Feel free to go back and read the last few chapters to warm your heart and remind you how we got here with these two.

"Are you ready, Miss Bella?"

Bella let out an excited breath and then looked down at the impatient little boy next to her. Esme had brought both Nathaniel and Paxton dress pants and a dress shirt, even completing the look with a little tie for Paxton. She had met him a few hours ago and fallen immediately in love with.

"Hi Miss Esme," he had said, shaking her hand like a proper young man. "I think you're going to be my Grandma, but I've never had a grandma before. But Miss Bella says you've never been a grandma before, so we can learn together."

Esme had swallowed a sob.

Paxton had been hugged a lot that day, needless to say.

Bella smiled down at him. When she had always pictured her wedding day, it usually been Charlie who she imagined would give her away. But she was confident she had found the best man for the job.

"Pax, please just call me Bella."

He swung their interlaced hands back and forth lazily as he thought about this. His face turned adorably inquisitive as he pondered her request. Bella let him swing her hand as she waited.

"But you're my mama now?"

Bella crouched down with a smile and nodded. "I am, sweet boy. But you can call me Bella."

Paxton thought about this.

"But can I call you Mama too?"

Bella's eyes pricked and she gave him a watery smile as she nodded. "I would love that."

Paxton smiled like he had just solved some puzzle. "Okay! Are you ready, Mama Bella?" he asked, testing it out.

Bella nodded, wiping away a tear.

Paxton waited impatiently for Bella to pick up her bouquet of flowers that Rose had put together from the local market. She glanced down at her white dress and made sure nothing was amiss. It was not a traditional wedding dress, but despite the fact that it only went down to her knees and was relatively form fitting and bordered on professional attire, it was white and she was happy in it.

"All ready," she said with a smile. There was no way she could be anything but ready.

Paxton led her out from the cluster of shrubs and into view of the space that had been assembled for the ceremony. It was small with only her family and the women and children who they had come to think of as family in Malawi. People were standing near a large tree which had been fresh flowers from the market woven into the branches and hanging around. Alice, with her background in marketing and her slightly above amateur photographer status, was clicking away on her giant camera as Bella came into view. The small crowd had parted to leave her with an aisle and at the end of the aisle was the other half of her heart.

Edward stood with a grin on his face that brightened into a rare, full smile when he caught sight of her walking towards him with Paxton proudly holding her hand. Nathaniel was standing at Edward's side and though he looked solemn, Bella could see in the way that he held his shoulders that he was immensely proud to be standing at Edward's side. Both of them were dressed in gray dress pants and white dress shirts, looking devastatingly handsome.

Carlisle was standing on Edward's other side, a giant smile on his face as he watched her process towards her fiancé. Apparently he had been ordained as a wedding officiant for his brother's second wedding ten years ago – bit of a stretch but it counted in the eyes of the law.

As Bella locked eyes with the great love of her life, she was overwhelmed with the greatest feeling of happiness she had ever felt. In that second she realized how painfully beautiful life was, giving her a moment in which the joy she felt took her breath away.

By the time she and Paxton had reached the end of the aisle, her breathing still hadn't quite leveled out. Paxton hung tightly onto her hand, unsure quite what to do. Bella gave him a gentle squeeze and was about to bend down and hug him when Edward moved instead.

Edward squatted down so that he was eye level with Paxton.

"Thank you," he told him with the gentle intensity in which he was adapting to fatherhood.

Edward opened his arms up ever so slightly to the little boy, and that was all of the invitation he needed. Paxton put his little arms around Edward and smiled into his chest as the man gave him a gentle squeeze.

There was not a single doubt remaining from Bella's family about Edward. Or a single dry eye.

Edward eventually released Paxton and stood up to take Bella's hands into his own, Rosalie grabbing her bouquet out of her hands for her. Paxton went to stand happily by his older brother, holding his hand out. Nathaniel didn't take his serious gaze off of Bella and Edward, but Bella smiled as she saw him take his younger brother's hand.

Carlisle spoke but Bella couldn't remember what he said to save her life. She was caught up in looking into Edward's eyes that shined with the same happiness she felt. She only vaguely registered that Carlisle had told Edward to repeat after him.

Edward, being Edward, had shook his head, causing Carlisle to pause as Edward began to recite the vows from memory, that devastating crooked smile on his face as he spoke tenderly to her.

Nathaniel handed a ring to Edward, a small smile spreading onto his usually serious face and Edward began to slide it onto her finger while he spoke.

"I take you, Swan, to be my wife from this day forward, to join with you and share all that is come in this life. I pledge my love, devotion, faith, and honor and I promise to live in truth with you until death parts us."

Bella had teared up the second he called her Swan and hadn't been able to stop the tears from falling as her heart threatened to burst of joy. When she looked down, she recognized the ring from the store in Paris all that time ago.

As she looked at him, she realized he had had it all this time.

