Chapter 37: MIA With Intent to Return

Bella's POV

The reception was really fun. Everyone stayed, even the tribal elders who seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. The wolves had a blast, dancing and devouring all the food. The vamps enjoyed trying all the different bloods available, though Roberto didn't bring the special ones with the potions in them. I didn't want a bunch of invisible wedding guests or we'd all be tripping over the ones we couldn't see.

Meanwhile Mandy was elated to be able to spend the evening hanging out with her son. Though we did make her dance with Carlisle during the wedding party dance-off. Charlie held back the growl I knew he was feeling and played with Baker instead. I took pictures during the dance-off of all our attendants dancing, including the huge smile on Alice's face while she got to dance with Jazz.

But of course even before all of that, we had welcomed our guests with a receiving line, and then the vamps had chatted and sipped our blood goblets while the humans and wolves dined. Once they had finished dinner, the music changed as Three Wolves and a Drummer took to the stage.

The first dance of the night was our first dance as husband and wife. The song we had chosen was At Last, by Etta James. Keeleigh, the wolf girl who was the new band's lead vocalist, had enough of a bluesy sound that she pulled it off really nicely. We had practiced the dance about a week before to make sure that it looked good, and we must've hit our mark because several people said afterward that they thought it was really sexy.

Speaking of sexy, we did the traditional garter toss, as Alice insisted. And hilariously enough, Edward caught it, much to Everest's amusement. I was pretty sure it would be a while before any wedding bells rang for them, considering Everest was still dating Darcy - though they were much more casual than they had been at first - and Edward had been inserting himself into Akio and Katsuko's lovelife pretty regularly, pun definitely intended.

No one was surprised though, when I threw the bouquet, that Tanya caught it. As the only one of the succubi sisters who had yet to find her mate, Tanya was often bordering on desperation. Perhaps the Volturi would have a nice Guardsmen she could steal when they finally decided to come stateside. Not that any of us wanted that to happen too soon. With the exception of maybe the single people, I assumed.

We skipped the whole feeding each other cake thing, since regurgitating cake didn't seem all that appealing to me. But there was a cake for the humans and there were a ton of toasts. Pretty much everyone made one, since we left it as an open mic for that. And we did link our arms in the typical fashion and drink from our blood goblets together, in lieu of the cake thing.

There was even a slideshow of candid pictures people had snapped of Jasper and I. There were a lot of pictures of us. In some ways it felt like only yesterday that I had first laid eyes on my mate but in reality, it was coming up on two years, (since I had arrived in January and our wedding was in September). So much had happened. We had even managed to graduate, with honors, that spring, in between fighting Peréz and Enrique.

All in all, the wedding was perfect. Our guests had a blast and we knew they would probably stay in the clearing for a long time, continuing the party until long after we left. Well, the vamps would at least, since they didn't have to sleep.

But we also knew that our family would make sure everything was cleaned up and attended to once it was all over. So we didn't feel guilty sneaking away early.

I had been supposed to take Baker back home, having been his designated babysitter, at least as far as his grandma knew, but that plan had changed.

Mandy's conscience had been weighing on her all night and she came to me and Jasper after all of the structured events were finished.

"I need to ask your permission for something. We're already in hot water with the Volturi, right?" She asked and we both nodded. "Okay well...I want to be the one to drop Baker off tonight. I want to tell my parents. They don't have close friends and we have no other family. It wouldn't be hard for them to keep the secret. That way Baker can stay with them, but I can see him as much as possible and they won't be so sad. If you really don't want me to, I won't," she worried, ringing her hands.

"We want you to." I nodded. "Alice told us about this an hour ago, the moment you decided to ask us. We've been talking about it ever since."

"You gotta know, it's still a risk fer Baker and yer parents though. I wouldn't recommend seeing them at their house other than this once. Because if a rogue vampire came through the area, they'd smell yer scent." Jasper warned her.

Mandy thought about it. "I know, that's why I think I should tell them the risks and see if they'd consider relocating somewhere closer to here, somewhere that is regularly patrolled. Would that be okay?"

We glanced at Alice, she gave us the thumbs up. "Seems like." I nodded. "Did you talk to my dad about all this?"

"Yeah, he's so supportive. He says whatever I think is best for Baker is what we should do. He even offered that we could try to raise him ourselves. But I don't think that's a good idea. Not now. He should get to go to school and make friends and be a normal kid. When he's older and understands about our world, he can choose for himself what he wants to do.

"Maybe he'll want to marry a hybrid or something and make me some grandbabies. Maybe he'll want to be turned. Or maybe he'll just want to grow old and live among humans. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know, I don't want to live in a world where my family has to grieve me while I'm standing right here alive." Mandy reasoned.

"Neither do I, Mandy." Jasper confessed.

