Epilogue

Fourteen years later.

I caught the attention of the waiter that was currently darting past me, trying to keep all the empty champagne flutes on his tray upright.

"Alfred can you get those kids away from the cupcakes please. They're not even eating them anymore, now they're just smashing them against their own faces and it's starting to disturb me." I whispered to him.

"Right away Mrs.Knight." He replied, respectfully bowing his head before making his way over to them.

"How's my angel doing?" A deep husky voice asked from behind, warm breath blowing a few silky strands of my hair into view.

"Where were you?" I asked whirling around to look at Alaricus. His eyes widened as he realized he was in trouble and he rubbed the back of his head as he looked anywhere but straight into my eyes, struggling to come up with a good excuse. You could live for centuries, but still not be able to successfully lie to your wife.

"J-just around." He stuttered failing miserably at sounding casual.

"You got them a bouncy castle didn't you?" I asked, shaking my head when all I got in response was a sheepish grin.

"They really wanted one, and I've never been in one before." Alaricus whined, pouting adorably to convince me.

"Wait, not only were my children in there but my husband was in there too?" I asked sharply and his eyes widened to the size of saucers as he shook his head rapidly. The uneven weight distribution just made it more dangerous.

"I'm sorry, you know I can't say no to her, her birthday is next month." Alaricus argued as though that validated him allowing our children to get into a death trap. The amount of legs those things have broken is ridiculous, children were too fragile for that death contraption.

"That does not make it okay, but come midnight if I can get a turn, then I might think of forgiving you." I said making a huge grin spread across his face and he leaned forward to peck my lips.

"That's my wife." He mumbled against my lips. A little body crashed into my legs, and I looked down to see the chocolate coloured hair of my son. His little arms wrapped tightly around my legs as he buried his face into the soft material of my dress. I ran my fingers through the messy array of waves on his head, causing him to look up with a smile spread on his round face. He looked so cute in his little black tuxedo, I could just eat him up.

I bent down and he let me go, pressing a deep kiss to his chubby cheek. Milo wrinkled his adorable little nose as he tried to wipe my lipstick smudge off of his face, glaring at me with chocolate eyes identical to mine.

"What's my little prince been upto?" I asked, smiling as I saw his eyes light up.

"Look momma I picked you some flowers." Milo said bouncing as he pointed towards the gifts table. A little bouquet of light purple coloured tulips was tied up with a pretty white ribbon and placed right on top of the gift I had gotten Alaricus.

"Happy anniversary momma." My son said, beaming up at me with his big eyes and my heart swelled up to double its size in my chest at the sight.

"Thank you baby, those are the prettiest flowers I've ever seen." I cooed, making his smile grow brighter and his cheeks to redden, a dimple identical to Alaricus' becoming prominent in his cheek. Looking up to meet Alaricus' eyes I saw him looking at us, his eyes having softened to the point where they looked like melted pools of honey.

"Where's your sister?" I asked my five year old, and he shrugged his petite shoulders, making the little black bow atop his dress shirt become crooked. I fixed that for him and he whispered a shy thank you. I could quite literally watch my son just be cute for the rest of eternity.

I looked around, hoping to catch sight of my daughter amongst all the guests we had invited. Normally anniversaries and birthdays were something Alaricus and I liked to celebrate with just our family, but since we had gone to countless celebrations at various alphas' homes, we had decided to get them all together in the palace under the excuse of our anniversary. Alaricus and I had celebrated by ourselves when the clock had struck midnight last night, leaving the kids with a babysitter while we went out for the night.

While little Milo was just like me, very mellow and into quiet activities, my daughter was like Alaricus. So I could not say I was surprised when I saw her threatening a terrified looking teen boy. She had definitely gotten the alpha gene from Alaricus, and his temper. But just like my husband, my little girl had the sweetest soft side reserved only for family. I also never had to worry about Milo in school that way, she always protected him from any of the kids that decided to make fun of him because he was not into sports like the other boys, but enjoyed drawing and playing house.

