Devil in Shepherd's Robes

Ch 6: The March of Time

"Victor Ephram Agnello... I love you." Silvia's warm voice filled his mind like honey, putting any and every trouble he felt down with those three words. The three words he never thought he'd hear in his lifetime. As her hands embraced his face like a mother holding her child, their eyes met for the longest time, unbroken silence ensued. She looked into his warm eyes, they reminded her of melting chocolate in a pool of coffee. His nearly shoulder length hair matched perfectly with his kind brown eyes.

They had finally bought their first house together, settling down for the first time in both their lives. Life couldn't be any better. The blissful days they spent together were like Heaven on Earth, everyday filled with the company of one another. For Victor, that was enough. His whole life had been spent on the run from others, trying to disappear into the background of the world. It was only when he met Silvia that he decided to bring himself to the forefront of his own life. No more running, no more hiding.

"You love me, huh? Oh my gosh... do you have a crush on me?" Victor playfully asked, smiling at his wife with a smile he never thought he'd show another person. Every moment he spent with her was surreal, he just couldn't help but smile every second he was near her.

"Oh eww... no way! You have cooties, get away from me!" She spoke amidst her laughter, running away from her husband with astounding speed. At this, Victor chased after her through the house. Running through doorway after doorway, the two of them began a game of hide and seek, only to lead to Victor alone in the living room.

He crept past the small floral pattern couch, the wooden floorboards creaking under every step. The sunlight creeping in from the half-opened window shone brilliantly, its golden light causing the entire house to take on an amber hue. The house itself was small but clean, smelling of sweet scented candles. Vanilla and Pecan were Silvia's favorite, the aroma was quite often present. They weren't able to afford anything larger than their current home at the moment, but it's not like they'd want to in the first place, this was all they needed. Both of them had stable jobs, a cozy little house, and enough love between the two of them to power a country.

As Victor noticed one of the long window curtains move unnaturally, he smiled to himself. They were nearly see-through, the white curtains causing the golden light of the setting sun to fade to a calming soft yellow.

"I love you too, Silvia." He said, pulling the curtains over to the side, revealing his grinning wife. Her hair reflected the sunlight like the ocean kissing the sun, her silver strands of hair moving softly with the warm breeze of the open window. Their eyes locked onto one another, their souls becoming one and the same for the briefest of moments. Her light blue eyes reminded him of the glaciers in the arctic as they stared into his own.

The two of them kissed in their love-drunk stupor, holding one another as if they never wished to let go. As their lips parted ways and their eyes met once again, Victor grasped his wife's hand, leading her up the creaky wooden stairs and into their bedroom.

"We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, remember? We're meeting your dad out in Centerfield for breakfast, so we both need to get plenty of rest. I'd rather not spend the only day we have off work together catching up on sleep we missed the night before, yeah?" He said softly, pointing towards the master bathroom door.

"You get the shower first, but please don't use up all the hot water, m'kay?"

"No promises!" Silvia shouted, hurriedly collecting her brightly colored pink and white pajamas as she rushed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Victor chuckled to himself under his breath, wondering how life could possibly be this good. As he laid down upon the silky white sheets of their queen sized bed, he looked out the window. Large pine trees towered over the horizon, with the setting sun peeking out from behind them like it wanted to be part of their game of hide and seek. He listened to the shower run as he watched the sun slowly melt away into the ground, disappearing for good until the morning came. The shadows of the trees faded away with the darkness of the sky, covering their home in the slumbering night.