ASL 18

There's No Free Milk Here

I couldn't believe that Grandma Swan was right. She always spouted off, what I considered nonsense, about a cow and free milk and then the first time that I don't sleep with my boyfriend right away and BAM! He wants to marry me. It was completely unreal. We decided that they we were going to go ahead and wait until our wedding night before we did have sex. I was totally blown away by the fact that he even thought of proposing after less than a month of dating. That was three weeks ago and tomorrow we going to going to be married.

The next morning neither of us wanted to drag our butts out of bed. I knew that he needed to tell Tanya that we were getting married. It was important that she be the first one he told. It wouldn't be right at all if she had to hear it from one of Edward's sisters or even Ethan. Since we were both her friends we decided that the right thing was to go together to tell her and then tell his son. Not that a five year old was going to understand much.

Tonight was Edward's night to keep Ethan so we decided to wait until after I was done with work and go together. Since we were both friends with Tanya, we decided that the right thing was to go together to tell her and then we could tell his son. Not that a five year old was going to understand much.

I was quite distracted all day at work and found myself continuously making notes of things that needed to be done or bought. At lunch I found myself staring at the phone trying to get the courage to pick up the phone. She was not going to take this well.

"Hey, Mom. How have you been? How's Phil? By the way I've been dating Edward for the last few weeks and we're now engaged. Can you be here for the wedding in, say, three weeks?" Yeah. That was going to go over real well. Maybe I could just send a text message and then conveniently lose my phone. That could work. I eventually had to return to work without calling my mother. I'd just have to do it later tonight.

I picked Edward up at the bar, as usual, and we drove over to Tanya's house to pick up Ethan for the night. I had been driving him over or Tanya would drop Ethan off since Angela started using Edward's car. She tried to voice the opinion that she felt that she was inconveniencing everyone but we shut her down on that immediately. I didn't mind driving Edward, it gave us more time together and Tanya would usually drop him off and then head out on a date with Felix. So no inconvenience there either.

We found Tanya, Felix, and Ethan outside playing catch in the front yard. Felix asked Ethan to help him show us the fish in the new Koi pond they had installed in the back yard. Ethan grabbed our hands and insisted that we go with him. I moved to follow him but Edward just ushered him on, "I'm be back there in a minute, buddy, I just need to talk to Mama about something first."

"Ok, daddy." Then he literally dragged me into the back yard. He was running so fast that I could barely keep up with him. In fact, I did trip a couple of times causing Ethan to roll his eyes at me and Felix to laugh at me. Felix handed a little bucket of fish food to Ethan set him off throwing these little pellets into the water.

"Whatever's up must be big," he said once Ethan was completely oblivious to us, so I flashed Felix my ring. "Oh my God! Congratulations!" That was all we said on the subject.

Edward and Tanya came around the house a few minutes later, both of them smiling, "Ethan, go get your bag, you're going to go spend the night with Daddy." No one had to tell him twice. He was gone into the house in a flash. I was taking the day off work as well so that we could get things started if we were going to pull this off in three short weeks.

Edward and Felix followed Ethan into the house to make sure that he packed more than just his toys. He's tried that more than once. Once they were safely in the house Tanya demanded to see the ring. It was a little uncomfortable showing her the ring that her ex-husband picked out for me. I wondered if she was comparing it to the ring that he bought her years ago. She 'oohed' over the ring and then grabbed me into a hug telling me that she was happy for us. With a wink, she linked her arm around mine as we started for the front of the house, "at least he's marrying someone that I know I can trust with my son. I was terrified that one girl he was seeing was going to come back." we both shuddered at that, "I like the two of you together."

We walked over to the car and waited for Ethan and Edward to be ready to go. Tanya asked me about the wedding plans. Edward had already told her that it was going to be in three weeks. She told me that if there was anything she could do to help to let her know. This is why everyone loved Tanya. She could have been angry and nasty about me marrying Edward, but she wasn't. She was always the picture of grace and class.

Ethan took the news pretty well until we asked him to be the ring bearer. Edward was trying to explain to him that it was important and he'd a big part of the show.

"You mean like at school? I getta be a toof agin and when I sing'n'dance everyone gonna claps for me!" Of course his mind went to last years school play.

"Uh…no…you dress up real nice in a suit and tie and stand really quietly by me."

He started crying proclaiming that he hated wearing ties. He had to wear one when he went to a function with Felix's family recently. We finally settled him down by telling him we'd think about leaving the tie off. If nothing else just wearing it for the ceremony and pictures then he could take it off.

After dinner Edward and I went to Alice's house for a visit. The second we got in the door Ethan yelled out, "Daddy gave Miss Bella a ring." And then he ran off to play with his cousins leaving us to deal with the aftermath of the bomb he just unknowingly dropped.

"What did he say? Did you…? Are you…?" Alice stammered out as she stood there flabbergasted and in shock. We launched into the whole tale telling them everything. Jasper's eyes got large and round when he told them that the wedding was being held on the beach. He jumped up from his seat on the couch and started grabbed old sketch books of Alice's that she always left lying around. After being sushed for the sixth time we just sat back in silence and let him do his thing. He was halfway through the seventh book when he exclaimed, "Aha!" and then turned the book to face us. It was a sketch of a pretty cream colored sun dress.

