This is hapakids, Patti has given me permission to post this chapter for her as RL has been crazy busy for her and we didn't want you to wait any longer for this chapter.
She also thanks all her readers as well as the ones that review. Hopefully she will be back to posting herself!
EPOV
Monday dawned dull and dismal. The gray skies were a perfect match to everyone's moods. The weekend had been full of activity. While the women finalized the wake and funeral arrangements, my men and I, along with my dad and grandfather, worked diligently to assure that security would be tighter than the pentagon at the wake and funeral. We had metal detectors installed at both the funeral home and church. It was not easy to convince either place to allow it, but as they say 'money talks'. After hefty donations, most of which I'm sure went into someone's pockets, they relented. Every man that works for me will be there, making sure that no one causes any problems. The tricky part was securing the cemetery. I spoke with Aro's men, the ones from his entourage at the hotel when Bella and Aro met, and arranged for them to contact all of Aro's guard. We needed the extra security at the cemetery. I was leery of depending on men that I didn't know, but I had little choice. Although our family has an entire section dedicated solely for us, it is still out in the open and, therefore, a vulnerable situation for us.
Jenks had come through, as usual, and Bella's parents had been exhumed. Their caskets are currently at the funeral home and will be laid to rest on Thursday, alongside Aro.
The girls had arranged for a reception immediately following the burial, that is by invitation only, which meant my guys are perfectly capable of handling that themselves. Of course, metal detectors will be in place, but since my grandfather owns the reception hall, that is a non-issue.
Bella came out of the bedroom dressed in a demure black dress.
"Do I look alright? I want to look good for him."
"You look as beautiful as always!" I hugged her tightly, as she began sobbing once again. It hurt me deeply to see her in such pain, but I knew that time was the only thing that was going to help her. I did the only thing that I could do, I held her tighter and whispered words of love and comfort to her.
We arrived at the funeral home in a limousine. The doors were due to open to the public in half an hour, but there was already a line forming to get in.
We could hear the whispers and speculation as to why we were allowed in during the family's private viewing time. Although Bella was the only person of his bloodline remaining, he did consider several of his household employees to be 'family' and therefore, they had also been allowed in. It was obvious that we did not fit into this category, but no one knew of Bella's relationship with him, as of yet.
There were many faces in the crowd that I recognized as heads of various mafia organizations. Near to the end of the line, I saw Caius waiting with a vengeful glare. He, apparently, was not on the list of family, and it was not going over well with him. He had several people with him, including a man around my age. He was looking directly at Bella, with unconcealed lust in his eyes. He pointed directly at her as he leaned into Caius, asking him something. Caius looked over and nodded in agreement, a slow evil smile filling his face, and he made his way to where we were starting to file into the funeral home.
"Bella, my dear how nice to meet you again. Please allow me to introduce you to my grandson, Michael Newton."
She held her hand out to shake his. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances, but perhaps you'll allow me to escort you inside. I'm sure that the Cullens wouldn't mind waiting here and allow us a moment of privacy," he told her, kissing the back of her hand and winking at her. I couldn't believe his nerve, trying to seduce her in front of me and at Aro's wake no less.
"I mind very much. Now I recommend you remove your hands from my wife, before I remove them for you." I flashed my gun at him.
"You won't be able to have that in there. The family has set up metal detectors," he smirked, thinking that he had me.
"I know that, asshole. I put them there. My family is exempt from the 'no weapons' rule, since we are Aro's family and also supplying security."
"Not for long. My grandfather is working on having your marriage annulled. She is my betrothed after all."
"You are not welcome here. My marriage to Edward will not be annulled. LEAVE NOW!" Bella shouted at him, causing many of the other mourners to watch with increasing interest.
"We're going, but we will see you next week for the reading of the will. Aro specifically requested that we be there. So we shall see whom you end up married to." Caius' entire group slinked away.
We finally made it into the funeral home and up to the casket. A small man with glasses much too big for him made his way over to us. "Excuse me, but I'm Mr. Ericson. I was Mr. Aro's legal council. I couldn't help but overhear what just occurred out front. It may not be ethical for me to tell you this, but I just wanted to reassure you about why Mr. Caius and his grandson were invited to the reading of Mr. Aro's will. Mr. Aro wanted it known publicly and formally that he does not want his family united with theirs. I can't go into the details yet, but I didn't want you to worry needlessly either."
