Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Well I thought the story would be over by chapter twenty but we are not even half way through what I want to write! Is that good/bad?
So thanks for all of you who put this on alert and in your favourites. Big thanks to klou2, lilmizz3vil, makki, ..fia, CharmLightLove, boulie12, mommytwilight, girlfrakes, Lizzie, jerseyhalliwell, tbonemom0512, solarstar17, tidyKat, HMF, Troyis, klcivinski, winternow, Night Orchid, TexasTwilight77, krazzy hopeless romantic, P, LVQueen1, Twilight-ObsessedDiva, SoraChan01, Flora73, sober alcoholic, MiszSpunkRansom, a-pixie-with-attitude, TearsInTheDust, ebwilb6681, twilightlover1710, zuni-yesi, dbmncgreen and queenyus.
You will be pleased to know this chapter is from Edward's POV once more. Sorry it is a little short, but it has all I want to include in it, with quite a big surprise... I hope!
So I know this week has not been great update wise and it is about to get worse. I am going away for the weekend to the middle of nowhere and will not have my laptop with me or internet so I cannot write! I hope to post another chapter on Sunday but depending on when I get home, it may have to wait until Monday. SORRY!
Hope you enjoy this!
Forever Bound
Chapter Twenty – No Sound But The Wind
Christmas had passed, and luckily it went by smoothly and was uneventful, which seemed never to happen to the Cullen family given recent months.
It was now New Years Eve and Edward was woken up by a loud shriek.
"I AM GETTING MARRIED TODAY! I AM MARRYING JASPER!" Alice came charging into their chamber and pulled open the blinds. Edward groaned and felt Bella stir beside him.
It had been over a week since the attack, and although Bella appeared to be getting stronger and stronger each day, whenever night fell Bella would beg Edward to stay with her. After Boxing Day, Edward had taken to staying in her chamber before she asked; he was planning to remain with her until she told him to leave.
He still had not told Bella about his fall out with Tanya, the timing never seemed right. Pushing the thought out of his mind, Edward stared down at his drowsy wife. Edward had to admit she looked beautiful in the morning, he eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed from the heat. Her hair always resembled a haystack but he liked it.
Edward was broken out of his observations by an over excited Alice jumping on their bed. "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! There is no time to lose because I AM GETTING MARRIED TODAY!" Alice jumped dangerously close to Bella and Edward growled at her.
"Alice, be careful! Bella is pregnant do not forget! Imagine what would happen if you were to accidentally land on her! Get off the bed and calm down."
Alice instantly removed herself from their bed but kept bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Bella get up! We have so much to do; there is no time to sleep!"
"Go away," Bella moaned; her voice laced with sleep.
"No, I will not go away! It is my wedding day and there is a lot left to do. We need to put on our dresses, do our hair, talk and make final adjustments. If we are to fit it all in before next year we must get started now. Do you not want to look beautiful for Edward?" Edward could feel the heat spread across the whole of Bella's body and smiled to himself.
As soon as Bella began to untangle herself from Edward's arms he felt the cold hit him and wanted to grab her once more and pull her back into his chest. Before she had even placed her two feet on the ground, Alice had grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her from the room.
Edward lay back on his pillows and tried to sleep once more, but for some reason he could not turn his brain from Bella.
-o-
Giving up on sleep, Edward rose from his bed at an hour to midday and jumped onto Theodore, heading to Jasper's home to help him prepare.
He did not expect to find Emmett there, straightening up his bow tie. He and Jasper were laughing together, obviously at some shared joke. Edward stood there confused. Finally, Jasper noticed Edward.
"Edward, finally! What took you so long? Emmett has been here for the past two hours already." Jasper informed him, walking over to him and pulling him into a manly hug.
Edward hugged him back as a reflex, but his mind was still trying to figure out what on earth was happening. "Sorry, I did not know I had to be here so early. Or that Emmett was coming; otherwise I would have ridden over with him."
Jasper smacked himself on the forehead, "I apologise Edward, I completely forgot to tell you that Emmett is standing in for Peter." Jasper noticed Edward still looked confused, "Apparently Charlotte had just gone into labour when he composed his letter to me last week. She was a month early and they do not wish to travel so far with a newborn. I asked Emmett to stand in because Peter was going to be Rose's usher and this way they can walk down the aisle together," he looked slyly towards Emmett, "Which I am sure they will be doing on their own wedding day in the not too distant future." Emmett simply grinned.
"Oh." Was all Edward could think to say as he moved towards the bathroom to get into his suit.
He re-emerged fifteen minutes later. His suit was plain black with a crisp white shirt underneath and a black bow tie. He had added a white rose to his pocket. Although he had tried to tame his hair, it was even more of a mess than it had been before and Edward had lost patience with it.
