Chapter Twelve
Reception
Alice

"Did that really just happen?" I exclaimed as the door shut behind us and Edward started laughing.

"Yes, I think it did." He nodded cockily.

"How did you manage to surprise me with a wedding?! A WEDDING Edward Cullen!"

"I honestly don't know." He chuckled, wrapping an arm around me lovingly. "We kinda just put everything together this morning in the few hours you were occupied upstairs."

"But I would've seen the decision being made." I countered him.

"Well, that's why Thomas comes in handy sometimes." Edward laughed.

"A shapeshifter? That's how you pulled this off? By hiding decisions and choices from me?" I asked.

"Are you upset?" He asked quickly. "Alice, if you didn't want to do this you could've told me no. I would've-"

"Stop!" I cut him off. "I love you, it was amazing, and perfect for us." I smiled and he kissed me sweetly.

"So weird." Emmett suddenly muttered and Edward and I jumped apart, we were so caught up that we didn't hear anyone come inside.

Our family stood around us, obviously happy for us but something about their expressions were off.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"Nothing, sweet Alice." Carlisle soothed me. "It's just, uh, we aren't used to seeing affection between yourself and Edward."

"What?" I questioned.

"You and Edward have never kissed in front of the rest of us, you don't even touch in front of us!" Rosalie responded.

"Yes we do." Edward retorted.

"Actually, she's right." I told Edward. "Yes, we kiss and touch in the same room or place the family is in, but we always do it behind others backs. We're overly private with everything." I told him while giggling at his expression of confusion.

"Which is strange because you two could barely keep your hands off of each other when Alice was human." Jasper teased us and everyone laughed except me.

"Yeah...about that." I sighed. "Can we please stop talking about human Alice? I've learned far too many things about my old self that I didn't want to know."

"Alice, are you alright? Did I upset you too much with the letter?" Rosalie asked gently taking my hand in hers.

"No, no, well, yeah it upset me but I'm glad you did that. Most of the letter was really nice, some of it was confusing, but I didn't know I was so...miserable." I sighed. "Let's just not think about it anymore. I just got married!" I cheered and my family decided to attack Edward and I into hugs then.

"Yeah, and the ring I got you is way too big." Edward chuckled. "As soon as I put it on I started worrying that you were going to lose it."

"Well, if it does fall off before we can get it resized we can always just get her another one." Esme smiled reassuringly.

"No, we can't." Edward shook his head, surprising everyone. "You don't know how long it took me to find it, it was her mothers."

"My mothers?" I questioned, suddenly falling absolutely in love with my ring as I looked closer at it.

"It really is beautiful Alice." Bella smiled, stepping closer so she and I could both admire it.

It was a very delicate little ring with a thin silver band and a large diamond in the center with two smaller diamonds on either side.

As Bella, Rosalie, and Esme talked and fawned over my ring, I overheard Edwards conversation with our father.

"I searched for the ring for weeks." Edward told Carlisle quietly.

"Was it that difficult to find?" Carlisle asked in amazement.

"Well, it was lost in the pond when her mother drowned. Her father didn't even care to have the divers find it so I dug through a decades worth of mud to find it. Not to mention how much it cost to clean it, there's still some green around the stone." Edward replied.

I froze.

My mother drowned? My father didn't care? Edward dug through years and years worth of mud just to find a ring he wasn't sure had any significance to me or not? I looked at the middle diamond and sure enough there was a small green ring around it that was barely noticeable, you had to really look to see it. My heart swelled with overwhelming love for my husband but I was also saddened to learn my mother had passed away so violently. My whirlwind of emotions needs to stop before Jasper starts questing me about them.

"Alice, are you ready for the reception?" Edward asked, placing his hand in the small of my back, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"We're having a reception?" I questioned.

"It's more or less just a party." Carlisle smiled. "And besides, you owe me a dance." He smirked and kissed my cheek before leaving to go outside with the others.

"Ready?" Edward asked, taking my arm.

"Ready!" I smiled.

Edward led me back outside and around the large white curtain that separated the aisle from the reception area.

Everyone cheered and clapped as we came around the corner and all I could do was smile.

Edward and I had our first dance, then I danced with Carlisle while Edward danced with Esme, then we switched and it was very amusing to see Edward and Carlisle slow dancing together. Everyone was laughing and clapping, all Esme and I could do was sway in a fake dance as we laughed at our husbands.

Everyone started dancing and talking then. I had a dance with each of my siblings and Bella. When Emmett and I danced he literally got down on to both of his knees and became my exact height which caused a loud round of laughter. He always has to make a joke out of my size, even on my wedding day.

