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Here is another chapter, and I hope to be able to update again this week. If not, I hope to see you all next week.

Stay safe and enjoy :)

TWO CENTURIES LOVE

Chapter 15: Family.

Garrett had been the first guest to reply and arrive at the Cullen household for the wedding. Funny enough, the next to arrive were the Denalis, which was interesting, seeing as how Kate immediately electrocuted Emmett, even before greeting him.

"Hey, I didn't do anything." He complained, holding his electrocuted arm and pouting.

Rose smiled amusedly at her husband when he gasped at Kate's response. "Just in case, Emmett."

We saw everything from the top floor of the house. Garrett and Edward had been immersed in a chess game that I didn't care to follow, however weird it was to see a mind reader play chess with a normal vampire (and not win immediately).

Edward stood beside me to watch the scene unfolding in the front yard. He laughed at them, and I smiled at him. "Emmett was planning on doing something. He just didn't know what. But his target was Kate. It seems like she was tipped off." He winked at me, letting me know that the mole was probably him.

"Traitor." I mused. He shrugged.

Garrett then spoke from behind me. "Who's she?" He had some sort of hypnotized look on his face.

"That's Kate Denali. One of the Cullen's closest friends." I answered, looking at him suspiciously.

"I like her." I snorted because he would go for a girl that electrocuted you upon seeing you. He'd always gone for strong women. So, I guessed Kate would be a good match for him if that's what his hypnotized look meant. She was the type of girl who took no bullshit from anyone.

He disappeared quickly down the stairs, and soon we saw him and heard him introducing himself to the Denali clan. Edward smiled as Garrett introduced himself as my brother. I smiled too. But I could see Emmett was frowning again at Garrett. That's when it hit me. Emmett was probably jealous, which was so endearing and adorable. I would have to speak to him soon (preferably before the ceremony) and tell him that a girl can have many big brothers.

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At some point that same day, Jasper approached me and asked if it was ok if he sent word to Peter and Charlotte to come to the wedding. After that day, when they all told me about their gifts and how they came by them, Jasper and I talked some more, and he opened up about his story. I had been very moved that he trusted me enough with such a private part of his life.

I learned that Peter and Charlotte were not only his best friends, but they were the first family Jasper had. They were important to him, in the same way that Garrett was important to me. He told me that Edward had no problem with it, but he had to ask me too as it was my wedding as well.

It is rare to see Jasper nervous; in fact, this was probably the first time I have seen Jasper nervous since I met him almost a year ago.

"Jasper, of course, you can invite them. I would love to meet them." He smiled softly at me and nodded appreciatively. He was quiet and easygoing. But it was a fool's façade because he could be as bad as Emmett when he wanted.

I felt bad that they weren't receiving a formal invitation like the one the rest of the guests received.

Funny enough, I didn't invite too many people. I asked Garrett obviously, and Demetri. I had no desire to attract too many vampires into this small town. Edward invited the Denalis, and now Peter and Charlotte were coming too. I thought that was enough people. And they were the most important ones, in fact.

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To my surprise, Jasper's word about my and Edward's wedding reached his first family in record time. Jasper told me that Peter must have known he was going to contact them. I wondered what he meant but didn't have time to ask because a commotion caught our attention.

To my utter disbelief, in the flesh, standing in the trees behind the Cullen mansion were the two red-eyed nomads that Jazz had shown me a picture of.

"How the hell did they get here so fast?" Could they teleport or something like that? Was it possible even?

"Nice to meet you too, darling." Peter said from his position in the tree.

"What did you do?" Edward asked from behind me, not daring to answer how the hell did they get here so fast if Jasper basically just sent them the informal invitation.

"We were having some fun in the forest." Charlotte replied, licking her ruby lips and sending me a feline smile. She was gorgeous, and I caught her innuendo. I rolled my eyes. Was there anyone who could not issue innuendos at the drop of a hat?

"Anyway, we heard you were tying the knot. We had to come and see it." Peter answered, jumping off the tree and landing perfectly on the ground.

"How did you get here so damn fast?" Even with vampire speed, it takes more than ten hours to come from Texas to Washington.

Peter smiled naughtily. "We were already on our way." As if that answered my question.

"How?" I was getting impatient.

"I'm shocked at you, major." Charlotte intervened, ignoring my question. "Have you not told her about Pete?" Her intonation was more amused than angry, so I didn't worry when she started approaching Jazz.

