Epilogue #2
I’d never flown before. In all our times moving, we’d just loaded our limited belongings into our car and a small rented trailer we’d towed behind us.
As terrified of heights as I was, the thought of flying was actually exciting.
Another in a long line of new experiences thanks to Maximo.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see.”
My curiosity couldn’t leave it at that. “Is it on the west coast or east coast?”
“It’s not in this country.”
“Is this why you had me get my passport?” I asked. He’d had Marco take me before a trip to the fabric store, claiming it was so I could travel for business with him.
“Yes.”
“That was months ago.”
“I told you I’ve waited months.”
Before I could respond, Maximo unlatched my seatbelt and nudged me toward the door I belatedly noticed the valet was holding open. Another took Ash’s spot in the driver’s seat.
Once I was out, Maximo wrapped an arm around my shoulders and guided me through the packed building. We got into the elevator, and I got my first glimpse of us in the reflection of the gleaming steel. It was no wonder people had stared.
He looked powerful and commanding in his suit.
I looked lovely in my dress.
We looked beautiful.
Like we belonged together.
The elevator opened, and we stepped out into an open room with twisting light features hanging from the ceiling and a long bar to one side. Ash kept going toward a set of frosted double doors, but Maximo stopped and turned me to face him.
“I wanted to marry you at one of my properties.” He glanced around. “Someplace I’ll see often.”
“It’s perfect.”
I’d have married him at any Elvis chapel, gimmicky destination, or street corner.
His eyes seared into mine as he finally asked, “Do you want to marry me, little dove?”
My answer was immediate and honest. “More than anything.”
“I’ll control you, every aspect of your life,” Maximo warned, similar to when we’d first become us .
“I’ll always be your Daddy. I’ll tell you what to do and punish you.
I’ll love you and work every damn day to make sure you never regret giving me you.
This will be your life from now on. Is that what you want? ”
“‘Til the day I die,” I said, giving him the words he often gave me.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an engagement ring before sliding it onto my finger.
It’s important to commemorate our two-hour engagement.
“Ready?” he asked, though he was already walking.
“Wait.” I didn’t move, and Maximo stopped, worry evident on his tense face. Undoing his tie, I slid it free and tossed it onto a potted plant. “You don’t wear ties if you can help it.” I popped his top button free. “Perfect.”
It was a small gesture, but Maximo kissed me like it was huge. When he pulled away, he looked even more impatient as he guided me to the frosted double doors.
They opened on our approach, and I lost my tenuous hold on my tears.
The balcony was bursting with beautiful flowers and greenery. Like the night sky, twinkle lights arched in a canopy over us. With the sun setting in the backdrop, it was magical.
A fairy tale with a princess and her villain.
Maximo
Two Years Later
“Where are my pills?”
I fought to hide my smile as my frazzled wife rushed into my office. She had a soft measuring tape draped over her neck, pins stuck in her shirt, and multiple colored pencils jammed through her hair.
I’ll never get over how damn beautiful she is.
“Come here,” I ordered, evading her question. Not because I didn’t want to answer it, I just enjoyed playing with my little dove.
She didn’t move. “My pills?”
“Now, Juliet.”
At my tone, she rushed over and took her spot on my lap.
I started pulling the colored pencils from her hair. “How’s the dress?”
“Good. I finally found the perfect color combination to complement the design so it doesn’t look like a clown outfit or something out of an eighties club.”
“I knew you’d figure it out. You always do.”
Even if her outfits were ugly, I’d have secretly bought every last one if it meant she was happy. But that hadn’t been necessary. She’d made Dove Couture a success all on her own.
Ever since consigning her dresses with Hilda’s, she’d had more order requests than she could accept.
We’d knocked down one of the walls to expand her workspace into a spare bedroom, and it wouldn’t be long before we’d have to expand again.
People liked her designs and the approachableness in the style. It fit with Vegas life.
I’d told her she could put her own store in Black Moon once it opened, but she’d turned me down. She didn’t want to be so overloaded, she lost the availability to create for fun when inspiration hit.
I’d always support her, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy she’d declined her own store. It would’ve been an intensive time commitment, and I was a greedy fuck. I liked having her time and attention to myself.
But I was ready to share her.
“I threw them out,” I told her, pulling the sewing pins free and dropping them into the container I kept on my desk for that purpose.
“Threw what out?”
“Your pills.”
Her brows lowered as she leaned back to look at me. “Why?”
“Because it’d be hard for me to put my baby in you if you’re on them.”
Her lips parted as she sat in stunned silence for a moment. “You want to have a baby?”
“Two babies. Maybe three.” I removed the tape measure last but kept it close in case I wanted to tie her wrists with it. “We’ll see how it goes.”
“Babies? Plural ?”
“Is that a problem, Juliet?”
Usually my tone would make her eyes go hooded, but instead they were filled with panic. “I… It’s just…”
Softening my expression, I cupped her head. “It’s what?”
A tear streaked down her cheek followed closely by another. And another. “What if I’m a bad mom? Neither of my parents were a shining example.” Her words were choked when she forced out, “What if I fuck up our kid?”
Christ, she broke my heart.
With each passing day, Juliet had managed to shake off more of the damage from her parents. For the most part, she lived free from their toxic memories.
Or, as she said, she lived carefree.
But every once in a while, their ghosts came to haunt her.
“Your parents were a good example of who you didn’t want to be, and you’ve already proven you’re not them. You’re selfless, loving, patient, and everything they never were.” There wasn’t a hint of doubt in my mind when I said, “You’ll be the best mom.”