"Lilium." Alaricus called and she was immediately broken out of her anger fit. She looked around the hall, her big honey coloured eyes darting all around until they settled on us. She hitched up the skirts of her already knee high dress and ran over to us, hitting straight into her father's legs. We still needed to work on her stopping while running, she ran too fast and then was not able to stop. He swung her up into his arms.

"How's my little warrior?" Alaricus cooed, gently squeezing her cheek.

"I'm good daddy, that stupid boy was trying to unwrap the gifts." She said, craning her neck to look for him, but the boy was lucky enough to have escaped. We had decided to name her after Alaricus' beloved little sister. Unlike what Alaricus had told me of his sister, to be very gentle and fragile, our Lilium was truly a little warrior, strong and protective.

I was in my third trimester when I had thought of the name, and I still remember my husband tearing up when I had told him. It had been the most beautiful thing when she was born and he had cradled our beautiful little baby-girl in his arms, whispering Lilium to her with tears pouring down his smiling face. I had already been crying cause of the pain but then I was outright sobbing after seeing that display.

"Happy anniversary momma and daddy." She said looking between the both of us with a heart-melting smile on her beautiful little face.

"Thank you baby." We said simultaneously going in to kiss her still chubby cheeks. She was turning nine next month, and although I could see she would have a thinner jaw like Alaricus she thankfully still was yet to loose her chubby baby cheeks.

Alaricus put her down and she came over to me, absentmindedly playing with the bottom tendrils of my hair. She had long black silky straight hair, that Alaricus absolutely did not want us cutting except for getting her regular trims. He told her she had hair like her grandmother's and she too didn't want to cut it off then. It looked quite beautiful to be honest, and if she liked it long than how could I ever have it cut?

Lilium was beautiful, tan skin like Alaricus, with his eye colour, except hers didn't have the gold flecks in them since she was human. Our curse, thankfully had not passed down to our children. Since it was not a genetic thing the way it was for most werewolves, it didn't pass down from parents to child. I sadly hadn't gotten a wolf when we had first made love when I was 21, having completely accepted him, but yet I got only the eternity part of his curse, I guess Eros was only Alaricus'.

It was heartbreaking that our children would not live for eternity with us, but they would have long-lasting human lives. We would make sure of that. In a way, I was happy for them, Alaricus and I had each other, if they lived eternally my little munchkins would have to endure the pain of losing the love of their lives. As much as I wanted them around for eternity, it really was a curse. Had it not been for Alaricus, I would never choose this for myself. The both of us had been devastated for weeks when Lilium was born and we realized her genes weren't altered the way the curse had done ours, but eventually we had come to terms with it. I would much rather face the pain of living without them then see my children lose their soul-mates and have to live their eternal lives with that pain.

"I'm hungry." Lilium said, and Alaricus grabbed her small hand, tugging her towards him gently.

"Lets get some food in that little monster belly." Alaricus said, tickling her tummy making her giggle loudly. There was just something about your child's laugh, you could never get tired of hearing it. Milo and Lilium's laughs were my favourite sounds in the world.

"You hungry my little prince?" Alaricus asked Milo, crouching down to his height, but Milo shook his head. Alaricus pressed a kiss to Milo's soft cheek, smiling warmly at me before the father and daughter were off. Both my children had inherited my sweet-tooth, and judging by his purple tongue, Milo had found the cupcakes.

"Bring us macaroons." I called after the father and daughter, they both turned around giving me a thumbs-up each making little Milo giggle.

"How many cupcakes has my Milo monster had?" I asked him, crouching to be level with him. His eyes widened in response, and just like his father he looked everywhere but me as he held up three little fingers. I raised a brow at him and magically two more fingers went up as he hung his head in shame. I had to smother my grin, it actually took a lot of effort to keep a straight face when scolding children. The reason for their scolding was either hilarious or adorable. There were sometimes when you had to grit your teeth so hard to keep from yelling that if you didn't take good care of your teeth, they'd pop right out of your gums, but luckily those were few and far between.

