First and foremost this is the original story before I started to rewrite it... and got stuck in the writing of the rewrite. If you are following the rewrite you will notice quite glaring differences between this and the one you have already started following. I do not intend on giving up with the rewritten version, however, I think you guys waiting for me to get over my blank slate of a muse isn't going to happen any time soon. So I am re-posting the original. This was my first completed story and it is very different from how my last stories flow.
Secondly, this is not beta'ed. NOT AT ALL. There will be mistakes in spelling (I'm Australian and some words we spell differently). The layout will honestly have you wondering what the hell I was thinking. I wasn't; well that's not true. What I was thinking was that I knew what I was doing and screw anyone else... yes I was a conceited little shit even at the age of 31.
Thirdly, there are 68 chapters to this story, including the epilogue and two outtakes. All of which have been uploaded to my profile I will try to upload as often as I can. Please understand that I have a busy life in the real world. This includes two children, one grown and the other with disabilities. So while I should be able to update wherever I am, if something happens please understand that I will miss updating.
Last but not least. I am not SM. Not even close. I do not own the franchise, work in any capacity with the publishing houses or studios. I merely escaped from reality to play with some characters that I fell in love with while reading four books in a matter of days.
"Hey, do you mind if I quickly take this?" I asked Rose as she and Emmett sat out the back of momma's place watching Junior push himself along in the little scooter they bought him for his birthday.
The matching smiles should have given me the all-clear from them, but I had to make sure I wouldn't be heard taking this call. It was important for so many reasons. Not only was it my gift to Jasper for our wedding it also meant that the man who kept him sane while away would be presiding over the ceremony.
Waiting for Minister McNamee was something that was keeping me on edge, he had to make sure he was able to not only get the time off, but keep it from a few people who were still in contact with Jasper and Emmett what he was having the time off for. Mostly it was something that was causing me some serious sleep deprivation and I think everyone knew that I was up to something, but were giving me time to get it sorted out on my own. I watched as they nodded and rose from their seats to chase the little man around the huge yard.
I made it inside and found a secluded spot in the front of the house, not realizing that it was Jasper's old room when he was growing up. It felt like I had stepped into a time warp with everything that Jasper had told me he had taken up growing up. The old baseball trophies, the pictures of sports teams he was on when he was younger, and let's not forget the little black book that was sitting on the desk in the corner. I think momma left it there deliberately just to get a rise out of the man he had grown into.
I thought it was poetic in a way it showed the guy he was and how much he had changed growing up. It also showed me that he truly was a player once upon a time; I couldn't help but laugh at this whole idea, I could see it but at the same time I couldn't. The buzzing of my phone brought me back to the reality of what I was trying to do, as I quickly answered the phone.
He was a very Irish man, well he sounded like the happy guy that I always pictured when I heard Jasper talk about the man. His accent was thick which was a little surprising since he was born in the states and yet he was able to hold the accent through the years of growing up and his adulthood. We had been talking for the last week or so just trying to see what we could do about getting in contact with some of the other guys that served with Jasper, gaining a third in our little secret in James, he too was helping me find members of their old team that had since left the force.
We had been able to find the addresses of 4 guys that Emmett had told me about, and the minister was able to contact them for me to keep everything quiet. The only thing that was holding us back was not knowing if he was able to get the time away from the base he was stationed at.
"Bella, how are you, sweet girl? Has the Major or his man found out our little secret?" McNamee asked chuckling at the end; I couldn't help the smile that crept on my face with how he was so happy. It gave me hope that he was able to preside over the ceremony, and Jasper would be none the wiser.
"I'm fine minister, how are you? No they haven't figured out but hopefully they will let it be." I answered back laughing at the whole situation.
It was very rare that I would be able to keep anything from anyone, more surprising that I'd been able to keep it from Jasper. After everything that had been going on in our lives I hadn't had some time to just sit back and take a break from the stress that seemed to follow me everywhere. I was surprised constantly that Jasper was able to take it all in stride. But he was still thinking about everything he had to do. He had already told me that he wanted to branch out and do something other than working security at the gym, but was not quite sure what it was that he wanted to do. I had thought that he would have gone into some law enforcement since his time in the army, but he wanted something that was not linked to what he used to do. He wanted to move forward not go back he would say when everyone asked what he wanted to do.
"Bella sweetie, are you still there?" I heard the minister call through the phone, dang I had once more spaced out with everything running through my head.
"Sorry McNamee it's my son's 1st birthday, and I'm a little preoccupied. What was it you were saying?" I was glad that he couldn't see me with how red my face had turned.
I may not be the most devoted person when it came to religion but I knew it wasn't the best thing to lose yourself in a conversation with a minister or any member of the church.