Edward danced with Rosalie and managed not to fight with her which was a blessing in itself and he also danced with Bella, which was a very sweet moment.

After speeches were made and toast were over, everyone settled into nice conversations and peaceful dances with their respective partners.

"Alice! Come over here dear, there are some people you need to meet!" Carlisle called for me and Edward followed me as I went over to him.

There was a large dark haired Spanish looking man holding onto a lovely olive skinned dark headed woman standing in front of Carlisle. There were three girls surrounding them as well, so alike they could be sisters with their long blond hair tones and ivory skin.

"Alice, these are our 'cousins' the, Denali's." Carlisle introduced them.

"I'm Irina." One of the blonds introduced. "These are my sisters Kate and Tanya."

"It's nice to meet you." I smiled warmly.

"Edward, I was unaware your pet was so...inferior." Tanya sneered at me and smiled widely at Edward.

"Tanya, I would very much appreciate it if you could refrain yourself from mocking my wife and mate." Edward snapped while I recovered from Tanya's rudeness.

"It's so very nice to meet you, I'm Eleazar and this is my wife Carmen." Eleazar greeted me and introduced himself and his wife to help relieve the tension.

I turned to smile at Carmen but noticed that she was frozen as she looked at me with wide shocked eyes.

"Ghost." She muttered.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "Are you alright?"

"You're supposed to be dead!" She exclaimed and hugged me tightly. "I waited for you like you told me to but you never returned! All I could find of you was bloody clothes and some of your hair! What happened to you Alice?" She cried and my head started spinning uncomfortably.

"I-I don't know you." I told her and backed away, feeling like I was going to faint.

Edward caught me and steadied me as I almost sank to the floor.

"Alice, what's going on?" He asked me worriedly.

"I don't know." I told him. "I don't know you, I've never seen you before in my life, how do you know me?!" I asked Carmen in a panic.

"What do you mean you don't know me?" Carmen asked in return sounding very hurt. "I took care of you when the Cullen's left you!"

"Wait, she's his mother?" Eleazar exclaimed in surprise, only confusing me more.

"I've got to get out of here." I shook my head and rushed away from the reception to the house and went up the stairs to my room quickly.

I broke down then.

I had been holding it in all day. All of the stress and the confusion, the death of my mother whom I didn't remember, and all of the pain and suffering of my long forgotten human life suddenly overwhelmed me as I dry heaved and sobbed tearlessly.

I threw myself up into bed and brought my knees up against my chest. I always do this when I'm upset or need a break. I always just collapse into myself and lose myself in my thoughts. I replayed the days events in my mind and something struck me suddenly.

I sat up straight.

What did Eleazar mean by "she's his mother?". Something at the back of my mind was screaming at me that it was important, that I should question it further and pull it out from the recesses of my memories, but I ignored it.

I don't want to know, it will only cause me more pain.

I laid in bed for what seemed like days but was only a few hours before someone knocked at the door.

"Ali?" Edward called for me and my heart hurt even more.

I had just left him during our wedding reception. I stormed out and left him to face our guest and answer questions he probably didn't know the answers to.

"Ali, I'm sorry." He sighed deeply, sounding absolutely tortured.

I rushed to the door and threw it open wide before I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly. His hands found my hips easily as he lifted me up to sit in his arms so he could fully wrap me into his embrace.

"It's not your fault, I'm the one who just left you downstairs like that, I'm the one who's sorry." I told him, kissing his ear.

"Alice, we have something that we need to talk about." Edward sighed deeply and closed the door behind him as he moved to sit me on the bed.

We have a very elevated bed so when I was sitting on it and he was standing in front of me, we were almost eye level with each other.

"If it's about what Eleazar said, I don't want to know." I shook my head.

"But Alice, this is very important." He urged.

"No, I don't want to know." I told him.

"Listen to me," he spoke gently "this is something far bigger than just you and me. This affects the entire family. Two families to be correct. We've done something that changed not only our lives but everyone else's." he stressed to me. "Please, please, let me tell you." He begged. "I can't handle all of this alone."

"I can't handle the truth Edward." I broke down sobbing again and he wrapped me up into his arms.

"I'll-I'll find a way then Alice." He promised me. "I'll find a way to handle all of this then. No one is going to tell you and I can find a way to fix this." He nodded and kissed my head.

"I'll go tell everyone not to tell you and then I'll come back up here and get our bags." He told me as he went to leave.

"Our bags?" I questioned him.

"Well of course, the reception is over, did you really think we weren't going on a honeymoon silly girl?" He chuckled, his eyes still looking troubled, and left the room.