The Oath we Give Epilogue

Silas

I drag a rough palm down my face, jerking the blue light glasses from my face and tossing them, listening to them click against the metal of the desk. 

“Everyone who works for me is a goddamn idiot. If I have to work late again this week, I’m going to fire all of them for fucking incompetence.” I grunt into the phone.

“Cry me a fucking river, then build a billion dollar bridge. Just say you miss being home with the ball and chain, then suck it up.” 

“Chaffed because Sage said no again?” 

“Fuck you.” He grumbles, sounding like a toddler. “This is my third proposal. I think she hates me.” 

A laugh, real and unfiltered, vibrates my chest, echoing through the speaker of the phone. “You’re full of shit. If Sage hated you, she’d left a long time ago. Trust me, you’re an annoying fucking shit.” 

“Aww, say more nice things about me, best friend. This is so good for my ego,” He mocks, the sound of a zippo being lit hitting my ears, “I know my girl, I love she wants a career for herself, on her own merit. But goddamn, can’t she girl boss with a ring on her finger and my last name glued to her first?”

I shake my head. Rook is the most impatient motherfucker on the planet, and Sage makes him work for it. It’s why they are so good together. It’s why when they finally tie the knot, it’ll be seamless. 

“Patience, dude. You have forever with her. You don’t need a piece of paper to tell you that.” 

“Oh, fuck off. You’re married and have a whole fucking kid.” He bites, inhaling his cigarette with a loud puff, “How is my niece hacking federal databases or recreating Picasso?”

“As of a few hours ago on face-time, she was spitting out blended peas. I’m sure by tomorrow she’ll tackle all the important shit.”

Nora’s little face was covered in baby food that looked far too similar to toxic green sludge, in my opinion, but was still the most beautiful child I’d ever seen. I’m not just biased, I’m serious. 

She has these big round eyes that fucking twinkle and it makes my chest hurt every time she looks at me. Like I’m her entire world. I know on the day she no longer needs me, spreads her wings and fly’s from the nest, It’ll break me. 

I hate working late, hate being away from home even more. Piles of paperwork sit in front of me, and there are over a dozen unopened emails in my inbox. 

But Coraline is incredible, always knows when I’m missing them so she faces times me so we can all have dinner together. It’s a small thing, so simple you might look over it, but it’s one of the many tiny details she pays attention to that makes me love her so much. Like the way she paints in silence with me in the room, knowing sometimes I don’t want to speak. I just need her to be around.

The way over the years she has acclimated to me, learned me and spent hours to understand the way I operate. We have studied and dissected each other. There is no rock unturned. I know the sound of her heartbeat by memory and every painful secret she’s every hid from the world. 

She’s mine and I’m hers. 

Completely, wholly, eternally. 

There is no one, not a single person, that I would want to be on this journey of life with. It was always meant to be me and her. Even if the path to each other was painful, our stories were always meant to end together. 

“Earth to Hawthorne, are you listening?” 

“No,” I say bluntly, “Was it important or more bitching?” 

“I was asking if you’d told Coraline about the move yet.” He says, “Keeping my gossiping girlfriend quiet has been a fucking job.” 

I nod even though he can’t see it. “Telling her tomorrow morning. You sure you’re good coming back here?” 

There is a reason for each of us to hate Ponderosa Springs. It was corrupt. It tortured our souls and took love just to wield it as a weapon against us. 

Still, it could never change the fact that this place was our home. 

“It was never an issue for me, dude. I needed to make sure Sage was good, she still has nightmares and if staying away protect her, I’d do it. But raising our families together in the future out weighs any pain from the past.” Rook says, taking another audible hit of his smoke, “You think Alistair will cave and come back? He hasn’t sold his portion yet.” 

I bite the inside of my cheek, leaning back in my chair, releasing a breath. “Yeah, I do.” 

“You think hell will freeze over soon too?” 

“Coraline said that Briar’s already mentioned not wanting to raise their kids without family around. Deep down, Caldwell knows staying away means his parents win.” I swirl the ice in my rocker’s glass, taking a drink of the whiskey inside. “They can’t take Ponderosa Springs from us. No one can. It was always ours.” 

