Epilogue:

Edward on his and Bella's Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary

June 24th, 2055

When I married my beautiful wife fifty years ago today, I never thought that my life would be where it is now. I am blessed beyond measure.

I worked a job that I loved every day at the Forks Community Physicians. We were blessed to have provided many jobs and served the community at large. Emmett and I had two offices, one in Forks and one in La Push. Bella and Rosalie were able to do what they loved. We were all happy.

While they are older, Esme and Carlisle are still here and enjoying life. They actually live in their in-law apartment while Bellaria lives with her family in the main house. Charlie added on to his house and Anderson and his family live there. Charlize and Paul are the farthest away from Bella and me, but she lives less than thirty minutes away, on the reservation.

True to form, Anderson met the love of his life, Lila Rose McCarty when they were babies. Emmett was not thrilled. Neither were her brothers when he asked for permission to marry her. I was scared that they were going to kill Anderson! Thankfully, they did not kill or harm him. They married later in life. After college and two of their children were born. They have four children, Scott Landon, Sophia Lauren, Seth Levi, and Samuel Lawrence. Scott and Sophie were born while they were in college, Seth, and Sam after they got married. Anderson and Lila are both lawyers at the Black, Cullen, and McCarty Law Firm. Scott and Seth are lawyers at the family practice in Forks. Sam and Sophia are a dentist and a doctor in town. They all make us proud. Each is married and has children of their own. They provided Bella and me, sixteen great-grandchildren.

Bellaria met her love next door as well. She is now Bellaria Cullen McCarty. She and Lysander married the day after her eighteenth birthday when he was twenty-one. She got pregnant on her wedding night and true to form, they gave all their children very interesting names. Raina Hope and Harper Peace were born eight months later. Making Irish twins out of the already twins were Destiny Grace and Goodwin Fuller. Nobody understands any of the names picked. But, they do fit them. Fuller wants to be a police chief like Poppa Charlie was and is well on his way there. Grace is a lawyer. Peace is a doctor. Hope, she is undecided like her mother but became a teacher working at Forks High School. Bellaria stayed home with the kids while Lysander went to school to be a dentist. He has a practice in town, which is great. Bellaria has not had to work, but helps out at his office. Each of the kids is married and have children of their own. That clan gave me fourteen great-grandchildren.

Paul and Charlize live in La Push with their little Tribe. They went to college to be lawyers, but there were a couple of hurdles in the way. They had their own honeymoon babies. Ahanu Manawa Asher and Anouk Neyeli Poppy were born eight months after their wedding day. Unlike Bellaria, they waited two years to have more children. Twins ran in that family. When Aquene Olathe Rose and Akikta Hongvi Abel were born I thought they were done. Nope, I was wrong. Akando Enapay Asa and Angeni Catori Daisy were born. Paul got fixed and they had one more just to make fun of everyone. Almost a year after, Charlize was pregnant again, this time, Anevay Halona Violet was born and they were done.

Two of the kids wanted to follow their parents and are lawyers, Ahanu, and Akikta, they specialize in Native American rights and Family Law. Anouk and Aquene are teachers on the Reservation. Akando is an architect and has been working on getting La Push more up to date with codes, buildings, and roads. Angeni runs the community center and is a social worker. Anevay is a primary care doctor and works at the La Push Community Hospital and the La Push branch of Cullen and Black General Practitioners office. There was no hospital on La Push, so Anevay was able to get funding for it and started it. That was one of the best days of my life, knowing that she will be responsible for helping so many in the future. While I am proud of Anevay, I am equally proud of each of my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They are keeping our good names throughout the greater area.

They are all married and I have thirty great-grandchildren just from Charlize and Paul. It is really hard to keep track of them sometimes! I am lucky that most of them stayed local. Some moved to Port Angeles or Forks, but most of Charlize's are still on the Reservation. It is comforting to know that we have such a wonderful family that loves each other and is loved.

With the help of our children and grandchildren, we were able to grow the firm and have a second location on the Reservation. Paul and Charlize make a great team there, and the locals use them for everything. There was a huge issue with Tribal lands and a corporation tried to illegally take them away. They wanted to use it for drug smuggling and human trafficking. It was truly horrific. The same family that tried to kidnap those kids years ago were involved. I am not sure what came of it other than those responsible are in jail and there are new laws that protect the lands in question.

