Chapter Text
We spent a long time in the meadow kissing and holding each other. We were both just so happy. Eventually though, Edward blew out the candles in order to prevent a forest fire and we left to go back to my house. The ride on Edward’s back was just as thrilling as it ever was and the ride back in the car was filled with music from the Alt 92.9 radio station. When we arrived, the police cruiser wasn’t there which meant that Charlie was working late. We went inside and I told him to wait in my room while I showered and got ready for bed. Soon enough, we were holding each other in my bed. My hair was wet and I was in my pajamas. It was a perfect ending to this day.
The next day, I woke up at 8:00am and snuggled deeper into the pair of cold, stone arms that held me. “Good morning, love.” Edward whispered into my hair.
“Mmmmmm.” Was all I said in response. I was still tired, damnit.
“Can we talk?” He asked.
That got my attention. What did he want to talk about? I sat up in bed and looked at him. “What do you want to talk about? Is it serious? Are you having second thoughts about getting married?” I couldn’t stop my anxiety from pouring out of me.
“No, love, I definitely am not having second thoughts and what I want to talk about is not that serious.” Edward reassured me.
“Okay, then hit me. What’s up?” I settled against the headboard sitting up and Edward mirrored me.
“First, I was wondering if you would wear my mother’s engagement ring? I know that I wasn’t the one to ask you but would you?” Edward seemed a little nervous.
I didn’t have a problem with that. “Okay.”
Edward smiled. “Wonderful.” Then he pulled a ring out of his pocket and handed it to me. It was a gorgeous opal ring with dozens of little diamonds set into it.
I slipped it onto my ring finger. “There. Anything else?”
“Yes, actually. When I went home last night, after you were asleep, I talked to Alice and she said that you were still planning on getting a job, despite not having to save up for the ring anymore.”
“Well, yeah, I need gas money for the truck in order to keep going down to La Push to see Jake.” I explained like it was obvious.
“Why won’t you let me pay for that?” Edward asked.
“Because it’s not your responsibility.”
Edward was undeterred. “But since we are going to be married and I am going to be your husband, wouldn’t that make it my responsibility?”
I frowned. “But you don’t have too. I can get a job.”
Edward chuckled. “Don’t you understand, love? I don’t want you to get a job when I can easily pay for it. Don’t you know how much wealth my family has?” I vaguely remembered that Carlisle Cullen was one of the richest fictional characters in the world. Edward continued. “The price of gas is nothing to me.”
I smiled wryly. “You might not be saying that when you see the gas prices of 2021.”
We both chuckled. “That may be so, but for now, won’t you let me pay for it?” Edward said.
I sighed. “Fine.”
Edward pulled me down for a kiss. “Wonderful.”
After a few minutes of kissing, I was thinking about the wedding and I realized that I wanted to marry Edward as Rory Summers. I pulled back from Edward. “Do you think…” I trailed off because this was such a big ask.
After a minute of me not talking, Edward grew impatient. “Do I think what?”
I decided to just blurt it out. “Do you think we could have two weddings?”
Edward looked confused. “What?”
I rushed to explain. “We could have one wedding for Charlie and the town of Forks as Bella Swan and one for just us with me as myself, as Rory Summers.”
Edward immediately understood. “If that’s something that you want, then we can absolutely make it happen.”
I was so happy that he agreed, it would mean a lot to me to get married as myself. “Do you think Alice would mind helping?”
Edward grinned. “I think that she would be absolutely delighted.”
I smiled in response. “You’re probably right.” I took a deep breath. “Okay, with that settled, there are several other things we need to talk about.”
“Like what?”
“Like telling Charlie and Renee that we’re getting married.” I said.
“Okay.” He was quiet for a moment. “What else?”
I smiled. “Christmas shopping.”
“Christmas shopping? That’s what you’re worried about?” Edward seemed incredulous.
“I never said I was worried, just that it was something we needed to talk about. I prefer to be ahead of the game and I’ve got all of the presents for everyone planned out. I was just wondering if you would like to help me with getting them?” It would be fun to do this part together.
