Epilogue Two
Five Years Later
Jenny
The car bumps and lurches back and forth, throwing me against the door and waking me up from my blindfold-induced nap. I have no idea what time it is or how long we’ve been driving. But the nap had been nice. Having a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a nine-month-old wreaks havoc on our sleep, to be sure. But I’m pretty sure my husband didn’t take me out on a drive just so I could get some sleep. “Where the hell are we going, Spencer?”
“You’ll see as soon as we get there. Patience, woman.” Stubborn man had refused to tell me where we were going or when we would get there.
Thankfully, five minutes later, I feel the car slow down, and then Spencer shifts into park. “Can I take the blindfold off now?”
“Not yet. I’m going to come around and get you.” His door opens and then slams shut, and his muffled footsteps on gravel filter through the interior of the car. A burst of cold air washes over my skin as he opens my door and helps me out of the car.
After almost five years living in Texas while Spencer led the Cowboys to two Super Bowls, I wasn’t used to the bitter cold of the Northeast anymore. But we both knew we would retire back home near our parents, and that time had come. At the ripe old age of twenty-seven, I was married to a retired professional NFL player. People thought he was crazy for giving it all up when he did. The Cowboys had offered him a new five-year contract worth over a hundred million dollars, not to mention the offers he’d been getting from other teams as well. But he’d accomplished all he wanted to as a pro athlete. We had more than enough money in bank accounts and investments to ensure neither of us would have to work ever again. The plans for my own shelter were starting to take shape; we just needed to find a location. As he told the press at his retirement announcement, he wanted to spend the rest of his life being home with his family for dinner every night. Never missing another Thanksgiving dinner or birthday.
He planned to take the next three years off, get his master’s degree in education, and then look for a job in a small school district close to home. He loved football, but he had never been a fan of the press and scrutiny that came with his profession. There had been so many tabloid articles about him cheating on me over the years I’d lost count. All of them complete bullshit. Fellow players called him the Boy Scout because he was never seen out drinking with the rest of the guys, and the few times he was photographed out and about were with me. My favorite tabloid story by far had been the one where they had photos of him “groping an unknown woman.” That woman had been me, and we’d gotten a little randy while out for a date night.
With Spencer’s arm tight around my waist, we walk a very small distance before he pulls me to a stop. “Okay. Ready?”
“I’ve been ready for hours now. Just let me see already!” Excitement races through me; Spencer is the best at surprises. I know he felt an enormous amount of guilt about being away so much, so he tried to make up for it in grand gestures. It was by no means necessary, but I had to admit I loved when he would whisk the kids and me away for some grand adventure spur of the moment.
Slowly, the blindfold slips up my forehead, allowing me to see for the first time in a couple hours. At first the light is so bright I have to squint and can only make out blurry objects. A building. Trees. Wide open sky. Then it all becomes clearer.
“Um, Spencer, did you bring me to the same orgy where we met?” The building doesn’t look much different than it did almost six years ago when we met: a simple structure made of metal siding and a concrete porch that spans the front side. The surrounding area might be a little more overgrown, but otherwise it is as if we’re stepping back in time to a very odd but special-in-my-heart night.
“Well, they don’t actually have the orgies here anymore. The people who used to own this place, and hold the parties, retired to Florida a couple months back and put this place on the market.” Spencer falls eerily silent.
“Honey, what did you do?”
“Don’t freak out, but I bought this place. The whole thing. The building where we met, the house on the other side of the property. There are twenty acres total. I figured this could be the rescue. After we burn everything inside, that is.” Spencer bounces on his toes, a look of worry and excitement lighting up his face.
I don’t know what to say.
“Okay, I can tell I’ve shocked you speechless. Just look at these plans I had an architect draw up.” He jogs over to the porch, where there are three cardboard cylinders propped against the siding. He withdraws the rolls of paper and spreads them out on the porch, weighting them down with some rocks. “So, we’ll use this existing structure as the reception area and veterinary offices. Then we’ll build the kennel onto the back. Each dog will get its own eight-by-eight room with heated floors, dog beds, toys, food and water stations, and a direct door out to the dog run. We’ll be able to control when they get outdoor time and when they stay in with a keypad on the side of the wall. The room will look more like a home than a cell.” Pointing to a large green open space behind the building he had been showing me, Spencer points to the same area beside the building. “We’ll clear out three acres for the dogs to run in. They’ll have a pond they can splash in, agility equipment, everything we’ll need to keep them happy and to train them. Eventually, I figure we can add on my outbuildings. Start a large-animal rescue as well with stables for horses, cows, pigs. Any animal you can dream of that might need a little extra help.”
I look down at the papers again, then circle the building, picturing it exactly as he described. It would be amazing. Everything and more than I had ever dreamt of, brought to life by the most amazing man in the world.
Tears spring to my eyes, emotion overrunning my body in a rush of realization.
Spencer comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “If you hate it, we can sell it again.”
“I love it,” I whisper, leaning back into his solid body. “I love that we are going to build our future in the same spot where we first met. I love that we are going to give this place a new life and rescue animals here. I just love it all.” I turn in his arms, looping mine around his neck. “I love you most of all.”
“I love you, too. And I promise, you’ll love the house too. We might have to redecorate so it is less seventies porn director, but once it is done, it will be amazing.” Laughing, we turn back to the front of the building.
“So, did you go in?” I look at my husband from the corner of my eye, trying not to laugh at the memories of that night.
“Nope. Bought the place sight unseen. Figured we’d have a cleaning company come out and tear everything out down to the studs.” Spencer turns his head, giving me an odd look. “Why?”
“I mean, aren’t you even a little curious what it looks like in the light of day when there aren’t bodies writhing all over the place?”
He shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
“Do you have the key?”
Spencer pulls out a key ring with three little silver keys jingling together from his pocket.
Without another word, we climb the stairs to the door and make our way inside. The room is cavernous and empty. I’m not afraid to admit to being disappointed that none of the fake leather couches or huge beds remain. I often wondered whether I exaggerated everything in my head.
