A/N: Here it is folks. The first part in the epilogue series. I'm sorry I didn't respond to reviews this week with teasers, but I haven't been feeling very well and I've been crazy busy trying to wrap this baby up. Thank you all who have reviewed. Please know that even when I don't get the chance to respond, I do read and love every single one of them ^_^ so thank you again.
Oh...and please read the end note before reviewing! Thanks! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Any and everything Twilight related belongs to SMeyer. Any and everything related exclusively to Tides of Fate belongs to me.
Epilogue Part 1
BPOV
"Charlie!" I yelled, making my way from the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs. "Let's go already! We're gonna miss our flight!"
It had been an absolute insane year for everyone since we'd left Isle Esme. So much had happened in the last twelve months, it was hard to even figure out where to begin. My parents had finalized their divorce at the beginning of September, and to everyone's surprise, both of them had gotten remarried by Valentine's Day.
My father had moved out of the house he'd shared with my mother shortly after he'd told me they were getting a divorce, and stayed with Grammy Swan just until Christmas day...the day he shocked everyone by standing from the dinner table and dropping down on one knee in front of Beth to propose to her right then and there. They got married on Valentine's Day, joined only by close friends and family in a little white chapel just outside of Forks. It was beautiful and simple, perfect for the two of them. I'd never seen my father happier than on that day.
My mother, once she'd gotten over her initial resentment of the divorce, decided to sign herself up for some crazy kind of singles adventure vacation. She took off on a flight headed for Mexico where she went sky diving, scuba diving, zip lining, biking, rafting, and parasailing...and met the love of her life. Phil Dwyer.
Phil's an interesting man - a renaissance man of sorts. He's a retired semi-pro baseball player that's also been a teacher, coach, truck driver, driving instructor, and up until he met Renee, a singles adventure vacation tour guide. The pair of them are a match made in heaven - always onto their next great thrill seeking adventure together. They met in November and were married on New Year's Eve.
The most amazing thing that had happened after their divorce? Charlie and Renee managed to rekindle the friendship they'd once shared. In fact, the four of them are thick as thieves now...unbelievable. I know.
"DAD! Good Lord! Even Renee and Phil beat you to the airport! Shake a leg already!" I yelled up the stairwell. I swear at some point he and Renee had switched bodies because where we'd once always joked that Renee would be late to her own funeral...it was, in fact, Charlie that I was now placing my bets on.
"Love, he's coming. Relax. We have plenty of time before the flight leaves," Edward chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me.
From the very beginning our relationship had been tested to its limit...and we'd survived it all. More than survived. Every hurdle we'd had to cross, every obstacle that had been placed in our path, every fight, every misunderstanding...each and every one of them had only brought us closer together.
Granted most of those fights, hurdles, obstacles, and misunderstandings took place during the first four months of our relationship. To this day I will say that the most foolproof way to make two people know every in and out of what makes the other tick...it's to slap them together for almost three and a half months straight with little opportunity for anything but work for one of them.
I learned quickly that Edward is a very restless man. He has to be doing something constantly or he'll go bat shit crazy. Anything longer than a few days straight of lounging around a hotel room, or accompanying me to signing events and interviews - which are a complete bore to him and unbearably stressful for me - and he starts bouncing off the walls like a crazy man.
By the end of the first month of the tour, it seemed we fought every time we had more than just a few short hours to spend with each other, with no fans asking questions or begging for things to be signed, no journalists asking about prior or future projects and things like that - just us. Not only did we fight, but we found ourselves fighting over some of the most ridiculous things known to mankind. Like how I didn't take my birth control pill at the same exact time every day, or how he'd scowl when any man requested a picture with me at a signing event and put his arm around me for the photo...even if said man was obviously gay. It was utterly ridiculous.
After one particularly bad fight, caused by a very chatty and flirtatious journalist that kissed my hand while thanking me for an interview, I headed off to yet another signing event with only Angela, as Edward had claimed he'd seen enough men pawing over me for one day. When I returned, I found the hotel room empty, and even though the fact that his clothes were still there told me he hadn't left for good, it still felt as though he had. I feared that when he returned, he'd say he was done and he couldn't do it anymore.
When he did return, he found me sitting in a sea of crumpled tissues on the bed, repeatedly worrying my ring to the point I was afraid the stones would fall out. That was the last major fight we'd had. He spent the entire night apologizing for how he'd acted, the things he'd said, and for leaving without so much as a note to tell me where he'd gone. And of course, in typical Edward form, he'd done so while making love to me.
I'll never understand why the majority of our deepest and most meaningful conversations take place during sex, but I'll never complain about it either, because it's when we're making love that I feel we're the most connected. Like we're one person, sharing one heart and one soul.
"Baby...it's an international flight. It takes off in just under two hours and we're a half hour from the airport. We're supposed to be there already," I pouted. He just chuckled and kissed my bottom lip before looking up our stairwell.
"Let's get a move on Chief!" he yelled, laughing slightly. "I'd like to make it to the altar sometime this century!"
"Hold your horses...sheesh. You actually managed to make it the full year to the wedding without suffering bodily harm from me...don't make me strangle you now, boy," Charlie laughed, appearing at the top of the steps in his hideously vibrant colored and flowered tropical button down shirt, khaki shorts, and brown leather moccasins. I swear the only thing the man was missing was a straw hat and a fishing pole...and maybe a cooler of beer.
