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Chapter 51

Forgotten

Emmett

I was lying next to my sweet Bella in the king size bed ... or what was left of it. I was wearing my underpants and Bella was wearing a white shirt of mine. We were both looking at each other, had been for about two hours.

I couldn't remember how we ended up in bed. Wait. How could I not know. I was a vampire, I never forgot anything. I tried to remember what we had done before, but there was nothing. Damn!

I went with my thoughts to the beginning of our evening.

First we went to the casino, I remembered that clearly. Everyone had turned to us when we walked in and went to get chips. Bella looked incredible. We played Blackjack - no problem counting cards as a vampire. Even with Craps it was easy to calculate how to roll the dice, so they showed the right number. Sometimes we lost extra so it didn't get too flashy. Bella had the most fun playing roulette because we couldn't cheat there, at least not when Alice wasn't around. She said it was much funnier when you didn't know if you were winning or losing. Later we went to the 'Vanity'.

I could still remember that, too.

We danced for probably two hours. The men were all staring at her. Yep ... my Bella was already hot! Bella said she felt a little woozy, but not really drunk. So we went out and bought another four liters of 'Jim Beam'. It would be a thousand times less laborious if we could have just taken drunk people. But of course we didn't. So we ran out into the desert and looked for the first bighorn sheep we could find. The desert was absolutely boring as far as hunting was concerned. Sporadically there were still foxes, but I thought they might remind Bella too much of wolves. When we had drunk, we went back to the center and to the Surrender Club. And at some point from then on ... I knew nothing more. Damn!

I looked around the room.

Bella next to me followed my gaze and looked as startled as I was.

Couldn't she remember either? The loft was totally destroyed. I could well imagine how we had managed that. It's just too bad I didn't remember it. Apparently we had a lot of fun.

"Em? What did we ...", she started and slowly turned her head towards me.

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed.

"No idea, Bells!", I said, laughing again and dropping back onto the bed.

She lay down next to me and started laughing too.

"Good, so I'm not the only one who has a blackout after we've been to the 'Surrender'?"

I shook my head.

Something seemed to have occurred to Bella and she froze.

"You don't think we did anything so now all of Las Vegas knows there are vampires, do you? I mean, we have no idea anymore. Maybe you knocked over the Eiffel Tower replica for fun, or I ran around at vampire speed, or ..." speculated Bella next to me.

"No, we're still alive and there are no Volturis in sight," I said, taking her hand in mine.

When I felt something metallic, I looked down, startled. She followed my gaze and suddenly we were both standing at the side of the bed, looking at each other in shock.

"Oh, God! Did we? No ... no, we didn't ...?", she said and looked at her right hand.

There sparkled a white gold dainty engagement ring, with a brilliant cut diamond set in white gold tendrils. In front of it was a beautiful plain wedding ring.

"Shit, I can't remember."

Damn! This is not how I had imagined it. Not that I didn't want to marry her. She was my everything. But not like this.

She crawled across the bed to me and took my hand in hers.

I also had a ring. It was also white gold and plain, just a little wider than hers.

"What are we going to do now?", she whispered.

Bella

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! How did this happen? Take a breath!

"I don't know," he said, pulling me close to him.

I looked up at him and he rested his forehead on mine.

"Bella ..." he began, taking a deep breath in and out. "I love you. But ... I wanted to do it right. I wanted to get down on my knees in front of you, tell you how much I love you ... and ask you to marry me."

I imagined it and felt a warmth deep inside me.

"Then do it now," I whispered in his ear. I didn't remember anything about last night. Why not just pretend it didn't happen?

I took the engagement ring and wedding band off my finger and gave them to him.

He grinned and took my hands in his. He knelt down.

"Isabella Marie Swan ... You are my everything. You are my eternity. People throw around the words 'love' and 'forever' without knowing what they even mean. Love is when you don't want to live without the other person. When you would really do anything for him. Love is forever. You are my love, Bella. Do you want to be with me forever and spend eternity with me? Bella, will you marry me."

My eyes were burning, and I was shaking.

Emmett's eyes were so full of love and honesty.

I nodded.

"Yes," I whispered, and he put the engagement ring on my left ring finger.

He stood up, hugged me, and kissed me effusively.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Forever," I said and dropped onto the bed with him.

What did it matter that we were actually already married. What mattered was this moment. My heart felt like it was getting warm, and my chest was almost bursting with the love and happiness that was flowing through my body.

"Forever," he said happily.

There was only him and me and our eternity.