EPILOGUE

It was their first vacation in years. Hand and hand they walked along the white sandy beaches of Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean just off the coast of Africa. With its sparkling clear turquoise water, Charles and Jenay felt as if they were in heaven taking a stroll. With music playing softly on Jenay’s MP3 she kept inside the fanny pack strapped to her side, they were thrilled to be alive, to be with each other, to finally be alone for an extended period of time.

“The children must have phoned me fifty times already,” said Jenay with a smile. “You okay? Daddy okay? When are you guys coming home?”

“You should have told them never,” Charles said, smiling too as they watched the tourists swim and snorkel and relax in their beach chairs and on their beach blankets. “You should have told them we were going to rent a Winnebago and travel the world for the rest of our lives.”

“I don’t think they call them Winnebagos anymore, Charlie. I think they just call them RVs, or mobile homes.”

Charles laughed. “I don’t know a damn thing about any Winnebago or RV or any of that shit.” Jenay laughed. “I’ll travel the world in a canoe just as long as I’m with you.”

Jenay squeezed his hand. “They just feel better checking up on us, that’s all. We’ve been on vacation for a month now. They figure we should be home by now.”

“We will be.”

“When? They wanna know when,” said Jenay.

Charles looked at her. “When do you want to go back home?”

Jenay stared at him. “I do miss them.”

“So do I.”

But then she smiled. “Let’s give it another month. Then we’ll see.”

Charles laughed the laugh of a happy man. “That’s my girl,” he said out loud and gave her a big, fat, sloppy kiss. It had been a long year, including when they showed up on her parents’ front door and gave them the shock of their lives, and how all the bad men involved had gotten their just desserts. Now it was their turn to live to the fullest this wonderful life they’d been miraculously handed on a platter.

They kept walking on that beach for miles, as if they were teenagers. As if they were walking on air. The music continued to play the soundtrack of their lives and make them feel as if they weren’t just granted a second chance, but given a second wind. And they were going to go wherever that wind blew them for as far as it could take them. They were going for broke this time.

“I can’t see me loving nobody but you,

for all my life.

When you’re with me, baby, the skies will be blue,

for all my life.

Me and you, and you and me.

No matter how they toss the dice,

it had to be.

The only one for me is you,

and you for me.

So happy together!

So happy together!

And how is the weather?

So happy together!”