“Of course. What were you thinking?”
“Well let’s start with my human friends. For Charlie, I was going to get him fishing gear. For Angela, I was thinking of getting her a charm bracelet like you got for me and a letter ‘A’ charm for it. For Ben, I was planning on getting him some recent Marvel comics. You can break into his room and tell me what ones he doesn’t have.”
Edward smirked. “Breaking and entering Rory? Isn’t that against the law?”
I playfully swatted at him. “Like you haven’t done that before.” I gestured to my room.
Edward’s smirk became a smile. “Touche.”
I continued on listing the gifts I was going to get everyone. “For your family, I was going to get Rosalie a nice brooch with a rose on it. For Emmett, I was going to get a stainless steel bat with the words ‘ Emmett McCarty Cullen ’ on it. For Jasper, I was planning on getting a chess set for him and a letter that said I would promise to play with him. For Carlisle, I was going to get a medical journal on something that he doesn’t have, which you will help me with. For Alice, I’m definitely going to need your help, but I was thinking of creating an identity and paper trail that says that she’s related to her niece in some way. That way, she’ll be able to reach out and say that she’s family and interested in getting to know her.” I paused here to check Edward’s reaction because this would definitely be an involved and illegal project and I didn’t know if he wanted a part of it.
To my surprise, he was looking at me like I was the most precious and perfect thing in the world. “You are amazing.” He whispered reverently.
I took that as a yes to help but paused again because my gift for Esme was going to be personal. “I was thinking of getting Esme a necklace that said ‘Best Mom Ever’ because even though her son died, she took on several children who otherwise would have been forever without a mother.”
Edward closed his eyes and I thought I might have gone too far. “You… are beyond amazing… Words can’t describe how good you are… I simply don’t deserve you.”
I bopped him on the nose. “I will have none of that ‘I don’t deserve you’ nonsense. You absolutely deserve me and my love just as much as I deserve you and your love.”
Edward smiled. “Forgive me, love, I just don’t see it that way.”
I rested my forehead against his. “I’ll repeat it until the day you do.”
“Will you tell me what you’re getting me?” Edward asked quietly.
“Yes, but only because it would be impossible to keep you from seeing it while I work on it.”
“Now I’m curious,” Edward smiled. “What is it?”
“A painting of when I proposed to you.”
Edward leaned forward and kissed me fiercely.
After a while of us just kissing, I declared that today would be a bed day so I grabbed a book and snuggled in Edward’s arms on my bed. That’s how we spent the rest of the day outside of meals until Charlie came home at 8:00pm. I decided to just bite the bullet and go down to tell Charlie that we were getting married so I walked down the stairs to where Charlie was in the kitchen, getting himself some dinner. I had the hand with Edward’s ring behind my back and I was trying to look casual about it so I leaned my left side against the entrance to the kitchen. “Hey Dad.” I said.
He turned to look at me. “Hey Bells.”
I took a deep breath and decided to just say it. “Edward and I are getting married.”
Charlie stopped what he was doing. “What?”
I spoke slowly in an attempt to get him to understand and accept what I was saying. “I proposed to Edward and now we’re getting married.”
“What do you mean you proposed to Edward?” Charlie asked.
I wasn’t sure if he was still trying to understand or was questioning the fact that I was the one to propose. “I mean that I produced a ring and asked Edward to marry me.”
Charlie blinked. “But that’s not how it works.”
I chuckled, of course he wouldn’t like that a woman proposed to a man. “Well that’s what happened.”
Charlie stared at me and zeroed in on the hand behind my back. “Why are you hiding your left hand?”
I showed him my left hand. “Edward asked me to wear his mother’s engagement ring. I was hiding it because it would have tipped you off before I could say anything.”
Charlie crossed his arms. “You can’t get married.”
“Actually, dad, I’m 18 so I can get married without your permission.”
“You’re too young.” Charlie was frowning heavily.