"You look beautiful Dad...I'm sure the hummingbirds will mistake you for the local nectar buffet the minute you get out the door," I snickered just as an obnoxious horn started blaring...again.
"Tell that driver if he hits that damn horn one more time he's gonna eat it," Charlie grumbled as he made his way down the steps with his suitcase.
"That's not the driver, Dad...it's your wife," I chuckled, rolling my eyes as I opened the front door.
"CHARLES SWAN! MOVE YOUR BUTT! AT THIS RATE YOU'LL BE LATE TO YOUR OWN FUNERAL!" Beth yelled and both Edward and I cracked up as we stepped out onto the front porch.
"You see that son? You're looking at your future. Still want to marry this harpy little thing?" Charlie joked as he slapped him on the back and gestured between his wife and me.
"More than ever," he answered, his eyes smoldering at me as a crooked grin graced his lips.
"Don't say I didn't warn ya, kid," he laughed, walking away from us as I set the alarm on the house before shutting the door and locking the deadbolt as Edward wrapped his arms around me. I turned in his embrace and smiled as I leaned up on my toes to softly kiss his lips.
"Have everything?" he sighed as I lowered myself. "Your dress?" he asked and I nodded as he continued to count everything off. "Suitcase? Passport? Photo ID? Did you make sure the stove was off? Coffee maker? Iron? Did you grab your shoes for the dress?" he asked and I gasped as I pulled my key back out.
I had it half way in the door before he started chuckling and my hand dropped to my side as I turned and laughed.
"You jerk!" I guffawed as I swatted him. "I'm not wearing shoes for the wedding."
"I know...I just couldn't resist with how anxious you've been about thinking you would forget something," he chuckled and then kissed my forehead before leading me away from the door.
"Hey, did you get that message from Angela last night about not forgetting to give her your finalized copy of your super secret manuscript?" he asked and I stopped dead in my tracks as I choked on the air filling my throat and lungs.
"Shit," I squeaked, turning to run back up to the door. "I knew I would forget something, I told you!"
The only sound I was met with was his hearty laugh as I bolted back into the house, disengaged the alarm and ran up the steps, heading for my office. I dug the key for the bottom drawer of my desk out of it's hiding place - in the picture frame Edward had painted with hearts galore all over it and behind the photo of Edward and I sleeping in the cabana by the pool with Maddie and Vinnie - and hurriedly opened the drawer to pull out the envelope I'd placed the manuscript in. With the envelope in hand, I darted back down the steps and reset the alarm before locking the house up behind me.
"We need to make a quick stop on the way," I told the driver as I climbed into the van. He nodded and I gave him the address for Angela's office. I was gonna owe her huge for pulling this off for me, but it'd be worth kissing her ass until the day I died.
"Hey, Bells...have you heard from your grandmother recently?" Charlie asked suddenly.
"Yeah, I talked to her yesterday? Maybe the day before?" I answered, unsure of when exactly I'd talked to her, but knowing it had been very recently.
"Is she ever planning on coming home?" he asked, quirking a brow at me as he turned in his seat.
"What?" I snorted. "Of course she's coming home. At the end of the summer with the rest of us. Why?"
"I don't know...it just seems like this island we're heading off to is like the Bermuda Triangle or something," he said and Edward and I burst into laughter.
"Really, Dad? The Bermuda Triangle? You need to stop watching the Discovery Channel late at night," I snickered, shaking my head.
"Don't mock me, Isabella. I'm serious," he warned half heartedly. "First the three of you go there and not one of you actually wanted to come back. Then your mother goes there with Phil for their honeymoon and didn't want to come back. Now your grandmother went there with you two a month ago for what was supposed to be four days and she didn't come back," he rambled, looking slightly nervous which made me laugh even harder.
"Dad...it's just an island," I sighed, still laughing lightly as I wiped away at my eyes. "Mom and Phil didn't get the chance to do everything they wanted to do before their vacation was over, which is why she didn't want to leave. The island itself had nothing to do with why Rosalie, Alice and I didn't want to leave, and Grammy just decided to stay so she could be a part of putting our wedding together with Esme and Aunt Di. I think she was feeling a little left out of the mix in the planning of her only grandchild's wedding, so when Esme offered for her stay and give her a much needed hand, Grammy jumped for it. It's not the black hole of the universe you seem to be thinking it is."
"Yeah...we'll see about that," he grumbled, turning to look out the window as Beth looked back at us and rolled her eyes while circling a finger next to her temple and mouthing "He's crazy."
"I am not crazy!" Charlie scoffed after catching Beth's reflection on the van's tinted window. "I'm just wondering if I should have put in for early retirement instead of using all my saved up paid time off to go somewhere I might never return from."
"Oh Charlie..." Beth tittered. "That right there proves that you're not crazy...you're absolutely certifiable."
My father's answering sardonic grin had me in absolute stitches, laughing so hard that the sides of my stomach were on fire as I hopped out of the van to run my package up to Angela's office. She wasn't in her office when I got there so I hurriedly scrawled out a short note, thanking her for the last minute favor and telling her I'd see her and Ben at the rehearsal dinner on Thursday before practically running back down to the waiting van.