"It's okay only for today, but tomorrow you are having fruit instead of dessert." I tell Milo and he pouts but nods his head. Both my children had yet to break my record of cupcakes eaten in one sitting, a number I would never disclose in the presence of an adult other than Alaricus. Knowing him he'd probably try to beat my record.

"Can I get you anything your majesty?" A male voice said and I tensed, a bit startled having been lost in my own thoughts. Before I could reply I heard the weirdest little sound come from my son, and I frowned wondering if the cupcakes had somehow broken my son. It was what I imagined what the sound of a kitten stuck in a car's engine would sound like. The poor waiter looked just as startled as I was, and I leaned down to look at my son, my eyes widening as I realized what that was.

Judging by the way his little button nose was scrunched up, the rosy-cheeked cherub had just attempted to growl at the waiter. He was standing in front of me protectively in all his 3.5 foot glory. I was going to murder Alaricus.

"I'm alright Anthony. Thank you and I'm really sorry about Milo. Milo apologize." I commanded my son and he mumbled a tense apology, the poor confused waiter just nodded, scurrying away mumbling to himself, nearly bumping into a table in his hurry.

"Did daddy put you up to this?" I asked and Milo shook his head, not making eye contact again.

"We both know that's not true Milo, now I am going to wait until you tell me what's really going on. That was very rude of you, you should not be disrespecting anyone, I know my Milo knows better than that." I said to him, my heart melting as he looked up at me with his lips in a trembling pout, and his big eyes shiny with tears.

"I'm sorry momma." He said to me, his little body jolting with a hiccup.

"Daddy said Lilium and I have to protect momma when he's not there. Momma is very beautiful so bad men will come and try to talk to you." Milo admitted to me.

"I'm going to have a talk with your father, I'm not mad at you baby, don't be upset little one. It's just never okay to be mean to anyone, unless they're mean to you first." I said and his face brightened a bit upon hearing I wasn't mad at him.

"Then we kick their butt." Milo said and I giggled but nodded, getting down on my knees to brush my nose affectionately against my son's.

"Hi Amara, happy anniversary." A soft voice said from behind me, and I got up off my knees, turning around to see Evangeline.

As I had predicted when she was born, baby Evangeline was growing up to be a stunner. Both siblings were truly. Her dark brown hair came up to under her shoulders and framed her rounded face beautifully. She still had the big baby eyes thing going on and it made her look adorable. She just had an air of innocence around her that made everyone adore her.

"Hi honey, thanks for coming." I said to her, pulling her in for a hug. She was already an inch taller than me sadly, but having been there when she was born, she would always be a baby to me.

"How's Li Hua doing?" I asked her teasingly making her cheeks turn pink. Evangeline was just the cutest thing in the world. It had been just a few weeks ago when she had accidentally come out to Alaricus as a lesbian. She had been there to drop some file her forgetful parents had left at their house, since they had moved out of the palace years ago, and were now both royal advisors.

Evangeline had run into Alaricus in the halls, and while they were talking she had just blurted it out. I guess it had been hard to keep it bottled up. Safe to say Alaricus was surprised. But centuries of living did you well in situations like that. After his first stupid attempt at humor by saying how he had only asked if she was enjoying the weather, when she had begun to tear up he had recovered immediately and told her that it really didn't matter what gender she was attracted to. We had all found out that day and well most of the day had been spent comforting her and relaxing her after the huge step she had taken by coming out. Luckily there wasn't a anyone who she had told that had a negative response, it broke my heart when people did that.

"Hello Frank, hey Victoria." I said as they finally managed to find us, but I refrained from hugging either of them as the both of them had a horrible cold, and were probably only here to make an appearance.

"Happy anniversary." The couple said to me, both sounding nasally. I thanked them and directed them towards where the soups were with the appetizers so they could at the very least have something to eat before going home to rest. I had to remember to tell Evangeline to take soup with her when she was leaving, just so neither of her sick parents would have have to worry about cooking, and we would have so much leftover anyway. Evangeline was busy playing with Milo when I finally saw him.

