The Twilight characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I'm not getting any money to write this, I just want to play this out through Edwards POV, she owns the characters.

2. The Blushing Bride

Rosalie began playing Pachelbel's canon as our guests started settling down. I made my way to the front of the house under the arch of white roses and lights to wait for my heart to be returned to me. It was killing me; it had been too long since I had seen her. Rosalie then morphed into Wagners traditional march.

My best man, Carlisle, had a prancing Alice on his arm as they made their way down the stairs, "Edward, she looks lovelier than ever, you'll be amazed! I am a genius, you can thank me later. However, I forgot to have her look at herself in the mirror. I was afraid she'd faint if I let her, you'll forgive me, I know, but I'm sorry just the same." I nodded once, everyone else would think I was acknowledging my favorite sister, she would know I was answering her. Alice took her place and smiled wider; I saw this from the corner of my eye, but my focus was now on the amazing smell and erratically thumping heartbeat making its way to the landing of the staircase. My heart had been returned. I could see her so clearly, but she hadn't yet met my gaze. I was glad she hadn't; I was taking in her beauty and her smell. Alice's fresh Freesia sprays had nothing on Bella. Everyone in the room followed my gaze, then, to give her proper respect, they stood. Bella took a deep breath, gripped her fathers arm and descended the first step. Everyone made audible and mental gasps at her beauty; finally everyone was seeing what I had always seen. She was walking in slow motion it seemed. Then I realized that with her balance issues she was being overly cautious navigating those steps in her heels. I was happily frustrated with her slow human pace, I wanted this moment to last forever; yet I also wanted her to get to me, NOW. I wanted to soak up her beauty with my eyes up close. I wanted her warmth, I was too cold. I couldn't stop staring, or, was I gaping? ...only five more steps, since when did that staircase get so long? It seemed to go on forever; time was slowing down, is that possible for an immortal?

She grabbed her fathers arm a little more securely, she looked like she was starting to teeter, I slightly tensed, I would be there to catch her as quickly as I could if she did stumble. I heard Emmett chuckle under his breath as he mentally said, "that bet is as good as won! I knew she wouldn't make it down those stairs without knocking herself out!" She regained her balance and I tuned Emmett out, I wanted to only focus on Bella's silent thoughts...only three more steps, she gazed momentarily at her father with eyes of love, then she quickly looked back down, as if studying the stairs hard enough would keep her upright. I was wrong to try to deny her of this moment. These were the thoughts I had before, of her on her father's arm while walking to the one she'd say yes to. I was still excited she had said yes to me. The monster I was, she wanted me, she loved me and no matter what I did to her, she wanted me. Me! I still reveled in that fact, daily. I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

Alice had outdone herself in decorating the house for our wedding, but we could have been in the most run down shack in the middle of a cornfield for all I cared. Bella was outshining it all. She outshone everything. She was also blushing. Ah, my Bella, I knew I could count on her to be my blushing bride. My Bella, soon she would be. Not in an ownership state, but in a forever-mine-and-I-have-the-ring-to-prove-it. I couldn't wait to have her ring on my finger. The physical outward sign that I was finally settled down. Not that I needed that, after everything we'd been through together, and after my existence altering transformation that happened, the ring was a minor detail. But also major in so many more ways.

She was on the flat floor, finally. Once she felt sure she had her balance she glanced at her father; then her tired eyes darted everywhere all at once. Why did she look so tired? I had seen through Alice, just briefly to check on her, that she napped during their primping in the bathroom. Was Jasper right? Did she not sleep during the night with me gone? Did she stay up all night finally wondering if she was making a mistake? Did she have a nightmare? Did she determine I was the nightmare? No, that couldn't be it, because she was still making her way towards me. I tried to refocus on her slow walk down the aisle to me. Her tired eyes were not really focusing on any one thing or person for too long. She nodded at our guests as she made her way up the short aisle, though it seemed to me like she wanted to dash the last remaining feet to my side.

