Chapter 10 - THE FINAL LESSON
Ten years after that anniversary night.
I sat on the porch of my new home.
It was a house in the country.
Plenty of trees.
A big garden.
A young boy was running across the lawn.
My nephew.
He was ten years old now.
He spent weekends with me.
He called me "Auntie Vic."
Madison was working as a manager at a retail store.
She was stable.
We weren't close,
but we were civil.
We shared a history,
even if we didn't share a heart.
Daniel Reed was there,
too.
He wasn't my PI anymore.
He was my friend.
Maybe more.
We sat in the twilight,
watching the fireflies.
"You look happy,"
Daniel said.
I leaned back in my chair.
"I am."
"I learned the most important lesson of all,"
I said.
"What’s that?"
"The military teaches you how to win a battle."
"But life teaches you how to win the peace."
"It’s not about the reveal."
"It’s not about the folder or the laboratory report."
"It’s about what you do after the smoke clears."
I looked at the boy playing in the grass.
The future was bright.
The past was a library of lessons.
I was forty-eight years old.
I was a veteran.
I was a CEO.
I was a survivor.
But most importantly,
I was free.
I took a sip of my tea.
The air was cool.
The world was quiet.
And for the first time in my life,
I didn't have a plan.
I didn't need one.
I just needed to be.
The war was over.
May you like
And I had finally come home.
The end.