The rest of the drive to the airport was filled with lively chatter, and at one point, Edward actually strapped me down to the seat with a seatbelt because I was bouncing around so much in excitement. I was like Alice on Amp energy drinks, and had been that way for a solid two weeks. It was just unreal to me that we'd finally made it to the week of our wedding. Finally.
Even though it had only been a year, it sometimes felt like it'd been so much longer. It was hard for me to even remember a time when we hadn't been together anymore. It just felt like he'd always been with me. To look back and see everything that we'd been through together and overcome along the way...it was eye opening to say the least.
In just one year, we'd celebrated the marriages of both of my parents...as well as Alice and Jasper. Although they'd originally planned to wed the year after us, the surprise news of her being pregnant had sprung them into instant action, both of them wanting to be married before their unexpected little one arrived.
Neither had been aware of it at the time, but when she started feeling ill routinely just before Edward and I left for the book tour in mid August, she went to the doctor and came back with the startling news. They'd done an ultrasound and estimated her conception date to be somewhere around the second week of July...right around the time they'd gotten engaged.
They were married in a gorgeous candle lit outdoor ceremony the weekend after my birthday in September, and Edward and I had flown in for a hasty weekend visit to attend it. Jonathan Edward Whitlock was born March twenty-eighth - a little more than two weeks early but healthy as could be.
Alice cried like a baby when the doctor had put to rest all of her worries over whether the alcohol she'd consumed while unaware of her pregnancy had harmed him. He was perfectly fine and healthy; ten fingers, ten toes, good vitals, twenty inches long and only slightly underweight due to his early arrival...though that didn't last very long. He's the pudgiest almost three month old I've ever seen with dark brown hair and striking ice blue eyes just like his father's. Absolutely adorable.
Jonathan isn't the only one we've welcomed into the family this past year either. On January twentieth, Kylie Anne Mallory officially became Kylie Anne Cullen again...and for good this time.
Kylie's biological parents readily agreed to allow Emmett to adopt her during their first informal hearing...on one condition. They'd agreed to sign over full guardianship to him and waive all of their parental rights in exchange for his cooperation with the Assistant District Attorney and Lauren's court appointed lawyer to offer her a plea bargain, lessening the charges they were seeking from a felony indictment of child neglect and abandonment - for leaving her on his doorstep without even checking to see if he was home...or even in the country...which he hadn't been - down to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment.
Not wanting to drag Kylie through what could have been at least a year full of hearings and trials, and wanting to secure his permanent guardianship of her as quickly as possible so neither he nor Kylie would ever have to worry about her being taken from him again, Emmett and Rosalie decided together that he would go along with the plea bargain deal. Even though the process had gone smoothly, it seemed as though it had taken an eternity for their January court date to arrive.
Lauren was released from jail the day of the hearing on time already served, but was slapped with an additional two hundred hours of community service and an impassioned lecture over her deplorable actions by the judge before she adjourned the hearing. Kylie's father had never been charged with anything since he'd taken off on both she and Lauren years prior. He'd only shown up and stuck around long enough to sign over his parental rights to Emmett the day of their first hearing. Instead of looking relieved that his child was unharmed and was now being cared for properly…he seemed to only be relieved that he wouldn't have to pay child support any longer. A match made in a dumpster the pair of them were, I'd say.
On the day the family returned from the courthouse, Rosalie called everyone in and threw what was possibly the biggest welcoming wagon party I've ever seen, celebrating her return to the family in which she so rightfully belonged.
I'd dare a single person to ever contest the fact that that little girl isn't Emmett and Rose's daughter in every way... because she's just likethem. It's frightening...truly it is. Wavy blonde hair like Rose's, eyes as blue as the sea like both of them, a thorough mix of Emmett's jovial demeanor and Rose's wicked sense of sarcasm. If God could have molded the perfect child from the two of them...Kylie was that child.
Emmett's house is currently on the market, as both he and Kylie have moved into Rosalie's spacious home. Their decision on her house over his was based solely on the fact that Rosalie's neighborhood had tons of kids that Kylie had already become friends with over the last few weeks of summer. It was really a no-brainer decision as she'd spent nearly every day after school at Rosalie's house anyway.
Rose had started picking her up from school when Kylie practically begged Emmett to stop sending her to Mrs. Stinky-burger's house every day. Poor woman...her name was Eichelberger but Kylie had taken to calling her Stinky-burger because she was always a bit liberal with the "Eau de Ol' Lady" perfume as Emmett liked to say.
Most days, Rose made her finish her homework before letting her out to play in the neighborhood, but every now and again she'd have to bring her back to work with her. Kylie didn't seem to mind it, however, as she'd become quite the grease monkey herself, soaking up every last bit of what Rosalie taught her. The kid's nine years old and can change your oil and tires...probably your serpentine belt and spark plugs too. Hell I can't even tell you what a spark plug looks like, much less how to change one...which Kylie thinks is gut wrenchingly hilarious.
Why Emmett and Rosalie haven't even gotten engaged yet is a mystery to us all as they're the perfect little family, but we all know it's inevitable eventually.
While we've celebrated new members joining our family, we've also mourned the loss of another. The second week of December, Caius passed away in his sleep. I'll never forget the look on Edward's face when I'd looked up from the book I'd been signing for a fan, the smile on my face vanishing the very second I spotted him, eyes puffy and red rimmed. I'd known instantly that something was horrifically wrong and nearly toppled the table over in my haste to get to him. We cut my book tour short right then and there and hopped the first flight to Italy immediately to pay our respects and be with our family in their time of need.
