I want to begin this note by saying that the arranged marriage is NOT the conflict in this story, and is simply a plot device. I can understand if you believe it is the story line, but... just wait and see. It is needed for what I want to tell, the summary is what the story is about. I don't want to say too much...

One thing I can promise is that this story will not be smacked with uncomfortable and unnecessary drama. Nothing irks me more than that in a story. I prefer shorter stories with a poignant heartfelt storyline as opposed to fillers and added drama to add chapters. I can't say how long this story will be, but probably somewhere between 10-20 chapters knowing myself. Now, lets get back to getting to know the characters and the storyline!

On the outside I was sure that I looked to be okay with all of this, I smiled cheerily whenever anyone looked my way. The happy bride to be. Inside I was anything but happy. Parts of me wanted to leap off of the couch and wrap my hands around Carlisle Cullen's throat. It was his suggestion, all of this. Never would my parents come up with the idea with such a hasty wedding. 20 was young to get married, even in Hawford most went off to college before marrying, got a degree for status. Jake was at college, as would I have been had it not been for my mother's admant refusal. She knew it would postpone the wedding another two years, if not more to accommodate my schedule, and that was too long in her eyes. I couldn't refuse her, either. Didn't know how to.

I was barely keeping up with the conversation, so when Edward turned to me for the first time I was startled out of my thoughts of strangling Carlisle, and looked at him perplexed.

"I said that we could go to look at rings, my father's got an appointment at a jewler just out of town," he said to me. It was the first thing he said to me, I realized, and in the same moment realized that I hadn't spoken a single word to him either. His voice was different from what I had expected; it was deeper, much more harsh. I was overcome with the need to express my feelings to him, to let my first words to him be something that he could respect me for.

"Okay." I disappointed myself with the single two syllable word that fell from my lips. Nothing like the words that were pressing at me in my head. Rings, engagement rings. I thought of the gold band that Jake had given me when he graduated from high school, the look on his face when he got down on one knee. Jake loved me, in a way I never loved him. Edward wouldn't get down on one knee, he'd stand next to me and not have a speech prepared about spending his whole life with his best friend.

I knew I had to forget Jake, but I couldn't. My heart ached too much.

Edward's car was not what I was expecting. Most people living in communities like Hawford owned cars that screamed status, but his was a modest silver Volvo. A family car. What kind of life did he have when he was away from his father, did he have another family somewhere that he had to abandon? A pang of guilt and sadness hit me. What was I taking this man from? No 27 year old had nothing, not someone like Edward. There must have been so much he left behind. How did I acknowledge that I knew this, that I understood?

Instead of reaching for his hand and telling him all of this, I sat down quietly on the soft leather seat. I looked out of the side window as he pulled out of our driveway, keeping the speed limit inside of Hawford. When we reached the gates I saw the faint reflection of him in my window as he waved to the man keeping the gate. He seemed like a kind man, I thought, like someone who would treat me with respect. Would there be more than respect though? It was the one thing I would demand, but could I survive on that? He broke the silence first, once we were out on the highway.

"How old are you, Isabella?" His voice was softer than it was back at my house, like he was almost concerned.

"I'm 20," I mumbled down at my hands that were clasped in my lap.

"Jesus, you won't even be able to drink at our...," he trailed off. I glanced to the side and saw his knuckles turn white as they squeezed the steering wheel. "When is your birthday?"

"September 13th." He rubbed his eye, obviously frustrated with my age. "When... when is your birthday?"

"June 20th."

"Gemini," I said, looking up at him.

"What?" His eyebrows furrowed, and he quickly took his eyes off of the road to look at me.

"You're a gemini, I'm virgo." I blushed, of course most people thought zodiac signs were absolute bollocks, but I thought it was fun.

"Is that any good?" he asked, a smile spreading on his face. It looked good on him.

"Not really, it could be worse though," I admitted, smiling too.

"Could be worse, well that's something."

The store front had an exclusive air to it. The windows were covered with lace curtains, and on the window written in gold stood Geraci, and on cushioned pillows laid a small sortiment of gold links and rings. The front door was closed, and a sign hung in it to tell everyone that only those who had booked a time would be let inside, and the number to call if you desired a time with them. I'd passed by this store on several occasions, it wasn't far from the strip where I went with my friends to shop, and I knew that the silver pendant necklace my father had given me for my 16th birthday came from this store. It was with a swan, and as he had put it on me he kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear that I was as beautiful as only a swan could be. The memory still made me blush.

Edward pressed the door bell, the awkward silence had once again resumed, after I had informed him of our predicted compatibility. At the time it seemed nice, but once the careful smiles faded we had nothing more to say to each other. It made me wonder if he thought I was foolish, talking about astrolgy.

A tall woman opened the door. She wore two inch black high heels, and a black shin length dress that was modest yet followed her every curve tightly. I looked like a child next to her.

