No one is staring at you. 

No one is staring at you! 

A strange sense of déjà vu spread through me as I remembered telling myself those same words constantly the first week Edward had given me my new car.  It had worked then… a little, but today it was utterly useless.  I was the one in white.  Of course everyone was staring at me.  I changed my mantra. 

You will not trip and fall! 

But even the mention of tripping caused me to look down at the floor and imagine the needle thin heels that Alice had forced onto my feet hours ago and that were now hidden under miles of satin.  I faltered.  Charlie grasped me tighter, smiling down knowingly.  I forced an apologetic smile back and concentrated instead on the faces in the crowd. 

The entire town seemed to be gathered in the Cullen parlor.  I saw Angela’s parents sitting alongside a very well-dressed Ben.  There was Tyler and Lauren, looking extremely bitter as usual, and beside them was Jessica with a camera in her hand.  Billy was seated further ahead, with Sam, Embry, Quil, Paul, and Jared in succession to his right, all looking more like grim body guards than wedding guests.  I tried not to imagine the one who was missing between Sam and Billy.  Not today.  This was supposed to be a happy day. 

Someone should have told Leah that.  Her eyes were shooting daggers at me from her position next to her mother.  It reminded me of the look that I had seen on Rosalie’s face when I had first met Edward’s family.   Just behind her were Mike and his mother.  Mike wore a look of utter defeat, but he didn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of me as I passed by.  I managed a smile in his direction.   

His mother seemed extremely uncomfortable by his side, and I realized that she was seated next to four breathtakingly beautiful figures—one man and three women—all impossibly pale and golden eyed...the Denali clan I presumed.  They were eerily still and their smiles seemed almost forced.  I found myself reluctantly searching for the tall strawberry blond, and I suffered a momentary collapse in self-esteem as I realized how truly breathtaking she really was.  Perfect.   

I moved on as quickly as possible. 

There were Rosalie, Carlisle, and Esme smiling encouragingly on one side of the aisle, and Phil and Renee seated next to the blank space that had been left for Charlie after he gave me away… 

But that was as far as I got, because that was when he came into view. 

He was an actor out of a turn of the century period piece—an angel straight from heaven in a light gray tuxedo that fit his godlike form to perfection.  He stood very still and impossibly confident, exactly how I had pictured every hero in every book I had ever read, only Edward far surpassed any beauty that my imagination could possibly conjure.   

His bronze hair was gelled smoothly back, and his pale, full lips were pressed tight into a nervous smile that disappeared almost instantly when his eyes caught mine.  They blazed with an intensity that pierced my heart.  It was incomprehensible.  He was staring at me as if I was the only person in the room…the only person in his universe.  The sheer power behind those eyes held me there in the moment, and suddenly everything that had seemed so intimidating began to fade into the background.  My knees buckled. 

“Careful Bells!” Charlie caught me of course.  His whisper brought me back…but only halfway.  “Something tells me I’d be in trouble if I gave you away in less that perfect condition.” 

My mind flickered back to a moment outside my house where Edward had spoken those exact words to a different person.  If you return her to me in less than the perfect condition that I left her in, you will be running with three legs. I didn’t respond…couldn’t have if I had wanted to.  My eyes had frozen on the utopian vision before me, and my breath would not come at all. 

I did not even notice as Charlie passed me reluctantly over to him—wasn’t privilege to the look that he gave Edward that was meant to be threatening.  I was lost in a topaz oblivion that didn’t waver as he nodded his gratitude toward my father and took my hands in his. 

“You’re…”  He was speechless.  “…I…” 

Edward was speechless!  That was a first—and only fair.  He couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t breathe.  

“You outshine every single memory I have ever had of anything beautiful in my life…or death.”  The last part was spoken so low that only I would hear…and, of course, the vampires in their various stations around me.   

I looked around at the wedding party.  Alice and Angela stood on my left beaming, and on my right stood Seth and Jasper, both regal in their matching tuxedos, and both looking rather nervous.  I smiled.  Seth, I assumed, was having a difficult time being in a room so full of vampires, and Jasper could never be completely at ease in a place so packed with werewolves and appetizers.  As I watched, Jasper folded his hands politely in front of him and adopted a look of sly sarcasm. 

