Sunday, One day after Edward's press conference
EPOV
"Can I wear this?" I ask nervously as I step out of the walk in closet.
"You can wear whatever you want," she says flippantly, not even bothering to turn and look at what I had on.
"But will everyone be in jeans and t-shirts?" I ask, rubbing my scalp with my palm uneasily.
This time she does turn. Her lips form an adorable grin as she takes me in. "I never take any notice of what anyone wears," she says simply. "If you're comfortable wearing that then wear that. Nobody will care, we don't meet to check each other out, we go to eat greasy food and gossip," she giggles as she pulls on her own clothes.
"Gossip," I chuckle as I go back into the closet to choose a jacket that went with my slacks. A thought strikes me as I come back out with it. "You did give Seth the details of this cafe, didn't you?" I ask.
"Yep," she says, popping the p. "He and Jared have already checked it out and declared it safe," she tells me as she collects her wallet and keys from the bedside cabinet.
"Good," I say, no less nervous despite knowing the guys had checked it over.
"What's bothering you about this?" she asks as she comes to me and smooths down the collar of my button down. "Is it the venue, that you haven't met my friends before or are you worried about what they'll think of you after yesterday?"
"A little of A, some of B and a whole lot of C," I reply, trying to make my voice sound jovial but failing badly, very badly.
She gets up onto her toes and kisses me under my chin, making me wish we could go back to bed and stay there for the day rather than go to brunch.
"You know Alice and Jaz and you know they like you already," she tells me matter of factly though I have reservations about her brother liking me at all. "Peter and Charlotte are great. Really down to earth and they're going to like you too, I know it."
"But after y-yesterday," I stammer, mentally kicking myself for allowing the 'tell' to show in my voice.
"Shhh," she soothes as she runs her fingers through my hair. "After yesterday the whole country sees you differently. And that's a good thing. It's what needed to happen. And if anyone judges you harshly because you have anxiety attacks then you don't want to know them anyway. I can guarantee you that my friends won't fall into that category. They're nice people."
"Don't leave my side," I beg.
"I wouldn't anyway," she smiles up at me. "And that's nothing to do with what happened yesterday either," she says as she skips away to collect her shoes. "I wouldn't leave your side because I want to be with you and I want you to be comfortable with my friends and family."
"Okay," I whisper, hoping she meant it.
"Now, let's go, we don't want to be late because Peter hogs all the cheesy bread," she laughs as she tugs on my sleeve.
Seth meets us at the foot of the stairs. "Let's go people, I'm starving," he tells us as we get there too.
"Me too," Jared adds as he comes to the door via the kitchen. "We ready, bosses?" he asks.
"Chins up, smiles on, and we're moving," Seth reminds us as we file out the door.
BPOV
I hadn't lied to him about my friends. They were nice people and they wouldn't ever judge him for his condition, or anything at all, and I knew that about them before I asked him to join us at the cafe.
They did ask questions though, like any normal people would. They didn't pry, and their questions were respectful, but ask they did. Was he really suing Jake? Were we really living together? Did his bodyguard really slot him? Things like that, but nothing about his anxiety issues.
He'd answered everything honestly, and I knew he was being honest because I knew the answers for myself.
He'd fidgeted and stammered a little at the beginning but by the time the second round of coffees was brought to the table he was noticeably more relaxed.
Both Jaz and Alice had greeted him warmly when we'd arrived and Charlotte and Peter had warmed up to him without me needing to prod or poke them. He was a likeable guy on his own and didn't need me helping him out. So I didn't.
"This is so good," he moaned around another slice of cheesy bread.
"I told you," I whispered, nudging his bicep with mine.
The gossip was flowing freely back and forth between the six of us. We'd dissected the enigma that was Mike, Jessica and Lauren and all had a good laugh as Jaz and Alice filled us in on what they'd been up to on jobs recently. It seemed the 'kitchen bitching' was still alive and strong, even in my absence.
We laughed and joked as Peter told us about a guy who had come into his panel beating workshop the week before asking for someone to take a look at a 'rattling noise, sort of like something knocking' coming from under his car.
Turned out it was an orange that had fallen out of a grocery bag weeks before and was rolling around, knocking at each side every time the guy hit the brakes.
Charlotte, a dental nurse who was currently doing a stint in a mobile dental van that travelled to schools, kept us in stitches describing some of the kids she'd had in the van the week before.
"What about you, Edward?" Peter asked as he reached across to score the last slice of brioche. "Besides the obvious, what's going on for you?"
I felt him stiffen beside me and his hand squeezed my thigh under the table just a little harder than normal, but then he recovered.
"Jaz and I are racing to The Entrance next weekend," he said, quite proudly I thought.
And then we were off again, with Alice arguing that Jasper wasn't going. With both me and Charlotte offering to go with her to look at the flowers instead. With Jasper begging her to let him go 'play with his friends' and with Edward promising her 'he'd have him home in time to do his homework, mom'.
