CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I made an agreement with Seth to do the Kennedy Center Honors with the understanding that I would have complete control over the artwork for the two albums. I didn't foresee him picking a fight to my terms but I still wanted to make it clear that he didn't need to harass me any further on the matter.
By the end of the filming on Wednesday; after I had rolled around in the dirt and making sure that every shot just as I envisioned it was captured, we were finally done. I allowed myself one day of putting my mind into autopilot before I was required to show up to rehearsal on Friday. While most people would be out rampaging the stores for Black Friday I would be held up in a space where my only hope was some sort of windows to look upon on the outside world as I began rehearsals for next week's performance.
My mother who was working frantically to help put on Thanksgiving thankfully didn't require my help. Edward and her managed to get into a rather long discussion in which he was telling her that she would have an abundance of help due to the fact we had a lot more people to cook for. She argued and tried to even stomp her feet but in the end Edward won.
It was a glorious morning of Thanksgiving when I woke up feeling more rested then I have since our mini vacay to Hawaii. I sat up in bed and noticed Edward's absence; looking over to the clock I nearly had a heart attack when it read 2:14 pm. For a minute I was upset at the idea that no one had woken me sooner but then that quickly faded when I realized what Edward had done for me.
Lazy, I rose up out of bed to go ahead and start getting ready for the day's festivities. I was in the middle of my nice long bath when Edward came in holding a tray of fruit.
"I thought you'd might be hungry." He said with a smile on his face. I floated my way over to him and he lowered some grapes slowly dipping them into my mouth. I giggled.
"I feel like princess."
"Would you like some company, Princess?" I cringed at the words coming from his mouth.
"Sorry, it's just Jacob calls me that when he wants to be annoying." I shook my head of the thoughts. "But, yes please; if you think there will be time."
Edward started to shed his clothes. "Oh baby, we shall make time."
Edward sat down right behind me and settled me right between his legs. He started to give me a shoulder massage and I couldn't help the groans that came out of me.
"You keep that up and I just may skip Thanksgiving all together and go back to bed."
"Darling we can't have that. Your mother would go insane with your absence and I have a feeling there are a few people who would miss you." Edward purred.
"I guess you're right. It is my first Thanksgiving with Gracie and Savannah." I acknowledged.
"Did you wash your hair yet?" Edward asked.
I shook my head. "Good. I love washing your hair." Edward reached over to the shampoo and started to lather up my hair. He fingers giving my scalp a nice light massage.
"I feel like there isn't anything I wouldn't say yes to when you do that." I admitted.
"Hmm…then I should quickly try to think of something I want."
"Take your time back there big boy." I laughed.
"So…I was thinking…" he started.
"Wow that has to be some kind of record for you. Makes me think you had some agenda."
"I may have had a couple of things that I have been dying for the perfect moment to bring to your attention."
I pulled away from Edward and turned to face him. "Edward, what is it?" I knew my brief sanity would only last so long.
"Well…first of all I wanted to reiterate just how proud I am of you. I am also happy that you agreed to the KCH performance. I really do think that this could do great things for your career…"
"Edward." I prompted him to get to the point.
"I have, well Ian and I have been doing some research and we think we have found a great company to help take on some tasks." Edward was slow and vague.
"Would you just tell me already?" I pressured.
"All right, okay. I made an appointment for Sunday afternoon to speak with a wedding coördinator over at Wedding Wishes."
I sat there staring at him with my hair still in a soapy mess upon the top of my head.
"Honey, it's just a quick sit down. I figured that since we want to get married in two months then the sooner we did this the better it would be for our wedding coördinator."
I slowly nodded my head and exhaled. "But, I think I might be in rehearsals. Why don't you go ahead and meet with them. Take my mom, I'm sure she'd love that."
I didn't understand my feelings at the moment. Part of me was a little upset that he would book an appointment without consulting me first. I mean I already had enough on my calendar and now here Edward was trying to squeeze in one more thing. Didn't he understand that I was tired? Didn't he get how much stress and pressure I have been under? He's the one who was pushing me to do the Kennedy Center Honors and now there was one more thing I was forced to think about. To be honest at this point I wouldn't care if he planned the whole damn wedding himself.
I dropped down to wash my hair off in the water.
"Bella, I want to do this with you." Edward replied.
I sat there trying to wash the soap out of my hair.
"Let's face it. I'm never going to have time. Just plan the dream wedding that you want. At least then one of us will be happy." I snapped.
"Bella. Honey."
"Ugh, I can't get this damn shampoo out of my hair. I'm just going to have to take a shower." I huffed and picked myself up from the tub.
"Wait, I want to talk to you." Edward started to say while trying to pick himself up too.
I walked over and jumped into the shower. "Well you can talk to me while I shower. I don't know if I can fit you into my schedule otherwise."
