and she wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in the crook of my shoulder.
"Listen, I'm going to take you over to your mom, 'k?" Olivia nodded but didn't lift her head and my chest tightened even further with my need to protect her from feeling like she had done anything wrong. "I'll take care of it, don't you worry, okay? You haven't done anything wrong, baby."
"Okay," Olivia murmured and I felt her arms tighten.
I made my way quickly across the lawn toward where Bella now stood talking with Alice and a girl I'm pretty sure was Alice's college roommate. I really couldn't be bothered with remembering at that moment as I met Bella's worried gaze and she began moving toward me.
"What's wrong?" she asked, placing a hand on Olivia's back and looking up to meet my eyes as we reached her.
"She's fine," I said, giving her a look that I hoped conveyed the fact that I didn't want to get into it at the moment, but Olivia was truly okay.
I desperately did not want to make a scene and ruin Alice's day. Up to that point the party had gone off without a hitch, even with the tension of Irina's presence. On the whole, she had succeeded in keeping herself away from my family without there being any obvious avoidance. Considering the number of guests in attendance, it didn't take a lot of effort to stay away from one another.
I sat Olivia on her feet once again and crouched down, looking into her eyes and placing my hands on her upper arms.
"You remember what I said, right?" I quirked an eyebrow at her and smiled.
She returned my smile with a shy one of her own and nodded her head before leaning into hug me once again.
My heart felt as if it would burst from my chest with how much this child had come to mean to me. I truly couldn't imagine loving her any more if she was my own flesh and blood. And just as with her mother, I would do everything in my power to make sure she was safe and happy.
"All right," I said, releasing Olivia and kissing the top of her head as I stood. "You stay with your mom and I'll be back in a little bit, okay?"
Olivia nodded and smiled as she took Bella's hand. I turned from Olivia's eyes then to see Bella staring at me with a confused expression.
I leaned over to kiss her cheek and whispered, "I'll explain later," before turning to find my way back to where I last saw Irina.
Before I could locate Irina, I was met by my father who laid a hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks.
"Edward, son," he said, his hand tightening. "It's taken care of. Irina and Marcus are gone."
I looked at him for a moment, not quite comprehending what he was saying, my brow furrowing in confusion.
"What?"
"They're gone, son," he repeated slowly. "So, I think what you need to do right now is go inside and take a couple of minutes to calm down. The expression on your face is rather deranged and you're going to frighten someone," he chuckled slightly, but I could tell he was only half joking and trying to reduce some of the tension in my body at that moment.
I stared at him for what seemed like an hour but was probably no more than thirty seconds before nodding and spinning to make my way inside the house.
"….she came to me as soon as she overheard Irina asking Evelyn who Olivia was." My mother's voice wafted to me as I reached the door to the kitchen and I froze, knowing I shouldn't be eavesdropping but couldn't stop myself listening to my mother explain the circumstances behind Marcus and Irina's hasty departure.
"Oh, Mom, you should have seen the look on his face when he brought Olivia over to Bella," Alice said.
"I can only imagine," Esme chuckled. "Well, regardless, they're gone. Your husband made sure of that – discreetly, mind you – but the end result was the same and I really don't think we'll be worrying with Irina coming into any real contact with the family again."
I heard my mother and sister laugh and it sounded as though they were moving away.
As I stepped into the room, I heard the door close and could see them just on the other side of the glass making their way back to the party as it appeared several guests were beginning to say their goodbyes as the party wound down.
I shook my head and laughed, running a hand through my hair and shaking my head.
I would definitely be speaking to my brother-in-law in the near future to find out how that scenario went down. But for the moment, I grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge and chugged it before taking a deep breath and making my way back outside to find my girls.
So there it is... a little impromptu proposal and the end of Irina's shadow in their family. Wondering what Jasper had to say that had Marcus getting Irina out of dodge? So is Edward...*insert evil laugh here*
Thank you to those who are reading and reviewing, or just quietly out there, I thank you all for taking this ride with me.
I want to send a shout out to Babbette12, ladysharkey1, Cullen312, and jadsmama your reviews and support always bring a huge smile to my face. Love you all!
The outtake I promised you a couple chapters back of Olivia and Edward singing together before the trip to Seattle is complete. It's out in cyberspace as we speak on it's happy little way to Jessica1971 for beta and will post next weekend. I'm working on chapter 26 so hopefully we can get back on a regular posting through the final chapters, which are about 4 more my friends.
Until next time...
xoxoxoxoxo
bellasunderstudy1
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