Chapter Eleven
Some blues song was on in the background. I had to get into a comfort zone – this was my wedding day after all. The song was something random, one of Charlie's favorites. He hadn't been the biggest music fan, honestly. He always complained that it was too loud. But the blues he could do.
I pictured fishing on the lake with him as a kid. Charlie would show me how to properly hook a worm, and then with the pole in one hand and a beer in the other, he would drill me about school and how my grades were. If I had made good friends, and as I got older, good choices.
And I laughed at the irony of the questions about boys. No one would ever be good enough for his daughter. I was pledging my eternal soul to a vampire.
"Bella, will you hold still?" Alice huffed, and continued messing with my hair. She had a little blue butterfly barrette nestled in the fountain of soft curls cascading down my back. I hadn't wanted a veil; it would tangle itself in my wings, no doubt. Besides, Rose had been sure that it would take away the effect of the dress. She had started to come around more, making warm comments about me joining the family. She told me little things that came to her, something she never would have done before.
"I have to pee!" I panicked, looking to the girls for comfort.
"You're fine. Immortals don't have to pee, anyway."
"Well, this one does!"
I got up and ran to the bathroom. Alice chased me there, stating as she stood outside, "That may be waterproof mascara but the eyeliner is not!"
When I had finished and come out, Rose smiled at me.
"Quit worrying, everything is going to be perfect. Now Emmett's waiting outside We should probably get a move on it. Edward's pacing as it I," Alice said in a rush, bending to make sure my dress didn't crinkle.
"He's not getting cold feet, is he?"
"Don't be ridiculous. He's already got cold feet – we're vampires, remember?" Rose laughed and I shot her a glare. "Oh relax, he's just impatient. It is his wedding day too, you know."
I giggled at that.
Emmett came through the door. "You ladies ready to get this show on the road?"
"Hold on, she has to look in the mirror first!"
"Make it quick, Ed's antsy enough as it is. If Jasper wasn't with him I don't know what we'd do." He sat next to Rose on the love-seat in Alice and Jasper's bedroom. "I still can't believe you guys are letting him perform the ceremony over me – it would have been much more fun if I were in charge."
"That's precisely why you're not doing it. Besides, Jasper's more experienced with nerves. He'll know what to do if she tries to make a break for it." Alice laughed.
"Don't be absurd, if I wanted to outrun you guys, I'd just go airborne."
"And you've had this planned all week, have you?"
"I figure it would be faster than stealing one of your cars."
Rose and Alice burst into laughter while Emmett just stared at me blankly. He turned the idea in his head. "You aren't actually planning on leaving…are you?"
"No, calm down. I'm not going to bail on Edward. Not now, not ever."
I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. I had lied to Renee, telling her I was going to Vegas to get married. It was good, to have the little lies back me up.
Edward said he had called Jake, though he wouldn't say more than that. I wanted my best friend there, but I decided that I couldn't always have my cake and eat it too.
My dress was silk; it looked like something a woman would have worn in the 30's to a fancy dinner. The sleeves were short and wavy, clinging just off my shoulders. There wasn't much of a train, but it was long enough that it covered my feet and touched the ground. It had killed Alice to do it, but it was cut so that my wings could come out the back. It was something new.
I had a blue butterfly barrette pulling the sides of my hair back from my face, a few loose strands were curled, appearing like ribbons. It was something blue.
Esme had been nice enough to let me burrow a silver dragonfly necklace. It was something old and borrowed. I was also going barefoot so that I wouldn't have to worry much about falling. For once in my life, I felt beautiful – the way they all saw me.
Alice took my arm. It was time. I took one last glance, and then told my father silently, I wish you were here.
We were surrounded in trees. The sun's rays peeked just over the tops and as Rose hopped out of the Jeep, her skin glimmered – casting rainbows on the forest's floor. Like stain-glass windows. My insides started to flip. Just then, Esme walked up.
"You look stunning, Bella." She kissed my cheek.
"Thanks," I said, the heat seemed to radiate off my skin. She took my hand in hers.
"Before we go up the hill, there's someone who would like to speak with you." I nodded, knowing exactly who it was. The walk wasn't far; he stood in the middle of a small clearing of some wild berry bushes. There was someone with him. I stepped forward, curious.
"Bella." The name was different this time, he didn't say it in a weird romantic way, the way he once had.
"Jake." I pulled him in for a hard hug.
He coughed a little and I released. "You sure can get a grip now!" He started to laugh.
"Not the only monster now, are you? But Jake, before you start—"
He held up his hand and I stopped. "Let me speak. You don't know what I'm going to say."
"Sorry," I replied, sheepish.
"This is Leah. You may remember her, Harry Clearwater's daughter," he said it more as a question than a statement.
"Oh, yes I remember! Wait—"
"Yes, but it was her, not me."
"You imprinted on Jacob?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied, cool. I wanted to assure her there was no threat. I was genuinely happy for them both.
"That's amazing!"
She seemed to warm at that. "Thank you."
Jake looked to me, again. "We came to give you our congratulations. I know I haven't always approved of the –"
I shot him a look of warning.
"The Cullens," he managed. "But Leah is someone I can grow old and die with. Edward is someone you can live with on and on now. He makes you happy. I won't stand in your way, I never should have."
"Jake, can I ask a favor?"
"Anything."
"Walk me down the aisle? I think Charlie would approve."
"It would be my honor." He had tears in his eyes at this.
We made our way back to where everyone was waiting. Esme smiled at me as she turned and made her way up the hill to where the rest of them were. Alice and Rose were next. They both had high heels on. They had refused to go barefoot like me.
I looked over at Jake.
"He's watching you right now, I'm sure."
I calmed at this. "Let's do this," I breathed, putting one leg in front of the other.
"Don't we have to wait for the music?"
"The trees are the melody."
We made our way to the top of the hill, finally. Edward didn't seem one bit surprised, or phrased, that Jake was there. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations…
But this wasn't the end, it was a beginning. I had been under the impression at the time that I would die. This was different, a paradise in its most basic form.
"Who gives this woman?" That snapped me out of my haze.
"I do," Jake spoke loud and clear. He turned and grinned at me. "Go get em."
"You'll always be my best friend," I said, squeezing his hand.
Taking my right hand, he placed it in Edward's, but not before giving one last warning. "Don't you ever hurt her again."
Edward nodded.
I stepped up to Edward and looked to Jasper after handing my sunflower bouquet to Alice. I turned to look at him, and it was if I was really seeing him for the first time. He had worn a simple blue suit with a daisy at the jacket pocket, and when I looked at him, he flashed me that crooked smile. The air caught in my lungs. I could have sworn for just a shard of a second, the emerald green pooled up in the circle of his eyes. Everything around me melted into teardrops, but us.
It was just him and me. There was no more vampire, and no more half angel or fiend. There was just a girl who loved a boy, and a boy who loved a girl. I heard Jasper ask, and I quickly said "I do" into his eyes. I couldn't lie, everyone knew it to be true.
"You may kiss the bride."
We kissed, wobbling a little and laughing against one another as we did. The moment was perfect because it was ours.