"Forgot." That was all he answered.

Charlotte and Jasper were playing some game only they and their mates understood.

I looked around, and everyone seemed to be paying attention to anything else by now. Even Garrett, who, like me, had never met Jasper's friends. In his defense, he was more interested in Kate than finding out the answer to my question. I didn't take it personally.

"Is anyone going to answer me with a full explanation of what is going on?" I asked impatiently.

Peter rushed to me, stopping dead when he was in front of me. "Sorry, darling." He apologized, and if I weren't annoyed, I would have swooned inside at his drawl. I had always liked southern drawls, and there was nothing like a handsome man with a sexy drawl. I loved Edward, and I wouldn't change him for anything, but a girl could have her fantasies. "I have a gift that allows me to know certain things in advance."

"You're a psychic?"

Alice snorted, and Peter shook his head emphatically. "He wishes." She sent him a friendly and warm smile that he returned.

"No, it's different. It's like an inside voice that tells me what I need to know when I need to know it."

It sounded a lot like my inner voice, except mine was just a simple voice, and his was a developed gift. I made this comparison in my mind, and I was able to understand somewhat what gift he had, especially because he had trouble explaining in full how it worked and how it differed from Alice's.

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Once the crazy introductions ended and Charlotte and Jasper abandoned whatever they were doing, I was able to talk with these two nomads and get to know them more. They had led such interesting lives after ley left the southern wars, and they were very much in love with the other and loved Jasper so much.

I liked seeing how people that otherwise wouldn't have even crossed paths with each other came together, formed bonds, and made families with the most unexpected people.

During the week preceding the wedding, I decided to tell Denalis, Peter, and Charlotte about my story. I didn't do it the first time I met the Alaskan clan/family because I had been too nervous about meeting them.

"What happened to the twins you were teaching and their grandparents?" Kate asked immediately after I finished.

"Well. They contacted the local authorities because I was missing. They were very nice people. They fought with the police when they gave up the search after a few weeks. They were hopeful that I would appear again somewhere, even if I had been kidnapped and mistreated; they were positive I was alive. They didn't replace me for months, opting to school the children themselves with the material I had left at the house. I had written a list of topics that I wanted to teach them in the near future. It was my plan. And it was something tangible for the grandparents to see because I knew they would want something that demonstrated what they were learning or what they were going to be learning. There weren't many subjects that were off bounds, so I was able to plan freely. So, they followed that plan, but soon, they ran out of material and had to face the truth that I wasn't coming back, that I was dead, and that they needed to move on."

Garrett and I had paid very close attention to that family because they were so nice and adorable and had no bad in them. I had grown fond of the two children, and I had been so sad to see them grow from afar.

"Eventually, we found an ad in the newspaper requiring a live-in female teacher for two children. Bella had been friends with a girl who was clever enough to be a teacher but hadn't had much luck finding a permanent position. So, I took the ad, circled it with my pen, and slid it under her house door. I knocked and left. She took the newspaper, saw the ad, applied, and the rest is history." Garret finished for me. "She got the job, learned that Bella had been their last teacher, and decided to follow on the same path that Bella. Eventually, the children grew into responsible and loving adults. The girl continued studying and became an editor in a magazine. The boy continued studying too, but he became a teacher in a public school. They both had healthy and happy marriages, with a few kids each. We still keep an eye on the family just in case."

They all listened attentively as if they were listening to Christ himself.

"It's nice how you kept an eye out for them. And I'm impressed that you managed to do it in your first year." I knew what Jazz meant. Being a newborn was a disastrous affair. I wasn't a perfect newborn. I was quite a mess. I couldn't eat without scaring half a herd of deer; I couldn't use a shower without ripping the curtains or breaking the doors or the handles.

I smiled at my memories. Oh, what fun times Garrett had with me as a newborn. "Garrett thought that if he gave me something to concentrate on, I would forget about breaking showers or scaring my meal away. And that in turn, by concentrating on the task of keeping an eye on the family, it would help me with the rest of my troubles." Garrett had been a genius for thinking that.

Ok, it might not have been as simple as I said, but that was the gist of the situation.

Jasper and Peter looked at each other and nodded in unison. "We want to pick your brain later." Peter said, and Garrett laughed.

The three warriors. They never stopped. You could take the man out of the war, but not the war out of the man.

Enjoy! More of Kate and Garrett to come...