“Yeah, oh by the way, did you—” 

Rook’s voice drowns out of my ears when the door to my office opens. My brow furrowing, hand twitching towards the gun in the drawer, but freezes when a whisper of white hair catches my eye. 

“Silas? Are you zoning out again—” 

“Bye, Rook.” 

I hang up, tossing my phone onto the desk. 

My eyes meet my wife’s, her full flushed cheeks from the cold outside, hair falling in soft waves down her back. Motherhood has never looked more beautiful. The confidence and joy it’s given her has made her into a force of a woman. 

I trace the lines of her curves, pulling my bottom lip into my mouth with my tongue before bitting down on it. 

It wasn’t easy in the beginning. There was a lot of trauma after Nora’s birth. Coraline’s own past tumbled her into postpartum, but she made it through. We made it together. Like I knew she would. 

My wife gave body and soul to our daughter, during birth and every day since. Even when the lights go out, and the darkness creeps in, I’ll never let her forget she was our little girl’s mom, that she is a wonderful mother. 

“Hex.” I say on a breath, exhaling her nickname like it’s the first intake of fresh air all day. 

“Nora crashed at your moms, I didn’t want to wake her up. You know she’s grumpy if she doesn’t sleep through the night.” She leans on the door to close it, bitting at the corner of lip, hiding her smile, “So I thought I’d come by and surprise.” 

My brow arches. “A surprise?” 

Coraline simply nods, a grin splitting her lips as she grabs the belt around her waist, tugging at it until it comes undone, allowing her long black coat to open in the front. 

The muscle in my jaw ticks, finishing my whiskey in one go before leaning back in my chair, tilting my head to eat up the sight of her fully naked body in front of me. 

Only a pair of black heels decorate her feet when she shrugs the jacket off, leaving it a pile of fabric on the floor. 

My legs spread, palm pressing into my growing dick to stop the throbbing, but it’s no use. Not around her. She breathes in my direction and I immediately want inside of her. 

I understood why she wanted to wait for more kids. Birth was hard for her and I’d never make her go through that again if she didn’t want to. We could make babies another way. I couldn’t make another her. 

But fuck if I didn’t want to breed her cunt. Keep her barefoot and pregnant, constantly full of my come. My palm rubs my jaw, staring at her tits and the way they bounce as she walks towards me. 

“What am I going to do with this surprise, Hex?” I mock, tilting my head, following the sway of her hips as her heels click against the floor. 

Coraline makes it to the front of my desk, my favorite meal just inches away from me, and suddenly I’m starved. The image of her spread out over these reports while I feast on her pussy has my dick twitching behind my slacks. 

“Well, we don’t have to worry about being quiet here. So I was thinking…” She trails off, her cheeks tinting pink. 

God, I love my wife. 

How independent and strong she is to the world. But I get this. This soft, shy version. The way she bends for me because she knows I’d break for her. 

“Use your words, Coraline. Tell me what you what.” My voice drops, scratching my throat, and her body shivers. 

“Anything you want.” 

“Yeah?” I jerk my chin towards her, a smirk taking over my lips. “You gonna let me treat you like a whore tonight?”

Desire flashes in her pretty eyes as she nods, dancing and igniting the need to make her shake with pleasure. Sex with Coraline is everything. It’s quick sometimes whenever we can get a free moment and other times, I don’t stop until she’s crying for me to stop. So overwhelmed with orgasms that she physically can’t handle anymore and then I make her come again. 

“If you want it so badly, then crawl to me.” 

I drag my thumb across my bottom lip as she finds the ground with grace, taking her sweet time crawling beneath my desk until she’s perched between my thighs. 

Her soft hands run the length of my thighs. “Is this how you want me?” 

“No,” I click my tongue, leaning forward to grip her face, “Open your fucking mouth.” 

I hum my approval as she gives for me, opening wide and sticking her tongue out before I spit. Forcing her to swallow it. 

“Get my cock out and choke. If you’re good for me, I’ll let you come.” I use my thumb to trace her bottom lip, a gentle caress before I feel her hands scrambling to undo my belt. 

The sharp sound of my zipper falling echoes in my office and I give her a hand in getting my pants down. 

I respect my wife more than anyone. 

But right now, I want to fuck her face like I don’t. 

I groan, running my hand through her smooth hair, grabbing a handful at the back of her head as I watch my cock spear through her pink lips. The warmth of her mouth enveloping me. 