We sat there for hours. Laughing, talking, gossiping and planning to meet again the following Sunday.
When it was time to leave I asked Edward to let me give the signal to the guys.
"Go ahead," he grinned, nodding to my glass of water.
"Signal?" Alice asked across the table.
"Watch," Edward chuckled.
I swigged the last of the water from the glass and then tapped it three times on the tabletop as casually as I could.
I couldn't see the guys very well from my position, but Alice and Peter could. So I watched their faces instead.
"Holy shit," Peter crowed, which made me think the boys had seen my signal and were on the move. "That's so cool," he whistled as Jared came to stand at my side and Seth came to stand by Edward.
A loud goodbye was shared between the six of us and then we were ushered outside, past the press who had been clicking away all morning, and into the waiting Mercedes.
"Thank you," Edward told me before he kissed my palm. "I had a great time and they're all wonderful people, just like you said they were."
"They are," I tell him softly. "And I had a great time too, thanks for coming along."
Wednesday, four days after Edward's press conference
BPOV
Kate's grinning knowingly when I arrive at his office after my last class. My overnight bag sits beside Edward's to the side of her desk and she raises her eyebrows at them as I get closer.
"How was your weekend on the boat?" I ask as I approach her desk.
"Bliss," she swoons, hand to her heart. "We had such a great time."
"Good," I say honestly. "From what I hear you earned it."
"He threatened to fire me if I turned around," she huffed playfully, "I told him I'd turn around anyway."
"He told me," I grin. "I'm glad you didn't have to come back. So was he. And you don't have to worry about your job being secure, Seth sucked at it from what I hear."
"He messed up my desk," she scowls but there's laughter I her eyes. "Are you excited about your trip?" she asks as she gathers some papers and slips them into a yellow envelope.
"I couldn't sleep last night," I admit with a laugh.
"You'll have to tell me all about it next time you're in," she says in a normal voice, then lowers it conspiratorially, "The place you're booked to stay at is amazing and you're going to love where he's taking you for dinner tonight."
"We had lunch at the Glass Brasserie last week, I doubt anything could top that."
"This place might go close," she whispers, still sorting papers into envelopes before sealing them and stacking them into two neat piles.
"Any news on the Asia deal?" I ask hopefully.
Her smile gives me the answer before she can voice it. "These are the signed, completed contracts," she says, sounding as thrilled as I am about that. "He's done a great thing even if some people can't see it yet."
"They will," I say matter of factly.
"Bell's!" I hear shouted from the doorway halfway down the length of the room.
Emmett's head is sticking out of that doorway so I tell Kate I'm going to hang out with him a minute if Edward's looking for me and then I make my way to towards the giant grinning man.
"Hey Em."
"Come in, come in," he says, tugging my sleeve and pulling me into what I assume is his office. "You're off to Melbourne, right?" he asks, grinning, his dimples on display.
"Yeah," I say warily, drawing out the syllables.
"Will you do something for me if you get a chance?" he asks, ducking his chin, making him look a little embarrassed.
"Sure, if I can," I hedge.
He takes out his wallet from his back pocket and hands me a crisp, brand new hundred dollar note. "If you're in the city, which I think you will be, right?" he asks and I nod, "and you end up at the markets, can you buy me as many dim sims as you can with that?" he asks, nodding towards the money.
I can't help the bark of laughter that comes out of my throat. "Dim sims?" I scoff. "I'm pretty sure they sell dim sims here, Em."
"I know they do, but not like the ones you can get there, and Rosie won't let me have them, and I fucking love 'em."
"A hundred dollars worth of dim sims?" I ask, eyebrows raised.
"You're coming back tomorrow so it's not like they'll go bad in your luggage," he shrugs. "Please, Bell's?" he whines and I cave.
Of course I cave. He looks so excited about his dim sims, how can I not?
"Okay Em," I tell him and he whoops like a little boy again. "Calm down big fella," I tease, "I'll do it but on one condition," I warn.
"Name it," he says, his eyes getting wide.
"If you get busted scoffing dim sims my name never gets mentioned, deal?" I ask, holding my hand out for him.
"Deal," he agrees right away and we shake on it. "You better get back out there or he'll know something's up," he grins.
I eye him carefully, "You've asked him to do this before, haven't you?" I ask and he nods. "And he's said no, hasn't he?"
"Yeah," he admits sheepishly. "But only because Rosie will bust his balls for feeding my habit."
"She won't be busting mine, will she Em?" I ask.
"No way," he says, "we've got a deal. She'll never find out they came from you. She'll assume he bought them for me anyway, so you'll be off the hook."
"I better be," I say as I leave his office. "See you tomorrow," I call as I go back towards Kate.
"He's asking for you," she tells me with a nod towards the closed office door opposite.
I knock and he calls me right in. he's still behind his desk and he's writing furiously on a notepad. "One last thing," he tells me, without raising his eyes, still scribbling away.
