Epilogue: Another Wedding

Edward's Point of View

I grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her tight against my side. My arms wrapped around her for the briefest of moments and then I ruffled her hair and grinned at her half hearted attempts to push me away.

A gasp of shock from behind me made me immediately straighten up and put on my best good boy smile as I glanced back at my sisters and brothers.

Alice shook a finger at me and groaned. 'Edward, you know it took me all morning to get Bella's hair to look like that. You've positively ruined it in three seconds.'

She skipped up to Bella and her hands were a blur of speed as Bella tried to squirm away. 'You're just as impossible as you were when you were human, Bella.' Alice theatrically sighed.

She cast a pleading look over her shoulder. 'Jasper, will you come hold her down?'

His happy smile immediately faded, his eyes widening as he held his hands up. 'You know I'd walk to the ends of the earth for you Alice, but playing beautician's assistant? That's asking a bit much.'

Alice stuck her tongue out at Jasper and shook her head. 'That's all right, this is probably as good as its going to get.'

'Children, please.' Esme and Carlisle had stopped ahead of us.

Edward frowned. 'Mom, its utterly absurd to call us children, how many times do I have to tell you? I am older than you, after all.'

Esme smiled. 'As long as you insist on behaving like children, then that is what I will call you.'

Carlisle checked the expensive watch on his wrist. 'Esme is right, we are going to be late. You know how special this occasion is.'

We all started up the path again, Carlisle and Esme setting the pace.

Alice was still fussing with Bella's hair as we walked. Jasper whirled on his heel and started walking backwards, facing Emmett and Rosalie, who were noticeably lagging behind.

Jasper grinned evilly and crossed his arms across his chest. 'What's the matter Emmett? Surely the wolves have better things to occupy themselves today than mocking you.'

I rolled my eyes. Here we go again, the last thing we needed was to show up with Emmett and Jasper's clothes in tatters after they get into another fight.

After we had all traveled back to Forks following the battle with the Volturi (courtesy of their own former private jet) Emmett had been moody and aloof for days and had not joined in any of our celebrations. Then he had disappeared completely for an entire day. When he had returned he'd locked himself in his room.

Not even Rosalie had known what was bothering him until Seth had come for a visit. Seth had solemnly retold the story of when Emmett first came to the wolves to ask for help to rescue us.

As the story went on, his solemnity began to show cracks and laughter started to leak out. By the time he caught us up to date with Emmett's story he was howling with laughter.

Apparently Emmett had felt the need to honor his promise to the wolves and had gone to La Push to offer himself in exchange for their help in rescuing his family. By this time the two wolf packs had reconciled and were living side by side.

Emmett had asked Jacob to call all the wolves together and then he had announced that he was prepared to die to fulfill his promise. All of the wolves had stood, stunned into silence. Then Leah had started to howl with laughter. One by one, all the other wolves joined in.

Emmett remained standing in the middle of the two packs as Jacob approached, trying to stifle his laughter. Jacob informed Emmett that the wolves had no plans to hold him to his former pledge. Leah added that they wouldn't dream of killing Emmett because he provided way too much excitement.

Ever since Jasper and I had not stopped reenacting Emmett's self sacrificing actions. More than one fight had resulted from our exaggerated retellings and it looked like today was going to be no different.

Then Rosalie put her arm lightly on Emmett's and tugged. His gaze quickly flashed down to her. His eyes took their time before meeting hers. Rosalie was dressed sensationally, as always. She wore a skin tight blood red dress. It was sleeveless and fell to her ankles, though there were two very generous slits along either leg.

I couldn't help but hear Emmett's thoughts as all knowledge of Jasper's taunting quickly melted away as he lost himself into Rosalie's eyes. She gave him a quick seductive pout and slipped her arm into his and got him walking up the path.

They did look stunning next to one another, he in his immaculately fitted white suit and her in blood red.

I grinned and laughed a little. Then again, I think we all looked stunning. Cullens knew how to dress, after all.

Carlisle was dressed in an immaculate dark Armani suit, Esme in a subdued cream dress beside him.

Alice…well Alice was wearing something that was high fashion, I had no doubt. It was a short yellow dress, tight at the top and flowing at the bottom where it hung around her knees. Jasper was dressed in a dark pinstripe suit and had just offered her his arm.

