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Waves of Hope
Epilogue
Edward
"Shit. Diapers. How the fuck did I forget diapers?"
"Sit, Dada!" Rylee parrots, her new favorite thing to do, as she stumbles into the room on wobbly feet.
Fucking hell.
Tipping my head back and blowing out a big breath, defeat washes over me. Any other day I could probably call my brother or my dad or Bella's parents and ask them to run to the store for me, but everyone is busy organizing the party. There's nothing for it.
I'm gonna have to make my first solo diaper run en-route to the airport—with the babies.
"C'mon, buster," I huff, scooping Rylee off her feet and smooching her cheek as I carry her back to the living room where the big boys are corralling the rest of the babies in the baby jail. As soon as I walk into the room, the babies go nuts, squealing and babbling while they crawl or stumble to the bars as fast as their arms and legs will carry them. Caben only face-plants once, thank God. He definitely inherited his mom's childhood clumsiness.
Jaxson looks down at my diaper-less hand and arches his brows. "You forgot diapers, didn't you?"
"Yes, but I blame you. You three were supposed to remind me."
The twins give no shits, cackling with glee as Arlo laughingly informs me he's telling on me.
"Oh yeah? Well let's see if you still think it's funny when you have to help me with these babies at the store."
The boys groan but help me wrangle the babies into shoes before shuttling them out to me so I can buckle them into Big Blue. After checking that Max is good in the yard, I jog back out to the van.
"You all good back there?"
The boys chorus their agreement as the babies 'talk' over each other, so with a glance at the clock on the dash that makes me legitimately worried we're going to be late getting to the airport, I pull away from the house and point us toward the road out of the Bay.
"Can I have the iPad?" Arlo calls as we cruise past the 'See You Soon' sign on the way out of town.
"It's in the net behind my seat," I call, drumming my fingers on the wheel as my eyes dart to the clock again.
We've got an hour until we're supposed to be at the airport and still have an hour-long drive—not including a stop at Costco for diapers—ahead of us.
Just minutes out of town, Mackenzie drops his binky down the side of his seat, Arlo starts whining about the iPad battery being almost dead, then Jaxson calls out from the back row to tell me that River's diaper is leaking and his pants are wet.
Fuck my life.
My day gets infinitely worse when we reach the store a half hour later and I realize we—I'm totally sharing the blame with the big boys—made a grave error when we rushed out of the house.
"Fucking hell."
"Ducky bell!" Rylee squeals from her seat in the back row as I bury my hands in my hair and groan at the sky.
"What?" Finley calls, leaning over the back seat. He snorts when he looks down at the big, empty space where the strollers usually go. "Aw, man."
Jaxson and Arlo are unbuckled now, so they get a good look at my misery as I ponder how mad Bella will be if they tell her I left the big boys watching the babies in the van while I ran around Costco.
"I've got an idea…" Arlo murmurs, cutting off my imagination just as Bella gives me the 'Mom-brow.'
Judging by the smirk on Arlo's face and the mischievous twinkle in his eye, I don't want to know what his suggestion is.
Sighing, I purse my lips. "Hit me. What's your idea?"
~ oOo ~
"You got Mac and Ash, Finn?" I ask, unable to stop myself laughing when I strap Caben into the baby carrier at my front, River in the back, and spin around.
Finley is grinning at me with one of Max's many leashes in his hand—it's the double-ended leash, each of the clips attached to the back of Mackenzie's and Asher's denim overalls. "Got 'em."
"I got Rylee," Arlo calls, appearing from behind the van with Rylee on another of Max's leashes. Thankfully, she too is wearing overalls, although hers are a faded white denim while her brothers' are dark blue.
"And I've got Oaks," Jaxson says, Oakley in his arms. "We need to hurry up."
He's right, so instead of second-guessing myself, I roll with it. After making it safely around Costo with half the babies on leashes, I'm numb to the odd looks we'll get. With six infants and the three older boys, we'd get them anyway. We're too late to be worried so we hustle, our three walkers staggering around like little drunk people with their big brothers trying to guide them.
I've never been glad of a plane delay before, but when I check the live plane updates on my cell before leaving Costco I'm incredibly grateful for fate delaying the plane by forty minutes.
With that added breathing room, we make it to the 'arrivals' hall just as people start spilling out from the sliding glass doors.