"Take your time," I tell him as I go around to his side of the desk and kiss him on the top of his head.
He finishes his note, rips the page off the pad and slides it into a folder before slamming it shut firmly. "All done," he says as he gets to his feet. He looks down at his watch and then finally looks at me. "I missed you today," he says as he lowers his mouth to mine.
I kiss him back, thinking it's going to just be a swift hello sort of kiss, but he's got other ideas.
He winds his fingers into my hair and pulls me harder up against his mouth. I groan as I slide up against his chest.
His tongue snakes out and traces my lip as he deepens the kiss and starts to tug rhythmically on my hair.
"So good," he moans against my throat as he trails his hot, wet lips towards where my shirt is parted. "I can't wait to be alone with you tonight," he growls as he kisses his way back up my throat and across to my ear. "No work to do, nowhere to be, just you and me," he whispers before licking the shell of my ear, "just you and me and a huge, huge bed and not a condom in sight."
"Oh god," I moan back. I couldn't wait to be skin to skin with him. I'd had a contraceptive implant put in and we were just waiting the required few days for it to be completely effective. "Are you taking me to Melbourne to molest me, Mr Cullen?" I tease, knowing we couldn't go any further while we were in his office.
He pulls away, as I knew he would, and grins down at me cheekily. "Definitely," he admits, cocking just one eyebrow. "Tonight you're all mine. No distractions. We'll turn our phones off and ignore knocks at the door. No television, no radio, no news channels and no press hovering just outside. And I'll finally, finally be able to make love to you without a barrier," he whispers against my lips before stepping away fully. "And once you've aided and abetted a known felon by feeding his dim sim habit tomorrow I can show you a good time that doesn't involve a bed."
Six days later – after their return from Melbourne
"Fuuuuck," Edward rasped, "you're going to kill me."
"What a way to go," Bella wheezed as she rolls sideways to her own side of the bed, dislodging him from inside her as she went.
"I fucking love it that you wake up horny," he growls against her shoulder before kissing it.
"Didn't think you'd mind that," Bella giggles, burrowing her face into the pillows and reaching for a little more sleep before the alarm went off.
"I'll start the shower lazy bones," he calls to her as he goes into his bathroom.
"Yeah," she mumbles as she tugs the covers up over her shoulder. "Ten more minutes."
"Don't forget I'm in court this morning," he calls as he starts the water, "I'll call you when I'm leaving."
He gets no answer and chuckles to himself about her being hard to get out of bed in the morning. He hears the alarm clock radio come on exactly ten minutes later while he's shaving.
A sluggish, bed headed Isabella joins him in the bathroom a moment later and after kissing his shoulder blade she climbs into the shower sleepily.
"Jared collecting you from class?" he asks as he taps his razor on the sink.
"Yeah, I finish at midday so he's going to take me to Jasper's right after," she mumbles as she washes the sleep from her eyes.
"Seth and I will pick you up from there then," he says as he rubs his hair with a towel one more time. "Dinner's not til six so we can stop into that bookshop you saw if you want?"
"Do I have to wear a dress for dinner?" she mumbles around her toothbrush.
"At this point you could turn up in overalls and a ski mask and my mother would still squeal when you show up," he chuckles as he hangs his towel back up and goes back into the bedroom to dress.
As he's sliding his cufflinks through the holes in his shirt a few minutes later the radio announces a break in regular scheduled transmission to bring a breaking news story.
'A shocking discovery was made at a home in Bondi Beach this morning. The body of disgraced environmental lawyer Jacob William Black was discovered just after five-thirty this morning by his personal assistant. It's believed that the disgraced spokesperson for the National Conservation League was found naked in his home office. The police have released a statement saying the death is being treated as suicide as there are no signs of forced entry to the property and the deceased was clutching a note.
'No details of the contents of the note have been released.
'Mr Black was due in court this morning, the first day of hearings, to defend himself against a libel claim made by his well known rival Edward Cullen, CEO of Cullen Enterprises.
'In other news...'
"Bella!" Edward shouted, the first time he'd ever shortened her name.
"What?" she calls back from the ensuite bathroom.
He appears in the doorway, his face ashen and his fingers shaking as he clutches his phone to his ear. "They just found Jake dead," he tells her matter of factly. He leaves her to her own shock as the call he'd placed connects. "Caius, its Edward. You've heard?"
Bella stands at the bathroom counter staring at herself in the mirror. In shock and unable to decide what to do she simply stands there and listens to Edward on the phone.
"What do I do?" he asks his lawyer. "Of course I have an alibi," he shouts, "because I wasn't fucking anywhere near the bastard!" he roars, startling her and making her jump. "She was with me all night. Seth and Jared were both here all night as well and her brother was here until midnight too. And the report I heard said it was being treated as a suicide anyway, we don't need alibis if he's topped himself, the fucking coward."
