A/N:I've decided to be generous and post the second wedding chapter. This will complete the ceremony and start the reception. If I get the last three chapters updated on the Pinterest page I may post the last of the wedding chapters tomorrow. There are only four more chapters after this.

As in the last chapter, any song or whatever that has(...) at the end of a sentence is indicating that there's more to it then what's been printed here. I only used the passages that fit my story. I will post these things to the Pinterest page in their entirety though. I won't be posting out all the speeches, some I'll just generalize.


Chapter Fifty-Two

Jasper

When Bella finished reciting her poem and describing her love for me I couldn't help myself and kissed her. I needed her to feel in that kiss just how much I love her. Then of course Peter had to put in his two cents and add some comic relief. I can always count on him to keep things from getting too heavy. I break off the kiss and just smirk at him.

"Well can you blame me Peter, I mean wasn't that the best declaration of love you've ever heard?"

"Yeah, yeah. Bella's the greatest, now let's get on with this thing man. Some of us want to get our party on!" Billy chuckles at him and turns me back to the task at hand.

"Bella, the poem I chose for you isn't exactly a poem. It's actually a song. It's called Time in a Bottle and it was written by Jim Croce and it says everything that I feel for you and more. I chose it because it talks of eternity, of spending everyday with the woman he loves. And while he sings of not being able to make days last forever, we can make each day something special for eternity. I love you more than words could ever say Bella. More than actions could ever show. You've shown me a different side of love, one that is all consuming and encompasses not just the here and now, but the rest of forever. So here's my poem for you:

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day

'Til eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you.

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I'd save every day like a treasure and then,

Again, I would spend them with you.

If I had a box just for wishes

And dreams that had never come true

The box would be empty

Except for the memory

Of how they were answered by you.

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them

I've looked around enough to know

That you're the one I want to go

Through time with.

"I thought I had found love before. But neither time was the kind of love I feel with you. As that last verse says, I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I want to spend my eternity with."

When I finish speaking she has venom pooling in her eyes. I love this woman more than my own life. I thought what I had with Maria was love but I quickly learned she used that as a way to control me. Then I found Alice and again I thought I had found my forever love, but while I do love Alice, it's not with the same strength, or in the same way, as I love Bella.

Alice will always be the one who helped in my darkest times, but Bella is like the final most potent ray of sunshine to come into my life. She chased away every last vestige of darkness and I will forever be grateful. We healed each other when neither of us even knew we needed healing.

I'm brought out of my reverie by Billy.

"Those were beautiful you two. Now for the official part. Jasper, repeat after me." And then Billy starts to recite the traditional vows. And I repeat them.

"I Jasper, take you Bella to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever."

"And now you Bella."

"I Bella, take you Jasper to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever."

"Good. Now, Jasper Whitlock do you take Bella to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her?"

"I do."

"And do you Bella Whitlock take Jasper to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him?"

"I do."

"And now for the exchanging of the rings. Wedding rings are an unbroken circle of love, signifying to all the union of this couple in marriage. Jasper if you will repeat after me."

I turn and take the wedding band that goes with my mother's engagement ring from Jeremiah and turn to face Bella again. While I did that she turned to Leah, handed her her bouquet and took what I assume is my ring from her.

"Bella, this ring is my sacred gift, with my promise that I will always love you, cherish you and honor you for eternity. And with this ring, I thee wed."

I slide my mother's wedding band on the third finger of her left hand and place a kiss on top of it. The band is yellow gold, with an embossed floral design. When she adds the engagement ring they'll fit together nicely. Now it's her turn.

"Jasper, this ring is my sacred gift, with me promise that I will always love you, cherish you and honor you for eternity. And with this ring, I thee wed."

I watch as she slides the ring onto the third finger of my left hand. I don't know when she bought it or where from but it's a beautiful find. Vintage. The band is gold like hers, the stone a red, orange-gold and brown-grey bamboo patterned jasper stone. Etched into the stone is a rearing horse. I love it. She follows my example and places a kiss on top of the ring after she slides it onto my finger.