As expected, we get plenty of curious looks, but it's the wide, familiar gray gaze that appears after a few minutes that makes me wince.
"Mom!"
As soon as the sixers spot Bella pushing her case toward us, they have a meltdown.
She speeds up to close the gap faster and drops to her knees to be bundled by six excited, overwhelmed babies; Jaxson helps me release Caben and River from the baby carrier.
"Oh, my sweet babies," she laughs, stroking tear-streaked cheeks and kissing their soft hair as the big boys watch their little siblings with a mixture of embarrassment and amusement. "I missed y'all!"
"We missed you, too, Mom," Arlo says sweetly. His smile widens when I shoot him a wink and a discreet thumbs up. He's on distraction duty in case Bella gets mad about the leash situation.
As her eyes bounce between me and Arlo, Bella's lips curve into an amused smile. "So it was your idea to leash the babies up like puppies, Lo? Why doesn't that surprise me?"
Arlo sputters some nonsense until Bella's laughter cuts him off as she hangs onto the leashes attached to the babies.
"Where's the stroller?"
"I took it out to vacuum Big Blue yesterday," I admit, picking up Rylee when she tugs my shorts. "I completely forgot to put it back in, and then I realized I forgot to get the diapers…"
Bella's brows arch. "Do I want to know how crazy it's been while I was gone?"
My shoulders slump. "Probably not."
With a light laugh and two babies in her arms, Bella stands and stretches up onto her tiptoes to kiss me. Her lips mold against mine, the faint taste of mint on her breath as she turns me to mush. "I love you. Thank you for holding down the fort while I was away." Pulling back with a twinkle in her silver-gray eyes, she adds, "As long as you're all happy, have all your limbs, and our house is still standing, I won't sweat the small stuff."
My stomach flips, just like it does every time she aims a genuine smile my way, and I've never loved her more. I'm so glad she's home after two days at a conference for moms of high-order multiples. It's been a little over forty-eight hours but, man, am I glad to have my Bella back with me and our kids.
I can't wait to celebrate our babies' first birthday with her and our entire family tomorrow.
~ oOo ~
The next morning, Bella and I are both awake when we hear the first sounds of stirring babies through the monitor. "I'll go," I whisper, kissing her smile before heading down the hall to the nursery. Excitement rushes through my veins as I slide the door open. Every morning is like Christmas when I get to be the one to go wake up the sixers. This morning, three of them are already awake. Asher, Mackenzie, and Oakley are all sitting up in their cribs and all offer me beaming smiles as I unzip them from their sleep sacks and scoop them into my arms.
"Happy birthday, boys," I whisper, kissing each of their heads.
"Dada," Asher squeals, patting my cheek.
"Yeah, buddy," I chuckle, stepping back into the bedroom. Bella must have run downstairs to grab some bottles, because she's already got six lined up on the nightstand and she's now wearing the tee I tossed away from the bed when we fell into it last night.
Flashing me a magnificent smile, Bella shuffles up to sit against the headboard, opening her arms as I dump three babies at the foot of the bed.
"Good morning, babies!"
My throat closes as her breath catches, and my heart speeds up when she wraps them in her arms to pepper their faces with kisses while they babble and fight for space on her lap.
"I'll go get the other three."
She nods, handing bottles to our hungry boys as I step out of the room. "Happy birthday, sweet boys."
I'm still so in awe of today and what it represents. A year ago, we just weren't sure if we'd get here with six healthy, happy babies, yet here we are. Rylee wakes up as I unzip her sleep sack and wakes River and Caben with her excited squawk. Her blonde curls are a riot around her head as I lift her into the air and blow raspberries on her belly when her shirt rides up.
"Happy birthday, my little ballbuster," I grin, kissing her forehead and holding her against me for a moment.
"Ahh," she coos, patting my chest like I'm sure she's seen or felt us doing a hundred times. "Dada."
"Yeah, Sis, Dada's here. Dada's always goin' to be here for you and your brothers." Pulling back a little, I brush an errant curl out of her face and kiss her head again, breathing in her sweet strawberry lotion scent and soaking up her infectious joy. This is my favorite part of my day—until bedtime when exhaustion has hit and it's a relief to put the babies to bed, anyway.
