The Next Mrs Cullen
Chapter 49
EPOV
Emmett and Carlisle spent the rest of the day at the resort trying to find out anything they could. With a combination of brute force and a wad of notes thrust into the right hand to turn a blind eye they had managed to get the tech gear into their room when Denali had gone down to the bar and mother had paid a visit to the spa the night before. Emmett was distracted after the shock of seeing Rosie. Combined with Carlisle's dread of what he might see on screen it had taken some time before they actually sat down and viewed the feed with the accompanying audio. It soon became apparent Esme and Ed Senior were a couple. They were in whatever this was together but they were very careful not to say anything directly. This didn't surprise any of us. The life we had all grown up in soon taught you to be very careful what you said and when. I hoped that they didn't have sex on camera. It was going to cost me a fortune for Emmett's therapy bills already.
"Son, we're going to pack up and come home." Even on the phone Carlisle sounded bone weary. "In my opinion they are just here to create a base and an alibi so they can be out of state when it happens. According to their reservation they are booked in here for the next three weeks, so I presume they are just going to go backwards and forwards. They can't be seen to be together yet and they have to carry on with their normal lives so we keep an eye on them. I suspect that when they come back here that is when we have to be on our guard." Carlisle was very matter of fact and I appreciated that, the last thing we needed now was chaos and decisions made on emotions.
"Did Emmett find someone to marry him,?" I snorted, Emmett was the impulsive one in the family and it wouldn't surprise me if he'd managed to arrange it. "Do I have a new sister in law?" "Not quite," Carlisle's voice warmed and I knew that he was smiling, "while Rosie accepted his very hurried proposal she was quite vocal in her need for, and I quote, a fuck off huge do with so much sparkle it looks like a sparkle factory has exploded."
"What did Emmett say to that?"
"A few expletives, he would have dragged her down the aisle already if it was his choice. They did come to an agreement, they'll get married tomorrow so we can all be there. Rosie is going to ask Isabella to help her to pull it altogether as soon as possible." I could hear the love and laughter in his voice as he spoke, a far cry from someone who knew he had a contract on his head.
"Come back," a thought struck me, a wedding might be just what we need, "you can all stay here with me and Isabella, I don't want the protection detail spread too thin. I'll see if Isabella can organise a minister or someone to come here tomorrow and marry them." I heard Carlisle turn and speak to Emmett before coming back to me. "They like that idea, could Isabella help Rosie to find a dress this afternoon?" We spoke for a few more minutes about some information I needed to pass on before I finally slumped into my chair. I was absolutely knackered and running purely on caffeine, alcohol and adrenalin.
Isabella had been in the Den most of the morning catching up on emails, speaking to the insurance company about her apartment and trying to get some new properties to market. It meant a lot to me that she had not just done the same as Tanya who as soon as she had access to my money had decided she would make it her mission in life to see if she could actually spend it all. I'd kept check on the cards and accounts I'd given Isabella and apart from groceries she hadn't really used them at all. I knew that would change as she became more secure in our life but it was just another of the many reasons I loved her.
I needed to sleep to recharge my batteries. I was dead on my feet after being awake for 30 hours straight. I quickly asked Mrs B and the security guys on shift to join Isabella and myself in the family room and explained to them we would be having guests for the next few days and that there would hopefully be a wedding ceremony tomorrow. Mrs B went into overdrive immediately, calm and organised as she went off already barking orders into her phone even though I didn't have any idea of guest numbers. I had given her a pretty sizeable budget to do what she could at such short notice.
Seth was set the task of finding somebody to marry them as I dismissed everyone. "I have one more call to make sweetheart then I have to have a nap, would you care to join me?" Part of me was hoping she'd refuse because I really did need to sleep but I wasn't going to pass up the chance especially as I still needed to apologise for being so rough with her last night. She smiled and nodded and told me she'd meet me in our suite. Hearing her refer to it as ours still got to me and part of my anatomy was now very much wide awake.
I went back into the office to make one more call to Alex, something was bothering me and I trusted my own instincts enough to know I needed to check it out.
"Alex I need you to run surveillance on Tanya, does she still have her bracelet?" All the women in the extended family had specially made bracelets with a tracking device in them. It was invisible to the naked eye as it was buried inside the lock mechanism but it meant that we could find them if anyone did try and take them. Mother knew about the device hence why she had left hers at home. Alice knew too and always wore hers. I was still waiting for Isabella's to arrive. I cursed the fact I'd ordered a special one for her in platinum, it was taking longer to organise for some reason hence why we had chipped her phone and laptop. "Yes Boss she does but we haven't activated recently. Let me get it set back up and I'll keep an eye on her whereabouts." I could hear the keys on the laptop as he worked so I knew he was on it.
"The other thing I need is Jacob Black," I told him. "I need to know his current state, how much gear is he putting up his nose and whether his apartment still a poor excuse for a frat party and crack house."
"On it boss." It was all I needed to hear.
The rest of the late morning and early afternoon passed calmly as I lay snuggled in Isabella's arms. After I tried to apologise about my handling of her the night before, which she brushed away exclaiming she'd loved every minute of it, I'd had a second wind and managed to make sure both of us were very satisfied before finally falling asleep.
