Chapter 30: Forever
Alice circled me with her lips pursed, scrutinizing how I looked. Alexandra was fast asleep in her little chair and I was anxiously standing in the middle of Alice's massive walk in closet. She'd refused to let me look in the mirror until she'd ensured that everything fit properly, but I just wanted to look at myself.
It had been three months since I'd given birth and I'd finally settled on a date for the wedding, which had launched Alice into finalizing her plans and sending out the invitations. She'd barely let me help with anything and I appreciated her doing that for us. I'd taken a peek at her massive binder full of plans and nearly gotten dizzy.
Everything was starting to feel very real as the date loomed ahead of us.
"Can't I look?" I asked impatiently.
"Not yet!" she said before raising her voice slightly and calling out, "Rosalie! Can you come in here please?"
Rosalie swept into the room and gasped. "Mel, it's beautiful."
"Alice won't let me look in the mirror," I grumbled.
"I want it to be perfect the first time you look at it!"
Rosalie also began to circle me and she gently tugged at the fabric clinging to my body. They continued this for a few minutes, poking and prodding at me every few seconds and trying to make small adjustments.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked.
"It looks like it fits perfectly," Alice murmured. "No alterations need to be done…that's very unusual."
"It's like it was made for me," I said with a laugh.
"It was."
"What?"
"It's custom made for you," she explained. "I sent them your measurements and the design I'd drawn up and they made it for me. It's rare, though, that no alterations at all have to done. Even when I ordered Bella's wedding dress, we had to tighten the bodice. This is…strange."
I chuckled at the look on Alice's face. "You should be relieved that you don't have to do anything."
She rolled her eyes at me and then gently turned me around so I was facing one of the many mirrors in her closet.
My breath caught in my throat and my eyes filled with tears. "Oh…Alice."
"Do you like it?" she asked anxiously.
"I love it."
The sleeves were sheer with lace detailing along the arms and collarbone, with the entire bodice encrusted with small diamonds and jewels, sparkling under the lights in Alice's closet. The skirt flared out slightly with more lace and diamond detailing along the train and around my hips.
Alice had twisted my hair into a low bun and had fastened a veil into my hair. The veil matched the dress perfectly, with more lace detailing and diamonds encrusted into it. The clip of the veil had sapphire jewels in it where it was fastened into my hair.
"Worth the wait?" she asked, smile quirking at her lips.
I nodded, throat tight. "Thank you so much, Alice."
Esme entered the room and she gasped just like Rosalie had. "Good job, Alice."
Alice grinned smugly at her before helping me out of the dress and back into my regular clothes while Rosalie and Esme exited the room.
"Is he going to let me do his suit fitting or is it going to cause a fight?" she asked.
I laughed. "He's warmed up to you a lot, you know."
"I don't know if he's warmed up to me that much."
"I'm sure it'll be fine."
"There's something else," Alice said. "We wanted to treat you and Paul to a nice honeymoon."
"Oh, Alice, you guys don't have to do that," I objected.
"It's the least we can do," she said. "If Paul would be okay with it, we'd be more than willing to take care of Alexandra while you're gone."
"I'm sure he'll be fine with that," I said. "Thank you so much."
"I'm not sure if you had any plans for where you wanted to go, but I thought you'd like to go back to Isle Esme," she said. "I know that last time you were there you didn't really get a chance to enjoy the island given the circumstances."
"We loved it there," I said. "Thank you so much."
"I also booked you at your favourite hotel in Seattle for the night before your flight and when you land," she said.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough."
"You don't have to," she said, squeezing my arm. "You both deserve this after everything you've been through."
That night when I went home, Paul was sprawled out on the couch and his eyes lit up when he saw Alexandra and me.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"Really well," I said. "She didn't have to make any alterations or anything. She wants to do your suit fitting sometime soon, too."
"Oh, can't wait for that," he said sarcastically.
