For All Of My Life | C. Cullen

004

CHAPTER FOUR
And to Hold

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-Rural New York, Six Months Later-
-Annabelle-

The day finally arrived, and Annabelle didn't ever. remembering being as nervous as she was right then. Not that she was having second thoughts, of course. She knew from the moment she met him that they would have eternity and none of that would change no matter what they did or who came along. In the six months since Annabelle had been away from her parents, it had been scary and terrifying and confusing, and oh so wonderful. Carlisle was patient and loving, so careful with her, and yet had shown her so much passion that she was absolutely full of it, so consumed by it that she felt it every waking moment, felt it every single time she breathed, every single time that she looked into those beautiful topaz eyes. And today was the day she would take one step further into forever with him: she was going to become Mrs. Annabelle Cullen.

When he had asked her, she cried for hours all the while kissing him everywhere she could reach. And yet there was an ache that wouldn't quite go away, because she knew there would be two very important people missing from that day. Carlisle didn't get the chance to ask her father for her hand, and he wouldn't be walking her down the aisle. Her mother wouldn't be there to help her into her dress, pin up her hair, or arrange her bouquet. When she was growing up, all of that was very important to her, and she always pictured her most perfect wedding with a loving fiance and a huge feast with the whole village and her parents smiling at her happily from the front row.

The feast wouldn't be happening, but she knew none of that really mattered. And while she still wished her parents were there, she knew that she had the most loving and amazing fiance to ever exist and she couldn't really ask for more than him. She was blessed with him, gifted with an eternity of happiness and love, and who was she to look a gifted horse in the mouth? He was everything to her. Everything. And as much as she gave up, it was worth it all to have forever with the man of her dreams, the love of her life.

"Are you almost ready, Miss Steele?"

The voice of the pastor's wife caused her to startle out of her thoughts and spin around on her spot in front of the mirror. She held a hand to her fluttering heart as she faced Mrs. Wesley, smiling at the older woman kindly. Since Annabelle had no one—she and Carlisle had both told the couple they were orphans—Mrs. Wesley had taken it upon herself to fill in for her mother. She had helped Annabelle into her skirts and tighten up the bodice.

The dress itself was all white, the skirts large and poofy around her legs. It V-ed slightly at her chest, and the sleeves were long and flared out at her elbow. Her hair was pulled back into a simple bun with some pretty purple flowers on the right side, tucked behind her ear and clipped in. She had a small bouquet of white and pink flowers, and when Mrs. Wesley wasn't looking, she hid her silver dagger in her thigh sheath just like always. She felt naked without it, and felt safer with it, even though she knew Carlisle could protect her better than any dagger could.

"Yes, Mrs. Wesley," she said kindly as she finished straightening out the wispy strands of hair around her face and grabbed for her bouquet that sat in a vase off to the side. "Are Carlisle and Pastor Wesley ready as well?"

The woman nodded. "Fredrick will be walking you down the aisle. Carlisle is already there with the pastor and I shall be playing the piano." Fredrick was their nineteen-year-old son that offered to help in whatever way he could, so she agreed with Mrs. Wesley to allow him to walk with her. She would miss her father, but she supposed walking with Fredrick would be better than walking alone.