We were woken by my cell phone which, in my haste to get to Isabella, I'd forgotten to turn off. It was Emmett telling us they were thirty minutes out. I nudged the sleeping beauty next to me and we started our day again.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the office with Emmett and Carlisle as we started to put together plans to take out Jacob Black and everyone else we deemed important in his organisation. I couldn't include Whitlock yet but as soon as all the plans were in place we would run everything past him just to make sure we hadn't missed anything. Isabella had gone out with Rosie to do some shopping for Rosie's dress for tomorrow. Seth and Quil had gone with them so we could be sure they didn't accidentally over hear anything.
As I sat looking at the glow on his face I realised I was envious of Emmett. Tomorrow he wouldn't need to worry about anything. Rosie would be his wife, the Feds couldn't touch her and if everyone stuck to the rules the other families would treat her with respect she deserved. Rosie was going to be the archetypal wife. I knew Emmett would have her pregnant before too long and she would soon be out lunching with the other wives. Her wedding would open the door to a whole new world she knew nothing about yet but it was a close knit community and a support system was already in place that would help her with everything she needed. Alice would be a great help to her as well as Paul's wife and one or two of the others.
I shifted in my chair, a little uncomfortable. I had already realised my Isabella was not going to be a typical wife. I knew she would stand beside me and help me run the family business. She couldn't be seen as my equal, the family had a long way to go yet to acknowledge anything like that, something my mother seemed to have forgotten all about. Thinking about that prompted another conversation with Carlisle about who may have been stupid enough to back Esme. We needed to know who she could have on her side and how we could find out without alerting her to the fact we knew what was going on. We talked long into the afternoon, the three of us plotting against the woman who had given birth to two of us and the man who had been my father's friend for as long as he could remember.
BPOV
Shopping with Rosie was a joy, the woman was so excited about getting married it was infectious. We started out in the department stores that Rosie was comfortable in but I finally coaxed her into trying some of the more upmarket stores and even a few bridal boutiques. We couldn't get in any of the 'by appointment only' ones but we had fun in the ones we went in. The dresses were either full on wedding dresses which Rosie didn't want for the service tomorrow or Mother of the Bride dresses which were far too old and staid for her. She tried on several different outfits before she finally sat down and gave a huge sigh. "What am I going to wear Bella? At this rate it will be my jeans and a t shirt or my uniform from the club." I sensed that she still felt very conscious of her humble background.
We needed to come up with something for her to wear, something that suited her and would let her walk into that room tomorrow with her head held high. Seth kept telling me to use the Cullen name but it didn't feel right, neither of us were Cullen's yet. Finally I called Alice and after a few phone calls she directed us to a little boutique she knew and the woman who owned it was waiting for us. She had closed the boutique so we had exclusive service and free range of all the stock. It was amazing what money and a name could do. The boutique was very classy, the decor very understated mainly whites and creams with lots of silver antique pieces everywhere. The rich colours of the dresses displayed like exhibits in a museum were shown off against the blank canvas.
The sofas were hard to sit on but looked expensive and I suddenly thought about the chaise lounge in Edward's office. My face heated as I remembered how he had handled me the night before. I have never been... fucked was the only way to describe what we'd done, that way. I couldn't wait for the next time, he made my body feel sensations I didn't realise existed. The sound of a champagne bottle popping brought me back into the present and after a quick drink we set about looking through the gowns. Almost immediately I found an incredibly beautiful evening gown in lilac with a diamante neck line. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was perfect for me but I waited to see what Rosie chose. She was getting more and more worked up as time went on, it wasn't until the owner told her she would stay here all night if we needed to that Rosie calmed down and started to make some choices.
She eventually chose a pale blue gown that worked beautifully with her fair skin and eyes. Once we added some height to her hair and some killer heels she looked amazing. When she finally realised she could carry off the dress her confidence happiness shone on her face, lighting her from within more thoroughly than any expensive makeup. My dress was a good match so we finally packed the two dresses, two pairs of shoes, lingerie for Rosie and matching bow ties for the men into delivery boxes. As I pulled out the credit card Edward had been urging me to use I had to close my eyes and hold my breath as she put the charge through. I fully expected it to reject. It was over $ 10,000, and surely Edward has some sort of limit on there to make sure I didn't go mad? But everything went through without a hitch. I let out the breath that I had been holding and ushered Rosie to the door. We had been in the boutique for over three hours and the street outside was deserted as I looked for Quil and Seth. They had looked uncomfortable standing in the tiny boutique waiting for us so I'd sent them to the bar across the street once they were sure we were locked in. I'd promised I'd call them as soon as we were ready to leave but as we stood on the sidewalk I realised I'd forgotten. The boutique owner had already locked the door behind us, presumably pleased to be heading home at last. As we stood on the dark street laden with bags and boxes I instinctively knew I'd made a terrible mistake.
Before I could even reach into my bag for my phone the car parked across the road from us wound down its window and the passenger stuck his head out just enough for me to see his face.
"Good evening Miss Swan what a surprise seeing you here all alone"
"As you can plainly see I'm not alone, so just run along home back to your warehouse and leave me alone we've already established I know fuck all and Rosie here knows even less" I was beyond annoyed that Jarvis had the balls to actually sit there as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Ahh so this is the soon to be Mrs Emmett Cullen, good to meet you finally Rosalie"
Just as I was about to go across the street and pull him through the open window Seth and Quil came running out of the bar. Seth was on speed dial on my phone and it had been easy to just press the screen to alert him. As Quil ushered us into the back of the SUV Seth went across to speak to Jarvis but before he could get close enough the car sped off down the street.
"The Boss is going to have our balls for this" Seth remarked as he climbed into the front next to Quil and I knew I was in for a long night.
