Left with a little shock to my chest from the way up, I let out a small but happy sigh. All around me were the people I loved, minus my babies Anora and Helios. They were having their sweet bonding time, though, so I'll let them off the hook for not being able to see the beautiful scenery their fathers (or future fathers-in-law) set up.

"Well, what do you need to talk to me about, my loves?" I asked with a slight chirp to my voice. "Everything good, I presume."

"Of course!" Aro said a little too quickly. I let out an awkward laugh and let him continue. "Everything is perfect, il mio amore. Do you like the scenery?"

Aro's anxious nature isn't known to many, but he doesn't often get this rattled over my presence. The last time he did he happened to mess up big time. That was when he ruined my favorite shirt in the laundry because... well... it wasn't supposed to go into the laundry at all. But I have faith that he hasn't set up something like an elaborate apology for some unknown mishap he's played a role in. That would be silly.

"I love it, darling," I said as I kissed his cheek. "What's gotten you so worked up, Aro darling? Is the thing you need to talk about this important?"

A long paused followed my questionings. From all three of them. When I glanced over at Marcus and Caius both managed to avoid meeting my gaze with their impeccable avoidance skills fit for the kings that they are. Avoiding the question and your queen's eye? Henry VIII would be proud.

This wasn't a game I was going to play right now.

"So is the scene just a date of silence or will someone tell me what they wanted to talk to me about tonight?" I press further.

That seemed to be just enough egging on to have Caius speak up.

"We wanted to talk about the future - our future." My mate didn't look me in the eye when he spoke, eyeing the ground with a tiny smirk on his pale face. I watched as he pushed a bit of blonde hair out of his face.

Curiously I asked, "What about our future together do you want to discuss?"

My feet pipped up and I stood on my toes to be able to better see my mates' faces. I was now standing in the middle of the makeshift triangle the three of them made on accident.

"Oh, just the -" Caius stops for a second before giving a pleading look to both of his brothers. The darker haired vampires make awkward humming noises and Marcus steps further into the circle to wrap his arms around me. With a deep sigh, Caius continues with a serious but loving tone, "We wanted to know if you were happy in the castle."

The castle. I loved my life there. Able to see my family at any hour of day, spend time alone, and have a job I absolutely adore. I wouldn't change the place for the world. Didn't they know that? Had I gone in too deep with my upset over losing Maeve for that period of time, not let them know that it wasn't anything that could be fixed? She was back now and could give me ease.

No, the three of them had to know I loved being there. This was one of their attempts to ask something through a question slightly but not-so-slightly unrelated.

"Baby, I'm always happy with you three in the castle." Their faces lit up and I had to laugh. "I love everything that you've set up for me here tonight. Really, it's the most beautiful date you've managed. I'm sort of sad that I can't gorge myself on human foods like I used to be able to when you three bring me somewhere pretty. It adds to the ambiance."

"The loud noises your mouth makes when you eat will be most missed by our immortal ears," Marcus says sarcastically.

"I am not that loud. Emmett would have made an inside joke about it if I was," I defended. "But anyways, I'm happy as ever with you three. You're my mates and I love you to death. You know I've never had a true family before the one we created together. We've created something special with our bond, our child, and everyone around us. I couldn't be more in love and happy if I tried."

A hand wrapped around my waist and a head on my shoulder, I smiled. The sun was set and the various noises of the night were around. Crickets, some frogs from a lake nearby, I could even hear Helios and Anora laughing quite loudly from the beach house.

This, this, was heaven, if there is one. I'm fairly certain there isn't. Because how could anything be as beautiful as this? It can't.

I hadn't noticed that Marcus grabbed something from his right pocket. I wasn't sure that it was a phone, with it being so small. Even the old flip-phone I had was bigger than that. No, it was teenie tiny.

When I turned my head away from the trees and critters walking away from us (they're smarter than humanity gives them credit for; they run from vampires) I realized that the little object that my mate grabbed from his pants pocket was actually a box. A really pretty velvet box with diamonds covering the sides and the top. The ones at the top created an A and a V.

Was this for me? A gift?

Aro moved so I could see him as he stood. Now I realized he was wearing the suit I got him as a  New Years gift almost two years ago. It was old-fashioned, maybe 19th century, and I'd gotten it custom. He'd never worn it before now.

