CHAPTER TWENTY
"This one is a beautiful little winery less than two hours away in Temecula. I know it's not as posh as the wineries you'll find in Santa Barbara but…"
Emily had been going on for what seemed like an eternity on venues and my attention span caught the first flight out a couple of hours ago when she started mentioning how all these venues could hold over five hundred people. Since the mention of this little tidbit, every image she showed on her little power point presentation had me envisioning all the different ways I could make a complete ass out of myself by tripping, fainting, vomiting and any other personal problem I could experience. In some ways it had turned into a game for my little imagination.
My mom slapped me in the shoulder. "Ow!" I complained.
"Pay attention." She scolded.
I knew it was a bad idea to include her in on today's meeting.
"So what do we think? Are there any places that caught your eye? I can arrange for a private tour." Emily suggested.
I looked over to Edward and he looked back to me. We both just stared at one another but it was funny because even though we were looking right at one another we really weren't looking at each other if that makes any sense.
"Uh…what did you like?" I fumbled out.
"I…Sunstone Winery looked nice." He replied.
I know this sounds horrible but I had no idea what he was talking about and now for a little confession which I never told anyone before now. I lied.
"Really, I loved that one too." I tried not to sound too excited or else he might think I was really lying, which I was. I just wanted him to pick a place already. It didn't matter to me at that point where we got married. In fact I would be much happier if it was just us a couple of people and a courthouse but I knew he wanted this big white wedding so I lied to my fiancé.
"Really?" Edward asked giving me the full force of his eyes trying to bring forth a confession.
I quickly nodded my head and gave him a big closed mouth smile. I turned around to my mom hoping to take the attention from me, "What do you think, mom?"
"Sunstone is breathtaking. I can just see the pictures all ready." She looked like she was about to faint just trying to imagine it.
"Great, so we are all in agreement. Sun…stone it is. Uh…where was that again?"
"It is in Santa Ynez." Emily replied. "I know it's kind of far but once you take the private tour and decide then I can do all the rest."
"Why do we need to take a tour? We have pictures and more importantly I trust you." I said.
"Of course you need to take a tour. What if you get there and the bathrooms are far from the venue or the sun sets in the wrong place. You can't find out these things until you go to the place itself." My mom pestered.
"Edward, we don't have time. You know there is a lot coming up. Don't you think we should just place trust in Emily knowing she would never show us something that wasn't up to Wedding Wishes standards?" I knew that if I could get Edward on board nothing else would matter.
He looked to be in thought for a minute while I anxiously awaited his verdict.
"Bella's right. We have a lot to do coming up. I'm sure that it will be perfect when we arrive." Edward stated and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"I just don't understand you too. What could be possibly more important than your wedding? You have the whole month of January coming up. I'm sure there is time for a quick getaway." My mom complained. We still hadn't told her or my dad about the Inauguration plans because we were sworn to not tell anyone but I think for her sanity I was going to have to let the cat out of the bag.
"Why don't you go ahead and start working up a contract with Sunstone, Emily. If this is what Bella wants then the decision is made."
Edward looked to me again and this time I did feel the guilt creeping in. I wanted to tell Edward that I thought this was what he wanted but I put my faith in Emily. I knew she would create something so beautiful that when Edward and I arrived we would both be happy. Well that's what I was hoping for.
"Have you too decided on colors or an overall general feel? It could really help me out moving forth with getting ideas." Emily asked.
Once again Edward and I were stumped. We hadn't really discussed this much. Hell, we hadn't discussed this at all and now it felt like we were standing in front of the teacher trying to explain why our homework wasn't done.
"Uh.."
"Um.."
Both Edward and I looked lost.
"Oh for goodness sakes." My mom threw her hands up in the air. If Emily was the teacher my mom was the principal.
"How bout you name a color you like and I'll pick a color too." I suggested to Edward.
"Bella, what if you pick colors that don't go together." My mom interrupted.
"Mom, would you just give it a rest. We are trying here, just give us a moment." I snapped. Her constant pecking made me snap. She immediately backed off and looked hurt.
