I went with two songs for this chapter, because I couldn't choose between the two. One is for Embry and the other is for Leah.

I need to be bold

Need to jump in the cold water

Need to grow older with a girl like you

Finally see you are naturally

The one to make it so easy

When you show me the truth

Yeah, I'd rather be with you

Say you want the same thing too

Say you feel the way I do

"I'd rather be with you"

-Joshua Radin

Love took me by the hand

Love took me by surprise

Love led me to you

And love opened up my eyes

"Drop in the Ocean"

-Michelle Branch

Chapter 62:

Maybe life doesn't completely suck after all

We made our way back to the reception. Sam and I glanced at each other and then made our way back to our dates'. Jacob and Embry were talking about some guy-related stuff. It was all gibberish to me.

Jake looked up when he saw me coming.

"Have I told you how hideous that dress is on you, Leah?" He teased me. "I mean...seriously. It looks like something Paris Hilton's dog would wear."

"Shut up, Jacob." I laughed as I shoved him.

"Uh oh, I better watch out. Pink Ranger Barbie is mad." Jacob chuckled. He glanced at Embry. "Come on, help me out, man. Doesn't she look like something that a princess would vomit up?"

"Dude, why would you even ask me that? You know I'm going to side with her."

"Bros before hos." Jacob joked.

"Did you just call me a ho?" I asked Jacob seriously. He grinned at me like an idiot and inched away from us.

"I just remembered...I've got to...uh...teach Nessie how to...um...well...crap..." He obviously couldn't think of anything that he knew how to do that Nessie didn't already know. "Well, she's going to teach me…Calculus." He dashed away from me. I glared after him until he was no longer looking at me. Then I let out a confident grin.

I laughed as I watched him run away like a sissy.

"I love doing that to him." Making Jacob nervous was always funny. I was the kind of girl that liked to keep people guessing. No one knew what I would do next. Which worked wonderfully to my advantage when people pissed me off. They were usually so frightened of me that they ran away. Case and point: Jacob.

"It's pretty damn funny," Embry agreed.

I didn't say anything back as I smiled at him and gave him a kiss.

He smiled back. "What was that for?"

"For loving me despite my flaws."

Embry looked around at the other guests. Everyone was wrapped up in their own conversations.

"Hey, you wanna get out of here?" Embry suggested.

"Nothing would make me happier," I admitted. Though I was apparently now seemingly okay with Sam and Emily's relationship, I still hated weddings. And this damn dress was making me irritable.

"I bet I know a few things that could." Embry grabbed my hand. We edged towards the forest.

"Like what?" I asked.

"You'll see." Embry grinned. He had a devilish look in his eyes. He was plotting something.

Once we were in the cover of the trees, Embry pulled something out from behind a stump. It was bag. He reached in and pulled out a change of clothes.

"I stashed them here this morning. I knew you'd want to get out of that dress as soon as possible."

I laughed as I took the clothes from his hands.

"You are the best boyfriend. Ever." It didn't take me long to lose the horrible frilly thing that my cousin considered pretty. When I reappeared I noticed that Embry had changed into something more relaxed as well.

I looked at him, perplexed.

He explained, "The tux is a rental. I don't want to ruin it." He smiled and grabbed my hand again. "Come on."

I was trying so hard to keep up with him. He was obviously excited about whatever he had planned.

"Where are we going?"

"I believe that you lost a bet to me a few weeks ago." Embry grinned. "And the time has come for you to pay up." I looked around and noticed that we were on our way to the cliffs that the boys jumped from. He had brought me here a few times after we chased the Volturi away, but I had yet to come through on jumping. I just didn't see the point.

Today, however, I felt adventurous. If it was his plan to ask me to cliff-dive maybe I would actually follow through with it.

"It's awesome, isn't it?" Embry looked at the view. It really was gorgeous. The water seemed to be especially clear today. And the rarely seen sun was creating a beautiful reflection off of the shore. I listened to the waves gently crashing against the base of the cliff.

"Yeah, I guess the view is pretty nice."

"So I'm pretty sure you've figured out my genius plan." Embry raised his eyebrows at me.

I decided to play dumb.

"Why, no, dear. Whatever do you mean?" I pressed my lips together in a smile.