But who could have eyes for any other members of my family when they saw Bella? She was wearing a modest, midnight blue dress…but wait, the dress may have been modest, but the way my Bella was wearing it was not modest at all.

I slipped my hands into my pockets and sidled up next to her. My lips barely moved as I whispered for her ears only. 'That dress isn't fooling anyone, Bella.'

Her light butterscotch eyes gazed up at me, her eyelashes flutteringly innocently.

'I'm not sure what you mean Edward.'

I took a quick step closer to her and lowered my head so that my lips were right next to hers. I spoke very slowly and softly, my lips moving within an inch of hers but never touching them. 'You're utterly dazzling.'

I felt her body melt against me and her trembling lips sought contact with mine. Then my head cracked into hers, ours noses colliding roughly. I whipped around just in time to be hit with another snowball, this one full in the face.

Emmett was cackling delightedly and was scooping up another snowball while he bounced from one foot to the other, ready to dodge any counter attack.

'Come on Eddie, show me what ya got.'

He hurled another snowball and I nimbly dodged out of the way.

'Oooh, that's right, looks like ya got nothing!'

He dropped the snowball in his hand and howled as a white ball flew in at him from behind me. 'No fair Bella! That's hitting below the belt!'

Jasper had turned in an instant and was quickly dragging Alice along behind him. 'Snowball fight!'

Alice dug in her prodigious heels and turned his flight into a slow crawl. 'Jasper no! The snow will melt and you're going to look horrible!'

Esme quickly turned. 'Not again! Will you children not behave for the five minutes that it takes to get there?'

Rosalie slipped in front of Emmett and lowered his arms. 'Esme's right, I want to get to the wedding and get good seats near the front.'

Jasper frowned and stopped dragging Alice along. 'That's the end of all our fun. No one's going to go up against Rosalie. You'd have to be barking mad to take on the girl who single handedly fought off four Volturi.' He sighed and started trudging back up the path.

I slipped my hand back into Bella's. She smirked up at me. 'I got him for you.' I dipped down and quickly kissed her. 'You sure did.'

I shook my head, snow and water droplets flying off in a cold shower. Laughter escaped from me before I could stop it. Alice was fuming ahead of me, mad that I was the only person she'd ever met whose hair looked better the messier it got.

We all continued up the path in pairs. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

Finally we were at the break in the path and came out upon a breathtaking scene. It had been one of those very rare winter days in Washington that it had actually snowed. And even more amazing, the snow had actually stuck. The whole world was covered in an untouched white blanket that was sparkling in the winter sunlight.

There were white chairs set up along the La Push beach and an intricately carved wooden arch at the head of them that was sprinkled all over with delicate white flowers.

Bella leaned up to whisper in my ear. 'Jacob made the archway himself, it took him a really long time but it's so beautiful.'

I had to agree. The only evidence I had ever seen of Jacob's wood working ability was the little wolf charm he had carved for Bella's bracelet, but the archway was amazing.

There were a lot of people milling around, most of them residents of the reservation. Charlie was sitting in the front row with Sue and he quickly waved us over. Bella smiled and led the way. After we had escaped from the Volturi Bella had insisted on reconnecting with Charlie.

At first Charlie had been shocked at Bella's appearance, but Alice had gone along and had quickly launched into a story on how she was attending cosmetology school and she had been using Bella as her guinea pig. After about five minutes of Alice babbling about makeup and hair techniques Charlie's eyes had begun to glass over. Bella threw in a convincing trip and dropped things every once in a while around her dad, and while he was suspicious that something was different, he was so happy to have Bella back in his life that he didn't pry too much.

The smile slipped from my face as I realized that Charlie was now turning his notorious scowl on me. I almost sighed. What had I done this time?

'You're going to get pneumonia Bella! If you could only see how pale you are right now! I don't care what half the crazy people decided to wear at this wedding.' He gestured wildly around him, and my smile started to slip back on its own.

A majority of the wedding guests consisted of vampires and werewolves, who were all oblivious to the cold, and had therefore shown up without long sleeves, coats or any forms of winter attire.

I quickly slipped out of my black suit jacket and slipped it over Bella's shoulders. She pulled it around herself and faked a shiver. 'Brr, your right dad, I just now noticed how cold it is out here.'

