Chapter 10 - The Eyes Have ItThree months later.
The autumn air in Louisville was crisp, carrying the sweet scent of fallen leaves and woodsmoke.
I stood on the front porch of a sprawling, sunlit colonial house overlooking a quiet suburban cul-de-sac—far away from hospitals, shootouts, and syndicate ledgers. It was our home now. Real, permanent, and safe.
From down the driveway came the sound of joyful, infectious laughter.
I leaned against the porch railing with a mug of coffee in hand and watched.
Griffin was kneeling on the front lawn, wearing faded jeans and a simple gray sweater—looking startlingly like the twenty-two-year-old boy I had fallen in love with seven years ago, minus the grease and the constant, underlying panic.
Running circles around him was Rosie, wearing a superhero cape made out of an old blue bath towel, brandishing a plastic sword.
“Prepare to be defeated, dragon!” Rosie shouted, charging forward and tapping Griffin gently on the shoulder with her plastic sword.
Griffin clutched his chest in exaggerated agony, letting out a dramatic gasp before collapsing backward onto the emerald-green grass.
“Oh, no! Defeated by the great princess!” Griffin groaned, staring up at the sky.
Rosie triumphed, planting her hands on her hips and laughing brightly. Then, she dropped her sword, crawled onto Griffin’s chest, and leaned down close to his face, tilting her head to the left in that exact, familiar way.
“You’re not a very scary dragon, Daddy,” Rosie announced sagely.
Griffin smiled—a wide, genuine, completely unguarded smile that crinkled the corners of his dark hazel eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around our daughter, tickling her ribs until she shrieked with laughter, before looking up across the lawn toward the porch.
Our eyes met across the golden autumn sunlight.
He didn't need to say anything. The seven years of pain, the silence, the blood, and the fear—they all dissolved in that single glance.
I smiled back, taking a sip of my coffee, feeling the profound, breathtaking weight of a future we had fought through hell to claim.
May you like
And as Griffin hoisted Rosie onto his shoulders and carried her toward the porch, I knew one thing for certain:
She definitely had his eyes.