"Well, obviously, I'm going to ask you to marry me, jump off of the cliff, and then drive to Vegas to get married by Elvis's fat cousin." Embry chuckled as he grabbed my hands.

I sighed and giggled, "You're so romantic."

"So are you going to jump with me today or not?" Embry questioned.

I didn't even think about it as I responded. I already knew that I wanted to do this today. Then if I hated it I could bitch about it afterwords.

"Sure."

Embry looked surprised that I was going to do it. I guess he thought I wouldn't have the guts to follow through.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not?" I asked. "You've been bugging the hell out of me. And I trust you not to get me killed because if you do I'll come back and haunt the crap out of you." I glanced at the clothes that I was wearing. Embry had really thought this through. The pants and the shirt were both lightweight so I wouldn't have any trouble swimming to the shore in them. I couldn't imagine what a disaster it would be for me to try and make my way to shore in the bridesmaid dress I was wearing earlier. Though it would have been fun to destroy it. A thought occurred to me and I laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"I should have kept the dress on. I bet after I jumped I would have looked like Cupid jacked-off on me." I howled out laughter.

"And yet I still want to be with you even though your mind is more perverted than mine."

"Embry, my mind is more perverted than a horny sixteen-year-old boy peeking into the girls locker room while listening to Michael Jackson on his I-pod." I shrugged. "Perversion tends to happen when you're the only girl among a group of guys."

"Well it doesn't matter to me what you're wearing. I just thought that when you looked back on this you wouldn't want to remember wearing an ugly dress from your cousin's wedding."

"If I could I would erase the dress from my memory completely."

"Trust me, after this, you won't even remember the dress." He promised.

"Cliff-diving is really that intense?" I laughed.

"Hopefully the cliff diving won't be the most memorable event of the day."

Now I was confused. Did he have something else planned after this? I hoped that it wasn't some formal dinner where we had to play dress up and act all civilized in a restaurant that has overpriced food that tastes like crap. That would not be my idea of a date. I wasn't the "wine and dine" type of girl. Embry knew that. I had to remember to have faith in my boyfriend. He knew me better than I knew myself...which must be kind of terrifying...because sometimes my mind was a scary place.

"Hey, I'll settle for remembering anything other than Emily and Sam's wedding." I shrugged.

"It won't be their wedding that you'll see when you look back at this day." He paused. "It will be the day that I mentioned ours."

"You've completely lost me." I'm sure the look on my face said it all.

"Check your pocket." Embry glanced at the pants I was wearing.

There was only one front pocket in the pants that I was wearing. When I reached in to search for whatever it was that Embry had planted there my fingers came to rest upon something small and round. I knew what it was immediately.

"The ring you gave me for Christmas?" As far as I knew, this was supposed to be on my nightstand. I would usually wear it each night when I went to bed...as corny as I knew that was.

"Yeah, I hope you aren't mad. I had your mom swipe it for me this morning while you were getting ready."

Of course. What scheme was my mother not in on? She loved to help Embry out.

"So you stole something that you gave to me so you could give it to me again?"

"I wanted to be creative in my proposal." Embry laughed.

"This is creative, alright. I never would have…wait...did you say 'proposal?'" I squeaked. Did that mean what I thought it meant?

"I'm not going to do the "get down on one knee bit," because I know you'd probably cuss me out for getting all romantic and mushy on you." Embry took the ring from my hands and held it up with a smile on his face. He didn't say anything as he took my left hand and slid the ring on my ring finger. I had worn this ring every night since the day that Embry had given it to me, but when he slipped it on my finger, it felt very different. "So, I've got a question I need you to answer for me..." He held my hands.

My heart was racing and my brain was desperately searching for something to say. Was I perceiving this right?

"You wanna get married?" he asked.

Well, all my doubt was out the window. Embry had just clarified what I thought he was asking. But he couldn't be serious? I looked at him, uncertain of where he was going with this ruse.

"You are so full of shit…" I laughed. I studied his face. Something about it was very serious. Suddenly I realized that he wasn't joking. "Oh my God, you're serious?" I frowned at myself. Insert foot in mouth. I was such an idiot sometimes.

"We don't have to do it until you're ready. I just want to know that you do want to be with me," Embry explained.

"Of course I do." I blurted the words out pretty quickly. I cocked my head and looked at him. "Why now? Why did you ask me today...of all days?"