“I don’t care.” I couldn’t exactly tell him that I was actually 28 years old.
“I won’t let you.”
“Dad, you have a choice. You can either walk me down the aisle when we get married in May or I can move out right now because I am serious about marrying Edward.”
Charlie’s eyes widened comically at what I said before he went quiet for several minutes. I patiently waited for him to gather his thoughts and make a decision. “Ok.” He finally said. “But you don’t move out until the end of the school year and you have to be the one to tell your mother.”
“That sounds fair. I planned on having our honeymoon after graduation anyway.” Charlie’s eyes bugged out at the mention of our honeymoon but he otherwise didn’t say anything. “And I don’t mind being the one to tell mom but I’m going to wait until after Christmas, okay?”
“Okay.” He said.
“Alrighty then, I’m going to go to bed.” I gestured upstairs and Charlie said goodnight.
After that, the days went by rather quickly. Edward and I found a beautiful brooch that was a golden rose with a diamond in the center of the rose. We had a professional spray paint ‘Emmett McCarty Cullen’ on a stainless steel bat. I found a nice chess set and I wrote on a little index card ‘I promise to play many games with you’ that I placed on top of the chess set before wrapping it. Edward took care of most of Alice’s gift since he was the one with the resources for making an identity and false paper trail. Alice had hugged me tightly the next day and not said anything else about it. We easily found a necklace with a crystal heart that said ‘Best Mom Ever’. Edward snooped through Carlisle’s things for me and told me what medical journals he didn’t have. Edward also broke into Ben’s house and found out which comic books he had. I found a nice charm bracelet and a letter ‘A’ charm for it. Charlie’s fishing gear was easy to take care of but wrapping it was a whole other dilemma. Edward got me the canvas and paints I needed for the painting of me proposing to him and I was about halfway finished. I had all the presents for everyone wrapped and on my desk when I realized something.
“Shit! I need to get Renee a present!” It was now the middle of December and I had no clue what to get the woman or her husband, who was my step dad and someone I should get a Christmas gift. Fuck. I was starting to freak out.
Edward, who had been lying on my bed while I had finished wrapping Carlisle’s gift, immediately got up and put his arms around me. “It’s okay, love, you have plenty of time to think of something.”
“But I don’t know the woman!” Which was true, outside of when I initially got here (during which time I was severely panicking and not paying attention to what the woman was like) and a few phone calls and emails here and there, I barely had any contact with her. The longest conversation we had was last May when she tried to convince me over the phone that I should move to Jacksonville, Florida because Phil got signed there.
“Then get her a nice bracelet and be done with it.” Edward said soothingly.
“What about Phil?” I leaned my head against his chest.
“Didn’t you say he plays baseball? Get him a few baseballs.” Edward started stroking my hair.
I took a deep breath. “You’re right. There is no need to freak out over it when there is a simple solution and plenty of time to get those things.”
“Exactly.”
I smiled at him. “I love you so much.”
He smiled back. “I love you too.”
It was easy to get Renee’s and Phil’s gifts and have them shipped to their address in Florida. Soon enough, it was the last day of school before the winter break and I had packed Angela’s and Ben’s gifts in my backpack. When they opened their gifts, they were ecstatic. Ben especially was happy that I had gotten comic books that he didn’t already own. He asked how I knew which ones to get him, I just smirked and said, “I’m psychic.” We all shared a laugh at that.
After school was finally done, I was finally able to wrap Edward’s present since I had finished it the night before and it was now dry. Edward was sitting on my bed as usual and asked. “Why are you wrapping it? I already know what it is.”
I smiled at him. “Because you don’t get to have it until Christmas. Besides, there is just something special about tearing the wrapping paper off of a gift from someone you love.”
He pouted. “But I want it now .”
I laughed at his whining. “Quit your whining or you won’t get anything.” I teased.
He sighed loudly and laid back on the bed. “ Fine. ”
I laughed again and laid down next to him. “I love you.” I said before adding. “Even when you act like a petulant teenager.”
