One chapter will talk about the past, one about the present until we reach the point where we began with the present. Confusing much? It keeps things interesting. ;)

Same disclaimer applies-Twilight belongs to S.M., but the idea of this story is mine.

Many thanks to my awesome betas and friends - TeamAllTwilight and m0t0b33. And to my newest help: Momma Laura.


Present time

On my fifth shopping trip, I finally find the dress. It should be spelled T-H-E D-R-E-S-S.

After so much walking and tired, sore feet, it happened. A miracle.

I was starting to think there was no dress for me in all of fucking New York City.

Vanessa, the Red team's supervisor, always asks if I found it, and every time, I shrug. She's not one to talk—she eloped with her high school sweetheart only to file the divorce papers before they returned from the honeymoon. Talk about crazy people.

I keep staring at myself in the mirror, and I can't believe what I'm seeing.

I look different.

Does the white gown really make me look more…I don't know…beautiful? I thought it was all a lie.

It isn't.

I even feel refreshed after six hours of shopping.

Mom and Esme are crying, Victoria is snapping pictures, and Rose congratulating me by clapping loudly. Alice is the only one looking at the dress carefully, with a thoughtful look.

The dress is simple, yet something else. The gown, itself, is made of satin and long. It's kind of a mermaid style, but not really—not like I am an expert at this. Alice will probably explain it better. The thing that attracted me to this dress is the beaded jacket that I can wear over it.

For shoes, I'm bribed into buying Jimmy Choos.

I can tell they are death traps just by their looks. I'm going to break my neck.

Four point three inches isn't that high—is everyone's opinion that's shopping with me. For me, two inches is high, but I won't embarrass myself. I'm not really interested in how the shoes sparkle, but their design is nice, and for the two minutes they've been on my foot, it was okay.

I also buy a leather clutch in nude.

The price of the shoes and clutch is almost half of the amount I paid for the dress. Someone please kill me!

Rose graciously offers to drop me home. We bid everyone goodbye, and I slump in the passenger's seat of her car.

"Maybe you should have simply allowed Mom to help. Alice is on a mission," she comments. "Once Mom understood that I truly loved Emmett, and it didn't matter how young he was, she actually offered to help me with the wedding. We finished with the shopping and preparations in about four months. It's taking ages with Alice."

"I like Alice. And it's my fault it took so long to find the dress," I reply. "I'm too picky."

"That's true," she laughs. "I was ready to have a coronary after all those stores and no result."

I just grin at her, busy with my phone, telling Edward the big news.

Put champagne to cool, baby! I got it!

"Are you going to show it to Edward?"

"Maybe. We'll see." I shrug, unlocking my phone when it beeps.

Awesome! This calls for real celebration. Can you stop by a store and get whipped cream and strawberries?

Sounds like my man has a plan.

Rose scowls when I make her stop at a local store, but she does, grumbling that I should pay her considering she's not my driver.

I buy two containers of strawberries and offer her one when I return to the car. She's shocked but doesn't complain about anything else on the way to my house.

"Thanks, Rose," I say quietly when we park in the driveway.

"Anytime." She gives me a small smile.

I can see she wants to say something else, so I give her time to arrange her thoughts by slowly unbuckling my seatbelt then looking through my purse...for nothing in particular.

"Bella..." Finally. I look up and see her biting her lip. "I have no idea why I've been so mean to you all these years. Okay, maybe I know—you were the potential gold digger or simply the person that could hurt my brother. I've seen him hurt in the past, and I didn't want to see it again. He never spoke of you until we officially met you on his birthday. And that time at work, I barely remembered my own name, let alone see my surroundings."

I cover her hand on the steering wheel. "I understand, Rose. Edward told me what happened with Heidi. I'd never do such a thing."

She sighs heavily. "I know. I can see how much you love him. In that relationship...everyone could see clearly he was the only one involved, but he was too in love to see it as well. Anyway, go and have fun." She winks.

"Oh, don't worry. We'll have fun alright!" I giggle, blushing and pointing to my recent purchases.

"No, please. I'm still his sister."

I grin and get out of the car. While I'm wondering how I am going to carry all the bags inside, I hear steps on the gravel.

"At last! I thought they kidnapped you!" Edward exclaims, stopping next to me and hugging me to his side, kissing my lips quickly. When he realizes who brought me home, his eyes widen. "So you and Rose are friends?"

"I guess it was time for us to hash it out," Rose calls from inside the car. "Now take the bags and your fiancée, and let me go home. God knows what Emmett can do after a game. I hope his favorite team won," she mumbles.

"They lost," Edward informs her, smiling from ear to ear. "And he was relatively calm. Just got off the phone with him."

"Relative is...well, relative," she laughs.

We take the bags, say goodbye, then walk inside the house. Edward toes the door closed, turning me to him and kissing me deeply.

"Fuck, woman. I missed you. We're done, right? No more shopping sprees or hours apart on weekends?"

"There's still a lot to do. Alice reminded me about organizing the bridal shower and the parties," I explain. "You can talk with the guys about the bachelor party. But I have a rule—don't have it the night before. Please. I don't want anyone drunk or smelling of puke at the wedding."

"You got it." He winks.

