***Congratulations Angel Brock on winning the Charlie and Sue's First Dance as Husband & Wife Contest! Xoxo***
Dear Diary: June 25, 2014
Morning:
Today is the day! And what a wonderful day it is! I'm getting married! I never thought in a million years that I would get married again. I was very happily married to the love of my childhood, Harry Clearwater for over 20 years. But as everyone knows, Harry passed away a few years ago and left me broken. With the help of my children, family, and friends, I was able to put the pieces back together again. One of those family friends was Charlie Swan who became so much more than a friend. I don't think either of us was looking for a relationship but it happened. One thing I know from living life is that when it comes to things like love; you don't choose it, it chooses you. You don't get a say in who you fall in love with.
Charlie was married before as well to Bella's mom, Renee who tragically died in a train accident last year. I know that Charlie never really loved Renee but that still didn't stop him from feeling immense sorrow over her passing. So through our losses and hardships, we found each other. Our children gave us their blessing when we first came out to them with our relationship. I think the supernatural aspect of things made us grow closer too. Charlie needed someone patient with him to understand the whole "need to know" thing. Plus once he decided on knowing everything, we went to visit our children and found out about the existence of the Watchers; the whole "need to know" for Charlie went right out the window. He was actually pretty good about the whole thing. It took a lot of blinking, grumbling, head scratching, and turning different shades of purple but he got over it. Silly man; I love him so much!
Speaking of, he was over at his house now getting ready as our family and friends were gathering from all over for our big day. When Charlie proposed on Christmas Eve, I have to say I was very surprised. I don't know but I totally didn't see it coming. You may think I'm a little dense in that aspect but you'd be surprised. We were both just so comfortable in our surroundings of dating and lives that I just never really gave it a second thought. It wasn't that I was against the subject but let's face it, I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I'm not going to be the bouncy red cheeked bride. That was my daughter's job and someday my son's girlfriend will do the same when they are both ready. I'm not even wearing a white dress. After going through things and Charlie and I decided that we wanted to get married outside in the woods and that became the theme of our wedding; woodsy.
I will be wearing a gray suit jacket with a matching skirt that goes to the knee. Charlie's wearing a gray suit with a green tie. Same for the groomsmen; my bridesmaids who consist of my sisters and daughter Leah as my maid of honor will be wearing brown dresses. Our colors are green and brown; the definition of woodsy. We planned everything ourselves and didn't want Alice's intervention because we aren't Alice's idea of wedding glory. I wanted to keep with the customs of my people but yet still be in the 21st century. A place Charlie was very blah about that part. I think he liked the 1970s best. Also after careful consideration and a discussion with our children, I had decided to sell my house and move in with Charlie. It didn't make sense for us both to have houses as I was already more or less living with Charlie prior to the wedding. Leah and Seth were a bit upset about it but they understood. Besides, didn't hurt to have some extra money in the bank. I was selling it to one of our neighbors for a very nice lump sum; he was going to renovate it and then his own daughter who just got married will be living there. So it will stay in the Quileute community.
Oh goodness me! Look at the time....I got to go get ready for my own wedding! Hopefully will get a chance to write soon!
Night:
What a day! I can't even explain to you everything that happened today! It was surely the most magical day of my life. In more ways than one, that's for sure. When I last wrote, I ran off to get ready just as my sisters, aunts, along with Leah and Emily came bustling in. That was the end of my personal and quiet time for the rest of the day. Alice stopped by to ask if I needed anything extra and Leah showed her what we had gotten done; she was pretty impressed. The whole Cullen clan was there plus all of the Watchers from NH. Everything was getting done and ready; as I sat with my daughter in my bedroom and she helped me put on my bridal suit, shoes, my hair was done in a very Farrah Faucett meets Jackie O type of manner so it was very fancy. I had flowers from my garden that were quilted into my hair. My jewelry was very simple.
Charlie and I hadn't had time to think of a honeymoon because we were too busy with our everyday lives to even go that far outside of the box. Besides, knowing Charlie, he wouldn't want to go to Las Vegas or Hawaii. Not his style or mine really. So we didn't think much of it when Leah asked that question and I didn't have an answer to give her. Should have known it wouldn't be let off the hook that easy. So once my hair and everyone else's was done and all clothes were on, we drove to the part of the woods where everything was taking place. I got myself ready. Seth was going to walk me down the aisle. I had tears in my eyes seeing him in a suit; he's grown so much and looked so dapper. Bella walked with Charlie and our Quileute elder who was performing the ceremony. The seats were filled to capacity on both sides.