When he looked up he found Emmett and Jasper in deep conversation. As he made his way over to them, they instantly stopped talking and Edward felt quite put out; since when did Jasper have secrets that he did not share with Edward?
-o-
At two hours past midday, the trio arrived at the Church. They headed into the chamber behind the church to wait out the next hour and fully prepare Jasper. Unlike Edward on his wedding day, Jasper appeared to be totally calm and relaxed, sitting still, smiling and laughing.
"I am going to check if the women have arrived. I will only be a moment." Emmett suddenly stated, finally leaving Jasper and Edward on their own.
Edward seized the chance and placed himself next to Jasper. "Are you sure about this Jasper? I do not want to have to kill you if you hurt my cousin!" Edward threatened, although he had a small smile on his face.
"Edward I am sure. I have loved her since I first laid my eyes on her. When we are joined together today as man and wife, my life will be complete. I promise that you will not have to kill me, because I would kill myself a hundred times over before I would ever hurt Alice."
Edward held out his hand for Jasper to shake. Jasper took it and pulled him into a hug once more.
"I do not understand how you can be so calm. I was a wreck on my wedding day." Edward informed his best friend.
"That is because you did not want to get married Edward. This is all I have ever wanted, and it is finally about to happen. What is there to be nervous about?"
"Have you ever considered the idea that she may not turn up?" Edward posed the question, although he knew it would never happen; Alice was crazy about Jasper.
"No, and I do not intend to. I trust Alice, and I trust the love we have for one another. She will turn up, she maybe late because Alice is nothing but fashionable, but she will arrive."
As if to prove his point, Emmett returned at that moment. "They're here. It's time to get this shindig started!" Edward had never heard such a phrase, but then again, most things Emmett said made no sense to anyone but him.
They took their places at the head of the church. Jasper was the closest to the altar, with Edward on his right and Emmett to Edward's right. Edward took this chance to glance at the guests. There were at least double the number of guests here than there had been at his own wedding; he was sure it was to do with the fact that Alice was a social butterfly.
Edward noticed Jasper's parents on the front pew, and Mrs Hale already had tears in her eyes. Edward smiled at them before his gaze moved on. Sitting next to them were his aunt and a space save for his uncle. Although Aunt Caroline had yet to start tearing up, she had her handkerchief ready and her hand was tightly clasped in Esme's, who sat to her right with Carlisle on her other side. Finishing his glance around the church, Edward realised he did not know a single soul apart from his family. In a way he felt quite relieved; it meant Tanya was not going to show her face here today and ruin everything.
Just then, the wedding march began to play on the organ and all attention was focused on the doors. Rose came in first, holding the hand of her three year old cousin Thomas. He was almost an exact replica of her, with his thick blonde hair, green eyes and pouting lips. He was wearing the same suit as Jasper, only a shrunken version. In his free hand, he was holding a cushion with two rings placed on it, Jasper's ring from Alice and Alice's ring from Jasper. They descended down the aisle at quite a slow pace, as Thomas waved as each person he knew, and stumbled a little when he lost his focus. Finally reaching the front, Rose led Thomas over to Edward and bent down to whisper in his ear. After she had pulled away, Thomas stuck out his arms and shoved the cushion into Edward's hands. Edward thanked him and he nodded importantly before he made his way over to Emmett, who put his hands on Thomas' small shoulders; holding him in place.
Edward's attention was pulled away from the little boy when he heard new footsteps walk down the aisle. Turning his gaze towards the door once more, Edward's breath hitched in his throat and he was not able to breathe. Walking down the aisle, looking like an angel, was Bella. She was wearing the same midnight blue dress as Rose but the light blue sash just below her bust caused the dress to cling to her body. It was then Edward noticed that her small bump had become slightly more pronounced. She looked stunning. What made her look even more beautiful in Edward's eyes was the fact she was helping Jasper's other young cousin Dena, who looked exactly the same as her younger brother. She looked utterly adorable, wearing a small dress which was light blue until her waist before it became midnight blue like the other bridesmaids. She was clearly very excited with her role in the wedding. She was almost skipping down the aisle as she sprinkled rose petals ahead of herself. Bella was beaming as she was led forwards by the small girl and in that moment, Edward could not wait to see her with their own child.
Finally, Bella had completed her journey and led Dena toward Rose; they took their place and she too placed her hands on the little girl's shoulders, but not before she threw a beaming smile in Edward's direction. He returned it instantly, able to use his lungs again at long last.
Bella broke their gaze first, as she moved her head to face the door. After a few more seconds of staring at his young wife, Edward copied her lead.
