Chapter 27 – Getting On With It

With Angela moving to Forks and Jessica in jail, we now had two vacant apartments, and we needed to fill them soon, if we were going to comfortably make our loan payments. Just like Jerry pointed out, though, we didn't know who the second vandal was, and we didn't want to unknowingly rent to them.

"We need to hire another nail tech as well. Do we dare advertise that we're looking for someone?" I asked Edward.

"Maybe we can look for online resumes or find a hiring service," he suggested.

"I don't think we could afford to use an agency. We could advertise for the nail tech position and not say the name of our salon. Only people who are actually looking for a job would call." My idea sounded good in theory.

Of course, I never knew that there was a guy out there who figured himself a nail specialist, because he knew all the different types and sizes of construction nails. It took me thirty minutes to convince him that we were looking for someone who dealt with fingernails, not metal nails.

We did get a few calls, and I was able to set up interviews at the local coffee shop with three women. I still hadn't revealed the name of the shop. They all looked promising, and when I mentioned that there were apartments open for rent, two of them got excited. The other was content living with her mom.

I took their resumes home and made a few calls to be sure they checked out. I didn't just call their reference numbers, but also their previous places of employment directly. Jane Hemse was a nail tech, but actually specialized in facials and Botox injections. She was desperate for work after a bad fight with her previous employer and was willing to just do nails, as long as it paid. I called her old shop and spoke to a snippy woman. Her name was Marjorie. "That little heathen will burn in hell!" Marjorie shouted.

"Could you be more specific as to why I shouldn't hire her?" I asked, because let's face it, some people were just bitchy.

"No one should hire her, ever! She's rude and disrespectful. This is my shop, and she had no right to try and interfere with how I run things. Organization and keeping customers happy are the only things that keeps us afloat, and she blatantly shunned any semblance of following my rules."

"So, she kept a messy workstation?" I asked.

"Heavens no, I wouldn't have let her work at my salon as long as I did if she was messy. The mouth on that girl is offensive, as is her attitude. The way she treated me and my customers was deplorable," she huffed.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Did you have many complaints against her?"

"We cater to a very specific high-end clientele. It probably wouldn't matter to a little low-end shop like yours, but discretion is important. The customer is always right, even if it makes us a bit uncomfortable at times." Marjorie seemed a bit offensive herself.

I thanked her for her time and called another reference. The woman I spoke to had worked with Jane at Marjorie's shop before Jane had been fired, and she had eventually quit, too. It turned out that Ms. Marjorie encouraged groping and expected her employees to tolerate it. One client had gotten a little too handsy with Jane's coworker, and Jane had stepped in to save her. Unfortunately for Jane, Ms. Marjorie had a lot of power in their business and had made sure Jane was blackballed. That was why she was seeking employment nearly two hours away from her current residence.

I set Jane's resume aside and clipped an apartment application to it for Edward to go over, before we'd hand it back to her. I was all for helping the underdog.

"Are you sure she's safe to hire? The notes you took when you interviewed her previous boss don't look good."

"We can hire her on a trial basis, at least until you're more comfortable with her, and we can rent to her month-to-month until her probationary period is up," I countered.

He nodded in agreement. We had to do something, or we would be postponing our wedding in lieu of working to pay our bills. Edward made the final call and spoke with Jane Hemse himself. She was thrilled we were giving her a shot, even after we had spoken with her previous employer.

Jane showed up the next morning with a car full of boxes to move into her apartment. Thankfully, she had first and last month's rent on hand, and I was able to make a quick deposit to cover the other half of our loan payment. I showed her both apartments and asked if she wanted Jessica's. When Jessica had been arrested, she'd forfeited on her lease agreement, and all of the possessions left in the apartment became ours. We basically had a fully-furnished apartment. She opted to take Angela's old apartment, though. Apparently, Jane used to make good money and had some high-end furniture she planned on having moved over in a truck.

Since Jane, like Jessica, also did facials and Botox, we could offer that service again. The short gap in time made it possible to save most of our previous customers who used those services.

Jasper, Laurant and Angela were all very welcoming to Jane. Tanya and Rosalie weren't mean, but they didn't give her more than a glance. Jane was thrilled to see our waiting room fill up within minutes of opening the shop. She quickly took over Jessica's old customers and had a way of charming them. It must have been leftover B.S. training from her last job. She wasn't as fast as Jessica had been when she worked, but she brought in bigger tips. It turned out that she knew Laurant's husband, Tyler, from high school, and he approved of her, which made me feel a whole lot better about hiring her.

We still had the issue of one more vacant apartment. Edward and I hadn't really discussed it, but after we were married, I was thinking of working on that family he was hoping for, and that would mean we'd have to have all the apartments rented. The question was, did we hire another person or rent to someone who didn't work for us?

Jasper had the audacity to suggest we rent to Alice. I wasn't happy, when Edward didn't immediately answer no, but instead said, "We'll think about it." It was cut and dried to me. Alice was a hateful, thieving bitch. I didn't want to rent to her. I didn't think it would be possible to change my mind.

