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Chapter 195
Bachelor Party 1
Edward
The week had literally flown by.
Monday physics with the twins. Tuesday catching the coyotes and afterwards searching for my kids. Wednesday Jake's game. Thursday Marcus' game and a pleasant evening at Bella's former work colleague Peter and his husband Stan's house. And now it was already Friday. Our teenage kids all had plans, so Bella and I settled in for a leisurely evening with Ced. After Alice's nearly inedible dinner, which she had rejected any advice, Bella had first raided the refrigerator at our house. As far as I had gathered from the thoughts of any wolves, they all wanted to stop by a snack bar again, too. Alice would be severely offended if she found out about it, but my angels were still hungry. All of them!
I knew, of course, the purpose for which Jake had arranged to meet Brandon and Marcus.
So Bella and I pondered how Jake would handle this task of talking to Becky's father. It became a matter of cheerful speculation, including Henry Young's response to our son's request.
As we did so, we sat on the floor and Ced just had a blast lining up lots of balls of different sizes and bumping them all in our direction at the same time if possible.
But we got a visitor, who also invitingly got a ball rolled to him.
Jazz.
He joined our little circle.
He had the order to bring Ced. Apparently Alice had sewn something for him and wanted to see if he liked it and it fit. Then it must have been exactly what Alice had been trying so vehemently not to think about for the last few days. Somehow I had the impression that she was avoiding me and forcing her thoughts to trivialities. It was typical of her. She usually left me out of her thoughts when she was making something for our children, so that I, too, would only see it when they had it on.
Since Ced always enjoyed being with my siblings, parents, or our friends - at least at times - our son didn't need to be coaxed into it.
But he knew that there was blood for him only with us and in the big house. In this respect, he accepted the invitation only with reservations. Only after a bottle did he want to go along.
"So when is our son coming home again?", I asked my baby.
He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Jazz.
"How about after breakfast? Like a big boy!" offered Jazz.
I wasn't sure yet if I was so enthused about Ced being out of the house for the night, but my son was. That would make him as big as his siblings, after all. On the other hand, Bella and I had had very little time together this week.
"Then I wish you a nice evening," Jazz wished with a meaningful smile.
"So what do we do now?", I asked after we had looked after our son until we couldn't see him anymore.
"Play Monopoly?" my angel pondered.
"Okay," I replied, pulling out the game.
Bella peeked quite alienated.
Apparently she had not meant it seriously.
However, I then explained my rule changes to her. Only very slight deviations from the original. Properties were purchased in exchange for clothing, and in the same way the houses were built. You could only get out of prison if you seduced the warden. Tasks for chance cards were situation-dependent.
So we started playing in the living room.
Always well behaved according to the rules. I was very strict about this. A chance card asked me to get chocolate. For a train station, Bella gave up her last shirt. I didn't want to leave my prison stay at all. At another card, Bella changed the music ... For reasons completely unforeseeable to me, the game took some time. Therefore, it was almost midnight when Bella rolled the dice again. Five. She moved her piece and landed on my Illinois Ave.
I smiled business-like.
"And how do you plan to pay for this overnight stay?", I inquired.
We both looked at Bella, who was sitting on the floor with me.
Only with a sock and her lace panties. We had accidentally left her bra in the prison. However, I did not necessarily have more clothes on my body. Boxer shorts and jeans were all I had left.
She chewed on her lower lip, pondering, and then pulled one of her engagement rings off her finger, offering it to me.
"I'm not a pawnshop!" I said indignantly. I took my mother's ring and put it back on her finger. Where it belonged!
"I could ... do without an expensive hotel room. Maybe the owner will let me sleep in his bed. If he would be nice," she considered and let her delicate fingers tinglingly run along my upper body.
"And how are you going to convince the owner of that?", I dug deeper.
She crawled on top of me so that she was sitting in my cross-legged position, ran her hands through my hair and kissed me in a way that had to be forbidden.
"I'm sure I'll think of something to do about that ..." she mumbled in between.
I was convinced much more quickly than would have been good for me as hotel manager. But who cared about the hotel's balance sheets when he had a goddess in his arms? And I enjoyed my goddess to the fullest. Passionately and stormily. I had even accidentally nibbled from her blood again, when I nibbled a little too stormily on her sweet lips, which only intensified my sensations. This had not happened to me for a long time.