His passing only made it that much more clear to all of us that whatever time we're permitted in life, shouldn't be taken for granted. There may not always be a tomorrow, and that's something Edward and I have lived by ever since.
In the year that we've been together, there hasn't been a single family function or event that we've missed, and not a single chance to get together has been overlooked. Our kitchen calendar is constantly being filled with plans ranging from attending Kylie's school functions, Alice's fashion events, Rose's car shows, Emmett, Edward, and Jasper's ground breaking ceremonies with each new project they take on, anniversaries, birthdays...you name it and there's something written in there for it.
There's even a block on every single Sunday through the entire calendar labeled Fishing with Pops. That's all Edward right there...I'm still overly wary of anything even resembling a fish hook. I've been scarred for life by that hook I took in the arm a year ago. He thinks it's absolutely hilarious. I, however, think he's absolutely retarded if he thinks I'll ever handle a fishing pole again with one of those lethal buggers attached to it.
It's amazing to see how closely the two of them have bonded. I'm not sure whether to accredit Charlie's change in demeanor to his own newfound happiness in life, or if it was the events of Thanksgiving that had made him have a change of heart on my soon to be husband.
We'd flown in from New York to spend the holiday with my family, and it had been a complete utter disaster from the start. Charlie and Beth had invited Billy, and of course along with Billy came Jacob. It was surprising that he'd come without a date, as I'd expected nothing less after Charlie had informed me that he'd be there when we called to confirm our plans to head home for a four day weekend for the holiday. I'd fretted silently over what emotions would bombard me upon seeing him again, but when I came face to face with him for the first time in over two years...I felt nothing. I mean nothing. No pang of hurt for what he'd done or how he'd treated me, no longing for the friendship we'd once shared...there was just...nothing.
The realization of it actually made a giggle bubble out of me and, to everyone standing around me, I probably looked downright insane laughing at absolutely nothing. I would have most likely continued to feel nothing and laugh about it all if Jacob hadn't kept scowling at and making blatantly rude comments to Edward. Fifteen minutes into the meal and I wanted to fling my fork down the table and stab him right in the eye. Edward, the ever proper one in front of my father at the time, handled it a hell of a lot better than I did, letting all of it slide off his back with an easy going chuckle and perfectly timed chaste kisses and touches. He kept his cool the entire evening...
Right up until Jacob grabbed my arm and pinned me against the wall beneath Beth's stairwell.
I'd never seen Edward look more predatory than when he stalked toward us and ripped Jacob's offending hand off my arm, venom in his voice as he told him to keep his hands off his future wife unless he wanted to lose them.
Charlie had stepped in quickly, asking what had happened and when I'd told him, he'd grabbed Jacob by the collar of his shirt and threw him right out the front door into the freezing rain. My father stood out on the porch, towering over where Jacob had picked himself up off the muddy lawn, and told him that if he ever so much as looked at me the wrong way again, he'd get a restraining order on him...after beating him to a bloody pulp.
On his way back in, he paused next to Edward and I, as Edward was inspecting the red marks on my arm, and clapped him once on the shoulder. We didn't see him again until Christmas Eve, and haven't seen Jacob since, but after Charlie gave me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head, Edward held his hand out for the customary handshake…and everything changed.
Instead of shaking his hand with a slight scowl on his face as Edward had become accustomed to, Charlie swung an arm over his shoulders, slapped him on the back and led him toward the living room where he was watching a football game...leaving me standing there completely bewildered and wondering when my father had been abducted by aliens as I shut the door behind me and moved into the house.
They've been damn near inseparable ever since.
"Aunt Bella!" Kylie screamed as she spotted us walking up to our departure gate. She jumped off the chair she'd been standing on while watching the planes take off and came barreling in our direction. I laughed as I quickened my steps, picking her up in a tight hug and swinging her around as I kissed her cheek.
"How's my favorite niece?" I chuckled as I lowered her down. "Are you excited?" She was pretty tiny for a nine year old, and I often wondered if she'd be as tiny as Alice when she was full grown.
"Yes!" she squealed as she bounced on her toes. "Nana Esme said she made Daddy's old room into a princess's room for me!"
"Really now? I bet it's going to be the most beautiful princess room anyone's ever seen," I chuckled as I walked us forward to greet the rest of our awaiting party.
"I was beginning to worry you'd all miss the flight," my mom snickered as I wrapped my arms around her. I laughed and kissed her cheek as I released her and gave Phil a quick hug as he leaned in.
"It was close...I thought we were going to have to form a search and rescue party for Dad for a minute there," I chuckled, shaking my head and pointing at Charlie. "I'm beginning to swear his tardiness has something to do with taming that stash of his in the mirror."
After hugging everyone else and settling into our seats to wait the fifteen minutes we had left before boarding time - yeah we had cut it that close after standing in the security checkpoint line that was as long and slow moving as the Mississippi River filled with molasses - and Edward and I, and even Charlie and Beth, took turns holding chubby little Jonathan.
"Did you make a bottle for take off and landing to help with the pressure in his ears?" I asked as I passed him back to Alice.
