I took a deep breath.

"Isabella Swan?" He looked up at me through his impossibly long lashes, his golden eyes soft but, somehow, still scorching. "I promise to love you forever - every single day of forever. Will you marry me?"

There were many things I wanted to say, some of them not nice at all, and others more disgustingly gooey and romantic than he probably dreamed I was capable of. Rather than embarrass myself with either, I whispered, "Yes."

"Yes!" Edward said and everyone smiled at him.

"I wished she said the gooey things... or said 'no way man'," Emmett laughed. "But I guess this okay too."

"Thank you," he said simply. He took my left hand and kissed each of my fingertips before he kissed the ring that was now mine.

"That's the end of the chapter," Rosalie said and Alice took the book from her.

"So, Em... it looks like you owe me a Porsche," Alice smirked at him. "Yellow, please."

"I guess," Emmett wrinkled his nose. "But what a way to lose."

"Well, it seems like you won my house," Rosalie said to him.

"Er... is that one decided yet?" Jasper asked.

"Nah... let's see if Eddy will actually pull through on that," Emmett laughed as Edward made a face at him. "That should be interesting."

Chapter Twenty-One

Trails

"Trails," Alice read.

I hated to waste any part of the night in sleep, but that was inevitable.

The sun was bright outside the window-wall when I woke, with small clouds scuttling too quickly across the sky. The wind rocked the treetops till the whole forest looked as if it was going to shake apart.

He left me alone to get dressed, and I appreciated the chance to think. Somehow, my plan for last night had gone horribly awry, and I needed come to grips with the consequences.

"Yeah, you don't get to have your way with Eddy and you end up engaged to him...what a horrible outcome," Emmett laughed.

"And I'm sure she agrees with you," Edward smiled a little.

Though I'd given back the hand-me-down ring as soon as I could do it without hurting his feelings,

Esme frowned at that and Edward rolled his eyes.

my left hand felt heavier, like it was still in place, just invisible.

This shouldn't bother me, I reasoned. It was no big thing - a road trip to Vegas.

Alice narrowed her eyes at that. "She doesn't really think I'd let her get away with that, does she?"

"Alice," Edward sighed, exasperated.

I will not let that happen Edward, Alice thought.

I would go one better than old jeans - I would wear old sweats.

Alice shuddered at that.

The ceremony certainly couldn't take very long; no more than fifteen minutes at the most, right? So I could handle that.

And then, when it was over, he'd have to fulfill his side of the bargain. I would concentrate on that, and forget the rest.

"Ah, what a lovely view of a wedding," Emmett chuckled, but everyone else seemed to be frowning.

He said I didn't have to tell anyone, and I was planning to hold him to that. Of course, it was very stupid of me not to think of Alice.

"She actually wasn't going to tell us!" Esme said, shocked.

"Don't worry, Shorty's there to save the day," Emmett laughed.

The Cullens got home around noon. There was a new, businesslike feel to the atmosphere around them, and it pulled me back into the enormity of what was coming.

Alice seemed to be in an unusually bad mood. I chalked it up to her frustration with feeling normal,

"Eck, what a horrible word," Alice said.

because her first words to Edward were a complaint about working with the wolves.

"I think " - she made a face as she used the uncertain word - "that you're going to want to pack for cold weather, Edward. I can't see where you are exactly, because you're taking off with that dog this afternoon. But the storm that's coming seems particularly bad in that general area.

Edward nodded.

"It's going to snow on the mountains," she warned him.

"Snow...in June?" Edward said. "Why is it snowing?"

"What does it matter?" Emmett shrugged.

"Bella's a human...she'll be cold," Edward said.

"Ew, snow," I muttered to myself. It was June, for crying out loud.

"Wear a jacket," Alice told me. Her voice was unfriendly, and that surprised me. I tried to read her face, but she turned away.