"Annalise Volturi." He takes in an unneeded breath and Marcus hands him the box. "I'm sorry for being weird tonight, I'll make it up to you, I promise. Caius and Marcus made me do this part because they say I'm the best at speeches. So just pretend we were able to memorize this and say it in unison: I love you. You know that. I've never met anyone who has been able to make me see sense like you have, or laugh until I'm gasping on the floor of the dining room in front of our entire coven; our family. There's no woman worthier of being a mother than you. Nevertheless, you're the center of my world. Every second with you is bliss. Being you feels like a dream."

Does this man want me to ruin the makeup I put on?

"So, tonight, under the constellations that watch from above, we ask if you would give us the honor of marrying you and making you our eternal Queen of the Volturi, of our coven and our family. Will you marry us?"

In front of me, the box opened up to reveal a beautiful ring. In the center there was a raw amethyst and around the purple gem there was a set of two raw diamonds. They were a hazy and gorgeous white. The gems were set in a rose gold setting.

My hand covered my mouth. I thought I was going to be dry sobbing with joy right in the middle of the area if I didn't. My eyes watered with venom and I nodded as fast as I could.

"Yes, yes, yes!" I managed to push out as I wrapped my arms around Aro.

They'd asked me to marry them. After three years together, three years of me being Queen. I'd met them three years ago, and now they'd be my husbands. Oh good lord, Rosie was going to lose her shit over this. I had to call her the second I got back to the house. Was she in on this? How would they know my ring size? Wait, did the three of them ask Carlisle the old fashioned way?

Oh god I have to plan a wedding.

"I love you three so much," I whimpered out. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you."

"We love you too," Aro whispered against my ear. How the hell did this man keep it together so well. I was sure if I didn't keep my arms around him I'd literally fall over and not be able to get up. "From the second we met you and until eternity ends, il mio amore. Ti amiamo con tutto il nostro cuore."

This was so much to take in. I'm eternally blessed to have statue-like men to lay on whenever my immortal emotions become too much to handle.

Like the sneaky thing he is, Caius snuck behind me and wrapped himself onto my open back, resting his head against me. 

"So are we going to figure out wedding stuff when we get back or are you going to call Rosalie Cullen and let her plan everything for us?" Aro asked.

"If you think that Renata, Heidi, and the rest of the women in the main guard plus Afton won't want their hands on the plans, you'd be a fool," Caius says. "This will be the largest event since... Well... since maybe before the majority of the current vampire population was born. The wedding will have to include the official coronation, which will draw everyone - and I mean everyone - to the castle."

Suddenly Marcus joined in, squeezing himself into the pile with me in the middle.

"We don't have to discuss this tonight, you know," my final mate reminded his brothers. "It's late, and we have to scold our children for staying up until three in the morning. I told them to be bed by at the latest midnight."

"Are they really up right now?" Aro asked. "What could they possibly be doing this late at night? Watching television?"

"You'd be surprised with what the youths do this late into the evening," Caius mutters under his breath. It earned him a disgusted look from both his brothers. He sighed. "I didn't mean it like that. You three have absolutely no faith in me sometimes. Anyways, what I meant was that some of the children have begun to use devices to play games well past their bedtimes. While Helios and Anora are old enough to be home alone by themselves, maybe they should be told that devices will be taken at midnight."

"Okay, parenting will come when they wake up," I said, feeling a little strung out from the noise. I just wanted to curl up with my fiancés and snuggle for hours. Maybe have some of that blood that tastes just like chocolate. Oh, that would be amazing right now. "Can we go back and make sure they're doing alright and then cuddle and eat whatever is left of the O positive storage?"

Aro hummed. "Absolutely, il mio amore."

---

Ahhhhhhhh! It happened. This took me so long because I was building up the courage to finally write it. Plus, I was at summer camp from July 11th to August 5th. Then when I came back I was super sick.

I still have a cough, damn it. Damn you, Arik, for bringing this plague to our cabin. Hope my camp friends don't read this far into my fanfics and see this because I know they read the beginning of Broken Memories on the bus. Send help.

I'm fine, though, and now I'm going to finally goddamn get to the middle of this book and hopefully the end soon. In a few days Broken Memories will be a year old.

EDIT: here is the ring!

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