Chapter 12.

Anticipation

Mom and Lora said goodnight and Mom started cleaning up the papers on the table. "I'm ready for bed too. We just had to wait up and make sure all the ….little animals made it home safe!" They both laughed at the feeble joke. I helped clean up the kitchen and the moms headed off to bed. I sat in the living room with Kyle, just enjoying the quiet peacefulness next to the fire.

"Do you realize this is the last night we'll have together before we're married?" I looked up at him and smiled, enjoying the feel of his arms around me.

He smiled down at me. "Do you realize after Saturday you'll be stuck with me every night."

I held him tighter. "Do you realize that I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Tikaani....!" He pulled me close and kissed me. "Do you know my people have thirty-four different words for snow? And yet there is only one word for love. How is it that there are just not enough words to describe how I feel for you?"

I sat with him for a while, with my head on his chest just listening to his heartbeat; breathing his warm scent. I finally reluctantly peeled myself away from him to go to bed. Mom was still awake and I climbed into bed next to her, feeling like a child one last time.

"Leah....In case I forgot to tell you, I'm very proud of you!" I couldn't see her in the dark, but I'd known she would be restless. "I was very worried about you for quite a while, especially through all the mess with Sam, but it seems you've turned things around. I'm going to miss you like crazy when you move away. Especially now that I know that Seth is going to want to be in Alaska more than anything else.

"You know you'll always be welcome. And I'll be able to visit more than you think; Kyle wants me to learn to fly. He's a good teacher, and something tells me we're going to be making the trip down here quite often."

"I know, but it's still going to be hard losing you both so soon after your dad. I never expected to have a totally empty nest, at least not so soon."

"Well, if I didn't miss my guess, Chief Swan might have a little bit to say about your 'nest.' He seemed a little bit more than just protective of you the last time he was here. And you seem to be spending a lot of time in Forks...."

"That doesn't bother you? It still seems so soon after your father....I've been worried what people will think. They were such close friends, we all were. It feels good to be needed again."

"It doesn't bother me Mom. Dad would want you to be happy; he kept insisting that I forget about Sam and go find someone else to make me happy; and he liked Sam! Charley Swan's a good man, even if he did let Bella walk all over him."
"Are you ever going to get over being mad at her?"

"Um, yeah, I'm really over It already. I used to hate that she had a choice to be normal, and I never did. Not to mention what she was doing to poor Jacob." I thought for a bit. "If I had had the same choice to make between being normal and being with Kyle, I would have done the same thing! And I wouldn't have even considered it a choice; except maybe one between life and death." She was quiet.

"I hope you'll be happy Leah. This imprinting bond....it's not been tested really. The legends of it come from a time when marriage was the end, not the beginning. No one ever tells what happens after 'they lived happily ever after.' Where are the story tellers when she gets old and fat and he gets drunk and hangs out with the guys? I hope you two can weather the storms. He seems like a good man even though your daddy might not have liked him as much as he did Sam. He told me he hates hunting and fishing....at least in the traditional sense. But then again Harry would have loved him as long as he treated his baby girl right." I felt her finally drift off to sleep, and I laid awake a little longer thinking about all the amazing things that had happened since meeting Kyle. I don't even remember when I closed my eyes.

Morning came too soon and I woke to Mom's alarm clock at six a.m. I wanted to go back to sleep, but there was breakfast to be made for guests and a pack of hungry shape shifters. There were many little things still to do, but Mom seemed to have it all in hand. I was starting to see that she'd delegated a lot more of the work than I'd thought. The community center was modestly decorated . The wedding cake would be delivered from Forks. The food was covered....everything was set. Kyle went outside with Akiak and Seth as soon as breakfast was finished. Ahnah made sure there was nothing we would need her for, then she eagerly followed Seth outside.

I took a little time to pack up for the honeymoon since I didn't know where I was going or what I would need. I was happy I'd been able to shop for some more conservative clothes since most of my old wardrobe belonged to Sam's ex. I wanted to move forward as Kyle's bride. In the back of my closet I ran across some of the things Bella had given me and I smiled. I remembered accepting them thinking that it would irritate Alice, but as I looked at them I could see that it was possible that Alice had actually chosen them for me; with her being able to see the future and all. I pulled them out and clipped the tags off. They might be needed on my honeymoon since they were too fancy for anything but special occasions.

I took another look at Mom's – my wedding gown hanging on the inside of the closet door. It was prettier than I could have imagined and I couldn't wait for Kyle to see me in it. There was a tap on the door and Mom let me know I had company.