"Happy anniversary Mari." Adrian said to me and I wrapped my arms around his lanky form, pulling him in for a tight hug. With his bright blue eyes and messy curly hair Adrian was very handsome. He wasn't much of a player, but like many 21 year olds, he was just kind of dating casually for now.

"Thank you munchkin." I said knowing full well that he did not want me calling him now that he was an adult. He would always be the chubby cheeked cuddly five year old to me. He gave me a flat look which I returned with a toothy smile.

"How is Li Hua?" I asked turning back to Evangeline as I heard her giggle at her brother and I's exchange.

"She's doing well, she's really happy I came out so she doesn't have to pretend to just be my friend anymore." Evangeline admitted and I cooed at her reddening cheeks at the mention of her girlfriend, looking at Adrian from the corner of my eye to see him smiling warmly at his sister. He had been quite offended she hadn't told him first, but since he practically worshiped Alaricus he was easy to pacify.

"Adrian, Evangeline." Alaricus greeted and they both immediately went to greet him. Evangeline with a hug, and Adrian the respectful handshake as always. Alaricus had even asked them to call him by his first name but the siblings refused, as did their parents. They had known me since before I was the queen, so as soon as they had started the your majesty nonsense with me I had put a stop to it immediately. They were practically family.

Alaricus and Evangeline chatted quietly amongst each other as Adrian played with Milo and Lilium, wrestling with them playfully. Milo wasn't very violent until you got him very mad, then like me his dark side came out, even then I doubt my son could hurt a fly. He'd freaked out his kindergarten teacher though by saying he hoped she choked on one of her salted peanuts and fell asleep forever when she had accidentally ruined his family picture that he kept in his class cubby. Alaricus and I had to visit the school due to that. Unfortunately Alaricus thought it was hilarious at first, only because he realized Milo had inherited my twisted side, but we had had about as sound a conversation you could have with a five year-old about death threats as we could when we got home.

"You two must be hungry, please go help yourselves to some snacks, I'm afraid you all missed dinner, but I'll have someone serve you as soon as you're seated." I told the siblings when Alaricus and Evangeline looked about done with their conversation, and Milo had bitten Adrian's ear. His teacher had told them about how her bunny had bitten her, and since then when trying to win a fight, Milo now bit people. I really had to put a stop to that.

"Dinner sounds good." Adrian said, wrapping his arm around his sister's shoulders he led her to where their parents were seated. A server had already made their way over to the table.

"Momma will you tie my hair?" Lilium asked and I smiled nodding as she turned to face away from me. Pulling her hair back I ran my fingers through it to smooth it out before tying it loosely as a high ponytail. A few strands escaped and I couldn't help myself as I leaned down pressing a kiss to her nose as she turned to look at me. My daughter was so cute in her yellow dress my heart was going to explode. She wrinkled her little nose, a habit Alaricus was ecstatic my kids had inherited from me.

"Thank you." She said brightly, before hiking up her dress and running off to god knows where to play with her friends.

"Alaricus would you like to explain to me why our five year-old just growled at a waiter?" I asked him pleasantly, internally gloating as I watched his face turn pale. He glanced down at Milo who twisted up his face apologetically. They stared at one another wide-eyed for a moment, both seeming quite stumped as to how to handle me.

"I'm going to start off by saying how sorry I am." Alaricus said, discreetly sliding Milo to stand between us, probably in the hopes that he wouldn't be physically harmed if he used the munchkin as a shield. I crossed my arms over my chest, looking at him expectantly.