"Yes ya damn walking maternal boob," she laughed as she rolled her eyes at me. "We've also been keeping him awake so hopefully he'll sleep through it like that article you sent me suggested."
"Can I please, please, pretty please have a cinnannom bun, Mama?" Kylie pleaded with Rose as I snickered at how she pronounced cinnamon. I saw in Rosalie's eyes the minute she'd said Mama that she'd won and not two seconds later, Rose lifted herself from her seat and took her hand, leading her away toward the sweets shop in the terminal. That kid could get the world out of Rose with that one simple word.
"How's Kylie adjusting to the new living arrangements?" I asked, knowing they'd been a bit worried over how the transition would affect her. She'd already been through so much and had her entire life flipped on its axis on more than one occasion, it was understandable that they'd be hesitant to uproot her yet again.
"So far so good...better than good actually," Emmett chuckled. "Kylie hasn't called her Rose once since the day we moved in. Not even when Lauren stops by for a visit...pisses her off something wicked too."
"I'll bet," Edward snorted. "Has Kylie started warming back up to her yet?"
When Emmett had begun allowing Lauren to visit Kylie, neither Edward nor I could understand why he'd even consider it after what she'd done, especially when the courts hadn't mandated it, but when he explained his reasoning...we couldn't really argue against it. We didn't like it, not at all, but he'd definitely had a point.
He didn't want to do to Kylie what Lauren had. He didn't want to keep her away from the only mother she'd known all her life. After having been too young the first time to have even really understood what was happening, or to even really try to fight against what her mother was doing, Em wanted it to be Kylie's choice whether she allowed Lauren to be a part of her life or not.
So far, and it's been about four months now, Kylie's been pretty damn obvious as to what her choice is.
"Hell no," he scoffed. "The girl operates in precisely two forms of 'piss off'around her...she either ignores the hell out of Lauren and stares at a spot on the floor or the ceiling, or she'll yap Lauren's ear off telling her "Mommy took me here" and "Mommy taught me this" and "Mommy and Auntie Alice took me shopping and Auntie Bella hid in the closet when we went to pick her up because she hates shopping."
He started laughing as he finished his tirade, looking dead at me as everyone else around us burst out in hysterics. I tried to fight off my amusement...but failed. Miserably too.
I really had hidden in the closet when they pulled in the driveway a few weeks back, but only because Alice had been dragging me through malls and shops nonstop for what felt like almost every day of an entire month. If she wasn't shopping for something for Jonathan, it was for a new bathing suit or outfit that would hide the "pudge" she claimed she had. Whatever pudge she was seeing - more like imagining - was beyond me, but just because I'd been dragged along with her so many times, I'd ended up with half a closet full of new clothes and "essential" crap that I fully intended on boxing and giving out as birthday or Christmas presents to anyone I could find. I was shopped out. Completely.
I spotted Rosalie and Kylie returning just as they started calling out for boarding of all first class passengers on our flight. We'd had to book everyone's flights all together and months in advance because our party was taking up the entire section. Both of my parents and their spouses argued with us relentlessly, trying to convince us to just purchase them regular economy seats. They were adamant that it was a tremendous waste of money, but we told them to forget about it and just deal with the hardships of flying first class, pointing out that the lack of being packed like sardines and actually being able to feel their ass and legs when they stood up wasn't going to kill them.
Edward and I had a bet going that they'd be singing an entirely different tune when we landed in Houston for our connecting flight to Rio. He seems to think Renee and Charlie will still think it's a waste of money, especially Charlie because he's such a "simple man".
I, however, am betting that when he doesn't smash his head on the ceiling when he stands and he doesn't have to rub his ass to get the blood flowing again, he'll never fly coach again. Well that and my secret weapon...he doesn't have to pay five bucks a beer...or wait in line for the lavatory when said beer runs its course. I'm so winning this one.
You're going down honey...better get Jasper and Emmett on those blueprints for our new deck and in ground heated swimming pool...
Our bets are totally ridiculous. If I win he has to pay to put in a pool and help build our new deck. If he wins, I have to buy him a new Vanquish since he decided to leave his down in Brazil for when we visit. I figured he would have bought another one before we left for my book tour, but the day he went with Emmett to look for a new car, I came home from my meeting with Angela to find a brand spankin' new Yukon Denali sitting in our driveway. The damn thing looked like a giant black bus taking up half the driveway. It even sounded like a bus too. He laughed when I asked him if we were expecting to become the Partridge family, but I was completely serious!
I only ever drove it once...and I had to park the damn thing like a mile away from the mall, at the very end of the parking lot because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get it into just one damn spot. Seriously...the thing needs like three...when I'm driving it at least. Rosalie and Alice laughed their asses off as I bitched and moaned the entire trek up to the mall entrance about how it was like driving a boat on land. It came in handy though with all the Christmas presents we packed into that thing while shopping on Black Friday...at least, it came in handy once they made me jog all the way out to the end of the lot to bring it to them because they refused to drag all of our bags back out to no man's land. Both of which I'll probably never, ever, do again...try to park the bus or shopping on or anywhere near that specific day of the year.
People can be just downright vicious when they see giant discount signs.
"You okay, baby?" Edward asked, placing the back of his hand against my forehead. "You're looking kind of flushed."
"Yeah...my stomach's a little queasy though. It's been that way since we took off," I replied as I rubbed my belly.
