“Zoe, Walker is a really good man,” Elissa said. “He’s-”
“My daddy,” her daughter said firmly. “I know he is. He told me and daddies don’t lie.”
THE APARTMENT BUILDING was in the University district, typical for the area. The fall quarter would be starting in a few days and already students’ cars lined the street.
Walker parked behind a beat-up truck and set his alarm before walking to the third floor of the building and knocking on the door marked 16.
The second the woman opened the door, he knew she was the one. He’d nearly forgotten that night in Kabul when Ben had gotten drunk and talked about Ashley’s hair being the color of a sunset. But now, staring at the auburn-colored strands, he remembered.
“Ashley?” he asked, wanting to hope, but not there yet.
“Yes,” she said, drawing out the word. “Do I know you?”
“I’m a friend of Ben’s.” He held out the picture he always carried. “Did you know him?”
“Ben?” She smiled and took the picture. “Sure. Wow, I haven’t talked to him in a while. Almost, what, a year? Sorry, I’m a little brain-dead. I was in the library all night. I’m working on a final draft of my dissertation, which is a mess. But yeah, I know him.”
Walker felt his pulse increase. “You went out, right?”
Ashley’s smile widened. “A few times. He was great. A lot of fun. He went into the Marines. We wrote a few times, but then we kind of stopped.”
They’d stopped? Because…“You weren’t in love with him?”
“What?” She took a step back. “No. I mean I liked him, but nothing really happened between us. I don’t even remember if we kissed. Why are you asking me this? Has Ben been saying stuff about me?”
Walker felt the heaviness of defeat rest on his shoulders. He’d tried so damn hard, only to fail right at the end.
“Ben thought you were great,” he said quietly. “He told me you were one in a million.”
“Yeah. Where is he now?”
“He didn’t make it back. He died a few months ago.”
“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, but without any pain. “You were a friend of his?”
Walker nodded. “I was looking for his family.”
“Oh, right. I don’t know anything about them. He never said anything. I’m sorry. I wish I could help.”
“You have helped,” he told her. “Thanks for your time.”
He turned and walked down the stairs. He was done. He’d found Ben’s Ashley and he’d still come away with nothing.
ELISSA HAD TO WAIT UNTIL almost nine to see Walker. He finally walked into her hospital room shortly before the end of visiting hours.
She’d just been given another shot for the pain, so the edges of her day were starting to blur. She’d talked to Zoe before her daughter had gone to bed, then had chatted with her mother. Leslie had promised several days of rest punctuated only by large amounts of her favorite foods.
Despite the broken arm and the bruises, Elissa felt cared for and safe for the first time in a long time. The only tiny cloud on the horizon had been Walker’s absence, and now he was here. He looked tired and mussed, but she could live with that.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said as he approached her and took her uninjured hand. “I had some things to do. How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
What to say to this man? How could she thank him for all he’d done for her?
“You saved our lives,” she told him. “Thank you doesn’t come close.”
“It’s enough.”
She thought about what he’d said to Zoe. Had her daughter misunderstood?
He released her, pulled a worn envelope from his pocket and turned it over in his hands. “I found her.”
With her brain fuzzy, it took her a second to figure out what he meant. “Ashley? You found Ben’s Ashley.”
He nodded.
The fact that he still had the letter made her chest tighten. “What happened?”
“I shouldn’t have been surprised,” he said, not looking at her. “Ben was great, but geeky and not really the kind of guy women go for. He would have grown out of it and found someone who appreciated him but…” He shrugged.
Elissa’s heart began to ache. “She wasn’t in love with him.”
“No.” He stared at the letter. “All I wanted was for his family to know how great he was. I just wanted there to be one person who had loved him, who would miss him and know the world was a better place for him having been in it.”
Walker’s pain filled the room and pressed in on her until she found it difficult to breathe. It wasn’t the sort of ache that could be helped by a shot or a pill and she didn’t have the words to release him from his burden. Unless…
She took the envelope from him and opened it. She scanned the typed contents, then began to read.
“I met Ben the first day he landed in Afghanistan. If ever a new recruit had been out of place, it was him. But in less than a week, Ben was the guy everybody knew and everybody liked. He had the soul of a poet, but the heart of a warrior. He was the bravest man I’ve ever met.”
She read on as Walker’s words detailed Ben’s service and sacrifice.
“I know this is a time of grief, but I hope you’ll eventually be able to see past that to the hero he was. I’ll never forget him. He will always be a part of me, just like he’s a part of you. He made me proud to be a soldier and a Marine. He made me proud to be an American.”
She wiped away her tears and folded the letter. “You can stop looking, Walker. Not because there isn’t anyone, but because you’re Ben’s family. You always have been. The person you’ve looking for…is you.”
He stared at her for a long time. Then he bent over and gently gathered her against him as he shook with emotion.
“I miss him,” he said, his voice gruff. “Every day.”
“Then he’s not really gone. He lives in you and through you. He lives in me and everyone else you tell about him.”
Walker heard her words and knew she spoke the truth about all of it. He was Ben’s family. In a way he’d always known that, but he resisted it because he’d wanted Ben to have more. Someone not so flawed and broken.
“I should have-”
She reached up and pressed her fingers to his mouth. “No. No should haves, no blaming, no guilt. He was your friend and you loved him. You will mourn him. No one can ask for more.”
For the first time in more than a decade, peace settled over him. He felt the loss of Ben, just as he felt the loss of Charlotte. He’d made mistakes, but he’d loved them both. And they’d loved him.
“We’re not perfect,” Elissa was saying. “No one is. We have to learn to accept our faults and move on.”
She was so damn serious, he thought as he bent down and kissed her. He liked that about her. Her serious side and her laughter. How she made jewelry and loved her daughter and took care of Mrs. Ford and stayed strong.
“I love you,” he said.
She stared at him. “What? I had a whole speech prepared.”
He smiled. “About what?”
“I can’t remember now. You love me?”
“Totally. And Zoe.”
“She said you were her daddy.”
“I am by every definition but biology.” He touched her cheek. “Although I should have talked to you first.”
She looked dazed. “No, this is fine. You really love me? This isn’t the painkiller talking?”
He kissed her, careful to be gentle against her bruises. “I love you, Elissa. I’ve been locked up tight for so long, I barely remember what it’s like to live, but I want to learn again. I want to be with you in every sense of the word. I don’t know if this is right for you or just scary. I don’t know anything except you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