He gasped in mock offense. “A petulant teenager?” He asked incredulously.
“Yep. You’re over a hundred years old, act like it.”
He chuckled and then buried his face in my hair, inhaling deeply. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too Edward.”
Charlie and I spent Christmas Eve together watching Christmas movies in the living room. I had told Edward that I wanted to spend Christmas Eve with just Charlie since I was going to spend most of Christmas day with the Cullens.
On Christmas day, I made sure to get up early and hung out in my room until I heard Charlie get up. Then I went downstairs to make us a nice breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, and eggs were soon plated on two dishes for Charlie and me to enjoy. After breakfast, I handed Charlie his present which included a fishing pole that I had given up on wrapping and just tied a red bow of ribbon around it. He was very happy with his present and handed me mine.
“Your mother and I coordinated.” He said.
I took the present and unwrapped it. It was an empty scrapbook. I vaguely recalled that I was supposed to get this for Bella’s birthday instead of the money he had given me before we left for our trip to Oregon.
I picked up the gift that was from Renee and knew what it was before I ripped off the wrapping paper. It was a camera. I was confused about why I was getting them now instead of for Bella’s birthday but I didn’t really care. I had yet to develop the pictures that I had taken during our trip to Oregon with the disposable cameras we had brought, so this was perfect.
“Thank you, Dad, I love it. This is perfect.” I said as I got up to hug Charlie.
“Well we wanted you to be able to document your senior year.” He said as he hugged me back.
“I’ll make sure to get lots of pictures to fill it up.” I smiled as I sat back down.
“Good.”
“So are you going to be okay here while I go over to the Cullens?” I asked just to make sure that he wouldn’t be sad and lonely.
“I’ll be fine Bells, I was going to head down to La Push and visit Billy anyway.” He waved away my concern.
“Okay, I’ll get going then.” I rushed up the stairs with my camera and scrapbook and placed the scrapbook on my desk for later and shoved the camera into the bag that I was bringing that had everyone’s presents. I had to carry Edward’s and Emmett’s because they were too big to fit in the bag. As I went downstairs, I heard a knock at the door.
“Dad, could you get that? My hands are full.” I called to Charlie.
“Sure.” He said from the living room and I heard him get up and go to the door. I heard him greet Edward and hurried to the front door.
“Let me take that.” Edward offered when he saw carrying the box that held Emmett’s bat and his painting, all of which was nicely wrapped in red wrapping paper. I handed him the box without any fuss but I refused to give him the wrapped painting.
“Not until it’s time to open it.” I said teasingly.
He sighed dramatically but let me hold the wrapped painting. We walked over to his car and I put the painting and the bag with everyone else’s gifts in the backseat. He held open the passenger’s side door for me and I quickly got in. I was really excited for this! I couldn’t wait to see everyone’s reactions to what I had gotten for them.
We arrived fairly quickly thanks to Edward’s driving and I still refused to let him hold the wrapped painting but he did get to carry the bag and Emmett’s bat. I walked into the living room and went over to the huge decorated Christmas tree and equally huge pile of gifts. I placed the wrapped painting against the wall next to the pile of gifts and turned to look at everyone. Edward had also walked over to the pile of gifts and began taking the gifts from me out of the bag and placing them next to the pile. I reached into the bag and pulled out the camera and stood back to take a quick picture of Edward standing in front of the tree. He looked at me confused as to why I did that but I just shrugged and turned to everyone else in the room. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on one couch with Alice and Jasper sitting on the other and Rosalie was sitting with Emmett on the loveseat. I walked over to the couch that Alice and Jasper were sitting on and sat next to Alice.
Alice got up to hand out presents and soon everyone had a pile in front of them. I spoke up because I was unsure of how they went about things. “So, do we go one at a time, or all at once?”
Carlisle answered me. “We go one at a time until all the presents are gone.”
“So who goes first?” I asked.
Jasper smirked. “We go oldest to youngest.”
“So Carlisle is up first.” I said and everyone turned to him.