I was frantically trying to scrub the shampoo away. Edward opened the door and pushed his way in.
"Baby, would you please just calm down." Edward pulled my hands out of my hair and held them against his chest.
"I don't have time to calm down." I yelled. "Every minute of every day has something planned out and I don't get the luxury of calming down, Edward."
I melted into his chest as I was overwhelmed with tears and sobs. "There is just never enough time." I whimpered.
Edward held me for a few moments before stating, "I'm going to push the wedding back."
I pulled my head from off his chest to look at him. "No. I don't want you to do that."
"Bella, you're going kind of crazy. I don't want to be the reason for this." He gestured to my sad form.
"Edward, I will figure it out. Sorry, I melted down on you. I will figure this out." I turned away from him to turn off the shower.
"I don't want you to figure this out. This is too much pressure on you and I am going to change the date. Maybe sometime in Summer would be better."
I grabbed my towel and started to dry off. "Don't you see? It doesn't matter when we get married. I will always have something or you will have something that will cause us some stress. We are not pushing back that wedding date. I had a temporary lapse and I will be fine."
"Baby, you're not fine." Edward said.
"I am fine." I pushed. "Just tell Emma to call WMG and let them know of our appointment with this Wedding Wishes and that I will need to step out for a moment on rehearsals. I will figure this out."
I walked over to the closet upset at how I could lose my shit in front of Edward. I needed to keep it together or knowing Edward's actions in the past he may just forbid me from working all together and even though I know I could fight him; I didn't have it in me to fight right now.
"Bella, can you just stop. I want to talk to you." Edward was still pushing; damn me and my womanly hormones.
"Please, can we just not. I just want to get ready and go and spend what little time I have with my family. Please, can this just wait?" I was trying to put on some clothes. The clock in our closet read 3:33 pm.
Edward sighed and nodded; thankfully giving up his quest…for now.
I put on a simple green dress and some black tights. Working quickly with some light makeup; I managed to look somewhat presentable by four. It didn't take Edward as long to get ready but he did keep throwing looks of concern toward me. Eventually I had to kick him out and told him I would meet him downstairs.
The first thing I noticed when I came out of my bedroom door was how loud it seemed. As I was descending the stairs I could pick out a couple of voices that weren't on my mental guest list. I had been under the impression that it would only be like ten people for dinner but when I arrived downstairs there was at least thirty people from my rough guesstimate.
"Bella, there you are." Angela jumped up and came over to give me a strong hug.
"Hey, Ang. What are you doing here?" I asked confused.
"Why? Did you want me to leave?" she laughed.
"No. I…I just didn't know you were coming today."
"Well Edward called me and asked if I would come by since I haven't seen you in forever Miss Hollywood. So Ben and I came and later this evening we are going to go by my parent's house before the dreaded Black Friday events begin."
"Wow, that's great. I've really missed you." I added sincerely.
"Are those tears? Really Bella?"
We both laughed. "I just have felt so out of touch with everyone for so long. But since I have you here." I pulled her aside away from everyone else.
"Why so secret?" she asked as I pulled her down a hallway.
I turned back to her, "Ang, I was hoping to ask if you would be my maid of honor."
"I didn't think it was a question. I mean who else could ever possibly be as awesome as me?" She hugged me hard. "Thank you, Bella." She whispered.
"Well, well can I get in on this sandwich?" Jacob taunted from behind us.
"Ugh, Jacob you always have to ruin a moment, don't you?" I huffed.
"I live to serve." He mocked.
I hadn't really had time to think about bridesmaids or anything really wedding related but I always knew that Angela would be my maid of honor. There was no question about it.
We walked back toward the living room with Jacob in tow.
"Mommy, come look what grandma help us make." Gracie pulled me toward the dining room where it looked like Edward had transformed the dining room from one long table into four tables forming a square. In the middle of the four tables was another smaller table and upon it a turkey made from fruit setting on a platter.
"Isn't it pretty. We got to stab different fruits and make the turkey colorful." Gracie presented. My mom was always a wonder with craft projects.
"It's beautiful. Did you and Savannah have fun?" I asked.
"Yep. I also helped put marshmallows on the yams today too." She boasted.
"Where's Savannah? Did she help too?"
"Of course and Becky and Rosalie and Esme and Alice."
"Wow there must have been a lot of people here this morning." Suddenly I felt guilty that I hadn't come down and helped.
"Maybe I should go and say hello. Great job on the turkey."
Edward caught me up before leaving the dining room.
"Do you like it?" he asked cautiously.
"Yes. I love it. Um… I just feel bad. I should have helped instead of sleeping in. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted you to get some rest. Plus I had everything under control. You said you wanted time with your family and friends so I invited a plethora of people hoping that you would be able to truly enjoy the day."
I walked over to Edward who still seemed a little nervous and wrapped my arms around him.
