Hello friends!

Here's the next chapter; I hope you all enjoy it! Again, I'm working without a beta, so please forgive any mistakes. I'm going through the story from the beginning and editing it, so hopefully I can catch the big ones.

Everything belongs to SM.

Here we go!

One Year Later

"Welcome home, Bells!" Charlie enthuses with a big smile on his face. He wraps his arms around me and I relax in his comfortable embrace. It's good to be home.

He grabs my bags out of the back of my car while I look around at the familiar greenery of Forks. Though I would never admit it out loud, I missed this place. After spending some time with my mom, and after the disaster with seeing Edward, I left to do a little more traveling, but this time, I went to check out different schools. I was ready to go to college. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life just yet, but I decided going to a university was a good place to start.

After checking out several different schools throughout the US, I decided on a small liberal arts school in New York. I was accepted with a full ride, which was a huge relief to my father and myself. He was glad to pay a $200 plane ticket for me to come home for Christmas over helping me pay a couple thousand a semester.

I'm happy to be home for a few weeks this summer. I have an apartment in New York-and a job-and could only manage to get a few weeks off. Either way, I'm grateful to have some free time to spend with Charlie.

And, of course, there was the wedding.

Alice didn't want to wait that long to get married. After Jasper proposed, it was decided that the wedding would take place just a little over a year later.

Alice's reasoning?

"What's the point in waiting? I love him, he loves me, and I don't want to wait that long to make it official."

After much debate, it was decided the wedding would take place in Forks. It was where they met, and Alice was in love with town church. Surprising everyone, she didn't want it to be a huge event-just family and friends, so the small church would work just perfectly.

I grab the cat carrier on the passenger seat of the rental car (of course I took Velma with me to New York, and I couldn't bring myself to leave her with one of my friends) and follow Charlie into the house. I release her as soon as we walk into the front door and she immediately runs to Charlie's legs, giving them a good rub.

"Missed you too, cat," he says, quietly enough that it's clear he didn't want me to hear it.

Charlie lugs my bags back up to my old room while I go into the kitchen to grab a drink. I smile when I open the door; it's fully stocked with Coca Cola. I grab a can out and pop it open as I listen to Charlie lumber back down the stairs. He comes into the kitchen and grabs a beer from the fridge.

"So when's the dress fitting?" he asks.

I groan. "Don't remind me. I kind of hoped that since I'm technically Jasper's best man that I could get away with wearing pants."

"Alice? Let you wear pants to her wedding?" He gives me a strange look. "Are we talking about the same person?"

Alice loved the idea of me being Jasper's best man. And realistically, I knew I'd have to wear a dress. But Alice insisted that since I wasn't a bridesmaid, my dress should be distinguishably different from the other girls in the wedding. It would be the same color, but a different style.

Because Alice is…well, Alice, she got my size and had the dress made and was able to secure a fitting at a dress shop in Port Angeles with her personal stylist, who would be able to do any altercations before the wedding, which was only five short days away.

The rehearsal dinner was only four days away. In just four short days, I'd have to see Edward again.

I shake the thought off, giving my attention back to Charlie.

"How's Jasper holding up?" he asks, gesturing for me to follow him into the living room.

"He's Jasper." I curl up into the corner of the couch and pat the cushion next to me for Velma. "He came to visit me about a month ago and he seemed good, and when I talked to him yesterday, he sounded pretty calm."

"Is he in Forks yet?"

"Yes, he's supposed to be stopping by tonight actually."

Charlie nods. "What about Ed…wait, am I allowed to ask about that?"

I roll my eyes. "It's fine, dad. Edward won't be here until the rehearsal dinner," I explain. "So basically, I have four days until I lose my mind completely."

"So we're still awkward about that then?"

I roll my eyes again. "Yes."

After that, we thankfully moved to simpler topics, like how finals went and how mom was doing. I never thought that talking about my mother would be easy, but things had only gotten better since my trip to see her. I still got mad at her from time to time; Heidi told me that was normal and that I probably always would. There would be times when she wouldn't know something about me that a mother should know about her child or times where I would remember the anger I used to feel at her and let it control me again. But we got through it. She hadn't had any relapses and was now in a healthy relationship with a guy named Robert. She comes to New York at least once a month to visit me and on her last trip, she brought him with her. He knows everything about her past and accepts her, which is the most important part. He's a good guy.

Jasper shows up a few hours later with Alice, and I'm barely able to open the door before I'm attacked with hugs from them both. After Alice releases me, Jasper gives me a tight hug and my heart squeezes. I had missed my best friend more than I realized.

He kisses my forehead. "I'm so happy you're here, Bella," he says into my hair. "I couldn't do this without you."

I smile up at him and punch him in the arm. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world, Jasper. You know that."

Charlie cooks up some steaks for us on the grill for dinner, and the four of us sit around and catch up. Alice fills us in on all of the wedding details and shows me a picture of her dress when Jasper isn't looking. It's gorgeous, of course. Charlie starts to glaze off when Alice starts to give details on the reception-food, wine choices, cake, etc. He excuses himself around 9:00pm and heads up to bed, even though I'm pretty sure I can hear the quiet sounds of the game coming from the small TV in his room.

Before Alice leaves, she starts to mention the rest of her family. Esme and Carlisle are already in town; Esme will be going with us to get my fitting done tomorrow. Emmett will be flying in tomorrow night with Rosalie. Edward will be flying in on the day of the rehearsal and has a flight scheduled for the day after the wedding to take him back to LA.

I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed that he wasn't staying long.

~O~

That night before I go to sleep, I flip on my TV to watch a little Friends. I catch it just as it goes to commercial. A trailer for Edward's new movie flashes before my eyes. I turn off the TV, roll over and close my eyes.

Four days.

I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon (maybe even tonight if I'm feeling super ambitious)!

Please review! I love reading what you all have to say.

Lots of love,

Emilia Elliot