Hey there, here is the next chapter as promised. After this one we are going to speed up a few months :-)

I don't own any twilight stuff!

Chapter 19

Our First Summer: Part 2

(August)

Edward:

I still couldn't believe that mom and Carlisle were dating, but I knew one thing, Carlisle was softening her. Yes she was still sometimes hostile and she was still a little cold towards Bella and Jasper, but she has clearly loosened up.

Bella, Alice, mom, and Renée had gone shopping for the decorations for the party. I had asked Bella about the budget and she told me that it was taken care of, and she swore that she would kill me if any of us tried to give her money or buy anything for it.

Bella and Renée were going to be in charge of everything, I didn't like mad Bella so much so I let her have that argument. I would do something extra special for her birthday in September so we can be even.

Alice and I were getting ready for the party, Bella did let Alice be in charge of our outfits, she told us that the main colors of the party were going to be Fuchsia and green, the dress code for everyone was Hawaiian fashion, I hoped that I didn't look ridiculous on my Hawaiian shirt. We were ready for the party in no time; this morning mom gave us one present and made us our traditional birthday pancakes, we headed out for the party fifteen minutes before the time it was supposed to start, the ride to Bella's house was 20 minutes long approximately. We were going to be fashionably late as Alice would say.

Bella:

Mom and I had worked for two days on the party, I had baked cookies and decorated the backyard yesterday, this morning after a quick phone call to both Alice and Edward I had breakfast and then decorated the cookies while mom started some of the food. Phil, dad, and Jacob finished setting up outside and making sure that the tiki torches were functioning for later on, they got the grill ready for later when we grilled the skewers and some barbequed food we were going to have.

"Okay Bella, the table for the drinks is set. Want me to start cooling some soda cans?" Jacob asked.

"Sure, the ice is on the freezer and the drinks are stacked by the door of the den" I instructed him.

An hour later all the cookies were iced and ready; I started on the piña colada mix, two cans of coconut milk per can of pineapple juice. We had three jars of cherries and a special cup. We got one cup per guest so if they wanted a refill they had to use the same cup which was going to be also one of the favors of the party. After that I went to check that the tables were set like I had designed, and to my surprise the guys did a great job with the details. Even my swing was decorated; the backyard and terrace looked like it belonged in a Hawaiian hotel. The party was scheduled to start at two; the last thing that needed to be done was to décor the cake table, so I decorated it with a fuchsia table cloth and a green runner on top, a small grass skirt and flowers all around. Then I placed some real seashells I hunted down at the beach, alongside some fake starfish. Twenty minutes later, the cake was delivered because it was out of my league and I wanted to go big. Edward and Alice didn't know but Esme had given us a small fee for the party, I took the money and ordered the cake, it was enough to cover the cost and the delivery, so it all worked out.

Mom was inside getting the punch ready and finishing the rice, Phil was marinating the chicken; I went to my room to get ready, we had gone shopping for the party, a few days after the trip to Orlando, we got our clothes for today and for Rosalie's baby shower. The thing with it was that they didn't know what they were having, so the gifts had to be neutral and three of everything; I hope that they told us soon.

I was dressed and ready, I had decorated a box for Edward and Alice to place their gifts; I went outside and placed it at the entrance to the backyard, besides the sign that read; Alice & Edward's tiki party.

The doorbell rang; it was Carmen, Eleazar, and the girls. They were all dressed according to the theme.

"Hello Bella, it's nice to see you again. How are you dear?" Carmen asked me with a genuine smile.

"Everything is fantastic"

She went to place her bag at a table and then the girls placed their gifts on the bag.

Soon after them jasper and his family arrived, followed by Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmett.

Carlisle came to say hi to me, on the same moment that Carmen was walking over to me.

"Bella dear, the place looks amazing. You have a nice home, Esme told me that they were on their way already; we'll start the party soon." He told me, I laughed and pointed at where Rosalie was "I think the party already started, for her at least" she had already started eating.

Carlisle looked at Carmen waiting, "Carmen, this is Carlisle Cullen Es…"

"I'm Edward's new doctor" he said looking at me, he knew I was going to say Esme. I almost blew it, I didn't know if Esme wanted Carmen and Eleazar to know.

Jacob and dad came out of the house with Phil, mom followed and started telling everyone that they could get something to drink and eat if they wanted while we waited for Edward and Alice. They arrived a few minutes later, everyone cheered to them, Irina, Kate and Eliza beat me to hug Edward; Eliza liked me now, we had made a truce … I think. At some point, Carlisle introduced Rosalie and Emmett to everyone and the party started.