"We have a time now at noon," Edward said to the woman. "Under Cullen."

"Yes, come on in." She opened up the door wider and walked us towards a green antique couch. "Please sit down while I inform Mr Geraci that you have arrived." She swept her hand towards the couch, and waited until both of us had sat down before she disappeared through a door.

In the room we were in there was only the couch we were sitting on, a small coffee table with a plate of fruits on it. On the walls hung paintings of men and women in period clothes, wearing heavy jewlery. We had barely sat down for half a minute before the woman appeared again.

"Mr Geraci is stuck in a meeting, since you are a bit early he hadn't had time to finish up yet, would you like something to drink while you are waiting?" She looked nervous, as if she was expecting us to lash out at her because we were early. I looked over at Edward to see if he would ask for anything.

"Water please," he said, and I followed his lead and asked for the same. When the woman was gone from the room again, he turned to look at me. "Do you have an idea of what you want?"

"No, I don't know, maybe a... I like silver," I said. I'd never been the type of girl to fawn over engagement rings, I was much more eager about the commitment, being married. Maybe not to Edward, though.

"Don't you girls have everything planned out?" His voice was sharp, judging. I knew how girls appeared to others, outsiders and men, our obsession with marriage and all things to it. For some girls that was the only way for them to feel as if they had some power over their lives, material things were easy to get your hands on and decide over. Deciding on a ring could be one of the few ways a young girl could feel more in charge of her fate. People couldn't understand it unless they felt it themselves.

"Not me," I said. Maybe one day I'd have time to explain to him, but now was not the time.

"All other girls know they want this big diamond ring, but not you?" I knew he thought I was bullshitting, and it exhausted me completely. How long would it take for him to stop being so hostile, did I really look to be so horrible?

"Have you ever taken the time to talk to those girls?" I bit back. He was stunned for a moment, as if he wasn't expecting me to retaliate. "You may have found a way out for a while, but most of us don't." I didn't have time to explain anymore because the woman came back into the room with our water.

"Here you go, if you have any questions, or want something, just ring this bell and I will be right with you," she said with a sweet smile, putting down a gold bell on the coffee table. It made a soft sound that reminded me of the bell my kindergarten teacher used to call us back in after recess.

"Thank you," Edward and I said in unision, and once again the woman disappeared. He was only silent for a few moments before he spoke up again.

"Would you want to leave, if you could?" The question made him sound young, as if he was my age and just discovering the potential life could have.

"Yes." There was no hesitation, I knew there was no point in lying to him, he would eventually find out about my lack of enthusiasm anyway.

"What would you do then?" He sounded genuinly interested. It was a question no one had asked me before, and I hadn't actually considered it. It was a foolish desire.

"I don't know." I shrugged and fiddled with my fingers. What would I want to do, for me? "I know I'd cook, food."

"You don't cook food now?" I shook my head.

"Mom won't let me, but my house cook has taught me a few things," I said with a smile. "I think I'd like to cook, maybe even a a chef or something like that." When I looked at him again his expression was soft, it was almost as if I could see that he was growing to respect me. That was good, that was exactly what I needed.

"How about after our wedding you take some classes, your mother can't stop you then," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively. It did sound fantastic, and it was definitely why it was so appealing to get married; to get away from my mother.

"Thank you, Edward." When I smiled at him he returned my smile. Whatever may come we were in this together.

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Ten minutes later Geraci was able to take us in. He was an aging man, as short as I was, but somehow he exuded a sense of power and confidence that was seen in large body guards. He showed us the section of engagement rings that he had set out for us. There was a wide range of sorts, from ones with huge diamonds, and some more descreet. A few were simple bands with no decore on them at all. Edward had me try on several of the more descreet ones, probably he understood my description of wanting a band in silver as me not wanting something big. I never felt comfortable getting attention, and I knew big rings would get me just that. In the end I decided on a silver one with small light blue saphires imbedded in the band, Edward chose the color. It was one that wasn't too over the top, but fancy enough so that my mother would be satisfied and not pitch a fit over how cheap Edward Cullen was.

On our way out of the store my ring finger felt heavy, and it felt unnatural. I'd gotten used to have a ring on it for so long, but since Jake it had been left naked, now I wondered how I could've everr gotten used to a ring on me.

Since neither of us had any desire to return back to our families at my house, we took a detour to a small restaurant we both knew no one in our circuits would visit. It was a hole in the wall with greasy cheap food served in bigger portions than I would ever be able to eat.

We both ordered hamburgers with fries, unsure of what the other items on the menu were exactly. At least I was unsure, he must've been to a lot of places like this before, I imagined that college and the time after it was a period when he discovered most of what the world we were born into didn't have.

The tables were greasy, the chairs were wobbly, and the walls were made out of white tiles. I suspected that they were easier to clean.