"And so, with the exchanging of the rings. By the power invested in me. I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Whitlock. Now, Jasper, you may kiss your bride."

Among the chuckles from our friends and family I take Bella's beautiful face between my hands and place my lips against hers. Tilting my head slightly I delve deeper into the kiss, running my tongue along the seam of her lips to get her to open to me.

When she does I plunge my tongue into her sweet tasting mouth and plunder every recess. The kiss goes on for what seems like forever and it takes Jeremiah poking me in the back several times to remind me where we are and that the ceremony isn't quite over. Billy just chuckles and shakes his head and continues.

"Now, before we get this shindig moved to the reception, Alice Cullen, also soon to be Whitlock, has added one more thing."


Bella

I'm Mrs. Jasper Whitlock. It's completely official. And then Billy announces Alice had one more thing planned and she flits away to the house and is back seconds later with two single red roses and hands them to Billy. He turns back to us.

"In the past, the rose was considered a symbol of love, and a single rose always meant one thing..."I love you". So it is fitting that for your first gift- as husband and wife- it would be a single rose."

Billy hands us each a rose and says, "Please exchange your first gift as husband and wife." We exchange roses.

"Jasper and Bella, I would ask that wherever you make your home in the future, starting with this ranch, that you both pick one very special location for roses; so that on each anniversary of this truly wonderful occasion you both may take a rose to that spot both as a recommitment to your marriage- and a recommitment that this will be a marriage based upon love. And now, without further ado- Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Whitlock."


Jasper

As Bella takes back her bouquet from Leah and adds her rose to it, our friends and family stands and claps. We begin to walk back up the aisle, Bella and I first, followed by Leah and Jeremiah, Rose and Emmett, Peter and Charlotte, Edward and Angie and Jake and Alice. Then Charlie and Sue and Carlisle and Esme behind them and then Sam pushes Billy while Emily walks beside him and then the rest of the guests follow. As we walk back up the aisle the song I chose plays. It's called Two Is Better Than One by Boys Like Girls featuring Taylor Swift.

I remember what you wore on the first day

you came into my life and I thought hey

You know, this could be something...

So maybe it's true that I can't live without you

And maybe two is better than one

But there's so much time to figure out the rest of my life

And you've already got me coming undone

And I'm thinking two is better than one

I remember every look upon your face

The way you roll your eyes the way you taste

You make it hard for breathing

'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away

I think of you and everything's okay

I'm finally now believing...

Then maybe it's true that I can't live

Without you

Maybe two is better than one...

"Did I mention how beautiful you look darlin'? You've made me the happiest man in the world."

"And you've made me the happiest woman. I love you cowboy, so much."

"I love you too."

I lean in and kiss her and we make our way back up to the house. I'm all set to move around the side of the house when Alice comes up and grabs ahold of Bella and moves her towards the front door.

"Alice, where are you going?"

"Don't worry Jazz. I'll have her back in no time. As pretty as this dress is, it's impractical for the reception so I'm taking her to change into the dress I got for the reception. We'll be back in a jiffy and then before we all head to the reception, you and Bella are going to plant the rose bushes I bought for the rest of the rose ceremony. Don't worry, I've already seen where you'll want them and while Bella is changing, you and the guys can dig the holes. You'll want them on either side of the front steps."

"You know Alice, you're scary sometimes."

"Why thank you Bella, now come on."

The two women head inside, Rose bringing up the rear, while Peter hands me a shovel.

"How'd you get roped into this?"

"Do you understand how scary a gaggle of women can be when threatening to castrate you if you don't do as you're told? I like my dick where it belongs and having the ability to use it. Come on, let's get these holes dug. Jake and Quil went to grab the bushes out of the stable where Alice hid them. She's sneaky you know? Bella's right, she's scary."

