Epilogue

Epilogue

6 Months Later

To say that everything after the catastrophic wedding/ break up day was all butterflies and rainbows would be a huge lie.

I had Edward and he was the amazing partner I had always imagined he would be. He anticipated my wants and needs. After knowing me for over twenty years, he basically knew everything about me. We had been given the ability to skip the introduction phase of the relationship and get straight to the love and admiration phase. He was an amazing lover and I slapped myself more than a few times for thinking that anyone else was right for me.

He would send flowers to my office for no reason or show up unannounced to take me to lunch. I periodically received text messages throughout the day just to say he loved me. He was always amazing me with his attention to romance and details. He often told me that I had completed his life by making the decision to be with him and that he was going to spend every day showing me I had made the right decision.

We spent holidays together with out families. It seemed that everyone had known we were perfect for each other and they were just waiting for it to happen. His parents had always treated me like I was one of their own and vice-versa with my parents. Although we hadn't even began to talk about marriage, our families consistently asked us about having babies. Edward and I had talked about it and wanted to have kids someday but we wanted to have time to enjoy our relationship. There were twenty years of pent up feelings that we were finally getting to live out. I certainly wasn't ready to give that up yet.


The honeymoon Jacob and I were set to embark on was to begin the day after the wedding. It was an all expense paid week in Jamaica. I had all of the travel documents and plane tickets with me at the church. I knew there was no way Jacob was going and even if he wanted to he couldn't get on the plane without his ticket information that I had. Everyone had decided that I needed to go with or without Jacob. My family had spent a lot of hard earned money to pay for that trip and they were not going to let it go to waste. After a ton of calls and a little more money my father had convinced them to change all of Jacob's information over to Edward's. So, Edward and I were going on the honeymoon planned for myself and Jacob. It was slightly disturbing and a little crazy to say the least but who were we to turn down a free week in Jamaica?

The vacation in Jamaica was beautiful. We swam with the dolphins, laid on the beach, had breakfast and dinner delivered to our room. The room alone was like a small mansion. The bed and bathroom were nicer than in my own home. The water was crystal clear and it was the most relaxing week of my life.

I had a minor break down when we arrived. At the resort check in, the lady welcomed us as Mr. and Mrs. Black. Awkward barely covers it.

Edward didn't know what to say and I broke out in tears. I wasn't crying because Jacob wasn't there and I wasn't Mrs. Black, I was crying because I felt like I had wasted so much time with Jacob when I could've spent that time with Edward. I shed tears of joy because of the fact that I would never be Mrs. Black and the fact that I knew I would never endure the problems with Edward that I had endured with Jacob. They were two totally different species of men. I thanked my lucky stars over and over again that I had that epiphany at the church.

At the end of that wonderful week Edward and I had to come back to the real world and deal with the issues we had forgotten about. I would have to deal with Jacob. I had to move my belongings out of his home. I would have to tell him that I had gone on the honeymoon without him. I just hoped that no one had told him about Edward yet. Edward was none of his concern and I didn't want to hear anything he had to say about the situation.

When we arrived home, I checked my voice mails. My mom had called to tell me that Jacob hired a moving company to move all of my belongings to her house. That made me immensely happy. I wouldn't have to deal with Jacob after all.

I stayed with my parents for a while as I figured out where I was going to live on a permanent basis. Luckily, I had a good amount of money in savings and my job paid me well. It wasn't long until I was out looking for apartments. Edward always accompanied me. His excuse was that he didn't want me living in a dangerous area, but no matter how upscale the buildings were, he always told me it wasn't the right place for me.

I secretly thought that he thought none of the places were good enough for me because they weren't his apartment. I wasn't going to ask to live with him. If he wanted me to live with him he was going to have to ask. I would have moved in with him at the drop of a hat. Some people may have thought it was us moving too quickly and that I was rebounding. That would have been true had our relationship been like everyone else's but it wasn't. Our situation was unique.

What was there to fear about living with Edward? Nothing. I knew all of his secrets and he knew mine. I knew exactly what type of guy he was and I knew that he would never dream of hurting me. After all the drunken nights I spent with him when he could have easily taken advantage of me and he never did, there was nothing to fear of building a life with Edward.

Just as I was going to put a deposit down on a beautiful 3 bedroom apartment in the nicest part of town, Edward stopped me. He met me at the leasing office and asked if I would consider living in that apartment with him. Of course, I accepted. It was a new apartment for both us where we could build new memories together without drudging up old memories of past relationships.

It seemed as though my life couldn't get any better. Edward and I were walking to one of our favorite bistros near the apartment when we ran into Jacob. He was walking toward us and had his eyes focused on the ground. He looked like hell. His hair wasn't neat like he usually kept it, it was long and bushy and looked like it hadn't been brushed in days. He wore sweatpants and a ratty old shirt with sneakers that were dirtier than most homeless men's. I didn't want to have to talk to him and I hoped that he wouldn't even see us as we passed each other. No such luck.

Just as he was approaching us, Edward squeezed my hand and whispered "It's gonna be fine." I wasn't so certain. The break up had clearly effected him more than I thought was possible. Jacob had always been such a strong willed and egotistical man. I never thought I would have been able to effect him in such a way.

Jacob froze in mid stride as his eyes locked with mine. Edward tried to keep me moving by pulling my hand but I couldn't just ignore him.

"Wha...where....why?" Jacob stammered.

"Hey Jake." I replied simply.

"Uh hey."

"How have you been?" I asked and immediately felt stupid. It was clear how he had been but I didn't know what else to say.

"I'm here. You?"

I didn't want to rub it in his face that my life was the best it had been in years but I didn't want to lie either. "Fine." I replied.

"You're with...uh....him now?" He asked as he pointed to Edward.

I nodded my head in confirmation.

"I should've known. Fucking prick was always after you." He replied angrily.

Edward stepped in front of me and pushed Jacob back. "You will not speak to her that way and you most certainly will not talk about me like that when I'm standing right here." He turned to me and grabbed my hand again. "Let's go Bella. This loser doesn't deserve our time."

I allowed Edward to lead me away. I knew he was right. The best thing was to walk away. The situation was only going to get worse and Jacob had no impact on our new lives. I glanced back at Jacob as I walked away and saw the anger in eyes turn back to sadness. I almost felt bad for him but I knew he deserved everything that was happening to him. I also knew that Edward and I deserved each other, and no one and nothing was going to take that away.

I never heard from Jacob again. Luckily, we didn't share many friends and I didn't have to hear about what he was doing. In my mind it was like he never existed. I almost completely pushed those years of memories out of my mind.

I had the most amazing man I could ever ask for. We were starting a life together. We would have babies one day and we would grow old together, we would be that couple in forty years sitting on the porch in our rocking chairs, yelling at our grand children running in the yard. I had no doubt in my mind that we would love each other until the day we die. We had already been through so much together that there wasn't anything we couldn't get through together. Always together.