"Have you been here before?" he asked me when we sat down, waiting for them to call out that our order was done. No servers, like there were in most restaurants I'd been to.

"No, never," I said shaking my head. "Have you?"

"A few times, I used to go here with my girlfriend in high school." He smiled fondly at the memory, and if I had had any emotional ties to him maybe I'd been jealous of her. Right now I was just curious of his life, why he had left, how, and why he had returned.

"Were you going to marry her?" If so, what had happened to her? Had she married someone else?

"Yes, I guess... we both went off to college together, same college and everything," he said, and then paused, as if he was debating if he was going to tell me the rest. "I knew she was never into me, we were more like best friends. When we got to college she and I started to become distant, and then during sophmore year she revealed that she wasn't just not into me, she wasn't into any boys, she liked girls." Edward smiled, as if the memory was a fond one, but also one that was amusing to him. "It didn't really shock me, and I guess that was part of the reason why I left, too."

"Her parents didn't accept her?" It wouldn't be surprising, many of the people in Hawford were very conservative, and often spoke against anything that wasn't heterosexual monagomous marriage that could lead to children.

"No, they cut her off completely," he said with a shrug. "She didn't come out until after college, so she at least got her college degree, so she's done quite okay, right now she's in Washington trying to get the right to marry her fiancé."

"Do you keep in touch?" I wonder what she would think about him returning to the community that kicked her out.

"Not as much as we used to, time does that," he said. Just then our order was called out, and Edward got up and brought both of our trays over to where I was sitting.

"I always had this idea about growing up that was very different from how it actually is, I imagined all these friends from high school still being there, and we would have play-dates with our children, and my life would be perfect and problem free..." I trailed off, taking a fry off of the tray instead.

"You graduated a year ago, right?" I nodded. "That's a bit early to have people disappear?"

"Shit happened, and people don't trust me right now." I didn't want to think about Jessica, Angela, or Lauren. The last time we talked we said so many awful things, and even if I get married now I was unsure if our friendship would ever be mended.

"You don't want to talk about it?" I took a bite of my hambruger and shook my head. "Okay, oh and you've got mustard..." he pointed at the left corner of his lips My cheeks flushed, and I reached for the napkin, wiping off a good chunk of mustard off of my cheek.

"Huh, that's digusting." I folded the napkin and put it down on the tray behind the cup with coke in it.

"I find it rather adorable." Edward wasn't what I had expected. I hadn't really expected anything, but I knew it wasn't this. When Jake was gone I didn't think I could find anyone like him, that I was doomed with a future stuck with someone who would never view me as a person like he did. Now Edward sat in front of me, so unexpected.

"Thank you, Edward."

"For what?" Confusion glimmered in his eyes, but a smile was still etched on his lips.

"For being... good." The confusion disappeared, and I saw a sympathy in them that burned me. I looked down and looked at my plate. He didn't say anything about it though, instead we both turned to our food and consumed it as we hadn't eaten for days. My ring felt a bit lighter on my finger.

We returned to my house three hours after we had left. After eating we had taken a short walk in the local park, we had stopped near a playground and I had been hit with the realisation that in a couple of years we could be back there with our own kids. I'd spent a lot of the time watching Edward watch the children. He didn't seem to be repelled by them, but only seemed mildly interested in them. For a while I thought he was indifferent of children, which was better than men who wanted to flee the other way, until a child's cry pierced through the laughter and his eyes frantically started seraching for the crying child.

It appeared as if Edward was quickly filling the list of wants I had for a future husband. That the dad of my children would be interested in his own children was a must for me, to the extent that I could decide.

My mother wasn't pleased with how long we had been gone. They had run out of topics to talk with Carlisle with, and the lunch had been awkward, and they had to give him a tour of our gardens to keep him entertained. As soon as I laid eyes on her I saw how stressed out she had been. That I and Edward hit it off wasn't important right now, other things were far more important.

All of us were whisked into the sitting room where a woman I had never met before sat in one of the arm chairs, her head burried in a book filled with clippings and handwritten notes. She had fire red hair in big curls that fell around her face that had soft freckles on it.

"Isabella, Edward, this is Victoria Noack, she's a wedding planner that will help us get everything done in time, Mrs Noack, this is Bella and Edward."

"Nice to finally meet you two," Mrs Noack said, shaking our hands. "Sit down, we have a lot to go through today." Once she was seated again she started to flip through the book she had been looking into before. "I took the liberty of asking your parents for your schedules these next few months, and I have been able to book in a few things."

Both of us watched as she continued to flip through the book until she stopped at a page with a satisfied look on her face.