“Good fucking girl, Hex.”

The sight of her kneeling at my feet, so eager to submit to me, has me thrusting my hips upward, chasing the tightness of her throat. I love how strong Coraline is, how people are afraid to say no to her now that she’s Light’s new owner. 

But when it’s just us? Coraline is a beautiful, pliable thing beneath my hands. She trusts me, she knows I’ll never hear, that I’ll take care of her and that means she can let go completely to pleasure. 

My grip tightens on her hair, forcing her to stop bobbing up and down my cock. With no piercings in tonight, I have free reign with her perfect mouth. 

I jerk my hips up, watching as she takes me to the back of her throat with practiced ease. A moan from her vibrates against my skin, making me twitch. Her tongue rubs along the underside of my shaft.

“That’s it, pretty thing. Take every inch of my cock into your tight fucking throat.” My words coming out raspier than I intended, but the result is her moaning around me. 

The bite of her nails digging into my thighs makes me hiss, snapping my hips back and peering down at her. Watery eyes meet my own, my spit covered shaft glistening in the dim light. A few tears leak down her cheeks. This is the only crying I ever want to see from her. 

Gripping the base of my dick, I rub the tip of my cock back and forth against her tongue. “Beg me for more, Hex. Beg me to use this mouth.” 

“Use me, Silas. Please? Use me until you come.” She pleads, big brown eyes desperate for me to abuse her body any way I see fit. 

A smile curls my lips as I grab her by the hair, forcing her head down on my cock again. I fuck her throat with abandon, moaning when she takes it without flinching, only a strangled moan escaping her lips. Hips snapping her head back and forth on my cock, basking in the sounds of her gagging and moaning around me.

“Fuck, yes.” I grind my teeth, my hips rocking between her soft lips, “Such a good girl for me, Coraline.” 

When her tongue swirls around the head of my dick, the base of my spine tingles and I know I’m dangerously close to coming. I pull myself from her, smirking as she whimpers. My thumb rubs her swollen lips, shaking my head with a soft laugh as she sucks it into her mouth. 

“Come here and sit on my cock.” 

Coraline’s eyes sparkle with lust as she rises from the floor, her naked body illuminated by the dim light in the room. Unable to help myself, I lean forward, latching my mouth to her nipple. 

“Silas.” She moans, hands coming behind my head to hold me to her chest. 

Taking my time to worship her tits, I switch back and forth. My tongue rolling the sensitive bud around, while my hands scoop them into my mouth. 

Everything about her is perfectly made for me. I’m obsessed with every inch of her. The parts she hates, even the parts she’s afraid of. Those are the ones I love most, I think, the dark scary pieces that accept my own. 

Coraline’s hands rest on my shoulders, attempting to push me back from her tits and after a few seconds, I let her. Admiring my spit coating her breasts and the red love marks on her supple flesh that will be purple tomorrow morning when we shower. 

“A little impatient, aren’t you?” I tease as she comes to straddle my lap. 

“You have no idea.” She murmurs.

Slowly, she lowers herself onto my cock. Her wet heat sucks me in, like her mouth did seconds ago. I groan, my eyes rolling back into my head at the feeling of her tight pussy trying to fit me all the way inside. 

“Fuck, you always feel so good.” I let out a guttural moan, palming her hips, trying not to thrust so she can adjust, but god she’s tight, like a vice made just for me. “Ride me, baby.” 

Coraline moans out as she sinks all the way down on my cock. Her walls gripping me so tight, like they’re trying to keep me inside of her, milking me dry with every movement. My hands grip her hips, helping her ride me in a mind-numbing rhythm.

“God, I’ll never get tired of this pussy.” 

My eyes trained on the way our bodies collide. The air in the room thickens with our heavy breaths, her nails digging into my shoulders with each pass. Her tits bouncing hypnotically with each thrust, taunting me further and further towards the edge of sanity.

“That’s it, baby,” I praise. “Such a good whore for your husband.” 

“Silas, fuck me. Please.” She gasps, “Please fuck me. I wanna come.” 

I shake my head, denying her request. “Not yet. You’re not desperate enough. I want you to need it, Hex.” 

