Woosh.
Jasper watches the pastel balloon inflate rapidly until it's the same size as the other few hundred he just blew up. He pulls it off the air pump and ties it, tossing it in the growing pile at the center of the living room. They're all pastel shades of pink, blue, and white. They'll be tied into a variety of shapes and arrangements as outlined in Alice's party plans he was handed earlier that morning—a ten-page packet with illustrated diagrams and bulleted task lists for everyone involved.
Woosh. He ties another one off and tosses it. The TV plays in the background. It's on a pop culture news channel highlighting different summer parties and trends.
"Where's the ladder?" Emmett asks, walking back and forth between the garage and the backyard.
"I took it outside already," Edward answers.
"It's not out there anymore."
Edward sighs and walks into the backyard.
Woosh.
Alice sits nearby, collecting balloons and configuring them into a big arch. "I need like twenty more."
"Sure."
"Esme's going to be so happy when she sees all of this." She checks the little gold watch on her wrist. "We should have another two hours before she's back, so there's still plenty of time...I'm going to go check on how Edward and Emmett are doing."
One moment she's there, the next she's skipping out onto the patio.
He doesn't mind this. He actually kind of enjoys it. They've been busy setting up since the moment Esme left the house three hours prior, and before that he went with Alice to pick up supplies, food, and drinks. Everything's been easygoing and light despite the packed schedule.
Graduating from college wasn't so bad, afterall. No homework, no essays, he has a legitimate job, a girlfriend, friends...and he hasn't been overly consumed by depressive thoughts, either. It feels almost surreal how smoothly his life's going.
Aside from the possible Victoria issue, anyway.
Jasper consults the diagram for the balloon display again and glances at how many balloons they have to work with. Through the windows he can see tables being set out on the lawn by Emmett and Edward.
Alice's phone buzzes from its spot on the couch nearby. A message pops up on the screen from Esme: We'll be home soon. Did you get orange juice this morning, or should I pick some up?
Suddenly Alice shrieks, running in from outside.
"Esme's on her way back," he says, but it's obvious she already knows that.
"We need to get all of this hidden! Jazz, take the balloons outside!" she says. "Edward! Come help. Esme's on her way home! No, Emmett you stay out there! You'll just pop them—finish setting the tables!"
She calls Esme, and Jasper hears bits and pieces of her trying to lead the other woman through a wild goose chase of suggestions. When that doesn't work, she tries stalling with a long story about Bella's wedding dress. "I don't know if she'll like it...No, you're being too sweet...She's totally going to hate it...Edward, go away. Stop trying to eavesdrop. It's rude."
Edward rolls his eyes and continues hustling to get the living room clear of decorations along with Jasper.
"The kitchen's still like full of food and stuff," Emmett points out, stepping on a balloon with a loud POP.
"She's going to herd her straight upstairs to get ready. There are like ten outfit options on standby," Edward says.
"How do you know that?"
"It was in the packet."
"You actually read that?" Emmett asks. He steps on another balloon and pops it. Alice shoots daggers at him with her eyes. "Sorry. My bad."
"Jasper, let's get the main arch set up over there before Em destroys it," Edward says.
Emmett gives a mock offended look. "Wow. Okay, I'll be setting the table, then."
"Don't break anything."
"Where's Alice's stupid packet?"
Edward grabs a folded-up copy from his pocket and throws it. Emmett catches it before it hits him in the head. "Read the Victoria safety guidelines in the back, too."
Emmett snorts. "What, like, scream for help and cry if you see her? Kidding! I'm kidding. I'll read them."
Edward's scowl softens slightly.
They get the balloons in the general shape they should be in—Alice will adjust them later and add the finishing touches, surely.
"Why does this diagram say there should be...placemats and a tablecloth? There are no placemats in this box of supplies," Emmett complains.
Jasper remembers picking them up this morning. "They're in the garage. I'll grab them."
As he's crossing through the living room, the TV catches his eye. Two familiar faces are on the screen.
His stomach sinks.
Lucy, 23 and Nettie, 22 are displayed across the bottom of the screen. In Lucy's picture, she's dressed for a football game and decked out in school colors smiling. Nettie's is from a spring break party last year. She's in front of a sunny beach holding a tote bag that she used to carry around a seemingly endless supply of gum, pills, and trashy romance novels with shirtless cowboys and vampires on the covers.
The top of the screen reads Bodies of Texas college students found in desert after Southern California music festival.
They weren't best friends—they tolerated him at best—but he spent almost every day of high school and college with the duo. It doesn't feel good seeing that they're dead now.