"It was an impulsive move after seeing that pup flirt with you a few months ago. It was very wrong I admit, and I promise to have a talk with Milo and Lilium to clear this misunderstanding up. I'd also like to take a moment now to say how thankful I am that you are such a sweet-tempered angel." A few months ago, Alpha Kuzuki had brought his son to a meeting and he, never having met Alaricus or I before, had no idea I was Alaricus' mate and hit on me. Of course Sire Pouty was infuriated and sent poor Haru very dark looks for the rest of the night despite the fact that Haru had apologized numerous times to the both of us.

"I'm letting this go because it's our anniversary, and I really like you in that colour." I said unable to stop my eyes from trailing down to the maroon dress shirt that he wore, having taken off his jacket earlier during the night.

"Your daughter looks like a female version of the alpha king, which is surprisingly cute." A husky feminine voice said, effectively distracting me from eying up my husband and I turned around to see Nicole. She looked absolutely breathtaking in a fitted silver shimmery dress with a side slit that exposed her toned tan legs.

"Alaricus is adorable." I argued and she raised a brow at me not looking convinced at all. I suppressed my smile as I saw Alaricus whisper adorable to himself with a cute little smirk on his handsome face.

"I wish you had gotten the chance to say hi to Lilium, you're basically her idol." I told Nicole and a soft smile spread across her face.

"Well she's basically exactly how my kid would be if I had one, so I'll make sure to hunt her down before the party is over." Nicole said, greeting Alaricus respectfully as she noticed him playing with Milo near us. Her dark eyes lit up as she caught sight of Milo who was now in his father's arms, and hiding his face into his father's chest. I grabbed a macaroon from the assortment of flavors Alaricus had brought back, pleasantly surprised to find it was matcha green tea flavored.

"Hi Milo." Nicole said, trying to make her voice sound a little less deep to sound less serious than she normally did, it didn't work very well though sadly.

"Say hi Milo." Alaricus cooed, bouncing our son in his arms comfortingly. Milo finally peeked his face out from his father's chest to get a good look at Nicole. His cheeks reddened as he noticed she was staring right back at him. Milo mumbled a quiet hi while looking at her from beneath his long lashes, and in that moment all three of us wanted to eat his face because he was unbearably cute.

Nicole lunged forward, using her warrior like reflexes to peck him on his cheek. Before he could even figure out what had happened, she was standing upright next to me again. Alaricus' hand was mid-air seeming as though he had caught himself right in the middle of the act of protecting his youngest by pushing her away, but luckily he had been able to stop himself before he hurt her. Eros was really starting to come to surface, there was only a week to the full moon, which meant his primal instincts were very strong. As playful as Eros was with our children, he was fiercely protective of them, even more so than Alaricus.

I gave Nicole a chastisizing glare as Milo buried himself into his father's arms, gripping tightly onto Alaricus' collar to hide his most likely flaming red cheeks.

"I couldn't help myself." She said shrugging and I shook my head at her.

"Ibrahim sends his best wishes. His wife is due to deliver the baby at the end of this week so they couldn't drive out, but he wanted me to tell you happy anniversary, and he got you guys one of those cameras that prints immediately." Nicole told the both of us.

"That's wonderful. Tell him we love the gift, it was very thoughtful of him to get us a Polaroid, and that we wish Lolita all the best on the delivery." I answered on behalf of Alaricus as well, as he was too busy cooing comfortingly at Milo to have heard what Nicole had said. She nodded before telling me she was off to search for Lilium and to get some food, being hungry from her long journey.

"You're welcome to stay the night if you don't feel up to driving by the end of it." I called after her, she was probably going to be drinking and pack warrior or not, drunk driving was not a good idea for anyone. She nodded to me before casting one last glance at Milo who was giggling away merrily at something Alaricus had said before she was off.

"What are my favourite boys up to?" I asked and Milo was actually turning red in the face trying not to tell me what was going on, but he would keep his promise to his daddy. I sent a curious glance towards Alaricus and he shrugged his shoulders suspiciously innocently.

