A/N: I'm happy cause my bff is here. Yay! My Grandmother is sooo unbelievable. I could write an entire chapter about how ridiculous that woman is. Ugh. Anyway, I have returned from the fiery pits of Hell. And Here it is: Our bright and shiny new chapter in which we discover the best man! :O
Jazz: I knows who it is!
Me: Yes, I knows you knows. Now be a good boy and go get me some sugar.
Jazz: Yes, ma'am.
Me: What a good little southern gentleman.
"It's Edward."
Before I could react, everyone, including the Denali coven, was standing in the living room, staring.
"Yay! Thanks, Cole!" Edward ran to give him a hug.
"No problem, man. Sorry, guys. You know I love you all."
"It's alright. As long as we get to be groomsmen," Jasper commented, giving Cole a pat on the back.
"Of course."
And then we were on our way to Massachusetts. We took a private flight, cutting down the exposure to humans for Cole. Still, Edward and I had to restrain him every time a flight attendant would pass. Esme and Alice were ready and waiting with open arms when we arrived.
"Cole!" she squeaked, "I'm so glad you finally picked!" She threw her tiny arms around his neck and wrapped her small legs around his stomach. Jasper cleared his throat.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly as she climbed down.
"Alice…can I talk to you for a second?"
"Oh, my God, Ayden, you can't be serious! Ugh. I guess it could be worked out, if you must. I've been seeing this for days now."
"So you know what I want?" She nodded her head, defeated. "Thanks, Alice! I love you!"
"Can someone fill the rest of us in, here?" Bella asked as she stepped out from behind Emmett.
"Oh, sorry," I apologized as I giggled. "I wanted to invite my parents, sister, and Brooke." Twelve mouths dropped open in shock.
"Are you kidding me?! The Volturi will have a freaking field day!" Emmett yelled, but somehow managed to keep it a whisper.
"No they won't. Psychic, remember?" Alice tapped her forehead. Emmett mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
"So, anyway, I already called for you. Everyone agreed to come. And the Volturi, who are impatiently waiting in the car, agreed to be good," she reassured us.
"Well, I would sure hate to keep the almighty Volturi waiting," Emmett muttered under his breath as we made our way to the car.
"Carlisle! It's so nice to see you!" Aro exclaimed as we stepped into the car…limousine.
"Ayden!" Jane squealed, throwing her arms around my neck. I hugged her back compassionately.
"How've you been? And where is Heidi?" I asked as we made ourselves comfortable.
"Oh, she's in the other car with Marcus and Caius…and Felix…and Demetri…and Alec." She laughed, as did I.
"And everyone else?" I inquired.
"Already at the house." She smiled up at me, and then turned to Cole. "It's very nice to meet you, Cole," she said, extending her hand.
"It is very nice to meet you as well, Jane," Cole replied as politely as possible, hoping not to get on her bad side, but who would?
"I like him," Jane confirmed, turning back to me. I could see Cole breathe a sigh of relief as he continued to chat with Aro.
"I'm glad. He was really worried that you guys wouldn't like him." Much to my surprise, she laughed.
"Of course we would. We trust your judgment." We talked about the things we'd done in the past 3 months since I'd last seem them, and about my relationship with Cole. Before we realized the time, we were pulling into the driveway of the large house.
"Wow. It's so much prettier than the picture," I whispered as I stepped from the car.
Alice squealed. "I knew you would love it! By the way, your family and Brooke will be here tonight. Their flight got delayed. EDWARD, WHERE ARE THE BLUE CONTACTS?!" Alice shouted up the stairs. Edward came down moments later with a contact case, one that I hadn't seen since my father's funeral.
"You're so very sweet and patient, Alice," Edward stated sarcastically as he made his way back up to the room in which he and Bella would be staying. Alice merely rolled her eyes in response.
"So, go ahead and put these in. I got brown ones for Cole," she said as she pushed me toward the bathroom just beside the stairs.
"Alright, alright!" I said as I closed the door. I put in the contacts easily, having worn them for years as a human. I found myself smiling at the thought that I would see my mother and sister soon.
Alice and I drove to the airport at seven; the flight was due in at seven thirty. We sat in the terminal patiently. Well, Alice was patient, at least. My hands and legs shook nervously as we waited. At eight, Brooke, my mother, step mother, step father, and baby sister stepped into the terminal.
"Ayden! Oh. My. God! I haven't seen you in forever!" Brooke screamed as she ran up to me. She threw her arms around my neck, and hugged me as tightly as human strength would allow. "Married?! Are you freaking kidding me?!" We started squealing…and screaming in unison, jumping up and down excitedly.