She stares at his reflection over her shoulder as he screams into the phone and wonders what it is that she should be doing herself.
She'd been engaged to the guy. She'd shared herself with him. She'd planned to build a future with him at one time.
But he'd hurt her. Both physically and mentally and even after their own personal relationship had broken down he still continued to try and hurt her by interfering in her new relationship.
Should she feel guilt or grief she wondered as she tilted her head to one side.
"I'll meet you at the courthouse at nine," Edward says before throwing his phone down onto the bed. "Isabella?" he asks, her full name falling from his lips in concern as he comes to stand behind her at the basin. "Are you alright?"
"I hated him," she whispers softly.
"I did too," he whispers back as he wraps his arms around her waist from behind and holds her close. "I didn't wish him dead, but I did hate him."
"I've wished him dead before," she whispers, her voice flat and monotone. "But now that he is I don't know how to feel."
"I feel relieved and frustrated," Edward tells her honestly. "Relieved because he can't hurt you ever again now and frustrated because I was going to win the case and he was going to give me a metric fuck ton of money."
"You don't need his money," she whispers.
"I don't, no," he agrees, "but I would've enjoyed taking it from him."
Two weeks after the death of Jacob Black
EPOV
"Are you ready?" I ask her as I come up from behind her, clasping her around the waist.
"One minute," she tells me as she reaches back into her makeup bag.
I watch as she leans forward and slicks on a thin coat of mascara. "You're beautiful," I tell her truthfully.
"You're biased," she teases, swatting at my hands.
"And we're going to be late," I warn before planting a kiss on her shoulder top.
Half an hour later and we're both feeling the pinch of nerves and anxiety as we rush through the throng of press that has gathered on the steps of the coroners court. Their shouted questions are disgusting, their disrespect for Jake's family sickening. The clicking of their cameras enraging me and making me come closer than ever before to lashing out at them.
"Bastards," Seth hisses at my side as he opens the glass door to let us through.
We find our way to the designated chamber that will be used to hand down the findings from the investigation into Jakes death and we find a small group gathered there as we approach.
Jake's lawyer, who I knew from the abandoned libel suit, stands off to one side and throws me the evil eye as I go by him.
"Edward," he said curtly.
"James," I say just as curtly.
We come to a stop at the edge of the group. Isabella slips her hand from mine and approaches a dark skinned older man. I listen to her whisper her condolences to him before she turns to me.
"Edward this is Jake's father, Billy. Billy this is Edward Cullen," she says as I approach, hand outstretched.
I tell him how sorry I am for his loss. He eyes me cautiously but does accept my hand to shake.
We move away then, Seth and Jared flanking us as we settle in a pair of chairs down the corridor just a little ways.
"Those are his sisters," Isabella whispers, nodding in the direction of two slim women who were dabbing at their eyes. "Rachel's the taller one, the other one's Rebecca."
"The big guy by the doors?" I whisper.
"Embry," she replies. "His personal assistant."
I'm visibly surprised and she raises an eyebrow at me in question. "I assumed his PA was a woman," I shrug.
"Embry's been his assistant as long as I can remember," she tells me softly as the doors to the chamber open and an officer of the court informs us that we can all go in.
BPOV
We sit in the very back, Jared to my left, Edward beside me and Seth beside him. There's a low buzz from the small crowd but it stops instantly when the judge arrives. We all stand until he tells us to sit.
The judge begins by proving Jake's identity. He tells us that he's satisfied that the body found at Jake's address that day was indeed Jake's and then he asks for the finding of the identity to be recorded.
Next there's a half hour where police who take the stand to give their accounts of what they saw and what they did after the emergency call was received by Embry. The paramedics are up next and they too tell the judge what they saw and what they did that day.
Embry cries steadily while he's asked questions about why he was at Jake's house, what time he arrived and what he found when he got there.
I'm not shocked to learn that the house was meticulously clean and ordered. I'm even less shocked to learn that Embry went there because Jake hadn't gone in to the office the day before and hadn't answered his phone. Jake was a workaholic and for him to not contact his office for a whole day would've made me worry about him too.
Next the doctor who treated Jake in the emergency room, and who pronounced him dead later on, speaks about what he found when he examined him on arrival.
When he's done the judge says he's ready to make his finding and another buzz echoes around the courtroom.
Edward grips my hand tightly and whether it was for my benefit or for his I couldn't be sure. We hadn't talked much about Jake's death since that first morning when we found out. There just wasn't much to say, at least on my side of it.
"I find that Jacob William Black died on or about the twelfth of this month in his private residence in the suburb of Bondi Beach, New South Wales, from respiratory depression and failure caused by the interaction of prescription medication and alcohol," the judge reads from the papers in front of him.
"I find that the emergency response reports support this finding. I find that the subsequent autopsy clearly supports this finding. I find that this death was not caused by negligence nor any other act of violence or carelessness.