"I was saying that I should be able to get hold of Garret and the twins in the next week. I also have great news. I was able to get R&R for the time frame." I squealed at everything he was saying, Garret was Jasper's and Emmett's third wheel from what I could gather with everything that both James and the minister had told me of their time together. And the fact that McNamee was able to actually do the whole thing was something that I hadn't realized was weighing me down more than I knew.
"That's great minister; you have no clue how much this means to me. I'm really sorry but I have to cut this short. Before anyone comes looking for me."
We quickly said our goodbyes to one another and had agreed that I should call him sometime next week so we could go over the minor details. I took a few minutes to calm myself down and relaxed. The only thing I had to worry about now was keeping all the details to myself, not only the whole wedding business but the little surprise that I had now lined up for Jazz. Making my way back outside to everyone, I ran into; literally; Edward as he made his way back from the bathroom. He caught me as my butt went to meet the ground.
"Something has you happy, and it's more than Junior's birthday. Care to share?" he asked with that glint in his eye that I had fallen for so many times that had me spilling my secrets to this man.
Yeah it was almost as bad as some of the looks from Jazz but at the same time Jazz was able to let things go without bugging me until I gave everything up.
"Um... well not really it's something for that man of mine and I still have a few little things to sort out." Well it wasn't a complete lie; but he didn't buy into the whole thing. He raised his eyebrow to me in challenge but this time I was not going to give in, nope not gonna happen. No way was he going to find out about this.
"Bella, there you are! Momma's waiting for you so we can do the cake, and I don't think that Junior is gonna keep is eyes open for much longer." Alice called as she made her way towards the little conversation that was going on.
I smiled, if it was something I knew about Alice is that she knew how to keep a certain bronzed hair, green-eyed man from snooping into something that he really shouldn't be looking into. I left the two to their own little conversation as Alice told him to stop trying to find out things and that if I wanted everyone to know then I'd have told them by now. I felt guilty that I was making two people that I loved to argue, but I also couldn't find it in me to side with Edward right now. It was something that he and everyone else would have to wait to find out.
"Hey you, what have you been doing?" I heard in my ear as a set of arms that I would recognize in my dreams found their way around my waist, while his head rested on my shoulder.
His close proximity to me made it extremely difficult to remember what was going on right now. Well that was until I heard the little squeal from Junior as he spotted the cake that momma had baked for him. Turning in his arms I reached up and placed a very innocent kiss, well it started as innocent anyway. It wasn't until Edward and Alice came back to the group that we broke apart as a tap on the shoulder and an apology from the bronze boy himself did we realize we were keeping everything from continuing.
The look on momma's face and the smug grin that was hidden as well as pa could from behind Junior's seat let me know that they knew what was going on in our heads when it got a little more passionate than what we had first started. I felt my cheeks starting to heat; something that hadn't happened for quite some time.
"Alright now that we are 'G' rated once more how about we do this." Peter's eyes were swimming with tears from him trying to not laugh, yeah I was gonna get it from him once we were all back home. So in true Bella style I poked my tongue out at him, while he was thoroughly distracted Char had crept up to slap him on the ass. Gotta love that woman and everything she does to keep that man in line.
We sang happy birthday, only to bring the birthday boy to tears with the sudden attention that was focused on him. But he quickly cheered up once he was given some cake to destroy, or should I say eat. The chatter from the adults fell back on more mundane ideas of what to do this coming weekend, as now that everyone knew that Jasper and I had a place of our own the guys were going to go over and check out things, making sure that nothing had happened since we had been able to relax with everything.
We still hadn't heard from the district attorney as to what was happening to Alec and Riley. I had been keeping track on what was going on with Riley, while I wasn't able to get Marcus and Chelsea to agree to talk to him, I was still able to not worry about what was going to happen now that it had come to an end. While the guys were out, the girls and I were going to do some serious work at the charity, I had been feeling like I wasn't doing right by not being able to spend some time there as much as I wanted; I had promised myself that I would be working there getting into all the things that I had been leaving behind for someone else to do for me.
Chelsea and Marcus had left not long after we had the cake with little Bella as she had passed out with her face cradled in the piece of cake. Being so cute was something that we all took photos of until the flashes woke up the little princess. I couldn't wait to see her in the dress that I had put aside for her. It was still a little big from what I could see but she still had a few months to grow into it. Hell if it had to be done the day before I'd have the dress taken up; but I was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. Just thinking of what was coming up, that soon I was going to be Mrs. Isabella Marie Whitlock I smiled and cuddled into Jasper's arms; sort of reassuring myself that it was real. After all with everything that had gone on in our upside down and back to front relationship I still had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming it. Yep definitely not dreaming this, no-one's dreams are this imaginative.