The Monopoly world experienced an earthquake when we bumped into the table.
My empire was out of joint, but with my angel I lay happy and in love together between the table and the sofa. With this, Bella had not only paid for the overnight stay, but also earned herself a breakfast in bed, which she had subsequently haggled out.
And that's exactly what I conjured up the next morning.
A latte macchiato, a glass of orange juice, toast, scrambled eggs with bacon, and a chopped mango.
I bristled, though, when I heard Bella's cell phone beeping in the bedroom.
Who was texting at this hour of the morning? It was only eight o'clock on Saturday morning. Maybe something had happened with the children?
A little bit nervous I carried the tray upstairs, but Bella was just stretching pleasurably over our bed.
She smiled strangely. Somehow incredibly happy. But was that a miracle, after such a beautiful evening? With me?
"Who was texting?" but I still inquired, even though no misfortune had apparently occurred.
"Alice," Bella laughed, sitting up straight. "She asked if she should run over to make breakfast for the kids."
"On behalf of our children, I hope you stopped her, don't you!?"
"I told her they'd probably still be asleep," Bella shrugged, first welcoming me back to our bed with a very glowing kiss.
It was actually a little scary to me how good of a mood my angel was in that morning. She was smiling the whole time and seemed so joyfully excited. She also kept looking at the time, if I interpreted that correctly.
When she was finished with her breakfast, she slid the now empty tray onto the nightstand and again glanced casually at the alarm clock.
8:52 a.m.
Bella apparently came to the same conclusion I did.
We still had some time. We had already gone shopping yesterday, so that we would not be on the road for so long - as we had been last Saturday - when we again got everything for both households. We both wanted to have more time to spend with our children, but they were not there yet.
So Bella snuggled into my arms and began to kiss me very seductively, which I was not willing to refuse.
Bella always drove me crazy, so that I hardly registered anything else except her. Even our children were forgotten in my mind when her sweet lips tempted me as they did now.
I turned with her and pulled her voluptuously over me.
To feel her warm body against mine was simply indescribable, although the bedspread was stuck between us in places and unnecessarily and we had pajamas on as usual.
My hands slid along her thighs to change this short term.
So I noticed only rather delayed that the twins were here.
"When did you forget how to knock?", I asked. Offended. And disappointed. And a little scared, too.
"When we were told to kidnap you!" retorted Jake.
He was very anxious to quickly forget this picture of his parents that he had seen when he entered. He didn't really succeed. I found it amusing that Jake accepted our love unconditionally, but wanted to know nothing of the passion and see even less.
"I see, and who told you to do that? And why?" I dug deeper, however.
"Alice," Leah said.
"Because it's not proper to see the bride before the wedding!" added Jake in a very serious and emphatic tone.
"What wedding, then?", I asked, confused.
"Your wedding!" grinned Jake.
"Which will take place tomorrow!" smiled Leah.
A bit more confused, I looked at my angel, who was still sitting on me. She smiled dazzlingly.
Our wedding. Tomorrow. I felt like I had missed something essential.
"We're getting married? ... Tomorrow?", I asked to be on the safe side.
My angel nodded affirmatively.
Slowly a smile settled on my lips and euphoria flooded through me, with which I pushed my hands erratically to Bella's cheeks.
"We're getting married tomorrow?", I still couldn't quite believe it.
"Yes, we will. I told Alice three weeks ago that I wanted to surprise you with this," Bella admitted.
While I hugged Bella buoyantly and enthusiastically, however, I also casually reflected.
Three weeks ago. When Nanuk was still alive, and Leah probably could have used a reason to celebrate after her breakup with Marcus. How much different the world was today. How beautiful the world was today.
"But I didn't know about it until just now, either. I didn't even think about it anymore," Bella whispered, suppressing a little sob.
A moving sob, I realized, when I looked into her face. She was beaming under the little tear of joy that was rolling. We were going to get married! Tomorrow already! Before God's face, we would finally belong together forever!
"Come on. Wash, get dressed, come with me!" our son determined, as I wanted to kiss Bella again enthusiastically.
With a heavy heart, I followed his instruction.