"Renee, we value your opinion we just need a minute." Edward went into damage control mode.
"I'm sorry mom but I'm already stressed out, you are always on my case and I need a break."
The whole situation had gotten tense real quick. You could tell that Emily wanted to be anywhere else at the moment.
"Mommy, it's three o'clock on the dot. You said you'd watch a movie with me." Gracie interrupted our little meeting and I was never more thankful.
"You're right, I did promise." I went over to her and picked her up. She was all dressed up in her princess dress with matching tiara. Whenever we would watch a princess movie, Gracie just had to be dressed for the occasion.
"Thank you Emily for all of your hard work. Edward and I will make some decisions and be in touch." I smiled half heartily and turned around and continued to leave with my youngest.
Upstairs in one of the family rooms we had turned this area into Savannah and Gracie's play room. There were big comfy couches and a big screen television as well as some toys in the corner.
"So what's on the menu for today?" I asked going over to the DVD selection.
"Mommy, you can't have a movie to eat." Gracie giggled. And then all of my problems were gone. In some sort of hormonal moment of weakness I went over to her on the couch and hugged her. I could feel the tears build.
"What's wrong, mommy?" she asked worried.
"Oh I'm sorry honey, I'm just having a bad day and then you made me feel so happy that I couldn't help myself." I tried to explain.
"Well if you're happy then why are you crying?"
"Because when you get older, you get silly. I'm just being silly."
"Do you mind if I am silly with you guys?" Edward's voice startled me and I quickly jumped up from the couch and made a mission of finding a DVD and trying to make sure he didn't see my silly tears.
"Uncle Edward, we're gonna watch Sleeping Beauty. That's a girl movie." Gracie told him.
"I don't mind watching a girl movie if it's with my best girls."
"Okay, but I warned you."
Just listening to Gracie made me cheer up instantly. I located the Sleeping Beauty movie that she had requested and made work of getting in all started. Once the DVD started up I made sure that the tears were dry before turning back to Edward and Gracie sitting upon the couch.
"Do you want me to make some popcorn?" I asked.
"Yes, please." Gracie replied.
"I'll be right back."
I hurried out of the room and went toward the upstairs kitchen. It was a quarter of the size of our downstairs kitchen but we mainly used it for times like these. Popping popcorn and getting drinks.
"Bella, what's wrong honey?" Edward asked from behind me as I stared at the microwave. "I'll talk to your mother."
Still I couldn't find it in me to say anything. I felt him come up from behind and place his hands on my shoulders.
"You don't like Sunstone."
"No. It's fine. They are all fine. You like Sunstone and I know that Emily will make it beautiful." I replied.
"There is something wrong and you're not telling me." He pressed.
I turned to face him. "There is just so much to think about and I'm overwhelmed. I can't imagine how people do this without a wedding planner. I know that all I have to do it just say what I want and it will come to pass but there are just so many decisions and how am I going to know if it's the right decision. What if I pick colors that don't go together or cake that tastes awful or we have a lopsided bridal party? I just feel so lost. Can't you just decide everything and I will show up? I promise I will show up if you just make all the decisions." I pleaded.
"Bella, this isn't hard. You're making this way harder than it needs to be. You are extremely creative. I am not going to decide everything. We will make the decisions together."
"Hey, did you all ditch me?" Gracie stood with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot. She didn't look happy.
"No, of course not." I reached in and took the popcorn out of the microwave and shook it into a bowl. Edward carried the drinks and we made our way back to the family room.
Gracie un-paused the movie and Edward laid down on the couch and situated me next to him and I pulled Gracie next to me. We all were able to reach the popcorn and get comfortable.
"So what color did you choose?" I whispered making sure I wasn't disturbing Gracie.
"Uh…well I like a lot of colors but knowing the venue I think green would be nice." He replied.
"What kind of green?"
"I don't know a darker green, I guess or maybe a light green but nothing too neon or pukey."
I laughed. "All right, we will tell Emily that we want a non pukey green."
"So what color do you like?" he asked softy.
