Epilogue

Epilogue

Josie

Five Years Later…

I slid my keychain over the hook above our hallway table as I kicked the front door shut. The smell of takeout hung heavily in the air, and my stomach reminded me it was definitely past time for dinner.

Josephine's humming from the kitchen settled against my skin. It was the best part of each day. Coming home to her made all my many years of wandering worth it.

I took off my boots by the door and ran my palms down my face. It'd been a long day at work. Considering I had hundreds of years' experience as a bounty hunter, I decided to take up the trade on Earth.

Not that it was the same by any means. Bringing people back in handcuffs was completely different than bringing them in dead or alive. I'd plunged a knife into many of my jobs in the past.

That didn't fly here, and I was thankful. People didn't realize the pressure of taking someone's life. I never thought it was my place since I couldn't make life.

That life felt light years away. Five years had flown by. The apartment in the city was an adjustment, like Josephine imagined. The inability to walk outside without seeing all the people in your building, plus the randos on the street, was overwhelming.

I'd taken many trips to the cabin to see Fern in the beginning.

At one point Josephine suggested we go back. But I couldn't take away her dream. She loved her job at the school and her students. Her ability to help them was remarkable. It was a gift I couldn"t take from her.

I stalked down the hallway, seeing Mexican takeout sitting on the dining table. Josephine turned around swiftly when I entered the kitchen. Her shifty gaze made me stop in my tracks. "Are you up to something? Because it feels like it."

She chuckled. "I'm not. You just startled me."

She turned her back to me and grabbed two plates from the cabinet. Walking slowly up behind her, I trapped her against the cabinet and whispered, "Liar."

"That's not a very nice thing to call your wife." We'd married at the courthouse with Fern as a witness. It'd been five years of pure bliss. I didn't worry about a wicked witch coming out of the woodwork to kill us.

All I worried about was making Josephine happy.

"I have something to tell you." She turned her head slightly and whispered.

"What's that?" I asked, sliding my nose against the curve of her neck. Her scent drove me crazy.

"I used my powers today."

I chuckled against her skin, and she turned to look at me with those too-blue eyes. "This is serious, Kellan. This woman at work—you know the one—kept mouthing off, and I ... tripped her."

My eyes rounded, and laughter fell from me. She slapped my chest and covered her face with her palms.

"Josie," I whispered. "Come on. You think because you tripped someone that you are going to turn into your mother?"

"Maybe," she said loudly. "I don't know. It's been years since I've used it, but I couldn't stop myself. I don't want to be pulled down the rabbit hole. I can't turn out like them."

The honest look on her face softened my heart. "You're not your mother. You never use your powers—"

"Even when Ernest insists I learn—" she interrupted.

"—even then," I said. "You can't live in fear of your magic forever, Josephine. You were given it for a reason. Closing a door and tripping someone occasionally is okay."

She sighed heavily and rested her forehead against my chest. "I still dream about it."

Running my palms against her back, I pulled her closer to me. "Me, too, but they're gone, and we don't have to worry about them anymore."

"Thank you for listening to my crazy rants."

I pushed back from the counter but brought her with me, slinging her over my shoulder. She yelped loudly. "Your rants aren't crazy."

I carried her toward the dining table and sat her down in her usual chair. "You could have asked me to join you nicely, caveman."

I pulled out the chair next to her. "That's not nearly as fun."

I distributed our food, and silence fell over the table. Josie stabbed her slice of chicken and took a big bite before dropping her fork onto the table.

I stared at her worried face. "Something wrong with the chicken?"

"I have something else to tell you."

For a brief moment, my mind wandered to her being pregnant. We'd talked about it but hadn't decided if it was time or not.

We didn't have eternity. As selfish as it sounded, I wanted to take from her before we had a child because I knew how demanding one could be.

"Say it."

Her blue gaze lifted toward mine. "Someone is following me."

My fingers curled into fists around my fork. I raked my brain with questions. I hadn't seen anyone around her. I noticed things like that because of my career and the one I was pulled out of.

"I haven't noticed anyone—"

She cleared her throat. "It's not a someone," she whispered. "It's a ..." Her gaze shifted toward the balcony doors.

I followed her line of sight to the moonlit balcony railing. A crow sat on the edge, staring at her through the glass. I stood immediately and stalked toward the balcony.

Pulling the doors open, a gust of humid wind slapped me in the face. The crow didn't budge. It stared with familiar red eyes. "What the hell do you want?" I asked.

It tilted its head back and forth in concentration.

Josephine stepped out beside me, and the crow flew to her shoulder. I gawked at their interaction. "I take it you have done this before?"

Josie glared at the bird. "No. He's been trying. I don't know what this means," she whispered, touching the tail end of his feather. "I don't know why he's here."