I rolled my eyes and hoped Charlie could not see. Becoming a vampire had not strengthened Bella's acting skills in the slightest.

Luckily he could not berate Bella anymore. The wedding was about to start and he sheepishly reminded his daughter that he had been asked to walk the bride down the aisle and grumpily skulked away.

Tanya, Kate and Garrett slipped in at the last moment and found seats behind us. We all greeted each other warmly and Emmett squinted at Garrett's eyes. 'Are those the real deal yet?'

Garrett shook his head and Kate chipped in. 'Not yet, but we're getting there. Should be another few months.'

Garrett frowned. 'It's brutal, really, I don't know how any of you survived it.'

Oh, I think I know how you're surviving it. Rosalie was glancing coyly back and forth at Kate and Garrett.

Any further inquiries were interrupted by the beginning of the ceremony. Not the traditional organ or piano, but Jared on his guitar played the wedding march.

While we had been catching up with the Denali vampires Jacob and his best men…or should that be best dogs? Quil, Embry and Seth had had taken their places under the arch. Jacob briefly tugged at the neck of his suit, looking slightly uncomfortable in the formal clothes.

Billy was in the front row, camera flashing away.

The guitar pitched into a slightly higher key and the audience turned as one.

Charlie was escorting the bride down the aisle. Leah was dressed in a very plain white gown. Yet it was all the more gorgeous for its plainness, and her dark beauty radiated out.

Jacob and Leah only had eyes for one another throughout the entire ceremony. It was short, but very sweet.

When it was all over the audience quickly headed for the heated tents that had been set up for the reception along the beach. My family held back and said our goodbyes to the Denali clan, the wedding had proved to be a bit too much for Garrett's self control so they were all heading out.

We finally made it into the reception tent. Jacob immediately spotted us and came bounding over to scoop Bella up into a bear hug. Leah and I smiled politely at each other.

Jacob turned to me a bit hesitantly. 'Leah and I have already had our first dance…is it all right with you if I have a dance with Bella?' I was surprised to find that none of my old jealousy surfaced. I smiled tightly. 'Be my guest. But if you're going to steal my wife for a dance, then I'm going to have to steal yours.'

I bowed formally and held out a questioning hand to Leah. She smirked at Jacob and took my hand. Jacob and Bella went running to the dance floor like nothing had ever gone wrong in their friendship.

I led Leah out to the dance floor as a slow dance started. For the first minute of the dance we just concentrated on the steps, her eyes flitting around from side to side like a nervous bird's, my eyes were set on a point above her head.

We were the absolute portrait of awkwardness.

After what seemed like an exceedingly long time Leah gave me a half smile. 'You don't smell nearly so bad as you used to, outside in the snow and all…'

I gave her a charming smile as if she had paid me the highest compliment. 'Thank you.'

She sighed. 'Edward…I…I never really thanked you and Bella for coming after me. If you two hadn't shown up I don't know if Jacob and I would be here today.'

Her eyes tentatively stole up to my face.

This time my returning smile was genuine. 'You don't need to thank me Leah. You were willing to give up your life to save mine and Bella's. It is I who is forever indebted to you.'

She frowned. 'Lets just call it even, I don't like all this forever garbage, forever for us could be a very long time.'

I laughed lightly. 'All right, we're even. It's a good thing we're ok with each other, because it looks like Bella and Jacob have decided to be friends again.'

She turned her head and followed my gaze and gave a snort of laughter. Bella and Jacob were clearing a good sized space on the dance floor. They were performing some sort of ridiculous fast dance that was totally in odds with the slow song that was playing, laughing their heads off.

I couldn't help but snort too. 'Kind of looks like they're in pain, doesn't it?'

Leah nodded. 'Jacob's going to be in pain if he thinks he is going to dance with me like that.'

I grinned. If anyone was going to keep Jacob Black in check it was certainly her.

The slow song was abruptly cut off when the microphone was abducted by Quil. He was whooping and shouting along with what looked like the rest of the wolf pack.

He gave a really short, mostly incomprehensible speech about hoping that Jacob and Leah have a wonderful life together. Because, after all, if Jacob could fix half the old junkers that he had then certainly he might be able to fix Leah too.