"Thank you." I said sincerely looking into his eyes. He leaned down and gently placed a kiss upon my mouth. The doorbell rang pulling us from our moment.
"I should get that." Edward said softly.
"I could get it. I know you probably have to get back to base."
"Let's both go." Edward smiled and turned holding my hand.
The doorbell rang once more just as we arrived to the door. Edward pulled the door open.
"I was wondering if anyone planned on answering today or if I should just wait out here until Christmas."
"Marcus." I jumped up with a smile to hug him.
"Be careful with the wine. This bottle costs more than your wedding dress." He remarked.
"I'm so happy you came." I replied pulling the apparently expensive wine bottle from his arms.
"Well, I was supposed to be in New York but I have been working on a project that caused me to cancel my plans. Edward called me and asked if I wouldn't mind coming for dinner and since you were the reason for my cancelled plans I felt the least you owed me was well cooked dinner."
We started walking toward the living room.
"Thank you so much for coming, Marcus." Edward said.
"Wait, you cancelled your plans because of me?" I stopped him.
"You did only give me two months." He noted.
"If it makes you feel better Edward wants to push the wedding back to summer." I rolled my eyes.
Marcus stopped in his spot, "No that does not make me feel better." He snapped. "I have been designing a dress for winter. You said you were getting married in February; well then February it is."
"It's just we have a lot on our plates right now and think maybe it would be better for our stress level if we had longer." Edward tried to explain.
"When you have money, a wedding shouldn't be stressful that's why you have people like me to do everything for you and besides are you two really naïve enough to not think that there will never be a non-stressful time in your life? Hmmm. You two are busier than a pack of wolves devouring a fresh carcass."
"That's what I said." I huffed and Edward poked me in the side.
I took Marcus over to our bar and started to make him a drink. Our home was becoming quite full and I hadn't even said hello to everyone yet. I decided I needed to make my rounds so I handed Marcus off to Angela and proceeded to greet everyone. Darren had come over from across the street and brought a rather fine ass honey with him. Rosalie and my mother were like gang busters in the kitchen. While Alice was sitting on a stool doing what she could, sitting down. She was set to give birth in the next couple of weeks and looked ready to pop.
I saw Garrett, sitting and talking with Carlisle, Kate and Peter and Charlotte. As much as I didn't care for Garrett, I knew the proper thing to do would be to go over and greet everyone. As I was approaching I could hear a little of their conversation.
"Charlotte we will do everything to make this right. If we have to sue the pants off them we will." Garrett said determined.
"I know I should have thicker skin but not when they are so determined to spread such horrible lies." She looked distressed.
"Hey everybody. I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving." I tried to sound upbeat.
They all greeted me back even Garrett.
"Great job on the AMA performance." Kate got up and hugged me.
"Thank you."
Charlotte got up from her chair and hugged me as well. "Charlotte are you okay?" I asked worried when I could see her eyes swimming with tears. She tried to wave me off and laugh.
"Oh just having fun with the tabloids. You know how it goes."
"What happened?" I was still concerned and part of me couldn't believe that they could affect her so horribly. I mean I have only been this business for a couple of months. Charlotte had been in it a couple of years and I just would have thought that she wouldn't take them so serious anymore but apparently I was wrong. I tried my best these days to not look at them because I knew just how much was fabrications so I had been a tad out of touch with the latest gossip.
"It's nothing. Not anything that I haven't read before." She didn't sound too convincing.
"Bella, unfortunately we have been the targets for some rather inappropriate attacks lately." Peter explained.
"What? Why? I mean you too are almost saintly. I can't imagine what anyone would ever attack you over." I meant every word. Peter and Charlotte were nothing if not dears. They always made you feel welcomed.
"The media has been on this kick lately with trying to disgrace any person who is a member of the Church of Scientology. They have been doing tear down pieces on everything from Peter and Charlotte's relationship to their belief practices." Carlisle said.
"What? That's disgusting. Why should it matter to anyone what you believe. Ugh, I fucking hate the media." I replied outraged.
"Normally we wouldn't listen to it but it's been somewhat of a stress to Charlotte and I don't want her feeling this kind of stress especially right now." Peter massaged Charlotte's shoulder. I gave them a look of confusion at his last statement.
"I'm pregnant." Charlotte answered my look with a small smile.
"Oh my god. Congratulations." I hugged her. I laughed a little at the joy I felt for them. They had apparently been trying since they were married almost two years ago. I knew that this was a blessing.
"Thank you, Bella." She replied sincerely.
"Like I said Charlotte, we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that Wexford Media and Publishing House is taken down a peg or two by the time we're done with them." Garrett vowed.
I could understand where Garrett was coming from but I think what Charlotte needed right now was just some hand holding and consoling. Garrett looked like he was ready for war. I couldn't imagine why people couldn't leave well alone. Why did this group feel the need to attack my friends just because of their religion? They weren't hurting anyone with their beliefs.
