Edward’s POV

“Bella, which color do you prefer this in, ivory or cream?"
She pointed towards a bridal magazine.

“Alice, you know that whichever you want to choose is fine,” Bella sighed.

“But I want you to at least pick out one thing. Then I’ll take care of the rest," she whined.

Bella leaned over Alice’s shoulder to look at the magazine.

“I knew it! Ivory it is!” Alice chimed happily circling the right picture.

“If you knew what I was going to choose, why bother?”

“Because you hadn’t made the decision yet,” Alice giggled as she danced back into the house to get another magazine.

I chuckled as Bella let out another huge sigh and came to sit down next to me on the porch swing. Alice had been working non-stop on all the wedding preparations.

Bella had continued to put on the façade that all of Alice’s work was too much, but I knew from Jasper’s thoughts that underneath it all she was actually becoming rather ecstatic.

Though neither Jasper, nor I, would tell Alice that. She would take it as an invitation to do even more than she already was, which would be quite unnecessary.

Everything was going according to plan, and the wedding was only a few days away. Well, everything except for one minor detail.

Bella had not mentioned it to me, but I knew that the mutt’s sudden disappearance plagued her. She had whispered his name in her sleep one night, with raw pain coursing through her voice.

“Alice is overdoing it,” Bella mumbled, interrupting my thoughts.

Her head rested against my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in close to me.

“Don’t worry love, everything will be fine” I whispered.
I kissed the top of her head. If my heart could beat it would have quickened at the intake of her scent. She smelled wonderful, as always.

As I pulled my head away from her hair, I was completely at peace with the world. It was beginning to rain, and a gust of wind blew through the trees.

But rather than inhaling Bella’s beautiful scent as her long hair blew in the breeze, I smelled something fowl. My back stiffened and my shoulders tensed. Bella felt my movement behind her.