"Dada," River calls, standing up and resting his forehead against the crib bars to peek between them. "Up, up."
"All right, buddy. You can come up, too."
Once I have River and Caben, who snuggles sleepily into me with his brother and sister either side of him, I head to my bedroom and pile onto the bed, dishing out bottles before settling against the headboard with Bella. Caben abandons me for Bella, squeezing into her lap with Oakley, but I still wind up with Rylee, River, and Asher squished on top of me, leaving Mackenzie plenty of room to flop around with his bottle, just like usual.
Well rested after being reunited yesterday, and content in the calm, quiet early hours of what already appears to be a sunny June morning, we bask in the warmth of what this day represents.
A miracle.
Or, six miracles.
One year ago today was the scariest day of my life.
Today, we'll celebrate six one-year-olds with our entire family. They're flying in from Utah, Wisconsin, California, and New York. My family, Bella's family, our friends...all the people who love the babies.
It's still surreal even though I'm looking at them, our miracle babies. We were told not to expect this, warned over and over and over that selective reduction was the only way we had a chance of getting healthy babies.
Well, we showed them.
I feel sick when I look at each of our children and think that if we'd made a different choice, if we'd listened to that first doctor, we might not have River's loud voice, Oakley's best hugs, Caben's big smile, Mackenzie's and Asher's infectious giggles, or Rylee's headstrong nature.
Pressing a kiss on top of Rylee's head and glancing at the clock on the nightstand, I think back to this exact moment one year ago. It was right around now that Dr. Biers came to tell me Bella was going to be okay, that I could go see her.
"Can you believe we made it here?" Bella murmurs, soothing Oakley and Caben as they fuss, both of them irritated with the other for being on their momma.
It doesn't seem real, except it is. We live a crazy life every single day and are grateful every single day for our family.
The sun is peeking through the blinds, ready to start what I'm confident will be a brilliant day.
"No," I finally breathe. "I can't believe it." Turning my gaze to Bella, I find the beautiful face I've been falling in love with for five years now. "I never imagined myself here, but shit—"
We both laugh when Rylee mumbles "Sit" around the teat of her bottle.
"You're gonna get me in trouble, Buster," I whisper, winking at Bella.
She shakes her head, probably at my use of the nickname, but her breath-stealing smile just gets wider.
"I love you so much, Bella."
Her amusement softens. "I love you, Edward. There's no one on this planet I'd rather do this crazy thing called life with. I know having nine kids wasn't in our plan, but this is…" she trails off, hugging Oakley and Caben tighter to her chest.
"It's perfect, right? Better than anything we could have planned."
"Absolutely. I'm so excited to celebrate how far they've come with everybody." Bella looks somewhere between excited and nervous when she adds, "It's going to be kind of crazy having our whole family here today, but I think it's going to be great, too."
~ oOo ~
Hours later, Bella and I steal our babies back from the bounce house, the dance floor in the biggest event hall at In The Bay, and the arms of various friends and relatives. Sitting them in the high chairs we lined up in front of the big windows overlooking the ocean, the surf boards we used for their gender reveal propped up behind them, a hundred and some people sing "Ha-ppy birth-day River—Oakley—Caben—Mackenzie—Asher—and Ry-lee." As soon as we're done, the big boys rush along, blowing out the babies' candles before they can get brave and grab them.
Once the candles are out of the way, the sixers are free to dive into the cakes we got from Jane Samuels' bakery. Each of the cakes have frosting corresponding with the colors the babies were assigned at birth, so blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and purple.
We hired Lexi to take photos for us, but as promised, Laurie Taylor and the People photographer are here documenting it, too. Draping my arm around Bella's shoulders, I can't help but get a little misty-eyed as I watch Rylee smash the crap out of her cake, wiping frosting all over her face while Caben, our more sensitive soul, picks delicately at it.
Our babies are all so unique despite being the result of one pregnancy. Even our identical twins have their special differences that make them identifiable.
For the most part, anyway. Are you really a dad of identical twins if you haven't sent a picture of one of them to their mom and accidentally called them by the wrong name?
"You two have done a spectacular job with these babies."
I grin, wrapping my free arm around May as she wanders over with our sweet new niece cradled in her arms. "Thanks, May. We had a lot of great help."
"Hey, Vivi," Bella coos, stroking baby Violet's round, rosy cheek.
