"There is one moment I can recall that was the last time I felt that our family was safe. Some of you may remember. It was this summer. Only mere months before today, but it was such a wonderful time.
As night came upon us and my family began to wake, we found ourselves in the garden so that the boys could get some energy out. Rosetta and I sat on the stone bench that rested near the pond, watching as the children ran to their heart's content.
Together, they giggled while they ran, jumped, and twirled around as best they could. Each was trying to outdo the other, their bursts of energy having no clear end in sight.
'Look what I can do!' Leo grinned as he attempted to do a roll upon the ground. He was able to flip himself over, but fell in a way he hadn't expected. He was quick to look around, to make sure no one had seen him slip up. Judging by the smirk on Alistair's face, he had noticed.
Alistair was quick to stand and try it himself as he saw the new challenge present itself. Though, his roll was nearly identical to Leo's. 'Mine was better!' He taunted.
'No it wasn't! Mine was!' Leo argued, crossing his arms over his chest. They both looked in Caelum's direction for the deciding factor, but their infant brother only grinned at them while he clapped his hands together.
I never had any siblings, so I'm not sure what a normal relationship between brothers and sisters should look like. Yet, as I gazed upon my boys, I was rest assured knowing that they would always have each other. Their playful bickering was music to my ears. It told me that Rosetta and I were doing alright with raising them. To think when we had our first that I was so worked up about doing good and about not messing up. I didn't stop to think about worse things that could happen, things like this.
I never thought I would have to do it on my own.
'I think you both did a wonderful job,' Rosetta's soothing voice wrapped around my heart as she addressed our children. She relaxed into my arm that was wrapped around her, resting her head upon my shoulder. She placed her hand on my knee, subconsciously tapping a rhythm that only she knew.
I rested my head upon hers. 'It's incredible,' I whispered as I watched Leo and Alistair begin to make up, instead helping the other on how to do a better roll. I couldn't help but wonder the kind of people that our boys would grow up to be. I hoped that above all, that they would know the importance of love and family.
'What is?' She didn't move her head as she replied. Instead, she smiled. Rosetta was entirely focused upon the boys. It was rare she ever took her eyes off of them.
I tried to think of the best way to explain it to her. There were so many ways to word it.
Our world had become something out of the purest of fairy tales. I had been her knight in shining armor, though she had been mine as well. I had seen her start as a timid young lady barely of adult age that cowered beneath her father's hand to a brilliant woman that spoke her mind clearly and had learned to refuse to back down. I had witnessed the uncertainty she had been surrounded with when we first had Alistair, to the confidence in her ability as a mother that had developed before we had Leo.
Rosetta had seen me go from the son of a Count that wasn't sure he could handle the responsibilities his father left him, to a man that had endured the suffering of a great transformation and worked with ease as Count. I had become a better father than I had ever hoped to be and I felt secure. I knew that nothing could take my family away from me. I could protect them all.
'This life we've created for ourselves. Rosetta, when we first were wed did you suspect anything like this?' I smiled as I motioned with my head to the boys as they moved on from rolling around. They were now trying to see who could run around the pond the quickest.
Rosetta broke her gaze away from the boys, starting to grin as she looked up at me. I didn't need words to know that she understood.
'When we first met, I had thought my life wouldn't change and that having you around wouldn't be anything big. But this?' I refocused on the children as they began to run out of sight. 'We've created a family, Rosetta. We've overcome illnesses, this curse, threats, and any other obstacle life has thrown our way. Despite it all, we're still happy.' I turned my attention back to her. The boys knew their rules. I could trust them. I brought her delicate fingers to my face, kissing along her fingertips.
'I couldn't have done any of it without you, Vladimir.' Even after all the years, my heart still grew warm as she said my name. It was a feeling I could never forget. 'You've brought out the parts of me that I never knew existed. You've helped me become the person I was always meant to be.' Rosetta didn't need to clarify for me to understand what she meant.
Her father had forced every part of her down until she was the perfect of a princess in his eyes. He had kept her locked in a tiny box and had broken her down each time she had tried to escape.
'I only took away the fear, my love. You did the rest by yourself. You've become such a strong woman, an outstanding wife, and such an amazing mother. I wouldn't want my life to be any different.' I spoke honestly, leaning down and pressing my forehead against hers. It was a moment I'll remember until the end of my days.
Her smile remained.
Given that the boys were around the corner, I leaned down to kiss her. It always felt the same, but not in a way that made a person grow bored, but instead a way that reminded me of the first time we had kissed. I thought of our wedding, how great it had been to go against Henry's direct wishes. I hope she thought the same.
'Ew!' Caelum's giggles broke the silence we had been enjoying. He covered his eyes and turned away, quickly followed by his older brothers.
'Do you really have to do that out here?' Alistair groaned as he peeked over his shoulder, opening his fingers just enough to see us through them.
I laughed as I stood, pulling away from my beloved, and approached them. 'Oh, hush.' I couldn't want to be able to tease them when they all had spouses of their own. I made a note to myself to treat them almost the same as they treated Rosetta and I. Treating them exactly like they treated us wouldn't have been fair. It would have been too much.
Before I could reach the boys, they all squealed and ran away again. I shrugged it off, wanting a quiet moment with Rosetta. I went back to her, reaching my hand down to her. I grinned as I started to bow. 'My lady, might I have this dance?' There was no music playing, but I could fix that.
Rosetta laughed, smoothing out her skirts. 'Vladimir, there's no music,' she protested. If she were still human, her cheeks would have flushed red and her heart would have started to race. I would have been lying if I said I didn't miss the human reactions she'd have.
'So?' I shrugged it off, further extending my hand.
She rolled her eyes in a manner that drove me crazy, then placed her hand into mine. 'I would be honored.'
Carefully, I pulled her off the bench and brought her against my chest. I held one of her hands tightly in my own, the other resting on her waist. I led her in a gentle sway, humming the tune of a song we had danced to many years before. It was from the night of my Count ceremony. I felt her smile against my chest and knew she remembered that night.
While the ceremony had been tense and had caused so much anxiety within me, it was also a night of firsts between us. It was the night I realized what it really was like to love someone so intensely; so purely.
It was the night I realized just how much I adored Rosetta.
'Rosetta?' I whispered as I kissed the top of her head. The world around us had long blurred away as it had when we had first fallen in love. In that moment, all I knew was Rosetta's name and all I could see was her. 'I'm going to love you until time itself ends. You know that, right?'
She tilted her chin up enough to expose her face to me. 'I do, Vladimir. I do.'
I lost myself in her ruby eyes. While I reached for the memory of the seas of green I got lost in before, I adored this color upon her too. It reminded me how blessed I was in this life.
If time itself would have been frozen in that moment, I would have been satisfied. I would forever be stuck in that summer night with the giggles of the children around me, and my wife before me. Without any stress upon my shoulders, it was the one night I would have lived a thousand times without growing tired of it.
A thousand times reliving that night would have given me the chance to do more. I could have said more.
But I didn't.
I never did."