She slipped out the single page and scanned Judge Walker’s words.
I never fully shared how much it weighed on me, the gap between your privileged life and those who came through my court…it would ease my soul if you could sprinkle one more good deed into the world on my behalf.
With complete discretion, and without revealing the source of the request, could you please find and bestow a good Samaritan deed on one of my long-ago cases? If there’s anything she needs, provide a little nudge in the right direction.
Perhaps I’ll rest easy, knowing that you might be able to help this girl, and knowing that you’ll keep this confidential. Please don’t tell even your brother or mom. Her name is Orchid Paige.
God bless you in this endeavor. Dad
He remembered her. For all those years. He cared about righting wrongs. She felt moved, then angry and, finally, emotional.
“You did tell your brother. Against your dad’s wishes,” she noted.
“Caleb was goading me about you. I guess the secret was too much to hold in,” he said.
“Your dad saw me at the lowest point in my life. My aunt was trying to win money against the people who’d served my parents alcohol before their accident. I testified in your dad’s court. In the end, the case didn’t amount to much.”
“He’d be happy to see you doing well,” Phoenix predicted.
“I think he meant well,” she said at last. “At least his letter’s not maudlin or pitying.”
“You made an impression on him. After all the cases he’d seen, that was really saying something.”
“Did you consider doing nothing?” she asked.
He nodded. “I did, yes, but maybe not long enough. At the time, I couldn’t see a downside. I do now. I can see from your perspective how manipulative this whole thing must feel.”
She studied his face and saw honesty, sincerity. “Walk me through what you did. After you got the letter.”
“I will,” he agreed. “But first, I want to say that you’ve helped me see him in a new light. Not necessarily a good one. I was blinded by being Judge Walker’s son, and I took his counsel as gold. It’s making me realize that the way he pushed us boys wasn’t all good. I’m going to be honest here.” He paused for a long moment. “He’s the reason why I turned into a perfectionist who’s never satisfied.”
Honesty rippled his chin for a moment. She remained silent, seeing pain on his face. Clearly, he was trying to understand how all this happened.
“My brother grew up thinking he could never be good enough.”
Orchid nodded. “I’ve been thinking that I’ve been selfish. You know, just thinking of me. But you had it tough, too, in a different way. I had no father, and yours had such high expectations.”
“I’m sorry for what you missed,” he said.
“Don’t be sorry for me,” she declared, and then heard the edge in her voice. “I hate pity,” she added, her tone softer. “My life, and what I was lacking, has made me stronger.”
Phoenix smiled. “I can see that, and I respect that. Just remember that it’s okay to need other people, too.”
His words landed close to home. She shivered, and hid it with a sip of coffee. “Okay, so walk me through what you did. That is, to fulfill your father’s wishes.” She wanted to know… and she didn’t. And yet, without understanding, how could she move forward? She looked him squarely in the eyes. In that moment, he wasn’t a proud athlete, an agency founder, or even a mentor. Just a man with a heavy heart. No artifice. No subterfuge.
“I promised my father that I would find a good Samaritan deed. I Googled your name and… voilà. Orchid Paige is a unique name. I didn’t know how to figure out what you’d need, so I called a private investigator.”
Orchid flinched. “How weird that I was tailed and didn’t even know it.”
“If it makes you feel better, she put me through the paces, pressed me on my motives before she’d take the job. She even suggested just sending you money and being done with it. But, I don’t know, there was something about your picture, your LinkedIn profile. I could see that you were successful. You didn’t need a handout. So, I asked her to find out what you did need. She called to say she’d found what you wanted, but you thought there was little chance you’d get it.”
Orchid’s eyebrow lifted. “China? So, you thought you’d win me the assignment?”
“I didn’t even know what you wanted then. She didn’t either. She just had the name of some club that you liked. I talked my brother into going with me.”
She thought about this for a moment. “So, your plan was to run into me, and talk to me as if we were strangers bumping into each other?”
Phoenix shook his head. “Honestly, I had no plan. This was all new to me. I naively thought I might overhear what you wanted. Or at least get a sense if you were okay. And maybe that’d be it. When I saw you looked fine, I finished my beer and was about to leave. I told Caleb that we could skip out after I used the bathroom.”