We had been talking a lot lately about things we would like to see change if we were in power. The death penalty for humans who know the secret is definitely one thing we'd like to see change. Because if someone walks up to you and tells you about vampires, that isn't your fault. Especially if you didn't want to know. So you shouldn't have to die.

"So...you understand? It's okay if I tell them?" She confirmed.

"Yeah, we do. An' it is. Just make sure ya take Charlie when ya go see 'em. He'll want ta be there fer somethin' so monumental in yer life, I know he will." Jasper encouraged. "An' if anythin' at all goes wrong while yer there, check in with HQ okay? An' make sure ya check yer texts. We'll have our phones on the whole time we're away an' we'll be checkin' in case anythin' changes across the ocean," he told her.

"Okay, thank you both so much!" Mandy nodded.

"No worries, Kiddo." He smiled.

"And since we don't have take Baker home now, we're probably gonna sneak outta here early," I told her.

"Can't say I blame you." Mandy giggled. "Thanks for everything." She smiled, giving us both a hug.

"Don't mention it." I waved as we headed off to say the rest of our goodbyes.

Once we'd said farewell to everyone and had a bittersweet, emotional parting with Alice, they cued the fireworks for our send off and we asked Akio to teleport us to the bed and breakfast where we would be spending our wedding night.

And yes, we realized the irony of a vampire couple staying at a bed and breakfast, but it was actually a place called Thornwood Castle and it was worth the awkwardness of having to leave before breakfast the following morning and pretending it was because we had an early flight.

Jasper Sr.'s POV ;-)

When we finally got away from the weddin' an' got teleported to the Castle, it was the wee hours of the mornin'. Which was okay 'cause we'd paid fer two nights stay and an early check in. An' I'd told 'em we'd be comin' in at odd hours.

So I'd taken our luggage over there before the weddin' and gotten the key then. Not that we needed the key when we had a teleporter but it was essential to have it, just in case.

Anyway, the plan was ta have a nice leisurely day an' night, complete with a whole lotta sex, and then check out long before breakfast the followin' mornin'. I was just glad we had a plan that involved me makin' love to my wife.

"You're my wife." I told Bella, grinnin' like an idiot, once we'd gotten into our room and got settled.

"Yes, I am." She laughed.

"I have a wife." I repeated, in awe, lettin' in sink in, while I slowly n' carefully started helpin' her outta that gorgeous weddin' dress. I'd never seen anythin' like it. It was camouflage pattern but yet it still managed to make her look like a princess.

I'd been fightin' a massive hard-on all night thinkin' 'bout that dress. So much so that I decided to leave it on fer the first time. "Darlin'," I groaned, layin' her back on the bed an' hikin' the dress up.

I removed all the fancy underthings so I would have better access before feastin' on her. "I'm sorry if it is ungentlemanly, but I gotta have you in that dress," I explained before delvin' into her sweet folds, dyin' ta taste her nectar.

"Fuck, Jasper!" She cried out, eager fer more. I added my fingers ta the equation an' soon, I had her clenchin' in ecstasy.

Not wantin' to waste any time, I undressed myself. Then, with her dress still on, I maneuvered us so that I could make love to her without wreckin' the dress, and I quickly plunged my eager shaft within her.

Her muscles were still clenchin' an' it spurred me on. I thrust harder an' faster, though not usin' my full speed or strength, not wantin' ta break the beautiful bed.

Which meant I couldn't give it to her nearly as rough as I knew she wanted. My girl had always been kinky, ever since my accidental hardwirin' durin' her change. Still though, I knew it would be enough fer the time bein' an' our next stop after the castle was to be a remote island, where I could make her scream as loud as she wanted an' no one would hear or care.

I reached down to touch her where our bodies met with one hand, while the other began pinchin' her nipples through the dress.

"Jasper! I'm gonna…cum!" Bella shrieked as quietly as possible.

Feelin' her passage tighten around me an' makin' her sexy lil' toes curl while her big beautiful doe eyes rolled back in her gorgeous head was definitely one o' the highlights o' that day, though there had been many.

An' I knew in the weeks ta come there'd be many, many more.

"I love you, Jasper." She whispered, comin' down from her high.

"I love you, Mrs. Whitlock." I beamed.

An' I know I truly had ta be the happiest man on earth.

AN: Okay so this one was short, but the last one, and the one after it are really long, so I hope that makes up for it. When I revitalize this story eventually, I may had a few more scenes in this chapter to show more of the honeymoon, but for now, I think short and sweet is okay for this section.

Next is the Epilogue, which I'm really, really, super excited about because I started writing it in the early stages of this story and it has always been what I've been leading things up to.

There won't be an author's note at the end of it though because I don't want anything to detract from the ending.

So please, as always, put me outta my misery and press review so I know how y'all feel about this one.

Thanks again to all my readers, reviewers, followers and faves! Y'all are the reason I do this!

Love, Hugs, and Blessings!

-BMW