I jumped into the shower - unfortunately alone - because I had to hurry. Clothes were brought to me by Jake in the bathroom and not two minutes later I stood already back in the bedroom and said goodbye to my goddess. I fully dressed, she only in my pajama top and her panties.
We were beaming all over together.
"I'll see you at the altar," I said.
"I'll be there," she promised and kissed me goodbye.
So ahead of us were a few hours without each other and with the knowledge that we would be getting married tomorrow. It would be agonizing and never-ending hours.
"Get the hell out of here, Dad!" Leah tugged on me and pushed me toward the door.
So I reluctantly left and walked with Jake to the main house.
That was how he had been instructed.
There stood Jasper, Emmett, Marcus, and David in the kitchen. They were actually chatting about the weather. David's three sons were next door in the dining room. I couldn't quite make out what they were putting on very awkwardly.
"Ahhh ... theeere heee is ...", Em warbled directly when he saw me.
Grinning like a Cheshire cat. Like everyone else, actually.
"How's the groom feeling?" he asked, grinning even more afterwards.
"Since when have you all known?", I first wanted to know.
"Last evening," Jake, Marcus, and Emmett replied.
"Since one week," Jasper said.
His thoughts were a little more specific.
Since my family swam together last Friday and Alice thus convinced that Leah was well enough for such a celebration.
"A couple of days," David said.
Ever since he hadn't stopped by in the evening with Cookie for a quick hop so he wouldn't accidentally reveal anything to me.
I shook my head in disbelief.
Alice!
"Where is Ced, anyway?" it occurred to me.
"With all the ladies on the way to the bride," Jazz said.
"So we can celebrate your bachelor party properly," Em explained to me.
Aha ... That day, the sexes were planned separately from each other, as his thoughts told me. With the exception of Ced.
"We have some plans for you today," he followed up.
I was still not sure whether that was not perhaps more of a threat from his mouth. It reassured me, however, that children were present. So a striptease in any form would not be on the list.
David's children then came running out of the next room. Overalls in bright camouflage colors, knee and elbow pads, breastplates, gloves, helmets, and goggles.
"Are we going to war?", I asked.
"Since for some, marriage is like a war ..." began David, laughing, checking with his sons to make sure their protective gear fit properly.
"... we thought we'd show you what you're in for," Emmett finished.
So we also went into the next room and put on the same uniforms.
Paintball guns were available on the terrace and a practice target a few meters away, so that especially the children could practice the mechanism. You could only shoot the paint cartridges by pressing a safety button in addition to the trigger. The three boys also had to get used to the recoil.
It was nowhere near a real rifle, but if you weren't expecting it, you could stagger back as a seven-year-old. Deacon demonstrated this very vividly.
Jazz did not fail to point out to everyone involved, because there were children present, that firearms were not toys and also that these paintball guns could well cause injuries, even if we were wearing appropriate clothing with them. So he laid down some basic rules to avoid any hazards.
"And who against whom?", I then asked when we were ready.
"Well, who does?!" murmured David.
"We all against you!" clarified Jasper, tossing me a glowing orange jersey that was sure to be seen through half the forest.
I swallowed.
I was lost!
"But we don't want to be completely unfair ... You get to pick a comrade to go down with you!", Em held up another flashy jersey.
"Jake!", I said immediately.
"Do you have something against me?" he wanted to know, playfully offended.
"You play Laser Tag regularly!", however, I replied. The best conditions for this game, because with it he had undeniably the most experience.
We put on our jerseys.
A satellite had probably just spotted us, as conspicuous as we were.
"You have a two-minute head start ... Starting now!", Emmett declared and looked at his watch.
Immediately Jake and I ran off. Once around the corner of the house and further into the woods behind it. But then we slowed down.
Jake suggested not to run that far into the woods at all, then from that our pursuers would go out.
So we hid in the undergrowth, a little away from each other, but so that we could still see each other.
Emmett was our first victim, getting a paint ball shot into each side by both of us at the same time.
But he had also walked too beautifully right between us, determinedly further and further into the forest.
Dejected, he trotted back.
There was no sign of the others yet, but they would have heard Emmett's grumbling about his all-too-early exit as well as our shots. So Jake and I changed positions.
The remaining six had split into groups of two. Luces and Jasper. Daniel and Marcus. Deacon and his father. And they proceeded a lot more far-sightedly, had spread out and crept ahead seeking protection.
