Epilogue 2
CHASE FIVE MONTHS LATER – TWO WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
# The happiest endings usually happen twice (at least)
Addie leans back in the seat, kicking off her heels and stretching out her legs. “Don’t tell Angelina, but Faraday is kind of comfortable,” she says with a giggle.
“I won’t tell her,” I assure her. “But you do know you’re going to have to trade her in for a new model soon.” And by a new model, I mean a top-of-the-line SUV, which will have every safety feature ever invented.
She pouts. “But I love her. I know you think she’s unsafe, but she’s really not.”
I rest a hand on her thigh and squeeze gently, not taking my eyes off the road. “It’s not big enough for the baby carrier and all the things we’re gonna need, Addie.”
“I know,” she says with a dramatic sigh. “But she’s been with me for so long. Maybe we could keep her for when this little one is old enough to drive.” She rubs her hands lovingly over her stomach. She’s thirteen weeks now and showing a little.
Over my cold, dead body will any of our kids be driving that fluorescent hazard on wheels. “I think she’ll be pretty outdated in seventeen years. Don’t you?”
“I guess,” she admits reluctantly. “It’s a pity Eva can’t use her.”
I keep my thoughts on that to myself. Brax is as unlikely to want his pregnant wife driving that yellow death trap as I am mine.
“Can I get another yellow car?”
“Whatever you want, baby.”
She peers out of the window and giggles again, a sound I will never tire of hearing. She’s always laughing, smiling—happy. And that makes me happier than I ever dreamed possible. “I think I know where you’re taking me, sir.”
We passed the signs for Vermont a while back and I knew my surprise would be revealed then. “Where else would I take you for our anniversary, Addie?”
“Our anniversary is in July,” she reminds me.
I take her hand in mine, lift it to my lips and kiss her knuckles. “That’s our wedding anniversary. I’m talking about the anniversary of us getting snowed in.”
“Oh, yes. That.” I don’t miss the way her breath hitches and it has my cock twitching in my pants. It’s difficult not to think about sex when I think about the cabin, or indeed when I think about my wife.
“Are we going to Lakefisher Lodge?” she asks, excited.
“Wait and see.”
“I bet we are. I wonder if they still have their sex dungeon?” She snorts a laugh and it’s so sexy that I almost stop the car and fuck her on the side of the road.
“Aw, Chase it’s still beautiful, isn’t it?” she says as we pull up to the cabin.
“Gorgeous,” I reply, but I’m staring at her.
I grab our bags from the trunk and we head inside, and when we do, I’m pleased to find the new furniture in place.
“Looks like they did the place up since last year,” she says appreciatively, running her hand along the back of the new, tan leather sofa.
“Yeah.”
She flashes me a huge smile. “Let’s go see if they upgraded the sex dungeon too.”
She sprints off to the sex dungeon and flings open the door, gasping when she sees what’s inside. “Chase! You should see what they’ve done in here,” she says, turning to me with her mouth hanging open. “It’s stunning.”
She disappears into the room and I follow her.
The garish red walls are now painted a muted dusky pink, one of Addie’s favorite colors, except for the wall that’s essentially one large mirror.
The windows aren’t blacked out any longer, but instead they have the kind of glass that can’t be seen through from the outside.
And instead of a sex swing, a wooden four-poster bed dominates the room—the kind with restraints on each bedpost. Cuffs made of the softest leather—I know that because I chose the material myself. Only the best for my girl.
She walks over to the antique dresser and traces her fingers over the toys. A paddle. A flogger. A set of jeweled butt plugs. Cuffs. Nipple clamps. A wand vibrator.
“All this stuff looks new,” she whispers.
“They’ve really gone upmarket, huh?” She spins around, her cheeks flushed pink.
“Maybe we could even sleep in here.” She eyes the bed, clothed in three hundred count Egyptian cotton sheets and adorned with red and pink pillows in a variety of shapes and sizes, all designed to make various sex positions easier, especially now she’s pregnant.
“We can sleep in here whenever you like, baby. Merry Christmas.”
She blinks. “What do you mean?”
“This is your gift, Addie.”
“You bought our cabin?”
I nod.
“And had all these changes made?”
“Yeah. Everything is new. Everything is yours.”
“Chase!” Her lip wobbles and her eyes fill with tears.
I wrap my arms around her waist. “What is it, baby? Don’t you like it?”
“Yes. I love it.” She sniffs. “But I only got you a pen and some socks. I mean it’s a very fancy pen that I got engraved especially, but still…”
I know I shouldn’t, but I laugh. “You have given me everything I need already, Addie. I will love my pen and my socks, and I will still act surprised on Christmas morning when I open them.”
She winces now. “Sorry. I am planning on getting you something else too. I’m going gift shopping with Eva next week.”
I shake my head. “I don’t need anything but what I have right here. So, can I unwrap my favorite gift right now?” I tug open the belt on her sweaterdress.
She nods, lip trapped between her teeth.
“That’s my good girl.” I scoop her into my arms and lay her on the bed and then I take my sweet time unwrapping her. My favorite gift I’ve ever gotten.
My favorite everything ever.
My wife. My heart. My home.