“Tell me thecrazy.”
Rhett studied me for a moment.“You sure you want tohearthis?”
“Of course.It’s fascinating.I’ve never understood people, but I still find theminteresting.”
He took another sip and settled back in his chair.“My favorite client was a guy who joined the military when he was eighteen.He went off to boot camp and ended up going to war, and didn’t make it home to find his girl for almost twentyyears.”
“Oh my God.”Sympathy washed through me, rivaling the heat of thealcohol.
“Yeah.Vietnam POW.The kind of thing you’d see movies about.He was messed up when he got out, and it took him a long time to pull himself together to the point where he felt he even had the right to go lookingforher.”
I shook my head, unable to imagine what it would have been like.“Whathappened?”
“He looked for her but the trail was cold.She’d left town and disappeared.No one knew where she went.He called in favors, and someone led himtome.”
“Youfoundher?”
Rhett’s lips tugged up in a smile.“Are you going to let me tell the story?You’re just as impatient as you’vealwaysbeen.”
I grinned sheepishly.Impatience was a fault I’d openly own and would probably never overcome, and I was perfectly okay with that.“Tell yourstory.”
He took a sip and then continued.“I had a hell of a time finding leads, until one day it occurred to me why someone would disappear in that day and age.”He looked pointedly at me.“Go ahead.I know you want toguess.”
Rhett knew me well.“She was pregnant,wasn’tshe?”
He nodded.“Yeah, she was.The reason he couldn’t find her was because she changed her last name—to his.Said she was a soldier’s widow so her son wouldn’t bear the burden of being raised by an unwed mother.When I tracked them down, he was in college.I found him first.He could’ve passed as his dad when he’d gone off to war.When I showed the surveillance pictures of the kid to my client, he broke down and cried in front of me.Couldn’t believe he had a son he’d never known, but was so damn happy she’d raised himashis.”
I was practically bouncing in my seat to know what happened next, but I was exercising a modicum ofpatience.
“When I told him she’d never remarried, never dated, and still wore her POW/MIA bracelet with his name on it every day, he was stunned.It devastated him that she’d been alone for so long, but at the same time, he was amazed at her loyalty to hismemory.”
My patience dried up.“Whathappenednext?”
“I contacted her and told her that he was alive.She bawled in my arms and begged to see him.When I told her he was waiting in a car out front, you would’ve thought I told her the house was on fire.She barely looked at me before she ran.She threw herself into his arms, and he caught her and held her tight.They stood in her little front yard for an hour, not sayinganything.”
Unable to hold them in, I felt tears slip down my cheeks.The image was too powerful.“That’samazing.”
“It was.I’m not too proud to admit I shed a few tears watching them together.It was absolutely incredible.Made me believe that things can last, even after all the cheating and bullshit I had to deal with on a dailybasis.”
For someone like Rhett who prized honor and loyalty, the job sounded horrible.I was glad he’d had some cases that restored his faith in humanity.“Did he meethisson?”
Rhett nodded.“I wasn’t there for that reunion, but the client wrote me a letter a couple days later telling me he didn’t get his life back when they released him from captivity.He got his life back when I found his world.I framed it.Reminded me that what I didmattered.”
I snuffled and lifted my cloth napkin to my eyes to dab the tears away.“Wow.You gave him his happily-ever-after.That’shuge.”
Rhett’s smile wobbled, as if recalling what the letter said.“Sometimes it’s the little things that make it allworthit.”
“I’d say that was a bigthing.”
“Yeah, I guess you’reright.”
As I dealt with my tears, trying to pull myself together after his emotional story, our server arrived with ourentrées.
“Ma’am, areyouokay?”
“Totally fine.Don’tmindme.”
She settled our beautifully plated food in front of us and disappeared just as quickly.Before I picked up my fork, I had to ask the question hovering on mytongue.