The wedding came together nicely, and the day was finally here. Jerry and Eddie sat proudly next to the wreaths that represented their wives. My parents' wreaths were on the front row, and to honor my father even more, Billy's boutonniere was made completely of jasmine. I was not sure how the florist had pulled it off, but she had, and it looked beautiful. A particularly surprising turn of events was Laurant's insistence that he be the one to do my hair. The florist had left us several sprigs of flowers, and I was inclined to agree that no one could sculpt my hair into something as magnificent as Laurant. He somehow made a half cap out of the flowers, and then he had them woven into my hair and down my back, making it look like they were growing naturally in my hair. I made him take several pictures to post in the shop's suggestion book.

"You're amazing," I said and hugged Laurant. "I'm going to have to attach my veil on the underside of my hair. There's no way I'm covering this up. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. I'm so happy for you two. Now, no fussing, you don't want to mess up your makeup," he said, waving his hands in front of my tearing eyes, trying to keep my makeup in place.

There was a light knock on my door, and Angela came in. She ended up being my maid of honor. Edward really wanted Emmett to be his best man, and so I needed someone to stand with me. Angela was the first person I thought of. She had been the most supportive through everything.

"They're ready when we are. I just thought I'd give you a heads up. Emmett brought Rosalie as his date, and Jasper brought Alice," she said warily.

"I figured as much. Rose isn't a troublemaker, at least when she has Emmett to temper her, and Jasper is pretty good about keeping Alice civil," I said, reassuring the both of us that the wedding would go smoothly.

Esme knocked lightly, before stepping into the room. "Oh, Bella, you look so beautiful. We're so lucky to have you as part of our family."

"Thank you, Esme." I had eventually learned to love her in my own way.

"Well, I should go take my seat. I just came back to make sure you were okay. Edward wanted me to check on you, he knows how difficult this is for you. Thank you for doing this, instead of eloping."

"Thank you for doing so much to make it happen. I'm glad we didn't elope," I confessed.

She gave me a hug and kissed my cheek. "We'll be waiting," she giggled giddily and hurried out.

Billy popped his head into the room, and Laurant gave me one last hug, before he slipped out to grab his seat.

"Are you ready, beautiful girl?" Billy asked, making me blush.

"As I'll ever be."

"And you're sure about this?" he asked seriously.

"I'm sure about Edward, and that's all I need. I love him."

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," he said, taking my arm in his.

Angela slipped out, and the music started moments later. It was time, and I was never more ready to start my forever with Edward than I was right at that moment.

He must have been excited, too, because he was bouncing on his tiptoes and grinning like a madman. Thankfully, the ceremony went quickly, and we were able to get to the kissing. He was finally mine.

I'd admit to crying through the father-daughter dance I had with Billy, but when Edward cut in, he made it all better.

"So…" he said nervously.

"So, what?" I asked, wondering what he was all nervous about.

"Tonight, it's official, we're married."

I chuckled. "Yes, we are."

He pulled me closer, giving my backside a suggestive squeeze. "Are we going to…?" he blushed an adorable red.

"Are we going to what, Edward?" I teased. I knew exactly what he was asking me, and we sure as heck were going to.

He pulled me impossibly closer and kissed me softly. "You know…"

I pressed my thigh between his legs a little. "I do?" I taunted.

He dropped his head to my shoulder.

"You can't do it, if you can't say it," I teased.

"So, you do know!"

I giggled. "Oh, I know. Now, tell me, sweet husband, what do you plan on doing to your wife once we're alone?"

He kissed me hard and pulled back with a goofy grin. "Wife, I love the sound of that, and I love you."

"I love you, too," I said, kissing his lips once more. "So, are you going to tell me what you have planned?"

His eyes popped wide. "I was supposed to plan it?" He looked so worried.

I cupped his cheek. "The only planning you had to do was to work up the courage to ask me to give in to your fantasies. So, what do you want?"

"You, just you for now, maybe nice, slow and quiet at first. I want to make sure I get it right, before I try anything fancy."

"That sounds perfect to me, husband," I answered giddily. I loved saying his new title.

He leaned down and kissed me again.

Emmett's heavy hand landed on Edward's shoulder. "Take it easy, Brother, or you're gonna have her pregnant before you get home."

We both turned bright pink and took a measured step away from each other. I'd have to agree, it did look like we were on the verge of humping each other on the dance floor. It probably wouldn't have been noticeable if it was some techno rap music that everyone would grind to, but it wasn't. It was a soft classical piece that didn't really lend to grinding dance moves, not that we were dancing.

"Time to cut the cake," Esme announced.

She kept the reception moving the rest of the night, and all the traditions were completed, right down to the bouquet toss. I thought it was pretty funny that Rosalie of all people caught it. Emmett gave her a salacious grin. I never pictured Rose as someone who blushed, but at that moment, she did.

Emmett got ahold of her and made a show of dipping her, while he kissed her thoroughly. She came up smiling and giggling. I could tell they were happy together, and I wondered how Tanya fit in with them, if at all. "Maybe it was Tanya," I mumbled.

"What did you say?" Edward asked.

"Oh, nothing," I tried to brush off the theory. Now was not the time or place to get distracted by our mystery vandal.

"No, I heard you say something. Now, out with it," Edward pushed.

"I was just thinking, Emmett and Rose are really happy together, maybe Tanya got jealous and messed up Emmett's truck."

Edward frowned and looked back at the happy couple. "It's a possibility. There's nothing we can do about it now, though. We have cameras in place. If something happens again, we'll catch her."

"You're right, I'm sorry I brought it up. Today is our day to celebrate, and tonight, it'll be just you and me," I grinned.

"I like the sound of that."

So did I.