Thank you all for being so patient with me. RL has been an unforgiving bitch and I truly am sorry for the delays in posting. I read and love each and every review. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for them.

Thank you so much to hapakids, teamhotmen, and flaming pen18 for betaing and prereading! You Ladies are the best!

Thank you hapakids for posting the last chapter for me ;) !

BPOV

"Aaroldo Giancarlo Volturi, known to family and friends simply as Aro, will be mourned by many, but none more than his only surviving relative, his granddaughter, Isabella Cullen, formerly Volturi-Swan. She is the only child of Aro's only child, the late Matthew Charles Volturi-Swan."

The church was filled with gasps of surprise, and the priest had to stop until it quieted back down. The priest continued on with his sermon, but I couldn't tell you a single word that was said.

Edward clutched my hand, squeezing it and giving me a small smile. We were seated in the front pew of the church, along with Esme, Carlisle, and Marcus. Edward's siblings were seated a few rows back, allowing Aro's closest staff members, whom he considered family, to sit up front. There were more than a few disgruntled people in the crowd that didn't think that the 'help' should sit there. They felt that they were more important and should have been seated accordingly. Mr. Ericson, Aro's attorney, stepped in and put a stop to that nonsense by letting everyone know that Aro had specifically requested certain people be seated in the first four pews. If you were not on that list, you sat further back. It was on a first-come-first-serve basis.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." The priest continued on.

"The procession will be headed to Lake View Cemetery, where we will be putting Aro, Matthew, and Renee to final rest. The family has made arrangements for a reception following. It is by invitation only, and they respectfully ask that you adhere to that policy." The priest ended the service, and we began the procession out, following behind the casket.

Outside there were three hearses. One for Aro and one for each of my parents. There were hundreds of limos and cars, and Edward led me to the front limo, directly behind the hearses.

Seattle's finest was out in force along the procession route. I'm sure it was not only to stop traffic and allow us to pass undisturbed, but also because of the massive amount of mafia heads that had flooded the city in the past few days. Edward had let his contacts on the force know about the funeral in advance, so they would know that it wasn't because of problems starting. The commissioner was still worried that there would be fighting over Aro's 'turf', hence all the officers throughout our route.

The procession parade was well over two miles long. And what should have been a fifteen minute drive took almost an hour. The cemetery had set up a few seats around the graves. Edward stood behind me as I sat between Esme and Jane, Aro's nurse. By the amount of tears flowing down her cheeks, I got the distinct impression that she and my grandfather had more than a strictly professional relationship.

"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection into eternal life." The priest tossed a handful of dirt into all three graves, then signaled for me to do the same, tossing a single white rose also. One by one each of the mourners did the same.

"Come on, sweetheart, it's time to get going." Edward grasped me around the waist, leading me away from the graves and back to our car. I felt Edward stiffen, and he suddenly pulled me behind his back.

"You do realize that it's illegal to rob a grave, Edward? I paid to have Charlie and Renee buried in Forks. That was where I wanted them. You had no right moving them. If Isabella wanted to visit them, she should have stayed there." Billy Black was standing at our limo. "It's good to see you again, Bella. Jacob is waiting for you right over there," he said, gesturing to a car parked not far from ours. "You've been very difficult to locate. Lucky for us that Edward here informed one of my men of your whereabouts. Now if you'll just come with me, I'll make the arrangements to have you and Jacob married before sunset. We don't want to wait too long. You'll have to consummate your marriage, before the reading of the will. I don't want any questions asked about whether the marriage is legal or not."

"I'm not going anywhere with you, and I'm certainly not marrying Jacob. I happen to be happily married to Edward. We have been for a while now. I never want to see you again." I didn't want him to think he could dictate my life any longer.

"Oh, well that's easily remedied. I'll simply make you a widow." He looked over to Jacob, nodding. Jacob then made a signal and suddenly there were guns raised in every direction. "If you come quietly, I'll spare his life. Paul, however, would like a few words with him."

I snaked my arm around Edward's waist, reaching for the gun there. Getting a good grip on it, I pulled it out and aimed it right at Billy's head.

"You have two seconds to call off your men, or I'm going to put a bullet right between your eyes."

"You don't have the balls to pull the trigger," Billy seethed, however the unsure look in his eyes gave him away.

As I gently started squeezing the trigger, he told his men to stand down. I could feel Edward breathe easier next to me, but I wasn't finished. I aimed the gun lower and shot right between his legs. The bullet grazed both sides of his inner thighs, missing his groin by centimeters. He fell to the ground in obvious pain.

"You little bitch…" he started.

