“She’s just a baby, Mark.” Lara takes off Jilly’s diaper and drops it in the twisty diaper pail.
Then my naked wife and naked baby are both in the tub with me. Lara turns to lean against my chest, and Jilly is on her stomach smiling up at me and slapping the water. We both spit and laugh.
“No, Jilly,” Lara says softly. “Don’t splash Mommy and Daddy.”
That only makes her squeal and slap the water more.
“Here.” I pass her a rubber duck, and she puts it in her little mouth.
“I think she’s teething,” Lara says, watching her chew on the duck’s beak.
So much love blooms in my chest as I hold Lara against me and she holds my daughter in her arms, I almost can’t believe it.
I watch my wife smooth baby wash over my daughter’s soft skin in her hair, relishing the feel of her body against mine. I reach up and wipe a blob of foam off Jillian’s eyebrow.
“She’s so comfortable here. Like this is how her life has always been,” I say, watching them.
“She doesn’t remember it any other way.”
I think of a life always surrounded by love. It’s something I never had. I know it’s something Lara never had.
“I don’t want her to know anything else.”
Lara leans back to kiss me. “Then she won’t.”
It’s a promise. I made it to her mother years ago, and I made it legal today. I make it to my daughter as well. As long as we’re together, as long as I’m living, this will be her life. It will be our life.
We survived the darkness.
Now we’re standing in the sun.
THE END.
Epilogue
The bravest thing you will ever do is love again.
Molly
Joshua’s arm is across my bare stomach, and I watch the blades of the ceiling fan turn slowly above our heads. It’s been six weeks since we brought down Gavin, since Lara shot him in the back of the head as he tried to choke me to death.
We spent years sneaking in and out of hotel rooms, on and off of trains, going back and forth from France to the U.S. and Canada.
The list is complete.
They’re all dead.
But I’m not satisfied.
It’s not enough.
“You’re awake?” Joshua rises up beside me, that irresistible smile on his face.
Silver hair flops over gray eyes, square chin, square jaw, and full lips.
I love kissing those lips.
I love when they part and show off his straight, white teeth.