"I kind of like pink." I was watching Sleeping Beauty and I have to admit I liked the color. "But a soft pink. I don't know if Pink and green necessary go together. Or what my mother will think of the combination."
"Baby, it's perfect. Pink and green. We made a decision." He kissed my hair and I looked back at him. I felt relieved.
We made a decision.
I knew that I needed to go and have a talk with my parents. I was a bitch earlier to my mom and I wanted to rectify that and finally tell them about the reason for the stress I was under. But before I managed to make it down the stairs to seek them out I fired off a text to Marcus since I did promise him that the moment I knew the colors I would S.O.S. him immediately.
Pink and Green
Didn't take too long to receive a response.
What kind of pink? What kind of Green? You do realize that this could be brilliant or a disaster.
I couldn't wait to reply to that.
A soft pink, like a baby's butt and not so pukey green :-)
Marcus's reply came quickly.
Great, I can't wait to tell the press that the color palette that I was inspired from was Baby butt pink and non pukey green.
I knew Marcus would never let me down.
My parents were a little unbelieving of my soon to be involvement with the upcoming ceremonies in Washington. I had to bring Edward in to confirm in order for them to believe me. Once it set in, my mother was in tears and gushing. I guess Edward was right. It wouldn't matter that she didn't vote for the new President when it came to her daughter performing at the ceremony her politics flew right out the window.
It was Christmas Eve and Embry and I did all we could to get the girls up to bed as early as possible. I know that I never mentioned what happened after I finally ran into Embry the first time after I heard his new single and that is mainly because there wasn't much to tell. You see Embry and I sometimes didn't need words to communicate. Most of the time we settled for the ole one arm hug and a quiet, "thanks." We always had such a deep understanding of one another that words were rarely used when needing to express ourselves.
As soon as the girls were in bed it was all hands on deck and every single person had a job which I assigned them to do. We needed all the time we could get to set up everything. The great thing about having an assistant is that they were able to wrap gifts, a job in the past that I found tedious.
My goal was to turn our family room and kitchen that was attached into a birthday zone for Savannah and leave the entry den full of Christmas spirit. The plan was to have everyone open gifts in the morning and then around eleven when it was time for breakfast we would all head into the kitchen for the birthday bonanza. Savannah and Gracie didn't know of the birthday bonanza part.
Our friends or extended family as I came to know them were all invited over that next day for the birthday party. So you can imagine the prep work that needed to go into that. My mom was in the kitchen baking and cooking with Becky. Jacob and Embry had brought in ladders and were hanging up the hundreds of glittery streamers from the ceiling all in Savannah's favorite colors purple, blue and silver. I was decorating the easy to reach places, my dad was filing the piñata with candy and was in charge of hanging it up. Edward was in charge of being Santa and he had the task of putting out all the Christmas gifts.
It was two am before any of us were able to go to bed and I happily drug my butt up the stairs and got into bed. It was only four hours later when I felt a tap on my cheek.
"Mommy." Gracie whispered.
I groaned and turned over to snuggle closer to Edward for safety.
The girls both giggled. "Tickle her toes." Savannah ordered.
I felt the small paws of one determined little girl, touch my feet.
"Edward, make them stop." I whined.
"Girls, you need to go back to sleep. It's only six." Edward called out.
"But we're not sleepy anymore." Gracie protested.
"Then go and wake up your father." He replied.
"Okay." They went scampering off into the wee morning hours on a mission.
"You're brilliant. This must be why I love you." I snuggled in closer.
"Well, you know that's not going to hold them off long, right?" Edward asked.
"Stop talking. Some of us are trying to sleep over here." I growled.
For a few minutes it was bliss but then a knocking came.
"B. There girls are up. Time for presents." Embry ordered.
"NO!" I moaned.
"Come on, it will just get worse. Up you go." Edward said as he poked me in the side causing me to shriek.
"Traitor." I huffed pulling myself out of bed.
Edward and I each put on our robes and headed downstairs where we found the girls jumping around the vast Christmas tree still dressed in their pajamas.
"Santa came. Look! Santa came."
I could hear the chanting but what Santa needed to bring me was a large dose of caffeine.
