29

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Do I look like I'm not serious?" Bella cocked an eyebrow at me.

I pressed my lips together, choosing not to answer that question seeing as we were both laying on my bed completely naked. Well, except for the fact that Bella had my tie wrapped around her neck. Instead, I chose to think about what she'd just said to me: Bella wanted to elope.

"Okay, you know that if my mom, or Esme, or fuck Alice finds out that we want to elope instead of having a wedding they would disown us, right?"

Bella frowned, but nodded. "I do, but I don't care. I don't want that." She gestured to the dark blue dress that lay crumpled on the floor of my bedroom. "I just want to be your wife, Edward."

I sighed, grabbing her hips and shifting us so that she was laying beneath me. "I want that, too. Baby, I do, but I don't want you to make a rash decision that you're going to regret. I mean, Hell, baby, you only asked me to marry you like six hours ago."

Bella smiled, bringing her hand up to my face. "I know, and that alone should tell you just how much I want this. Edward, if you want the big wedding, then we'll have it. I won't take that away from you."

"That's not my problem," I grumbled.

"Then what is it?" she asked.

I sighed and rolled onto the bed, tucking my arm under my head. "Okay, this is going to make me sounds all girlie, but well, you beat me to it."

"What?" she laughed, leaning up on her elbow and looking at me.

"I was going to propose to you. Had this huge plan and everything," I told her, lying about the last part. While I had planned to propose to her, I hadn't worked out any of the details yet. "But, like you always do, you beat me to it."

"Aw, baby," she cooed, straddling me. My hands automatically shifted to her hips, like they were made to hold her there. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," I scoffed.

"You're right, I'm not," she giggled.

Sitting up, I moved her legs so that they were wrapped around my waist and slid my hand up her back, tangling my fingers in her hair. "You really want elope?"

She nodded, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

"And when our families find out, you're going to put all the blame on me, are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

Though a wicked smile spread over her lips, Bella shook her head. "I would never do that to you, baby."

"Okay," I told her.

"Yeah?" she asked, smiling. "You mean it?"

"I do." I smirked.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I do, too."

"Then it's settled," I snickered, climbing off the bed with her still in my arms. "Come on, baby, let's go shower."

"All right," she sighed, unhooking her legs and pulling herself out of my arms.

An hour later, we'd showered and dressed and were on our way over to the gym to celebrate Christmas with our families. Carlisle and Esme would be leaving tonight for their honeymoon, though neither of them would tell us where they were going. I think with all the wedding planning that Alice, Rose, and Elizabeth had done, Esme needed one part that was just for her and Carlisle. Much like Bella's need to elope. I parked outside of the gym and looked at my fiancée. She looked so happy. She had a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes, one that I had never seen before. It was like finally everything in her life made sense and she could allow herself to be truly, one-hundred percent happy. Or maybe that was just how I finally felt.

After my parents left for Italy and my sister moved us to Forks, I hadn't planned on ever allowing myself to care for someone. But then, I met Bella and even though it scared me, I couldn't not love her. She was beautiful and perfect. But just as we were finding our happiness, Aro Volturi tried to rip it away from us, her parents came barreling back into her life, and suddenly the girl I had fallen in love with was lost inside her own head again.

I loved her. I would always love her, but it was hard to hold her together. And it didn't help that Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle refused to accept that how much I loved their sister, how much I needed her. When we went to school, the transition was difficult. Expectations of greatness were placed on our shoulders, and while we tried to lead, it wasn't easy. Liam wasn't coming back to school and Tia had been benched for the season because of Tanya Denali, and I wasn't sure about any part of our future expect that I was in love with the woman sitting next to me and soon she'd become my wife.

"If we leave tonight, we could detour to Vegas, get married tomorrow, and then go back to school," I said, drawing Bella's attention to me. "I bet Vegas is only a few hours from L.A."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" she asked. "I mean, we don't have rings, or anything."

"We'll buy rings when we get there," I told her. "If you need more time, we can wait. We'll go during Spring Break, or we can wait until this summer. It's up to you."

Bella bit her lip and looked back at the gym. "Maybe we should. . ." Trailing off, she shook her head and looked at me. "Let's do it. Hell, I'm all for leaving right now!"

I laughed, because I knew she was serious. "No, we have to go in or they'll come chasing after us."

"True," she admitted. "So, we'll leave tonight."

"Tonight," I agreed.

Bella and I sat in the car for a few more minutes before we headed inside, unsurprised to find everyone else already there, including Nolan, Corrine, Charlie, and Renee. Shifting my eyes over to Bella, I expected to see her shoulders tense, but they weren't. She appeared to be almost at ease with them.

"Morning," she said. "Sorry, we're late. Edward's slow."

"I am not," I scoffed, choosing not to mention the fact that Bella was the one who insisted that we needed to explore during our shower.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Elizabeth told her, walking over to Bella and giving her a hug. When she pulled back, she brought her hands up to Bella's face and smiled. "There's something different about you this morning."

