Hello friends,
Sorry for the delay. I've been going through some personal stuff lately and a good deal of this weekend revolved around family time. This chapter is shorter than the others, but Edward does make an appearance! I promise the next chapter will be up soon and will have a lot more of our favorite couple.
SM owns Twilight.
Still working without a Beta so please excuse mistakes.
As soon as I enter the foyer of the church, Jasper intercepts me. He blocks my view of all the other congregating in the actual church. He gives me a serious look and my stomach rolls. As if I wasn't already nervous enough.
"Is he in there?" I ask, trying to peek around him into the church.
He nods. "And he's looking just about as nervous as you are."
Good, I think to myself. Out loud, I say, "Let's just get this over with."
"Wait," he says seriously. "Before we go in, I need to warn you."
I can feel the blood drain from my face. Warn me about what? My mind quickly blurs through all the possibilities, from him spouting off obscenities about me to him having relapsed.
Jasper shakes his head. "It's nothing bad, I promise. He brought a woman with him, but she's-"
"I knew it," I moan. "Ugh this is going to be so awkward, I should just,-"
"Woman, will you let me finish?!" he says, his voice laced with exasperation. "He brought a woman with him, but it's just his new manager. She's really making sure he keeps his act together. I wanted to warn you before you saw them together and jumped to conclusions, which clearly didn't work since you jumped to conclusions anyway."
"Oh," I say sheepishly. "Sorry. Thanks."
He smiles at me and rolls his eyes, but then his face becomes serious. "Are you going to be okay?" he asks.
I think about it for just a second before I sigh. "I think so. At least this time I had a warning."
"Truth," Jasper says as he offers me his arm. "Just act normal, Bella. And don't go out of your way to make an impression. You've come such a long way. You both have. I don't want this to…you know."
"I understand," I answer, "and I'll be fine. Let's do this."
The church is partially decorated for the next day. People are still hard at work with the flower arrangements and accents, but it already looks beautiful. I spot Alice immediately, talking with Esme and Sue, Jasper's mom. My eyes flit around the church nervously, and my breath catches when I finally catch a glimpse of his blonde hair poking up from behind Emmett, who is eclipsing the rest of him.
A tall blonde woman, standing a few feet behind him, eyes me peculiarly when she looks up from her cell phone, and I figure she must be his new manager. Jasper was right; I would have thought the worst. She's gorgeous.
When Sue spots me, she walks up to me and pulls me away from Jasper and into her arms. If I ever had a mother figure in my life, it was Sue. Seeing her again is comforting and I feel myself relax the smallest bit.
"It has been far too long since I've seen you," she says softly when she pulls back.
"It really has been," I say. "How've you been?"
She grins and looks over at Alice, who is whispering something to Jasper. "My baby is getting married to a wonderful woman. I couldn't be happier," she says earnestly.
"She is great, isn't she?" I say, and I mean it. I've missed Alice in my life.
"She is," Sue says. "But how about you, Bella? Will we be seeing you walk down the aisle anytime soon?"
I can't stop the bark of a laugh that slips out of me at that. I cover my mouth quickly and shake my head. Sue gives me a funny look and I try to make myself look sane again.
"Sometime, Sue, when we have enough time, I'll explain," I promise. "But today is not that day."
"Well look at who's wearing a dress!" I hear from behind me. I turn around to see Emmett coming at me, a smile on his face. "From what I hear, this is a big enough occasion for a party."
I smile at him, but my eyes are locked behind his on a familiar pair of green eyes. After a second, Emmett seems to realize what's happening and moves away. Actually, it seems like everyone moves away as Edward and I walk towards each other slowly, each acting like the other is a skittish bird that may fly away if we get to close.
Finally, finally, we're face to face. I look up at him, into his clear green eyes that haunt my dreams each night, and I can't help but smile.
"Hello, Edward," I say.
He smiles back, tentatively, but it does reach his eyes. "Hello, Bella."
"How've you been? I ask. The awkwardness is slipping into the air around us. We can both feel it. He starts to shift his weight back and forth between his legs and I start to bite my lip.
"Good," he says. "Busy. My new manager, Kate, keeps me pretty busy." He gestures to the blonde woman behind him, who waves at me. I wave back, already intimidated. "How about you?"
I nod. "Good. I'm living in New York now. I just came back for the wedding."
His eyebrows rise. "Oh really? Where in New York?"
"A small city a few hours away from NYC," I say, slightly disappointed that he didn't already know this. I figured Alice would have told him, but I guess I was wrong. "I go to a small liberal arts college there."
"That's great, Bella. Really," he says. "Do you like being an English major?"
"I do," I say honestly. "It's a lot of work, a lot of reading. But when have I ever minded-wait." Something he says finally catches up to me. "How did you know I was an English major?" I ask.
His face blushes slightly. "I just figured," he says, too quickly. "You always enjoyed English so much in high school, I just, you know, assumed…"
I suppress a smile. "Oh, that makes sense."
"Listen, Bella," he says, his voice suddenly very serious. "I need to say something. I need to apol-"
"Okay everyone!" Alice says, drawing our attention back to her. "Let's start this rehearsal so we can get to the rehearsal dinner!"
I turn around and glare at her before looking back to Edward.
"I really would like to talk to you," I say honestly.
He sighs in resignation, looking at his sister. "Same," he replies. "Later, during the dinner?"
"Definitely."
:)
Please review. I'll have the new chapter up sometime in the next few days-hopefully tomorrow night if I can find the time to write. I've been juggling this story and one of my other ones, "Cold." Check it out if you have a chance. :)
Thanks for reading!
Lots of love,
Emilia Elliot