Alice was finally entering the church, on the arm of her father. Edward's Uncle John looked torn between pride and anguish at the thought of giving over his little girl. Edward had to admit that his cousin looked beautiful, "but not as beautiful as Bella" the little voice in his head nagged. He tried to push it away and take in the scene in front of him.
Alice was wearing quite a plain dress by her standards. It was pure white and fell to the floor like a ball gown, however, the whole dress was covered in a layer of lace and it looked extremely striking, especially as it was set off by the blue sash around her waist. Alice was beaming as she made her way towards Jasper, a few tears escaping her eyes already.
John placed Alice's in Jasper's before he leant down to kiss his daughter on the cheek for the final time before she became Mrs Jasper Whitlock. He nodded to Jasper before he took his seat next to his wife, who had tears pouring down her face.
The priest began, "Dearly Beloved, we are gathered together here in the sign of God, and in the face of this company , to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony—" Edward tuned out at this point and fixed his gaze on his wife. She was solely fixated on the ceremony occurring in front of her, a small smile gracing her face.
A few seconds later, Bella must have felt his gaze on her face because she turned to look at him. As she noticed him staring at her, a blush filled her cheeks and she looked towards the floor. Edward grinned and finally turned his attention back to the event in front of him.
-o-
The remainder of the wedding was beautiful and as Edward looked around the church he noticed most of the women had tears falling down their cheeks; including Bella and Rose.
Alice and Jasper led the procession out of the church, with Dena and Thomas following behind them, holding hands. Bella and Edward followed after the two children, their own arms interlinked.
They soon entered the carriage that would take them to the reception and waited for Emmett and Rose to emerge.
When they finally did, Rose and Bella made constant conversation about how beautiful the wedding was, how lovely Alice looked and how amazing their vows were. While they spoke, Edward and Emmett began to make awkward small talk before they gave up completely.
As they arrived at the Whitlock house hold, the garden path was lit completely with candles, guiding the guests up to the front door. Edward jumped down from the carriage and extended his hand towards Bella. She quickly took it in her own and allowed him to guide her from the carriage. Edward refused to release her as they made their way into the ballroom.
After Alice and Jasper had thanked everyone for attending, the music began and Edward led Bella to the dance floor. He was determined to make tonight the night they should have had at their own party.
They danced together for hours, with Edward supporting Bella so that she did not even stumble. They laughed together when Bella stepped on his toes, or when they bumped into other couples.
As the hours began to pass, Bella began to tire, and Edward could not blame her. It could not be easy making a human life. He led her outside to the garden and pulled out a chair for her. She smiled gratefully at him as she sat down.
They sat together in silence before Edward decided to break it. "You look beautiful tonight Bella."
Bella shook her head, "I can never look beautiful Edward, especially when I'm pregnant." Edward quickly made his way towards her and knelt in front of her, taking his wife's hands in his own.
"When are you going to see yourself clearly Bella? You were the most beautiful woman in the room today, especially since you are pregnant." Edward reached out his hand and touched the small bump, "I have never seen anything more lovely than you pregnant with our child Bella. Over the next seven months, that beauty will increase. I cannot wait to witness our child grow within you. Do not ever say such a thing again." Unable to resist the urge any longer, Edward lent forwards and kissed her growing stomach.
When he lifted his gaze to his wife once more, he noticed she had tears running down her cheeks and over her nose. As gently as he could, Edward lifted his fingers and wiped them away. Once they were all gone, the husband and wife continued to stare at one another.
Their moment was shattered when they heard the countdown for the New Year commencing from inside the ball room. Edward helped Bella to her feet and wrapped his arm around her waist to support her.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. One."
The second their countdown had ended, numerous fireworks erupted in the sky. Bella lifted her gaze to stare at them, transfixed. Edward did not care about the fireworks at that moment. As he stared down at his wife, he was sure he had not seen anything this wonderful his entire life. Bella was staring up to the sky in awe, her face was pooled in the light given off by the endless bursts of light from the sky, and as Edward's hand softly touched his unborn child; a resolution was formed in his mind.
Bella turned to face him, a huge smile lighting her face; brighter than any firework. Without thinking, Edward lent down and captured her lips in his for a gentle kiss. Bella was shocked and did not respond, but she did not pull away either. Slowly, Edward pulled away and looked Bella in the eyes; she seemed dazed and confused.
"Happy New Year Isabella Cullen."
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You guys may hate me for leaving it here but I had to give you something to want to come back and read the next chapter!
I missed out Christmas because not much would have happened, but I was thinking about maybe adding it as an extra chapter at the end?
Hope you liked it. What is going to happen now?
Until next time :) Have a great weekend.
