Pennsylvania
Several days later
Rebel stepped onto his wraparound front porch with the creaky white wood painted swing he adored and took the mail from it's box.
All useless crud. Mostly junk mail and charity requests.Then he saw it. A small bland white envelope from New York City.
From Dom.
His breath caught as he sank down to the swing. It had been days since Dom had texted or called him. That had scared him enough he actually called Reese to check on the man. Especially since his dreams now had Jed shooting Dom not Bailey. Reese said Dom was ok. Which had perplexed Rebel. If he was ok why had he just stopped contact him ? Not that it mattered. It was what Rebel wanted. For Dom to move on and find someone worthy of him. Someone who didn't come with mountains of inner baggage he might never overcome.
He opened the envelope and took out the letter.
He read the letter.
When he finished he felt like a giant boulder had crushed him whole.
He stood up on suddenly unsteady legs. Still holding the letter Rebel called out," Bailey! "
He fell onto his knees as though in prayer.
It was over.
" What's the problem? ," Ricky Joe asked. " This is what you wanted ? Right? "