Emily was waiting in the living room and she smiled and told me we had someplace to go. She didn't give me time to come up with any excuses, but took my hand and pulled me outside to her car. She drove me to her house and the cars in front told me something was going on. Inside there was a surprise bridal shower for me and I saw so many of the young women from the tribe gathered. It didn't take me long to discover that it wasn't just any kind of shower, but a lingerie shower. "We didn't think you'd need housewares since Kyle already has a home, but you might need something to keep you warm on those cold Alaskan nights." Emily laughed as I opened up the first gift, which wouldn't keep anything warm by any stretch of the imagination.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I held up the naughty little scraps of satin and lace and the women all laughed.

"Well....we could have bought you cotton, wool, fleece, and flannel to snuggle up in. But instead we thought you might be more inclined to snuggle up with a seven foot tall, overheated, Inuit male!" Emily was laughing and I felt my skin flushing as all the ladies joined in. I quickly folded the satin and lace and set it aside. But the next one was just as bad and the laughter started all over again when I was still embarrassed. Little by little I got over it so long as no one reminded me that Kyle might soon see me in one of the frilly little nothing outfits. Considering all the presents I had to open, in the end the stack of gifts didn't weigh much more than a sack lunch. The party was fun with some goofy games played with toilet paper and another that had women guessing how many children we would have and when they'd start to arrive.

Between the gifts, food, games, and socializing, the party took three hours! When Emily drove me back home it was noon. Twenty-four hours until I would marry Kyle! I helped Mom and Lora prepare a large lunch of soup and sandwiches. I had to ask Lora about the fish soup her mother made and she scratched out the recipe and instructions for me. "I can't believe he said he liked that! We all used to complain about it since we had it so often." I didn't know where everyone had gone off to, but as soon as the food was ready they intuitively showed up.

In minutes the food was almost gone and I was able to sit with Kyle while he ate. He told me that Seth and Akiak were practicing their changing. Akiak had learned how to become either a wolf or a husky instead of just the mix. Ahnah had actually ridden on Seth's back in his wolf form since they were trying to find some eagles or hawks to study. She seemed to be totally accepting of his ability and she was even hoping that their children would be able to do it! I wanted to go out and play with them, but every time I had a free moment Mom would come up with some other wedding detail to work out. I had no idea what a bride was supposed to do the day before her wedding. I had so many things being done by Mom and her friends that there were only small details to contend with. I imagined others might spend time getting manicures and having their hair done. But I could wreck a manicure with one change, and the same was true of my hair. I hadn't planned to do much with it since we were going to be outside and the wind would likely undo anything I did.

At five Kyle came in to spend the last time with me that I would have before I saw him at the wedding. I really didn't want him to go and I was having second thoughts about the bachelor party. "Just be careful. You put that many supernatural people together and you could easily get trouble." When I kissed him goodbye I smiled and reminded him that his hours were numbered.

"I would much rather spend my time here with you. But we should probably do things by the book since we're only going to do this once. Not to mention we do so many other things different than most. The plan was to take the truck so that anyone who wanted to could ride along. It would also mean that Kyle would have a way to get to the wedding without having to change and run through the woods. I was surprised to see Seth going along, then reminded myself he was seventeen and likely to get married soon himself. At 5:30 they headed out, but not before Seth and Ahnah held each other and kissed as if they'd never see each other again. I resisted the urge to cling to Kyle in the same way, sending him off with a light kiss and a smile.

Eighteen hours. Too long to wait to see him. I wanted it done and over with so we could leave on our honeymoon and be alone for the two weeks he'd planned. I was surprised that once everyone had gone, Mom didn't have any more details for me to check on. I sat and wrote down a checklist of everything I would need to do before the wedding and a few things to do afterward. As I sat and thought I remembered Rosalie's sentiments about writing letters when you couldn't see each other. As silly as it sounded I wrote to him. I didn't know how he would get to read it before the wedding, but it didn't matter.

I folded it and slipped it into my pocket. I took a few minutes to remove the ruined nail polish from my stay at the Cullens' then I made sure I was completely packed for the trip. Mom and Lora were hanging out at the kitchen table going over family trees and tribal stories and legends. I was surprised they were getting along so well.

I went to find Ahnah curled up in the living room doodling on a notepad. It only took a glance to see what she was up to; writing Seth's name with all the girly hearts and flowers of young love. I saw the name Ahnah Clearwater and it surprised me for a second. I smiled at her, thinking that she was my future sister-in-law. I had been so excited for Kyle to have a big extended family I'd forgotten that I was gaining new family members as well. In fact Lora would be my sister-in-law too which was confusing if I thought about it.

"You must be so excited about the wedding tomorrow!" She looked at me with her fresh excitement in her whole demeanor and I couldn't help but smile.

"I am, but it seems to be taking forever! I would have skipped the whole wedding if not for my family. I just want Kyle, the rest isn't important." She seemed a little confused by my lack of excitement about the wedding.

"But it's so romantic! I can't wait until I can pick out the gown and flowers and have bridesmaids and music! Seth says whatever I want will be fine with him,. I guess you two are alike in that way. When I asked Uncle Kyle, he just said he wanted the right bride and everything else was just icing on the cake. What kind of cake are you having?" She looked at me expectantly like I had a menu in front of me.