Paul and Jacob were joint chiefs of the tribe until about twenty years ago. Jacob wanted to teach Paul while he was alive how to run things and it has worked well for them because he did not want Paul to have to learn the hard way. When there was a handover of the tribe to Paul, he was able to handle the responsibility and Charlize and Paul helped the tribe grow so much over the years. Jacob did a great job, but it was easier with Paul and Charlize being lawyers, lots of costs were saved and that saved the tribe a lot of money which was reinvested into other needed items. Thankfully, Jacob has taken care of himself and has almost none of the issues that his father had. They still live in the house that Jacob was raised in that their children were raised in. Anouk and Ahanu are both learning the jobs of the chief and are going to share the title of Chief when Paul is ready to step down. I know that Anouk and Ahanu will both do a great job when that time comes.

Emmett and Rosalie are still next door to us and their other two children moved to Seattle and Los Angeles. They want to move, but the other two have no kids or plans for it. So it makes more sense to stay here so they can spoil the grandchildren they have.

Retirement has done well for Carlisle, Esme, and Charlie. Sadly for Charlie, his wife Sue died several years ago in a car accident. When she died, he finished his term as Police Chief of Forks and retired after forty years on the force. He still works part-time, mainly election day and funerals, a few hours a week doing paperwork. It keeps him active.

Carlisle and Esme both volunteer with the La Push Community Hospital several times a month. They volunteer with the church we all go to and visit people in the hospital. Esme has a knitting group that she heads and there are several locations for their meetings. Several in La Push.

Bella and I are also retired. We still help run the law firms and private practices that we have with Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett and I have two offices, one in La Push and one in Forks. While we might have made more money in Port Angeles, La Push needed a local doctor's office. I did a lot of my work there while Emmett worked mainly in the Forks office. It worked for us for years until we decided to retire and hand over the practices to our kids. Rosalie and Bella bought out the lawyers who gave them the start-up money within ten years. I was unaware of it until they handed it over to the kids who were lawyers. They still are friendly in case we need bigger guns, otherwise, they stick to themselves. In La Push, it is Black and Cullen Law Offices. Since it was Charlize that really wanted to have offices there. It is next to the community center and they give kids safe options to work there and learn the trade. There have been several La Push kids that decided to be paralegals and lawyers because of them. It has been great to see.

Tonight, my family is having a party for my Isabella and me to celebrate our 50th anniversary. We are renewing our vows at the tree. I made another arch with my children and Bella is wearing the gown she wore on that special day. Everything is going to be the same, except way more people. It is amazing.

I look at what my life has been and though there have been a lot of heartaches and hurt, I would not trade it for the amazing things I have. I wish that my Mom was here to see what my life has become, but I know that she is watching over me.

Renee passed away while in jail. She got into a fight and lost. While it was sad for Bella, it was closure. Renee never wanted to be Bella's mother. Never cared about our marriage or children. Renee just wanted to have money in her account. We stopped caring. Charlie took care of the arrangements and had Renee cremated. I still have no idea what he did with her ashes and am happy that that woman can no longer be a thorn in our sides.

As I did with Charlize, I wrote letters to each of my other two children, many grandchildren, and great-grandchildren when they were born. With Anderson and Bellaria, I tried to write about the same amounts of letters as I did with Charlize, and came close. I think Charlize got one or two more than they did since she had to deal with Paul's shooting.

With the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it is harder but I do what I can. Each one has their own book that they will get on their eighteenth birthday or wedding day. Since most of our family seems to marry shortly after turning eighteen.

I am surrounded by many members of my family as Bella and I get ready for our big day. We are together this time since we have already been happily married for 50 years. I can't believe how beautiful she still is. Nobody is more beautiful than she is to me. She hates it when I tell her or spoil her with little gifts. Little does she know that we are going for another honeymoon since I was not able to give her a proper one all those years ago. Honestly, we have been on several since, but it still is good to get away and spend quality time with my girl.

It is never quiet when the whole family is around. It is music to my ears. Because two people fell in love, all these lives have been made. I look around me and smile.

