So now this is really it. The end. Fin. Hasta la vista. I can't believe it! I think I'm a little in shock right now. Well, I hope I gave Jasper and Alice a proper send-off. First, I have to thank all of my readers and especially my reviewers for all of your support. It's awesome reading your reviews and very humbling as well as how many of you have added me to favorites and alerts. I'm truly touched. I'm so thrilled to see that so many of you seem to have fallen in love with these characters and their story as much as I have. (I mean, I know I loved them before but now…well, let's just say it's Jalice 4eva!) I also wanted to let you know that if you are interested in reading my next story well, it's going to be a Carlisle/Esme tale called "Whom I Love Alone"—hope you'll like it. I'll try to post the first chapter soon. And now drum roll…the Visions of Love Jalices (that's my name for the awards, lol!)
The Alice Who Definitely Kept Me Steeped in Happiness With Her Reviews: AliceSteepedInSadness
The Cheerleader Who Has Taught Me Inter-Country Communications Skills: Ilithiya
The Wolfgirl Who Is Slowly Making Me a Believer in the Pack: Wolfgirl404
The Reviewer Who Champions These Characters and Makes Me Crave Cupcakes Every Time I See Her Screenname: Sprinkledwithtwilight
Reviewer I've Missed Lately Because She Also Has Awesome Stories: Sidney Loves Werewolves
Reviewer Who Has the Knack for Picking Out My Favorite Lines Too: IamIyesha
Okay and now honorable mentions to those I haven't heard from in a while but whose faithful reviews really kept me going: angeleyenc, 2lulu2, laughingbubbles18, edwardcullenfan1918
If you weren't mentioned, please don't think that I don't appreciate your reviews, I do! These are just the ones I've had the most contact with and have also usually contacted me outside of this crazy arena. And please, please, PLEASE, one last review for the road? Pretty please? Keep in mind, I've never held a chapter hostage for reviews but really want to hear final thoughts! Thanks for making this such an amazing, memorable journey. Now all aboard, last call!
Disclaimer: I have written this as a fan of Stephenie Meyer's work and do not claim any ownership to the characters or plot lines (only my own original ideas!) of the Twilight Saga novels or anything Twilight-related.
Visions of Love
Epilogue: Forks
Jasper's POV
Forget Paris. Forget Rome. Forget Rio. Forks, Washington, population 3,120. That's where we were spending our honeymoon. And it was perfect. Of course, I figured anywhere that I was alone with Alice was a little piece of my very own heaven on Earth. Which worked out since I'd probably never get to experience the real thing anyway.
Esme had offered us use of her very own island, somewhere near Brazil—apparently a gift from Carlisle at some point. She hadn't offered the entire story and the tiny smile on her face had kept me from asking—not wanting to intrude on her privacy. And actually, I was pretty sure I didn't want to know the story since she and Carlisle were kind of like my parents now.
Plus, I wasn't too keen on going too far. One, I didn't know about Alice but I couldn't wait to be alone and get our married life underway. But at the same time, I didn't want to be too far away from our new family. Carlisle especially had taken me under his wing. He seemed to intuitively know what a struggle my new "lifestyle" was for me. Either that or Edward was sharing what he read in my thoughts with Carlisle. But I didn't think so. Although, it helped being with Alice, I still felt safer, more in control of my monster when I was around my family. Safety in numbers I guess.
That's why I'd jumped on the option Carlisle offered us. This house, right outside of Forks. A house they hadn't lived in for decades but sounded like the best place for us. The only caution Carlisle had give was we were to stay off of the nearby Quileute Indian reservation—some place called La Push. No problem. I didn't really plan on us doing much sightseeing on this trip anyway. And honestly, one nasty-tasting deer tasted the same whether it was Alaska, La Push or Forks.
We'd wanted to get here as quickly as possible so we'd run down from Gustavus—Alice by my side the entire way, just as I dreamed it would always be. It'd been interesting traipsing through the forests of Washington bringing back memories of our first trip through on our way to the Cullens what seemed like a lifetime ago.
I'd been so unsure of everything then. Everything except Alice. Well, I was still unsure about a lot of things. Except for Alice. And the way I felt about her. I still couldn't get over what a lucky SOB I was to have convinced her to bind herself to me forever.
We'd slowed to a more normal pace as we'd approached the winding driveway leading up to the house. I instinctively grabbed Alice's hand and I felt her turn her head, her gaze resting on my face. If I could have, I'm sure I would've blushed. I just couldn't help myself—I had to touch her in some way if she was within reaching distance. I started to drop her hand but her grip tightened on mine—refusing to let go. Now I was the one to turn my gaze on her. She had one of her goofy imp's grins, a knowing look in her eyes.
"So we're here." Her tone was hushed. She'd turned her head back toward the towering house in front of us. I couldn't help but half-smile. The Cullens apparently did not know the meaning of a "little fixer-upper" as Carlisle had described the house to me.
"Yep, looks like it." Okay, that was idiotic. But I suddenly felt shy. As if this were the first day I'd met her rather than our first day as man and wife. Neither of us had moved a muscle since coming to a stop in front of the steps leading to the porch. I was feeling her nervous energy and it only served to increase my own anxiety. She was always so dadblasted set on making human memories that I was sure I was forgetting to do or say something that she wanted. I was sure if I just waited long enough, she'd lose the battle against keeping her mouth shut and wanting me to figure it out on my own and would blurt out whatever it was she was expecting me to do. Any second now. Yep.
