Epilogue (1)
Lisa
Three Years Later
"Jennie Manoban!"
As the president of Stanford University calls out her name, I watch my wife walk across the stage, garbed in the same black cap and gown as the rest of the graduates. The robe billows around her petite frame, hiding the small, but already visible bump of her stomach—the child we both eagerly await this time.
Stopping in front of the university official, Jennie shakes his hand to the sound of applause and then turns to smile for the camera, her delicate face glowing in the bright morning sun.
The flash goes off, startling me even though I knew it was coming.
Catching myself clutching the gun at my waist, I force my hand to uncurl and move away from the weapon. With a hundred of our best guards securing the field, my gun isn't necessary. Still, I feel better having it on me—and I know Jennie is glad her semi-automatic is tucked inside her purse. Though the opening of her second art show in Paris went off without a hitch last year, we're both more than a little paranoid today, determined to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of our unborn daughter.
Another flash goes off beside me. Glancing at the seats to my right, I see Jennie's parents taking pictures with their new camera. They look as proud as I feel. Sensing my gaze on them, Jennie's mother looks in my direction, and I give her a warm smile before turning my attention back to the stage.
The next graduate is already up, but I don't notice who it is. All I see is my pet, carefully making her way down the left side of the stage. The leather folder with the diploma is in her hands, and the tassel on her cap is hanging on the other side of her face, signifying her new diploma-recipient status.
She's beautiful, even more beautiful than at her high school graduation five years earlier.
As she makes her way through the rows of graduates and their families, our eyes meet, and I feel my heart expanding, filling with the mixture of dark possessiveness and tender love she always evokes in me.
My captive. My wife. My entire world.
I will love her to the end of time, and I will never, ever let her go.