"I'm not sure. I let Mom decide so I'm sure it will be good."

"What about the flowers? What will your bouquet look like?"

"Umm....I let Mom decide....she's better at it than I am!" Ahnah was giving me a funny look.

"Is there anything you picked out? Just one thing that you knew you just had to have?" Her eyes were wide as she watched me defy convention.

"Well....I did pick out the groom! I'm pretty sure I just have to have him! I know it seems weird to you, but up until I met Kyle I wasn't planning on ever getting married. I had a fiance once, and he left me. I was bitter about that for so long that I thought I'd never get over it. When I met Kyle he changed everything for me. I haven't known him for very long and yet I still know that it's forever. Still, it didn't give me a lot of time to plan a wedding. Everything I wanted before seems silly now, and anything after....well there just wasn't time. I trust my mom to do it well, and as long as my man is waiting for me it doesn't matter what color the flowers are or even if I have flowers." She started to understand that it wasn't that I didn't care about the wedding, but that the details weren't as important as the people.

"Well, at least I'll have lots of time to plan my wedding! Uncle Kyle says I need to wait at least until I'm eighteen. He wanted to make me wait until I graduated from college, but you talked him out of it. Thank you for that! He said he'd help with college and the wedding, but only if we followed the rules. I'd marry Seth right away if it was up to me."

"Ahnah, how did it feel for you? I mean did you just fall instantly in love, or was it something that he said or did?" I had to know if there was imprinting on both sides.

"Well, when I saw him I thought he was so good looking....he's just so cute! And then he smiled at me like he was so happy to see me. He was polite to Mom and he helped Uncle Kyle, so I knew he was a nice guy. But he just paid so much attention to me, even though Akiak kept trying to show him stuff and get his attention. When we put our stuff on the plane he wouldn't even let me carry my own bags, and when it was time to leave he let Akiak sit in the co-pilot's seat and sat in the back with me. We talked the whole trip and he wanted to know everything about me. He said I was beautiful." She blushed when she said it.

"So, did you fall in love right away, or do you remember when it happened?" I still hadn't gotten my answer.

"I don't think it was instant. But it was like everything he did and said was just for me. It was like sliding down hill on a fast sled; by the time we landed I knew he was the one!" She was back to the giddy teenager.

"So, what if it's just infatuation? You know, a crush or puppy love?" She looked at me like I was out of my mind.

"Not possible. I've had those before; this is so much more! I once had a crush on this guy who works on the boat with my dad. Whenever he would come around I would get all breathless and my heart would beat faster. I would just hang on every word he said even though some of the things he said turned out to be really kind of stupid. But it's almost backward with Seth. I feel perfectly fine when he's with me. It's like he's supposed to be with me. It's times like now that I feel all breathless and my heart is beating faster. It's being away from him that makes me feel kind of queasy and weird. And I don't hang on every word he says; it's almost like I know what he's going to say before he says it, but I still want to hear it. He actually listens to what I have to say. I don't know when it happened, I just knew before we even talked last night that I was in love with him. It feels somehow like he was made just for me; is that silly?" She looked up at me and I had to smile.

"It may be silly, but for us I think it's true. I feel like that when I'm with Kyle. It didn't happen that fast for me, but it did happen. I think I had too much hurt and anger to get over. It's like he was able to love me enough for both of us until I could love him back." I almost forgot I was talking to a sixteen year old kid, but she seemed to understand and I didn't feel strange.

I knew there wasn't much reason to wait up since Kyle wouldn't be coming back. I was about to go get ready for bed when there was a tap on the door. It was Seth and Akiak grinning on the doorstep. Ahnah rushed to hug Seth and Akiak handed me a note. "Miss Rosalie insisted we deliver this to you. It's from Kyle....she kind of encouraged him to write it. We're going back for a little while longer....we need to see who wins. They're playing poker, and Emmett is losing his shirt. Truly it was made by some expensive Italian designer and he just threw it in the pot. Jasper is scarey good. Jacob had to quit since he lost so much. Sam is holding his own, but Kyle is cleaning up! When we left it was between him and Jasper." They looked like they were ready to run back when I remembered my note.

"Here, can you give this to Kyle?" Their words finally caught up to me. "Wait, you said Sam was there? Who else went?"

They looked at each other Seth broke away from Ahnah long enough to answer. "Well, there's Kyle, Jacob, Sam, Me and Akiak, Quil, Embry, Jared. Paul came for a few minutes, but he had to take the younger pack members on patrol. And there was Emmett, Jasper, Edward, and Carlisle. They let Edward play one game while Bella was there shielding everyone's thoughts from him. He lost.