"So what did you do today?" I ask, slowly pulling off my sandals.

"Had some man time with Slob and watched sports, eating crap." Edward beams at me.

"Sounds like fun. Let me put the dress away, then we can try the strawberries."

"Don't I get a show?"

"Nope. Maybe some other time. I'm really tired."

"Want me to put on a movie?"

"That would be lovely. I need to lie down. I can't feel my legs."

Fifteen minutes later, I plop down next to Edward on the couch. I see the movie choice is with Kate Hudson. I simply love her and all her movies. She has nice chemistry with both Matthew McConaughey and Owen Wilson.

I lay my back against the armrest and put my feet on Edward's lap, turning my head to the flat screen. He offers me the bowl of strawberries…where he put probably half of the whipped cream tub.

"Why did you do this?" I protest. "This will melt, and the fruit will be all sticky."

"Oh come on, it's better than squirting whipped cream on every strawberry."

I scowl, popping one in my mouth. I like to put whipped cream on each and every one, but he doesn't understand it.

Between eating the delicious fruits, Edward rubbing my feet, and the predictable movie, I fall asleep. A sudden loud noise makes me jump and end up kissing the floor.

Ow.

Fucking hurts.

I can hear Edward shouting, but I don't know who's here. Of what I can see, it's dark outside.

Damn, I was sleeping so nicely.

Rubbing my shoulder, I stand up and make my way downstairs—toward his voice.

I catch the end of his speech.

"…just tell me. Do you need a fucking diaper? What's wrong with you? Just come and drag my ass out of bed if you need to poop, you old fart!"

I stop in the kitchen's doorway. Edward's on his knees wiping the floor, one of his socks is missing. Slob is a few feet away, his ears plastered to his head, looking…dejected for the lack of another word.

"Stop giving me the puppy dog eyes. It's not working!" Edward snaps. "Bella would kill you if she knew what you did."

"Don't be too hard on him, honey," I whisper making his shoulders stiffen. "He's old."

"He pooped in the middle of the kitchen, Bella! I don't care how old he is, he knows better. He never did such a thing."

"Edward, maybe he doesn't know…I mean…you know he can't feel his right back leg. Maybe it spread, and he can't feel…more." I shrug. "We should visit the vet again."

His green eyes widen, and then he looks sadly at Slob. When he opens his arms, the dog immediately goes to him, licking the side of his face.

I approach them and touch the dog's back. He doesn't turn. I tug gently on his tail—still nothing. When I meet Edward's eyes, my fear is mirrored there.

In the morning, the first thing we do is take Slob to his doctor. The vet confirms my suspicions. Slob's slowly becoming paralyzed. I don't want it to happen—ever. This means he's slowly but surely going to leave us.

Then we spend the rest of the day coddling Slob and playing with him. He probably loves the sudden attention, being rubbed and kissed by his owners.

"I knew why I didn't want him," Edward mumbles, running his hand over Slob's back. "In the very beginning, I protested when I realized what my dear family got me for my eighteenth birthday. Yeah, I've always wanted a dog, but now I was older, and it was different."

"I bet. Instead of chasing skirts, you had to take care of a puppy. And I bet you don't know math. You never mentioned that… Whoa, Edward! Slob's like…sixteen now, and multiplied by seven or so I hear you learn their true age…that will make him…"

"One hundred and twelve." He laughs, leaning to kiss the dog's head. "Christ. I guess, I never really thought of his age or stopped counting when he turned seven."

"Probably. Gosh. He's old."

Slob rolls between us, sighing, propping his huge head on my lap.

"I guess it's true what they say about animals—pets—living longer if they're loved," I say, rubbing one of his paws. So velvety and soft.

"I know it won't be tomorrow," Edward says on a shaky voice. "But I'll miss him."

While we sit in front of the couch downstairs with Slob, I decide to be productive. I bring my laptop and pull up a Word document where I start writing people's names.

We need to decide who comes at the bachelor/bachelorette party, bridal shower, and of course, the wedding.

Since I decided to number the guests, when I'm done, we have one hundred and seven. That's a lot. But we have to invite everyone at the company. Edward insists on a few previous employees that he befriended, I add the only girl I befriended at my old job, and she has a husband and a three year old kid now.

From our family's friends, we have the most because he insists on inviting his parents' good friends, then I realize he's right, so I add my parents' friends, too. Mom makes new friends every day—that's tricky. Phil would probably like to bring the team he started coaching last year, or some of them. Dad will insist on bringing his old partner from when he was a cop, Sue will probably bring her daughter who's married and has three kids.

God.

We're a huge lot.

After checking the calendar, we settle on having the wedding on the twenty-first—not seventeenth as we had planned.

Who gets married on a Tuesday, really?

The city hall will be on December thirteenth—the day we met all those years ago.

So the parties can be on fourteenth-fifteenth…all weekend.

"I want to have it combined with the bridal shower so I'm having it at home," I declare.

"No… I want it home," he grumbles.

I give him a dubious look. "Not a bar?"

"Nah. Maybe we'll borrow Emmett's house."

I laugh, imagining the crisis Rose will go through upon hearing that.


Pictures of the wedding attire in my FB group - Addicted-to-romione-bedward Fanfiction...at photos under the story's name.