The news story gives few details. They were found at the bottom of a canyon by some hikers several days after going missing. Police are still investigating if it was accidental or foul play. It's apparently unknown if there was drinking or drug use, but Jasper knows there likely would have been.
Benito's picture flashes up on the screen. He's been arrested and is facing several years in prison for large-scale drug distribution, racketeering, possession of unregistered firearms, and possible connection to Lucy and Nettie's deaths. He made it to the big leagues. No more short probations or slaps on the hand for misdemeanors.
He wonders if Maria was there and if she's caught up in it at all, but at the same time, he really doesn't want to go down that rabbit hole. It was a miracle that they made it as far as they did relatively unscathed.
No, he can't call her to check.
Alice comes running down the stairs suddenly and pounces on the front door right as it starts to open. "Esme!" she says. "How was your hair appointment? You look stunning!"
Sighing, Jasper grabs the remote and turns off the TV before heading to the garage.
...
Rosalie walks up the front drive to Carlisle and Esme's house, heading toward the open gate into the backyard marked with a beautiful, pastel balloon arch and a large, hand-drawn sign that says This Way to the Par-Tea!
"Hi, Rosalie!" Esme says from the patio, organizing a tower of gifts with the help of Carlisle and Alice. She's wearing a mid-calf-length blue and lilac floral-print dress with a pair of clean, white sneakers. "And Kate!"
Kate comes in behind her with a box of diapers and a tissue-paper-stuffed bag stacked high in her arms. She sets the presents down and immediately pulls Esme in for a hug. "I love your hair!"
"Thanks, I went and had it done this morning," Esme replies. "Oh, help yourself to snacks and tea. There are three types of sugar, honey, cream, oat milk, soy milk...Alice really outdid herself this time."
"Because this time I had lots of help," Alice adds with a smile. "My fabulous assistants were the ones slicing lemon wedges and putting out place settings."
"Brag a little more about how much you like telling people what to do," Edward says dryly as he carries out a stainless-steel hot water dispenser from the house.
"Hush, you! We're celebrating!" Alice swats him away.
She doesn't see Emmett outside, so Rosalie circulates around, chatting with Tanya for a while before going to make herself a drink. She reads the labels of the various varieties of tea available—there's everything from oolong to Darjeeling to jasmine—and picks out a black currant flavored one.
The long table fully set with porcelain cups, saucers, and dessert plates. Little towers of sandwiches and sweets are lined up down the center with bowls of candies and tiny jars of jam.
Combined with the balloons, the giant crepe-paper flowers dangling off trees and the roof eaves, and the freshly blooming azaleas growing along the side of the house, it's easily the most wonderful baby shower she's ever seen. She wishes she could have one just like this.
The tiniest prickle of envy for her future self stings her chest.
Jasper's sitting at one end of the table with a cup of tea and a sandwich triangle, watching as Bella tries to find a spot to put her gift in the pile. Alice sees her struggling and offers to take it, but Bella drops it on the ground in the process of handing it over. A handful of other presents roll down onto the patio with it.
"She's a mess," Rosalie says under her breath.
Jasper smiles. "It's painful to watch. She's nice, though."
He's visibly struggling not to get up and go help them, starting to stand, but ultimately deciding to continue sitting with Rosalie for whatever reason. It takes a moment, but Alice balances the gifts back in their perfect pyramid shape.
"I guess," she replies.
Finally, Emmett makes an appearance, coming out from the backdoor with a stack of cards in his hands.
He walks straight for Rosalie and Jasper and hands them each one. "Hey! I didn't know you were here already!" he says to Rosalie. "We're playing a game. Match the picture to the person's name on the list and whoever gets the most matches gets a prize."
Rosalie reads the game card with Guess That Baby stamped across the top and realizes there are large, printed-out photos of infants and toddlers with numbers by them taped up across the sliding glass doors.
Alice skitters by and grabs one of the ballots. "Six and seven are my favorite."
Rosalie's eyes skim down the rows and she sees both numbers are placed on either side of a single picture. It's the one of Jasper and her on their third birthday. She's grinning mischievously because she shoved his face into the cake. Half of his head is covered in blue frosting, but he's laughing.
She can't quite figure out which of the red-headed children are Tanya or Maggie, but it's obvious that Edward's the serious one posed by a tiny piano. She guesses Carlisle's the infant in a christening gown—the cathedral in the background looks very old-world English—and Esme must be the wavy-haired toddler holding a Barbie phone in a kitty-printed dress.
She spots an adorable baby with curly, dark hair and big dimples on the bottom right and immediately knows it's Emmett. He was so cute. He still is. It's impossible not to smile back at that face.