He picked up the present from me. “This one is from Rory.” He opened it. “Huh, I didn’t have this one, how did you know that?”
“I may have had a little help.” I smiled.
“Well, thank you.”
“Jazz is next!” Alice chirped.
Jasper also picked up the present that was from me and opened it. He regarded the folded chess set with a smile.
“Open the board.” I said.
He did so and picked up the note that promised I’d play with him. He smiled even wider as he read the note and looked at me. “Thank you, darlin’.”
I nodded my head at him.
“I’m next!” Alice squealed.
Edward immediately protested. “What? No, I’m next!”
“I was born February 2nd, 1901, so I’m a few months older than you.” She even stuck her tongue out at him.
Edward huffed while we all laughed. “Fine.”
Once again, the present that was picked was the one from me. I spoke up. “Is everyone going to open their presents from me first?” I was met with a chorus of “yes”s, so I just smiled and sat back.
Alice opened her gift from me, it was a bunch of papers. She squealed really loudly as she read the first page where I had explained what the rest of the papers were. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She put the papers down and then blurred over to me and engulfed me in a tight hug.
“Alice, you already knew what it was and hugged me for it.” I reminded her.
“Yes, but this deserves a second hug.” She said.
“What is it?” Rosalie asked.
“It’s an identity and paper trail that says she’s related to her niece so she can contact her as family.” I explained.
“That’s very nice of you.” Esme said.
Alice finally let go of me and went back to her seat. “Now it’s your turn.” She said smugly.
Edward rolled his eyes and grabbed the wrapped painting from me and ripped off the wrapping paper. He showed everyone the painting I had made of the night I proposed to Edward.
“I still can’t believe she beat you to the punch on that, Eddie.” Emmett snickered.
“Don’t call me Eddie.” Edward growled.
Emmett just laughed harder but before he could say anything else, Esme intervened. “Boys, behave.”
Edward suddenly disappeared and I was about to ask where he went when Alice answered my unspoken question. “He went to put it up in his room.”
I nodded and turned to Esme. She picked up the gift from me and ripped off the wrapping paper. She opened the box and looked at what was inside. Her eyes filled with tears she would never shed. “Oh thank you so much dear.” She picked up the necklace and showed everyone. They all smiled sweetly as they read what it said. After showing everyone, she unclasped the necklace and put it on. “Oh sweetheart, I love it.”
“I think everyone here agrees that you are a mother to all of us, with the exception of Carlisle.” I smiled.
“Thank you.” She said.
Everyone turned to Rosalie. She picked up the gift from me and opened it. Her expression softened into a smile when she saw the rose brooch I had gotten her. She looked up at me. “Thank you.” She said sincerely.
“You’re welcome.” I smiled.
Emmett went next and he ripped off the wrapping paper and then opened the box that held the bat. He read the writing on the bat and said. “Sweet! Thanks, little sis.”
“I’m glad you like it.” I said. “My turn!” As I said this, Edward reappeared. I grabbed a random gift and read who it was from. “This one is from Jasper.” I ripped off the wrapping paper and it was two books. ‘Gathering Blue’ and ‘Messenger’ by Lois Lowry. “Thanks Jazz.” I had been talking about wanting to read the next books in ‘The Giver’ series. I guess he listened.
We went through the cycle of everyone opening presents until all the presents were gone. I had received a three leaf clover charm with emeralds for my charm bracelet from Rosalie and Emmett, a warm blanket and a pair of fuzzy pajamas from Esme, and a first edition of ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ from Carlisle. From Alice I received an elegant black dress, a green cashmere sweater, a sun charm for my bracelet, and a moon charm for my bracelet. I thought she went a little overboard but she insisted I keep everything. From Edward I received a pair of dangling sapphire earrings, a matching sapphire necklace, a snowflake charm for my bracelet, and an empty scrapbook that said “Our Love” on the front. I got up and kissed him when I opened the last one.
After presents, we watched Christmas movies and Esme made popcorn for me as well as other snacks.
It was overall the best Christmas I had ever had.