Game of Revenge

Chapter 14

Kiernan

It’s been a whirlwind the past eight years. It’s hard to think about the year filled with pain where I almost lost everything, including my life, but therapy has helped me hold onto what’s important.

Frankie walks toward our daughter, Kate. She’s two today, and wouldn’t be here without this incredible woman. We worked hard to get to this point, and there’s no jealousy, simply love.

This is the way things always should have been, but Michael’s jealousy ruined everything in our relationship. The horrors of his actions opened up the door to allow us to make mistakes, try new things, and burn away the pain of the past.

“It’s almost time to cut the cake,” Tray murmurs, wrapping his strong arms around my waist. “How messy do you think Kate will get?”

“Is it too late to change her dress?” I tease. “The pink frosting is going to make for a really interesting diaper.”

Tray snorts as he kisses my cheek, rolling his eyes. Everyone knows that frosting and epic poops go hand and hand.

Carrie has a tradition of getting her kids cupcakes to cut down the mess when they’re younger, and we’re continuing it. Kate has a pretty pink unicorn cupcake ready to go, and there’s a cake for everyone else.

Kate toddles around having intense baby conversations with people, and they’re instantly charmed. They have no idea what a nightmare she is if she’s ignored, so I’m glad everyone here loves babies.

“Kate’s so pretty,” Carrie sighs, walking up to us. She's officially done having babies, and stopped at four. The guys pouted, but agreed that their kids are a handful.

“Mommy, cannon ball!” Margo screams, jumping into the pool with a giant splash.

“Relax, she can float,” Carrie murmurs, leaning forward to watch as Margo giggles once she comes up, flopping onto her back to wait to be rescued.

“The tiny terror is also a diva,” I mutter with a chuckle as I watch Bates curse and jump in to go get her. “Does she do this often?”

“Enough that my heart doesn’t jump out of my chest anymore,” she replies. “Now you have your own tiny terror, boys. Good luck.”

“Thanks so much,” I drawl. “We’ll be lucky if we get through this without a meltdown.”

“Pool!” Kate yells.

“Spoke too soon,” Tray grunts, turning and catching a running toddler. It’s like he has a sixth sense about where she is.

Fatherhood looks damn good on him.

“Getting in the pool means no cake,” I remind her, kissing her cheeks. “It also means the birthday girl will have to say goodbye to all her guests.”

“I really want cake,” Carrie says, pouting, effectively distracting Kate from a dripping Margo and Bates.

“Me too,” my daughter says decisively. “Now?”

Carrie glances at Tray and I, grinning as we nod.

“Absolutely,” she says. “Ready?”

We drag our feet slightly getting everything ready to give Margo and Bates time to change. They’re staying with us for the week to hang out, and they helped Frankie plan a ton of fun activities for the kids.

Tiffany looks around at everyone before checking her phone. It’s hard to imagine she’s fourteen now, and could be talking to a boy.

Glancing at Carrie, I lean in to talk to her. “What’s with the moody teen?” I ask her.

Blowing out a breath, she shrugs. “Tiffany is friends with three of the neighborhood kids, and is missing them. Drea, Luis, Marcus, and she are thick as thieves. I’ve had the birds and the bees talk with her, but she told me they’re just friends. We’ll be home soon enough. Tiffany can be patient.”

I have a feeling Tiffany may not be telling the entire story as she giggles, and I shrug. If I have to go and scare people with her fathers, I’m totally down.

“Now we’re ready,” Tray says as Bates hustles back outside.

Laughing and chatting, we light the candle, and I sit Kate in Frankie’s lap. Frankie claps with our daughter as we all sing, and I feel a strange lump in my throat. It’s a mixture of happiness and sadness that I almost fucked it all up.

This is our second chance with Tray. It’s not traditional, but I know better than anyone that happiness doesn’t care what love looks like. Frankie has been my best friend for years, it just seems right that Tray fell in love with her.

Families come in so many shapes and sizes, and this is what Carrie and I fight for when we create a Rage Night. The urge still bubbles up to fight against injustice, and I’m not anyone’s angel. When a particularly awful newspaper article crosses mine or Carrie's path, the wheels start to churn again.

Therapy helps heal my mind, quiets the guilt that I could have saved Brian, and reminds me how worthy I am of my life. I still go once a month for maintenance sessions, because life is difficult even when everything is going well.

I’m not willing to take even a second for granted.

I am still unhinged, married to equally dark souls. Once a year, we still let the demons out, find revenge for people who don’t have anyone else. We try to find the victims who are still alive, who can rebuild their lives just as Carrie did, and give them closure.

They may not know why the people who hurt them died terribly, but the Rainbow Slaughterer is resurrected on a different night, once a year.

The FBI half heartedly checks on the scene and then closes it, knowing that they won’t be able to stop it. A part of me thinks they don’t want it to as well.

“Happy birthday, Kate!” I yell.

Tray and I hug our family tightly, smiling for the camera as Carrie takes a photo.

We aren’t perfect, but our life is exactly everything we could have ever dreamed of.