FYH Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chapels and Telephones

EPOV:
As we lay in bed that night I held her tightly to my chest. It was hard to believe that I was engaged to this beautiful woman. She was my fiancée and I had chosen her. She wasn't chosen for me or forced on me. This was another major life decision that I made on my own. Yes, she had to agree to it but I chose this. It was odd to think that way, to know that I had the power to make my own choices, to be crazy and impulsive and not care about the consequences.
We decided last night before she fell asleep that we were going to go to Reno to get married. It was to be the next stop on the Edward and Bella World Tour. Vegas was way overrated. Everyone runs off to elope in Vegas. But we were different. We did some research and found a couple of chapels that looked nice and we were going to check them out.
We weren't going to have a big wedding or any family at the wedding, at all, but that doesn't mean that we were going to do it half assed. Bella wanted to wear a wedding dress and for me to be in a tux. I assured her that it wasn't a ridiculous request and she could have anything she wanted for our wedding. Even if that meant waiting until we could put together a big wedding. I noticed that she was crying at that point. She said that she didn't want a huge wedding. It wouldn't be the same without her parents being there. She said that she understood that I had a big family but she had no one and didn't want to have to go through that. But that wasn't really true. She wasn't alone. She never was. She'd always had people who loved her and cared about her. She knew it; she just didn't always see it.
Tomorrow was Saturday and we would leave for Reno and marry the following Saturday. That would be perfect. I knew what I wanted to give my bride as a wedding gift. I knew that I couldn't let her get married without having this.
When we woke the next morning we called Angela and Ben to tell them the good news. "Hey Ang. We're getting married!" Bella squealed into the phone. Then Angela launched into a million questions about when and where the nuptials would take place. She seemed a little disappointed that not only had Bella told her that it was going to be this weekend in Reno but didn't mention an invite to the wedding. Bella had mentioned to me wanting to invite them but didn't want to put them on the spot if they couldn't get away from school on such short notice. I also knew that she was avoiding asking them because even if they had a legitimate reason for not being able to be here, Bella would have felt rejected and abandoned. Even though she knew that wasn't the case. She was still dealing with losing her family and the life long repercussions of that.
She did however send her a picture of the ring that she had taken with her phone. And I have to say that it is much prettier than the ring than Mom had picked out for Tanya. We knew the second that Angela and Ben had opened the file when we heard screams of OH MY GOD! Bella started laughing uncontrollably telling them that half the dorm floor just heard them and would think they were screaming out during sex. I laughed harder when Angela swore that she was never going to leave the room again. To which Ben opened his mouth with "Yes! A sex slave, I order you to be naked 24/7!" To which we heard a hard thwack and Angela ask if that was the intention that he was going to tell her minister father that he had in regard's to their relationship. He promptly apologized to her and told her how much he adores her. Bella and Angela went on to discuss wedding stuff while I jumped in the shower. By the time that we were ready to go I knew that something was bothering Bella and I knew exactly what it was. She wanted Angela and Ben at our wedding.
The drive to Reno was uneventful and relatively normal. It felt good to get back on the road and on the bike after staying at the canyon for so long. We returned to telling each other things about our childhoods. Things we did and dreams that we had. When we arrived at the Atlantis Casino Resort it was early in the evening but we were both tired and in need of showers from being on the road all day. When she went in the shower after I got out I immediately took my chance and grabbed her phone. I found the number that I was looking for and hit send. It was answered on only the second ring.
"Hey Ben, its Edward. I don't have a lot of time but I need to ask you for something as a surprise for Bella."
"Sure, anything for her."
"Can you and Angela come to Reno to be our witnesses? I know it would mean everything to her for you guys to be here."
"Yes. Oh man, you bet we'll be there. Angela was so upset that we were not going to be there." Then I heard Angela come into the room and muffled voices while Ben explained what was going on. Then Angela started screaming Thank you! Ben came back on the line laughing about the fact that Angela was jumping up and down around the room.
"Hey Edward, I don't want to be pushy but could we invite Angela's parents to come along. I mean, they were the first to volunteer to take her in when her parents died and they love her just as much as they do Angela…"
"Of course you can invite them. We want to get married next Saturday. When can you get free from School?"
"Angela has a test on Monday after that I think we can afford to skip some classes."
"Great. I will go online and get book all of you on a flight down here." We went on to quickly discuss the details of how I was going to surprise Bella with our wedding guests.
The next day we went to look at some chapels and found one that we just loved. They had a lake where they could hold ceremonies and it was perfect. Bella fell in love with it immediately so we booked it. She made an appointment to go to a bridal boutique on Tuesday to look for a dress. She thought that I would be going with her. Um. No. I would be hanging out with Ben and William, Angela's father. Angela and her mother, Diana, would go dress shopping with Bella. She just didn't know it yet.
Monday we spent the day relaxing in the casinos and taking in the sights of Reno. That night I dragged her out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Bella gave me a strange look when I told the host that we were going to be a party of six, but I told her that I had met some new friends that wanted to help celebrate our engagement with us. It wasn't a lie, exactly. As planned about five minutes after we were seated I looked and announced that my new friends had arrived.