"Quarter cream, two sugars." Jacob handed me a cup of perfection. Seemed that Jacob would make a fine elf.
"Thank you. Many blessings upon your house." I replied after taking a sip.
"This is what you get for sending them to bed at eight pm. Wired crazed little monsters at six in the morning." Embry complained.
"Fine, next time I won't forget to lock them in the dungeon." I kidded.
We all gathered around and handed out gifts mostly watching the girl's sequel with delight. Edward and I wanted to save Savannah's video camera for her birthday gift and opted to give the girls bicycles instead. Of course there were other gifts as well, clothes and various toys. I may have gone a little overboard but I couldn't help it. It was my first Christmas as a mother.
"Charlie, this is from Bella and I." Edward gave my dad the thin envelope to open. "Merry Christmas."
"What's is this?" My dad asked. He pulled out the contents and I laughed out loud when I saw him pull the item closer, inspecting it like he wasn't sure if he was seeing things clearly.
"I don't know if your team will make it to the Super Bowl this year. As much as it pains me to say, I know they are doing well and so whether or not they make it; we can still go and enjoy the game." Edward explained.
"Wha…wow. This is just the…greatest…thing." My dad looked choked up. I knew that going to a Super Bowl was always a dream for him.
"Gee, thanks. I would think I was the greatest thing." I teased.
"Oh Bells, of course you're great. Without you, I would have never met Edward."
Everyone laughed at my dad's little joke. I guess that's what I get.
I got up pushing off the wrapping paper on my lap and went over to the tree to bring back a gift for Edward. I had no idea what to get him. He was always so good at gift giving and as time was running out I gave up on the whole idea of trying to out gift him.
"You are like the hardest person to shop for so I wish I could have been more thoughtful this year but I just wanted to say that I love you more than anything and thank you for loving me too." I handed the box to Edward.
"I know I'm hard to shop for because everything I would want is right here." Edward leaned over to kiss me. "I love you too, Bella."
Edward turned and pulled the wrapping paper from off of his gift. I was finally in a position to afford something nice and even though I knew I had more than enough money to pay for Edward's gift it was still hard for me to hand over my debit card after seeing the total.
Edward pulled the Rolex watch from out of its pristine box.
"I had it engraved. It looked like something you would wear." I was trying to explain my choice in gift.
Edward turned it over to read the inscription:
My love for you is like time, never ending.
"It's beautiful baby, I love it." He leaned over and kissed me one more time. "I'd like to give you your gift later in private if you don't mind."
I got a goofy little smile on my face. "I love gifts in private." I replied suggestively.
"Oh Bella, get your head out of the gutter." He rolled his eyes.
As soon as the last gift was open and we spent a little while with one another it was time to explain the day's events.
"Okay as we all know that today is a very important and special day because maybe you haven't heard but a certain girl is turning nine years old today." I announced.
Everyone started to cheer and Savannah looked a little red from the attention as she smiled widely.
"So before we continue we all should say a big Happy Birthday to Savannah."
There was a loud "Happy Birthday!" from everyone.
"Now, girls I want you to go upstairs and I have put out a special rack in your closet of clothes for you to choose from because in one hour time there is going to be a big party happening down here."
Gracie jumped up all excited.
"Really?" Savannah squealed.
"Yep, go and get dressed. You better hurry."
Both of them took off running and it meant that all of us were going to have to take off running as well especially if I wanted to fit a shower in before everything started. We all left the mess in the den for now and went off toward our rooms.
"Wanna shower together? Could save some time." Edward grabbed a hold of my hips as I was walking up the stairs.
"When does that ever save us time, Edward?"
"I'll be good." He vowed.
"Somehow, I don't believe you." We reached our room and I took off toward the shower. "Stay back, mister. We are on a serious time crunch." I warned him with the shake of my finger.
"Fine, but hurry up." He huffed.
I did hurry up because I knew it was going to be next to impossible to shower and get my hair dried within the small window of time. I wanted to beat my girls down to the kitchen and living room. I would be so upset if I didn't get to see their faces.