As a proud Seth walked me down the aisle and I saw people I knew and loved standing up for me and a smiling and blushing Charlie, waiting for me; I knew that I was doing the right thing. The weather was balmy but not sunny. No need for any sparkling unless it was jewelry. Rogue had provided the cloud cover on what promised to be a cloudless day. I didn't care what the sky looked like, I was just so content and at peace. When I reached Charlie, Seth handed me over to him and kissed my cheek while whispering "I love you" gently into my ear and then taking his place in the groomsmen line. I looked around briefly, just taking all of it in. I knew I would remember that moment for as long as I lived. Finally I was ready to begin.
The elder did a hymn and then started reciting a prayer in our native tongue. Our wedding vows were simple as we pledged our love to one another. Neither of us were creative enough to write anything special. We were both simple folk who were in love and didn't need elaborate words to express it. All we had to do was look into each other's eyes. We exchanged rings without fanfare either. Then when the elder pronounced us man and wife is when things got interesting; well not for me, but for my blushing new husband. And blushing was an understatement! Charlie was beet red as he blinked nervously. But it wasn't entirely his fault either; Jacob, Seth, and even Emmett were hooting and hollering for him to get on with it as he kept brushing them away with his hand as if he was shooing away mosquitos.
Finally after the "children" quieted down, I had to just jump over that hump so I grabbed Charlie and kissed him myself! Sometimes we women just need to get the job done! Sheesh! There was a momentary gasp and then people clapped and cheered as Charlie who was first stunned, finally let go of his inhibitions and kissed me back. When we finally parted, we giggled like school children not even paying attention to our audience. We walked briskly back up the aisle and waited for our wedding party to do the same. Afterwards, Rosalie did her magic with the camera while our guests got themselves situated in our reception area. I'm sure our first kiss as husband and wife was hotly debated.
As we were introduced and everyone stood up and clapped, we walked together to the leaf covered floor and started to dance to "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx which is a song we both loved and it reminded us of our own early life and growing up. So many kids were getting married around here, that we were really the only adults in the mix. As we swayed to the melody, I got goose bumps up my arms. It was absolutely perfect for the two us. The bulbs went off around the dance floor but we didn't pay attention to any of it. We were in our own world, our own bubble of love.
As the song ended to applause and sniffles, I danced with Seth and Charlie danced with Bella. Everyone who could cry did. Than we had dinner as soft music played from invisible speakers in the woods. The sun shined on occasion enough to make the woods look like they were being visited by fairies as it got dark and the lights that we had hung from the trees came on. I remember every single moment of everything. Every step, every breath, every laugh; I made sure it was seared into my memory. We cut the cake and fed it to each other to lots of "aww" from our happy guests. Finally, Carlisle and Esme took us aside and said:
"I'm sure you realize by now you can't hide much from a bunch of psychics and mind readers. We know that you didn't plan a honeymoon, so we took the liberty to plan one for you." Carlisle said with a small smile as Charlie started to protest and my eyes got wide. Esme stepped in.
"Don't worry about paying us anything. It's a place we own in Aspen, Colorado. It's in the woods, on a lake, and very private. We went ahead of time and stocked up on food that you like for 2 weeks' worth. We know that you can't take any more time than that from work Charlie. But your boss let you go for 2 weeks."
We couldn't believe what we were hearing. We had a honeymoon! Plane tickets were booked, we had cars to take us to the airport here and pick us up there. We didn't have to do anything at all. How amazing was that! Charlie didn't know what to say either, except he shook Carlisle's hand as the rest of the family gathered around. That's when I looked at Seth and Leah and realized that they had known all along. Just like with Emily and Sam. They had a huge hand in helping plan our own honeymoon. Tears slid down my face and Alice was right there to check on my makeup. I thanked my lucky stars for such an amazing family and extended family and friends.
So now as I write to you, Charlie and I are on the plane to Aspen where we will spend 2 weeks swimming, boating, hiking, cooking, and just being happily married. And we couldn't have done it without everyone participating. Thank you so much everyone for coming and being a part of our special day.
Take care,
Sue
~Carlisle Cullen