She's the absolute spit of her momma, who joins us a couple of minutes later with a tired but happy smile on her face.
Pulling her into her side, Bella kisses Rosalie's cheek. "How are you feeling?"
"Good. Exhausted, but good," she admits, shooting her daughter the same sort of wistful, nervous look I saw her wear when we went to the hospital to meet Violet two weeks ago. "Newborns are not easy."
Bella and I snort in unison before quickly shouting "Jinx!"
May and Rosalie shake their heads at us, the latter now looking somewhat sheepish. "Who am I kidding? I don't need to tell you two that newborns are hard. You somehow made it with six of the little suckers at once."
Our eyes turn back to our big boys helping the babies, Lexi and the People photographer, Martin, laughing as they crouch in front of Mackenzie and Asher to catch them smashing fistfuls of cake in each other's faces.
"Yeah," I murmur, squeezing Bella. "We made it, all right."
It takes a little while for the babies to get bored, but when they do, Bella and I clean them up and change their clothes before releasing them again. Much to my amusement, Rylee stumbles right up to a familiar face. Dr. Biers scoops her up and grins at her toothy smile and high-pitched babbling. She still talks complete nonsense ninety-nine percent of the time, but as he carries her over to us, I catch a few real words—'Dada' being my favorite, of course. Like Mackenzie and Asher, 'Dada' was her first word; Caben's was 'Mama,' no surprises there, River's was 'Mas' because he loves to yell for Max, and Oakley's was 'more.' Our chunky dude just loves shouting that one whenever he's sitting at the feeding table or we're handing out snacks.
Waving Martin and Lexi over, Bella asks them to take a picture of our girl with her namesake. Dr. Biers—or Grandpa Biers as he's been dubbed—wears a proud grin as he adjusts Rylee in his arms. While the babies and May are still all close by, we decide to grab them and try to get a quick photo of all of us together. Taking her daughter back from May, Rosalie manages to get the big boys for us so they can jump in.
Martin shows us the images he captured on his camera and I already know Laurie will want to include the last one in her feature.
All of us, including the babies—thanks to Lexi making crazy noises to get their attention—are looking at the camera. Rylee has her little hand on Dr. Biers' face and both Mackenzie and Asher are clapping at Lexi hidden out of shot with her own camera.
"That's great, man," I tell him, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Scribble your email address on here and I'll send you all the pics I take today," Martin says with a mischievous grin and a quick glance around for Laurie. "I'm not strictly supposed to, so keep it on the DL."
Grinning, I zip my lips. "Got it, thanks."
With the formalities over with, the candles blown out, and the babies now full of sugar and raring to tear around the ballroom, we have time to mingle and socialize with people we don't get to see often now we're busy raising our big family, running Burger Co. where I now work two shifts a week, and finalizing details on our house. If the construction crew continues to run on schedule, we could be in by Halloween.
Moving day really can't come soon enough. We're desperate for space and outgrew our current house the second we brought six babies home.
We get to talk to Bella's hilarious uncle Ron and listen to tales of her nomad aunt Bonnie's twenty year-long travels around the world. She doesn't come back to the States much, but this is a special occasion. While other people handle entertaining the babies, and the big boys tear around with their friends and cousins, we get to be Bella and Edward for just a little while.
Listening to Bella's uninhibited laughter and seeing her face light up as she hugs people we haven't been able to see in months, I fall in love with her over and over again.
"Have I told you today how proud of you I am?" Jude sniffles when we bump into her and Dale by the lemonade stand.
Bella beams and pulls her into a hug. As they rock side to side, she murmurs, "Only a time or two hundred. I love you so much, Jude."
"Oh, love. Stop! You're going to make me cry in front of all these people."
At her side, as always, Dale laughs. "You've been crying all day, my dear. No use stopping now."
"Hush, you," she tuts, accepting the handkerchief he holds out when she and Bella break apart. "This is wonderful. I suppose the next time we all get together like this will be for your wedding." Her eyes are bright, her smile even more so, when she adds, "Just out of interest, when will that be?"