Jake and I were constantly on the move - as were our opponents.
Again and again, individual shots were heard, most of which missed their target.
Marcus missed Jake by a hair, but I hit Daniel.
Jasper was also quickly eliminated when he tried to save Luces to no avail.
Deacon was so damn small and fast, despite the bulky gear we all had on.
They regrouped.
Jake and I retreated fleeing and took cover behind a rocky outcropping.
We allowed ourselves a breather.
"How are you finding your last day as a bachelor so far?" asked Jake whispering.
Not that we were still discovered.
"Very amusing," I said truthfully. It was really fun to chase each other through the woods like that, confusing the enemy. "Where did the equipment come from?"
"As far as I know, Emmett ran to Boston last night to buy them."
"So it's ours? ... We can repeat this?"
"Yep ... We can!" my son grinned.
"They're coming," I whispered.
"Then let's finish them off!" he demanded.
I nodded decisively and we gave each other a spurring high-five.
But shortly after, my son had become a victim.
"YES!", I heard David exclaim enthusiastically as Jake rolled down a small slope, cursing.
I immediately ran after him.
"Ow ...!" he wailed exaggeratedly, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.
I smirked.
Right on his buttocks. Since there was no protective clothing in that place, that would be quite a bruise.
"Avenge me!" my son gave out theatrically, holding out a hand to me in search of support.
As an escort for his last journey to the eternal hunting grounds.
"I will, Jake!", I promised earnestly.
He told me to get out of the way when we heard the crackling of branches in the vicinity, which I did.
Jake made his way out of the danger zone. He limped a few yards, due to the strain on his gluteal muscle as he stepped, but by then he was jogging along unharmed.
By a clever, albeit very risky maneuver, I then caught Deacon and Marcus in one fell swoop. They almost caught me in the process.
That left only David and me.
I wanted to be fair, as I had been all along, and put my concentration on what Bella might do at that moment. But the chase continued unperturbed ... until we were face to face. Both holding the paintball device and aiming at the opposite. Of course, on the respective breastplate.
"You killed my son!", I growled.
"And you my three!", David wanted to clarify.
"You've had more of them time-wise!"
"You still have Ced!"
"You're having another baby!"
"You still have Leah, too!"
"And you Emma!"
"Aren't you supposed to be dead already?"
"Matter of opinion ... But if so, then I couldn't do that," I mused.
"What couldn't you do?" he inquired, irritated.
I shot and David peeked out towards me with his eyes widening in horror and a hand on his heart.
"So, what's it like to be dead?"
"Painful," he contorted his face.
A frontal hit from three yards away. Yes, he definitely felt the impact of the paint ball. However, it was only a snapshot.
"Look. I have blue blood," he held out his fingers to me in evidence, with the blue paint of the bullets hanging from them.
"I humbly apologize for shooting you, Your Highness!", I said and made a courteous bow.
"You are forgiven!" he graciously granted.
We walked back in a good mood and at the edge of the forest they were already waiting for us. On the way, Jake proudly explained that his dad was apparently invincible.
However, to be honest with myself, I had to admit that this was very much dependent on the game to be played and on the participating players. I had lost the Monopoly game last night without a doubt.
Jake needed a refreshment, and the rest of the humans were at least thirsty, so we took the direct route to the kitchen.
With Emmett, I stayed behind a side entrance for a moment, and we briefly discussed where we would most appropriately store the equipment in the long term and that we should clean it in a timely manner to keep it in pristine condition. We were sure that the equipment would be used often.
As I approached the kitchen, however, I was considerably taken aback.
Aside from noticing the ladies in the basement, that was a lot more thought-voices throughout the house than I would have guessed.
I wanted to focus specifically on that to be able to distinguish all of them, but for that, all of a sudden Charlie stood in my way.
Fact. Chief Charlie Swan. Bella's father.
"Charlie? What are you doing here?" I asked, amazed.
"Hello, Edward. I have a daughter to deliver to her groom!" he kindly extended his hand to me.
"It's very nice to have you here. Bella will be thrilled."
"And I'm not alone!" he followed up, bash-opening me into the kitchen with a fatherly tap on the shoulder.
I smiled.
Alice was simply incredible.
