"So, how are we feeling today?"
Edward and I are holding hands on the love seat in our therapist's office. It's the same question she's asked us at the start of every session since we started seeing her two years ago.
Two years of dealing with our issues as a couple and what we each brought to the table separately. It's been a long, eye-opening process; one that I wasn't sure we would get through, but here we are in our last regular session.
I look at Edward, and when he smiles, I squeeze his hand tighter. "We're excited. I know I have no reservations going forward and neither does Edward. We're ready for the next step."
"The next step being marriage?" She makes a note on her pad of paper before looking back up at us.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I'm not going to propose to her in your office, if it's all the same to you," Edward jokes.
After another hour in the office, we agree to come back in six months for a refresher.
"So, when are we getting engaged?" I ask cheekily as Edward and I are walking down the street in search of some dinner.
"I have to propose again?" Edward stops dead in his tracks, and I double over laughing.
"Okay, okay," I say as I drag him down the street. "Maybe I'll propose instead."
"Whatever you say, princess."
A week later, I'm grabbing my purse and yelling to Edward that I'm leaving for the afternoon, but when he doesn't answer, I go looking for him. He's lying in bed, scrolling on his phone.
"Babe, I'm leaving to meet the girls," I say as I lean down to kiss his cheek. I catch a glimpse of his screen and poke him in the side. "What're you looking at?"
"Engagement rings," he tells me with a smirk. "Tell the girls I said hi."
I stand there sputtering for a moment, and when I finally turn to walk away, Edward calls after me, "What size is your ring finger again?"
Rose, Alice, Jessica, and Lauren are all here for a shopping day and lunch. All of us, men included, are taking a week trip to Las Vegas in two weeks. It's our first group trip, and we're all really looking forward to it.
"That dress looks great, Bella," Rose tells me as I give it a once over in front of the three-way mirror. "Does it come in white?"
I turn around slowly to face her. "What was that?"
"I just asked if it came in white." She shrugs, but the wicked smile she sends me sets me on edge.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
Alice and Jessica pick that exact moment to come out in dresses of the same color as Rose's. I look at the three of them suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"What? We look good!" Alice says as she twists in front of the mirrors before walking back to her dressing room. Jessica looks bewildered and heads back to her room, leaving me and Rose alone again.
"If I go check on Lauren, is she going to have a dress in the same color?"
"Maybe," she sings.
I march down the small hallway and pound on the door to the dressing room she's in. When she pops her head out, I realize I may have underestimated my friends.
"Yes?" Lauren is wearing a dress in lilac that matches the others, but her eyes are glassy, and she's smiling too wide.
"Lauren? Are you high?"
"Ugh, yes, okay!"
"Lauren!" I drop my voice to a whisper. "You can't be high in Bloomingdales! Why are you all getting matching dresses?"
"Oh! I'm not allowed to tell you. It's a secret," she says and produces a flask from seemingly nowhere. "I've been drinking all day too. Want some?"
Beyond frustrated, I rip the flask from her hand and take a drink. "Jesus, what is that?"
"Peach schnapps."
I cough and walk away only to see Jessica peeking out of her room. "Jess!"
"Oh, no, they don't tell me anything. I've never been able to keep a secret," she says with a sad smile.
"Are you serious?"
"You're shit out of luck, Bella." Rosalie is standing at the top of the hall with her hands on her hips, flanked by Alice.
"Now get your caboose in that changing room and get outta that dress. We have lunch reservations in thirty minutes!" Alice yells, and I scurry away.
I'll figure this out. Edward will tell me.
"Oh, honey," Alice drawls from outside my room. "If you think Edward is gonna tell you anything, think again."
Shit.
For two weeks, Edward has been teasing me about white dresses, flowers, and vows.
"I vow to never eat Tony's pizza with anyone but you, princess."
A bouquet of flowers was sent to my work with a card that read, "Wouldn't these look good in pictures against a white dress?"
Or that time we were in the elevator and I all but begged him to put me out of my misery and just propose, and Edward immediately dropped down to one knee … only to tie his shoe.
I was looking forward to copious amounts of alcohol, lying by the pool, and a little gambling and ignoring Edward as much as possible. When we arrive in Vegas and get checked into our hotel, I immediately change into my swimsuit and hit the pool to wait for the girls to show.
A couple hours and several Pina Coladas later, my friends are lounging next to me in the sun as we plan our week. We have tickets to see David Copperfield and a drag brunch; our time is going to be spent mostly in the casinos and by the pools.
"Well, we should probably head in and get ready for dinner here soon," Alice says to all of us as I dry off from a dip in the pool.
"I suppose so." I pick up my phone to look at the time. "What time is the reservation?"
"Eight, but we're gonna do a couple things beforehand for the guys," Rose says with a shrug, and I grab my stuff as we all make our way out of the pool area and back into the hotel.
When we're all dressed and meet downstairs in the lobby, Edward splits us into groups. "Rose and Emmett you'll come with me and Bella. The rest of you will head to the location to get set up."
Jessica looks at Mike. "Where are we going? I thought we were going to dinner?"
"I can't tell you, babe, you'll blab."
Lauren, who was three sheets to the wind when she got off the plane and has just been teetering on the edge of blackout drunk the entire afternoon pipes up, "I wanna go with Bella. I wanna see her face."
Five loud "no's" echo in the lobby before Tyler starts to drag her outside with the Newtons and the Whitlocks.
"Do I even want to know what's going on?" I finally ask Edward, and he just smiles.
"I'm more surprised you didn't ask Alice what was in the garment bag," Rose snipes from beside me.
"What garment bag?"
"There's our car. Let's go!" Edward guides me outside and helps me into the Uber, and before I can ask any questions, the driver is navigating us through the city. When we pull up in front of an office building, I admit I'm confused.
"C'mon, we have an appointment." Edward hops out of the car and offers me his hand. We run across the street, and before we enter the building, he stops me.
"Princess." He looks me dead in the eye. I know it now. It's happening.
"Yes."
"I didn't even ask you," he says with a slight pout.
"You already did." I jump into his arms and press my lips to his. "I'm ready. Let's do this."
Less than thirty minutes later, we have our license, and we're heading to the chapel where Edward has painstakingly planned out every detail.
When I walk down the aisle, I see all of our friends, Edward's parents and sister, and Jacob and his girlfriend looking on. Simple vows are exchanged where we promise to always love one another, and we both cry when we realize that we're so ready for this next step in our lives.
By the time we make our dinner reservation for all fifteen of us, Edward and I are legally married, and I can't stop smiling.
Everyone toasts us during our impromptu reception, and I can't believe he's pulled this off. When we're eating dessert, Edward leans over to whisper in my ear. "You once told me I wasn't allowed to get married in Vegas, but I told you I'd never do it without you."
"I love you."
"I love you too, wife."