When she turned in her seat and saw the four of them approaching our table she started crying before she jumped out of her seat and launched herself at Angela. As soon she managed extricate herself from Angela's grip the others grabbed her. By the time they made it to the table Bella was crying so hard that she needed to excuse herself to calm down and Angela went with her. So, I introduced myself to William and Diana and we started getting to know each other. When the waiter came over to get our drink order William asked for the best bottle of champagne. After the waiter walked away William looked at us and laughed,"If you kids think that I am not aware that you have fake ID's your kidding yourselves."
Bella returned to the table shortly after the champagne arrived and the rest of the dinner went smoothly. Bella was so happy that she was literally glowing. The Webbers' and Ben were some of the nicest people I had ever met. We made plans for the rest of the week specifically where wedding plans were wedding planning was concerned. The girls were going to take care of most everything over the next few days while I got to get to know William and Ben better. I knew what that translated to; it was going to be a long week of getting the third degree from the two of them.
The second that Bella and I made it into to the room that night she leaped into my arms crying again, "Thank you. I wanted them here so much, Edward."
"I knew you did sweetheart. I don't want to you look back at our wedding with any regrets, especially about having the people that you love here with you."
"What about you? Don't you want your family here for our wedding?"
"Part of me does. I don't know. I miss them and I know that they will be sad that they missed it. But…"
"You're not ready."
"No."
"Ok, I can respect that as long as you're sure that you won't regret not having them here."
"I don't know that I can say that I would never regret it. Let me think about it. Ok."
"Either way, Edward, as long as you are happy on our wedding day." And with that we crawled into bed and I held her close to me as I gave serious consideration of how and when I was going to mend my relationship with my family. I loved them but would they love me enough to respect my choices. I knew that I needed to make a decision about this soon before irreparable harm was done to my relationship with my family. I definitely did not want that.
The next day while the girls were off shopping, we men went to rent tuxes and then we went to lunch. The beginning of lunch was both William and Ben grilling me about my past and my family. Although Ben conceded at the end that he'd already decided that I was a good guy, he just wanted the practice for the day that he and Angela had a daughter. By the end of lunch they were divulging stories about Bella that she never would have willing shared. Apparently she was extremely accident prone as a kid. One of the best was her first day of high school. Her locker door was jammed and in her struggle to open it she did not notice someone come over to help her. She got the door to open right as the guy got to her and it opened with such force that it whammed him right in the face. She was absolutely mortified when she saw the guy on ground with a bleeding nose. What made it worse was the by the end of the day everyone knew and she was famous for having broken the nose of the varsity quarterback! Ben said that she never lived that one down but she and Keith became good friends. And William told me that it was a regular occurrence to hear a crash during mass and to look up to see that somehow Bella had sent the collection plate flying and the money was scattered everywhere. When we met up with the girls later that afternoon to help them with their packages I couldn't help but start laughing the second I saw Bella and she was fumbling with her packages and ended up dropping them. She looked at Ben and William, who were now laughing hysterically as well, and got angry. "I knew I couldn't trust the three of you to be alone without gossiping about my most mortifying moments!"
But like most times with Bella's anger, it was quick to come and quick to go. She had a very forgiving nature and didn't like to hold grudges. I wished that I could be more like her on that. It would make making the decision that I have been wrestling with so much easier. Maybe I'd finally be able to make a decision.
The next few days went by rather quickly. It was now Friday night and I could not wait to make Bella my wife tomorrow. Funny, isn't it? Just over a month ago I was sitting in a hotel bar praying that God would help me find away out of marrying Tanya. And he sent me Bella. He sent me an angel.
Tonight William, Ben, and I were going out for a bachelor type party while the girls were going off to do the same. I remember when Emmett wanted to throw me one and Tanya put her foot down and refused to allow it. When I mentioned that to Bella she laughed, kissed me on the nose and said "Yeah, well I really don't think you and Ben would ever entertain the notion of taking Reverend Weber, who is also going to be Ben's father in law, to a strip club and I am fine with whatever there is left for the three of you to go into." We ended up going to dinner, a cigar club, and then the casino.
The girls were going to stay together in the suite that I had rented for Angela's parents and us guys were staying in the room that Bella and I had been using. Bella knew that I had made appointments at the spa for the three of them to get some pampering and then they were off to get their hair and makeup done. We guys were also headed to the spa for massages to relax before we met the girls at the chapel at five.
By this point I had obviously made my decision. I had told Bella the other day that I was not going to invite my family to the wedding. However, I felt guilty that they would not know about the wedding until after Bella and I got married. So that led me to my second decision. About three o'clock I asked Ben if I could borrow his phone. I took it and walked out onto the balcony, sat down, and dialed a very familiar number.
ESME'S POV:
I was sitting in the den looking at the new pictures that we had just received from Edward when the phone next to me started to ring.
"Hello?"
"Hello Mom."
"Oh my God! Edward! Are you ok? Is everything alright? Honey, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry for everything. I had no idea! I swear I didn't know." I was crying into the phone. I needed for him to understand, to know that I was wrong and I knew it.