"You'll see." Alaricus mouthed to me smirking, his right eye dropping into a wink that had my brows raising. It was probably to do with what he had gotten me for our anniversary, but this year my gift was pretty spectacular too. Alaricus was admittedly quite good at gift giving and it always kept me on my toes because I was basically horrible, but luckily with Alaricus as long as the gift was one that showed you had put a lot of thought into it, he was happy. He also wasn't used to receiving gifts, so he had little else to compare mine too, but that just made me want to make his gifts even more special. He deserved only the best.

"Can we open gifts now momma?" Milo asked excitedly earning himself a big grin from Alaricus.

"Of course." I answered, cocking my head towards the gift table to get them to follow me. People began to gather as they noticed us standing around the gifts now, to see either what gifts we received or our reactions to the gifts they got us.

Lilium was by my side as I picked up the first one, which was from one of the northern alphas and turned out to be a toaster, a newer edition of the one he had gotten Alaricus and I for our wedding if I remembered correctly. I was starting to think he really didn't like us.

As we went through the pile we ended up with a few far too expensive to be appropriate accessories, some home decor and surprisingly enough an air conditioning system, although the palace had a central system. We thanked them all all the same.

"Do you think we can sneak off now?" Alaricus whispered, and I scoped the great hall, those of drinking age were either too drunk to notice, or too immersed into their own conversations. The younger ones were either playing, and the horny alpha teens were flirting with each other.

"Now's good." I said to him, quickly grabbing my gift and following Alaricus to the exit who was carrying a sugar crazed Milo in one arm and a prettily wrapped gift box in the other. I grabbed Lilium's soft hand in mine, pulling her along with me.

My breath hitched as I heard someone call out to Alaricus but as I glanced back, the poor sick couple, Frank and Victoria were distracting the female Alpha. We quickened our pace, keeping our heads down as we practically sprinted through the hall. Lilium and I unable to contain our laughter at the way Alaricus was trying to keep upright an energetic Milo while holding onto the gift and clearing our path of drunk dancers that had strayed from the dance floor.

As we made it out of the grand hall and near the staircase, Alaricus put Milo down as we all raced towards the library, Alaricus and I purposely going the slowest in the stairs in case Milo or Lilium were to slip. With that much sugar it was useless to try to reinforce the no running in the house rule, I felt like doing laps around the house myself, who was I to stop them?

Milo burst through the doors of the library, holding them open for the rest of us, and I ruffled his hair as I walked through, hearing it shut as Alaricus came in. We spent a moment simply trying to catch our breaths. The kids and I on our knees panting while Alaricus got the fire going.

We made our way to the fireplace, settling down on the cushions in front of it, all snuggled up, Alaricus and I sitting facing one another while the kids sat snuggled into our sides.

Alaricus passed me my gift first, and I smiled taking the surprisingly light box from him. I sent him a curious glance as I felt the gift rattle around inside. I hoped to god he had not gotten me a bird and then put it in a box, since the box did not have any holes. If he did, he would be gifting me a dead bird. Not exactly my idea of romantic.

Undoing the bow on top of the box, I reached within it, half expecting to feel a small, still, furry body, so I was quite pleasantly surprised when all I felt was a paper package. I pulled it out, my breath hitching as I saw the bright blue stamp. The bright blue stamp of the Freelands.

Tears sprung to my eyes as I looked up to meet Alaricus' gaze. He gave me a small smile, nodding his head encouragingly towards the envelope. My hands were trembling as I tried to pull it open, a tear dropping down to my cheek.

"Whats wrong momma?" Both my kids asked, both of them on their knees trying to get a better look at my face.

"Your mom is fine, would you two give momma and daddy a second? Why don't the both of you go pick out a few books, we'll read them to you before bed." Alaricus said, and neither of the kids look anywhere convinced but trusting their father to take care of me, Lilium grabbed her brother's hand, leading him to the children's book collection we had acquired over the years.

Alaricus shuffled closer to me, gently resting his hand over mine and pulled the package away from me. He tore it open from the top cleanly, then passed it back to me, rubbing circles into my back gently.