"Okay, everyone, take a seat and we'll watch Esme open gifts!" Alice calls out, waving her arms around while she stands on one of the chairs. Her tall platform wedges teeter on the makeshift platform precariously, but she somehow doesn't fall.
Rosalie stays where she is, watching the others play an unintentional game of musical chairs as they try to sit in a place where they'll have the best view. Emmett pulls up a chair next to her and rests an arm around her shoulders.
"This one's from Alice and Jasper," Esme says, picking up a large bag full of sparkly tissue paper. She reaches inside and pulls out a folded quilt with an intricately pieced-together design in soft neutral shades of blue, pink, yellow, and beige. "Oh, this is so sweet. Did you make this? It's beautiful. How did you even find the time?"
"Jasper helped with cutting out pieces and pinning, so it went pretty quickly," Alice says excitedly. "There's still another present inside the present."
Esme picks up a wrapped cube tucked in the blanket and carefully peels off the pastel paper. Inside is a light blue Tiffany's box. She opens it and holds up a shiny silver moon-shaped rattle. "Alice! No. I love it, but, really?"
This sets off a commotion of laughter and comments. Rosalie hears something about the baby being born with a Tiffany's silver spoon come from Tanya and Irina's direction.
Alice giggles. "It matches the nursery so well! We can get it engraved once you settle on a name."
"Thank you, it's adorable," Esme replies with a smile, leaning over to hug her.
She gets an automatic rocking bassinet from Tanya, Kate, and Irina, one of those super nice convertible Bugaboo strollers from Edward, baby books from Bella, a white noise machine nightlight from Eleazar and Carmen, a baby NutriBullet from Emmett ("so the baby gets those baby gains"), and several onesies and a giant stuffed sheep toy from Siobhan, Liam, and Maggie.
It feels like the baby shower to a royal.
Rosalie bought her a playmat along with a gift card to Sephora. It kind of feels like a lackluster gift after everything else other people brought, but Vera always talked about how much she had to redo her skincare and makeup routine to accommodate a little one.
Knowing Esme, though, she won't be struggling to make time to be perfect even with a newborn. Surely she'll put even the idyllic Pinterest moms to shame with her effortless "messy" hair and "comfy chic" outfits. And she'll be genuinely humble about it, too. That's just the kind of person she is.
...
Bella snacks on a macaroon and tea while people watching and listening to Edward talk on and off about his next podcast line up. It's fascinating and terrifying to her how every single party at the house seems to be bigger than the last.
The baby showers she's seen in the past consisted of a few people sitting in a living room with discount party store decor and a grocery store fruit tray.
This, though, is a backyard extravaganza of the highest order. There are around thirty people, but there's food for probably a hundred. Edward-curated music plays from a very professional-looking outdoor speaker system, and she's actually had fun playing the games. There hasn't even been anything weird or cringey like eating melted chocolate out of diapers.
Plus everyone's focused on Carlisle and Esme, so she's left alone for the most part.
The sun is out, she hasn't made a fool of herself yet by tripping over her own feet yet, and she's wearing her favorite sleeveless, white-eyelet blouse. It's been a nice day so far.
"Edward, can you help us with something in the kitchen?" Alice calls out from the open sliding glass door.
"Yeah," he replies, standing. He looks down at Bella with a smile. "I'll be right back."
"Sure..." Bella mumbles mostly to herself. Across his empty seat she sees Tanya and her sisters sitting and chatting loudly. It seems to be a story about an online date she went on with a car salesman who lied and said he was an astronaut.
"We hooked up, then he told me we couldn't see each other for five years because he was going on a space mission." She laughs. "I asked why I hadn't seen it in the news, and he tried to say it was top secret because they found a colony of Martians. Then he asked if he could get a picture of my boobs to remember me by while he was out doing important scientific work."
Irina, Kate, and several of the surrounding guests laugh along with her, asking a variety of digging questions, all of which Tanya answers enthusiastically as if she's on a talk show.
As the conversation pivots toward Kate's work, Tanya notices Bella watching her. She feels her face get hot when they make eye contact and worries she'll take offense to her staring.
"Oh, he left you all by yourself," Tanya says, moving her chair closer. "I've been meaning to ask you about the wedding. How are you feeling? Amazing?"
So much for being left alone.
"Yeah, it's...unbelievable," she replies.
Tanya holds her hands out palms-up to her. "I want to see."
Bella obliges, setting her left hand in Tanya's hesitantly.
Tanya pushes aside her strawberry blond curls from her face as she inspects the ring, turning Bella's hand this way and that. The slightest hint of a Slavic accent tinges her words that Bella didn't notice before. "It's beautiful. You're very lucky to have each other."
