"Bella you look absolutely stunning!" Esme cooed as she watched Alice and Rosalie work their cosmetology magic on me. Aro had given permission to Alice to conduct the wedding in the castle only two days ago, and everything came together just this fast. Alice said that he seemed pleased that this was going to be the first wedding in the castle since over a thousand years ago.
"You really do. And I must say, Alice and I are exceptional at getting you ready. And to think we get to do this again in a few weeks." Rosalie said, but her eyes got ridiculously round when she realized she slipped up.
"What do you mean we're doing this again! I don't want to. I'm not." I realized I was pouting and having a temper of a two year old. "I thought you were kidding when you said this the other day. Alice, please don't make me have to go through this again." I was begging. I knew it, it was my only resort against a pixie who had already made up her mind.
"Bella, please sit still. And yes we're going to have another wedding, as soon as we can figure out how you're going to get back into Forks. But for now you're going to enjoy today because you look absolutely gorgeous." Alice and Rosalie backed away from me as Esme brought a full length mirror in front of me.
"Oh my gosh." I gasped as I saw myself for the first time. I was wrapped in a beautiful organza a-line dress that had lace embellishments in the bodice. A royal blue sash was tied into an extravagant bow. My makeup and hair were flawless. "Alice, I'm beautiful. Thank you both." I looked between Alice and Rosalie.
"Oh hush. You've always been beautiful Bella. You were a wonderful palette to work with. And I for one, am happy that you will be my new sister." Rosalie's words warmed me enough to wish I could blush or cry. I hugged her deeply until she had to push me away. "Not so tight," she said with a laugh.
"Are you ready dear?" Esme asked from the doorway. "It's just about time." I nodded and allowed her to lead me into the hallway as Rose and Alice rushed past us and headed towards the grand room. Esme leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" I returned her sweet smile with one of my own.
"For making Edward happy. For being you." Her smile grew wider and I knew she was wishing tears would fall to express how happy she was. "Bella it will be an honor to be your mother-in-law. Edward's happiness was something I used to worry about, and I haven't since you walked into his life. And under the circumstances, allowed him back into yours. You are a blessed addition to the family."
I hugged Esme, trying not to crush her and gave her a kiss on her cheek as well. "I had no choice but to let him back in my life. I was hopelessly in love with all of you. And it is an honor to me that you would have me in your family."
"You're such a sweetheart. I guess it's a good thing we can't cry, Alice would be fussing that we ruined our makeup." We laughed as we made our way to the lobby where Gianna's desk was. "And now I leave here with my darling husband." I looked behind me as Carlisle walked towards us. Esme tipped onto her toes and gave Carlisle a much different kiss than what she gave me and I wanted to blush for being in the same room as them. It wasn't a long kiss but still, they were minutes away from being my in-laws.
"Alright Bella, let's get you married." Carlisle exclaimed and Esme left to go into the throne room. I heard music swelling as the enormous doors were opened for us. I was astonished by the immensity of the all of the decorations. Alice had transformed the room into a winter wonderland complete with a light snow falling somehow from the ceiling. The aisle runner was a light blue, matching Rose and Alice's dresses, and it had a thin covering of snowflakes. Even though I normally hate anything cold or wet, this didn't bother me for several reasons: I'm no longer bothered by things that are cold and wet, and this moment, snow and all, had a magical quality to it.
I stopped looking around and found the one person that mattered. Edward. Suddenly, it seemed that me and Carlisle were walking too slow and I wanted to run to the front. Seemingly to sense what I wanted, Carlisle's hand clamped over mine, signaling me to stay put. "You wouldn't want to ruin this moment for me, would you Bella?"
"No, I guess not." I said with a slight pout.
"It's okay, Rose and Alice went through the same thing the first time they were married." There was a chuckle behind his lips and I smiled at my vampire father. My eyes returned to Edward's and the elation that flowed between us felt incredibly thick.
Finally, we reached Edward, and Carlisle passed me off to him. "I love you Bella."
He took my hand and we stood in front of Aro who began the ceremony. "I love you too Edward."
(_-_)
"So now, we need to figure out how to get Bella home without raising too much suspicion." It had been three days since the wedding and after letting me and Edward have two solid days to ourselves, Carlisle deemed it was time to decide what to do with me.
"Well, it's obvious I need to be found before you return to Forks. By at least a week. I mean you told everyone that you were going to be gone for two. Won't it look weird if you cut your trip short and return close to when I'm somehow back home?"
"No, Edward, she's right. It was already gossip that we decided to keep our trip so close to Bella's disappearance. If we were to return in the same manner, the talks would never stop."
"Edward, please. Let me have that one week alone with Charlie."
"What about the wolves? The treaty will have been broken in their eyes." Edward reasoned.
"I'll handle the wolves. Billy is family. He'll understand. I know he will. Just trust me."
Edward silently nodded his consent. And I looked back to Carlisle. "So how do I get back into Forks? What was the gossip about what happened?"
"The rumors were all over the place, from you running away from an abusive Edward to being kidnapped for ransom." Alice said with a smirk.
"Kidnapped for ransom? That's the best Forks could come up with? They do realize that Charlie is the police chief not some rich politician or something, right?" I asked incredulously. Getting back home was going to be harder than I thought it was.
"Well the most popular one at the hospital, was that your car was jacked and the carjackers thought it was easier to keep you than to let you go."
"Oh my gosh, Carlisle! That's genius. That's absolutely perfect." Rosalie suddenly entered the conversation. Everyone stared at her in confusion.
