Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

are weird these days. I wish you were here to laugh at them with me. Don't be frightened but on the last trip out I got bit by a snake. I am fine but I will be laid up for a week or so. We will have scars in the same spot now. You'll have to kiss it better next time we see each other.
    Yours,
    Rhys
     
    Jaaase,
    I fear ima little drunk as I write this. Baby, how can I miss you sooo much when you were only here a month? I think I'm in love with you. I'll proly regret sealing this without seeing it again sober but I don't care.
    Love,
    Rhys
     
    Dear Jase,
    I must apologize for my drunken letter. I hate that I made my confessions under the influence but that makes them no less valid. Forgive me?
    Love,
    Rhys
     
    Dear Jase,
    You like it when I call you Baby do you? Okay. I miss you so much Baby. It's only a little while longer now. Geoff says you testify in a couple of weeks. I am so proud of you for doing the right thing. Don't be scared.
    Love,
    Rhys
     
    Dear Jase,
    Yes!
    Love,
    Rhys
    ****
    I touched the folded piece of paper in my pocket one last time before I walked calmly to the front of the courtroom and took the stand. It was my talisman. Rhys' letters were all that kept me sane while I was kept isolated in my safe house. I knew that he was waiting for me at the end of this, no matter the outcome.
    I swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and sat down. The prosecutor walked me through my story with carefully planned questions, and I answered everything in a calm and even voice, trying to project my own honesty.
    The defense attorney tried to poke holes in my story, get me to admit to being a liar, to planting evidence, but I stuck to my story as I had practiced and eventually they let me off the stand.
    The trial took another three weeks but I got to be in the courtroom when the jury brought back a guilty verdict for all the major players in the Doherty family. Geoff had told me I would need to stay in one of the conference rooms off the courtroom until the defendants had all been escorted out of the building so I was staring out the window at the Boston cityscape when I heard the door open.
    Expecting Geoff, I didn't turn around right away. I was startled when I heard a familiar throat clearing from about two feet behind me. I spun and launched myself at a grinning Rhys. We just stood there holding each other, smiling like idiots for a good two minutes.
    When Rhys finally broke away, he looked a little nervous. He put his hands in his pockets and fixed his eyes on a spot over my shoulder for a moment before he took a deep breath and looked back at me.
    "I know you asked me to go with you in your last letter." I started to panic a bit that he was going to take back his answer, and it must of have shown on my face because he rushed to say, "And my answer is still yes." He paused again, gathering his words, I assume. He muttered, "I don't know why I am so nervous."
    He shook his head, pulled his hands out of his pockets and dropped to one knee all in one graceful motion. As he opened the small box in his hand, he looked straight up at me and said, "Jason O'Brennan, Will you marry me?"
    A smile split across my face, even larger than before, and I gave the only answer I could, "Yes!"
    He whooped as he stood up and put the ring on my finger before kissing me. Geoff chose that moment to interrupt.
    After much handshaking and congratulations, Geoff explained that if we wanted to do this we needed to do it now, before we signed paperwork and got placed in the program. We followed him down a few floors in the courthouse to the office of the Justice of the Peace.
    I stood up in front of Rhys, joy bubbling up in my heart as we both pledged ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives for better or worse, for richer or poorer and in sickness or in health.
    ****
    One Month Later
    "Lynch! Hey, Lynch." I startled as my new boss grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face him. "Didn't you hear me? I was calling your name."
    I groaned a little on the inside. Even after a month I still had a delayed reaction when someone said our new name. I had to stop a grin from spreading across my face. Our new name.
    "Sorry, sir, I'm still not used to all the noise in here." The marshals, in all their wisdom, had gotten me a job at a Casino about half an hour outside our new hometown of Leon, Iowa teaching noobs to play poker.
    I had been a bit skeptical at first but it was actually really fun. I was