Even though it nearly kills me, I lift her off my lap. Eliciting a needy little whine as I set her on the desk. Gripping her thighs, I spread her wide, baring her soaking pussy to me. Leaning in, I drag my tongue through her slit before circling her swollen clit. I work her clit relentlessly, alternating broad laps with rapid flicks. 

“Shit, shit, shit…” She curses when I slide two fingers inside her, pumping them in time with each pass of my tongue. Tickling that one spot deep inside that drives her crazy. 

“Oh god, Silas! I’m so close, please, please let me come,” she begs, writhing against my desk. 

I smirk against her pussy, flicking my tongue one last time before pulling away. That frustrated groan I go feral for ripped from her throat. 

“I can’t, please, baby. I can’t—” she whimpers, tossing her head back and forth.

“You’re so close, aren’t you?” I tease, standing up and jerking her body towards the edge of the desk, towering over her. “Do you need it? Does my filthy fucking wife need to come?” 

Coraline’s face is flushed, her chest heaving as she pants for air. Her wet, swollen lips part, but no words come out. Instead, she nods frantically, her eyes pleading with me. I can’t help but smirk at the sight of her, so desperate for release. I step closer to her, my hard cock inches away from her needy core.

In one smooth motion, I thrust inside her, filling her completely. She cries out, nails raking down my back. I set a relentless pace, pounding into her without mercy. The desk creaks and groans beneath us.

I’ll never be able to focus on work ever again. Each time I’m in here, all I’ll think about is spread out in front of me, taking my dick like she was made for it. 

“Is this what you need, baby?” I growl, “My cock pounding your cunt?

I grip her thighs, spreading her wider. I can feel her walls begin to flutter around me. She’s close and so am I. Coraline’s eyes roll back into her head, and she bites her lower lip to stifle her moans. I can feel her orgasm building, coiling deep inside her.

“Come for me, baby,” I growl, my voice guttural and rough. “Be so good for me, like I know you can. I want to feel you come on my cock while I fill you up.” 

Like she’s a trigger and my voice is the finger that pulls it. Her body tenses. Her back arches from the desk, her pussy clamping down on my dick, milking me as she comes around me. Her screams of ecstasy fill the room, bouncing off the walls. 

“Fuck, Coraline.”

The intensity of her orgasm pushes me over the edge. Lights dance behind my eyelids as I finish inside her. I groan, lazily pumping my hips, fucking my come into her.

As much as I love fucking her, this is my favorite part. The comedown. When our breathing slows and her nails scratch along my head. I caress her sides, my lips finding her neck, then shoulder, before coming back to her lips. 

“You’re my favorite surprise.” I murmur against her skin, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose, “You know that?” 

“You’re my favorite, everything.” She replies, laughing huskily as I bury my head in the crook of her neck, blowing raspberries against her skin. 

In this life, there is only one certainty. Death comes for each of us. No matter how fast we run or how long we avoid his touch. 

Grief is a privilege. 

It is the reminder that love was here, that it was real and it existed. 

It is a gift to know one day when I’m well into my eighties that I have a soul like Coraline’s next to me to mourn if her day comes before mine. Our love is a beautiful, tragic thing. One that came without warning, but designed so that all the empty spaces would be filled by the other. 

We lost, so we knew what to give the other. 

Curse and curse breaker. 

I’d live in a world of grey and she is my favorite color. 

Coraline 

One Year and Two Months later…

“Mama! Sfin Sfin!” 

I toss my head back, laugher spilling from my lips as I pick Nora up in my arms, spinning her in circles once again. 

With my arms curled around her back, I gently fake a fall, making a hmph sound as we tumble to the ground softly. Her little giggle tickles my ears. It’s infectious to the point where we are rolling around the living room floor giggling like idiots. 

Having a kid is fucking hard, like stab myself in the eye hard. Especially because my daughter is curious about everything and stubborn, like her father. 

I say no, she does it anyway. 

Up until she was ten months, her sleep schedule was a disaster and I read all the books, talked to all the fucking doctors, but nothing would fix it. Which in turn made me feel like a failure, but I’ve learned over this year and six months that’s what motherhood is. 

Feeling like you’re doing it all wrong until you have moments in your day like this one. When you watch your child and see how they turn a stick into a magic wand or a pile of leaves into an all day adventure. 

