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Epilogue
Vanessa watched out the window. Opal rolled around the yard, back and forth with her new friends. They each had water guns and took turns squirting each other.
Once Opal had returned to school and Vanessa to her job, things had finally settled some. Opal told everyone that she decided to go by her other name, Opal, instead of Katrin. They were both glad to leave the fake names behind for good. But then, something else started to happen. Opal became a normal kid. She started talking about friends and asking if they could come over. She got invites to their houses and to parties. All the things Jeremy had never wanted her to do.
Now Opal had a flourishing social life. Vanessa had to download a new calendar app just to keep up with it all. Today, three of her best friends were here. Her and her besties, as they called each other, were playing cops with the water guns. Opal, always the dauntless hero who runs around saving the day and taking out bad guys. Today, the “bad guy” was their family dog, Archer. Poor Archer, the good-natured terrier, was often subjected to these games. Luckily, he didn’t mind being squirted in the face and saw it as just a way to get a little drink and chase the kids.
As she watched, the group turned and ran toward the house. They stormed into the kitchen.
“Mom!” Opal said, breathless. “Can we have Popsicles?”
Her red cheeks were round and bright against the sweaty hair that clung to her forehead. She loved to see her daughter playing so hard.
Vanessa reached into the freezer for the box. “Looked like you guys were having fun out there.”
“We were,” her friends agreed.
“Archer loves to be the bad guy,” Opal said. She slid into a stool at the breakfast bar and patted the dog on his head.
Archer sat by her side, watching carefully, licking his chops in hopes that something tasty would drip from the stick in her hand. Opal sucked at the red Popsicle, making her whole mouth red.
“So, who won?” Vanessa asked as she put the box back in the freezer.
“I caught the criminal!” Opal announced.
“And I helped!” Samantha said.
The others chimed in. “Me too.” And then, “I was a spy. I was really helping, even if you didn’t know it.”
They all wanted to be the good guys, putting away the criminals. That was all Hunter’s influence. Opal told everyone she could that her step dad saved lives for a living. She wanted to do the same when she grew up.
Of course, people usually assumed she meant he was a cop or doctor or even a firefighter. But she always corrected them, and said proudly with a glint in her eyes, “He’s a bodyguard.”
It had been the perfect line of duty for him to move into. Once the trial was ended and everything was settled with the plea deals he’d made for the other hits he’d done, he had to find a new job. The police would be watching him too carefully. Nicholas had suggested it, actually. He said since he was so good at protection, and didn’t have a problem shooting if he needed to, or to risk himself to save someone else, that he was made for the job.
It still let Hunter take out bad people while protecting the good, but it gave him a legal way to do it. He knew all the cops around town, anyway, and had gotten a good reputation with them, and often had their help.
Mostly importantly, it was safer, though still dangerous enough, and it meant he could come home at the end of the day. She didn’t have to worry as much about him. It had turned out perfect, just like everything else had.
She glanced over at him. He was already looking at her. Behind him, on the wall, was one of their wedding photos. He’d made her happy every before then, and every day since, and she knew that with him, she was always safe. Most of all, her heart was safe with him.
# # #
Hunter couldn’t help staring at his wife. His wife. He loved to think that, to call her that, to tell others that. He’d given up using her name in conversation just so he could say “my wife” as much as possible.
The kids ran past him, back outside. The door slammed and Vanessa blinked at the sound.
“Oh,” she said.
“What?”
“I wanted them to have these, too. Something a little healthy at least.” She held up a baggie of baby carrots.
“I’ll take them out.”
Hunter kissed her before taking the bag from her hand. He walked out to the kids and heard their game.
“Now, wait here a minute,” he said to them. “Let me teach you a thing or two.”