At the third row of chairs she finally settled on my eyes, they remained locked there as she finished her march up to me. She returned my smile. I melted. Here Comes the Bride, here comes MY bride. That song meant so much more to me at this moment than any other time I had ever heard it. She broke our eye contact as Charlie lifted her veil to kiss her cheek, tears welled in those deep chocolate eyes as she said, "I love you." He responded with a broken, "I love you, too, Bells." He replaced her veil and placed her hand in mind. The warmth radiated off of him. His muted thoughts were those of love towards Bella and a blessing to me that this was okay with him. I still wasn't sure, even after we told him of our engagement, how he felt about us getting married, really. He was too focused on hoping Renee' would side with him on how ridiculous this teenage marriage idea was. Charlie locked eyes with me, "you have my blessing, I know you'll take care of her and only have her best interests in mind, I see that now. I should have seen that all along." My heart swelled to hear that from him. I knew he didn't know I could read minds, but I felt that he was trying to convey that to me through his tear filled eyes. At least I had become a better face reader thanks to Bella.

Thanks to Bella, I was here, in front of a minister, saying vows I never thought I'd ever get to say to someone I loved. Could a dead heart flutter? I felt like mine was fluttering. I also had butterflies flitting in my stomach and I hadn't felt my stomach, not really, in so long. This was my wedding day. A day I didn't think would ever come, not until that meteor named Isabella streaked across my sky.

"Damn, she didn't fall!" Emmett grumbled in his head. "Well, there's still the dance floor, I'm glad I didn't exclude that from the bet."

"Emmett will be Emmett", I thought. I tuned him out again. I only wanted to hear, see, feel and taste Bella. I let the smell of freesia and strawberries fill my throat, and I let it burn. I heard the thoughts of the rest of our guests, they were mostly good thoughts. That vile Mike Newton was cursing that he wasn't one the one she'd said yes to, even though Jessica Stanley was by his side, as their relationship was on again.

My heart swelled, though, I'm not sure why. I was a monster, deep down I knew that. I was selfish, but I was in love with an angel. It was already time to recite our wedding vows; Bella and I had asked the Rev. Weber to replace "until death do us part" to "as long as we both shall live". For us, that made more sense. He easily complied, his thoughts were as easy and gentle as his daughter Angela's were.

"I do", Bella squeaked, barely audible to everyone but me. I stifled a chuckle. The tears were rolling down her cheeks. I think she was happy to have a real wedding. I knew all that teasing and discussions of a drive thru Vegas wedding would be regretted later; though, I was supposed to remind her in a hundred years of that regret. By that time we'd have several more weddings, I smiled slightly at this thought, because I knew that I would feel the same on those wedding days as I did right now, only my love would be even more stronger, but the feeling of her still saying yes to me would never change.

"I do", I boldly proclaimed, because I was never so sure about anything as this, as the sun finally set in the sky. This was going to be my only, first, wedding; I wanted to make sure everyone, especially Mike Newton, knew that I was not reluctant in making my promise to Isabella Marie Swan. Isabella Marie Cullen, I amended. I smiled wider, without showing my teeth. I loved my surname attached to her first name. I hadn't really thought about it much, but as soon as the minister pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Edward and Isabella Cullen, my heart grew again, it felt surreal. Bella Cullen, I repeated to myself. She'd said yes to me.

What was that? Oh, I may now kiss the bride. I lifted her veil and got an unobstructed view of my love, I took in her beauty before leaning in for the kiss that would proclaim to our world that we were together. I wanted to make sure all our guests knew Isabella Cullen belonged to me. And as always, I forgot that we weren't alone, we kissed a little too long, a little too urgently. Carlisle broke into my thoughts, "Edward, we're all still here." He, and others, chuckled nervously at this thought. "Oops," I thought to myself as I broke our embrace. I would definitely have to continue that later. Bella and I made our way back down the aisle to everyone's applause; we never looked any further than each others' eyes. Once again, I tried to break through her mind. I ached to know her thoughts at this very moment. I wanted to know if she was as happy as I was. I doubted she could be happier than I.

We made our way to the rainless outside to form that blasted receiving line. I hated this part of all weddings. But maybe, just maybe, this time it would be a little different. I would get to introduce not my girlfriend, not my fiancée, but my wife to our company. Wife...wife...wife...I repeated that in my brain, I loved the sound of that. It still hadn't registered that we were finally married. Surrealism was the heavy blanket that covered my sky today.