"You're not getting cold feet are you?" he joked.
"Never...Rose, Ali, Kate, and Kylie will be lucky if I don't trample them on my way up the aisle," I laughed and then groaned. "Did you check the expiration date when you made the last of the eggs this morning? Something's not sitting right."
"No, I didn't because I swore we just bought that carton last week," he said and then unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned around the side of his seat.
"Hey Pop, you're stomach feelin' okay? Bella's got a sour stomach and she thinks it's from the eggs," he asked my dad. Charlie and I had been the only ones to eat them since there had only been four left. Both Edward and Beth had eaten instant oatmeal...practically the only thing left in our kitchen after we'd thrown anything perishable out that wouldn't be used before we left.
"They tasted fine to me, but this old gut is made of lead. There ain't much in this world besides Renee's tuna casserole that can unsettle it," he chuckled just before I heard Renee smack him with what I assumed was the magazine she had been perusing.
"Oh God...Edward move," I blurted as I frantically tore at my seatbelt. Breakfast was coming up and there was nothing capable of stopping it.
I nearly toppled over him and headed straight to the floor in my haste but he caught me and righted me before I booked it to the bathroom. He crept in a few minutes later, carrying my toothbrush and a travel size tube of toothpaste in a plastic baggie, which he left on the sink before kneeling down next to me and rubbing my back.
"Sorry, love. I really should have checked the date on them," he said, his tone laced with worry and remorse.
"No," I sighed, pulling my head up from the bowl, "I should have looked when I threw everything else out. We didn't buy eggs last week..." I paused as I grimaced and slid to the floor on my ass, leaning against the wall. "Because I knew we wouldn't use them all before we left."
"You gonna be okay?" he asked, handing me a cool damp paper towel.
"Yeah...I think so anyway," I chuckled breathily.
He sat there with me until I was sure I wasn't going to need to make another mad dash for the can and then he helped me up off the floor. With a kiss to the forehead, he headed back to his seat and left me to freshen up.
"You alright there, chickadee? That was some canon ball run to the can," Rosalie said with a forced laugh, her eyes betraying her concern.
"Bad eggs," I replied with a sound that was half sigh, half groan. She grimaced and made an "Eeeuuugh" sound as she shook her head while I continued walking down the aisle.
"Hey, love...I had the stewardess bring you some crackers and a ginger ale to help calm your stomach," Edward said as he stood to let me into my seat. Once I was in it, he fluffed up the pillow he'd brought from home against the window and covered me with one of the airline blankets.
"Thanks babe," I smiled softly, nestling into the comfort and scent of his pillow.
I think I ate all of two crackers and drank a few sips of ginger ale before I passed out cold, only waking up when they announced our impending descent into Houston International.
"Morning Sleeping Beauty," Edward chuckled as he put his book away and leaned toward me. I grinned and stretched in my seat before wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing his silky soft lips. "Did you have a nice nap?"
"Yeah...I did actually," I chuckled hoarsely.
"Figured as much...you slept right through Jonathan's wails a little over an hour ago," he said as I righted my seat and prepared for landing. "Are you feeling better?"
"Much...though I'm starving now," I replied, wrapping my arms around his and leaning my head against his shoulder.
"We have a three hour layover. We might as well all try to find someplace to eat in the terminal while we wait," he said and then kissed the top of my head as I nodded and yawned.
Once the plane landed, we gathered all of our carry on baggage and made our way into our arrival gate. We hadn't even made it through the jet way before Charlie started grumbling about never flying coach again. Edward groaned as his head flopped back and I laughed, doing a little dance that made him smile as we kept walking.
"Thanks Dad!" I crowed.
"For what?" he asked, obviously not understanding why I was thanking him.
"For the new heated pool and deck Edward has to put in because I won...I won, I won, I won," I laughed, continuing my little jig.
"Bells...you sure it was the eggs? Cuz you're actin' mighty strange," he said, making me laugh even harder as he quirked a brow at me. I just shrugged, feeling fine after my long nap.
Once we made it past where passengers were waiting to board the plane we'd just exited, it was utter mayhem. I dropped all my stuff on the floor and Renee, Beth, Alice and I made a mad dash to the ladies room at the same time that Emmett, Phil, and Charlie went to find somewhere for all of us to eat, leaving Jasper, Edward, Rose and the kids behind with all our crap.
The clicking of Alice's heels - yes she was still wearing heels to the airport even while carrying diaper bags, a travel stroller and all - was making me laugh so hard I thought I was nearly about to wet myself. Every other step she'd do this little hop and pick up the pace, making her sound almost as if she were wearing tap shoes. Why I found it so funny, I have no idea, but I did nonetheless.
After some debate, it was decided that we were going to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings so all the men could watch some sports while we ate. I didn't care where it was as long as there was copious amounts of food involved...and not the kind that comes in a plastic container that's been sitting on a cooling rack for two days.
"So when are you gonna let me in on these supposed surprises?" Edward whispered in my ear as we sat, patiently waiting for our connecting flight's boarding time.
"Nah uh," I chuckled. "They're surprises,Edward. Doesn't work too well if you aren't actually surprised by them."
"You better not have gotten me anything for my birthday. I told you, love, last year was the best birthday I could have ever had. Nothing can ever top it because it's the day I met you," he said, his attempt at sounding stern horribly marred by the love and adoration in his tone.
