Epilogue
Autumn
Two and a half years later.
“Is that him?” Mom asked excitedly. Initially, she was a little hesitant about me dating a felon, but once she heard the whole story and how he kept me safe throughout all of it, she quickly came around to the idea.
“Dante’s not Japanese, Mom.” The California state prison was about as gloomy as you’d expect with its massive gray walls and miles of razor wire-topped fencing. I visited as often as they’d allowed, which wasn’t often. Not that you could tell here in California, but fall was in full swing. I could not wait to have Thanksgiving with him and not have a guard hovering over our shoulders.
The list of charges they had on Dante when he was recovered enough to stand trial was staggering, it was easily enough to put him away for the rest of his life. However, thanks to Dante, a massive and successful investigation was launched against the executives of Lionhouse Studios, yielding in over a dozen high profile arrests. Jane was charged with over a dozen felonies including money laundering, murder and all sorts of corruption. Jonathan got off much easier with a year in minimum security, but was fired as CEO.
Because of all the evidence they were able to get from Dante’s work with the FBI they dropped his sentence down to five years, which turned into two with good behavior.
Two of the longest years of our lives…
“Yeah, those colorful tats are way too cool for him. Dante’s more of a grayscale guy.” Frost added, leaning against the car. He lowered his sunglasses to the tip of his nose and brushed his windswept hair from his eyes to get a better look. “Also, the face tats are a big indicator.”
Frost had started joining me for visitation after awhile. Seeing how close they were to losing what little family they had left, really brought the brothers closer together. They wrote letters to each other almost as frequently as Dante and I did.
“There he is! There he is!” I jumped with giddy excitement as the underwhelming fence door opened and Dante, accompanied by a guard, stepped out. Dante was even leaner than he was before going in. I could only imagine the brutal training regiment he put himself through to pass the time. He saw me running and smiled.
Dante dropped his bag and swept me up in a huge hug, swinging me around in a wide circle. It felt so amazing to be back in his arms on this side of that damn wall. Dante kissed me, capturing me with his lips and teeth.”
“Did you miss me?” I asked at length, when I could sneak in some air.
“Not one bit.” He squeezed me tighter, never letting me touch the ground. “Can’t you tell?”
“Liar!” My lips spread into a wide, snarky grin which made it more difficult, but no less fun to kiss him. After a while I realized my face wasn’t getting scratched by his signature stubble. “You shaved?”
“It’s a big day.” He pulled away to long enough to gaze warmly into my eyes. After so long fantasizing about this day it was hard to believe that he was really here. “Even took one of those fancy showers you outmates keep talking about.”
“’Outmates?’” I laughed. “Are you already too far gone? Am I going to have to return you for a less damaged model?”
“I feel bad for the rebound after me. I’m one hell of an act to follow.” Dante finally put me down and greeted everyone else. He grabbed Frost’s arm and pulled him in for a hug. “Frost, get some damn scars already! You’re giving the family a bad name.”
“I would but you took them. They aren’t Pokémon, dude. You don’t have to collect them all.” Frost brushed his hair back, then turned Dante’s arm over. “What is this? Did you seriously get more tattoos while in prison?”
“I’ll get it redone at a professional shop.” Dante looked at me, the corner of his mouth curling. “This was more of a placeholder.”
The outline of several crude leaves were tattooed on the inside of Dante’s forearm. I recognized what it was immediately and smiled. It wasn’t my name exactly but falling Autumn leaves was really nice to see on him.
“A placeholder for what? Hepatitis?” Frost furrowed his eyebrows, then stepped back to let Dante say hi to my mom.
“It’s beautiful.” Mom said, hugging Dante. “I mean it’s not, but I imagine it will be!”
“Thank you for coming. You look great, Paris. How are you feeling?” Dante asked after their hug.
“A lot less aerodynamic now that I have the girls and the hair back.” Mom grabbed her boobs and gave her hair a toss, then realized where she was and stopped. “I probably shouldn’t do that here.”
“You’d make a lot of friends.” Dante chuckled, putting an arm around her and me and walking us away from the gate and toward the parking lot.
Mom did look great. It was tough there for a few months, but her cancer was in a full remission. It was amazing how fast she bounced back from it all! Her long hair came back thick and with so much more volume than it had before. I was immediately jealous, which she taunted me over of course. She decided to go with the same size breasts she’d always had, saying that they’d got her this far and these “cyborg boobs” couldn’t give her cancer.
“Is that?” Dante’s mouth hung open at the sight of the restored Plymouth.
“Yup! Frost fixed all the damage.” I beamed at Dante’s expression. “Mom and I even helped.”
“That’s true.” Frost crossed his arms, nodding. “Whenever I needed a beer opened, they were right there.”
I elbowed him in the ribs.
