This was it.
This was my last half hour as a Swan.
I could hear the people arriving through the door of Alice’s room—great booming cheerful voices and lower, calmer ones that I was sure were whispering scandalous rumors about the chief’s daughter getting married at such a young age. I wrung my hands furiously in a nervous attempt not to fiddle with the sculpted curls that fell around my face.
Rosalie and Alice had spent the last hour turning my hair into what could only be described as a work of art, given the hopeless mess they had begun with. It would have taken any normal hairdresser hours, but then again, Rosalie and Alice weren’t exactly normal. They had appeared at my house in Alice’s bright yellow Porsche at first light, scaring poor Charlie to death, and practically kidnapping me in front of his eyes. Some police chief he was. He had yelled after us that he would be at their house at around two. I thought I heard him snickering as I was literally carried to the car.
I had been held prisoner since then, forced to sit in a chair and undergo some of the worst torture rituals that women of my time have ever been through in the name of beauty. Each torment bore a different name…pedicure…exfoliation…skin wrap…manicure…the waxing was particularly close to some forms of torture I had actually read about in the Japanese prisoner of war camps after World War II.
I had been as cheerful as I could possibly be for someone who had been allowed only four hours of sleep. Alice complained about the circles under my eyes as she applied generous amount of foundation over every imperfection of my face.
“What’s so bad about dark circles?” I had asked sarcastically. “You all have them, and you’re the most beautiful family in Forks.”
Rosalie had smiled vainly at this, but Alice just rolled her eyes and moved on to her next weapon, cleverly disguised as eyeliner.
In the end, I had to admit, the vampire girls knew their beauty treatments. When they finally allowed me to look in the mirror, I was shocked into speechlessness. I didn’t even recognize myself. The dress that Alice had focused so much of her time and effort into was indescribable. Every detail seemed like it was created to make me feel more beautiful. I began to tear over as I ran my hands over the delicate satin folds and the carefully beaded embroidery.
“Oh no! I forgot about the water!” Alice had said, running for a towel before I could destroy my newly painted face. The Cullens had no need for Kleenexes in their house—a fact that suddenly seemed like a dangerous oversight.
Now, all I had to do was wait—though “hide” seemed like a better word for it. Renee had come to see me when she had first arrived, and had left crying, wiping her eyes with the ample amount of Kleenex that she had thankfully packed into her purse. Charlie had tried to get in, but Rosalie was playing guard…no boys allowed. Edward was not even allowed in the house. Jasper and Emmet had taken him to wait in a tiny hunting cabin on the other end of the property so that he couldn’t pick the images of me in my dress out of his sisters’ minds. I wondered exactly what he was thinking right now.
“You look so worried, Bella!” It was Angela, my second bridesmaid. She was beautiful in the sterling blue gown that Alice had chosen for them both. I gave her a sickly smile.
“I’m just a little worried that I’m doing this too soon,” I told her. That was no secret. Everyone gathering in the front room of the Cullen home at this moment was probably thinking the same thing.
Angela shrugged calmly. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t?” I replied surprised.
“Nope,” she persisted. “I think you’ve known exactly what you wanted from the beginning. Him too. I’m amazed you waited this long. It was pretty obvious he was in it for the long haul from the beginning…even after his parents made him move to California. I bet he played a part in convincing them to come back.”
I laughed. Angela was so easy to believe. Her calm security was helping me more than I could say.
“But isn’t the entire town talking about the scandal of it?” I asked her, uneasy. It certainly seemed that way to me when I was driving around, feeling the scathing looks from all of the mothers in Forks.
Angela suppressed a smile. ‘To tell you the truth, what I’ve heard is that they think Edward’s lucky that he found a good Forks girl to settle down with. It makes him more…normal.”
“Normal!” I nearly bellowed. I didn’t know whether to take that statement as a complement. The last thing I wanted to do was to turn my beautiful guardian angel into something normal. But I hadn’t missed the fact that I was actually considered a “Forks girl.” It made me smile.
“Face it Bella,” Angela continued. “Before you came, Edward was pretty much a recluse—a good looking recluse, but still someone that could better be described as a little frightening. You made him more…human.”
I giggled. She had no idea how right she was…and how wrong at the same time, but her words were somehow comforting, and I found myself thinking that maybe the wedding was not exactly a bad idea…if only I could avoid the part where I would be walking down the aisle as the center of everyone’s attention. I could just picture myself falling straight into one of the glass candelabras that Alice had placed up and down the aisles, cutting myself, and turning my perfect wedding day into a bloodbath.
I groaned. “I just wish that everyone wasn’t watching me walking down the aisle. I hate being the center of attention.”
“Oh, you’re absolutely beautiful,” Angela reassured me. “I’ll have to ask Alice and Rosalie if they’ll do my wedding someday, but I don’t think you’ll be the center of attention at this wedding.”
Of course. Who was I kidding. I was marrying a vampire in a house full of vampires. Who would be focusing on me? I relaxed a little.
“What I mean is, I think everyone will just be focusing on what’s between you and Edward,” she clarified. “The love you two have is pretty intimidating. It’s like a protective bubble all around you both…like the kind you see in the movies that they’ve been waiting years and years to finally find.”
She had no idea.
“I think you’re both very lucky, Bella.”
I stared at her in amazement. “Thank you, Angela,” I said, and I didn’t have to fake the happiness I felt. In one short conversation, she had sold me on marriage. I felt a pang of guilt that I would not be able to see her after this for such a very long time. She was a wonderful friend. I made a silent note to add her to the list of people Edward was to prevent me from killing.
She looked over at the clock on Alice’s computer. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Ben’s supposed to be here by now. Don’t worry, Bella. You’re going to live happily ever after. That’s almost always what happens with Prince Charmings!” And she slipped out the door.
I smiled and silently hoped that it was also what happened with Count Draculas.
