Chapter 14

Anxious Goodbyes

It was a hard departure for some of us, Renesmee wanted to stay with her parents until the wedding; the celebration was to take place in late March, though I knew Renesmee's family felt it was all too soon. And my father – my dearest father – he was at a loss for reasons when he tried to convince me to stay; for without me, he would no longer have the most powerful mind-reader in the world, and though he tried to hide it from he, Father tried to use Chelsea's gift upon me but Marcus knew better than anyone that his efforts were completely pointless.

I came to my father, who was pacing up and down a deserted hall; I almost felt sorry for him, it was though the insanity of living so long had finally caught up with him.

"Father...?" I whispered.

He stopped so suddenly, looked at me, and walked straight up to me and took hold of my hands; I was my father's window into the outside world – able to hear what the humans were thinking during the day hours and able give him the much-needed entertainment he required to live so soundly. But I had never seen him more hysterical in my life; so much I was actually having a moment's consideration of not going through with the wedding.

As he fiddled and stroked my right hand, I cupped his face with my free one. "Father... this isn't going to be the end of everything."

As I released his face, Father forced me against his chest and wrapped me so tightly; the other time he ever held me like this was the night before the battle with the Romanian Newborn Army.

"You are all that I have... my jewel... my son." He whimpered, "And I cannot even begin to think of how I am going to live without you... I will die." For fearing of becoming what Marcus used to be.

I sighed and held him as tight as I possibly could. "I will never be away for long; I'll come back every time I get the chance."

But Father shook his head, "It'll never be the same," releasing me, his finger tip cupped my chin and his eyes overlooked my face more than three times, "Even now I still see the little baby boy I brought so far from Forks... every time I had you nestled in my arms I knew everything was perfect."

Tears began falling from my eyes as I stared into his glistening red eyes. "I love you, Father."

He closed his eyes and frowned his lips as if he were about to cry, breathing heavily as his hands stretched across my cheeks; Father brought my head forward, and rested it in the arch of his forehead and the base of his nose. I couldn't bear to see him like this and with the possible danger of putting my father in the same apathetic state that once ruled over Marcus.

"Father, I beg you do not grieve for my loss but be happy for your gain; for you are receiving a second daughter, and the relationship of an old friend."

I felt his smile and he fiercely kissed my forehead as I showed him my dreams of what will happen. "I am gaining a new alliance... and new family." He sighed.

Slowly then Demetri came towards us, "Forgive me, my Lord but I bring news of the Cullens."

"Yes?" prompted Father.

"They have arrived, Sir."

Father then turned back to me, "We best be going; don't want to keep your lovely bride waiting, do we." He smiled.

Renesmee's POV

I waited inside the dressing room of the wonderful villa, Ambrogio and Aro had everything arranged for us here; today was the big day and I was so nervous I knew Alice was going to have trouble getting me into the wedding dress. Ambrogio and I wanted to do things a little bit more traditional – I just didn't know if Alice had the antique style in mind that we wanted but she always managed to surprise everyone so... I had no choice but to trust her.

As I waited, Rosalie came into the room, "The groom has arrived."

All of a sudden my nerves became even more unsettling; Alice came in and they both wanted to start working on my hair and make-up.

"Nessie, just breathe, okay." Came Aunt Alice.

Before sitting down I had to take a turn about the room, just to try and calm my nerves; I was looking around at the beautiful woodland landscape, the villa was placed on a hill and down below us were gorgeous, almost English-style, gardens – normally I would say that Alice had given us a wonderland, but as it was mostly Aro's doing then all credit was deserved to him. Though coincidently just as I was thinking it, I caught a glimpse of my soon-to-be-father-in-law talking to Carlisle; I smiled for he was just so utterly beautiful.

The air that Aro carried had perfectly captured the essence of a fairytale prince, as though he stepped out of the pages of Snow White – with a pale golden brocade coat, white leggings, and ivory vest – it was easy to say that he was teasing me about what I was going to see at the altar. And Granddad was dressed in the very similar style.

"Come on, Nessie." Ordered Alice, "I have to start now; otherwise you'll never be perfect for your groom."

I shrugged my shoulders, "I'll appear plain next to him anyway."

But then Alice lightly slapped my shoulder, "Nonsense! Trust me, when I'm through with you; not even Aro will have the nerve to think of you as plain."

Alice began work on my face, I then felt Rosalie's hands feeling their way through my hair; pushing my hair upwards and tying it into a high bun. As soon as Alice carefully made the final touch by adding a faint pink gloss to my lips, I could hear voices floating up into the room; it was my mom and dad.

"Alice?" came my mother's voice, "Can we come in; we have something for Nessie?"

Aunt Alice gave my parents the approval and in they came, with Mom holding a small blue jewellery box in her hands. Daddy was dressed smartly in the suite he wore at his wedding and Mom was wearing a royal blue dress; the style was not really conducive to the theme of the wedding but, like Rosalie and Alice's gowns, each told the time of the era that still remained with them.

But as soon as my parents' eyes centred on me, Mom started crooning; placing her hand over her heart.

"Wow, Nessie; you're so beautiful." She whispered, with Daddy grinning widely beside her. Mom then opened the box in her hands, "Here. This was your Great-Grandma Swan's."

Inside was a beautiful white hair pin, with blue sapphires and diamonds. "Oh, thanks Mom. I love it; this means a lot to me."

Rosalie carefully placed the pin in my bun but my parents were soon forced out of the room as my two bridesmaids appeared to check up on me; Didyme and Orithyia, both were now at the physical age of ten, were dressed in adorable Renaissance gowns – the primary colour for the over gowns was gold but the under colour for Didyme's was red whereas Orithyia's was blue. Their locks of hair had been tired back into high ponytails, both with two strands of hair on either side of their faces; though Didyme's wavy brown hair was long enough to be neatly braided back into her lackey, whereas Orithyia's – slightly shorter blonde hair – simply fell perfectly straight passed her cheekbones.

"Oh! You guys look so adorable." I smiled.

But I smiled when I turned away from them; Rosalie took Didyme and Orithyia outside as Jacob entered in behind them.

"I'll give you a few minutes." Whispered Alice.

Alice flew out the door, and Jacob and I were finally alone.

"Hi, Jake." I smiled,

Jacob just shrugged his shoulders, hardly even looking at me. "So... this is it."

I nodded, "This is it. No turning back now."

"Yeah, I'm gathering that."

I sighed, "Jake, please, not today. I want you to be happy for me."

"I am happy for you; I mean, after all this is your big day. I'm just not happy that you'll be moving away and I'll never see you again."

I smiled, came towards him and hugged him, "Nothing's going to change, Jacob. I'll just be married, that's all; but yes, I will be moving away."