As she tips her head up, smile-crinkled eyes meeting mine, I remember our trip into Jacksonville last week, the official piece of paper tucked safely in my drawer at Burger Co. If Bella were truthful, she'd admit that we actually won't be getting everybody together for our wedding. After a lot of hard conversations, we've decided that it's just not feasible for us to put together a wedding any time soon, and we're over waiting. We're done fending off questions and wondering when, or if, we'll ever have enough free time to plan a wedding.
So, in a couple of weeks on the way to our two-week vacation near Lake Eola, we're going to stop at the courthouse and complete the final piece of our puzzle by making Bella a Cullen like the rest of us. We picked up the marriage license a few days ago so that we'd have it ready. We'll have our children there, and nearer the time, we'll ask Jude and Dale to be our witnesses.
We don't want to upset anybody, but for our family, this is just the best option right now. Who knows, maybe in five years or ten we'll be in a place where we can organize a big party and renew our vows.
"We're working our way toward it, but we're in no rush right now." Bella speaks for both of us, lying her ass off of course, but I couldn't have said it better.
She slips herself under my arm and we both turn when someone audibly clears their throat behind us.
"Sully, what the fuck are you wearin'?"
He's been here all day in his self-bought 'Best. Uncle. Ever.' tee. He definitely wasn't wearing a shirt and cream suit pants when I saw him ten minutes ago.
"I need you to come with me, brother," he says with a shit-eating grin as Everly appears at his side.
These two. They're as thick as thieves, I swear.
And obviously up to somethin'.
"And I need to steal you, Bella."
Glancing down at Bella, I realize she looks just as confused as I feel.
"Uh, is everything okay?"
Everly nods, tugging her sister away from me. "Everything's fine, I just need you to come help me with something."
They quickly disappear, so I turn to my brother and decide I may as well humor him now Everly has stolen Bella anyway. "All right, hit me with it. What do you want?"
"For you to come with me," he stresses, winking at Jude and Dale as he tosses an arm around my shoulders to guide me out through one of the service doors.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
The door swings shut behind us, muffling the music and celebration. By the time we've hopped in the elevator and ridden up to the third floor, I'm getting frustrated with his silence. "Look, Sully, I don't have time for this—"
"Trust me." He stops suddenly, grabbing my arms to spin me so I'm facing him. His eyes are serious, his expression earnest. He's been this way a lot, recently, getting his life together and focusing more on the future than the next party, the next wave he can ride. I think a lot of it is down to his new drifter friend. She's here today and I can't help but think they're great together. I can only cross my fingers and hope she sticks around, because Sullivan will be heartbroken if she takes off. "This is worth missing a few minutes of the party for, okay? Actually, it's only gonna make the party better."
"I don't know what the hell you're talkin' about."
His grin returns, glee stretching it wide. "I know. That just makes it more fun. C'mon."
Dragging me down the hall, he finally stops in front of room 101, pulling a key from his pocket. The hand-painted beachwood keyring has the room number on it, and for a split-second I wonder why he's got a room when he lives five minutes away.
I forget all about that when he grins and waves me ahead, bouncing on his heels like Arlo after too much sugar. Stepping into the room, the first thing I spot is the clothes rail over by the window. Four pairs of pants are hanging there along with four white shirts. One set is adult size, the other are smaller, almost like they're meant…
For the boys?
"What's going on, Sullivan?" I ask as my heart starts to pound and my eyes dart around the room in search of other clues.
I swallow hard when they land on a black box sitting on top of the white comforter. When I move closer, I see the marriage license that was tucked away at the restaurant and suddenly, I think I know what's going on.
"Before you freak out," Sullivan laughs, holding his hands up. "Bella knows nothing. Well, she probably knows something now, but I found this the other day and I snooped on your search history. You really should have covered your tracks better. The courthouse? Really?" He scrunches his face up. "Dude, what were you thinkin'?"
"Sully—"
"I'm not done, that was rhetorical."
He's enjoying this way too much, the little shit.
"I called Ev, and she agreed that we couldn't let you do that." Closing the gap between us, he rests his hands on my shoulders and squeezes. "Everyone you guys love is downstairs right now. Zero planning involved for the two of you, so no stress; there are plenty of babysitters to hold babies, and it's not gonna cost either of you a penny. Those are all your excuses for not doin' this properly in the first place, right?"
Raking a hand through my hair, I nod, still catching up. "Wait, so...what?"
"Look, do you wanna marry hot stuff or not?"