“Enjoy this moment,” he whispered.  “It’s probably the only time Edward will ever be at a loss for words.”  His smirk resulted from the knowledge that Edward couldn’t retaliate in front of so many guests, but a sense of calm glided over the room just in case.   

I didn’t need it.  At this moment, there was nowhere else that I would rather be than at the end of this aisle hand in hand with an angel.  I smiled up at him. 

Emmett’s snicker became the call to attention.  We turned toward him.  I didn’t want to look away from Edward, but the sight of Emmett—jovial and bearlike Emmett—presiding over the ceremony was too much of a temptation to miss.  I had admitted to Alice that it had been one of the most controversial decisions, and I stood in front of his good natured smirk now in sudden fear of a very badly timed comment with sexual innuendo.  Thankfully, he began more traditionally. 

“We are gathered here to today to join in holy matrimony, these two…” 

“Your beauty is making nearly every female in this room incredibly jealous,” came Edward’s melodic whisper, interrupting Emmett’s speech.  “Their envy is almost scathing.” 

He took my hand again, and I was acutely aware of his beautiful eyes staring sideways at me as he tried to carry on the illusion of paying attention.  By the look of Emmett’s face, he was not fooling anyone, but Emmett didn’t seem to care.  I still hadn’t found enough breath to spare for a response, so I tried to turn my attention to the words. 

“Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy…” 

“Mike’s mother believes you are the most beautiful bride she’s ever seen.  I agree wholeheartedly.”  Another brilliant smile as he chanced another glance at my face.  I squeezed his hand, worried that if I looked into his eyes, I wouldn’t be able to look away.  I blushed slightly as I imagined myself missing entirely the part where I was supposed to say I do. 

“…does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects…” 

“She’s planning to ask you where you bought your dress at the reception.”  Edward continued.  I looked back lovingly at Alice, who nodded in what I could only assume was her permission to sing her praises later.  Angela’s eyes were locked on Ben. 

“Marriage is a solemn institution held in honor by all…” 

Edward’s hand tightened around mine.  “Your mother has never been more proud of you than she is at this moment.”  He grinned.  “She’s trying to understand what happened to the little girl who used to dance around the house playing Cinderella.  You were adorable.”   

I smiled slyly.  “What is Tanya thinking?” I prompted, not so subtly.  He turned his head to stare lovingly down at me, but I noticed the tightening of his lips as well. 

“…symbolizes the intimate sharing of two lives and still enhances…” 

“She is thinking that you’ll make an astonishing vampire.”  His voice was slightly colder, his face expressionless.  “She’s not exactly happy about that thought.” 

“It that all?”  I whispered. 

The same grin, guilty this time.  “Do you really want me to answer that?” 

“No,” I whispered a bit too loud.  Emmett coughed and began the next lines with a bit more volume.  This was the important part. 

“Do you Edward Anthony Cullen, take Isabella Swan…” 

“Bella,” we both said instinctively, and Emmett smirked.  He’d done that on purpose! Jerk.  “Do you take Bella to be your lawfully wedded wife?” 

“I do.”   

He did!  And I suddenly found that in those two words rested my entire existence. 

“And do you Bella Swan take Edward Cullen to be your lawfully wedded husband?”  He added something at the end, too quick and too quiet for anyone but me—and the vampires—to hear.  “Think that one over carefully, there, Bella.”   

Edward seethed. 

“I do.”  Was it ever in doubt?  My voice broke on the last word, and I tried to gulp down the lump in my throat that was threatening to bring with it a full fledged shower of tears.   

He squeezed my hand tighter and the love that I found in his eyes caused the tears to start in mine.  Alice moved forward quickly with the Kleenex that I was certain she had stolen from my mother. 

“Great!  Do you have the rings?”  Emmet asked.  All eyes turned to Seth, who suddenly looked a bit sick to be the center of attention.  Good, at least somebody understood it.  He dug awkwardly into his pocket.  A look of relief washed over him as he passed the fragile silver rings quickly first to Edward, and then to me. 

I had vehemently insisted that the vows be the traditional, repeat-after-me, no-pressure-to-be-creative kind of vows.  My reasoning behind this was that being on a Volturi hit list, maintaining a difficult peace between two sworn enemies, and secretly planning my own painful death seemed like quite enough pressure for me to deal with at the moment.  There was no need for the added stress of trying to place my feelings for this beautiful being before me into words.  He had already made me understand exactly what all of the poets and authors throughout all of history must have been devastated to discover in their own times…the inevitable impossibility of finding the words for falling in love.  Edward had protested at first, but in the end, he had humbly promised that he would not write his own vows. 