"I find, using the medical history of the deceased as evidence, that this death shall be ruled intentional by way in which the prescription medications were obtained, and the manner in which the medications were clearly labelled with strict instructions that they shall not be ingested whilst under the influence of alcohol.
"I find that Jacob William Black was of sound mind and I can assume that he had a reasonable measure of intelligence regarding his personal health as to have known that mixing these substances would cause respiratory failure.
"The contents of the note found with the body at the time of discovery supports this finding.
"Therefore it is my finding that Jacob William Black committed suicide."
There is a hush in the room for just a moment and then we all heard the quiet sobbing of Jake's two sisters from the front row.
Edward squeezed my hand, Jared turned in our row and we all followed him out of the courtroom.
We were ushered quickly and quietly out of the building, the press braying for our comments as we went, and into the waiting car in the street opposite.
We drove home in silence, each of us thinking our own thoughts about what we'd learnt.
Three months later
EPOV
I sat nervously in a middle pew and watched Jasper marry Alice in a simple, traditional ceremony. My Isabella was as radiant as the bride, if not more so by my judgement.
My parents, who had become quite fond of Jasper and his bride, sat to my left - my mother dabbing at her yes throughout the ceremony, my father grinning inanely to himself the whole time.
My sister was to my right with Emmett beyond her and their two children perched quietly, for a change, beyond them.
Seth and Jared were in the pew behind us though there was now no need for them to be there for safety reasons. Today they were there as the guests of the bride and groom, and happy to be so.
In the months since I'd held my press conference my life had settled into an enjoyable rhythm that was not exactly free from press scrutiny, but significantly less so than it had been.
We were no longer hounded as we came and went at our home although whenever we went out in the evenings pictures of our outing invariably ended up in the newspaper. Though they didn't make the front pages these days and were usually relegated to the society pages.
Happily we were now old hat.
My name still found its way into the business section but as yet a replacement thorn in my side hadn't emerged since Jake's demise. I had no doubt that the League, and other organisations like it, were just biding their time until I made my next 'big deal'.
I stood with the rest of the congregation after the preacher had announced the happy couple husband and wife and clapped heartily as Alice and Jasper came back down the aisle now married.
I winked at my Isabella as she passed by on the arm of Jasper's best man and my new friend Peter. His wife Charlotte followed Isabella down the aisle on the arm of another groomsman and I saw her throw a smile at me as she passed by.
Almost everyone knew what I was planning tonight, except the gorgeous creature who was acting as Alice' chief bridesmaid. I watched her leave the church, waited until the parents of the bride and groom had exited their row and then marched along behind a hundred other guests until I too was outside in the bright summer sunshine.
I'd known I wouldn't have a lot of time with her today. But that gave me the chance to view her from afar, and that was never a bad thing as I watched her laugh and joke with Alice as the bridal party lined up for the first of probably a thousand photos.
"You look happy," my mother cooed beside me as the rest of my family joined me off to the side.
"I am," I say truthfully. "Aren't they stunning?" I ask, tossing my head in the direction of the happy couple.
"They are," she agreed, "one of them in particular."
"She's a beautiful bride," I agree as I take my phone out of my pocket and snap one or two shots of my own.
"She will be," my mother whispers before wandering off to talk to Rosie who was wrestling with Liam.
I have to laugh at the comment, which makes Isabella turn her head and search the crowd for me. She finds me, her smile radiant, and I smile back.
She holds her posy of flowers a little higher when the photographer asks her to but as the picture is taken she's not looking at him, she's staring at me.
"You've got it sooo bad," Emmett chuckles, elongating the syllables like a child.
"You did too, I remember," I remind him.
"Still do," he shrugs, "you're sister is still smokin' hot."
"Not something that needs to be shared," I tell him for the thousandth time. "Who's having the dirt creatures while you're at the reception?" I ask, nodding towards my niece and nephew, the latter of who was now shovelling handfuls of dirt into his mouth while Rosalie's attention is turned.
"My parents," he shouts as he runs off towards them. "Liam no!" he bellows as the little monster grabs another good handful of dirt.
"That'll be you one day soon, I hope," my father chuckles as he nudges me.
"God I hope so," I sigh.
"Never thought I'd hear you agree with that," he laughs. "But then, you didn't know Isabella Swan before."
"No, I certainly did not," I agree. "You want a ride to the reception?" I ask.
"That's what I was coming over here to ask," he laughs, "I don't think your mother would appreciate arriving at the banquet hall covered in dirt."
"Probably not," I laugh. "Seth's driving and the cars in that side street," I say, pointing to my BMW.
"Will there be room?"
"Jared's got the Mercedes, he's tailing the limousines," I tell him as I watch Isabella scoop up the bottom hem of her dress and point her pink painted toes with the other bridesmaids for another photo.
"Is that still necessary?" he asks quietly.
"Look at her," I tell him, nodding towards Isabella who is now attending to Alice' veil for the next set of pictures.