My makeup for the day was minimal and I made it out of the bedroom and down the stairs to witness Embry trying to hold them off at our opaque sliding glass doors to the kitchen.
"You can't go in there just yet. It's a surprise." Embry looked up and saw me coming, "Thank god you're here. These little party monsters can hardly wait."
"Before you go in let me take a look at these two stylin girls. I want a picture." I pulled out my camera phone.
"Mom, come on hurry." Savannh whined. Gracie got into pose mode the moment I mentioned picture.
"Come on go stand by your dad." I shooed them toward Embry. "Say cheese."
"Cheese." They sang.
"All right, now it's your turn." Embry started to take the camera from me.
"Want me to take one of all of you?" Becky said coming down the stairs.
"Would you?" I asked.
We all got together and that was our first picture all together that wasn't brought on by paparazzi.
Finally everyone in the house had arrived and Embry made a great show of opening the doors and debuting the party room.
I will never forget the looks on those girls faces, well before they took off and went into a crazed frenzy. The cake was out and on display. We had picked the cake up the day before and had a beast of a time finding a place for it in the refrigerator. It was three tiers and had all the colors I had requested.
Jacob went over and started the music up which was definitely a change from the Christmas music that every radio station played this time of year. In fact if you were to look at pictures from that day you would think it was from any other day of the year which is what I wanted. I wanted Savannah to know that she was not an afterthought just because her birthday happens to coincide with someone else's.
All of our friends and family started to arrive and we greeted them with birthday hats and hugs. When Jasper and Alice managed to make it to our door I couldn't believe how big Alice looked.
"My god, are you charging it rent?" I laughed. Alice was a couple of weeks overdue and from the looks of it Jasper and she needed this baby to come, stat.
"You have no idea. I'm about to go insane. At first I loved being pregnant but I swear I am one step away from giving myself a C-section." She huffed.
"Be sure to keep sharp objects away from her." I said out the corner of my mouth to Edward.
They laughed and we made our Christmas and well wishes to one another.
By one o'clock everyone had arrived. The food had subtly changed over from brunch to lunch snacks. The boys were outside barbecuing, the kids who included Garrett's and Kate's daughters were playing games with each other and us girls were standing around the kitchen gossiping and snacking.
"So have you finally settled on colors?" Jacqueline asked me.
"Yep. We decided to go with baby butt pink and non pukey green." I smiled while tossing a carrot into my mouth.
"Great, I hear non pukey is all the rage this year. I can't wait to be seen in it." Rosalie cringed.
"You'll look fabulous darling. It's me that has to worry. Non-pukey never does anything for my complexion." Jacqueline added.
"Well, if it makes you feel better. I'm pretty sure you'll be in baby butt." I advised.
"Thank god. I have the perfect lipstick for baby butt." Jacqueline replied.
"Mom, when do I get to open presents?" Savannah tugged on me stopping our fascinating conversation.
"You want to open them before lunch?" I asked. "Go ask your dad and see if he's fine with it."
Embry was watching the basketball game with my dad and Darren when Savannah went up and asked her question. She hurriedly came back smiling. "He said I could open one gift now."
"Do you want to open the one from Edward and I?" I asked.
"Yes."
"I'll go get Edward." I went outside and shouted for Edward to come. I approached the shrine of gifts and pulled ours from the stack.
"Happy Birthday, honey." I handed her the gift and she tore into it.
"What is it? What is it?" Gracie shouted.
"Oh my god, you got me a camera." Savannah shouted.
"Yep. You can film and take pictures, the whole nine yards." Edward said.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She came up and hugged both Edward and I.
After lunch we were able to open the rest of the presents which took a little while but I swear I had never seen Savannah smile so much before. It was a real transformation. I look back on the past couple of months and I had of course seen the radical transformation in Embry but I failed to see just how much more alive Savannah looked. And I was thankful.
We sang the traditional Happy Birthday song and Savannah blew out nine candles. I was in the middle of cutting the cake when Embry announced that he would like to give his daughter a gift. I myself had failed to notice that Savannah hadn't opened a gift from her father.
