“Yes,” he agreed. “She has practically been screaming at me all night.”

He bent forward and molded his lips to mine for a brief moment before we hesitantly went our separate ways to conquer the ghosts of our past.

I walked slowly over to Charlie, Billy and Jacob. Jacob was still staring intently at the ground.

“Bella!” My dad grinned and embraced me. “Congratulations honey.” He seemed very enthusiastic.

“Thanks.” I smiled. “Stick around dad, I’m going to need you for the father-daughter dance.” He beamed.

At the sound of my voice, Jacob’s head snapped up. I met his eyes cautiously.

“Hey Jake, glad you could make it.” I stepped forward to hug him. He was very stiff and emotionless as soon as he touched me. I could feel the despair in his body language. I pretended not to notice. I chatted idly with chattered for a few minutes until some of Charlie’s fellow cops came over and Charlie began talking to them.

“Hey Jake,” I started. “do you want to take a walk with me?”

He nodded, and walked with me to the door. We walked in silence for a very long time until he finally broke the silence.

“Oh, um….congratulations, I guess.” He was very unenthusiastic.

“It would mean more if you meant it.” I muttered.

He fell silent.

“Jake,” I stopped walking. “If this was going to be so hard for you, why did you come?”

He bit his lip, obviously ashamed of himself.

I waited.

“Because…..” He trailed off. “Because I thought that maybe if you saw me..”

“I wouldn’t marry Edward.” I finished.

He looked at the ground again.

I became frustrated with his stupidity. I was done feeling sorry for him, he had brought this upon himself.

“Jacob,” I let the frustration slip into my voice. “Will you please face reality for one minute!? I am in love with Edward. Yes, I love you too. But its more of a brother-sister love. Its nothing comparable to the love that I feel for Edward, and you need to accept that.” As I spoke, his face contorted into many different emotions. “You can not keep holding on to the idea that I am going to come back to you because I am married now, Jake I am married. I belong to Edward and I don’t want it any other way, and -”