"Believe me Peter, I've had over fifty years to come to terms with that."

We dig the holes in record time and have just finished when Bella, Alice and Rose come back out of the house. Alice is right, the new dress gives her more room to move. We set the rose bushes into each hole and cover them with dirt together. When we leave for the honeymoon, Alice will prepare the bushes for the colder weather to come so they don't die come the winter.

Once we're done we head to the reception area where everyone else has taken their seats. Embry is at a DJ booth and announces out arrival.


Bella

I didn't know what to make of Alice's reception dress idea but I went along because it's pointless to argue with her. And as usual she's right. After removing my wedding gown, which wasn't as easy as one might think, she pulls out another garment bag and unzips it. Inside is a champagne colored a-line asymmetrical v-neck spaghetti strapped dress made of organza and tulle with an appliqué lace and beaded overlay that zips up the back. It's long enough to still cover my garter but my boots are now showing. Thankfully the only change is the dress.

Afterwards Jasper and I plant our rose bushes and then we all head to the reception area. Everyone else is already there. Embry announces us and we walk over to our designated seating area and take a seat, and everyone else sits down too. As we sit here and wait for Alice to get things started I look around.

When we came 'in' there was a table of wedding favors. They're little evergreen tree saplings in burlap sacks with a small sign that read 'please accept a White or Serbian Spruce as a token of our appreciation for your presence with us today'. Then it says something about leaving the saplings here if they can't take one and we'll plant it on the ranch in their honor.

Then up against the table is another sign made of rustic wood with the words:

Come as you are

Stay as long as you can

We are all family

So no seating plan

Everyone is sitting at old picnic tables with lanterns on each side of a square hurricane vase full of water and sunflower heads with floating tealights. The lanterns themselves have scented votives, they smell like apple cider, inside them. Sunflower heads are also placed around the lanterns. Then there are several food tables. Everyone of them are just uncovered haybales with old wood doors laid out on top and the items placed on each.

There's the drinks table, which has mason jar glasses on one side, assorted cans of soda and bottles of water and a punch bowl of ice on the other side and in the middle are glass candy jars with spigots that hold two different types of lemonade as what looks like two types of iced tea.

Then there's another table with plates, napkins and utensils in brown envelopes. And then three more laden with food- sides, appetizers and entrees it would seem. Then off to the left is the 'cake table' which is just an old barrel with some kind of of pie tower set on top of it. Alice decided a traditional cake wasn't necessary on top of desserts since there weren't that many that would be eating dessert.

Then off to the right, under the trees, is a black and white checkered dance floor. And above it and around it- and the reception are as a whole-, tied onto the branches of the trees, are blue tinted mason jars tied with wire and yellow or white ribbons and lit up with the same apple cider scented votive candles. It smells like fall and I know when the sun begins to set in about forty minutes, the light from all these candles will be romantic and just plain wonderful.

Finally Alice stands up and takes a mike from the DJ booth and turns it on.

"Ok everyone. Welcome to the reception. Everything is planned but in such a way that everyone will be happy and no one will get bored, I promise. Now, Jasper and Bella won't be leaving for their flight until ten o' clock so we have about three and a half hours to have some fun with them, before we turn to fun without them.

"Now, first on the agenda is speeches. Yes yes, I know, how could those be fun. Well, the first speeches we'll hear are from the Maid of Honor and Best Man and then those who eat can help themselves to everything but dessert. So without further ado, Leah will give her speech."

Leah stands up and begins to talk about how we became friends. How I brought her out of her depression by giving her hope and how if I hadn't given her that hope she would never have found Alex. She gives me a quick hug and then finds we seat and Jeremiah stands.

His speech is full of childhood anecdotes of the two brothers as teenagers- that's as far back as either of them can remember- just before Jasper joined the Confederate Army and what happened after Jasper had left and how he's glad to have found Jasper alive and well and in love. Once they're done everyone gets up and begins to mingle. Curious as to what kind of food Alice had prepared I head up to the buffet tables.

