EPILOGUE

“I can’t believe you won an Oscar.” Marietta beamed as she played with the two babies on the floor.

“I think they gave it to me for my real-life role more than the movie I did.” Tobias chuckled as he tried to untangle Ted’s fingers from his hair.

“I don’t know what I would have done without you.” In the past she had David to rely on, then Chris, but now and for eternity she knew her man was Tobias. She hoped her two children would find that same kind of interdependence she and David still had.

“I think that’s my line,” Tobias said as he leaned in for a kiss.

They put the babies in their cribs for a nap. But before they left the room, they checked the window locks and all the other exits in the room. They opened an adjacent door, the only door that led both out and in of the babies’ room. It could only be accessed through the master bedroom. They made sure the cameras were on and the monitors were working in their room.

“We’re not overreacting, are we?” Marietta asked. There was a point where she thought that she and Tobias had finally gone crazy. But he always reminded her of the night when they almost lost their daughter to a monster.

“This is just cautious parenting. The therapist said it was normal.” He shrugged.

“But we never told her that we have dead bolts on the windows or the motion sensors.”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. What matters is that our family is safe.” Toby pulled her into his arms and rocked her side to side.

“I love you,” Marietta mumbled into his chest.

“I love you more.”

Marietta lifted her eyes and met those of the man she loved. No matter how well she could have written it, no script or story could have an ending as happy as the one she had now.