"I see her, but what am I missing?" he asks. "Is there a threat around here?" he asks as he turns in a tight circle, looking around at the crowd.
"No, there's no specific threat," I chuckle.
"Protecting what's yours," he nods when he gets my meaning, "good man," he says as he claps me on the back and goes to stand with my mother.
I went back to watching Isabella but my ogling was interrupted by a tap on my forearm.
"Hi," said the black haired woman as I turned. "I'm Makenna, Alice' cousin, aren't you Edward Cullen?" she simpers as she holds her hand out for me to shake.
BPOV
"Stop hissing," Alice giggled, nudging me with her elbow. "He'll tell her to piss off soon, you watch," she said, sounding pretty sure.
"He better," I say, nudging her back.
I smile when the photographer tells me to but the instant he's taken the shot I let the scowl reform on my face. "Who is she?" I whisper to Alice as we all switch places to set up for the next shot.
I watch as Edward shakes her hand, then removes her other hand from his arm with a scowl. That's my boy, I think to myself as I watch.
"That's Makenna," Alice says quickly before we both have to smile for the camera again.
The woman's still gabbling away to him but he's clearly not interested. He's turned slightly, so that his shoulder is facing her more than his face is, and I smile just a little more brightly for that picture than I had the last.
"That's Makenna?" I ask through gritted teeth while we all switch out again. "But I thought she was plain, or morbidly obese, or something. Didn't you tell me she was plain?"
While the photographer moves everyone about I keep one eye on Edward. He's still smiling, but not at her, I note with amusement. I catch his eye and raise my eyebrows. He mouths something to me but I can't quite make it out, it looked a little like 'help' and as the photographer takes his shot I worry that I'm laughing my head off instead of smiling demurely.
The photographer announces he's got enough shots for now and those of us in the bridal party all sigh as one, happy to be released, even if it's only for a little while.
"I said she was boring," Alice told me with a giggle before she was whisked away with Jasper.
EPOV
"You're fucking perfect," I growl into the creamy white flesh of her throat.
"And you're going to get us both shot," she giggles, tugging on my hair.
She probably thinks it'll make me stop, but she wrong, dead wrong, and I growl a little louder before sucking her earlobe into my mouth.
"My father is stalking over here," she says with a mighty tug.
That got my attention!
My lips let her go, my hands let her go and I spring away from her so fast I've made my own head spin.
I turn, trying to see which way he's going to come at me from, but I see nothing and nobody. "You're evil," I hiss playfully when I look back at her.
"And you're so chaste," she scoffs as she smoothes down her dress. "We can't do this here," she's saying as she straightens the chignon in her hair. "Someone will bust us and I for one do not want it to be my father. Or yours," she says with a dramatic shudder.
I'd dragged her into a dimly lit corner of a corridor between the reception room and the attached kitchen with the view to molesting her just a little, but I could understand why she didn't want to be caught. I didn't either. Especially not by Charlie Swan who I'd only been physically introduced to that morning.
I had spoken to him several times in the last months and every time I set the handset back in its cradle I shuddered. He was the most intimidating man I'd never met, and now that I had met him my opinion of him didn't change one iota!
I ran a hand through my hair and for a change it wasn't a 'tell', my hair was just a mess from her wicked little fingers. I pulled those fingers to my lips and kissed them reverently before tugging on them and taking her with me back into the reception room.
We stopped to talk to Peter and Charlotte for a little bit and then moved onto the table where my parents were sitting talking to Alice' parents. I helped Isabella into a seat and then took the one beside her.
The men were talking about what they were each going to do in their retirement, the women about grandchildren.
Neither subject enticed me all that much so I sat quietly, watching others in the room having a good time.
There were a few couples dancing slowly, a few small groups who had pulled chairs away from other tables now that the formal part of the evening was over. Those groups were all steadily drinking and all talking animatedly.
Alice and Jasper were making the rounds of the tables, stopping to accept congratulations and to have their picture taken with the occupants now and then.
The older people in the room were looking rather haggard after a long day and were probably looking forward to a good night's sleep. One elderly gentleman had cut his losses and was slumped in his seat snoring happily.
The younger set, the teenagers – probably cousins if Alice' family was anything like mine there were plenty of them – were stealthily knocking back the remnants from abandoned drinks as they moved through the tables.
Several women were gathered around the table of gifts ooh-ing and ahh-ing over china patterns and linens.
Seth was talking with a group of men, Jared with a group of women.
The tap on my shoulder made me jump.
"A word," Charlie Swan said in his gravelly voice, cocking his head towards the doors that lead to the covered seating area outside.
He strode away, not waiting for my acceptance of his 'request', though it was hardly worded politely. I stood, bent down to whisper into Isabella's ear that I would be back in a few minutes and then excused myself from the others at the table.
Seth clocked me leaving the room, raised an eyebrow at me and when I mouthed 'Charlie' to him he grinned then laughed. Disloyal bastard.