Set next to each dish or drink is a little placard that says what's what. I start with the drinks, talking to Emily and Leah as I look at what's on the table.

There's canned sodas and bottled waters and in the little glass containers is Fresh Peach Iced Tea, Southern Sweet Iced Tea, Homemade Fresh Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade.

Then on what's considered the appetizer table is Texas "Caviar" Salsa- Mississippi Style and a large bowl of, made from scratch, tortilla chips, Basic Humble Deviled Eggs and Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits.

The side dish table has Macaroni Salad, Basic Creamy Coleslaw, Deep South German Style Potato Salad, Southern Style Baked Beans and Corn on the Cob with Compound Butter Blends.

The entree table had Grilled Pork Spareribs, Grilled Huli Huli Chicken and Spicy Sugar Steaks. And last but not least, Jasper and my "cake" is four pies tiered one on top of the other.

The bottom pie is a large Blackberry Pie, the second is a Strawberry Pie, the third is an Apple Pie and the top is a Fresh Peach Cobbler. Around the front of the pies are small fondant cakes, just in case someone didn't want pie. Alice has created the quintessential southern barbecue. Everything looks so delicious I almost wish I was still human so I could enjoy it, almost.

As Alice promised, those who still ate human food were given time to eat the main course before she descended upon us with more speeches. This time it was from Carlisle and Esme and Charlie. Once they're done Alice has chosen for Jasper and I to cut our 'cake' so the pack and humans can eat their desserts while Jasper and I have our first dance. Charlie goes first.

"Hello everyone. For those of you who just met me, you simply know my name. I am, of course, Bella's father. Let me tell you, it's an honor to hold that title. When the doctor put this tiny little pink bundle in my arms on the day of her birth, I was terrified. I had no idea what I was doing, I was little more than a kid myself, around Bella's age now actually. But the second she looked up at me with those big brown eyes so like mine, I was a goner. It was in that moment that I vowed to love and protect this little girl for the rest of her life.

"When her mother left and took her with her, I was devastated. But I kept my vow. I sent every extra dollar I had so she would never want for anything. I visited as often as I could, and rejoiced in the days she would come visit me. Then she got older and the visits to me stopped. I understood, I went to see her whenever I could, no matter where they had been living at the time. Then came a day when Renee found another love. Her husband Phil; and Bella chose to give them some space and come live with me.

"I was ecstatic. I felt I had finally had a second chance; and then Edward happened," he pauses and chuckles then, smiling at Edward, "no offense son."

"None taken Charlie."

"My little girl was in love and I had to deal with it. But that truly didn't matter because she was with me again. I did things for her and watched with pride as she happily accepted these things. I was always a father, but I felt I could finally truly keep my vow. But how do you protect your child from a broken heart? You can't. It's as simple as that. So I was there for her, I even suggested she move to Florida with her mom even though it would kill me to watch her go again, but she refused and I couldn't help but feel immense relief.

"Now I wasn't vain enough to think she didn't want to leave because of me, but I would take what I could get. She found Jake and he helped her through her grief and then one day, it was like nothing had ever hurt her. She was happy again. And I thought maybe she was in love, but I never saw her with anyone but Jake. When he found Shannon and Bella was still acting like she was in love I thought maybe she was just happy and left it alone.

"Then one day I got a call, the kind no parent ever wants to receive. I thought I had lost all chances to be the kind of father Bella needed. And then I was shot and I thought I was going to rejoin her. Little did I know that I would rejoin her, but not in Heaven where I thought she surely must have been, but in a world I never knew existed. I was a little angry when I realized she was alive and that my best friend knew. I couldn't understand at first why she would put me through that. But as I watched her with Jasper this past month, it helped me understand.