My baby was sitting on the sideboard bouncily and making friends with various Native Americans who were standing/sitting around him. Two of them I knew personally. Billy Black and Seth Clearwater. Two others were known to me only through various thoughts. Sam Uley and Paul Lahote. The wedded spouses who belonged to these Native Americans I now also suspected were among the many thought voices in the basement.
"Daddy!", my baby noticed me first and impatiently stretched his little arms towards me.
Thereupon it became rather quiet in our large and now well-filled kitchen.
Fourteen people - including David's children - and they were all looking at me. In between, Cookie was also jumping around.
I could just very well understand why Bella couldn't have it being the center of attention. Everyone was looking at me.
"Hello!", I greeted with a friendly smile, albeit surprised across the room because I couldn't think of anything better to say, but walked towards my baby.
I hadn't had Ced with me in far too long, although in principle that was just as true of his mother.
I picked Ced up and he snuggled against me.
'I missed you,' my baby thought with his fingers on my neck.
'Me too, my darling,' I mentally returned and kissed him on the forehead. "But I'm sure you weren't bored," I stated though.
He shook his head, grinning.
So I proceeded to greet the newcomers.
Billy turned his wheelchair in my direction.
"Edward," he spoke with polite respect, in his role as elder of the Quileute. "We thank you very much for the invitation to your wedding!"
"I didn't actually invite all of you, which is merely because I didn't know about it until a few hours ago, but I'm all the more pleased that you're here. Bella will be very happy to have you all with her. We are honored that you have come all this way," I replied sincerely.
I was especially happy for Bella that Alice seemed to have thought of all the people we could share it with. Everyone who knew our secrets. After all, the bond of marriage was something special that you wanted not only your closest family members to be a part of, but also your friends. But Bella's friends from here knew nothing of vampires, nothing of Spirit Warriors, and nothing of our common son. So there were certainly no former work colleagues of Bella's on the guest list - like Peter or Mr. Prescott - nor the parents of our twins' group of friends, like Amber Seymore or Cathlyn Turner, neighbors, like the nice couple across the street, or other friends or acquaintances, like her best friend Zoey. But Alice had remembered to invite, as well as bring here, people who were no less important to Bella. How on earth had she managed to do that? I would ask later when the opportunity arose.
I walked up to Sam Uley.
I had never met him, but Carlisle had run into him once when we lived in Forks. Sam had exclusively reminded him of the contract between us.
His expression was timidly friendly as he held out his hand to me.
He held no grudge against me, but he didn't know me and was therefore altogether quite cautious. He had not forgotten that he had once fought against beings like me and in doing so had lost more than half of his pack. Among others, the father of the twins, for which he still saw himself responsible after all these years.
We greeted each other and chatted briefly.
He thanked for the invitation, I for his coming.
Emily, who of course was already with Bella, had already told him a lot about me. And with Ced, he had at the first go well understood.
Then I turned to Paul, whom I had also not met before.
On the short way Ced showed me that he would have been afraid of the Native American.
He had looked so grim, but that was apparently just his usual expression. Ced had made up with him when they shared a cookie, though. My son let himself be bribed easily, after all.
Paul had reservations about me in principle, which he wouldn't throw overboard so easily either, but he was a guest here and would behave accordingly. If only because his wife Rachel was related by blood to my twins, and they loved me. Rachel was Jake and Leah's aunt, one of their father's sisters. Besides, he hadn't been a wolf for too long to be able to do anything against me.
We exchanged only a few polite words.
Now I was only missing Seth.
Seth was a wolf. Where did you find wolves when the opportunity presented itself? Right! At the food!
He sat with Jake and Marcus on the bar stools to the side. They had taken some bags of ready-made pastries from the cabinets. They were almost empty.
Smirking and shaking my head, I walked over to them and sat Ced down on the high sideboard.
"Hey, Seth. Glad you're here," I said, and we gave each other a cursory hug.
"Hey, Eddie. It was obvious that we would come," he replied, chewing.
"I assume your wife Anna is downstairs with the other ladies," I stated.
"Yep ... That's maybe some chatter down there," he shook his head in amusement.
"Why didn't you bring your kids?", I inquired as Ced grabbed one of the last pastries.