I pulled out the letter they had written, a few photos falling out. Picking it up, a huge smile came to my face as I saw my parents. They both looked a bit older obviously, but they looked glowingly happy. My dad had his arm around my mother's shoulders and they both were smiling hugely at the camera. In the one behind it my mom was laughing at something my dad had said, and in the last she looked as though she was scolding him, clearly well deserved as he was wearing that guilty but amused smile of his.

I unfolded the letter, skimming through it. They were doing well, and they missed me and of course were very sad that they hadn't been at my wedding or to see my children when they had been born. They were both working as tellers at their local bank, and had never been happier.

"You sent them pictures of the kids?" I asked Alaricus turning to look at him.

"I found those letters that you wrote, the one at our wedding, then when you got pregnant with Lilium and then Milo, but never told me about. I sent them along with some pictures of you three just going about your normal routine." Alaricus said, and I turned around wrapping my arms around his waist as I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck.

"You are the best thing to happen to me." I whispered to him and he smiled leaning down to press his lips to mine. I kissed him back slowly, the lingering taste of the macaroon he had had with his natural taste had my mind reeling. I pulled away from his lips, my eyes dropping to his lips that looked even more red, but I really did not want to start a make-out session with our children in the same room.

"Your turn." I whispered. Reaching back I grabbed the gift, putting it into his lap. He ripped off the red wrapping paper I had wrapped it in, and my heart began to pound in my chest. I wasn't even sure if this was authentic, but I hoped with all my heart it was.

His jaw seemed to slacken as he uncovered the painting. His eyes trailed over it disbelievingly before rising to meet mine. His honey eyes glossed over with unshed tears. He raised it up to get a better look at it. The painting was of a woman with black glossy hair that fell to her slender waist, long almond shaped onyx eyes, surrounded by thick long lashes much like Alaricus'. Thin but red lips and a slender nose, her tan skin seemed to glow even in the painting. She was breathtaking, I couldn't even imagine how beautiful she must have been in real life. Her thin figure adorned with a long shimmery looking black skirt and thin white shirt with long sleeves.

"How did you get this?" Alaricus asked, his voice trembling as he looked down at the portrait of his mother.

"It took a lot of research, but the king had a portrait of your mother drawn, it was nearly destroyed when I found it, but I had it restored." I told him, and he gently set it aside, tugging me into his arms. He pressed his trembling lips to my forehead in a tender kiss.

"I was beginning to forget what she looked like, I can't even begin to thank you for this." Alaricus said, grabbing my hand into his he pressed a kiss to the back of it. I cradled his cheek in my palm, leaning forward to capture the lone tear that trailed down his cheek.

"She's beautiful." I told him and he smiled, nodding, turning his head to press a kiss to my palm.

"She would have loved you, I know she would have. You're better than what she even could have wanted for me my love." Alaricus said, staring at me, his eyes warming up with the adoring way in which he was looking at me.

"Kids come here, you wanna see pictures of you grandparents?" I asked them and the both of them immediately came running towards us. They jumped onto us making us laugh. We swung them into our laps, wrapping our arms around them as we showed them the pictures my parents had sent, and the portrait of Alaricus' mother. I had wanted so badly to get a picture of Alaricus' sister, but I unfortunately couldn't find anything of her.

Milo and Lilium listened attentively as we told them stories about our parents. They soon began to yawn, crashing down from their sugar highs. We spread them out more comfortably, keeping their heads in our laps, as the both of them fell asleep. I ran my fingers through Milo's hair, looking up at Alaricus to see him already staring at me.

"First I thought you gave me the entire world when you said you loved me, then when you said yes to marrying me. Then once again when we had Lilium, and then Milo. You've given me everything I have by being with me angel. I never thought I would have a life as beautiful as this, but you made it possible. The best gift I ever got was you meum miraculum. You're my everything." Alaricus said making my eyes burn with tears again.

"I love you." I whispered to him simply in response, and his plump lips tilted into a heartwarming smile at my words.

"I love you." He replied.