Chapter 3, The Wedding
December 26. Charlie’s wedding day.
Edward, Nessie and I had arrived at the Cullens shortly after eight. It was going to be another perfectly-overcast day in Forks. I could hardly believe there was a time in my life when I hated this place. As a vampire, I really appreciated Forks. I could be outdoors almost all of the time. At least the weather was cooperating.
Alice didn’t have quite the control over this wedding that she’d had over mine, and I could tell that was bothering her.
For one thing, she didn’t get to dress either Sue or Charlie. The rest of us were another story. She had our clothes set aside for that afternoon. I wasn’t sure what Sue was wearing, but I had a feeling that Alice would have matched us with her vision of Sue’s attire.
Edward had joined Jasper, Emmett, Jacob and Seth in another challenging game of croquet. This time, Leah had set out the course. Jacob figured it would be fairer if someone outside the game set it up, and all of them could follow Leah’s scent with ease.
Alice insisted they be home by three. I could imagine the threats she was thinking because Edward was looking almost cowed. I smiled at the memory. Alice knew how to get her way when she really wanted it.
Rose spent the morning working on our hair. I wasn’t one to really fuss over appearances, and it always annoyed Alice that I didn’t care. Nessie loved the attention. I endured it.
“You’ll want pictures with your dad and Sue.” Alice reminded me. “And Renée will want some, too—especially now that she knows she’s a grandma.” Alice grinned. I didn’t share her humor. I was expecting Renée to burst out of her denial cocoon any minute. I was selfishly enjoying the protection of her cocoon.
At three o’clock sharp, the men arrived. Their clothes were in tatters. Jasper and Emmett came in together, as did Jacob and Seth. They were laughing, and Edward seemed a little disgruntled. This was his first game, and I gathered it hadn’t gone as well as he would have liked. I didn’t really want to envision what the course had been like, but I was sure Leah was going to relish the memory when the pack was back in wolf form. Leah would know everything Jacob and Seth had done.
Alice knew what she was doing when she insisted on the early return. They needed restoring. She insisted on dressing Seth and Jacob with the Cullens.
The Cullen women, including Nessie, were all dressed in hunter green with white accents. The men wore dark suits with hunter green ties. I moved over to Edward and whispered, “I like what that green does to your hair.”
He lightly touched my lips and whispered back, “I’ll respond to that comment tonight.” Fire smoldered in his eyes and I shivered with delight. I could hardly wait.
When Jacob and Seth came out of Edward’s old room, currently being used as a dressing room, I let out a long whistle. “Wow. You guys really clean up nice.” I grinned at them. I’d never seen them in suits before.
Two dark-haired, dark-skinned, muscular, seven-foot-tall guys in suits could be imposing. They grinned back, but looked uncomfortable in their unfamiliar attire. I’ll bet they are wishing for something less formal.
“Have you ever even worn a tie?” I directed the question at Jacob.
He smiled. “I remember wearing one at a certain dance I crashed…”
A faint human memory came to me. My one and only prom. Edward had taken me. Jacob had come dressed in a white shirt and tie so he could warn me about Edward. Billy had bribed him with the promise of a master cylinder for his VW rabbit. It seemed so long ago… had it really been less than three years? My life has seen so many changes since then.
It was 4:30. Just an hour to go. The house looked like a reception hall with the cake as a focal point in the great room. Small tables and chairs were set up for the guests for an after-wedding feast. Esme and Alice had outdone themselves on the food department. They knew well the appetite of the huge shape shifters.
The guests would be arriving in thirty minutes.
“Picture time,” Alice called happily. I groaned, and the men looked like they wanted to run, but Alice situated us on the stairs for a family portrait. She included Seth and Jacob on the step by Edward, Nessie, and me. When the family was positioned correctly, she set the timer on her camera and stepped to Jasper’s side.
After the full family picture, Alice insisted on individual and family poses. If we hadn’t been vampires and werewolves and could move quickly, the session would have taken more than the 30 minutes she’d allotted.
Renée and Phil arrived first. They’d been to the Cullen home for my wedding, so the drive was familiar. Renée rushed to give me a hug, then hugged Nessie. I could hardly believe she wouldn’t notice the difference in body temperature between Nessie and me, but she was secure in her denial cocoon.
Alice quickly stepped up, “Let’s get some family pictures.” She herded us to the stairs again. It didn’t take long to get a picture of us. Renée’s off-white pantsuit looked elegant, and Phil was a perfect match in his silk sports coat.
Phil kept sneaking glances at me. He seemed to be overwhelmed by my new looks. I smiled at him once and wished I hadn’t. He looked like he’d been struck by lightning. I sighed. The vampire attraction to a human was truly disturbing. I hoped he’d get back to normal when he was back in Florida with Renée.
Nahuel, dressed in a dark suit for the occasion, arrived with Huilen. She wore a matching pantsuit. She looked so like Nahuel. I was guessing she and his mother had looked very similar.
In any other company, Nahuel would have stood out. His soft brown eyes were disturbingly appealing, and the shape of his face was perfection. If it weren’t for his beating heart, warm brown skin, and the heat emanating from him, he could’ve been mistaken for a vampire. He was divinity in the flesh.
Edward was better-looking, of course, but Nahuel came in a close second.
Alice led Nahuel and his aunt to the dining room. It had been transformed for the wedding. Chairs were set up in front of the silk arch where the ceremony would take place. Knowing in advance who would be attending, she had assigned seats and directed the guests accordingly. Nahuel and his aunt looked uncomfortable in this family setting and seemed relieved to have a place to plant themselves.
