Epilogue
Ramsey – (Six Months Later)~
“Y ou know, you didn’t have to do this.”
“It was either this or put out a full-page ad to celebrate Adrian Cossacks going to prison for a long time,” I replied candidly, because it was the truth.
My wife shot me a look. “You need help.”
“You knew this when you married me,” I stated flippantly.
When I’d gotten wind that Cossacks had been staring down the barrel at only six years in federal prison for the embezzlement, I’d been pissed. Because of all the reasons that were wrong in this world, he’d been offered the six years in prison for a plea of guilty, and in return, they’d been willing to drop the underage sex charges because they ‘hadn’t wanted to traumatize the girls’.
Yeah, right.
Whether people believed it or not, money was a more valuable commodity than human beings, and the courts had seen the money laundering as a bigger offense because people worshipped the dollar more than they did God. In fact, it was rather ironic that we had ‘In God We Trust’ printed on something that brought out the worst in humanity.
At any rate, once I’d gotten wind of the deal, I had publicized two more victims of Adrian Cossacks’ grooming proclivities, then had contacted a couple of advocate groups to make the roars for justice a little louder. So, with the power of the internet and it also being an election year, Adrian Cossacks had been arrested for the additional cases of statutory misconduct, and those charges had been separated from his original charges.
Now, deciding which side of the coin you were on, it was lucky or unlucky that one of the victims from his second set of charges had been willing to testify, and that had been the nudge that Cossacks had needed to plead guilty without the new cases going to trial. He’d been given an additional twenty years in regular prison after he served his six years for the embezzlement, and so I’d naturally donated five-million dollars to the named victims, to which they had divided evenly.
“I’m just saying that they might get used to this if you’re not careful,” she said, ignoring the truth about the choices in her life.
“It’s just lunch, baby,” I pointed out as I wrapped my arm around her waist, hauling her to me.
“To us overworked underlings, it’s more than lunch,” she replied primly.
“Hey, it’s your own fault that you’re still just an overworked underling.”
Emerson got comfortable in my arms, ignoring the luncheon happening around us. “I’m perfectly happy in my role here. If I had accepted their offer to become a supervisor, I would have had to give up my kids, and I’m not ready for that.”
When Emerson had picked up the slack after Cossacks had been fired, she’d been offered his position with a significant raise, but she was blessed enough that she’d been able to turn it down, choosing happiness over the almighty dollar.
Wrapping my other arm around her, embracing her as if we weren’t surrounded by hundreds of people, I said, “And it’s okay if you’re never ready for that, Emerson. You make a difference, and I’m all for whatever makes you feel whole.”
Her silver eyes flared with emotions that she only ever showed me. “You are what makes me feel whole, Ramsey. You will always be that for me.”
While I could easily tell her that she would never love me as much as I loved her, there was no point. Emerson and I were forever, whether the words were said or not. Our marriage didn’t need significant events like Valentine’s Day or our anniversary to celebrate our marriage because what we felt for one another never took a backseat to whatever else was going on in our lives. Even when we’d been younger, having babies and building RMM, we’d never lost sight of what we felt for one another. If anything, our feelings for one another had just made the hard times easier. With all my heart and soul, I believe that I could get through anything as long as I had Emerson by my side.
“You know that the nightmares are never going to go away, right?”
She nodded. “I know.”
“Just as long as you know,” I said, my lips touching the corner of her mouth.
“Just as long as you know that we’re forever,” she retorted, and she wasn’t wrong.
The End.