Page 85 of Wilde Hearts

“I’m stalling.”

“I figured,” I replied softly, as I lay down on my side and looked at Colt.

He slowly shook his head. “I need to do something.”

Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I need to do something for Grady. Or, not exactly for Grady, but in his name. Imagine all the people out there who feel the same way he did. Like life had nothing left to offer them. Grady could have lived a full life with his disease. I think we could have assured him of that, if he’d just told us. I’m certain we could have helped him. We’ll never know for sure, though, will we?”

I reached over and ran my finger down his cheek. “We may not have been able to save Grady, but maybe we can save others.”

He turned his head and looked at me, his smile sad. “You’ll help me?”

“Of course I will.”

He gently squeezed my hand as the smile slowly faded. “We know the reason why now. And I honestly thought if I knew, it would heal something in me. It feels like it opened an old wound instead.”

“I think maybe it’s because we know the reason, but we still feel helpless that we weren’t able to do anything for him.”

Colt nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”

He turned and looked back at the ceiling. “I guess we should head downstairs. I can hear the TV going, so I know my parents are still awake.”

After getting up, Colt reached for the envelope and the journal and handed them to me. As we left the room, he turned back and looked at it once again. “Goodbye, Grady. I love you.”

I quickly wiped a tear away and drew in a deep breath to get my emotions under control. Colt gently shut the door, reached for the box, and headed downstairs.

When we walked into the living room, Lynn and Jacob both looked up at us. Jacob muted the TV.

“This box is what I thought you might want to keep and go through at your discretion. It’s trophies, medals, and some personal items that were Grady’s.”

Lynn nodded and watched as Colt set the box on a side table. Then her eyes swung to me…and what I was holding.

“What is that?” she asked.

Colt and I exchanged a look before he took the envelope and walked over to his parents. He sat down on the coffee table and faced them both.

“We found this in Grady’s room, as well as a journal he kept.”

Lynn’s eyes went wide, as Jacob asked, “A journal?”

“Yes.”

“Does it…did he write about why?” Lynn asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Colt nodded, and a sob broke free from Lynn. She covered her mouth with her hands.

“Grady had an eye disease.”

Confused, Jacob asked, “What do you mean, an eye disease?”

Colt drew in a breath and quickly blew it out. “Dad, you already know that Grady wanted to be a pilot.”

Jacob nodded.

“I guess he was having issues with seeing at night, and some other things that popped up. He went to see an ophthalmologist, at Gina’s suggestion.”

“Gina’s the woman Grady was dating? The one who was giving him flying lessons?” Jacob asked.