Her eyes came to him, and they were bright with wet.
“I hope Hale never sells this house,” Judge said. “I totally get why your uncle took his last breath here. It’s filled with love.”
He barely finished his last word before she walked into his arms.
Judge held her, gaze on that photo.
Thanks, man, he said to the universe.
There was no reply.
Even so, deep down in his soul, Judge knew…
He was heard.
After all, he was granted this moment and this woman in his arms, all she had given him, and all she would.
And he knew one thing for certain about Corey Szabo.
If Judge wasn’t worthy of her, he wouldn’t be there.
* * *
Seven hours later, there were thirteen people in that house.
And it was true.
Corey Szabo’s home was as he’d always wanted it.
Filled with love.
The End
The River Rain Series will continue…
With the story of Rix and Alex.
Post-Script
The Assessment
Rhys
The Next Life Premiere Night…Two Thousand and Seventy-Three Miles away from Los Angeles…in Brownsburg, Indiana…
Rhys sat at the bar.
It was bordering on seedy.
Worn in.
Welcoming to locals.
Not intimidating to out-of-towners.
The sign over the door called it J&J’s Saloon.
Rhys thought it was trouble.
This had a lot to do with the two men that sat at the end of the bar. Both dark-headed, both good-looking, one built like a linebacker, the other just plain built.
They had eyes on Rhys. They did not share that they were happy with his vibe.
And they reeked of cop.
They did this even though Rhys knew who they were.
And that they were both cops.
He sat with his vodka rocks and gave all appearances of ignoring them, but he tracked every move they made.
This didn’t stop him from looking to the door when it opened.
He already knew the man entering was the man he came to see.
Like he knew one of the men at the end of the bar was Alec Colton, one of serial killer Denny Lowe’s first two victims.
Lowe obviously hadn’t killed Colton, but he’d taken something else from him that, from Rhys’s research, was more precious to him than his life.
Fortunately for Colton, he’d gotten it back.
Now, the man walking his way was another story.
Rhys didn’t like it, but he’d come into this bar without his guns or his knife.
They’d know he was armed just looking at him.
He didn’t need that headache.
And the man who walked right up to him and gave him a once-over would know it too.
Anthony Joseph Callahan.
“You Vaughan?” he asked when he stopped at Rhys’s side.
“Yes, and you’re Joe Callahan.”
Callahan jerked up his chin.
He was a big man too.
Big.
Built.
And more dangerous than the two at the end of the bar put together.
And the man with Colton, a man called Tanner Layne, had been government trained, even if that was by proxy, and Rhys didn’t mean military.
Layne knew entirely different kinds of ops.
Specialized.
How this crew converged on this small town in Indiana, Rhys had no clue.
He also didn’t care.
That was not his directive.
He focused on the man in front of him.
“Got your message, I’m here,” Joe Callahan grunted. “What’s this about?”
“I’d like to talk to you about Susan Shepherd.”
Callahan’s eyes narrowed under menacingly knit brows.
They then flicked across the bar, to Colton.
They came back to Rhys.
And then, assessment concluded, he took the stool next to Rhys’s.
Discussion & Reflection Questions
1. Divorce is now commonly accepted in many societies. As such, was it a surprise to you the differing nuances of the fallout for the children of divorced parents, even if those children are adults, and the split was for the most part amicable and functional when it came to the Pierce-Swans? Or the prolonged fallout when the divorce was not amicable, and the child was young, when it came to the Oakleys?
Further, what were your thoughts around the fact that the parents understood on some level there was fallout but did not actively press assisting their offspring to directly deal with these issues? Do you think they should be treating them as adults and letting them find their own way, as Genny and Tom are doing? Or interceding so they didn’t have to deal at all, like Jamie did? Or should they be more forcefully intervening?
2. What were your thoughts about Chloe’s reaction to Genny’s inability to forgive Tom’s betrayal and preserve their marriage? Did you feel Chloe was being too hard on her mother?
And as Chloe ruminated about some of her parents’ marital history, did you feel there might have been things Genny missed that led to the disintegration of her closeness to her husband—not in the sense she held any responsibility for the ultimate betrayal—but perhaps bore some shared responsibility for the failure of their marriage?
3. Hounded by the media throughout his divorce, Jameson Oakley sought to shield his son from that and eventually made a judgment call on how best to protect him. What did you think about this decision? What were your thoughts as it came back to haunt him? How did you feel about Judge’s acceptance of it?