"Thank you for letting us know that. We look forward to seeing you at the reading," Bella said kindly.
"Yes, had his will revised, just prior to leaving Italy. There are many surprises in it," Mr. Ericson hinted with a wink. "I'll see you at the funeral on Thursday. It's nice to be able to put a face to a name. I just wish we could have met under better circumstances."
"Thank you!"
The wake continued with few issues arising. Caius and his family did not attempt to make another appearance I think Bella must have been hugged and kissed on the cheek a million times in the last three days. Several times, while meeting new people, she would turn to me sobbing. It was difficult knowing that there was little I could do to comfort her, besides stay by her side and console her.
On the last night of the wake, just before the casket was being closed and finally sealed, Bella asked for a moment by herself with him. We left to stand in the vestibule, giving her the privacy that she wanted, but also allowing us to keep her safe at the same time.
"How has she been holding up?" My mother wanted to know. She has been concerned since Bella blacked-out last week.
"She's trying so hard to be strong. When we get home, she breaks down. She can't understand why he was ripped from her, just when they found each other. She has lost her entire family in such a short period of time. I'm hoping to get her away for a couple of days after the reading of the will on Monday. Anyone up for a trip to the beach?"
"Oh, hell yes!" Emmett was always up for a trip to the beach.
"Are we talking camping or a hotel?" Alice asks. "And if it's camping, as long as we have flushing toilets and working showers this time," she states as Rose nods in agreement.
The last time we went camping, Emmett decided he wanted to 'rough' it, and he made the reservations. We ended up in the woods, with no bathrooms whatsoever. Even the girls had to pee in the woods. We were supposed to stay for five days, but after two days, we couldn't stand the smell of each other. We would have been pissed at the big oaf, but nature took care of him for us. He decided, stupidly, that he wanted to go 'au naturale' and used leaves as toilet paper. Well, it would have worked out better if he knew what poison ivy looked like. He had a rash all over his ass and cock.
"I was thinking camping." The girls and Emmett all cringed. "Some place that has all the amenities. I'll even let you and Rose book it. I just want to get her away from everything. No phones, no emergencies, just all of us. Just when you book it, try to get as many surrounding sites as possible. A whole loop would be good."
"Hey, Edward," Jasper started. "I have an idea. What if we go up to Rainbow Falls? They have full bathrooms and are never booked. I even heard that they were looking to sell. Maybe we could have a private retreat."
"What do you think ladies? Does Rainbow Falls sound ok?"
"It sounds fine. I'll make the reservations as soon as we get home. I'll book all available sites. Who will be going and how many days?" Alice volunteered.
"All of us and three or four days."
"Three or four days for what, Edward?"
"Um…do you like going camping?" I hedged.
"OH, MY GOD…YES! When are we going? Who's going? Can we stay longer than four days? I love to camp. I used to go all the time with my parents. Where are we going? My dad used to take us to Rainbow Falls. love it there! We always had the place to ourselves." Bella got all of that out without taking a single breath. I've never seen her so excited about anything.
"Slow down, sweetheart," I laughed. I was glad to see her smiling. "We're leaving Monday, after the reading of the will. All of us are going. We'll see about staying longer, and we are going to Rainbow Falls. Jasper suggested it, and it seems to be for sale. Want to make an investment?"
"Are you kidding me? Where do we sign? I always told my dad that I wanted to live there. It's beautiful."
"Well, if we do buy it, maybe we could build a few cabins there. Then we could go whenever we want."
"I really, really like that idea."
We got home around 9:30. Alice called at ten to let us know that she had made the reservations. She was able to book the entire place, and the owners were happy to know that we were thinking about buying the place. They were an older couple that were no longer able to take care of the site.
"Sweetheart?" She looked up. "Why did you want a few minutes with your grandfather? Never mind. It's really none of my business. I was just curious."
"No, it's ok. I didn't mean to be secretive. I just wanted to tell him that I will miss him, and I gave him a picture of my mom, dad, and me. I had saved a few when I left," she explained with a sad smile.
"Let's go get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day," I suggested and Bella responded with a nod and a yawn.
"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep. I have too much going on in my mind."
"I know how to get your mind off of everything," I told her with a growl. She squealed and ran to the bedroom. I chased after her and kept her mind…and body…fully occupied until she finally fell exhaustively into a deep sleep.