I felt a flush of heat through my body as the seconds ticked by. She cleared her throat lightly. Dammit, if I was Edward, I'd already know what she was thinking. She slowly turned her body towards me, keeping hold of my hand as she faced me. I glanced sidelong down at her expectant upturned face. Hell's bells, I was totally missing something. But what? A small sigh escaped her pursed pink lips. She glanced at the house and then back at me.
I glanced to where her gaze had fallen and then it hit me. I nearly smacked my forehead with my hand but I'm sure she already realized what a dolt I was. Of course! One of the most "human" memories a new bride could want. Without a second hesitation, I suddenly swept her into my arms, a look of surprise causing her eyes to widen as she looked into my face only inches from hers now.
"Jazz!" Her voice lilted sing-song like. I leaned in and gave her a swift, hard kiss. Then I moved forward, easily juggling her while opening the front door at the same time. "Well, here we go, Mrs. Hale." Her eyes twinkled at the use of her new name and I had to admit, it felt damn right to say it as I carried her over the threshold.
Then there were no more words for minutes, hours, days—who knew how long? As always, words weren't necessary when my pixie and I were together. And if I could keep my monster leashed, then my fervent hope was that that's the way it would always be. Forever.
Alice's POV
The real thing had lived up to so much more than I had expected with my wedding vision. And of course, the honeymoon, well…A delightful shiver ran up my spine and I felt my toes curl just at the thought of how much better the honeymoon was turning out than I could ever have imagined.
Jazz and I had found a lovely secluded meadow not too far from the house in Forks and had taken up the custom of coming and spending the late afternoons here through the night. We'd both missed looking up at the stars through our glass ceiling in our tower room back home. Not that we'd done much stargazing up to this point. A small smile touched my lips at the memories of all the reasons we'd been too engrossed to care up until now.
In fact this was the first "breather" we'd taken for awhile. The first time I'd had any thoughts about anything other than Jazz and how very delicious and wicked he made me feel. I gave a little stretch like a cat and rolled over resting my head on his shoulder while throwing an arm over his waist. I glanced up and noticed him looking up at the stars. I wondered what he was thinking…I couldn't help but think that it would be nice to have Edward's gift sometimes.
At the flash of Edward's name in my mind, I suddenly felt the strange prickling that would start behind my eyes and radiate through my temples when a vision was coming on.
I was in the meadow. It was filled with flowers and tall green grass. Strange, where was Jazz? And then I saw him. He seemed hesitant to come out. Maybe because the sun was shining down. But it wasn't Jasper. It was Edward. What was he doing here? And then I heard her voice. I whipped my head around and there she was. I'd seen her before but hadn't really put it all together. It was the dark-haired girl with the chocolate brown eyes. I knew she was meant for Edward. And now I could see. He wasn't going to be alone! And it was going to have to happen here!
The vision faded and my temples throbbed a little like they usually did when a vision came on me unbidden. I felt a laugh bubble up inside of me and escape my lips. Jazz shifted and looked down at me, one eyebrow raised in that quizzical look he gave me sometimes. Okay, a lot of times.
"Care to share, pixie?" I was so excited I couldn't help myself—I flung myself over his waist, straddling him, resting my hands lightly on his chest as I laughed down, capturing his gaze with my own. He smiled my favorite lopsided smile back, obviously feeling the effects of my good mood.
"I saw Edward in our meadow." Jasper's eyes darted from one side to the other as he pulled his head up. I laughed again. "Not now, soldier." He relaxed, resting his head back on the ground. "Good," he growled as he ran his hands from my shoulders down my bare arms causing that shiver to dance down my spine again. I grasped his hands with my own interlocking our fingers.
"I mean, I saw him in our meadow someday. With a girl." I grinned down at Jazz. His brow creased in confusion. Dang, back to being freaky vision girl who forgot others didn't see what I saw. Well, okay, freaky married vision girl. For someone who didn't think they had very good self-control or patience, Jasper was the very picture of the patience of Job when he dealt with me. He didn't say anything, just waiting for me to continue. He knew I'd get the whole story out eventually.
As more flashes came to me, I looked down at him again and this time my brow was creased. "Well, crap. This won't be our meadow after we leave here. It's going to become Edward's. We'll show it to him. And then someday, he'll meet her. The human girl. And she's his. Like I'm yours. Like Rose is Emmett's. She's going to be his reason for existing." Another flash hit me then and I gasped. "And she's either going to be one of us. Or he's going to be unable to control himself." I shuddered. Jazz sat up and wrapped me in his arms.
"Don't worry, pixie. Edward's strong. Probably second only to Carlisle in resisting. It'll be fine." I knew Jazz was right but I'd have to warn Edward someday. He pulled back slightly but kept his arms around me. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. "Trust me, if she means even half of what you mean to me, then he will resist." His whisper pierced my unbeating heart and I know it would have been thudding if it could. I would never ever get tired of how this unassuming cowboy soldier could reach my very depths with only a few words without ever realizing how much he touched me.
Then he molded his lips to mine in one of those slow-burning kisses that ignited me in ways that some of the most fiery kisses we'd had couldn't even compare. And all thoughts of Edward and his Bella fled my mind for a long, long time. Well, it could still be our meadow for a couple of more decades at least…