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.”
He put on his silly southern accent and stuck a carrot stick in his mouth like it was a toothpick. He pointed another carrot at Archer, who stood in front of him, ropes hung loosely around his neck.
“You see here, now,” he said. “You go trying to tie up yer perp too soon, he might get away. You got to attempt to de-escalate the situation first.”
He got down on his knees and addressed Archer. “Now Archer, what exactly were you doing out at this time of day, barking around these kids?”
The kids stood by, watching, eyes glued to the scene.
Archer licked his chops and stared at the carrot. That dog would eat anything.
“Don’t you have anything to say for yerself?” Hunter asked. “Can you tell me how you know these kids?”
Hunter pointed to them and Archer looked at each kid in turn. They started laughing.
“I see. So you don’t want to tell me anything?”
Archer blinked in response.
“You do understand this makes you look guilty?” Archer again looked to the carrot and whined, but the timing was perfect. The kids burst into laughter.
“Well, there’s nothing else we can do if he won’t talk,” Hunter said. “We’ll have to take him down to the station.”
The kids swarmed the dog, trying to pull him over to the tree that was their “police station.”
Hunter pictured the plastic playhouse that looked much more like a real police station, sitting at Mari’s farm house, waiting for Opal’s birthday next week. She would love it, and her and her friends would get a lot of use out of it.
When they started up their game again and paid the dog less attention, Hunter slipped him a carrot, which he gratefully chewed.
“Your mom wants you to eat these, too, okay?” Hunter gave the baggie to Opal, and they each stuck in their hand to get a carrot stick.
Hunter went back inside and put his arms around his wife, who was still watching the kids.
“They adore you,” she said. “And so do I.”
She turned in his arms to kiss him.
“And I adore them back. And you, too.”
She rested her head against his shoulder, and he felt fully content and joyful. His heart was so full, he didn’t think life could be any better.
His new job let him protect people for a living, something he was clearly good at. He never had to worry anymore about the police coming after him—he worked with them most of the time. He liked his current client, a businessman with high-powered clients, but his favorite object of protection would always be Vanessa.
He ran his hands up and down her back. Keeping her safe was the most important thing he ever did, and he continued to take his job very seriously. Opal, too, was at the top of his list. And soon there would be one more to look after, care for, and keep safe.
He ran his hands down and over Vanessa’s round belly. His baby, growing stronger each day, moved under his touch.
“Ohh,” Vanessa said. “He’s getting so big.”
“He’s already strong.”
“You’re telling me. He thinks he has to kick his way out.”
Hunter held his hand in place, waiting to feel him move again. He loved that feeling of his little son inside his wife.
Opal was overjoyed when she’d found out she was going to have a brother, but he didn’t think anything could compare to his own excitement. This unexpected life had turned out so perfect. Knowing he almost lost it all made each day that much more precious to him. He never took it for granted that he could walk outside anytime he liked to play with his daughter and her friends. Or that he could hug and kiss his wife without restriction. Or that he was free to do as he liked, when he liked, every day.
Life was sweet. And in just another month or so, it would get even sweeter. He’d done nothing to deserve this life, but he’d spend every day for the rest of his years making sure he was worthy of it.
THE END
***
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