"Oh my God! How did you remember that sketch? I didn't."

"I don't know. It just popped in my head when they mentioned the beach."

"Alice it's beautiful and perfect for Bella. Did you ever make it?" Jasper asked.

"No. I don't do wedding dresses. It was weird that I even drew something like that."

"Is that embroidery at the bottom?" I asked taking a closer look at it. I could see Edward trying and failing at his attempts not to look at the sketch any more than he already had.

"Maybe I should go check on the kids," he said as he got up and bolted out of the room.

Alice turned her attention back to me and the sketch, "Yes, it's embroidered with a sea shell design."

"Can you get it done in three weeks?" I asked with a smile as I took a closer look at all the details on the dress. Then I noticed the date on the sketch and realized that she had drawn it just days before Edward's car accident.

EPOV:

I never could have imagined that three weeks could have flown by as fast as they did. Today Bella would become my wife. Everything had fallen into place so well. Alice and her small staff worked tirelessly on Bella's dress and matching flower girl dresses. Not to mention a bridesmaid dress for Angela.

Ethan was thrilled with the suggestion that Alice made that instead of me and Emmett and Ethan being overdressed in suits, we wear just khakis and white button downs that were open at the collars. I knew from the glimpse of the sketch I'd seen of Bella's dress that it was not a traditional wedding dress at all. It was, well, plain isn't the right word for it. That sounds like I am insulting the dress. Subdued? Was that it?

I was standing in the kitchen of my apartment, drinking a cup of coffee, and looking at all of the boxes that were littering the place. We had decided that Bella would move in with me and give her apartment over to Angela. We had been bringing things over little by little.

I looked at the clock and realized that I was going to have to get Ethan up soon if I was going to get him over to Mom and Dad's on time to get ready. The ceremony was at noon. Charlie and Sue were staying with Emmett and Rose because Sue was helping Emmett, who insisted that we allow him to do all of the cooking. Except for the wedding cake, we ordered that from a bakery. By his own admission, he was not a cake decorator. Bella was a little concerned that Charlie might end up attempting to kill Emmett, given their past, but they both assured her that they could survive in the same house without resorting to murder.

I finished my cup of coffee and was just rinsing the cup out in the sink when I heard Ethan's bedroom door open and close. I heard him padding through the hallway and kick into one of the boxes in the living room and I ran to tend to him. I found him sitting on the floor, holding his foot and howling in pain as rocked back and forth. One look at it was I knew that he had just stubbed it and would be fine. He was often very cranky when he just woke up. I moved him to the couch and turned on the TV. Ten minutes later the sore toe was ancient history.

A few hours later, I was standing on the beach with my sister fussing over me. She'd only been here for about five minutes, having just left Bella to came and make sure the guys were dressed right. "Tuck your shirt in." "No, now untuck it." And then it would start again. She just couldn't make up her mind which way would look best in the pictures. Mom finally came over and ended my sister's struggle by declaring that 'untucked' would be better since we were all going barefoot per Alice's insistence. From the research that she did, most people went barefoot for beach weddings. That was fine with me. It was yet another fight with Ethan that I could avoid. And I wouldn't have to worry about Bella hurting herself by trying to walk through the sand in a pair of heels.

We had originally wanted all of the kids to be in the wedding but finally decided that Ethan would be the ring bearer, Kara the Flower girl, and Maria was a junior bridesmaid. It was her job to walk with Ethan and Kara and make sure that they made it up the aisle without getting distracted along the way. I think that Jasper offered her cash to do it.

Everything was under control so I wandered off down the beach to the water and started dipping my toes in the water, careful not to get my pants wet.

"It's a beautiful day for a beach wedding. You guys got very lucky."

I turned to face Tanya and smiled, "We did. Thanks for helping us get this together."

"It's no problem. I had fun. Although my sister thinks I am absolutely insane. She never was able to understand how we could divorce and still be friends."

"It's not that we don't care about each other, we just aren't…"

"Yeah." She sighed, "I am really happy for the two of you, Edward."

"So, when are you and Felix going to do this?"

She laughed, "I don't know, maybe soon. We were talking about it a bit the other night. I was going to…," She took a deep breath;" I was going to wait to tell you tell you this but…I'm pregnant."

"Oh my God! Really?" She nodded. "Congratulations! I am so happy for the two of you! I'm surprised that Ethan hasn't announced it to the world." I grabbed her into a big hug.

"We haven't told him yet. Actually, we haven't told anyone yet. We didn't want to overshadow your wedding or anything." It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her why we never had another baby after Ethan but I never got the chance. Mom yelled out to us that Bella was on her way and we needed to be in place when she got there. Tanya kissed me on the cheek and whispered, "Be happy," before running off to join Felix who was keeping the kids entertained.