"Of course I do, but Sully—"
"Ah, ah, no buts. Do you want everyone there to see it, or do you want to get married on your own?"
Grumbling, I point out, "We wouldn't have been alone. The kids were going to be there, and we were going to ask Jude and Dale to be witnesses."
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that and you were gonna ask me, but whatever. You want to marry hot stuff and we've got almost everythin' in place for that to happen right now—" His cell pings in his pocket. He pulls it out, huffing a laugh through his nose as he holds it up for me to see the picture Everly's just sent him.
My heart skips a beat before slamming into my ribs over and over. Bella's beautiful smile lights up the screen, her eyes glittering with unshed tears.
"Okay, now everythin' is in place. What's it gonna be, big brother?"
"Yes," I hear myself say. Smiling as I clear my throat, I repeat it a little firmer. "Yes. Let's do this. I want to get married today."
"Fuck, yeah!"
I feel like I've been swept up in a whirlwind after that. Sullivan leaves me to shower and change while he runs downstairs to round up the big boys, and by the time I'm clipping my suspenders over my crisp white shirt, they're back with the biggest grins on their faces.
"Is it true? Are you and Mom gettin' married today?" Arlo asks, slamming into me in his excitement.
With a chuckle, I drop into a crouch and wave Jaxson and Finley closer. "It's true, buddy. Is that okay with you three?"
"Uh, duh," Jaxson laughs. "We've only been waiting, like, forever. And this means you can adopt us, right?"
Warmth floods me as I yank them all in for a group hug. "It sure does, bud, if that's what y'all still want."
"We do," they chorus, dragging another watery laugh from me.
"Well, all right then. First, do you think we oughta make Momma a Cullen, too?"
"Oh yeah, for sure," Finley agrees, his momma's eyes bright with excitement.
"All right, fellas. These are your clothes. Don't scrunch those shirts up, for shit's sake. Everly will fuckin' kill me."
It isn't until the boys are dressed and we're all heading back downstairs in the elevator that I realize…
"Hang on, we don't have an officiant. They have to be booked in advance."
Sullivan turns to me silently. His Cheshire-cat grin scares the ever-loving shit out of me, I won't lie. "Sure you do, brother."
~ oOo ~
There are a handful of great memories that nothing and nobody will ever take away from me.
Willow's entire life is one long, incredible moment in time that I'll always cherish, but particularly the day I said hello to her.
The day Bella showed up after ten years and turned my life upside down with her silver-gray gaze and the warmth that evelopes her soul, the warmth she shares with me.
The day I realized I loved Arlo, Jaxson, and Finley.
Realizing that I'd fallen for Bella and would never again be whole without her and the boys.
Proposing under a willow tree in a sprawling English park, and hearing that magic 'yes.'
Seeing the two tiny lines we'd been waiting for, even though just weeks later, we'd hear nothing when we should have heard the rapid thrum of our baby's heartbeat.
Then, against all the odds, we got pregnant again. We brought six tiny miracles into the world and managed to keep them alive for a whole year.
But now…
This moment right here, on the private section of beach that belongs to In The Bay, this tops them all.
"Here she comes," Jasper whispers teasingly, leaning into my side to nudge me. "You nervous?"
I can't concentrate on him, because there, through the trellis somebody erected to stop me seeing her walking down the steps from the hotel onto the beach, I catch a brief glimpse of ivory and chestnut.
My heart pounds harder than ever before, my stomach flipping as Jaxson, Finley, and Arlo step into view pulling the wagon full of our babies. They stroll down the makeshift aisle like they're strutting down a runway. With sunglasses tucked into their hair, they smile and wave at the 'awwing' guests. When they make it to me, I crouch a little and kiss each of my big boys' heads as Renee quickly pulls the wagon out of the way, the babies lifted out into the arms of family members and friends.
"I want to thank each of you for letting me join your family, and I promise that I'm going to always, always do everything I can to be the best father to you guys and the sixers, and the best husband to your momma," I whisper through the tears clogging my throat.
Fuck. Take a deep breath, Cullen. You haven't even seen Bella yet.
"Dad, you're such a mush ball," Arlo snorts, yanking the pocket square out of his shirt to dab my eyes. "Pull yourself together, 'kay? Mom's mushy, too. You've gotta be strong."