Paul, Rachel, and Billy arrived shortly after. Paul had driven Billy over. He pushed Billy into the room. Billy was wearing a dark suit and looked officially impressive, even in his wheelchair. Jacob joined him.
Phil eyed him cautiously. If we didn’t know Jacob so well, he would’ve looked frightening.
Quil and Embry came, dressed more casually. No one had bought them suits, and there weren’t many opportunities in La Push to use them, anyway. Alice led them to their seats. Renée and Phil found their seats as well. Deputy Mark and his wife arrived shortly after. It was almost time for the wedding.
Seconds after their arrival, a smartly-dressed woman arrived. She was wearing a burgundy shift and matching heels. Her hair was done in an elegant twist, a couple of stray strands of hair escaping around her ears. Pearls shone at her ears and neck.
Seth approached her first, “Leah?” he asked in astonishment.
A smile crinkled around her eyes. I’d never seen Leah dressed like this, and it was a revelation. She was gorgeous.
Untraditionally, to Alice’s dismay, Sue and Charlie arrived together. Sue was also in a burgundy shift, a lighter shade than Leah’s, but I could see that our hunter green was a nice contrast to Sue’s choice.
I smiled. Alice was always right. Charlie was wearing a dark suit and burgundy tie that matched the shade of Sue’s dress. He seemed more comfortable in his suit than he’d been in the tuxedo on my wedding day, but it was still odd to see my dad dressed like that.
The rest of the guests took their seats in front of the silk arch and Billy rolled to his position. Edward started to play the wedding march softly, a smile lingering around his lips. I wondered if he was remembering our own wedding.
Sue walked sedately nex
t to Charlie down the aisle toward Billy. Like Leah, her graying hair was in an elegant twist. Her pumps didn’t have the height of Leah’s, but there was beauty in the way she held herself. My human heart would’ve twisted.
I hope Charlie will find the happiness with Sue that he never found with Renée.
Billy’s deep voice intoned the familiar marriage rites…
Leah
I looked up, surprised to feel someone’s eyes on me. My eyes went wide. I was looking at the most gorgeous, soft brown eyes I’d ever seen. The face was inhumanely beautiful. It took my breath away, and then something happened.
The whole universe exploded and imploded before my eyes—imploding with him as the center. I shook my head, dazed. I’d seen this through other eyes. I knew what was happening. I was imprinting on this fantastically beautiful creature. Someone as divinely beautiful as him can’t exist. How can I, Leah, the only female werewolf ever in the history of the Quileute tribe, be imprinting on this stranger? His warm heartbeat said he was a mortal but his features were too divinely beautiful. Even my calloused heart had stopped beating the moment I saw him.
I turned impatiently to Seth, who was sitting on the chair next to me. “Who is that?” I hissed.
Seth
I turned to look at who Leah was talking about and smiled curiously at Nahuel, who was staring in open wonder at Leah. He was looking at her like he’d never seen a female before. Leah’s symmetrical features were stunning, but I knew her inside and out, just as I knew every member of my pack, and I knew how bitter Leah was. I can’t imagine anyone being happy with her… she is always so angry!
I looked up at Charlie standing next to Sue. They were repeating their vows and I didn’t want to be overheard.
I breathed in Leah’s ear, “Oh. That’s Nahuel. He’s a half immortal like Nessie. His father created him and his three sisters. I think the Volturi were going to punish his father, Jahom, for his creation.” I grinned. “I would’ve loved to have been there, but they make it so… quick, hardly fun at all.”
I paused a moment in consternation. Leah didn’t look like she was rejoicing at the death of another vampire. What is wrong with her? She can’t stand any vampire, even the good ones like Edward and Carlisle or Bella, someone she’d met before she ever became a vampire.
I reached over and shook my dazed sister, trying to dispel the glazed look in her eyes. “It’s ok, Leah, he was an awful vampire. He thought humans are less than animals. He was intent on breeding a super race and had no thought at all for the women he slaughtered doing it.” Slaughter it was. Birthing a vampire child for a human meant sure death unless someone was there to intervene.
Leah shook her head as if to clear it. “Seth I’ve got to get out of here!”
I looked at her pasty features and silently agreed with her assessment. The vampire smell must really be getting to her. I’d never seen her quite this color… she was a sick shade of green. “The ceremony is almost over, Leah. Can’t you wait for just a couple more minutes?”
I hated to have the mood of the moment destroyed. Charlie was marrying our mother, and she’d be furious if we messed up her wedding.
Leah slumped back and closed her eyes, a look of defeat replacing the stunned green that had been there moments before.
Leah had studiously ignored any positive vampire thought from any of us, so it was no surprise that she didn’t recognize Nahuel when she saw him. She had refused to differentiate between faces. They were all the same to her—vampires. I could hear the venom in her thoughts when she said that.
Bella
As soon as the “I do’s” had been said and the guests started standing up to move to the refreshment tables, Leah raced out the door as quickly as her form-fitting burgundy shift and matching heels would let her. We all knew it had taken every ounce of self control she had to enter the Cullen’s front door, but even I was startled at how quickly she took off. I was sure she had switched into her wolf form and was half way to the Canadian border by the time everyone had their first nibble. I looked at Alice, guessing from her small frown that she was regretting the destruction of such a beautiful dress… or maybe it was regret at one less family picture.
I wondered about the pearls. Surely they had to be a family treasure. I hoped Leah had bothered to remove them before phasing into a wolf.