AlicePOV:

I couldn't believe that Edward and Bella were getting married. It was so fast. They had only been dating a few weeks. They were just so sure about it that no one questioned the decision to have the wedding so quickly. I was honored when Bella asked me to help her organize everything. I thought it was enough that she wanted to wear the dress that I designed.

Everyone was so thrilled about the upcoming wedding that it you could literally feel the excitement in the air. It had been years since our family was this excited. Everyone wanted to pitch in, in any way that they could, to put a personal touch on the wedding. Emmett and Sue were cooking. Tanya and I were sewing dresses and shopping for the clothes for the groom and his attendants. Rose and Felix were taking the kids a lot in an attempt to keep them out of the way while the adults prepared for the wedding. Mom and Dad were taking care of the reception since it was being held in their backyard. Bella wanted to go simple and do burgers and hotdogs. We were all a bit taken aback by that but we never said a word to her. It was her day and what she wanted she should get, whether it was hot dogs or whatever. But that didn't mean that Emmett wasn't going to go gourmet on those burgers and dogs. I knew that he was.

Bella had decided on coral and cream for her colors. I thought it was perfect for a beach wedding. The making of her dress wasn't too difficult, but the hand embroidery was extremely time consuming for me. I worked on it during the day at the shop while I had the girls that worked for me working on the bridesmaid dresses. We only had to make three of them. Luckily we all knew Maria and Kara's measurements by heart and Angela was easy to fit.

Bella and I decided to do the bridesmaids dresses in coral and have them where cream colored flowers in their hair and carry cream colored peonies. Bella's dress was cream colored and she was going to be carrying a bouquet of coral lilies and had a hair piece made of her coral lilies and cream peonies stuck in the bun we were putting her hair in. I had a friend that would come do hair and makeup for me anytime that I wanted to put my collections in a local show. She graciously agreed to do everyone's hair and makeup for the wedding.

It was one less thing for us to worry about and meant that I could leave to be at the ceremony site making sure that everything had been set up exactly the way that Bella and Edward had wanted it. There were only going to be around a hundred people in attendance so we rented the chairs and then Bella found a place that rented chair covering in cream with Coral accents.

Since the bridal party had to get ready at Bella's apartment, which was closer to where we were holding the ceremony than anyone else house, we had to make some sort of arrangement to coordinate when the bridal party should start making their way to the beach. Neither Edward nor Bella wanted anything left to chance on that. They did not want for Bella to show up and get out of the car before everyone else was in place.

Emmett and Sue were the last to make it here besides the bridal party. They were doing all the cooking and had some last minute things to get done today. As soon as they arrived, I texted Charlie to tell him that it was time for them to come along.

Charlie texted me back once they had passed a specific spot along the route. At that point, I had Edward and Emmett make their way up the aisle to where the preacher was waiting. By the time that our parents and Bella's mother were up the aisle the first limo was pulling up. I sent Angela on up the aisle while I arranged the children to go behind her. I put Ethan and Kara side by side with Maria walking directly behind them. She was thrilled to be in the wedding even if it meant being in charge of getting two five year olds up the aisle with everyone still in one piece.

Even after all of our practicing, Kara got really wild with her flower petals. Maria had to stop each kid from running up the aisle, twice. Kara stopped and yelled for Grandpa Carlisle to look at her pretty new dress and even did a spin before Maria could catch her.

Bella and Charlie arrived with impeccable timing. I fussed with Bella's dress a little more before I was satisfied that she was ready to go. I went over to the music system that we had set up and switched the song from Pachabel to the Wedding March. Then Bella made her way down the aisle to marry my brother.

EPOV:

She was absolutely breathtaking. When she appeared from the parking lot and came towards me I felt like the luckiest man alive that she was marrying me. It was like everything started moving in slow motion and it felt like it was taking forever for her to get to me.

I don't think that I took a breath from the time that she appeared at the end of the aisle until her hand was safely in mine. I don't think that either of us looked anywhere but into each others eyes during the entire ceremony.

I would have thought that it would have taken a lot longer than it did to exchange our vows, especially given how long the rehearsal took last night. Before I realized what was happening, I heard the preacher telling me to kiss my bride. MY bride. MY wife. Bella was my wife. He didn't have to tell me twice. I grabbed Bella and kissed her soundly amidst a lot of cat calls and whistles. We made our way back down the aisle, but this time together with my hand gripping hers as one. And 'one' was how we were going to be for the rest of our lives.

A/N:

This is unbeta'd at the moment. The wonderful and amazing Sweetpea123 had a busy week and I also threw her the one-shot for No Kid Hungry which she got back to me. But I didn't want to wait to post this so when she gets me the fixed copy I will switch them out. I don't know if that will kick out another alert or not. The next chapter is done and with Sweetpea now, as well. And I have a good start on 20. I'm looking at 22 chapters in total here.

I joined a fitness webgroup with another fanfic author, it's called myfitnesspal . com if you interested in joining me there I'm branson101. I've lost 2lbs in a two weeks just by logged my food and exercise and then posting it where everyone can see. It helps to keep you on path if everyone can see you cheat! Plus you have the support of all of your friends.

Have a safe holiday weekend!