A mental image of Tanya trying to seduce Edward pops into Bella's head and she can't help but remember what he told her about their history together. The part about how he blew her off and she repeatedly tried to throw herself at him for years, specifically.
It feels almost unfair that he would choose Bella over Tanya. She's so incredibly beautiful. It's no surprise Alice asked her to model for her fashion show last December.
Feeling sufficiently awkward, Bella pulls her hand away and tucks it away into her side with crossed arms. "Thank you. I, um...still don't quite get why he picked me—I wouldn't even pick me—but he did, and I'm—" Her face warms again as she realizes she's saying this all out loud.
Tanya laughs. "Did he say bad things about me?"
"Not at all! He said you were really great friends."
"Mhm, just friends. I had a little crush for a while, but he was never interested. I'm glad he found someone good for him. He deserves it. You don't have to worry about me," she says lightheartedly, patting Bella's arm. "You know, I always thought Alice would be more of a roadblock when it comes to his relationships."
Bella's eyebrows pull together. "Alice..? She has a boyfriend."
Edward and Alice—this time with Jasper—reappear at the sliding glass door with what looks like dozens and dozens of ice trays. They start setting them out on the tables.
"She does. I don't mean like that, though." Tanya says with a shrug, watching them. "I've known him since we were kids, but he's closer to her than I ever was. He values her opinion and listens to what she has to say. And she can be kind of pushy when she wants to be. Tiny girl, big personality."
She's not wrong. The first thing that comes to mind when she thinks of Alice is going on spontaneous shopping trips and sitting through an endless number of makeovers. Bella never really thought of that having any sort of effect on her relationship with Edward, though.
Edward returns to the end of their table with an ice tray for their section and Bella sees there are tiny baby dolls in the cubes.
"Okay, party people, it's game time!" Emmett shouts over the chatter. "You all have frozen ice cube babies in front of you! When I say go, get the baby out of your cube the fastest! Also make sure not to swallow the babies because they're plastic! I don't know what that'll do to you, but it won't be good!"
This prompts some laughter.
Edward hands her an ice cube as people start to prepare for the game. "Try not to get brain freeze," he says with a laugh.
"By the way, the winner gets a hundred dollars in cold hard cash, Babyyy!" Emmett booms. "Ready?! On your mark! Get set! Go!"
The party erupts in excitement as everyone attempts to melt their ice cubes.
Kate across from them drops hers in her iced tea casually and sips, seemingly giving up when she sees Irina chewing hers. "Your dentist is going to be pissed."
Irina shrugs.
Bella feels the roof of her mouth aching from the cold. She looks over at Edward and he chuckles from the ridiculousness of the game.
"I win," the blond man sitting in between Kate and Carlisle says, raising his arm. He doesn't sound that enthusiastic.
Emmett spits out the ice cube from his mouth into his hand. "Garrett is our winner!"
"He cheated! He poured boiling water on it," Kate complains, throwing her ice cube at the proclaimed cheater.
Garrett shakes his head. "There was no rule about not boiling the baby."
"It was implied," Irina says, defending her sister.
"Yeah, man, that's kinda weird, but I'll let you have it," Emmett says. "Do we have a runner-up that melted it without outside intervention, too?"
"Maggie just did!" Carlisle says, motioning to the redhead sitting across from him.
Maggie jumps up waving her little plastic baby in the air. "Woohoo!"
...
Rosalie locks her car with a beep and walks through her apartment garage to the elevator at a brisk pace. Emmett follows behind her, chattering away.
"I haven't been to a baby shower or a tea party before, but I get why you're so into that stuff now," he says with a laugh. "It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be."
"Yeah, it was nice," she replies. As long as she makes sure not to think about comparing herself with her friends who are lucky enough to be expecting parents.
"I can't believe Esme's parents didn't show up. I get that they don't exactly live nearby, but it's such a dick move."
"I noticed that, but I didn't know if they were invited. Do they not like Carlisle?"
"They're invited to everything. They're just stubborn and don't believe in divorce. They blamed the miscarriage on her leaving Charles. It was super effed."
Rosalie winces. "I don't know what I'd do if my parents ever did something like that."
She always imagined herself having a lifetime of memories with them. As much as they stress her out, it would also terrify her if she ever found herself cut off from them.
"Will I ever get to meet them?" Emmett asks.
"That might not be the best idea," she answers. She can't think of a scenario in which her parents approve of Emmett as a good life decision. Her mom might very well sidestep him entirely and propose alternate candidates in front of him. Or attempt to pay him off to leave her like some kind of soap opera villain.