They hadn't planned on making their own vows, but Carlisle just gave her a grin as Nathaniel handed her the other ring. Bella wiped away a tear and took the ring, leaning down and placing a kiss on Nathaniel's cheek and whispering, "Thank you."

Edward was waiting with a smile as Bella began to speak, sliding the ring onto his finger.

"I take you, Edward, to be my husband and partner for life. I give you my hand and my heart as a sanctuary of warmth and peace from this day forward. I pledge faith and honor, and my love, and my devotion and promise to live in truth with you until death do us part."

~O~

The reception that followed was truly a celebration of the family Edward and Bella had built.

As the sun went down over the highlands, all of the dozens of candles surrounding the area had been lit and there was a mix of American and traditional Malawi music playing. The women and children from EHB were trying to teach members of Bella's family their dances, much to latter group's utter delight. Everyone was laughing and smiling and it was all of the happiness that they could ever want to be surrounded by.

Bella had slipped away when she finally got a moment to herself, walking to the perimeter of the celebration and taking it all in for just a second.

Nathaniel and Esme were on the dance floor and Esme was beaming as she taught him a two-step dance. Nathaniel was listening intently and following her instructions, occasionally stumbling here and there but usually looking up and giving Esme small smiles at whatever she was saying.

Paxton was on Emmett's shoulders, resting his hands on the top of Emmett's head as the burly man would suddenly drop low into a squat, sending Pax into a fit of giggles at the sudden rush. Rosalie was standing nearby, laughing but also ready to catch the little boy if something went awry. But it would be unnecessary. Bella trusted Emmett with her son's life.

Her son.

She had two beautiful sons.

And an extraordinary husband.

"Hiding from the festivities, Swan?"

Bella looked over as Edward approached her, a few buttons of the shirt undone and an easiness about him that might be at the heart of her happiness. Since Bella first found out about Edward, his wellbeing and his happiness had become inexplicably tied to her own – they were and always had been so entwined that she could not distinguish his from hers if she tried.

"Just for a moment," she replied with a teasing smile.

Edward leaned over to kiss her temple sweetly, handing her one of the two flutes of champaign in his hands. Bella hesitantly took it and they both looked out at the celebration in front of them.

"I do believe our boys will be spoiled by that family of yours," Edward commented neutrally, watching as Emmett playfully and carefully pretended to toss Paxton to Jasper while Alice patiently waited her turn to dance with Nathaniel.

"Perhaps," Bella agreed with a grin, still ecstatic at the reality that they had children.

"However, I don't believe I would want it any other way."

At gravity of his words, Bella looked at him with a soft smile.

Truly, he was extraordinary.

After everything that he had been through, the abuse he had received from crime bosses, regular bosses, and coworkers galore, he had not allowed it to define him or permanently harden his heart. He had found the grace to forgive it all and move forward.

She was so unimaginably proud of him.

"I want them to have the world," Edward murmured seriously. "And that includes having the family that I never did. They want to be there for them and I want them there for them."

Bella nodded, watching her family interact with her boys.

"Nathaniel asked me how long it would be until we went to America," she commented absentmindedly.

Edward nodded.

"I cancelled our flights to Liberia earlier this week," he told her. "Now that our priorities have shifted."

As he said "priorities," he got that crooked smile on his face. Bella grinned back. In response, Edward clinked her glass with his own and then raised the flute to his lips. He lowered it when Bella didn't follow the motion.

"What's wrong?" he asked as she fiddled with the glass.

"Well. Speaking of priorities…" she trailed off.

Edward's eyes widened.

"Swan, what are you-"

Bella let a smile spread across her face that was half nervous and half amused.

"I have this feeling…that I think, I just know, I'm pregnant."

Because of course she was.

But she was as sure of it as if God himself had told her.

A hesitant and amused smile began to spread over Edward's face. Fate had had it out for him for as long as he could remember. It seemed She was making up for all of the shit She had dealt him in the biggest way possible.

"You're pregnant?" he asked again, running his hand through his hair with that same crooked smile growing larger on his face.

Bella laughed. "I haven't gone to the doctor yet, but Edward, I can't really explain it but I just know-"

Edward let out a chuckle of his own and then pulled her into his arms, silencing her with a kiss, filled with love, adoration and all of the wonderful things he felt about her.

Bella kissed him back, her heart singing at the happiness they had so fiercely and determinedly carved out for themselves, a happiness that made everything they had gone through along the way worth it.

"Swan, I think it's time we go home."

thank you, thank you, thank you. this has been so much fun and your support honestly means the world.

if the year is 2019 or 2020 and you're reading this - know that your support is as appreciated and if you enjoyed this tale, I would be thrilled to hear about.

with the close of one comes the start of another. the prologue for my new story "The Whisky Distiller's Wife," has just been posted and I love if you joined me in that journey.

all my best always,

carm.