"Wait, I missed? You must be even smaller than your son. That shot would have even gotten him." Edward was laughing loudly as he pushed me inside of the limo.

We could hear Emmett as the door was closing. "Hey, Billy, you got a pencil dick? I need to write something down."

"Sweetheart, you shouldn't have done that. Most of those guns were aimed at his men. He's smarter than to have started a war here. He knows that you have Aro's entire army protecting you. In fact, I'm surprised he even showed up here." He was still laughing. "But I couldn't have done better myself. You let the entire mafia world know that Billy and his son have," he was gasping for air as he laughed so hard. "That they have… that they have teeny tiny weenies," he finally managed to get out. We dissolved into fits of laughter as the limo pulled away.

I'd met so many people in the last few days, I had no idea how I was going to remember them all. Even though the reception was 'by invitation only', there were still over two hundred people in attendance.

"Don't worry, dear. We all have your back against the Blacks. I want you to know that they have joined forces with the Denali's. Neither group has a very good standing in our community. Your grandfather, however, was extremely well respected. There is not a person in this room who he had not come to the aide of at one point or another." Edward and I were currently talking to a well-dressed older gentleman. Edward had whispered to me that his name was Alistair, and he was the head of the English mafia.

"Oye, I'm so surry fo' ya loss, lassy." A red-headed man came up to us next.

Edward pulled him into a 'man hug', pounding each other's backs. "Liam, I haven't seen you in a few years. How have you been?"

"I've n'er ben better, my friend. Quick, introduce me to th's beautiful lady nex' to ya."

"Liam, my friend. This lovely lady is my wife, Isabella Cullen, formerly Volturi-Swan."

"So it's tru' then? The old man had a gran'daughter? I'm ver' glad to make your acquaintance lassy." Liam grasped my hand and with a wink at Edward kissed the back of it. "Is there any chance I might persuade you to leave him for me?"

"Now, Liam, just what would you do with Mary and me?" A very tall woman laughed, coming up behind him.

"I'm Siobhan, this lugs wife. I'm so sorry for your loss and even sorrier that you had to meet the village idiot," she said, pointing to Liam. Laughing, I returned the hug she gave me.

"Well, I thought that that was Emmett's title. But I guess it's true that each village has its own."

"Yes, and we have to keep the two of them away from each other. They get into way too much trouble together."

"Did I hear my name?" Emmett asked, walking up.

"What village idiot?" Rose smirked having been with Emmett.

"We'll have to get together for drinks while you're in town."

"We are leaving Saturday. How's tomorrow night?"

"That's perfect. We'll see you then. You do remember where the club is?"

"Aye that we do. Many a drunken night in that place."

After we had spoken with almost everyone in attendance and sat down for the meal that Esme had arranged, Edward got up to make an announcement.

"On behalf of my wife, Isabella, we would like to thank everyone for their condolences. I'm sure that everyone here understands that there will be an adjustment period, and we would appreciate patience while we make any necessary adjustments."

We all drove home in the same limousine. Marcus and Carlisle requested that we meet in the conference room. They had some news that they wanted to share with us.

"Your grandfather and I overheard a few conversations today. Dad, why don't you start?" Carlisle wasted no time, once we were seated around the large table.

"We heard a few men talking about the fact that the two of you are married. There is speculation that we forced the marriage, knowing that Isabella would be inheriting most of Aro's estate. They believe the rumors started by the Denali's, that you and Tanya were together. They also believe that Bella had been engaged to Jacob. We made it known that we heard them, and we set them straight. That we, as well as Bella, had no prior knowledge of her heritage. The two of you fell in love and got married, before we knew anything for certain. We also told them that you had never been involved with Tanya, and Bella had only briefly dated Jacob," Marcus began.

Carlisle continued, "They wanted to know how it was that the two of you just happened to meet. I hope you don't mind, dear, but I gave them an abridged version of your story. It was bound to come out anyway, and I'd rather the truth come from us."

"I don't mind, I'd rather that you told them what really happened with me, instead of people believing the lies that the Black's and Denali's are spreading."

"Don't worry. Each of them believed us. After seeing the two of you together, they couldn't deny the truth. The love that radiates from both of you is palpable. Every family at the reception has pledged their allegiance to us," Carlisle added.

"OK, is there anything else?" Edward asked, looking at each person. After a round of no's, we each went to our apartments.

I looked at Edward, shyly. "Will you distract me the way that you did last night?" I asked timidly.

Edward responded by lifting me bridal style and carrying me to the bedroom, where he kept me blissfully distracted for the remainder of the night and into the early morning hours.