Man's gonna shit a brick when he opens his gift from me...
"Quit you're whinin', bro. You'll love it...trust me," Emmett said as he winked at me and Rose tried to suppress a grin. They'd know because they helped me pick it out.
"I'm not whining, Em. I just don't need a gift when I have everything I could ever want or need to start with...well I will come Saturday anyway," he added as an afterthought with a chuckle.
"You're such a cheese," I snickered just as they announced the boarding of our flight.
One down...one to go. Dear Lord...please let my buffalo chicken wrap stay in my stomach after takeoff, Amen...
~*~
"Oh my God...Esme...they're gorgeous!" I gushed, my final word coming out as a mere breath as my eyes welled up with tears.
Before I could even take another breath, a friggen sob ripped out of my chest. I was crying...hysterically...over beautiful sugar flowers that would be decorating our wedding cake on Saturday. Orchids, chosen because they'd been Edward's mother's favorite flower as well as one of my recent favorite flowers after our trip to Jardim Botanico the previous year...the same day I'd gotten clobbered by a jackfruit.
And they were making me cry because they were absolutely beautiful and looked amazingly real even though they were made of sugar and food coloring.
Three days we'd been on the island already and I'd burst into inexplicable tears a total of three times now. The first time was when we saw Kylie's new princess bedroom, complete with a giant canopy bed resembling Cinderella's carriage and a hand painted mural of windows looking out into her kingdom of rolling hills, castles, and lush greenery done by Esme herself. The entire room was a scene straight out of a fairy tale and it was absolutely breathtaking...and it made me cry.
The second time had been just yesterday when Alice demanded to do a final fitting on our dresses to make sure nothing needed to be altered before the wedding...and mine had somehow gotten a little too snug around my hips. I'd spent an hour crying over how I was getting fat while everyone around me, including my Grammy Marie, laughed because I was being so melodramatic over Ali needing to let the dress out by all of a half an inch.
And now it was because of sugar flowers.
What is wrong with me?!
"Bella...sweetheart, what's wrong?" Esme asked worriedly, handing me a wad of tissues she magically pulled from her purse.
"I don't know!" I cried, shaking my head as I pressed the tissues to my face. "These last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster from hell for me. I'm all over the place...excited one minute, worried that I'm forgetting something important to the point that I get sick to my stomach the next, and now I'm crying over nothing."
"Bells...you need to relax," Rose chimed in, rubbing my arm soothingly. "You've been running nonstop for over two weeks. It's no wonder you're all over the map right now."
"I know...it's just...I want our day to be perfect and those stupid flowers are perfect, but what if they're the only perfect thing on our wedding day? What if it rains...or the cake topples over, or I wake up bloated on Saturday and I can't fit in my dress, or I mess up my vows...oh my God!" I wailed, horrified. "I haven't even finished writing my wedding vows and I'm getting married in two days!"
"Bella...breathe...just breathe," Alice coaxed, trying to get me to mimic her freaking Lamaze breathing like I was about to have a baby and not an anxiety attack.
"For crap's sake, Ali...I'm freaking out not going into labor," I griped, closing my eyes and trying to steady my breathing.
Everything was fine. I had no reason to panic. I'd met my deadline for the book...at the last minute but I'd met it. The flowers for the cake were beautiful. The arch Carlisle and Marcus had built and Esme and Diane had decorated is perfect. The linens for the tables and chairs and the china and crystal dinnerware had been ordered and would arrive on time, and so help me God if I had to have nothing but water for the next two days...I would fit in my dress on Saturday.
"Okay...I'm good," I breathed, feeling almost centered and at least half sane again.
"Are you sure?" Esme asked concernedly.
"Yeah," I nodded, taking another calming breath. "I just need to make it through the rest of today and then tomorrow I can focus on finishing my vows when Edward's out with the guys doing their bachelor thing...whatever it is they're planning on doing...and come Saturday evening everything will be just as perfect as those flowers."
"Sweetie, I promise everything will go off without a hitch," Esme said reassuringly. "We have everything under control. Everyone's flights came in safely, Jasper and Emmett are keeping Edward busy and away from the island so he has no idea what we're planning and Carlisle and Marcus are ushering everyone to Mezcalito's as we speak."
"See, Bells? We're all good. The only thing we have to worry about now is stalling Edward long enough so that the rest of us can get to Mezcalito's before the two of you do," Rose smiled.
"Speak for yourself," Alice rolled her eyes. "I wanna know what they're doing for their little night out on the town. Jasper's been too tight lipped over it for my liking."
"Oh please," Rose scoffed. "They're going fishing, Ali. Emmett spilled the beans our first night here because I gave him the evil eye when he joked around about a strip club. They're planning on dragging Edward out on the boat tonight after the rehearsal dinner. The only boobs they'll be seeing out there on the water will be Demitri's new set of manboobs."
"Oh my God," Ali laughed as I chuckled. "You noticed that too? He's put on a pretty good chunk of weight since last year."
I smiled to myself, listening to Ali and Rose contemplate the reasons behind Demitri's current fluffiness as Esme excused herself to speak with the woman behind the bakery counter and pay for the cake we would be coming back to pick up before heading back to the island. I knew the reason behind it, and the guys were gonna be giving him hell out on the water for it too once they saw him.
