Golden Hour: A Team Jacob Twilight FanFic

Big Day

"Oh! Hey, kiddo. Didn't see you there. Where did you-"

Charlie asked, scanning the forest with squinted eyes.

I pulled him inside behind me. "C'mon, Dad. Is mom here yet?" I asked, shutting and locking the door behind us.

"Wait, wait. Let me get a look at you!." He stepped back to take Alice's creation all in. "Wow. Gonna make your old man cry. You look stunning, sweetie. And, uh, yeah, she's somewhere arou-"

"My baby! Oh, my baby!" My mother wailed out as she excitedly ran down the steps, arms outstretched. Alice gracefully bounced behind her.

"Speak of the devil," Charlie muttered.

"Mom!" I awkwardly shuffled towards her until she flung herself in my arms.

"Oh, Bella!" she squealed. "Oh, honey, you're so beautiful! Oh, I'm going to cry! Alice, you're amazing!

You and Esme should go into business as wedding planners. Where did you find this dress? It's gorgeous! So graceful, so elegant. Bella, you look like you just stepped out of an Austen movie." My mother's voice sounded a little distance away, and everything in the room was slightly blurry.

"Such a creative idea, designing the theme around Bella's ring. So romantic! To think it's been in Edward's family since the eighteen hundreds!"

Alice and I exchanged a brief conspiratorial look. My mom was off on the dress style by more than a hundred years. The wedding wasn't actually centered around the ring but around Edward himself.

If only they knew.

"Renée, Esme said it's time you got settled out there," Charlie said.

"Well, Charlie, don't you look dashing!" Renée said in a tone that was almost shocked.

"Is it really time already?" Renée said to herself, sounding almost as nervous as I felt. "This has all gone so fast. I feel dizzy."

That made two of us.

"Give me a hug before I go," Renée insisted. "Carefully now, don't tear anything."

My mother squeezed me gently around the waist, then wheeled for the door, only to complete the spin and face me again.

"Oh goodness, I almost forgot! Charlie, where's the box?"

My dad rummaged in his pockets for a minute and then produced a small white box, which he handed to Renée. Renée lifted the lid and held it out to me.

"Something blue," she said.

"Something old, too. They were your Grandma Swan's," Charlie added. "We had a jeweler replace the paste stones with sapphires."

Inside the box were two heavy silver hair combs. Dark blue sapphires were clustered into intricate floral shapes atop the teeth.

My throat got all thick. "Mom, Dad... you shouldn't have."

"Alice wouldn't let us do anything else," Renée said. "Every time we tried, she all but ripped our throats out."

Alice stood proudly.

"We chose sapphires since they symbolize nobility, truth, and the ability to make wise and good choices. It also stimulates the third eye chakra, which controls intuition and perception! Aren't they beautiful, honey?"

Charlie cleared his throat. "Aside from all... that, we thought dark blue would be a nice color on you."

Guilt flowed through me. Nobility? Truth? I definitely wasn't noble enough to tell them this was likely the last time I'd ever see them or the entire fundamental truth of the situation. Because I couldn't, it wasn't an option. I couldn't expose the Cullen's secret, and even if that wasn't a factor, I didn't have the heart to break their brains completely. Imagine if I was truthful with them right here, right now?