GUILTY (Gabe's Trials)

Epilogue

"She's 16, Mr Shaffer. Our daughter is old enough to go out on her first date with the nice guy waiting for her just outside this door." My husband didn't seem fully convinced of my words, so adding a little extra sway to my hips, I walked to him and placed both my hands on either side of his chest.

"How do you know he's such a nice guy? He could be a serial killer for all we know." His hands gently grabbed my upper arms and were getting ready to move me out of his way the moment I placed my lips at the base of his neck allowing my tongue to dart out a little and lick the contours of his bulging veins. 

"I had Tom perform a little check up on him, of course. The boy is clean. He's coming from a good family, with a stay at home mother and a politician father. He's ever only went to the best schools and he's met Mia at a book club. They're going out for burgers and some soda. Everything is gonna be fine, Gabriel." My husband frowned a little and that was exactly how I knew that I'd just said something I probably shouldn't have. 

"For how long have you known about this exactly?" Oh, for fuck's sake!

"Only for a week or so, but Gabriel, you need to understand that the only reason why I haven't told you about this earlier is that Mia asked me not to. She was afraid you would react... Well, pretty much the way you are reacting right now." Anger took over his beautiful face, my husband's grip of me intensifying ever so slightly. 

"For fuck's sake, dea! She's my baby girl! I can't let her go out with that type of guy and have her heart broken." That type of guy? Had he even listened to me?

"What type of guy? I told you..." Placing one long finger over my lips, Gabriel slowly shook his head at me. 

"I know what you told me and I trust you. It's him I don't trust, dea. I know his type. I can see right through him."  And of course that had nothing to do with the fact that the guy in question was just about to go out with our daughter. 

"Look, Gabe! We either do this and let her make her own choices or she'll shut us out. Would you rather she went behind our backs with this? It's just a date and Aidan is just a boy. I had my first boyfriend at 16 too." His hazels darkened further, the look on my husband's face becoming murderous.

"And how is the fact that another guy's hands touched you before I even got the chance to meet you supposed to make me feel any better?" A gentle smile pulled at my lips as my thumb went to smoothen my husband's wrinkled forehead.

"All I'm saying is that you should give him a chance. I might even let you take a look at the information Tom has gathered on the boy." His forceful smile didn't fool me one bit. He was still gonna give both me and Mia a hard time on this, but that was ok. A reluctant Gabriel I could handle. 

A pair of what I guessed to be high heeled shoes started clinking down the stairs and that was the moment my murderer simply grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my office and into the hallway just in time to see our gorgeous Mia heading straight towards the handsome Aidan. Both she and her date had casual outfits on, Mia's beautiful, nude, studded Valentinos perfectly matching the black pair of jeans and light pink shirt she'd put on. My eyes practically hurt each time I looked at my beautiful, dark haired, blue eyed daughter, my heart swelling up inside my chest. She was the carbon copy of her father and I loved her to bits. As about Aidan... Well, the boy was quite handsome himself, his dirty blond, short hair, highlighting his piercing slightly darker blue eyes. His darker skin color came into perfect contrast with Mia's flawless, pale skin and the way he looked at her... For a guy who couldn't be trusted -according to my control freak of a husband- he certainly had good taste in girls. 

"Wow, you look... I mean, you generally look wonderful, but... I... This is for you." I had to bite back a laugh the moment the poor boy shoved a bunch of white tulips in my daughter's face and Gabriel huffed a little. My husband's body was tense to breaking point, every bit of self restrain he had currently focused on not strangling our daughter's romantic interest. 

"Thank you! They're gorgeous." Placing the flowers down onto the closest piece of furniture, Mia then turned towards us, her eyes pleading with her father. "Mom, dad, this is Aidan. Aidan, these are my parents." The boy stepped forward, bravely taking my hand to his lips and kissing my knuckles, then turning his attention to my murderer, who hadn't yet stopped watching him closely. 

"Mr Shaffer, I'll take good care of your daughter, sir." Extending his hand to Gabriel, the boy waited for him to return the gesture, but nothing happened. Breaking out into a cold sweat, I gently squeezed his arm. What happened afterwards left me speechless.

Taking Aidan's hand, Gabriel pulled him into his chest and kept him there for a little longer than necessary, only letting the poor boy go the moment he slowly nodded his head. 

"Your grandparents' plane lands at 8. I'm expecting you home by 10." Nodding her head, while pulling at a pretty scared Aidan, Mia slightly smiled. 

We watched them walk to the door, Aidan's body still a little stiff, much unlike Mia's. And then, just as the door opened, our daughter left her date's side and ran back to us, her arms encircling her father's neck, her lips pecking his cheek. 

"I love you!" She whispered into his ear and then ran back to the door, her slender body giving her a grace I oftenly found myself admiring. Winking her eye at me, Mia closed the door behind them, Gabriel's arms immediately encircling my waist and pulling my back into his chest.

"Thank you!" He whispered into my hair, his lips peppering soft kisses down the length of my neck. I frowned. "I've never thanked you for bringing Mia into the world, dea. I've never thanked you for filling me with love -for giving me so much to live for. So I'm thanking you now!" Tears filled my eyes, a silly smile splitting my face in two. 

"What did you tell him?" I asked after a while, his lips placing one last kiss at the base of my neck before a lazy smile spread on his face. 

"I made sure he knew who I was and what I was going to do if he didn't keep it in his pants." A fit of laughter took over me, making me double over, my hands going to my stomach in an attempt to make the pain there stop.

"May I ask you something?" I finally managed to stop laughing for long enough as to squeeze those words out of my tired lungs and went on when he nodded in agreement. "Where's Mathew?" His smirk and cocked brow gave me the answer before he did. 

"I needed someone I can trust to be there for Mia, in case she needed it." His seriousness as he spoke left no place for doubt. Gabriel might have been protective of me, but God forbid someone ever hurt our daughter. 

"You are unbelievable!" Smirking that damned smirk of his, Gabriel picked me up over his shoulder and started carrying me up the stairs as I giggled my heart out. Oh, dear Lord! This man was going to be the death of me one day. And what a beautiful way to die...

                                                                                          $$$

                                                                                     The end