"Don't be an ass," I teased. "She's also arranged for us to go to Seattle and Isle Esme for our honeymoon and wondered if you'd be okay with them watching Alexandra during it."
"Jeez, they must really love you," he said. "I'm fine with that, although I think Sue will be upset that she doesn't get to watch Alexandra while we're gone."
"Maybe they can split it up between themselves," I suggested, smile quirking at my lips.
"They're gonna have to organize that themselves," he said, teasing lilt to his voice.
Alexandra woke up and started babbling at us. Paul picked her up out of her seat and started bouncing her on his knees, making her squeal and laugh in delight. I pressed a soft kiss to his lips before going into the bathroom to take a shower.
Two Weeks Later
I lay in my bed at the Cullens' house, staring up at the ceiling.
I was getting married tomorrow.
My stomach was knotted with nerves and I knew that I wouldn't be getting much sleep.
The past two weeks hadn't been hectic at all and I had Alice to thank for that. She'd planned every single detail of the wedding and had only asked for my opinions on aesthetic decisions and the food.
I'd stayed at the Cullens' house overnight with Alexandra so that Alice and Rosalie could get started on my hair and makeup as soon as I woke up. I'd convinced myself that something was sure to go wrong—would I stumble as Sue walked me down the aisle? Would I drop the ring as my shaky hands tried to put it on Paul's finger? Would I forget my vows—the words of love that I'd been rehearsing constantly over the past two weeks?
I rolled onto my side and hugged my pillow close to my chest, wishing that Paul was there. Alice was dead set against him seeing me before the wedding, saying that we didn't need any more bad luck plaguing us. I thought it was slightly ridiculous—at this point I knew that we'd be together forever. We'd been through enough bad luck to last us a lifetime.
Somehow, I fell asleep with my pillow hugged tight against my chest.
I awoke to Alice's face hovering above mine. I blinked groggily and rubbed at my eyes, trying to clear them.
"You ready?" she asked.
I nodded and allowed her to pull me out of bed and into her bathroom. I wrapped myself up in one of Alice's silk robes and allowed her to wash my hair. She set my hair in some hot rollers and got started on my makeup.
I stared at myself in the mirror, trying not to let my nerves get to me. My hands were shaking slightly and I was nervously chewing on my lip. Alice took the rollers out of my hair and it tumbled around my shoulders in soft curls.
"How much time do we have?" I asked.
"About half an hour," she said, making my stomach clench. "Come on, time to get into your dress!"
She led me into her closet and pulled the garment bag off one of her many racks. She called out to Rosalie, who entered Alice's closet looking stunning. Her golden locks tumbled down her back and her dark red dress contrasted beautifully with her golden eyes. She helped Alice get me into my dress and did a whirlwind job of lacing up the bodice.
Alice and Rosalie led me back into the bathroom and began pinning my hair up into an intricate up-do and fastened my veil onto the crown of my head. They fastened a pair of glittering diamond earrings onto my lobes and an intricate necklace around my neck.
Alice and Rosalie led me back into Alice's closet and I finally got to look at their finished product. I gasped—if I'd thought that I looked like a bride two weeks ago without all of the makeup and jewelry, I'd been blind.
I looked like the sort of bride that you'd see in a magazine. Alice and Rosalie had completely worked their magic on me and transformed me into the perfect image of how a bride looked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a figure in the doorway. I fully turned to face them and nearly screamed.
"Ian!"
"Hey Mel," he said, grinning at me. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you," I said. Alice and Rosalie subtly left the room to give us some privacy. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I couldn't miss my sister's wedding."
I blinked hard against the tears that threatened to spill and hugged him fiercely. "Thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to me."
"How have you been?" he asked. "Alice told me everything that's happened…are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I said. "My body's stronger than it's ever been and the baby's healthy."
"She's beautiful," he said.
Alice returned to the closet and grasped my arm. "It's time, Mel."