"Nine years ago today I was blessed with the greatest gift a person could receive on Christmas day. Savannah, you and Gracie mean the world to me and I love you. Happy Birthday." Embry handed over a small thin rectangular present.
"Thank you, daddy." Savannah replied softly. She opened the gift and looked at the object. "It's a photo of a horse."
"Not a photo. A real horse. Her name is Misty and maybe tomorrow I can take you over to meet her." Embry explained.
He got her a horse?!
"You got me a horse?" she exclaimed. "Oh daddy, thank you."
Savannah threw her arms around Embry's neck and he kissed her forehead. Looking at the two of them, yep complete transformation.
After a rousing match with the piñata which Emmett even tried to take a blindfolded swipe at, the party was dying down and people were saying their goodbyes. I was exhausted and an early night was on my agenda.
"Thank you so much for coming." I hugged Charlotte and Peter.
"Merry Christmas." They said as they departed.
"Jasper, what's up man? You look a little worried over there." Edward said toward Jasper sitting in the corner with all of his and Alice's' stuff.
"Alice has been in the bathroom for a while and I keep asking her if she's okay but she just tells me to leave. I hope she's not getting sick, she did eat a lot more today than she's used to." Jasper sighed.
"I'll go check on her." I gave Jasper a warm smile before heading off to the bathroom. I knocked softly before calling out her name.
"Uh…I'm fine. Just…go." She sounded worried.
"Alice. What's wrong?"
Nothing.
"I'm coming in." I opened the door slowly and found Alice standing in the corner, shaking.
"I made a mess." She looked up to me apprehensively. I looked down and on the ground was some…fluid. "I've been trying to clean it up but I have to stop every couple of minutes because I keep feeling this pain."
"Uh…Alice, your water broke."
"I know but I didn't want to leave a mess." She shrieked.
"Alice, your water broke." I said a little higher pitched.
"You think I don't know that, Swan." She said through her teeth and then grabbed onto the counter, "Not again." She screamed a little.
I stood in shock a little, "Uh….JASPER!" I shouted. I didn't know what else to do and it was obvious that I was of little help.
"Bella, I don't want to go to the hospital yet. I'm not ready." Alice pleaded.
"What do you mean you're not ready? You've been looking at every sharp blunt object like it's been your ticket to freedom. You're ready."
Jasper and Edward came rapidly to the door and barged in on our debate.
"Oh my god. Uh…we…got… uh…" Jasper was more unhelpful than I was.
"I'm calling for an ambulance." Edward pulled out his phone and dialed immediately.
"No. Please Bella, can't I just stay here with you?" she was shaking. I walked over to her and put my arms around her.
"You need to go to the hospital. You want to make sure that your baby is safe right? I don't think a bathroom is a very safe place for you to give birth. I mean think of what the tabloids will say. Alice Whitlock gives birth on an unsanitary bathroom floor? And then you know I'll take pictures and sell them off to the highest bidder and I can't imagine you'd want the whole world to see you lying in your own goo."
Alice smiled up at me. "I guess you're right."
"Alice, we have to get you to the hospital." Jasper thawed out and was trying to catch up.
"Ambulance is on its way." Edward came back in.
We all stood there in that bathroom which never seemed tiny before but when you put three grown adults and one crazy prego chick in, it suddenly seemed claustrophobic. The paramedics arrived and set Alice up, her contractions seemed closer together. Edward and I followed after in our car leaving Embry with the girls. I guess Savannah would have one more person to share her birthday with.
AN: Thank you always for your reviews, they help so much with fueling me on. I know that people have asked some questions in the past wondering more on the character's descriptions and stuff and I try not to put in too much description when it comes to certain aspects of the characters because I want readers to make up their own images in their heads. I know some probably picture Kristen Stewart and or Robert Pattinson and that's fine but just in case you have other ideas in your head that's great too. I also try not to dive too much into politics but I know that's hard with this portion of the series. This is the reason you never find out who Bella voted for and I also want to point out I try to stay away from mentioning parties and colors because I myself can't stand political debates and I want to try and keep this story free from that. Thank you all again for taking the time to read and an extra special shoutout to those who review.