There is no answer to being the perfect parent, but when I look at my little girl, I know that she is happy, she is healthy, and loved. 

At the end of the day, that’s all I can really ask for. 

“Woof!” she shouts, pointing towards the book on the couch. 

“Yes, that is about a big red doggy.” I smile, resting my head next to hers on the floor, “I’m still trying to convince your dad a puppy and a toddler is a good idea. Any ideas?” 

Nora just sticks out her tongue, blowing bubbles with her lips. 

“Well, you are no help—” 

“You’re not gonna let this go, are you?” 

I shoot up from the floor, finding Silas standing a few feet away, leaning on the entry frame, dressed in a suit that has me rethinking having another baby. It’s so fucking unfair that he just keeps getting hotter with age. 

The dark grey material hugging his broad shoulders and tapering down to accentuate his trim waist. Brown eyes shimmering, filled with so much love as he watches Nora that it makes my chest ache. 

“Nope.” I say with a playful grin. 

Silas shakes his head, though there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. He’s gonna cave soon, he always does. Saying no to me is his least favorite thing in the world. 

I would never get tired of this, of us. This life we have created for ourselves and how we fought to protect it. 

“Dada!” Nora squeals, clambering to her feet and toddling over to him on unsteady legs. Silas scoops her up and peppers her chubby cheeks with kisses, eliciting more delighted giggles.

I can’t believe I carried her for eight and a half months just for her to look just like her father, but I can’t really complain. Not when she’s this pretty. 

“Hi, sweet girl.” He murmurs, letting her mess his tie up with her hands. while he just watches in awe of her. 

My heart swells as I watch them. He’d taken to the father roll so naturally. Nora adores him. It’s plain to see in the way her little face lights up when he walks in the room. 

I selfishly hated how easy it was for him in the beginning. No one warns you how hard postpartum is and I blamed myself for months. But Silas was there. He held my hand through all of it, pulling me out of my head when I needed a break. His patience through it had healed something in me. 

I make my way over to them, wrapping my arms around Silas’s waist and resting my chin on his shoulder. “How was work?” 

“Long. Boring. People are idiots. The usual.” He turns his head to give me a quick peck on the lips. “How was the auction?”

“Sold all of Faye’s paintings and then some.” I smooth a hand along Nora’s curls. 

Taking over Light had never been a part of my plan, which, if I’m honest, there wasn’t much of a plan to begin with. I just wanted a little stability, a break from all the chaos. 

But when Heidi offered me the position, a chance to take over, I hadn’t hesitated like I thought I would. The yes came out without a second thought, maybe because my heart knew this was meant for me before my brain did. 

Helping young women and girls battle through the long journey of recovery after the horrific things they’ve seen has filled my cup in ways I never expected. 

It’s even helped me in my own healing. 

“Wait, what are you doing home this early?” I ask, arching my eyebrow. 

“Alistair called me at work.” He grunts, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

My eyes widen, leaning back from him, “Did Briar go into labor?” 

“Oh my god.” I mutter, “I have to call Sage—” 

“Already done. We are meeting them all at the runway in two hours.” 

I turn to Nora, grinning, “Did you hear that? You get to meet your cousins today!” 

They might not be blood related, but that didn’t matter. We were a family, and we didn’t DNA to prove that to anyone. A few years ago, I never could have imagined we’d be here- married, with a child, our family closer than ever. We fought hard for this peace and normalcy in our lives. 

Tears burn the corner of my eyes, knowing the past still finds us in quiet moments. The scars fade but will never disappear. 

Silas wraps his arms around me, seeming to sense my thoughts. 

“Hey,” He whispers, brows furrowing, “We’re okay.” 

His steady presence comforts me, as it always has. We have a history many will never comprehend, but it binds us and it’s ours. 

“I’m good, just happy tears.” 

“Are you? Happy?” He asks, tilting his head a bit, watching me carefully. 

I spent years in darkness, begging for an ounce of light that I never believed would come. 

But as I sit here with a cup of fresh coffee, my shirtless husband spinning our one-year-old daughter in circles, while she giggles her head off. 

I realize something. 

Light was never a thing. It was always a person, always Silas.

Waiting just at the edge of the horizon for me. 

“So very happy, Silas.”