In my hand is a letter for my love. I will give it to her when we make it to the front of the aisle. Sadly, Pastor Weber will not be there, but his grandson and my Godson from our friends Angela and Ben, Caleb Edward will lead the ceremony. Ben took over the church for several years and Caleb then took over about ten years ago. Three generations of the same family running the same church is a wonderful thing to witness. Ben did our last vow renewal ceremony at our twenty-fifth anniversary.

When we are ready, I grab my beautiful bride's hand and we make our way to the ceremony site. The weather is not looking good so we are trying to make it fast. Adding to the hurry, I think one of Anouk's oldest daughters appears to be in labor. If all goes well, we will have our first two great-grandchildren today. Poor Takota. It looks like she is having hard labor. No matter how hard we try, she is adamant about being here. Her husband is the grandson of Jacob's friend Embry Call. Me, Jacob, and Embry have a bet going. Embry thinks that the kids will come with a thunderstorm and thus he should name them. Jacob thinks they will be born in the sun. Meanwhile, Bella and I think the first will make an appearance before the renewal is over. We have names all picked. Us for middle names. It is the parents' job to name the kids unless they agree otherwise.

Off in the distance, there is a clap of thunder. With that, everyone makes their way outside to our ceremony. We all get into position. Charlie, Esme, and Carlisle are in the front already. Our children and grandchildren everywhere. Old friends are mixed in. I take Bella's hand and we walk down the aisle for our third time, enjoying every minute of it. When we make it to the front, Bella hands over her sunflower and iris bouquet to Esme who is next to her. Carlisle is standing next to me, proud as can be. He looks nearly the same, other than the cane that he uses and his hair being gray.

Caleb is a great kid and I am proud that he is my Godson. He does a great job and pronounces us man and wife for the third time, and I take my bride and gently kiss her. We still have a great passionate love life, for which I am grateful, but the world does not need to see that.

I hand Bella her letter from me and she hands me one of my own. I am blessed to have this woman as my wife. We turn our heads and I see all the doctors around Takota. And hear a set of small cries.

"Damn it! Edward was right! Silly girl!" I laugh at Jacob's tantrum

"Love, you want to meet our great-grandchildren?" I look over to Bella.

"As long as you are next to me, I am always ready for whatever adventures this life throws at us. I love you, Edward. Always and forever." Bella says as she kisses my cheek.

We made our way to the center of attention. The newest Call kids.

"Now that the ceremony is over, I have an announcement to make!" I yell and everyone is quiet. "Sweet girl, you want to introduce the newest members of our family?" I ask her. She nods just as the ambulance gets here.

"I would like to introduce everyone to Annabelle Orenda and Elliott Menawa. Annabelle for great-great-grandma Elizabeth, great grandma's Isabella and Vanessa Anna, and Mom. Elliott for great-grandpa Embry and Edward. Sorry, Opi Jake. I was not going to do the whole four name thing." Lakota says and everyone laughs.

"It's alright. Happy Anniversary to Edward and Bella! Happy Birthday, Annabelle and Elliott! How does it feel to be married for fifty years and have great-grandchildren old man?" Jacob comes up and smacks me.

"Better than I could have ever dreamed. I am grateful for all this life has given me and if I died today, I would die a happy man. Until my heart stops beating, my love." I look over to Bella and kiss her head.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, sweetheart. Until my heart stops beating, I am a blessed woman." And life marches on. One day at a time. People being born and people dying. Through all the change this stays the same.

I would not change one single moment of my life, because it gave me all this love. My family. My friends.

Someday I will leave this place and be reunited with my Mom, Elizabeth. I pray that I have lived a life that she would be proud of me for living. Because I tried to live for both of us. She never got to see her grandchildren or great-grandchildren. I did my best so they all know her. As evident from Lakota including her in her daughter's name.

I made many mistakes in my life and am grateful that I have my family who loves me in spite of them. As I hear my granddaughter telling stories of people who have passed on as she goes into the ambulance, I know that I have done something right.

Thank God for small miracles. For my family. And for the letters from my love that I hold close to my heart. For the two new journals, I need to start. For the proof of my love to be continued through my family.