Epilogue

Raddix – (One Week Later)~

Once again, Madison was sprawled out on the bed, and I was watching her sleep, afraid to blink, lest it all be a dream. When she had walked into my office a week ago, I'd been prepared for the worst. The nightmarish scenarios had been endless, and the fear had been real. I hadn't been lying when I'd said that prison would be the only way that I'd ever let Madison go again.

However, instead, I had walked into my office to find Madison crying for me-for us. She'd shown up to my office to give me a second chance, and my knees still felt weak whenever I thought about it for too long. Forget our wedding day, the birth of our children, or anything else; that day in my office will always be the single most important day of my life.

Madison's dark eyes fluttered open as she began to awaken. "Are you watching me sleep?"

My lips twitched. "Yes."

"Even on good terms, it's still creepy, Raddix," she muttered, stretching her muscles.

"I'd say that we're a little past just being on good terms, don't you think?" I chuckled as I stood up from the chair, then made my way back to the bed.

"I guess," she replied lazily.

"You guess?"

"I blame the liquor," she quipped, which was just fine with me.

"Sure," I said as I wrapped my arm around her waist, hauling her back towards my chest. "But that doesn't account for agreeing to come here in the first place. Especially, knowing what was going to happen."

"I blame the sex," she replied easily. "Sex makes people do stupid things."

"Well, there's no getting out of this now," I told her, the weight of platinum a permanent thing on my finger. "Till death do us part, Madison."

"You say that like spouses don't murder each other every day," she teased.

"Since everything that I have is already yours, there's no need to murder me for the life insurance," I teased back.

"How about for just annoying the shit out of me?"

Rolling her over until I was positioned above her, I looked down at my wife seriously. "Whatever made you say yes, I want you to know that I will cherish that miracle every fucking second of our lives, Madison."

Looking up at me, she said, "It didn't take very long to see what I've always known, Raddix."

"Yeah, but your pride could have dragged this out for years, and I would have deserved it."

Speaking honestly, she said, "I've been sad long enough, Raddix. I'm kind of tired of feeling that way."

"What about those dreams of a big wedding?" I asked, knowing that our parents were going to be pissed.

Madison grinned. "That's what Caspian and Eris are for. They can drag Lilibeth and Wesley down the aisle in layers of lace and silk."

A part of me knew that Madison had eloped with me because of the bad memories, but there wasn't anything that I could do about that. Though married now, we were still a long way from where we'd been, but I wasn't afraid of hard work. With the lights of Las Vegas shining through the window of our hotel suite, I knew that there wasn't anything that I wouldn't do for the woman staring up at me, and more importantly, she knew it, too.

"I love you, Madison," I said, the love for her clogging my throat a bit.

"I love you, Raddix," she replied seriously. "It wouldn't have hurt so badly if I didn't."

"I know, baby."

"Raddix?"

"Yeah?"

"I want you to save all the animals," she said, finally answering my question about Maddie's Pet Place. "They all deserved to be saved."

"Whatever you want, Madison," I replied, meaning every fucking word.

The End.