safe and sound. twilight

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

So quick, the actual ceremony seemed to have been. To both the bride and the groom, the words I do could not have come quicker. Though Alice and I suspected it was for entirely different reasons.

The day melted into the night as smoothly as the after-party began. Many rounded tables surrounded a temporary dance floor, bathed in the warm, yellow star lights that hung from the branches of naked trees. Bella and Edward sat with their parents in the middle of the space, with the rest of the Cullen's and myself spread around a table just to their left. A tall, ivory cake stood to the far right, decorated in delicate swirls of patterned lace, ready to be cut. But the speeches came first.

"Is this on?" Emmett tapped once on the microphone. "Hello."

The guests let out a synchronous chuckle and Jasper and I whistled, making a grin spread across his face.

"I'd like to propose a toast," he said while holding up his glass. "To my new sister. Bella, I hope you've gotten enough sleep these past eighteen years because you won't be getting anymore for a while."

The speeches, as Alice and many others had predicted, were a total disaster. It was to be expected, given the whole nature of the wedding and the vast variety in the guestlist. The Denali coven was strange, their words twisted but playful; their natural attractiveness causing many to gravitate their way, only to be disappointed. Jessica and the rest seemed rather dazed, whether in true disbelief or plain shock, it did not matter.

"Well, Bella was just like everyone else, totally mesmerised by Edward. Or the hair, as I call him," Jessica said after a moment of standing awkwardly on the stage, her finger wrapping around a strand of curled hair. "And then suddenly Edward is all about Bella- even though she's not the captain of the volleyball team."

There was an uncomfortable murmur and she waved her hand, brushing it off. "I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding."

"Or the president of the student council," she added as she eventually shuffled down the steps.

Charlie took her place. He was stiff, his shoulders squared and hands held together against his front. Dark eyes tried to say he was unbothered, by the roughness to his jaw spoke otherwise.

"Edward will be a good husband. I know this because I'm a cop. I know things, like... how to hunt somebody to the ends of the Earth," he said abruptly, clearing his throat. "I know how to use a gun."

After Charlie came Alice and her unusual words. "Now that you're my sister, you'll have to get over your version of fashion," she said, waving her hands around. "Skirts, heels, handbags."

Then it was my turn. It shouldn't have felt so difficult to follow Charlie's threats, Alice's minor insults, and Emmett's jokes, but it was. As I stepped onto the stage, glass still in my hand, pulling the silver dress from around my feet, I paused. Bella nodded slightly in encouragement and I mimicked clearing my throat.

"So unlike Alice, I don't have a threat to declare, I have thanks to give. Bella, you brought me into your life and it's been a whirlwind ever since," I said, wanting to keep it short and sweet as the rest had. "Here's to making memories together until the end of our time. Congratulations, to Edward and Bella."

After a show of drunken songs from Renee, it was at last Edward's turn to take the centre of attention.

"It is an extraordinary thing to meet someone who you can bear your soul to, who will accept you for what you are. I've been waiting for what seems like a very long time to get beyond what I am, and with Bella, I feel like I can finally begin," Edward said, his dazzling, amber eyes never lifting from Bella. Alice's hand slipped into mine, her head resting against my shoulder. "So I'd like to propose a toast. To my beautiful bride: no measure of time with you will be long enough, but let's start with forever."