Seth had said last time that he would bring his children, Leah and Harry, next time. Bella was godmother to his little Leah and they both complained that they saw each other far too rarely. In addition, the children would have been a good age match for David's children. Not only Seth's, but also Sam's and Paul's.
"This has nothing to do with you personally, but there are too many of you here in one bunch. If the fever broke out in one of them here, it would ruin the celebration for all of us. Leah and Harry are actually still too young, as are Paul's boys, but Sam's would be dangerously close. Embry is already thirteen and I was fourteen at the time. We didn't want to take any chances and preferred to leave everyone at home," he explained.
I nodded understandingly.
Well, I could understand that. Young wolves in the midst of vampires. And at a wedding. My wedding! The uproar would be great, if the transformation would really start with them.
"And how can you keep up with their food?", I asked Marcus. I had always wondered about that.
"Good metabolism," Marcus chewed.
Then some ladies from the basement appeared in the kitchen, whom I politely greeted and thanked for coming.
Emily, Seth's Anna, Paul's Rachel, and Sue.
They had been advised to bring bathing clothes and comfortable clothes for today. They now wanted to get these from their luggage. They had come up with Alice and my parents, who entered our kitchen somewhat delayed.
I rushed at Alice first and whirled her happily through the air.
"I'm getting married tomorrow?", I then asked her personally.
"Surprise!" she chuckled happily.
I hugged her tightly.
"Thank you, Alice," I whispered.
In her mind she explained to me that I didn't have to thank her for that, but Bella. It had been her idea to spring it on me, since this topic had been pretty much forgotten. First the surprise pregnancy, and then Ced upset our lives a bit in a very nice way. The marriage seemed so unimportant to me compared to what I already had. Then there was Leah's imprinting, too. If Nanuk hadn't passed away, I would probably have been on my honeymoon since a week ago. Because of this incident, Alice had indefinitely scrapped all her plans. The fact that tomorrow was the day was only because of Leah's very good condition.
Leah talked to Nanuk every evening when she went to bed. She told him vividly about her day, remembered him very much meanwhile, and shed a few tears in the process. Very often I put the picture back on the bedside table when Leah fell asleep. But otherwise she was always in good spirits and open about her life, though Jasper and I agreed that she wasn't just pretending to be strong. She actually was. Because Nanuk would want to see it that way.
I then also greeted my parents.
I asked if they had recovered well and teased them that they had really gotten a tan on the beach. They knew already, by the way, for a week of my upcoming marriage. Alice had really done a great job keeping it a secret from me. She must have been under a lot of nervous strain not to make a mistake when I could have been around.
For the men, the next item was soon on the agenda.
"All men," as Alice pointed out.
Of course, I could have listened into her thoughts to find out what was generally planned for today. But I didn't want to know that beforehand. She had gone to so much trouble that I was happy to let her and my family surprise me. Besides, we had enough guests in the house that I didn't have to ask my gift to listen away.
However, Ced wanted a bottle of blood before we left the house and needed to be diapered.
So I went upstairs with him while our guests would slowly empty their coffee cups and afterwards they were shown to their rooms.
They had arrived not very long ago and also wanted to freshen up a bit.
Carlisle still stored the blood in the exam room, but that was too uncomfortable for us. So Ced crawled to his own room here in the house.
I diapered Ced and then sat with him in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
It was snowing, but there were only scattered flakes, which Ced watched and tracked with his index finger on the window.
He asked why so many people were here.
So I tried to explain to my son that his parents were getting married tomorrow. It was a little more complicated to make him understand. Bella and I were only connected by our love. This meant everything to us, but had no legal basis, nor had our union been blessed by the good Lord. With this, I had created two new 'problems' at once.
What is a legal basis? And who is God? If he would also be downstairs with the visitors?
After a few minutes, I gave up and simply said that we would swear eternal love to each other through a traditional ceremony, that our many guests would witness it, and that we would celebrate together afterwards.
The answer was accepted and Ced then rated that as very important.
The bottle was not yet empty when we saw Jake outside in the snow. He was loitering suspiciously around the pool area.
Of course, it wasn't possible for my son to be without his star for a few hours when she was close by. Becky also joined him out in the cold. The doctor and concerned father in me was very critical of the fact that all she had on over her bathing suits was a sweatshirt of Jake's that was way too big. However, she jumped into the arms of her personal heater.