"Rumor is someone's managed to lasso the notorious ladies man of the family. Apparently Mister No-strings-attached has himself a steady practically live-in girlfriend back home," I snickered as Alice gasped and Rosalie burst out laughing.
"What'd she take the notion that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and turn it into her secret weapon to take him off the market?" Rose cackled and I shrugged.
"Irina said she's a culinary student and he's her loyal taste tester when she experiments in the kitchen, and we all know that boy loves to eat so it's no wonder he's packin' on the weight," I reasoned as we exited the bakery and headed down the street to a cafe for a quick lunch.
As the four of us were seated at a small outdoor table, Esme asked us what we'd all like to drink and then relayed our orders to the waiter in perfect Portuguese. It made me feel kind of crappy because with as hard as Edward had tried to teach me the language, the most I'd ever learned was how to ask where the bathroom was...which did me absolutely no good because I wouldn't be able to understand their answer.
I shrugged it off, figuring I'd learn it eventually, especially since Edward planned on raising our future children to be multilingual...which I thought was awesome.
What's better than having your kids speak to you in a foreign language other than baby babble that you can't understand, right?
No, honey...Mommy doesn't understand Portu-talian...point to a picture on this map please or act it out charades style and if I still don't understand...then go get your father...
I snorted to myself at the thoughts running through my head, successfully garnering some strange looks from around the table.
"What?" I asked, looking between the three of them.
"Care to explain that mysterious eye-roll and snort combo you just had there?" Ali snickered.
"It was nothing...I was just randomly thinking about how Edward wants our future kids to be able to speak both Portuguese and Italian fluently and all his attempts to teach it to me so far have been an utter failure, so I imagined this little tot of a kid stomping their foot at me trying to get me to understand what they wanted because Momma just don't speaka Portu-talian," I explained and they all burst out laughing.
"Ha ha, laugh it up because it'll be so funny when it actually happens and I'm standing there like a clueless idiot," I said dryly as I pushed my menu off to the side since I couldn't understand it anyway. "And on that note...I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich...do you think they have hot sauce here?"
"What is it with you and the hot sauce lately? Ever since that buffalo chicken wrap in Houston you've been putting it on damn near everything," Rose grimaced.
"Oh dear," Esme suddenly sobered up from her laughter as she gazed at me with something akin to hope gleaming in her eyes. "The fatigue, the emotional outbursts, the upset stomachs and restless nights...honey I don't think it's from stress like we've been assuming. Bella...is there any possibility that you can be pregnant?"
"What? No...I mean, I stopped taking the pill a month ago because we planned on trying to get pregnant right after the wedding...but we've been using co..." I trailed off, looking down at my fingers as I tried to count back.
"Uh oh..." I shook my head disbelievingly as I started counting on my fingers again. This couldn't be happening...there was no way it could have been that easy after years of Depo shots and almost a year of the pill...and it had only been once. "Uh oh...no, no, no...I can't...we couldn't possibly...uh oh."
"Bella calm down...when was your last cycle?" Ali asked calmly and I counted back again.
"Two months ago...but it's been wonky ever since I came off the Depo shots. Sometimes I get it and sometimes I don't so I can't go by that," I rambled nervously as I counted back the days yet again in my head to the one time we hadn't used any protection...because we'd been out...and making a trip to the store would have ruined the moment.
It didn't make sense...that night had been only a little more than two weeks before. There was no way I'd already be having any symptoms or anything. I couldn't be...but if I was...
"Do you think?..." I trailed off as a wide grin began spreading across my face just as Esme turned back around from speaking with the waiter.
"We're going to find out. The waiter's going to hold our table. There's a pharmacy just a block down, come on," she urged as she rose from her seat.
I grabbed my purse and jumped up from my chair, almost unable to contain my excitement. Once we were inside the pharmacy I practically ran through the aisles looking for a pregnancy test and grabbed the first one I spotted.
"Just take it out of the box and I'll go pay for it while you're in the restroom," Esme instructed, slightly out of breath as she held out her hand.
I ripped the box open and withdrew both sticks before handing her the box and being ushered toward the restroom by Ali and Rose. My hands were shaking as I ripped open both packages...because I apparently needed the news twice to believe it either which way it turned out, and proceeded to pull down my pants and assume the hover position.
Like a damn UFO over the public toilet, I wobbled on my feet, giggling like a crazy person to no one but myself as I tried not to get pee everywhere. When I was done, I capped both tests and wiped them off with some tissue paper, leaving them sitting on the side of the sink as I opened the door.
Four sets of eyes staring at two digital sticks for three minutes felt more like an eternity before it beeped at us and the air surrounding us stilled.
"I'm..." I breathed, grinning from ear to ear as I looked up into the mirror, staring at myself and the three women standing behind me as they all squealed in unison...
"PREGNANT!!!"
A/N: Okay so one of my readers and very dear friends has asked to interview me for some crazy reason I can't figure out. If there's anything you'd like to know about me or this story...or any others that I've written as I'm not really sure what all will be a part of this interview thing...feel free to leave it in a review and I'll pass it along. If any of you are actually interested in reading it once complete, let me know and I'll try to get a copy of it from her and post it here after the final epilogue of this story, or at least leave a link to it in a final author's note. See you all next week hopefully! ~Jersey~