He was leaning against a railing when I joined him. "Lovely ceremony," I said to break the ice. "You must be very proud."
"I am. Of both of them," he says simply as he turns to face me. His face isn't showing pride, however. He looks uneasy, almost upset.
"What is it?" I ask, my heart skipping a beat.
He eyes me carefully then nods out into the dark night. Again he doesn't wait for my agreement and just strides away. I look back towards the reception room and wish I can call for Seth, but in the end I follow.
Something was eating the guy and if it had anything to do with Isabella I wanted to know what that was.
He stops at the back fence line of the property, again leaning on the railing of a fence, and staring out into, well, nothing. Just the inky black night.
He takes a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, taps it with the heel of his hand and offers one to me. It's my turn to eye him carefully before I accept what's he's offering. I wait until he's lit his and then lean forward to light mine at the proffered flame.
He draws deeply then sighs.
"I've never seen her smile so much," he says quietly. I have no comment, not until I know whether I've been drawn out here to be lynched or not, so I stay quiet.
We stand there, staring out into nothing, for a little bit. The air between us is uneasy, the silence deafening.
"What's going on?" I ask eventually, when I can stand his silence no more.
"Bell's told you I was a cop once, right?" he asks, but doesn't turn to look at me.
"Yes," is all I can say.
"Retiring on a cop's pension was never going to be enough," he says sadly.
"Okay," I reply. If he needed money that would account for his unease but I didn't want to offer until I knew for sure.
"At first I was happy to sit around doing not much of anything," he tells me. "But that gets old pretty fast," he chuckles, "and there is only so much fishing a guy can handle." He draws deeply on his cigarette and then turns so that he's facing the reception centre, his ass leaning on the railing. "About three years ago a mate of mine, ex cop too and a good one, turned in his uniform and went to do a desk job at the Anti Terror Commission," he says evenly though very quietly, as if it's a big secret we have to keep.
"Okay," I say, turning like he did until my ass is on that railing too.
"Every now and then he needs someone to do some leg work," he says before taking another long drag, the embers on the end of his cigarette glowing red in the dark. "Before I know it I'm freelancing for the Commission. You learn all sorts of things just from reading the background reports sent to you.
"For instance, I've been asked to check a guy out, no names," he says pointedly and I nod even though I don't think he can see me do it in the dark. "This guy is selling, let's say he's selling wool, yeah wool works," he says to himself. "So this guy wants to sell wool overseas and the guy he's selling this wool to runs a company that makes clothing. Sweaters and shit.
"Sweaters are no threat to anyone, neither is the wool, so I can't figure out why I've been asked to check this guy out. I remember, from a couple of months ago, that this same guy, the one who's selling the wool, tried to set up a deal to sell his wool in another country and there was a big hoo-ha about some director of the buying company being a bit of a, um, let's say he was a bit anti-sheep," he laughs.
"Yeah, anti-sheep," I agree, catching on that he means me and is referring to the Asia deal.
"Right, you get it," he says. "Anyhow, the wool selling guy, the first deal turned out to be perfectly legitimate so when this new deal was red flagged I wondered what the big deal was this time, you know?
"So I check into it and I don't see much wrong with him selling his wool to this new buyer. The new buyer makes socks, not sweaters, but still, socks aren't a threat to anyone so I wonder again why I'm being asked to check him out.
"Turns out, the buyer, the sock maker, has just won a big contract to supply these socks to the military in his own country. Nuclear socks are a threat to some people and I'd hate to see the wool seller be associated with another scandal like he was before, even though, like I said, that first deal was perfectly legitimate right from the off."
"Fucking hell," I mutter darkly.
"Yeah," Charlie mumbles just as darkly. "Poor wool seller can't take a trick, can he?"
"It's stoppable though," I tell him straight up. "The wool seller hasn't signed a damn thing yet."
"Lucky wool seller," he whistles.
"Unlucky wool seller's wool brokerage team though," I hiss, thinking already about all the ways I was going to tear strips off whoever missed this nugget of information in their research.
"Plenty of sheep in the sea though," he chuckles and I can't help but laugh too. "Business isn't exactly slow for this wool seller."
"No, it's not. Plenty of people want to buy his wool," I agree with a smug grin to myself. "Maybe the wool seller should stick to selling his wool in his own country from now on?" I muse.
"Maybe," he agrees as he stamps out the butt of his cigarette.
"Does she know this is what you do?" I ask, while I've got the chance.
"Nope," he says matter of factly. "She thinks I fish and watch sports on TV."
"Does Jasper?"
"Same."
"Is it dangerous?" I ask.
"Sometimes," he replies. "Depends who I've been asked to check out."
"The wool sellers got nothing to hide," I add quickly.
"I know, I checked," he chuckles.
"I would've too," I admit. "Is it still okay with you, you know?" I ask, nodding towards the reception room as we begin the walk back up.