“Repeat after me, Bella," Emmett said, smiling.  “I, Bella, take you Edward to be my wedded husband.”

I repeated the words, lost now in his glorious smile. 

“To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part.” 

Was it just me who noticed the hint of a chuckle at the last part?  Edward’s face was radiant, but his eyes were grave.  Until death do us part meant so much more when death was no longer a factor.  I repeated the words, hoping that the devotion I felt would show in my expression as I slipped the ring onto his cold finger. 

Neither of us were breathing.  

“Edward?”  Emmett stood back as if waiting for something. 

What?   

He wasn’t about to repeat anything.  He was about to recite something!  I fumed at him.  He had promised!  I looked around at Alice and Jasper who both wore smug grins but refused to meet my eyes.  Edward’s smile was triumphant, radiant—all teeth—as he began, his eyes never moving from mine.

“Bella Swan, I love you because you are more myself than I am.  Whatever our souls are made of, mine and yours are the same.”  I inhaled loudly as I recognized the most beautiful line from Wuthering Heights.  My heartbeat sped up.  He had cheated!

“When two souls, which have sought each other for however long in the throng have finally found each other, a union, fiery and pure as they themselves are begins on earth and continues forever in heaven.  This union is love, true love--a religion, which deifies the loved one, whose life comes from devotion and passion, and for which the greatest sacrifices are the sweetest delights.”

My face went completely blank and my mouth dropped open in shock. 

“Victor Hugo,” Jasper informed quietly.  The glare that he received in return would have burned any human to cinders, but I could not bring myself to project that same glare upon Edward.  They were the most breath taking vows I had ever heard.  He continued, slipping the ring onto my shaking finger.

“I love you, Bella—and those three words have my life in them.” 

Tears again, and Alice appeared with another Kleenex.  “Alexandrea to Nicolas II,” she whispered.  Damn him!   

He wasn’t done. “And I will love you, always.” 

I stared up into his eyes waiting for Alice or Jasper to fill me in on the origins of the last quote.  Edward’s crooked smile appeared, and the urge to reach for him, to fold into his arms and kiss his luscious lips had never been so irresistible. 

“Bon Jovi,”  he confessed only to me, sounding slightly embarrassed. I stifled a laugh…and a sob.  

“Alright, before Bella gets to crying too hard and ruins all that make-up, I suppose that I should get on with it,” Emmett announced, putting an end to the tears immediately.  I made a silent note to sucker punch him when I finally acquired all my newborn strength. 

“I now pronounce you man…”  Once again, I was the only one who seemed to notice the sarcasm behind that last word.  “and wife.”   

I let out a long relieved breath.  Edward seemed to be glowing with triumph. 

“Go on,” Emmett said to him, his tone goading.  “You’ve been waiting for it all day…kiss the bride.” 

And then his lips were pressed against mine, and the rest of the world ceased to exist for a moment.  My heart skipped a beat…skipped two or three, and Edward had to support me as my knees gave out again.  I could have stayed there forever, but the trance was broken when his jaw tensed and I realized that the muscles in his arms had frozen.  I pulled away and frowned at him.  He stared back, looking almost angry for a moment, and then his eyes met mine again, and they were ecstatic.  

He pulled me to him, touching his lips tenderly to my ear.  “Prepare yourself,” he whispered, smirking, and I reveled in the sweet scent of his breath.  It made me forget to wonder exactly what he was talking about. 

Emmett punched him playfully in the arm, knocking him to one side, and turned to the crowd. 

“Ladies and gentleman, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Edward and Bella Cullen!”  There was a thunderous applause. 

Bella Cullen. 

That would take no time at all to get used to.  My mouth was already forming the words.  My head was full of it as Edward wrapped his arm around my waist and we made our way back down the aisle.  I beamed up at him, and he smiled back mysteriously, leading me quickly past the smiling, laughing, crying, booming crowd of guests.  I wondered why he was in so much of a hurry. 

The reason was waiting at the end of the aisle, dressed in a beautiful black suit that seemed only slightly too small for his towering frame.  His long black hair fell elegantly over his shoulders, but did nothing to hide the look of profound chagrin that shaded his face. 

Jacob!