The characters in this story are from my favorite books, the Twilight Series, by the talented Stephenie Myers, and her copy write of the characters is implied.
Chapter 17: Family Reunited
It was 11 pm when we reached home. Jake and I settled down in front of the TV, and he took the remote to begin flipping through the channels. I decided that we should hide the books in Jake's car, because it would be too embarrassing if anyone found them in the house.
Mom came down the stairs about 15 minutes later. "Did you guys have fun in Port Angeles," my Mom asked.
"Yeah, it was great. We spent most of the time at the bookstore. Plus it was just nice to be in Port Angeles again. I remember all the shopping trips with Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose when I was a little girl. It really hasn't changed that much."
"Did you find any good books," my Mom said. I heard Jacob choke next to me.
"No, nothing great," I said, in my calmest voice possible, "We just mostly browsed and looked at magazines.
"Well the rest of the family will home about 3am, so I though you both might want to get some sleep now, because I am sure that you will be woken up when they come in," Mom suggested.
"Yeah Mom, you are probably right," I said reluctantly. I turned and gave Jacob a peck on his lips and whispered, "I love you fiancée'," into his ear. He kissed my forehead and whispered into my ear, "Sleep well my love."
It was a good thing that Mom gave us the head's up to get to bed early, because being quite is not Uncle Emmett's strong point. I was in the middle of having a beautiful dream. Jacob and I were lying on the North Shore soft sandy beach on Isle Esme, and he was kissing me passionately, very much like in "From Here to Eternity", when I hear a large BOOM, coming from the front room followed by a "Where the hell is everybody, I don't deserve a greeting," in Uncle Emmett's booming voice.
I decided that I was just going to ignore my Uncle. I was sure that Aunt Rose had already smacked him, suddenly; I heard my bedroom door open. Next thing I knew, my Aunt Alice was jumping up and down on my bed screaming, "I get to plan another wedding, and it is for my favorite niece, I am so excited. I have so many ideas. Nessie, I picked up a bunch of magazines at the airport so we can get started right away."
"Aunt Alice, I am only a half vampire, remember, I need sleep," I grunted, with my eyes closed, still trying to ignore her.
"Well, if you want me to have this whole shindig planned in just 2 weeks, then you are going to have to make some sacrifices. Get up so we can start looking at gowns on the internet," she said, as she gracefully leapt from my bed, grabbed my hand, and dragged me from the bed.
"Two weeks," I questioned, "Why two weeks?"
"Because, I see your father plotting to strangle Jacob for, shall we say deflowering, his little girl before marriage, and I see that happening in three weeks. I also see him not actually strangling him, but it would put a strain on their relationship. So I decided two weeks, just to ensure Jake's safety, " she said as I blushed red.
"Your right Aunt Alice, Jacob is trying to be so good and so gentlemanly, but I think that growing up on an island of horny vampires has rubbed off on me," I whispered into her ear, but knowing that everyone probably heard it anyway.
Aunt Alice allowed me to briefly kiss the rest of my family hello before she practically threw me into the chair in front of the computer, which already had the site for .com up on the screen, opened to the wedding gown section. There were only 3500 different dresses on the site, and she expected me to go through one by one before school. Luckily, Mom and Dad had made their way down the stairs by this time, and she reassured my aunt that I would cooperate with her on all the wedding planning, as long as she let me get some sleep.
"It's hopeless at this point Mom, I'm wide awake, and the only one still sleeping is Jake, so this is the perfect time to look at gowns since he won't see," I said.
We looked through so many styles of dresses, that it was somewhat overwhelming. I did decide on a general style for the dress I wanted though, and I decided that Aunt Alice could run wild with the details after that. I felt like Jacob was my knight in shining armor, who had been protecting me and loving me since the day I was born. Therefore, I decided our wedding to have a fairytale theme. I wanted a ball gown, complete with hoop skirt and train, that it would be off the shoulders, with a sweet hear neckline and long sleeves.
Aunt Alice spent the rest of the morning measuring me, showing me color swatches, grilling me about who was going to be in the wedding party, and other details which really held no importance to me. What was important to me was that I was going to be spending eternity with Jacob, and that our life together would officially start in two weeks, thanks to my Aunt Alice's hyperactivity and party planning skills.
Jacob slept until 7am, when his alarm went off. He still looked groggy, when he entered the kitchen. He came straight over to me and kissed me gently on my lips, "Good Morning Beautiful." I smiled at him and said, "Hello Stud." He snickered. No one cooked today, and I was already eating cereal when he grabbed a large mixing bowl, filled it with more than half the box of cereal, an enormous amount of milk. He also took a large mug full of coffee and sat down to eat.
Aunt Alice came bounding into the kitchen before Jake could even take his first spoonful of cereal. To both of us, she started taking in her too fast, high pitched, squeal of excitement voice, "Even though you guys are giving me such a challenge with the timeline, everything is going to be perfect for the wedding. I ordered three dresses for you to try Nessie, you pick which one you want, or we can design one from pieces of the three, but they all fit the style you were talking about earlier. I even found the perfect classic tuxedos which will go perfectly with the theme. Jacob, I need to know who your groomsmen are going to be. Nessie hasn't decided on her bridesmaid's yet either, but I need to know by tonight so I can start scheduling their measurements and planning their gowns. It is all going to be so perfect. I know it will be even if I can't see it will be perfect." She threw her arms around Jacob and me quickly and dashed out of the room.
"I guess your aunt is in her wedding planner mode," Jake said with a mouth full of cereal.