Ian hugged me once more and then went out to the Cullens' backyard where they'd set up for the ceremony. I walked down the stairs to the front foyer of the Cullens' house where Sue was waiting for me. She blinked her tears away as she saw me and hugged me tightly as I approached her.
"Thank you so much for doing this for me, Sue," I said.
"It's my pleasure, Mel," she said, linking arms with me.
Alice, in her sparkly red dress, floated down the aisle ahead of Sue and me, clasping the rings in front of her. I felt nervousness eating away at me as I waited for our cue to move. Sue kept me steady and as Edward began to play Wagner's March on the piano, Sue and I began to walk.
The Cullens' backyard had turned into the most elegant space I'd ever seen. The aisle was littered with flower petals and the seats were draped with ivory coloured satin. Garlands of white, cream, and light pink flowers had been hung above the arch that had been placed at the end of the aisle.
Alice had made good on her promise to keep it a small wedding and for that, I was grateful. As I walked down the aisle, I saw my aunts Sarah and Lily and their respective partners, my grandmother, the Cullen family, and the whole wolf pack. Paul's dad was also in attendance, standing next to Billy Black. Emily was holding Alexandra in the front row with Sam standing next to her, his arm wrapped around her waist. I was pleased to see that Jared and Kim were there, arms around each other and beaming with happiness.
My attention wasn't on our guests for too long, though. As soon as my eyes found Paul, everything fell into place. It was as if there was nobody else in the Cullens' backyard and I no longer felt nervous. I was in a rush to get to the altar and stand with him in his crisp black suit.
Sue and I reached the altar and she let go of me, placing my hand in his outstretched one. She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and then took her seat next to Emily and Alexandra. The ceremony was being conducted by Angela's father and it was hard for me to keep my emotions in check as he began to speak.
Paul kept my shaking hands steady as we stood in front of our friends and family, listening to Mr. Weber spoke about love unity. When Mr. Weber turned to me, I knew that it was my turn to say my vows to Paul and I felt my stomach tighten nervously.
"Paul, you have stood by me through so much in the short amount of time that we've been together and today, I promise to stand by you no matter what life throws at us. You have helped me through things that I never thought I'd be able to get through and I don't know who I'd be without you. I love you so much and I will be by your side no matter what."
His hands tightened on mine slightly as Mr. Weber turned to him and I had to fight against the tears that threatened to surface as Paul began to speak.
"I've known from the first time I saw you that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. It's because of your unwavering patience with me that we've made it to this point and I will be forever grateful for the light that you've added to my life. I promise to love you as fiercely as I have since the beginning, as long as you'll have me."
At that, Mr. Weber had us exchange our rings and say our final "I do's". As Paul captured my lips with his, a rush of warmth enveloped my body and I nearly felt overwhelmed.
We were officially married; our love cemented forever.
The crowd broke into applause and people came rushing up to us to congratulate us. As the crowd thinned and they took their seats at the tables in the reception area Alice had created, Alice took tonnes of photos of us with our friends and family.
As the party began and drinks started flowing, everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time and I knew I'd never be able to thank Alice enough. She'd given me the most perfect wedding and it was all I could ever have hoped for. She'd truly given me one of the best nights of my life.
Later into the evening, after I'd danced with what felt like everyone in attendance and had spent majority of my time on the dancefloor swaying with Paul, I took Alexandra into the Cullens' house and into the room that she'd be staying in while Paul and I were on our honeymoon. She'd started getting a little irritable and I'd decided that it was time to put her to bed.
I sat in the rocking chair with her nestled securely in my arms and rocked her to sleep. A few minutes after I'd entered the room, Paul appeared in the doorway, smiling warmly at me. He approached us and pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head.
The quiet moment of serenity between the three of us was exactly what I needed before we were whisked away on our honeymoon and before we started the next chapter of our lives together. I'd known from the beginning of our relationship that he and I were meant to be together and we'd finally made it to a point where nothing would come between us.
We would be together.
Forever.
The End