Rosalie rolled her eyes that we didn't follow where she was going with this. "We drop Bella off in Wyoming or some other random state. And she claims she escaped from the carjackers. I think it's beautiful."
"Yeah but the police are going to want to hunt them down. We can't give them someone who didn't commit the crime. Especially since we know there was no crime." Carlisle stated.
"She could describe Victoria and James. The humans will never find them, they're both dust."
There was a knocking at the bedroom door and Carlisle got up and let Aro and Marcus in the room.
"Carlisle, I've come to see about when you and your family will be taking leave."
"Old friend, we are actually working on that now. You see in order for Bella to go through the change, she faked her disappearance. We're trying to work her back in so that she can have a proper goodbye to her friends."
"Why do you need to return? Gather your things and move. You may also stay here my friend. This is a very big castle."
"I appreciate the offer Aro, but we do have differing views on our lifestyle. And we've made quite a life for us in the states." Carlisle then ran by Rose's possible solution by Aro who strangely seemed delighted.
"Well it seems you can't stage a rescue. The authorities will immediately want to send her to the doctors, and that would warrant some unnecessary attention on our kind." Everything Aro said made sense, and we all knew it. Even Rose's shoulders sagged at not realizing this detail.
"I think the only way that it would work out is if your two, quote/unquote kidnappers return her safe from harm." Aro said smugly.
"That's insane. The cops would never let them go, and who would be stupid enough to walk up to the chief of police and say here is your daughter?" Emmett's voice boomed.
"No that could work. Two random people just drop her off at the police station. They don't even have to speak to anyone." I could see the vision forming in her mind as her eyes drifted farther and farther from focus. "You'd be willing to lend us two vampires from your guard?"
"It was my idea, so of course. Corin and Alex may go with you. They could be sister and brother; they found your Bella alongside the road or something. I'll have Demetri draw up the necessary paperwork for them." Aro nodded towards Carlisle and walked out of the room.
"I guess that settles things. I'll describe Victoria and James as my attackers who knocked me unconscious afterwards and left me to die in a ditch. Then Corin and Alex found me with no I.D. and then brought me home. Still kind of sucks I missed graduation. But there's always next time, right?" I groaned audibly at the thought of going back to high school so soon.
"Bella don't forget, technically you graduated high school, so you can still attend college. You guys won't be in high school for at least another four years. And you and Edward can always take an vacation in between school." Esme's smile made it so hard not to trust her every word and I couldn't help but to smile back.
"I think Bella and Aro's guards should arrive in Forks before us. Humans can be simple sometimes but they can also draw some dangerously close conclusions. If we arrive at the same time as Bella, who knows what kind of stories they'll produce." I was drawn into Jasper's southern drawl that I hadn't really been paying attention to what he was actually saying.
"Wait, you want me to leave ahead of you and deal with everyone by myself? No. No, I can't, you guys all think I'm this horrible actress. There is no way I'll be able to do this without someone to lean on for support. No." My head shot up from Edward's chest at the suggestion.
Edward started patting my head and I felt a blast of Jasper's soothing gift calm me down. "No Bella. You said it earlier, we're expected to be gone for two weeks. We can cut our trip down a few days, but anything more than a week will seem suspicious."
"You can't leave me more than two days. Promise. You have to promise me." I looked frantically around the room, but everyone was looking at Carlisle, so I let my eyes rest on him as well.
Carlisle seemed to be thinking about this and for a second I thought he was going to shoot it down. But he simply nodded and gave a curt little smile.
"So we pack and we leave tonight. The sooner we get this over with the better. Bella, Corin, and Alex will leave on a flight that will stop in the Midwest somewhere and then into Seattle. We'll fly to Rio and with a layover of a few hours should put us a day or two behind Bella." Carlisle looked around the room to make sure we were all happy to be going home.
"And then in a few weeks, when everything has settled, we can have another wedding!"
"No, I'm not doing another wedding. I refuse."
"But Bella, if you don't get married, how are you going to explain sleeping with your husband every night. Charlie already objects to how much time you spend with Edward. If suddenly you're staying with us, after your horrible ordeal, Charlie will make things extremely difficult. For all of us."
I groaned again, knowing that she was right.
"See told ya!" Alice's smug voice went a pitch higher.
"I'll make the arrangements." Jasper simply said as he grabbed Alice and started for the door. I watched as everyone followed them out of the door, a smile creeping up on my face at the prospect of more alone time with Edward.
"And Bella, when we return to Forks, maybe we can work on your gift some more. Get you a little more control." Carlisle commented on his way out.
"So Mister Cullen, we'll be spending some time apart soon." I curled my fingers around his shirt and started loosening the buttons. "I think we should take some more time to enjoy one another."
His crooked smile spread to his eyes. "I think you're right Missus Cullen. And to think in a few weeks we get to do this all over again."
I couldn't control the hysterical laughter that escaped my lips. "Don't remind me." Edward carried me back to the bed and we made sure to enjoy ourselves before packing our bags.
"I love you." We both said at the same time. This was definitely the beginning to the end.
The End
A/N: As you could tell from the gaps in my posting that life was getting in the way of my time to actually sit down and write. So I think for the time being, I'm going to just relax from writing, and do more fanfic reading. If you have any suggestions for really good stories, message me. Also, I think I'm going to also take some time and revisit my previous stories that I mentioned wanting to do sequels to. So I'll keep you updated as more information becomes available for those stories. Hope everyone keeps reading and updating and writing!
Jshai