"Yeah, she definitely loves to plan parties," I replied.
"What did she mean when she said we gave her a 'challenge with the deadline'," Jacob asked, seeming only half interested.
"Well, my Aunt Alice had a vision," Jacob choked, and gripped the table, looking at me like he was going to grab me and bolt. I caressed his arm and tried to ease his panic.
"It wasn't one of those types of visions Jacob. She had a vision that my Dad was thinking about strangling you after I seduced you. He never really strangled you, even in her vision though, so she decided that we should plan the wedding before I totally wore down your resolve and had my way with you."
"You and your aunt sound pretty sure that I have no self control. So when are you supposed to make me submit to your will," he asked smirking,
"In three weeks," I said blushing, then continued, "That's why the wedding is going to be in two weeks, to ensure that there is no strangling or thoughts of strangling."
"Two weeks," he said, and has he grasped his mug to take a sip of his coffee, he clutched the mug so hard that it split into a dozen pieces, and coffee exploded all over the kitchen. He didn't say a word. He did however turn green.
I was shocked and scared. This was not the reaction I imagined from Jake. He had proposed to me yesterday. He had said that he wanted only me. Why was he reacting like this. I felt like my stomach was doing flips, and the bowl of cereal which I had just eaten was not going to stay down. I was distraught, but mostly I was mad. Mad that I had already trusted him with my entire heart and that in less than 48 hours, he was already having second thoughts about marrying me.
"What's the matter Jacob," I cried out, "Don't you want to marry me? Are you sorry for asking me a whole two days ago? Here," I said, as I pulled the long gold chain from around my neck which held my engagement ring and tossed it at his head. "I am just glad you decided to chicken out now instead of when I was at the alter."
I ran from the kitchen in tears, into Aunt Alice's room, and slammed the door behind me. I threw myself on the bed and started sobbing into the pillow. Almost immediately I heard a loud pounding on the door.
"Nessie open the door, for someone who is so brilliant, you have some stupid thoughts go through your head sometimes," I heard Jacob yelling through the door.
"Who are you calling stupid Jacob," I hissed, "At least I am not fickle."
"Fickle, I am not fickle," he growled, then continued, "I have loved you and wanted nothing more than to make you happy since the moment you were born, but I thought that you wanted a chance to start living a normal life. You started school, as a freshman, two days ago. How many married freshmen do you know?"
"I only know 5 other freshmen, and no, none of them are married, but then again, none of them are a half vampire who is physically about 20 years old," I screamed back.
"Nessie, I thought that you wanted to attend school. I thought that you wanted to have at least a little experience at as normal of a life as you can have for a while. I feel guilty, like I pushed things too quickly by proposing to you already, but when at lunch on your first day of school, when you said that you wanted to marry me 'sooner rather than later', I decided that I needed to propose to you so you would know that I feel the same way, but now I feel guilty, like I am robbing you at the chance you have to have at least a small taste of a normal life."
Incredulously I replied, "So you really think that I would rather go to school than to marry you? You think that I would be happier relearning topics we studied together when I was 4 or 5 than to marry you? And you called me stupid."
"Nessie, I didn't call you stupid, I said that you had stupid thoughts sometimes, and I am sorry, but you thinking I was rejecting you, and throwing your ring in my face, was the stupidest thing I ever saw you do," he replied, no longer yelling.
"So you want to marry me, just not yet," I snapped.
There was complete silence for a moment, then Jacob replied, "I am sure about marrying you. I am entirely sure that I want to spend my life with you, I just didn't expect that you and your aunt would have the wedding planned for two weeks from now, but if that is how you want it, then I will do my best to make that dream come true to you. You know that I live to love and make you happy. Please Nessie, open the door. We will make it work somehow. I mean you family members have been married and attending High School for many decades now, they will just have to teach us their secrets. Please honey. I am sorry, please open the door."
I slowly got off the bed and walked over to the door, before unlocking it I said, "You promise you will never leave me Jacob. You will stay with me for eternity, and as far as I am concerned eternity has already started, not in two weeks."
"I promise Nessie, I will never leave you," he replied.
I opened the door and he immediately pulled me into his arms. "I love you so much Nessie, there are not words to describe how much I love you," he whispered into my ear. He pulled me into a gentle kiss. It started so soft and tender. His hands gently wiped the remaining tears from my cheeks, but then his hands wound their way into my hair, pulling me closer to him, as our tongues probed each others mouths,
When we were both gasping, he pulled his lips up to my ear and whispered, "I know a way I can make this misunderstanding up to you honey."
I smiled, then looked down, "This one is just as much, if not more my fault than yours."
"But I thought that I could take you somewhere quiet tonight and help you study, you know, with some of the books that we picked up last night," he whispered slyly.
"I think I would really like to study with you, if you don't mind," I whispered coyly.
"You two need to clean up this kitchen, and it is almost time to get going to school," I heard my Dad calling from down the hall. I know that everyone heard everything, even what we whispered, but with Mom shielding us, I didn't think anyone caught on to the studying reference.
I helped Jake clean up coffee from the floor, counters, and ceiling. Then I grabbed my book bag and we headed out the door hand in hand.
I nodded in agreement and we quickly got in and sped toward the school. When we arrived, Jacob gave me a passionate kiss goodbye, and said that he would not be able to stop by at lunch today, because he needed to run to the store to pick something up for our date tonight. I tenderly kissed him one more time, and made my way into the school, extremely turned on about his plans for me tonight.