"I know you didn't mom. I just called because, well, I wanted to make sure that you knew that I love you and I miss all of you, even if I am not ready to come home yet."
"I love you too. We all do. I understand that you're not ready to come back. I really do."
"What about dad?"
"Him too. Honey we all get it. I did so many things wrong. I made so many mistakes. I hurt you so bad and I am so sorry and I need you to know that I am getting help. You're dad and I talked a lot about it after you left and we believe my problems started back when Grandma died."
"I remember that, you were devastated when she died. Dad always said that a part of you died with her. I remember that he couldn't get you to get out of bed for three days. Aunt Carmen had to drag you out of bed while trying to taking care of all of us."
"Did you also know that the day you got lost, while you were out wandering the woods during that fire, I was on the phone trying to calm down Carmen? That was the day that she found the lump in her breast. I had lost my mom, I almost lost you, and then Carmen was sick. Then I lost her too. There was so much that I had to deal with that I never dealt with it, I just pushed on. I never gave myself the chance to grieve or recover."
"You sound like a psychiatrist."
"I am seeing a therapist."
"Really? That's great mom. I'm glad."
"Thank you. It's helping a lot. I am seeing a lot of things that I avoided instead of dealing with them. And I am seeing that my controlling nature hurts people and I am working on that."
"That's great Mom. I…I'm proud of you. Did you guys get the pictures?"
"Yes, we did. I am looking at them right now. Edward, Bella is absolutely beautiful. And Emmett was so jealous, not only about the zoo thing, but about you and Bella rafting through the Grand Canyon. He is trying to convince Rosalie to go." I didn't tell him, but, we were all a little hurt that he was that close and didn't come home. We knew why and really we did understand, but we do miss him terribly.
"I don't think she'd go for that. It was an eighteen day tour with no showers and the toilet was literally just a designated bush, but it was amazing."
"Will…um…will you tell me about Bella?" He proceeded to tell me about how wonderful Bella is, how intelligent, fun loving, and accident prone. He told me how much she loves children and how she helped out at her mother's day care growing up and that he was positive that she was going to make a wonderful mother someday. He told me about her losing her parents, the reason behind her trip, and how they met that night and what was going through his mind when he decided to go with her.
"She sounds absolutely wonderful, dear, and I can tell that you love her. I can hear it in your voice and see it in your eyes when I look at the pictures of you two together."
"I do love her Mom. We're…we're getting married…this afternoon."
"That's wonderful honey. I am so happy for you."
"You mean that mom?"
"Yes. I do."
"Thank you, Mom. I really needed to hear that from you."
"I love you, Edward; I just want you to be happy. Can I ask you one thing though?"
"Sure." I heard the hesitation in his voice. I knew what he was afraid of what I'd ask. But I wouldn't do it. I promised myself that if he called I would not ask him where he was and I would not beg or guilt him into coming home. Jasper is the one that convinced me of that. Edward needed this time away from us to figure things out and figure out who he was and wanted to be.
"Do you think that you will come home eventually?"
"We haven't really discussed that yet. I don't know if we'll come back to Phoenix to live. But I promise that, no matter what, we will come to visit."
"Thank you, Edward. For calling and letting us know that you are alright. Everyone is going to be sorry that they missed your call."
"You're welcome, Mom. I love you, but I have to go. I have to meet Bella soon. I'll call again soon, ok?"
"Ok. Be happy Edward."
"I am. I promise you that I am." And with that he ended the call.
I immediately started dialing my husband's cell. He didn't even get a chance to say hello before I started screaming into phone that Edward called and that he was getting married. We were both sorry that we would not be there and I knew that a part of him must still be angry and hurt by my behavior to not have invited us, but I meant what I said when I told him that I was sorry for everything. I never meant to hurt him. I never meant to hurt anyone. But as it turned out my behavior had affect my whole family. I had hurt so many people with my selfish behavior and I had a lot to atone for. It also didn't escape my notice that Edward didn't say that he forgave me. The way that I treated him was by far the worst and most atrocious of anyone. I could live with the fact that he wasn't ready to forgive me yet. He had called and that was enough for now. I got to hear his voice and talk to him. For the first time since he took off I knew that I was going to be able to sleep tonight. Because I knew for sure now that I had not lost my son forever that he was going to allow me to be a part of his — their lives. For that I would be grateful and happy.
A/N
He called home! Esme is a more eccentric version of my dad. He lost 5 close family members with in a few months when I was a baby. Add that to being a pig headed catholic father of three girls. The number one rule in the house was that we girls could not date until after we graduated from high school. My brother dated in high school though! Even though he was too strict and his rules ended up having negative impacts on our lives, I loved him. It's taken a long time to realize this, but he did have our best interest at heart, he just went about it the wrong way. Like Edward I took off out of state as soon as I could and I gypsied around with friends for a couple years before I decided it was time to come home. A little over a year after I made my peace with him he died suddenly of a heart attack. I miss him terribly and I am grateful that I did come home when I did. Unlike my dad, Esme is getting help. But you know more about how Esme ended up the way she did.