As this story comes to a close I want to take a moment to thank you all for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing AND for putting up with the sometimes BIG GAPS between updates. I hope you will read this story again as a completed fic as it was always meant to be. I've had it in my head for years and parting is such sweet sorrow.

Please check out my other completed fics: Upside Downtown, Dance Me to the End of Love, and The Most Beautiful Widow.

xoxo

BPOV

"You slept with him, didn't you?!" Alice seethes through clenched teeth.

"We also slept," I answer slyly, chewing on the straw of my second Bloody Mary. We're through with our elaborate up do's and ready for the makeup chair. Rosalie and Leah are perched at their vanities at the opposite side of the room but I keep my voice down anyway to avoid looking gossipy (I know Rose already thinks something is up)and motion for Alice to do the same.

"You complete slut," she hisses. "I knew it! When you ran out of the lodge I totally knew you were going to find him and do him all night long. Soooo? How was it? Was it the way you remember?"

"It was...incredible." It's the only word I can come up with before a bubble of giggles threatens to escape my throat. I want to boogie around the entire fucking room, give lapdances, and shriek at the top of my lungs. Instead I bite my lip and hold it all in.

"It was more than incredible. Even better than it was before. The way he made love to me, the way he flipped me over and fucked me, and the way he held me after. It was like he was showing me what I've been missing all this time. What I'll never risk losing again. He forgives me, Al. He fucking forgives me. After everything I put him through - " I start to choke up and take a deep breath. "It was bad, wasn't it? When he came back that winter? I know it was. He was bad, wasn't he?"

The look on her face says it all.

"Yeah, sweets, he was. He was really fucked up for a really long time. He didn't speak to me for months. It hurt to watch him shut me out. I considered him a friend. So did Jasper and Sam and the rest of the guys. He pushed us all away and started spending most of his time on the reservation."

That fact surprises me and I put my drink down. "He didn't tell me that."

"He was probably too busy eating you out to get to it," she snerks, sucking down the rest of her margarita. Never too early for tequila.

...

"So you walked in on them having sex?" Alice manages to say without moving her lips as the stylist applies another layer of gloss.

"No, thank GOD," I blanch. "They were asleep. Naked, but asleep. We snuck out and Edward stayed in my room."

"Wow. That's totally scandalous. So are they, like, together now? Hey wait...are you and Edward together now? Cuz that totally fucks with my table arrangement at the reception."

"Well I'm so sorry that my love life is messing with your seating chart," I kid. "But we'll figure it out. I have to talk to Garrett. I'm dreading it but I know I have to. He deserves a real apology. I don't want to lose him as a friend."

"OK ladies, you are all set," the stylist chirps. She stands back and proudly surveys her handiwork. We stand in front of her with our hair in matching intricate sculpted twists - except for Alice and Leah who are sporting shorter matching side bobs. We look like a row of Rockettes in bathrobes, I think to myself as the stylist takes our picture.

"Now, time to get into those beautiful dresses."

...

Bridesmaids and groomsmen gather into couples outside the banquet hall waiting for our cues. Edward is the last to arrive out of the elevator, still adjusting his bow tie. He looks just as I imagined - - flawless and fine as hell in his black, fitted tux. His hair is gelled and styled away from his face and he's cleanshaven. My only thought is how to get him peeled out of his clothes and fully inside me without wrinkling my dress.

He joins me at my side and quickly takes my elbow before I can tell him how perfect his ass is.

"Hi. You look beautiful and I love you but we have to talk. Now."

"The ceremony is about to start," I whisper, confusion crossing my face. God he smells good.

"This can't wait. If I'm being selfish I don't care."

I sense his severity and nod. He leads me down the hallway and back to the elevator bank.

"Something happened with Garrett and Kate didn't it?" I search his face for signs of a fight but don't see any marks. "I was hoping to talk to him before the ceremony but by the time I got down here he and Kate had already taken their seats inside. What happened? Should I get my father?"

"Bella, what's Garrett's last name?" Edward asks seriously.

"Uh, something with a D, I think. Dennis. Yeah, Dennis. Why?"

"His name is Garrett Dennis?"

"I think so. Why the sudden interest in Garrett's last name?"

"It's not Dennis, Bella. It's Denali. Garrett Denali. He's Tanya's brother."

EPOV

It probably wasn't the best idea to bring up the 'Garrett is my dead girlfriend's brother' thing to Bella right before we headed down the aisle but I knew I couldn't hold it in for the entire ceremony (which was endless btw) and then plaster on a fake smile for pictures. I needed to at least fill Bella in and get a sense of her reaction. I wouldn't let myself believe that she'd known this whole time and had hidden it from me. That's not Bella's way. If anything she'd have told me immediately when she found out. But what difference did it really make? I was with Bella now and in love in a way I never thought possible. Tanya was gone and from what she'd told me of her family when she was alive, they never gave a shit about her.

I'm just angry about the whole thing. Tanya was a good girl. She deserved better - better than I could give her and better than she got from her family members. Did Garrett have any idea what she went through? How sick she was? Did he ever try to talk to their father and convince him to help her? Did he know their father hit her? That he kicked her out on the street? Since they didn't have the same mother my guess is NO.

I paid for Arthur Denali's mistake of being a shitty father. Tanya died in MY arms, not his. And what did I get in return? Thrown in jail and then tossed in a stable to work off a debt incurred trying to save her.

When you put it that way, I guess I should be thanking him.

