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was not earth and rock, but a pile of human bodies, drained and lifeless. Too late not to see these faces. I knew them all—Angela, Ben, Jessica, Mike.… And directly beneath the adorable boy were the bodies of my father and my mother.
    The child opened his bright, bloodred eyes.

    32

    3. BIG DAY
    My own eyes flew open.
    I lay shivering and gasping in my warm bed for several minutes, trying to break free of the dream. The sky outside my window turned gray and then pale pink while I waited for my heart to slow.
    When I was fully back to the reality of my messy, familiar room, I was a little annoyed with myself. What a dream to have the night before my wedding! That’s what I got for obsessing over disturbing stories in the middle of the night.
    Eager to shake off the nightmare, I got dressed and headed down to the kitchen long before I needed to. First I cleaned the already tidy rooms, and then when Charlie was up I made him pancakes. I was much too keyed up to have any interest in eating breakfast myself—I sat bouncing in my seat while he ate.
    “You’re picking up Mr. Weber at three o’clock,” I reminded him.
    “I don’t have that much to do today besides bring the minister, Bells. I’m not likely to forget my only job.” Charlie had taken the entire day off for the wedding, and he was definitely at loose ends. Now and then, his eyes flickered furtively to the closet under the stairs, where he kept his fishing gear.
    “That’s not your only job. You also have to be dressed and presentable.”
    He scowled into his cereal bowl and muttered the words “monkey suit” under his breath.
    There was a brisk tapping on the front door.
    “You think you have it bad,” I said, grimacing as I rose. “Alice will be working on me all day long.”
    Charlie nodded thoughtfully, conceding that he did have the lesser ordeal. I ducked in to kiss the top of his head as I passed—he blushed and harrumph ed—and then continued on to get the door for my best girlfriend and soon-to-be sister.
    Alice’s short black hair was not in its usual spiky do—it was smoothed into sleek pin curls around her pixie face, which wore a contrastingly businesslike expression. She dragged me from the house with barely a “Hey, Charlie” called over her shoulder.
    Alice appraised me as I got into her Porsche.

    33

    “Oh, hell, look at your eyes!” She tsk ed in reproach. “What did you do ? Stay up all night?”
    “Almost.”
    She glowered. “I’ve only allotted so much time to make you stunning, Bella—you might have taken better care of my raw material.”
    “No one expects me to be stunning. I think the bigger problem is that I might fall asleep during the ceremony and not be able to say ‘I do’ at the right part, and then Edward will make his escape.”
    She laughed. “I’ll throw my bouquet at you when it gets close.”
    “Thanks.”
    “At least you’ll have plenty of time to sleep on the plane tomorrow.”
    I raised one eyebrow. Tomorrow , I mused. If we were heading out tonight after the reception, and we would still be on a plane tomorrow… well, we weren’t going to Boise, Idaho. Edward hadn’t dropped a single hint. I wasn’t too stressed about the mystery, but it was strange not knowing where I would be sleeping tomorrow night. Or hopefully not sleeping . . .
    Alice realized that she’d given something away, and she frowned.
    “You’re all packed and ready,” she said to distract me.
    It worked. “Alice, I wish you would let me pack my own things!”
    “It would have given too much away.”
    “And denied you an opportunity to shop.”
    “You’ll be my sister officially in ten short hours… it’s about time to get over this aversion to new clothes.”
    I glowered groggily out the windshield until we were almost to the house.
    “Is he back yet?” I asked.
    “Don’t worry, he’ll be there before the music starts. But you don’t get to see him, no matter when he gets back. We’re doing this the