"Did everyone go hunting first?" I wanted to know what they were up to and I could see they were getting anxious to leave.

"Uh yeah, we did that at dusk. I'll tell you about it sometime later, okay?" Seth kissed Ahnah goodbye and they both rushed off into the night. When I closed the door we both felt a bit let down. But Seth would be coming back again; Kyle was gone for the night.

"I think I'm just going to go to bed early. No use facing a photographer with dark circles under my eyes." I headed to Mom's room and curled into a ball in her bed. I felt lonely even though I wasn't really alone. I thought I would have trouble sleeping with so much ahead of me, but I drifted off almost immediately. I didn't even hear Seth and Akiak come back in at Midnight, or Mom come in to sleep.

When I woke it was six and the sun was just rising. I tried not to wake anyone as I went in to take my shower. I took extra time to do the things I normally rush through. I put something old on since I still had several hours before I would need to be ready. I slipped into the kitchen to make breakfast, then I remembered the note I'd gotten last night. I sat eating toast reading his words to me. From Tikaani all the way through; with all my love eternally, you're soon to be husband. When everyone started to wake up and come in to join me I was wiping tears from my eyes. I hurried to hide the letter so I could help serve breakfast and keep busy through the longest five hours ever!

Almost as soon as the breakfast mess was cleaned up there was a knock at the door. I was stunned to see three of the most beautiful women who'd ever walked through our village, standing on the doorstep glittering! The sun was shining down on them and their skin sparkled like diamonds as they tried to keep their faces out of the direct light. As soon as I had the door open, Bella, Alice, and Rosalie slipped inside. They came equipped with stuff – female stuff that I might have had at one time but had tossed into the trash or a deep closet a long time ago. Curlers, curling irons, hair clips, make-up, brushes, lotions, perfumes, nail polishes, and even eyelash curlers! They came at me like a platoon ready to do battle and I retreated to the bedroom and unsuccessfully tried to shut them out.

"Isn't there a treaty that says you can't come here and assault me?" I looked helplessly at the other women who were smiling instead of coming to my rescue.

"We've got special permission from both Sam and Jacob to be here!" It was Alice leading the charge as she plugged in several little appliances and opened up her arsenal of products. "We just couldn't let you go to your own wedding looking like the ugly duckling! I didn't think it should take so long to fix my hair and add make-up to my face, but they'd slotted two hours! Rosalie gave me a pedicure, which was beyond stunning that she would do such manual labor. Bella artfully did my manicure in a shade of sheer pale rose that actually complemented my skin tone. Alice went about setting my hair in big rollers, then she unpacked a box she had brought with some of the prettiest underclothes I'd ever seen. "We're not letting you wear that old stuff under your dress; it's tired and the elastic is fading."

While I was being attended to, Mom, Lora, and Ahnah came and went, also getting ready. The Cullen's were happy to help them, even though I was their special project. Once the curlers were out of my hair I saw what was going to take more time. Alice brought out the flowers. Tiny white miniature roses and other small delicate flowers. She used the smallest strands of hair to braid and twist the flowers into a coronet in my hair. I thought it was going to look strange, but when she was finished it was actually beautiful. I still had my hair loose in back, but with body instead of hanging straight. I didn't have much time to admire her artistry since she started working on my make-up next. I usually didn't worry about wearing make-up since with my coloring a little lipstick was usually more than enough. But again Alice had the magic touch. I almost didn't recognize the person looking back from my mirror.

As soon as my make-up was finished she told me I should get dressed. "That's crazy, I've still got a long time!" She showed me the clock and it was 10:30! I had everyone clear out while I put on my new underwear. Mom came in to help me put the dress on over my head without ruining my hair and make-up. I also put on Ahnah's necklace and turned it so the bear was centered. I started to get nervous when I saw myself in the mirror; I looked like a bride! Mom hugged me and opened the door . Bella, and Alice hugged me when they saw me, and Lora was moved to tears. Alice took my hand and slipped a bracelet onto my wrist.

"You forgot your 'something blue.' This is a light blue topaz since you're not doing the garter toss." I knew she could see the future, but what I wondered is why she bothered to concentrate on my future. She also handed me a small package about the size of a book. "This is my wedding gift for you. I don't want you to open it until you are on your honeymoon. You might want to put it on your suitcase so you don't forget it. I did what she advised. It was time to go and I watched the Cullen women slip out and climb into Mom's Jeep. They tossed the keys to their Audi to Mom before they sped away with Ahnah in the car beside them.

a/n: I hate this! Only three more chapters to go after this! This has been such a learning process I hate to see it end. I am still a sucker for reviews, so please let me know what you think even if it's unfavorable.

Also, if you haven't looked, I'm writing another story that's quite a bit darker than this one. Dark Roots is about the vampire Stefan, but even if you're a wolf lover it is still a good read since he's not one of the main characters who have been written to death.