After Forever (a Twilight Saga fanfiction: 10 years after Breaking Dawn)

5 ∘ Greatest Gift (RPOV)

September 11th, 2016

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you. Where have you been?”

“I took a walk. Hi.” Jacob smiled and kissed me.

“Alice said my party’s about to start. Have you seen my mom and dad?”

He nodded. “Yeah, they should be here soon.”

“Were you with them?”

“A few hours ago. I went to see my dad about something and then I took my time coming here.”

“Everything okay with Billy? I miss him.” I haven’t seen him in a few weeks, when Mom and Dad went to the family’s island for their ten-year wedding anniversary.

“He misses you too. He’s great, never better.”

“That’s nice to hear. When are we gonna go see him?”

“Hopefully tomorrow.” He smiled to himself.

I took his hand and we walked inside. Aunt Rose was the first to hug me after they yelled ‘surprise,’ even though it was no surprise at all. Aunt Alice skipped over to me, and Jacob let go of me to eat Mom’s cake.

Alice sat me down, giving me a few presents to open. She groaned when I told her I wanted to wait for my parents, then ran outside. To get them, I assumed.

About five minutes later, she came back while dragging them behind her. That was quick. Why was she so excited about this? You’d think it was her birthday.

“Open! Mine first!” She sat next to me.

I laughed and did as I was told. “Why are you so jumpy?”

“Oh, no, Alice, you didn’t,” Dad said.

“I did!”

“What did she do?” Mom asked. He rolled his eyes, but grinned.

“Go ahead, Ness,” he told me.

I opened the lid of the box, and gasped. “No, you didn’t!”

“I did!” Alice screamed with me. It was a key.

I was about to run outside, but she beat me to it. I followed her as fast as I could out to the other side of the house.

“It’s a Mercedes Guardian S600!”

“Your mom had one over a decade ago.” Dad‘s grin was as big as Aunt Alice’s.

“Oh, the memories of that thing,” Mom rolled her eyes.

“I love it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I hugged Alice.

“What about me, kid? I vaguely remember my name on the card as well.” I was so caught up in it, then I immediately felt my mood falter.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Jazz. Thank you so much!” I squeezed him until I had nothing left in me. He kissed my cheek.

“Let’s go back inside and finish the party. You can drive this later,” Mom said.

Dad rolled his eyes. “You’re no fun.”

She chuckled once without humor. “Excuse me?”

“Let her drive it if she wants to drive it. We’re immortal. We can spare a few hours if she wishes. It is her birthday.” He was obviously teasing her, but it was always funny seeing her react.

“I’m no fun? What about you, huh? Where was this attitude the year we met and you didn’t want to do anything I wanted to do?”

“When was this? There was nothing I wouldn’t have done to make you happy.”

She didn’t say anything, she just gave him a look. One I didn’t recognize. It took him a second to realize what it meant as well.

“Bella!” he gasped. “Our daughter is present!”

“Oh, please. Like you guys have more than one shade of grey,” Emmett cackled.

“No, no, no. Bye.” I went back in the house and got something to drink. They were all still laughing outside. It took them a few minutes before they joined me.

After the rest of them calmed down, Rosalie gave me her present, a camera. Emmett’s was a stereo for my car, which for some reason made my mom emotional. Carlisle’s was an old book collection that he enjoyed reading a long time ago, and Esme’s present was the most beloved of all.

She walked me out to the garage. All the cars were sitting in rows outside of it.

When she opened the door, I cried. It was my own art studio, filled with every possible thing any artist could ever want. It took me a while to stop crying, but when I did, I hugged her. She told me to check everything out and rejoin the party when I was done.

I eventually started to walk back, and wondered why it was so quiet. The moon was out now and most of the lights in the house were out.

I realized why when I got inside. There were nearly a hundred candles and even more roses and rose petals everywhere. The only one in the room was Jacob. I could sense the rest of the family’s presence nearby though.

He gave me a minute to take everything in, but when I got a few feet away from him, he got down on one knee and took a little velvet box out of his jacket pocket. I gasped.

He took a deep, shaky breath, and said, “Renesmee Carlie Cullen... the first time our eyes met, I understood the reason why I was put on this earth. You have been the light of my life, and I can’t thank you enough for keeping me in yours for the last ten years. I love you. And I would love even more if you...” He paused and opened the box, looking at me with tears in his eyes. “...would spend the rest of my life with me. Will you marry me?”

I knew my answer before he asked me the question. I knew I would be happy for the rest of my life, no matter how long that would be. I stopped holding my breath and simply said one word.

“Yes.”