She didn’t speak, but her tears slowed.
Opening the top drawer on my desk, I grabbed her birth control pack and handed it to her. “We’ll wait until you’re ready, little dove. And if you never are, that’s fine, too. But don’t let your shitty parents control you.”
She gave a sniffling laugh. “I know, that’s your job.”
“‘Til the day I die,” I shot back with no hint of humor.
She fell silent again, flipping the pack in her hand. “You really think I’d be a good mom?”
“The best.”
“Would we still have time together?”
“I’d make sure of it.”
“Would you still be my Daddy even after you’re a dada?”
I pulled her closer so her ass was firmly on my hard-on. “Try to stop me.”
She grinned and tossed the pack toward the wastebasket.
I didn’t watch to see if it made it in.
I was too busy bending my little dove over my desk so I could tie her to me in a new way.
Juliet
One Year Later
“You sure about this?”
No.
“Yes.”
I didn’t want to do it, but I needed to.
Maximo helped me off the four-wheeler like I was made of delicate glass and the world around me was made of lethal knives. Even once I was standing, he kept hold of me as we walked through a thin path between the trees.
Dread coursed through me like thick sludge, but I forced myself forward.
He stopped at a small clearing. “This is it. Do you want me to stay?”
“No, I’m okay.”
He looked hesitant to leave.
“I just need a minute alone with him.”
“I’ll be right over there,” Maximo relented. “Call if you need me. And keep an eye out for scorpions, insects, any animals. Even birds can—”
“Daddy,” I interrupted, pressing in as close as I could, “the only predator who wants to eat me is you.”
“Christ, don’t say shit like that, or we’ll have a repeat of me fucking you on the four-wheeler until we break the axel.”
“That was fun.”
“It’d take a hell of a lot longer to walk home from here.”
“It’d still be worth it.”
“Juliet,” he said in the voice that sent a tremor down my spine.
That didn’t stop me from taunting, “Maximo.”
“I’m gonna spank your ass when we get home.” His words were harsh, but his expression was filled with heat and tenderness and concern.
And love.
So much love.
He kissed me, soft and sweet. “I’ll be right over there.”
“I know.”
He was always close whenever I needed him.
And I always needed him.
With one last scan of me and the area, Maximo backtracked through the narrow path.
I waited until I couldn’t hear his footsteps before looking down at the dirt in front of a large rock.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, though the name felt weird on my tongue.
Even when he’d been alive, he’d never been a dad to me. Any good memories associated with him were covered in asterisks because there was something bad attached, too.
This is stupid.
After checking the ground for bugs and boogeymen, I sat down.
“I bet if the afterlife is real and you’re looking up at me, you’re furious, huh?
Your Jule-bug married to the man who killed you.
” I rubbed my round stomach. “And having his baby, too. It’s a boy, due in two months.
I like the name Rhett. Or Rocco. I can’t decide.
Maximo doesn’t care, he’s just over the moon I’m giving him a son. ”
I waited for hellfire to erupt in front of me because Shamus had sweet-talked the devil into letting him come back to make my life hell one last time.
It didn’t happen, of course, so I continued carrying the conversation.
“Ella—the therapist I see sometimes—suggested I talk to you. She said I need closure. I think I’m supposed to air my grievances into the universe so I can forgive you and let it all go.”
Again, I paused like Shamus was going to sprout through the ground and tell me to take my hippie bullshit to a commune.
“But because you were such a greedy coward, I met Maximo,” I pointed out.
“And he saved me from whatever shithole I’d have been buried in thanks to you.
Now I have an amazing life. A perfect husband.
Good friends. A business. A baby boy soon.
And I have love. So much of it, sometimes it feels like my chest will explode because it’s so full. ”
With perfect timing, my son rolled in my stomach.
“That’s why I’m not here to bitch you out,” I told my dad or the universe or whoever. “I’m here to thank you.” Using the rock, I stood and looked down at his grave. “Your death was the only good thing you ever did for me because it brought me Maximo. So, thank you.”
With that, I walked away from my father’s grave and knew I wouldn’t be back.
I cleared the thin path onto the trail where Maximo waited. As soon as he saw me, he hurried over to take my hand so I didn’t trip on a rock.
It wouldn’t be the first time I did that.
Concern furrowed his browse as he scanned my face, likely searching for tears or—more likely—rage. “You okay?”
“Perfect.”
“Did you say everything you needed?”
“Yup.”
Ella was right, I felt a sense of closure, even if I hadn’t said what she’d suggested.
Straddling the four-wheeler, I didn’t sit. Instead, I pulled my husband closer and kissed him. “I love you, Daddy.”
“Love you, too, little dove.”
I sat and scooted to make room for him. When he didn’t climb on, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Give me a second.”
I watched him go down the path I’d just come from.
As curious as I was to know what he was up to, I stayed where I was. I soaked in the beauty around me and the beauty that was my life.
I was happy.
Safe.
Carefree.
Permanent.
Maximo
Standing above Shamus’ grave, I looked down and hoped like fuck he was in hell looking back up at me.
“Only good thing you ever did in your life was make Juliet. And you fucked her up. Fucked her over. But I fixed it. Killed the prick who stabbed her. Killed Carmichael and Dobrow for trying to steal her from me because you used her as payment. I take care of her. And in return, I get the perfection that’s Juliet Black . ”
I tugged my joggers down, freeing my dick.
And then I pissed on Shamus McMillon’s grave, grinning as I watched it soak into the dirt.
“I won, motherfucker.”
The End!