I sat and tried to steer the conversation into a more positive direction talking with Charlotte and Kate over baby things. They boys sensing this, moved on to find a more interesting group to talk to. After a little while I finally got up and went to search for my mom to check on her and see how she was doing.
My dad had been in the media room with Emmett watching the big game. I almost stopped by to say hello but as I got closer I heard a lot of screaming and yelling at the screen being done so I figured it was best to just move on.
"Hey mom. How you holding up?" I asked.
"Oh Bella, there you are. Your kitchen is just fantastic. I really need to think about getting one of these." Wearing her apron while holding a pot holder she was dancing around the space taking different items out and placing them on a long table. It looked like it was going to buffet style.
"Is there something I could do to help?"
"No honey, Edward wants to make sure you do absolutely nothing today. Besides Esme, Rosalie and Alice have been such dears. I think we almost have it all ready."
"Okay well I don't mind, really." I answered. The doorbell rang once more and my mom shooed me out to go and answer it.
"Jacqueline!" I all but yelled with excitement.
"Didn't start the party without me now, did you?" She flounces her way in giving me a hug as she passed.
"No, I mean we were just about to sit down to dinner." I replied.
"Great timing." She looked in the direction of the living room appraising it. "So…uh are we Tria Fata'd out tonight?"
I cringed. "Yeah…sorry."
"Sorry, don't be. I'm not scared." She laughed. "I could go for a good spanking. I've been a very bad girl."
I laughed and shook my head. "If you keep that up, I will pawn you off on Jacob. He's the only one still looking for a mate and don't come crying to me when that happens. I don't know what would be worse being spanked by Jacob or just being around Jacob."
She laughed. "I'll be good."
"Oh it's so good to see you. I've missed you." I said.
"Well, I'm happy for you. I can see that you have definitely been rising on the ladder. Good for you Bella."
"I just wish we could spend more time together." I said honestly.
"Well, then make me a bridesmaid and I'll make that happen Mrs. Future Cullen." She smiled.
I waved my imaginary wand, "Poof you're a bridesmaid." It wasn't a question I had already started thinking about it and even though we hadn't known each other long. I knew that Jacqueline and I would be great friends for the rest of our lives.
"Good and now that that is settled just know that I'm more of a winter then a summer. I need to be in dark clothing." She joked.
"Oh, Jacks I already picked my colors. I loved the whole peach and bright green combo. I think it could be trendsetting." I said serious.
"That's not funny Bella. Do I need to find your manager and lodge a complaint?"
I laughed. "I will keep your color palate under consideration." I rolled my eyes.
"I guess I can wear peach." She huffed.
"Oh no sweetheart you'll be wearing the bright green the peach will be from the flowers that will be braided into your hair."
Jacqueline gave me a look of pure disgust.
"Ladies, I think we are ready to start eating." Edward announced.
"Did you just hear the woman who you asked to marry you?" Jacqueline looked to Edward.
"What?" he smiled.
"Baby, I told her of the colors that we choose for the wedding and she doesn't seem too pleased. Neon green and peach." I answered.
"Oh that's right neon green and peach. Isn't my baby a genius?" Edward kissed me on the temple.
"I know you're joking but in case you're not, I'm going to need a drink and pronto." With that Jacqueline turned towards the direction of our bar and went off in search.
After Edward and I had our laugh it quickly turned into a kiss fest.
"What in blue ball hell?" we both pulled away hearing a yell.
"Crap. I think she must have just told Marcus." I giggled.
"You better get in there and fix it." Edward pushed me off toward the direction from where we heard the outburst.
"What happened to us always being in this together?" I asked.
Edward looked toward the area where the commotion came from.
"When it comes to Marcus; you can handle it." Edward patted me on the back before running off in a different direction.
"Coward." I huffed under my breath.
I started to walk over toward the dining room. People were starting to take their places around the table. I watched as Kate sat her girls down in the chairs and started to cut up their meat. My dad and Emmett still talking furiously over the latest play. Angela giving Ben a kiss as she sat down beside him. Embry laughing loudly at a joke Darren must have just told. Savannah sitting herself down next to my mom while helping Gracie with her plate of food.
"Please tell me she's joking." Marcus said looking at me with glare. Jacqueline was sitting beside him picking at her food with smirk.
All these different people from all walks of life coming together to celebrate this day. I was finally surrounded by true friends; I was surrounded by family. I had never been more thankful in my life.
AN: I have been thinking a lot about this story and I am not sure if I am going to add a part four or if I will just make Part Three really long. Part three spans over a year and a half and a lot happens in that time. I just know that we are only fourteen chapters in and I havent even touched the surface of all that is going to happen. Thank you so much for all of your support and leaving me feedback. It really helps. THANK YOU!