The bird sat quietly for several moments before flying away. She watched him fly into the distance until he was so small, he disappeared. When she turned to me, her eyes were full of questions that I didn't know the answer to.

"Maybe speaking with Ernest isn't a bad idea," I suggested.

She nibbled on her bottom lip for several minutes. "Maybe ... but we should eat. I can hear your stomach growling."

I followed her back inside and locked the sliding glass door. Josie looked completely enamored with her meal when I sat down.

"This doesn't mean you're bad," I said over a mouthful. "It means he found his way to the other descendant of Deidamia."

"I have nothing for him."

"Maybe he'll like that. Deidamia used him for so long to do her bidding. Maybe that's why he isn't squawking around anymore. He seemed at peace, and I think you need to be too. If you ever need to use your powers, use them. Don't sit and dwell on them. The guilt of something you can't control will eat you alive."

Josie gave me a sheepish look. "The silent anti-hero is now the counselor. How the tables have turned."

"Here we go again with the anti-hero stuff," I mumbled, winking at her when she smiled. "I thought saving your life would have completely shut that door."

"You know I like when you wink at me. Better stop. Or I may shove all this food to the floor and take you on this table."

"Oh," I said, waving my fork around. "You're taking me, huh? I'd like to see you try."

"Be careful what you wish for," she said. "Or you may end up with a rugged ex-immortal dragging you through realms and discovering secrets that change your life."

"That sounds like Heaven on Earth to me."

"It is," she said, licking cheese dip from her lip. "Beats being in a relationship that didn't fulfill me for years."

"Speaking of, I heard Jacob gets out next year."

Josie put her finger into her mouth and pretended to gag. "Well, let's hope the time in prison changed him."

Leaning back in my chair, I smiled. "Or my wife will have to stop his attempts, yet again."

"Damn straight," Josephine said. "I don't think he'll be back. I'm sure he's needed counseling after seeing me stop bullets."

I dipped my chip into guacamole and took a bite.

Josephine stood up abruptly. "I need to use the restroom." She walked toward the hallway and ran once she rounded the corner. Standing up, I followed her down the hallway to the bathroom.

She was hunched over the toilet, throwing up. I stalled in the doorway, staring at her small body rolling from sickness.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She looked back over her shoulder and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Yeah. I think the chicken is undercooked."

I shifted nervously in the doorway. "Are you sure?"

Her blue gaze lifted toward mine. "What do you mean?"

"Are you sure it's the chicken?"

Her bottom lip trembled, and a bucket of tears fell down her face. She curled into a ball and rested her cheek against her knees.

I walked over and bent down in front of her, trying to understand the feelings tumbling out of her. "Baby," I whispered. "What's the matter?"

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out.

"You're sure?"

"I took a test two weeks ago."

I sat back against my feet in confusion. "Why are you so sad about that? I thought you wanted children."

She looked up and wiped her eyes. "I do, but I don't think I'll make a good mother, Kellan. Look who raised me. Look what I am. I want my child to have a normal life. One that doesn't revolve around me controlling powers I don't want and the possibility of him or her having the same thing."

Pulling her toward me, I wrapped my arms around her and held her to my chest. "You're going to be an excellent mother because, despite your mother's true nature, you had a caring household. Your father loves you. I love you. You're amazing. You're organized. Kind. Everything a mother needs to be."

Tears began to gather in the corners of my eyes. "Once you hold that little baby in your hands, you'll regret these feelings. They're normal, but you'll realize nothing else matters but that baby."

Josephine opened her eyes as more tears pooled down her face. "Are you happy?"

I chuckled and wiped away her tears. "I can't tell you how happy I am. I'm ... I'm going to be a dad again, and this time, nothing is going to stand in my way of keeping my family safe and happy."

Josephine sniffled. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"That's okay," I said. "Let's get up off the bathroom floor. If you can, let's finish eating. You need to eat."

She gave me a look. "I've been vomiting in secret all week. I'm not that hungry."

I helped her up, my gaze lowering to her belly and then to her face. "You have to feed him."

"Him?"

"Just a hunch."

She grinned. "Well, he hasn't liked anything I put into my body besides cheese fries this week."

"Let's get cheese fries," I suggested.

She walked toward the dining table full of Mexican food. "And let all of this go to waste?"

I snorted. "I'll eat it. You know I will."

She thought about it. "Okay."

I followed her toward the door to grab my keys and pressed her gently against the wall. "I love you," I whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Never forget that. No matter what."

She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed my nose. "How could I forget how my anti-hero turned into the best thing that ever happened to me?" She braced her palm against her stomach. "Let's name him Hero."

"Uck, no," I said, opening the door. "How about Jacob?"

She tossed her head back and laughed. "Over my dead body."

The End ...