Page 144 of Felonies are Forever

“Something sappy,” James suggests.

Dutch just laughs. “Right. I’m not good at making speeches. Just marry me, Daphne.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little white box, opening it up to show the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen, catching the light in blinding sparkles. “Daphne Foster, you are sentenced to life. With me.”

I nod, tears still dripping from my chin. “Yes,” I say as he slips the ring onto my finger. “Yes, I’ll do my time. I mean, I will. I do. Whatever the right response is. Just yes. Yes, yes, yes.”

I laugh again as Mom rushes over to hug me and James thrusts his hand out to shake with Dutch. But this time my laughter isn’t nervous, or unexpected. It’s joyous.

I’ve found a love that will last a lifetime, and things are all going to be okay. Dutch pulls me next to him.

“One more thing.”

He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out an white envelope address to the future Mrs. Dutch McCabe.

Dear Daphne,

I don’t know how to begin this. So many fucking feels as they say. Thank you for coming with me to see my sister today. I don’t know if I could have done it without you. There were things that needed to be said between us, things she needed to get out of her system, and facing that would have been much harder if you weren’t there by my side.

But that’s not what this letter is about. The inheritance is nice, I won’t lie. It gives me the ability to make some changes. And that’s really what I want to talk about.

Us.

You and me.

I’ve been thinking about that letter you wrote me again, the one with the elderly couple sitting at the table, celebrating eighty-one years of marriage. That letter meant so much to me, and I could never figure out why. I think now I know.

I think the reason I kept coming back to that old couple is because they remind me of us. Think about it. Everyone would have bet against their love, him being from the opposite side of the tracks and all. He even went to prison. But in the end, love won out, and seventy-two years after they met they’re still going strong.

One day, Daphne, we’ll be able to look back on our lives like that, see all the happy times we had together. I’ll be able to say to some youngster, isn’t she a looker? And you’ll be able to swat me away, even though you know it’s true.

But if we’re going to have seventy-one years of marriage, we need to get on with it.

That’s why I’m heading into town. Your dad has told me I have to have a place of my own, and I need to get a ring too. It’s a lot to fix in one evening, but when money is no object things like that get easier. I know you won’t read this letter until I give it to you tomorrow, after I’ve laid everything on the line, but I want you to know that from the moment I wake each morning, all I’m thinking of is you. That everything I do from now on is for you. For us.

I love you, Daphne Foster. That’s the fucking bottom line truth. Being pen pals with you gave me hope when I needed it most, but being with you has given me a life. A real life I can share with you. And I can’t wait to see what the rest of it brings.

Forever. For life.

Dutch.

ELEVEN

Dutch

Epilogue eight yearslater

A lot has changed.

But some things, not at all.

Thank fuck.

Daphne and I are still down to fuck almost anywhere and anytime, and every time is as good as the first. Sometimes better. It’s a hard thing to measure but let’s just say, my little bitch in heat needs my dick as much as my dick needs her.

The people around us have gotten used to our unfettered lust. James stopped giving me the stink eye a year after we got married. Joan took it all in stride but Walter?

He still gives me that hard look, that Don’t fuck this up look he did that first day.But I’ve caught him more than once telling Daphne if she’s happy he’s happy. And I intend with every bone in my body to keep her that way.

She’s hornier than me sometimes and I wonder how I got so lucky. She sometimes tracks my ass down, needy and wet, three, four times a fucking day.

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