"Didn't you mention it when you were talking about marriage, houses, cars, and four hypothetical children?"
She sidesteps the question as they get into the elevator, hoping he'll drop it. "It was two or three."
"You're blushing."
She feels her face growing hotter as she walks quickly out of the elevator and down the hall. With how long Emmett's legs are, though, she could sprint and still not gain any meaningful distance. "I wish you wouldn't tease me over stupid things I said when I was drunk."
"They're not stupid. Everyone wants something."
"Well, wanting things is a lot different than being able to have them." Rosalie unlocks the door to her apartment, glancing around defensively to make sure the freak that broke in last time didn't rearrange things again.
Emmett's unbothered by her pessimistic tone. "I really don't think you'll have trouble getting whatever you want out of life."
He has to be messing with her now. What a joke.
"Yeah, that's why I'm on the opposite side of the country from where I'm supposed to be and out thousands of dollars in legal fees," she replies. "All of my plans are trashed. You probably don't know what that's like, though. You seem to thrive at living in the moment."
His smile fades into a more neutral expression, but it registers more as a frown to her. "I had a plan. I was going to play professional football. It's kinda why I've been working out daily for, like, ten straight years."
"And you didn't make a plan B."
"You don't usually need one when you love doing something enough," he replies, running a hand through his hair and pulling at the dark curls. "I need a shower."
"Go ahead." She pours herself a glass of water sits down at the kitchen island. He leaves her with a kiss on her cheek.
Neither spontaneity nor passion projects have ever been her strong suit.
Doing things for the sake of doing them always seemed like a waste of time. She likes having a purpose and direction. A means for an end.
Whether by nature or consequence, most spontaneous things in her life have been undesirable setbacks from her overarching objectives. Her flight gets canceled and she has to reschedule, her nail breaks right after she gets them done so she needs to go back in on her lunch break, her mother calls to ask her to lunch in an hour because she found someone that Rosalie just has to meet...
She's still trying to figure out if her impromptu relationship with Emmett is one of those setbacks. A distraction from her goals.
If he is, she needs to break things off soon because she's getting attached. She's afraid of what it would do to her if she waits a year to decide that he's not right for her.
The shower begins running in the other room.
She wants so badly to hang on and let them anchor her through the turbulent storms she's had to weather. He makes her feel loved, protected, and sometimes so happy that she sometimes doesn't think she would recognize herself a year or two ago.
Day by day, she's starting to think that she was wrong before about wanting three darling children with blond hair and blue eyes. That picture seems so off. They should have dark wavy hair and smiles as sweet as their father's. That's what she wants.
She wishes she met Emmett under different circumstances. She wishes it was him she got engaged to last spring, not Royce. And she wishes she could imagine a scenario where her parents wouldn't look at him like he's just some random, no-name guy she found at the park.
Rosalie gets up and walks to the bathroom door. "Em, do you really want to meet my parents?"
"Yeah, I'm down if you are," he replies from the other side of the door.
She opens it to hear him better. "They're going to ask you a lot of questions. Probably about the same stuff we talked about before."
"You're gonna have to be more specific, Babe. We talk about like a hundred things a day. Is this about the taco truck idea? I don't know how to cook. I just blend and boil things."
She watches the beads of water running down the steamy glass of the shower door. "Kids, marriage, work..."
"Am I gonna be graded?"
Of course, he is, and the test is a one-shot pass or fail when it comes to them. "It's really important to me that they like whoever I'm dating."
"No pressure, right?" he says with a laugh.
Yes, pressure. A maximum amount, in fact. They don't even like Jasper, who bent over backward studying at a military school on the other side of the country to be their trophy son for most of his life—who they still don't speak to.
She doesn't know why she's fooling herself. Emmett's not going to be able to win them over. It's never going to work.
Closing the door again, she returns to her living room to sit on the sofa and contemplate her options. She can either fully commit to love and introduce him anyway while risking losing anything she has left with her parents and her old life out east. Or she can cut her losses and break up with him, crawl back home, and hope that she finds someone else more suitable.
She knows she wouldn't give up a marriage of status simply because it's loveless. Those types of arrangements can often be the most stable. Love can always blossom over time, especially with the right effort. What she isn't sure of, however, is if she can give up status and the respect of her family for love. She could just as easily lose it all if one of them falls out of it somewhere down the road—a very likely consequence if daily life becomes too much of a struggle.
Things would be much simpler if she weren't fighting against time and feeling the pressure to make everything work out simultaneously. Her life would be so different if she could pause time and escape her parent's nagging for a moment, but that isn't possible. All eyes are on her, and she has to choose correctly.