"Yeah," he sighs, "It's alright with me." I breathe a sigh of relief and he chuckles as we reach the doors. "One more thing," he says as I reach for the handle. "I've been dating your Aunt Sue for the past four years and she's afraid to tell your mother."
"Jesus Christ," I mutter as he chuckles and ducks inside, leaving me standing there, mouth open, wondering how the hell that happened.
BPOV
"Everything alright?" I ask my dad as he comes back into the room.
"Never better," he says as he kisses me on the cheek awkwardly. "He's a good guy," he says as he moves away and joins the table where Alice and Jasper are sitting talking.
Edward comes back in hot on his heels but he looks less than okay. "What's going on?" I ask as he comes to me.
He stares down at me a second and then his game face is slid expertly into place. "Your dad is a very interesting guy," he tells me with raised eyebrows.
"Okay," I say, elongating the syllables because my dad was anything but interesting. "If you're into fishing and sports I guess he is."
"Have I told you how utterly magnificent you look?" he asks as he takes my hand.
"About a hundred times today," I giggle, feeling the blush creep up my cheeks.
"Well you are," he says firmly as he brings my hand to his lips.
I tug his hand and try to lead him back to the table with Peter and Charlotte but he doesn't budge. Instead he tugs my hand, bringing me back to his side. I catch him glance at the table where his parents are sitting and then to the one where my dad was now forehead to forehead with one of my cousins.
When he looks down at me he's grinning and I wonder why, wonder what I've missed.
"I saw you once," he whispers as he lowers his mouth to my ear. "I saw you standing outside, all alone, dancing in the moonlight."
I shiver at his words and the warm breath he's allowing to slide across my ear. "At the fun fair I saw you dancing again and I knew I couldn't let the chance pass a second time to hold you," he whispers softly before kissing me just below my ear. "Dance with me, Isabella," he murmurs softly, making me shiver again.
"Yes," I say softly and simply.
He takes my hand and we move to the dance floor. There are other couples all swaying gently and he takes us to the back of the floor, tugs until I'm in the position he needs me in and then he pulls me up against his chest.
The music is soft, something classical that I can't name but remember from somewhere else, another function perhaps.
I stare up at him, the version of him that I love most. The sweet, gentle man who loves me just as I love him. I know he does, though we've never said the actual words before. It's in everything that he does, everything that he says and in every gesture he makes with me near.
I slide my hand that's on his shoulder to the base of his neck and he sighs dreamily.
His fingers press into the small of my back more firmly and I echo his sigh.
"The first time we danced you felt like a new beginning in my arms," he tells me as we turn. "I'd never felt that before and I never want to feel it with anyone else ever again."
"You felt right," I tell him simply, "because you are right for me."
"And you are so right for me," he agrees with a small smile. "I love you, Isabella," he whispers and tears instantly spring to my eyes.
"I love you too, Edward," I tell him sincerely.
"I think I have since that first waltz," he whispers before kissing me softly on the cheek.
"I think I fell in love with you the first time you apologised to me," I whisper back.
"And then you slapped me," he chuckles lowly into my ear.
"And you forgave me," I whisper.
"Always," he says simply as he pulls away a little and swings me away from himself.
As I swing back in he's grinning and removing his free hand from his jacket pocket and then we're not dancing anymore. We're just standing in the centre of the dance floor, at my brother's wedding, staring at one another after declaring our love for the first time.
"I want to love you always," he tells me as he stares down at me. "I want to protect you always, make you happy always, give you everything you need, always," he whispers as he lowers his forehead to mine. "Isabella Swan, would you do me the extraordinary honour of becoming my wife?"
I'm stunned. Standing stock still, in the middle of swirling couples as they dance around us, with my mouth hanging open, lost for words.
He pulls away and I want to claw at him to come back, to ask me again because I don't believe that I heard him right the first time.
But he does pull away. He takes a step back, bringing his hand up between us and its then I realise I had heard him correctly because he's holding a ring.
"Marry me?" he asks simply as I stare down at the gold and diamonds in his palm.
I look back up, into his eyes, and they're shining just like I think mine are.
"Yes," I say simply. "Yes, I'll marry you."
He slides the ring home on my finger and before I've had a chance to even look at it myself he's kissing me. Deeply, long and slow right there on the dance floor.
At my brother's wedding.
While we waltz.
And he's perfect.
For me.
A/N: Thank you for reading.
This sort of feels finished, but sort of doesn't.
If there is anything I've missed, or not tidied up (and I am aware that everyone is going to want to know what became of Tanya) please drop me a line and I'll have a crack at giving you those snippets too.
As for Tanya, I haven't actually been able to decide what becomes of her. It would be too neat, too easy, to have her die alone, starving in a flea bitten motel on the Gold Coast with no money...and however satisfying that might be to write, it doesn't feel right.
So I've left things where they stand and hope that you've enjoyed this little tale.
Please review, or drop me a PM.