Leah's eyes were shooting daggers at him and I think he noticed, because he abruptly dropped the stolen microphone and shouted. 'Cliff diving!!' Then took off at a dead sprint out of the tent.

Embry, Seth, Jared and Paul all went tearing off after him whooping and shedding articles of clothing as they went.

Before I could even look for Bella Jasper and Emmett had appeared on either side of me and each grabbed an arm.

Emmett grinned at me. 'Cliff diving Edward! Come on!'

He and Jasper bodily drug me out of the tent. I shook my head as I turned and started to run with them. 'You two are in so much trouble when Rosalie and Alice find out that you've ruined your suits.'

Jasper threw his bow tie behind him and slipped out of his jacket as we rounded a turn in the beach.

Suddenly a light pressure touched my back and Alice vaulted overtop me to run in front of Jasper.

'We're not gonna be mad Edward, we're coming to!'

I did a double take as I saw Rosalie slip up behind Emmett. 'This is turning out to be a weird day.'

A grin split my face from ear to ear as I smelled a new, delicious scent on the air. 'Not you too, Bella! You do remember what happened the last time, don't you?'

She punched me playfully on the arm as she caught up, Jacob and Leah not far behind.

'This time's different. You're here to protect me.'

My grin couldn't grow any wider as I quickly scooped Bella up into my arms and tossed her onto my back. 'Hold on tight!'

She laughed softly in my ear. 'This isn't exactly necessary, Edward.'

I turned my head slightly back, angling it towards her so that I could gaze into her eyes. 'Just humor me, please?' I saw that old, glazed look creeping over her face.

I faced forward and smirked. Oh Edward Cullen, you still got it.

We reached the high cliff top just as the leading wolves were hurling themselves off, competing to see who could do the most elaborate jump.

Jasper was stripped down to his suit pants and he stopped abruptly at the edge and bowed formally to Alice and held out a hand to her. 'Ma'am? If I may?'

Alice daintily kicked her heels off and took Jasper's hand. 'Of course.'

They both leapt together off the cliff, hand in hand.

Emmett, still fully dressed, scooped Rosalie off her feet and took a running head start before hurtling them both off the cliff as Rosalie shrieked.

I paused and looked behind me at Jacob and Leah as Bella clung to my back. 'You two coming?'

Jacob grinned and shook his head. 'Nah, I think we're gonna get started on our honeymoon.'

I raised an eyebrow.

His grin grew wider. 'Well, neither one of us really has a lot of money, so we decided to go backpacking in the wilds of Canada.'

Leah grinned back at him. 'Without the backpacks, that is. Oh, and Bella? Could you make sure my dress gets back safely to my mom? It was hers.'

Bella nodded. 'Sure, of course I will.'

Jacob gave a small wave to Bella, then took Leah's hand and led her past the tree line. Leah's arm reached out with the dress and laid it softly on a branch.

Less than a minute later we heard two far off wolf howls.

Finally I let Bella slip from my back. I methodically undressed down to my pants, carefully folding each item of clothing so I could retrieve it later. I had just removed both of my shoes and was in the process of placing a sock neatly in each when Bella's dress went sailing past my face.

All thought of neatness forgotten, I whirled around and raked my eyes up and down Bella.

She smirked and put her hands on her hips. 'Race you to the bottom.'

She flitted quickly to the cliff edge and gracefully dove off, I was just a second behind her. Not because I was slower…I just enjoyed the view more from behind.

As we hit the water our brothers and sisters and the wolves were climbing out to go again. I took the opportunity to grab Bella and drag her far out into the water.

When I decided that we had gone far enough I pulled her to the surface.

The snowflakes were still falling, melting into the rough waters as they hit.

I took both of Bella's hands into mine and gazed deeply into her eyes.

Her eyes slowly fell shut as we both leaned in for a soft kiss. I pulled back just far enough so that I could speak.

'You know Bella…vampires are right at home underwater.'

She forced her face into a shocked expression. 'Why Edward Cullen, I have no idea what you're trying to say.'

I gave her that charming half smile that I knew she couldn't resist.

I held out a hand to her. 'Ready for our next adventure?'

Bella laughed loudly and darted in for a quick kiss. 'Mmm, if this is your idea of adventure, I hope we have many more.'

I pulled her to me and kissed her deeply as we slipped under the water.