"What?" she asked, sounding unconvincing.

"I don't know," Elizabeth murmured, shifting her eyes to me before she shook her head. "Anyway, we were just about to eat breakfast."

"Okay," Bella chirped before she walked over to the table and sat between Carlisle and Emmett, both of whom reached up, grabbed a handful of her hair and gave it a hearty tug. "Stop it, assholes!"

"Nope," they said together, giving her hair another pull.

"Mom!" Bella whined, falling back in her seat as everyone froze and looked over at her, especially Corrine.

"B — boys s — stop," she stammered. "Leave your sister alone."

"Yeah, okay," Emmett muttered, letting her hair fall from between his fingers.

Carlisle, however, cocked an eyebrow and pulled it one more time. "I'm a married man now. I don't have to listen to what my mother tells me to do."

Bella laughed as Corrine's mouth flopped open. "Dude, you're in trouble."

"I'm not scared," he mumbled, but released her hair and placed his hand back in his lap. "I'm choosing to stop because I don't want you to cry."

"Whatever." Bella snorted as she reached over and grabbed one of the casserole dishes from in front of him, purposely hitting him with her elbow.

"Mom," Carlisle mimicked.

Jasper shifted his eyes to Renee, who was sitting on the other side of the table, across from Alice. He reached over and snatched the bacon from her plate, causing Renee to narrow her eyes at him.

"Give me my fucking bacon, brat!" she nearly yelled.

"Nope." Jasper smirked and popped it into this mouth.

Renee growled as she stood up, leaned across the table and scooped up one of his waffles.

"No!" Jasper complained, reaching for it but before he could take it back, Renee licked it. "Ew! I don't want it now."

"You shouldn't have taken my bacon," Renee told him, winking at Bella, who was laughing.

"Oh, good lord," Corrine grumbled. "Everyone leave everyone else alone!"

"Yes, ma'am," Carlisle, Renee, Emmett, Jasper, and Bella mumbled together.

Bella shifted her eyes up to mine, a smile playing on her lips. I knew how hard it had been for her to forgive her parents, to allow them back into her lives, and finally, after months of agonizing, she had done it.

Once everyone had eaten, we gathered around the Christmas tree and began to pass out our gifts. The gym was full of laughter and teasing, joy and happiness. We'd become a family, though there had been times when our family had cracks, we'd managed to overcome all of it together.

—LO—

"Hey, you," Esme murmured, bumping my shoulder with hers as she sat down on the mat next to me. Bella had talked Carlisle into sparring with her, promising to take it easy on the old man. Of course, all that had done was set him off on how he wasn't old and he could still kick her ass. So, Charlie, Ed, and Nolan had been given the tasks of judging them, and currently, my fiancée was kicking Carlisle's ass by several points.

"Hey," I said, smiling as I looked over at her. "You ready for the big honeymoon?"

"Yep," she said, her cheeks turning red. I grimaced not wanting to think about my sister having sex. "So, anything new to tell me?"

"Nope," I lied.

"Really?" Esme angled her body toward me. "Edward, how long would you say I've known you?"

"Um, all my life," I said. "You were kind of there when I was born, remember?"

"Exactly," she said. "Now, in all your nineteen years, have you ever been able to keep anything from me?"

"No," I admitted, "but then again, I'm not keeping anything from you now, either."

Esme sighed, and looked over at Carlisle and Bella, who had him in a headlock. "Carlisle, fight back! She's smaller than you, for fuck sake!"

"I am," he yelled, trying to break free, but Bella wasn't letting him go.

Esme shook her head and looked back over at me. "Sometimes, I wonder about that man."

"You're stuck with him now," I snickered.

"Speaking of marriage." She smiled. "You and Bella are engaged."

It was a statement, not a question, but I choose not to acknowledge it at all.

Esme groaned. "Edward!"

"What?" I laughed.

"Talk to me," she said with a pout.

"I am. Words are coming out of my mouth, therefore I am, in fact, speaking to you," I teased. She smiled, but didn't reply. I rolled my eyes. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Everything," she giggled. "How long?"

I looked down at my watch. "About seventeen hours, thirty-three minutes, and roughly ten. No, eleven seconds."

"Not that you're counting," she scoffed before turning serious. "Why'd you ask her?"

"I didn't," I said. "She asked me."

Esme's eyes flew open. "Edward!"

"What?" I laughed. "I was going to, but Bella asked first."

"Why does that not surprise me," she laughed. "So, you're getting married."

I nodded. "Tomorrow."

"What?" she gasped, shifting her eyes between me and Bella, who had finally released Carlisle but was now sitting on him while penning his arms to the mat and poking him in the gut with her gloves.

"I know," I whispered. "We don't want a big wedding, and I don't want to wait."