My mother, as usual, began to cry. She ran up to me, not hesitating in the least to pull me into her arms. My step mom and step dad watched and laughed. From behind my mom's shoulder, I could see my baby sister laughing, too.
"Ayden!" she cried through her tears, "I can't believe my baby's getting married! Oh, my God!" I laughed softly.
"Good to see you, too, mom." I released her and looked over at my step parents. I winked at Rachel. "Hi, guys, I'm Ayden…as you probably already knew," I laughed. My step mom stepped forward.
"Hi, Ayden. I'm Rachel." She smiled down at me in knowing.
"Hi. It's nice to finally meet you." I smiled expectantly at my step dad and raised my eyebrows; he stepped forward.
"Hello, Ayden. It's very nice to meet you. I'm James." Without thinking of my actions, I instantly threw my arms around him and whispered in his ear.
"Thank you for taking care of her." I could feel a tear descending his cheek against my marble skin.
When I turned back toward my mom, I noticed that Alice was holding my sister.
"And who is this?" I walked over to Alice, mesmerized by the beauty of the baby in her arms.
Her round, cherubic face was adorably chubby. The smile playing on her tiny lips could even brighten Marcus's bitter outlook on life. Her tiny fingers were wrapped around Alice's pinky, shaking it. Her tiny feet were kicking toward Alice's other arm. She was wearing a Strawberry Shortcake dress and pink tennis shoes. The same bright green eyes of my mother were looking up at me is astonishment.
"This," my mother murmured as she took my sister from Alice, "is Karlie."
The smile playing at my lips was undeniable as I held the sweet angel in my cold arms. Surprisingly, the snuggled closer to my chest, though I'm sure she was freezing. She sighed softly then fell into a light slumber.
"God, that is so precious!" my mother exclaimed softly, so not to wake Karlie. "I just knew you'd be close." A single tear slid down her cheek.
"Karlie," I whispered, "it's time to wake up, princess. We're going to our house now."
She turned over in my arms. As I handed her back to my mother, she clung to me tightly, much like Peter. My mother looked momentarily hurt, but quickly recovered, realizing we needed sister-time.
"Are we ready to get home?!" Alice asked excitedly, "We have parties to attend." I groaned inwardly, knowing I would only upset Alice if I made my resent known.
"Well let's get going, then, ladies! I need some male-bonding; I've been surrounded by women for nearly 30 hours." We laughed while he rolled his eyes.
The car ride was filled with chatter about how everyone had been since we'd last seen each other. Of course, my mother asked about Cole, and about my new family. I asked Brooke about all my friends from home, receiving much news of gossip from my former classmate.
"Are you kidding me?! Oh, my God, who's the father?!"
"Tyler. Douglas."
"Oh. My. God."
Everyone had learned to ignore our gossip throughout the 45-minute trip back to our home.
The parties were already set up when we arrived. All the men were in their car, ready to go out for dinner and to the supposedly magnificent party that my brothers put together. Naturally, Carlisle and the eldest men of the Volturi would simply stay at home, and out of the way of the women.
We would be holding our party, which I hoped would be simple, in the basement of the home. I found, once the men had gone, that my wishes had been granted. Our party was simple; the girls gave me small gifts, solely meant for me: lingerie, from my sisters, simple jewelry, and other small presents. We watched girly movies, and action movies, and the additional Dora the Explorer episode for Karlie. And of course, our biggest event was playing with Karlie. That baby is too adorable, I must admit.
When the men returned at nearly 2 a.m., the humans went to sleep. The vampires, stressed from the human exposure, hunted. The Volturi were not happy that they had to feed from mere animals, for once.
We began preparing for the early-morning ceremony at 5 a.m. The boys protested furiously when asked to help by Alice. She pouted, as usual, but this time, a vision came to her as she sat, cross-legged, on the banister of the porch.
"Ayden…how would you like to put that gift of yours to good use?" The grin forming on her mouth and in her eyes was terrifying…until I caught her drift.
A/N: Yes, it is a bit short. But it's nearly 2 a.m., I'm crashing from my sugar high, and I still have to update the other story. And we're just going to say that Cole held his breath when he was around Ayden's parents/friend/sister for the sake of the story, kay? And that the Volturi are wearing contacts and normal clothes…and yeah…everything just works out, alright? So…more tomorrow, hopefully. Next chapter covers Alice's evil plan and the wedding/reception. So…in the words of Mr. Kite, just tune in, turn off, drop out, drop in, switch off, switch on, and explode. Review!