Ced asked if they had that 'ceramommy' yet, too.
"Ceremony, my darling," I improved on his thought with a smile. "No, they haven't held that ceremony yet, but I'm sure they'll tackle that pretty soon. There's Paul and Rachel, Seth and Anna, and Emily and Sam," I gestured to the other side.
The three couples stood on the terrace, all still with a cup in their hands and their partners in their arms.
Carlisle joined in and gestured across our expansive property.
"You see the rings they're all wearing? ... That can be a sign that a couple has gotten married," I explained.
My son looked at me and thought of a very specific pair of rings.
"No, my sweetheart. Marcus and Leah's rings did have a very similar meaning, but they are not married. They don't love each other like they did at the time. After all, they don't wear those rings anymore," I tried to say.
Ced looked out the window, pondering.
He immediately spotted Leah and Marcus too, strolling through the snow, and thought, 'I don't get it.'
After all, it wasn't easy to understand when one saw them like this. Marcus had his thick jacket on, while Leah walked barefoot and only in a bikini and a thin cardigan over it at his side. One arm hooked under him.
It was easy to get the idea that the past now five weeks had not happened. Five weeks ago, Leah and Nanuk had met at the lake. It had been the beginning of the end of their, until then, so beautiful love. A love that each of us thought was as everlasting as the one between Jake and Becky or Bella and me.
That brought me to another thought. A rather ... jealous one.
In front of Ced's window various males and females romped around, although according to previous statements the sexes should spend this day separately from each other. But if they were allowed to see each other down there, why wasn't I allowed to see Bella, too?
"Should we pay Mommy a visit?", I asked my baby as he was drinking the last drops.
He looked at me a little anxiously.
'Are we allowed to do that?' he asked even in his mind just whispering anxiously while he still had his hand on mine.
But I considered his question for a moment.
It was in keeping with tradition not to see the bride before the wedding, and I was a follower of almost any tradition. But the wedding ceremony would not take place today, but tomorrow. Ergo, strictly speaking, this ban should not apply until tomorrow.
"If you don't tell on me, I won't tell on you!", I said conspiratorially. "And if someone catches us doing it, we'll just say you were dying to go to Mommy," I explained.
My son grinned ... diabolically. What a miserable father I was! Teaching my baby silly ideas! Hopefully, such tricks were not used by him against us one day.
We crept down.
With so many people in the house, the chances were truly good that no one would discover us.
I took the back stairs and got behind the pool into the basement.
I listened into the thoughts of those present.
Bella was not there.
Through the many and extensive corridors, one could reach pretty much every wing of the basement in different ways. So I bypassed the bathing area widely so that I could get to the other end.
I picked up Rose's thoughts, who had just come out of the sauna.
I hid in a hallway, but silently learned that Bella lay still in the sauna. Alone. Perfect.
I put a finger over my mouth to indicate to Ced that we needed to be very quiet.
Was not so easy under his giggle, but we were approaching the danger zone.
I scurried into a small storage room as Becky re-entered the house through a door.
"Brrrr ... It's cold out there!" she cursed to herself as she passed our hiding place and wanted to return to the considerably warmer water.
The Native American ladies had also arrived in the basement in the meantime and were in the locker rooms.
Earlier, when we had returned from paintball to the house, the ladies were already down here, but had only wanted to greet Bella first. Now they were getting dressed for the bath, and of course I wasn't watching.
Carefully, I continued down the hallway with Ced.
It was only a few meters until we would reach the entrance to the sauna.
Once again I hid myself.
It had been a close call this time as Sonya had hurriedly made her way to the washrooms from the pool with Emma. The ladies had finished changing and would be stepping into the hallway any moment, I gathered from Esmé's words. She was just explaining the rooms ahead of them. But Sonya and Emma were still in the hallway. Then the hallway was empty. I had two seconds, but they were enough to reach the sauna.
Ced giggled in amusement at the vampiric pace I had taken.
Smirking, I pressed him tightly against me so that his chortling was maybe muffled by my sweater.
Apparently the chatter of the ladies was too loud for any of the vampires to hear us. Ced forced himself to be quiet by pressing his two little hands in front of his mouth. He did not succeed very well.
