Leah is "Best Woman" at Jacob and Bella's wedding. (Jacob couldn't choose between Quil and Embry for "Best Man", Leah refused to be a "maid" to the bride, and she belongs with the imposing pack standing beside Jacob.) So it is that on her lies the onus of making a speech.
"Bella's pretty fond of reading this authoress - born before the advent of the printing press - Jane Austen. She's not so bad at characterization. Billy here is sort of like Sir Thomas Bertram. (Not a compliment, Chief – his daughters ran away too.) Yep, Jake, you're like his son Edmund. (Again, not a compliment.) But the big problem this Jane chick has is that she is veeeeeery limited. All she writes about is life in one country village and all her books end the same – with a wedding."
Bella's eyes widen. "But-" she mouths. Leah's looking over at her, as if reading her thoughts.
"Yes, I know what our great literary-scholar-slash bride here will tell you. The real point of Austen's novels is the characters growing up, getting to know their own weaknesses and changing, blah, blah, blah. But, Bella, honey, I'm not so sure. Emma realizes she's a selfish bi—ird," Leah stutters, noticing the wide eyes of Jacob's three year-old niece. "Yeah, uh, Emma suddenly realizes how awful she's been, but next thing you know, the bloke loves her and they get married. We don't really know if she changes. I reckon she's still as lazy, as bossy, as snobbish as ever. Just a little more self-aware."
"But there's one thing Austen wrote even more stupid than her novels: prayers." Leah pauses and smiles sweetly, before continuing. "Here's one: 'Incline us to think humbly of ourselves, to be severe only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow creatures with kindness, and to judge all they say and do with that charity we would desire from them ourselves.'"
"So in that spirit, I'll propose a different reason that all Austen's books end with weddings. Some of her characters – from Catherine Morland to Edmund Bertram – can't be rivaled for naivety and stupidity. Yet, other people, including their future spouses, learn from them. The novels end with weddings, because finally they're mature enough for the give-and-take, and even the humiliation of marriage. But that's just the beginning of always learning from their partner, and always, even through their naivety, teaching their partner."
"Now I don't think any of us here consider Jacob or Bella the brightest bulbs. But, like the characters in Bella's favorite novels, they've both learned from each other and from their own mistakes. That's why I can, just this once, say 'Congratulations!' to both, without underlying irony."