"I had a feeling you would talk to Sam at the wedding. And I figured one of two things would happen. Either you would punch him again or you would get everything off of your chest. I assumed from your relaxed mood that your talk with him went well."

"Yeah. It did."

"The only thing left for me to do was get you to cliff-dive with me today."

"That is the most confusing plan I have ever heard."

"I've just been waiting for the day that you said yes to cliff-diving."

I was even more confused now. That didn't make any sense. He had been pestering me to cliff-dive since he'd joined Jake's pack. And he pretty much guaranteed that I was going to do it when he made that bet with me. I felt like a dumbass because I still didn't get it.

Unless…

It was never about cliff-diving. I felt the little light-bulb in my brain click on. Now I got why Embry wanted me to jump with him. It was never about the bet. It was about trust. He was trying to get me to trust him. He knew that as soon as I let Sam go, I would be ready to take the next step with him. He wanted me to feel comfortable with him.

"This whole cliff-diving thing was a metaphor?" I questioned.

Embry furrowed his brow in concentration and then let out a soft smile.

"Uh, you'll have to help me out on the vocabulary. I haven't been to class in a while."

I laughed. "You want me to put my trust in you."

"Something like that."

I bit my lip as I thought about this. I trusted him not to get me killed today. But did I trust him enough to marry him?

Embry seemed to know what I was thinking.

"Don't over-think it." He pulled me close to his chest. "Just go with your gut."

"You want me to make this decision on impulse?" I couldn't help but laugh. I had been impulsive about many things in my life and it usually brought me nothing but trouble.

Embry lifted my chin gently.

"Leah," He lowered his eyes forcing me to meet them, "look at me. Really look." He leaned in to kiss me.

When our lips met, instead of closing my eyes and falling into him like I normally did, I kept my eyes fixed on his.

I could see him looking into my eyes. His gaze burned through me. He wasn't just looking at me...he was looking into my soul. I could feel the love that he had for me. He loved me with every ounce of his being.

Embry pulled away, but continued to stare at me with a smile on his face. The way he was looking at me made me feel warm and safe.

We had kissed so many times, but never like this. The outcome of this kiss had made my heart rate jump through the roof. I panted to catch my breath.

"Do you get it now, Leah?" Embry leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "I love you. I am madly, crazy, insanely in love with you. That is never going to change. I'm going to be here with you for the rest of our lives. I will never stop loving you. I'll love you even when you're an eighty-five-year-old woman running people down with your motorized wheelchair." I laughed. I could see me doing something like that. Embry continued, "The love that we have will never die."

I grinned. "I thought you weren't going to do the "mushy" thing."

"I know, I know. I'm a total pussy."

I looked at him seriously. "Yes. Yes, you are." Then I laughed again. "And yet I still want to spend the rest of my life with you despite that." I glanced at the ring on my finger.

I realized that how we had gotten to this point didn't matter anymore. Because we were here. And I knew that we belonged together. Embry asked me to open my eyes and look at him. And now that Sam was out of the picture, I could really look. When he kissed me I looked into who he was. And when I did something incredible happened.

I recalled something Jacob had once said about how he was blinded by his love for Bella. And about how Nessie unclouded his judgment. Embry had done the same thing for me that Nessie had for Jacob. By loving Embry, I was able to get over Sam. I had been so angry and so filled with rage that I had been blind for so long. But Embry had forced me to open my eyes and look at the world for what it really was. And he was part of it. Now and forever.

Because of Embry's patience and his uncanny ability to just let me be me, I had slowly learned to open my heart again.

"So, it's a 'yes' then?" Embry questioned curiously.

I thought in silence for a minute and then nodded. "As long as you don't plan on making me wear a dress. Were you serious about Elvis's cousin in Vegas?"

"Nah." He paused. "I think it's his nephew."

We stood in silence for a minute. I had to wonder if Embry was shocked at my acceptance.

"Are you surprised?" I questioned.

"Not really. I always knew that I'd get you to say yes. I just had to wait for you to stop being such a stubborn idiot."

I gasped out a laugh. "I can't believe you just called me an idiot!"

"Oh? Well, what are you going to do about it?" He teased me.