BPOV

After taking a few more girly photos with Alice and Esme, Edward and Emmett go outside to smoke. Cocktail hour has started and I find Garrett and Kate standing next to the tacky E&C ice sculpture. Now that the wedding party's had their photos taken and the happy moments have been frozen in time, I'd say it's time to move on to the shit-show that every wedding turns into.

Kate sees me approaching and her eyes grow wide as saucers. She looks like a Greek statue and even in my painful heels I can't reach her height.

"Hi there," she says sheepishly.

"Hey," I answer with a sincere smile. "Can I borrow this guy for a moment?" I ask, slipping my arm through Garrett's and leading him away.

We haven't even turned the corner towards the bathrooms when Garrett starts rambling on about seeing Edward this morning and not intending to sleep with Kate and yadda yadda. I cut him off.

"Garrett, stop. You of all people do not need to apologize to me for anything." I squeeze his arm and a relieved smile crosses his face.

"I think we both knew it wasn't going to work out between us and if anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I hope you can forgive me for the way I've acted."

The music starts to get louder as the band warms up and I know I have to get this out quick.

"How come you didn't tell me?" I ask, raising my voice above the band. "About Tanya. You always went by Dennis. It even says Dennis on your school ID. But your last name is Denali?"

"It depends on how I'm feeling about my father at that moment. I tend to get nostalgic around the holidays and go by Denali if I'm missing my family. Doesn't happen very often though. Your father grilled me for an hour and it just came out. Garrett Denali. Arthur Denali. Tanya Denali. He even told me that my father was invited to the wedding. News to me."

"Your father is here this weekend?" My head is spinning. I wonder if Edward knows this little tidbit. "And you didn't know?"

"Nope. Not close, remember? Haven't talked to him in six months. Mom sent a Visa Gift Card for my birthday though, so that was nice," he smiles, rolling his eyes.

"You never told me you had a sister."

"Half-sister. I only met Tanya once or twice when we were kids and those were carefully planned trips that my father took without my mother knowing. My father's first marriage was always a bone of contention between my mother and father. She was afraid he'd go back to them. One day dad told her Tanya'd run away. I didn't hear much after that. I moved away to college, and Tanya died. She had diabetes. My dad knew. He paid for her meds and doctor bills in the beginning but there was a fight and that's the last I heard."

"Your father blamed Edward for her death, y'know. He had him arrested. It was my father who bailed him out."

"I heard she had a boyfriend. My father said she was living in squalor and dating some fuck-up."

"Edward is not a fuck up!" I screech. "His parents died and he was trying to make it on his own! What is with your family anyway? Your father gives up on his daughter and then goes after the man who tried to protect her?! And this whole time I thought it was my father who was the jerk!"

Garrett pales at my sudden outburst and I realize I'm directing my anger at the wrong person. "Sorry," I blush, my eyes falling to the floor. "It's clear to me now. For the first time in years. ...My father brought Edward here to protect him. This whole time I thought it was because Edward had stolen from him. Maybe that was part of it - but there was more."

"Garrett?" Kate's voice fills the hall as she rounds the corner. "Oh, Bella, um, Miss Swan."

"It's fine, Kate. Bella, please," I smile. There's a tiny awkward silence and I'm suddenly yearning to feel Edward's warmth next to me, the comfort that he brings.

"I just want to say," she continues politely. "Edward is a truly wonderful man. He loves you so. You can see it in his eyes and the way his shoulders relax when you're near. You are very lucky to have each other. I hope you aren't angry with me. With us." Her eyes dart to Garrett's and his face lights up.

"Not at all," I answer honestly, my heart warming to witness the feelings between them. "Quite the opposite in fact."

The reception kicks off without a hitch and it's wonderful to see Alice's hard work and immaculate wedding planning come to fruition.

Esme and Carlisle take their first dance as husband and wife and as I watch them from the edge of the dance floor I know what I want. To be them. Sure they started off a little late, in their forties, but tonight they look like teenagers in love and it's clear that there is no such thing as a right time. There's only time and it's different for each of us. All my life I've rushed to grow up, to prove myself, to get to college and follow a path that has led me right back to where I'm supposed to be.

I turn to look for Edward and find him right where he's supposed to be – at my side. He smiles down at me and extends his hand for mine.

"Will you do me the honor of dancing with me, Miss Swan?" he asks in a voice that could melt steel.

"You seem happy," I grin, swaying in his arms.

"Mmm," he hums against my temple and I know he's smiling too. "Shouldn't I be?"

"Edward, um, I don't want to ruin this absolutely perfect moment because you are fucking to die for right now, but -" Here goes. "Arthur Denali is here."

"I know," he says without missing a beat. "Garrett told me when we were having our little chat. It's ok, Bella. The past is the past. It can't be changed."

"You aren't weirded out by Tanya's family being so close? Like in the same room?"

"I want tonight to be about the present and future. Both of which I plan to revolve around you. I shouldn't have behaved the way I did earlier. I was in shock and needed you to set me straight. I'm sure I'll run into Arthur here tonight at some point and he'll try to make me feel like shit. But then I'll look at you, and you'll set me straight. ...Sense a pattern?" He grips me tightly against his chest. "I need you, Bella, and I'm not letting you go again. Not ever."

"Wow," I swoon, feeling suddenly light-headed and horny as hell. "I wish we could get out of here right now and go up to my room so I could strip you out of those clothes and get your cock in my mouth."

"Let's go."