I felt suddenly dizzy,

“Bella?” Alice sounded concerned. “Are you okay?”

I nodded weakly, too afraid to open my mouth for fear that the butterflies would escape. Even from Alice’s bedroom, I could hear the joyous and beautiful piano music that Alice had selected mixed with the vague chatter of a mingling crowd. Were they talking about me? I gulped.

A knock sounded at the door, or maybe it was just the sound of my teeth clicking together as I began to tremble violently. Esme opened the door and Jasper smiled wide and nodded at Alice. He threw a glance at me and must have caught the panicked expression on my face.

“Woops, sorry Bella, I must have lost my focus.” He apologized. I suddenly felt warm and calm. All traces of butterflies vanished. I smiled at Jasper, more grateful now for his subtle talent than ever before.

Alice squeezed my shoulders and led me out into the hallway. I knew if it weren’t for Jasper, my heart would have burst clear out of my chest. My emotions were under control, but my thoughts were still going a mile-a-minute. The images in my mind jumped from Edward’s perfection – waiting calmly to be bound to my ordinariness for eternity, to Charlie and Renee, to my friends.

Alice drew a sharp breath as we descended the stairs and I glanced over at her confused face.

“What do you see?” I pressed.

“Nothing.” She was serious.

“Jacob.” I understood aloud. Jacob must have decided to come after all.

“It must have been a last minute decision,” She confirmed, “otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to see the wedding before just now.”

I was unsure how to react to Jacob’s presence, but Jasper didn’t really give me a choice in emotion. I was grateful for that as well.

I was shocked to discover myself at the bottom of the stairs already. Even more shocking was that Charlie was waiting for me, dressed in a suit, smiling widely, waiting to embrace me.

“You look beautiful, Bella.” He smiled as he hugged me tight. Wow, I realized, not only was he actually coming to the wedding, he was going to walk me down the aisle and give me away, also. Aside from myself and Edward, the only other people actually standing in the wedding were Alice and Jasper. Alice was my maid of honor and Jasper was Edward’s best man. We had decided on a small wedding party. Emmet played his role as the priest also, having just received his license from an online course.