Epilogue
Five years later the calendar in the garage still existed.
I never marked days on it anymore, because there was no need. Mallory was already mine. The forbidden obsession I had for her hadn’t faded. It had simply settled into something permanent and absolute.
Some would call us sick. They’d call me fucking deranged for being in a sexual relationship with my adult daughter. I knew it was wrong. I knew it wasn’t "normal". But I couldn't stop this love I had for her.
I loved coming on her skin instead of inside her, rubbing it into her stomach, tits, and the soft insides of her thighs like a brand that never quite washed off.
Some nights I woke her with my mouth between her legs.
Some mornings I fucked her slow and deep before either of us were fully awake, then pulled out and finished across her belly while I groaned how much I loved her.
We never told anyone the truth of it. To the neighbors we were just a grown daughter who’d never quite left home and the man who’d raised her alone. They probably saw loyalty, gratitude, maybe even a quiet kind of love they didn’t know how to name.
I’d caught strange looks more than once when we were out together.
There were quick double-takes at the grocery store, or the way a smile faltered when Mallory leaned too close to me.
There were quiet pauses in conversations when people noticed how my hand stayed on the small of her back a little too long.
No one ever said anything out loud. They just watched us a second longer than they should have, like they couldn’t quite put their finger on what felt “wrong”.
That evening Mallory found me on the back porch with a glass of whiskey in one hand, and that same low, steady hunger reflected on my face when I saw her. I growled low and told her to come sit on Daddy’s lap.
She did what I said without a word, and my hand settled on her hip, thumb stroking the bare skin under the hem of one of my oversized shirts she wore.
After a long while, she whispered, “We can’t stay here forever.” Her fingers traced idle patterns on my chest. “People already look at us too long. It’s only going to get worse before they finally figure it out.”
I nodded, staring out at the dark yard. “I’ve been thinking about that. We could start over somewhere away from everyone we know, somewhere without questions.”
Mallory was quiet for a moment. “And the rest of it? The part we can’t change?”
I knew what she meant. We’d never have kids. That door had closed the second we crossed the line we couldn’t uncross. But I didn't need or want anything but her.
“We’ll figure the rest out,” I said. “As long as you’re with me, that’s enough.”
She settled deeper against me, and the years ahead stopped feeling like something we had to hide from. The two of us were done running from what we’d become.
This was our life, and we were embracing it together.
The End.