"Nothing trumps true love. Not even the love a father has for their child. I've come to know the man that is Jasper Whitlock and I will admit that I couldn't have chosen a better man than Bella has. I don't need to keep my vow anymore, don't get me wrong if you ever hurt her Jasper I'll kill you, and if danger ever knocks on their door, I'll be there. However, as for her heart. I don't need to protect that anymore. She's found her true love. And I for one couldn't be happier. To Jasper and Bella. May your love for one another see you through all the today's and tomorrow's of the rest of your lives."

In honor of the toasts everyone was given a glass by Alice, except the pack and humans who already had them from getting their food, with just a little bit of water in each. This way we could raise our glasses in toast. Charlie raises his to us and we do the same. I get up and head over to him and pull him into a hug and kiss his cheek.

"No matter what may happen in our eternity's you will always be my daddy. I love you Dad."

"I love you too Bells."

We hug again and take our seats and then Carlisle stands.

"Originally both Esme and I were to give speeches. But she's delegated the task to me, so I will be speaking for us both. When Jasper came into our lives we only knew his reputation. He was the most feared vampire in our world, but I never saw that. What I saw was a worn and beaten man who just needed someone to tell him he wasn't the monster he thought. He came to us with a bubbly little sprite of a girl and if there were ever two more opposite people it was Jasper and Alice.

"Over time he finally relaxed and became more the teenager he should have been, then the man he had been turned into. You never knew this Jasper, but I've always known that you took some of our thirst from us so we didn't struggle too badly. That's why you were so much more suseptable to human blood and you slipped so often in the beginning. But then you became even stronger and I knew that you were a man I could be proud to call son.

"Then you took on the daunting task of high school, and though I always watched carefully to see what sort of toll all those emotions would have on you, I watched as you took everything thrown at you and came out on top. Then one day a girl came into all our lives and I watched not one, but two men fall for her. Yes, I saw it even then but Alice warned me that to tell you would be a bad idea. You and Bella both needed to figure it out for yourselves and as long as she thought she was in love with Edward she wouldn't even consider her feelings for you.

"Then her party happened and everything changed. I thought that you would finally be completely at peace, the kind only found when you find your true mate. Then a series of obstacles where thrown at you and we watched from a distance as you overcame every one of them. Now here you are, married to Bella and happier then we ever could have hoped for. No matter where you go in life always know that you and Bella will always be welcome with us. We love you both as our own, you will always be our children. We love you very much and are so happy you've finally found true peace. To Bella and Jasper."

He raises his glass and salutes us and Jasper and I get up and give them each a hug. Then Alice is on her feet before we can even sit down and dragging us towards the pies that serve as our cake. We smile for the camera she's produced, come to think of it I don't remember seeing a camera during the ceremony or in the beginning of the reception- though that could be that I didn't care about anything but Jasper-, and cut into the bottom pie. In a stroke of genius I pick up a small piece and shove it into Jasper's face, smearing it all across one cheek.

Glaring at me he picks up an equally small piece and begins to advance as I retreat. In the background I can hear Alice admonishing him to not ruin my dress, Jared complaining because that's less pie and Emmett and Peter egging Jasper on. I try to duck around a table full of the Volturi guests but he snags me around the waist and raises the hand with the pie and then it's covering my cheeks and chin. He kisses me, laughing at the blue smears on my face, and then flits away.

Oh cowboy, I'm getting you for this later! I laugh at him and smile down at Renata who's holding out a napkin to me.

"Thank you," I say as I take it.

"You're quite welcome Bella, although I must say, blue is definitely your color."

And we laugh together as I wipe as much of the pie from my face as I can while watching Jasper do the same. Then Alice is in front of me lamenting the ruining of her handy work, and wiping at my face and trying not to get any on my dress and Jeremiah is helping Jasper remove the rest from his face and we're dragged towards the dance floor as Alice shouts about it being time for the first dance.

I'll say one thing. With Jasper by my side and this motley crew of characters, life will never be boring.