“You put the wrong tires on it.” Dante inspected it, then kicked the wheels. He raised his scarred eyebrow at his brother. “This model didn’t get white walls until the following year.”
“Are you shitting me?” Frost’s smug look fell away as he gawked as his mistake. “But that’s what—”
Dante flashed him a look that said he was just fucking with him. “Let’s go home.”
* * * * *
We’d stopped at the house and had a meal, which Dante insisted on preparing and cooking for all of us. Being that cooking was one of the things he missed the most in prison, we let him stretch his culinary muscles. Afterward Frost took Dante to the new workshop and stables that were built over a year ago just after Mom and I moved in.
Since we’d moved in, I rekindled my love of horses and started learning how to take care of them. The passion was becoming a full-time job. I hadn’t built up the courage to break them in myself yet, but I was getting there.
This time when we rode out to Dante’s favorite spot, I rode my own horse. On the long, casual ride into the desert I asked him what he had planned now that he was out.
I expected him to go back into stuntwork, but he didn’t seem all that interested. Instead he wanted to open a nonprofit organization to help kids who had just come out of juvenile detention that were most likely to end up in prison. He was going to give them a chance to develop useful life skills and find jobs.
Dante always found a way to impress me. I thought it was admirable. It was a way for him to funnel all those traumatic experiences into something good.
When we arrived at the landing that over looked the valley, the sun was still a ways over the mountains, but I didn’t mind waiting here with him. I was looking forward to resting my head in the crook of his shoulder and listening to him breathe. It’s crazy the little things you miss the most about someone.
“How do you and your mom like it up here?” Dante asked, swinging his leg over the Percheron and hoping down. He walked over to help me off my mustang.
“I miss my friends, and Mom misses aunt Paula, but we like it much better than the cramped, crappy apartment we used to live in.” I slide off the horse before he could get to me
“Now, you’re just showing off.” Dante pulled me into him and kissed me again.
“Maybe,” I said through a smile, loving every second of him wrapped around me. I pulled away feeling lighter than I had in years. “Does it feel weird having other people in your house?”
“It feels like a home again instead of just a house. I couldn’t be happier that you moved in.” Dante bent down and worked a clump of red dirt between his fingertips, enjoying the texture. “It’s a hell of a change from New England, huh?”
“It was hard not shoveling all that snow, but somehow we managed.” I followed the same path as last time I was here. I couldn’t believe how afraid of rattlesnakes and scorpions I used to be. I still kept a careful eye out for them, but it was a part of life now, it was just something you dealt with. “Mom’s also discovered a love for acting; she’s been going out for a bunch of auditions lately.”
“What about you, movie star?” Dante raised his voice so that I could hear him and unrolled the blanket “You got any big rolls coming up?”
“Nah, that ship sank when the movie got cancelled.” I found what I was looking for and dropped to a knee to pluck it. “And so with it went my aspirations of stardom. I was a little bummed that after all that work I never did get to do any stunts, maybe when you’re feeling up to it we can incorporate them into my show?”
“I’d be down for that now that I don’t have to hide my identity from a sociopathic gang lord.”
“I guess it all worked out.” I shrugged on my way back to him. “I never wanted to be famous anyways.”
“Says the YouTube celebrity.” Dante leaned to the side to see what I was holding behind my back. He knew of course, but he let me go through the whole show of surprising him with it. “Even some of the guys in my cellblock knew who you were. You have an entire untapped market in the prison demographic.”
“Yeah, but internet famous doesn’t count; Grumpy Cat is still way more popular than I am.” I handed him the Desert Five-Spot flower and he thanked me. I loved the way his mahogany eyes lit up when he saw it, it sent tingles through my body. “I loved your tattoo by the way, the one with the autumn leaves.”
“I did get one more…” His eyes squinted ever-so-slightly, their brown hue intensified. Mischief tinged his features which filled my chest with soda bubbles. “You want to see?”
I nodded, having no idea what to expect.
When Dante dropped to a knee, my eyes became saucers. Is he doing what I think he’s doing?
“I got you something.” He turned up his palm up, but kept his fingers closed.
“Yeah?” I asked, feeling a flush of red flood my chest, neck and face. “They have a good gift shop in prison?”
“Open it.”
I peeled back his fingers and gasped, covering my mouth and pinching the stud in my ear. It was black line-art tattoo of an engagement ring, diamond and everything.
“I was going to get you a My fiancé was a convicted felon at California State Penitentiary and all he got me was this lousy shirt shirt, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous.” Dante’s smirk melted into a warm smile. “I love you, Autumn Moore. What do you say? You want to waste the rest of your life with me?”
I tried to think of something witty to say, but I just started crying and hugged him instead. “Yes,” I whispered. “A thousand times, yes.”