"We're here," I whispered to him. "Very quietly," I said and went towards the door of the sauna.
There she was. My goddess. My bride! On the lowest level she was lying prone on a large towel. Naked, as God had created her. One leg was bent, and the foot was circling indeterminately in the air. Adorable!
I crept closer, crouched down next to her and let my cool fingertips brush over her shoulders.
Startled, she looked up, but she immediately smiled.
"Ed ...", she wanted to say, but I immediately covered her mouth with my lips.
Ced giggled happily and clapped his hands enthusiastically, but this room was soundproof, after all.
Actually, I had just wanted to stop her from talking, but Ced's fingers slapped both of our cheeks. I heard Bella's thoughts. Gently, I looked into her eyes as I listened to her. It moved me deeply when Ced gave us his gift. To hear her love. In all its beautiful facets. For me. For our children together. It moved me and made me rejoice at the same time. Every time anew.
So I kissed my angel devotedly.
"What are you doing here?" asked Bella after our kiss did end a considerable time later.
"We had longing," I answered truthfully.
Ced nodded in affirmation and demanded a kiss from his mommy as well, which he got.
"If Alice catches you," Bella muttered, a little intimidated.
"... then she'll catch me. She will hardly tear my head off. If she did, all her plans would fall through. Besides, I don't see any good reason why I shouldn't see you today. After all, we're not getting married until tomorrow, and tomorrow I'm willing to follow the tradition and not see you until the wedding ceremony ... By the way, my angel ... We are getting married tomorrow!", I declared, reminding her. This was so surreal to me somehow. Much too good to be true.
"Yes. We're getting married," Bella sighed happily. "And what does our angel say?" she asked Ced.
He laughed happily and grabbed our hands at the same time.
He wasn't sure what to make of it yet, but was already very curious to see how this 'czaremon' worked.
"Ceremony," I improved him again.
I sat Ced down on the wooden beams, I myself remained kneeling on the floor and together we told Bella what I had explained to him.
We also showed Ced how I had asked Bella to marry me that time at the jeweler's. And then again at Thanksgiving. And then again in our living room, which was more of an accident and where Ced had been present. He could remember that. How Bella had clearly, stamping her foot, uttered a 'Yes, I do!'
Bella meanwhile cuddled with her fingers through my nape and mine stroked over her graceful naked back.
Ced didn't mind the warmth of the sauna. He just found it nice and warm. However, the winter cold outside did not really bother him so far. Whether it was because of his peculiarity of being a half-being or because of childish carelessness, because everything else was more important, I couldn't say. His own body temperature always remained constant. Only when he slept, it went down a little.
We sat together for a few minutes when Becky entered the sauna.
After Jake's heat, the water was not warm enough.
Bella, Ced and I startled.
We had been discovered!
"Hey, Edward," Becky commented, her mind on her hot wolf. Both in terms of temperature and in terms of masculinity, how she thought.
"Hey," I replied casually.
Becky lay down on the step above Bella and, smiling, cuddled Ced through her wild hair, who was once again adoring her. Then, startled, she pulled her hand back and looked at me.
"What are YOU doing here?!" she asked gruffly.
"Ced wanted to see his mom really bad!", I explained.
Ced looked at me in irritation and cutely screwed up his face as he considered my words. Then he seemed to remember that we had agreed that upstairs. He nodded. Delayed far too implausibly, so Becky began to chuckle.
"And that you wanted to see Bella in a forbidden way can't be the truth, by any chance?" she dug deeper.
"It wasn't!", I tried to make her believe.
She didn't believe me and wanted to say something, but I was faster.
"I can just as easily stay away from Bella for a day as you can from Jake!"
"Uh ... so ... not at all?" she pondered, confused.
"That's right."
She smiled understandingly.
"You'd better disappear. There were others who wanted to go to the sauna," she warned.
"Too bad," I sighed.
I gave Becky a kiss on the forehead, my bride on the silky lips.
Ced got the same from both of them and we left the sauna.
With that, we stood directly in front of Esmé, who looked at me quite darkly and disappointedly. With her arms folded in front of her chest.
Remorseful, I turned on my heel and went upstairs with Ced.
My remorse, however, was not nearly as genuine as I demonstrated, but Esmé already knew that on her own.
In her mind she smiled.
Thank you for reading!
