Page 60 of The Grim Reaper's Wife

Mia's breath hitched at my admission as she searched my eyes. Her own overflowing with happiness and relief.

I underestimated how much she needed to hear those words. And it seemed so did she.

Mia gulped and held my bearded jawline with her slender fingers. Her teeth were clenched as she tried to control the intensity of her feelings. But she failed miserably since her voice cracked once she uttered the first word, "You are the first and the only man I will ever love- my one and only."

Epilogue

MIA

Four years later

For three years, I prayed that my body would defy the basic rules of conception. Afraid that I would resent any child I created with my monster of an ex-husband.

Yet, in a quarter of that, I craved a family with Elias. And that morning I pissed on that plastic stick as my husband stood in the corner with his eyes on me, I wished that those two lines were red like the blood that pumped through my veins.

I wanted my husband’s love for me to materialize; a legacy of our marriage.

And so, it did in Braxton Michael Galdur and Hades Jason Galdur.

They were every bit of my husband except for their brown skin. They got his personality too. Always so confident and sure of themselves, even at three years.

I named them after the men that died protecting me. I thought it was fitting to honor their memory through the boys they had no idea were also their protectees at the time of their deaths. They would never be forgotten.

My husband had not resigned from his position as head of the family, not that I expected him to, but he did offer Eli and Silas more responsibilities. Liam was already too engulfed in the business if anything he needed less.

Given their new positions, the men would spend less time at our home but when they did the boys were the center of their attention.

They were completely infatuated with Braxton and Hades, probably more than their father at times.

But that could be an exaggeration on my part because Elias was in love with his boys. They could do no wrong in his eyes. And the same for them when it came to him.

They didn’t see Elias as the Grim Reaper; the nightmare that carved men’s eyes from their skulls. He was their father; the man who showered them with toys, snuck and fed them cake when they were supposed to be sleeping, and read to them at night.

He was their hero. The man they looked up to.

I walked to their room, pushing the door as their nightlights lit their sleeping faces.

I always found myself checking on them throughout the night. It was still surreal to me that we created these two perfect beings so every night I would tiptoe to their room to make sure they were where I left them.

Some nights, Elias would join me as we stared at them sleeping- the love for our boys overwhelming us.

With one last kiss on their foreheads, I walked out of their room and to my own.

My husband was still the late bird I knew him to be, working in his office at all hours of the night; granted that was the only time the boys gave him a break.

And I waited for him every night. I never went to sleep without my husband next to me; it was my way of ensuring that he returned to me every night safely.

Lifting my face from the faucet, water dripping from my hands, I looked in the mirror at my sparkling ring. It was still as beautiful as the day he gave it to me. It never left my fingers since he put it there. I never had the need to remove it.

I heard a throat clear as my finger traced my ring.

In the doorway, stood Elias, his shirt rolled to his sleeves, his belt missing as he leaned against the door.

The years had been kind to my husband. He was still the most handsome man I ever met. His skin was still flawless while his thick beard framed those deathly, dark eyes of his.

I turned to him, wrapped in his oversized robe as he pushed from the door.

“I thought you would be downstairs for a bit more.”

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