"Next week, on October 10th, Isabella has a time booked to look at wedding dresses, I'm going to e-mail you the exact time and place, on the 11th both of you are going to go to the venue where you are getting married to sign a few documents and discuss what you want your wedding to be like with them, we're going to go through all of that today also, on the 13th Edward, you are getting fitted for your tuxedo, then I don't have anything confirmed until November 20th when you're going to decide on a cake for the wedding." She paused, and seemed to be catching a breath for the first time before she launched into talking again. "On October 29th you will have your engagement party, so before then we need the two of you to have something to wear, and my trainee will be the one in charge of that party since we have so little time, but I assure you that she is very competent."

"That's a lot," I said in a breath. It was overwhelming.

"That's not all of it, you need to have bridesmaids dresses fitted and decided on, floral arrangement, not just for the reception but for your boquet, the menue at the reception, a guest list, seating arrangements, music, the band, china, a catering company... a lot, and we've got a limited time frame."

"Can you do all of this in that time?" I asked, baffled. "Can we have a big wedding when it's only 3 months away?"

"When you have the power your parents have, you can do anything you want," Mrs Noack said. I nodded, of course. Money and power makes a lot of things possible. "It will be incredibly stressful, and not one of the best weddings I have planned, but it will be beautiful, and it will be on time."

"Is there anyway to not let it be... too big?" Edward asked, glancing at me quickly before looking at Mrs Noack.

"It is both of your parents' wishes that this will be of appropriate size, and a Cullen and a Swan marrying is big," she said, as if it was a fact. Of course both of our families had large reputations, especially the Cullen family, but our marriage being a big deal woul depend solely on the attendees, and the people in our community. Given that Edward had just recently returned, and that I had no friends, my wedding being a big deal wasn't something I saw happening easily.

"It didn't hurt to ask."

Mrs Noack brough up a few other important details about our upcomming wedding that we might have confirmed dates for in a few days times. Most would take place this month, to allow preperation and everything to be finished by the new year. After that we got to talking about how we wanted our wedding to look. My mother had already decided that it was going to be a classic wedding, with traditional vows, cermony, and reception, which Edward's father agreed with.

Neither Edward or I had any idea what kind of wedding we wanted, outside of that. I suggested a flower girl, which Mrs Novack wrote down fevirishly, which sparked the question of what kind of flowers, and what color theme. In the end Edward and I went with a simple white and blue, one which my mother would probably disagree with a lot, and suggest something like muted lilac and sky blue. It felt good to have decided on something with Edward, though.

By the end of our meeting the sun was hanging heavy in the sky, casting long shadows over the garden. My head felt heavy with information, and slightly panicked over the decisions we had made. Albeit it may have been far less important than other decisions we will be making, it was still permanent decisions about a day that would always be marked in my memory.

Carlisle had left hours ago, after spending the five minute break from discussions with Edward talking in the hallway. I had wanted to eavesdrop, but was too afraid to get caught to even attempt to do it. It was only Edward and I, alone again, standing on the front steps of my house, watching the shadow my house casted on the ground in front of us. The iron gate was closed at the end of the small drive way, and Edwards car was parked right in front of the house, just where we had left it a few hours ago.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked after a while of heavenly silence. There had been so much talking today that the silence was welcome in my ears.

"It's a lot to take in..." From the steps we were standing on I could see over the roof of the house in front of us. Hawford was set on a small hill, and the house just opposite us was on a decline. Behind it I could see a the motorway, the one we had been on today, and then beyond it was a massive forest that seemed to swallow all light that touched it.

"That's not what I asked." I turned my head to look at him, and saw that he was looking at me. During the day I had noticed the crease between his bushy eyebrows whenever he was concenrating, or thinking hard about something, and it was there now. I had the urge to reach forward and smooth it out with my thumb, but managed to quell it.

"I'm okay, my head just feels heavy... it feels better now that it did this morning," I admitted. "I was scared this morning, now I'm... I just want to go to bed now, I didn't sleep well last night."

"I'll let you go to bed then, Isabella." He took my hand and kissed it before walking down the steps towards his car. Halfway there he stopped and turned around, looking up at me. "And, just so you know, it feels better for me now, too, Isabella." I smiled a toothy grin at him.

"Call me Bella," I answered.

"Good night, Bella," he said, his name rolling off of his tongue as if he was tasting it for the first time.

"Good night Edward."

Do you believe me now? Hehe... The story's conflict isn't the arranged marriage! Edward/Bella will have their conflicts, but it's rather boring with another story where the initially hate each other, right?

Next chapter will be up whenever it is written. I know I should run this through a spell checker and everything... but I am far too lazy for that! I can write a chapter in half a day, but it can also take two weeks... (but it won't, not now)... c'ya then! :)

Also, I have a rec for those who are into Jake/Bella stories: Go Forward With Courage ur:l /s/8553284/21/
And a rec for Eddie/Bella that insipred this story somewhat: Me and Mr Cullen url: /s/7925096/1/