"Okay, but tomorrow?" she murmured. "That's really fast."

"I love her, Esme. I've loved her since we moved here. She's everything to me."

"Oh, Edward," she sighed, pulling her knees up in front of her and looking over to Carlisle and Bella. "You know everyone is going to be pissed when they find out."

"I do, and so does she, but we don't care."

Esme smiled. "And you shouldn't." she looked over at me. "Care, I mean. You should, but not to the point that it makes you do things you don't want. Look at my wedding, for fuck sake! Do you think I wanted all of that shit?"

"No," I laughed. "You hated the frilly ribbons and lace."

"I did," she admitted. "I wanted a nice, small wedding. Just us, just family, but Alice and Rose wanted to help, and I couldn't say no. Then, Mom . . . I won't get started on her."

"See? That's exactly what we don't want," I told her.

"We almost said fuck it and eloped, too," Esme whispered. "After Thanksgiving, the way everyone was behaving, Carlisle and I almost said fuck it all and headed to the Justice of the Peace, but we didn't."

"Why not?" I asked. "You could have, and then had the big flashy wedding."

"You're right, we could have," she said. "But it didn't feel right. Not for us."

The sound of Bella's laughter filled the gym, causing Esme and I to look over at her. She and Carlisle had ended their match with Ed, Nolan, and Charlie all declaring her the winner. Though, in reality, we all knew that Carlisle held back, that he would never really fight against Bella. He loved her too much, and the thought of hurting his baby sister was too much for him to handle.

"If this is what you want," Esme said, pulling my attention back to her, "then I'll support you and Bella."

"Thank you," I said. "You're a pretty cool, sister."

"Oh, I know." She smirked as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed my cheek.

"Gross!" I laughed, pushing her away. "That's nasty!"

"You know you love me, Eddie," she snickered, trying to kiss my cheek again.

"Whatever," I scoffed.

"Babe," Carlisle called to Esme. "I'm going to shower real quick, but then we have to go, or we're going to miss our flight."

"Okay," Esme replied.

"Still not telling me where you're going?" I asked.

"Well," she said, looking at me. "Since you shared your secret, I guess I can share mine. Carlisle and I are going to Italy. I thought that since Mom and Dad were there for a while, it might be nice to kind of see what they did."

"That's nice," I said, smiling. "Just, um, come back, okay?"

"We will," she laughed, laying her head on my shoulder. "Nothing will keep me away from my family, Edward."

Carlisle came out a few minute later, so we stood up and walked over to the door of the gym, where everyone had gathered to bid them both goodbye. I wrapped my arms around Bella, feeling her sigh as she melted into my embrace. One by one everyone hugged them both, reminding them to be careful, until finally it was mine and Bella's turn.

Carlisle grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into his arms, leaning down and whispering into her ear. Whatever he said to her had her eyes widening and her cheeks turning bright red. However, she smiled and nodded before releasing him and turning to my sister, giving her a quick hug.

"Edward," Carlisle said, offering me his hand with a smirk on his lips. I took it with caution. "Have a safe trip back to California."

"We will," I said, with a nod. "Take care of my sister."

His smirk turned into a full smile. "I promise."

And I didn't doubt him at all. Wrapping his arm around Esme, he ushered her out to his car and they drove away. One by one, the others started packing up to leave. Jasper and Alice were headed to Seattle to spend the rest of their Christmas with her family, and Emmett and Rose were flying to Arizona for the same reason. Charlie and Renee muttered something about fly fishing and a long trip, while Ed and Elizabeth were heading back to D.C. the next morning.

Eventually, only Nolan, Corrine, Bella, and I were left. Her parents looked over at her, still unsure of how she felt about them. However, Bella wrapped her arms around both of them, whispering, "I love you."

The three simple words had been said hundreds of times in their lifetimes, but not since Bella found herself locked away in the darkness with only their screams and pleads of mercy to keep her company.

"We love you, too," Corrine cried, kissing her cheek quickly before grabbing Nolan's hand and fleeing the building before Bella could say anything else.

Bella and I locked up the gym before climbing back into my car and heading to the apartment. While we packed up our belongings and loaded them into the truck, neither of us spoke, knowing that we were starting a new adventure in our lives.

However, as we climbed back into the car, I turned to her and said, "My sister knows."

I expected Bella to be angry that I had told Esme, but she laughed. "So does Carlisle."

"What? When he'd tell you?"

"Before they left," she told me.

I nodded. "She grilled me while you and Carlisle were sparring. Was he pissed?"

"No," Bella said, smiling. "He trusts you, Edward."

"Are you ready?" I asked, shifting into reverse.

"For anything as long as you're with me," she murmured, sliding her hand over mine. "I love you."

"I love you, too." And easing my foot off the break, I reversed out of my parking spot, shifted into drive, and headed for the highway that would take us to Vegas, where Bella would become my wife.