Sniffling as all those close enough to hear him laugh, I nod and ruffle his hair. "You're right, bud, but it's absolutely your guys' fault for making me mushy."
"Yeah, whatever," Jaxson says with a roll of his eyes as I guide them onto the wooden platform beside Jasper. With me and the officiant up there, too, it's getting a little crowded, but that's okay.
There's only one more person to come, and when I glance toward the end of the aisle, I'm struck dumb.
Walking toward me on her dad's arm, wearing the most radiant smile despite the tears tumbling over her cheeks, is the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life loving, the only person I'll ever want to do this crazy thing called life with.
I'm sure Charlie is smiling as he places Bella's hand in mine before joining a sobbing Renee, but my eyes are all for my beautiful, surprised bride.
"Can you believe this?" she laughs as I help her step up onto the wooden platform decorated with a beautiful beachwood arch draped with gossamer curtains and delicate white flowers.
Again, our guests laugh, their amusement turning her cheeks pink.
It's then that she notices—
"Sully?"
With a grin, I turn and rest my hand at the small of her back as Sullivan adjusts his bowtie and flashes her the crooked smile we both inherited from Dad, who cried when we walked out here a little while ago.
"I'll be your officiant today, hot stuff. I printed my certificate out to prove it and everythin'."
"Wait, wait, wait…" she holds a hand up and looks up at me with a cross between pure shock and amusement. "He's joking, right?"
"I don't—"
"Forget I said that," Bella cuts me off, shaking her head as her smile blooms and laughter bubbles out of her. "Who am I kidding? Of course he's not joking." Stretching up onto her tiptoes, Bella plants a kiss on Sullivan's cheek. "Thank you for all of this. I'll kick your butt for pulling this stunt later when I'm not considering ditching your brother for you for being so freaking sweet."
Sullivan purses his lips in a shit-eating grin, so I shove him a little and tell him to get on with it before Bella ditches me.
Rude.
"All right, so we're ready?" He raises his eyebrows, looking between us. "Once you do this, there's no turning back. You're stuck with each other. Sullivan Cullen marriages aren't eligible for future divorces."
Bella laughs quietly, tipping her face up to mine. I can't resist catching her lips in a kiss that sets me on fire and makes our sons groan as Sullivan points out we're 'kinda jumping the gun.'
Gazing into her eyes, the sun turning them a stunning shade of silver so pale they're almost pearl, I know we're on the same page.
"Get on with it, Sully," I murmur, popping one last kiss on the tip of Bella's nose as she beams up at me. I can feel the sun on my face and the eyes of all those we love on my back.
"There's a great wave rolling in and I don't want to miss it."
Bella breathes a soft laugh through her nose, and I know she knows that she's the perfect wave.
Our life together is going to be full of ups and downs—and kids—but I know that, as long as we have each other, we'll survive riding the waves of hope.
And that's all she wrote...
KIDDING!
I love these guys too much, and there are a few key points in their lives that I thought we still needed to see. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to post one futuretake a day for seven days, each focusing on a specific theme. Some are shorter than others, more like snapshots of the future. I hope you'll love them as much as I've loved writing them!
Big hugs and my undying love to annaharding and maplestyle. They're amazing friends as well as the brains behind this operation lol. You can thank them for chapters that make sense.
I want to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who have stuck with me throughout this very bumpy ride. I was upfront about the angst when I started writing and posting this but I don't think any of us expected some of the bumps we hit along the way. The infertility journey Bella and Edward faced is based heavily on my own, the conversation they had with their doctor almost word-for-word the conversation we had with ours. For a few other reasons, this story is incredibly close to my heart and it means a lot that there are so many of you who have laughed and cried with me while reading this one.
FAQ I'll address quickly:
- Sullivan ~ His story is on my to-do list. He has a tale to tell and I know a bunch of you want to read it.
- Rosalie ~ She also has a story I'd like to tell. I'm undecided whether it'll be in the form of a one-shot or a multi-chapter fic, but it's coming one way or another.
Aaaand for the fun news I teased before...
Along with a futuretake a day, I'm also going to be revealing the cover of my new WIP piece by piece. I'll share snippets and clues to help you guess what it is, too. You'll find those in my reader group, CiaraShayee's Dreamers, on Facebook and nowhere else, so be there or be square ;)