"I'll tell you exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to marry you so you'll be stuck with me for life." I did my best to laugh maliciously. It came out sounding like a cat hacking up a hairball.

Embry was laughing hysterically at me. "That was really cute, Leah. Do it again."

I had now lost it to my laughter. I couldn't believe how happy I was. So this is what it felt like to love again.

I looked at Embry and sighed happily, "I'm giving my heart to you," I admitted, and then added cautiously, "Don't screw me over." I warned him. "If you hurt me…"

He quickly stopped me from finishing that statement as he brushed his finger across my lips and shook his head. "Won't happen. Trust me."

I believed him when he said that. It felt weird to trust someone other than myself. I could count on one hand the people in my life that I trusted. Embry was now on that list. He would fit in well. My brother was on the list as well. We fought just like every other pair of siblings in the world, but when it really came down to it he was someone I knew I could count on. I felt the same way about my parents.

I thought about how my mom would react to the news that her little girl was getting married. Something told me that she already knew. Embry did say he'd had her help getting my ring back. Did he explain to her why?

"I've gotta ask...does my mom know you were planning on asking me this?" I asked.

"She knew about it before I did." He laughed. "I think she knew the day that I told her I imprinted. When I talked to her about that I asked her if it would be okay if I asked you to marry me someday. At first she didn't say anything, so I got all nervous and started babbling about how I'm sure it wasn't going to be anytime soon. But she smiled at me and told me that it would be sooner than I thought." He paused to recall their conversation. "Then she wished me all the luck in the world. She said you're a handful." He winked at me.

I nodded, not at all surprised. "Yeah, that sounds like my mom. Her mother's intuition can be a pain sometimes." I glanced out at the ocean in front of us.

Embry did the same. A gentle breeze came in. Embry looked at the current.

"You still want to jump?" he questioned.

"If you want to."

"It's fun." He smiled. "But if we're going to do it, we should probably get to jumping. Because the tide is supposed to be rolling in later today."

"So...you just jump?" I asked. "Is there any particular way to fall?"

"Just make sure to jump out as far away from the rocks that you can." Embry glanced at the water below. "The tide looks pretty calm right now. But if you do happen to get caught in the undertow swim parallel to the shore."

He couldn't think that I was that inexperienced at swimming? I frowned at him.

"I remember how to get out of a riptide. That's the first thing they taught us in my swimming lessons when I was a toddler."

"Yeah, but this isn't the kiddie pool at the recreation center." He warned me.

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Less talking, more jumping." I looked out at the waves. This was starting to get exciting. "Should I go first or do you want to?"

Embry smiled as he took my hand.

"Let's jump together," he suggested.

"Okay. Cool," I said.

We paced closer to the edge. Embry took a moment to pause. I was starting to get impatient. Unbelievable. I actually wanted to cliff-dive.

"Are you ready?" I questioned.

Embry grinned at me. "I was born ready." I laughed. He could be such a cornball sometimes.

"Let's do it." I smiled.

He tightened his grip around my hand. We both took a deep breath. I looked at him and smiled warmly. I felt my heart racing in my chest as we took the next step. The ground beneath me ceased to exist and before I knew it we were falling into thin air. I felt Embry squeeze my hand in excitement.

I'm not sure how long the fall was. I had focused on Embry the entire time. As the two of us were plunging downwards I felt like nothing else around us existed. It was just me and him.

Our bodies hit the water with a splash. I had done it. I had leaped into life. I let out an excited squeal, "Incredible!" Even though the water was freezing, I felt warm with Embry by my side.

"Told ya so." Embry laughed and kissed me. We started to swim towards the shore. Once we reached the bank, I shook some of the water droplets off of me. Embry put his arms around my neck and hugged me from behind. "So, what'd you think?"

I turned to face him with a huge grin on my face.

"Oh my God. That was so freaking sweet." I looked up at the cliff. "When are we going to do it again?"

He gave me a quick kiss and then laughed. "We have our whole lives…"

And I was fortunate enough to be spending it with him. Life had certainly not worked out the way that I thought it would. For God's sake, I was a bitchy hotheaded werewolf who protected vampires for one of my best friends. Twenty-one years old and I had no job, I wasn't in school, and all of my friends were monsters.

But...I was in love. I had a purpose. I knew what happiness was. Nothing else mattered.