It was almost time for dinner, everyone was having a good time, and we were dancing, eating and joking. Edward and Alice danced with everyone they wanted. I knew Edward was enjoying himself because I haven't seen him smile so much, Alice was currently dancing with jasper, the girls were seated on my swing joking off.

Esme told Eleazar and Carmen about Carlisle, to say that they were surprised but pleased was an understatement. I knew they were genuine when they told her that they were happy with the news.

Dinner was served; everyone took their seat and started eating. Rosalie and Emmett had a second serving of food, dinner was delicious, and mom outdid herself with the food. I stood up then and called everyone's attention:

"Thank you all for coming today to celebrate with Alice and you're like a sister to me…and Edward, I love you more than anything. I hope that all of us can become one big family, to Alice and Edward; happy birthday."

"To Alice and Edward" everyone repeated.

I went back to my seat beside Edward and we kissed, dad then served the piña colada and we all danced some more. Forty five minutes later, we gathered around the cake and sang happy birthday, Edward and Alice made the first cut then I took over and cut a piece for everyone.

Soon after that the party died down and everyone started getting ready to leave. The last ones going were Rosalie and Emmett, Carlisle lingered and stayed behind for Esme. Alice helped me cleaned up a bit, then I left her and joined Edward on the swing.

"Did you enjoy the party love?" I asked him, "of course I did, I had a lot of fun and the food was delicious. But the highlight of it all was that I spent it with you." He declared with a smile, "I love you so much Bella." He told me as he kissed me; I brought him closer to me and kissed him back.

. . .

It was time for Rosalie and Emmett's baby shower, I was dressed and ready, mom was coming with me but she had an impromptu meeting and she couldn't, Phil was at the high school he worked, because there had been some vandalism to the baseball park and he had to go to the evaluation, I grabbed my car keys and headed out after activating the security system. The gift for the babies was already in the car. Rosalie had asked the close family to dress in peach colors, I thought I didn't have to but Rosalie told me I was the girlfriend of her stepsister, so I had to. Apparently Rosalie believed that Esme and Carlisle were going to last.

I knew that Rosalie and Emmett's friends alongside his family were coming to the party; it was going to be a total of around 50 people since all Emmett's family was coming. The party was going to be held at a poolside room on a Miami hotel, there was going to be access to the golf course and the guests could use the pool facilities.

I arrived to the party just a few minutes after the time on the invitation, which we had to show to the hotel, I grabbed the gifts and headed inside. Everything was marvelously decorated, the theme was 'she's about to pop' and the colors were mustard yellow, teal, and white. I had helped Rosalie with the favors the other day, she had given the design of what she wanted to the hotel and they had placed everything according to what she wanted.

Some people were already there, of course I didn't know any of them, went to check where I was supposed to seat, table two it was. I saw that it was reserved for the Masen family, there were four more chairs, and Alice told Rosalie to place me and jasper on Esme's table too. Soon enough they arrived, Alice perched of Jasper's arm, and they placed their gifts at the table and went to sit with me. Carlisle arrived with two butlers who were carrying two other gifts. He greeted the attendees and came then to us, he kissed Esme tenderly, "thank you all for coming" he told us.

More guests arrived, Carlisle told us that it was Emmett's family and he headed to greet them. Fifteen minutes later Rosalie and Emmett finally entered and the party started…

We were playing games, enjoying the music and the food. We had all met Emmett's family since he introduced us to each and every one of them; Carlisle introduced Esme as his girlfriend. I don't know why but we felt out of place, Emmett's family looked so primed and proper, they came and went with an air of importance around them, to me they felt as if they were royalty or something. I took Edward to the dance floor to distract ourselves, he was a bit apprehensive too, I think he knows that everyone noticed that he is blind although no one was treating him like a freak; I knew that this was going to be too much for him.

Emmett's family was nice, but he felt pressured or something, also I was uncomfortable because there was this guy who kept looking at me; he was not looking but creepily staring.

After dinner and more games Rosalie started to open her gifts. There were some cute things, almost everything in neutral colors. After the gifts Rosalie and Emmett went to cut the cake and Rosalie while people ate, she started handing out the party favors so everyone had theirs before they left.

Edward and I decided to take a walk to get out of the crowded room. The night was lovely.

"Rosalie seemed in her element in there" I commented.

"Yeah, the vibe was overwhelming in there" he agreed, "Yeah I don't know how Alice handles it." I said to him, Edward laughed,

"Bella, Alice likes parties it's her thing."

In took his face in my hand and kissed him, the feelings within me were the same as the first time we kissed. Edward and I have been together for about nine months and everyday felt like the same, I didn't want it to change; I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life…

The next chapter will have more on Edward's POV. Check the blog for the outfits, on the blog! (link on profile) there are two pages and four posts. See ya :-)