3. When the target is off his head, he will take Letty and G away from this place.
Miles took a deep breath as he broke his gaze from the mirror. Stepping into the hot shower, Miles let the scolding hot water break upon his skin. Leaning against the shower wall, he let the hot water hit his back, the steam relaxing his muscles, the heat of the droplets reminding him that he was alive—reminding him of his high tolerance for pain. After a moment his tolerance level increased as the water felt normal again. Running his hair under the spray, he let the shower take away his worries that he couldn’t voice aloud, and let the relaxing pressure of the water soothe his weary mind.
Letty took a deep breath as she set yet another letter aside. She had made major progress during Miles’s hour-long shower. She could only imagine how good it must feel to be in a home and be able to move about without someone else screaming at you and telling you what to do. She hoped that he felt at home with her, but she also understood that it would take some time for Miles to adjust to living life on the outside, especially with their own future held up in the balance. Life was not easy under the watchful eye of the Capadonno family. Nobody knew this better than Miles himself. So when he said that he had a plan, Letty knew that she had to trust it. Miles was not a stupid man by any stretch of the imagination and anyone who underestimated him would be proven wrong in time. Letty was always amazed by Miles’s intelligence, and she knew that it would serve him well in the years ahead. He had always been street smart, but more than that, Miles was calculating. He planned his movements three steps ahead, and in the past has likened business with his father and his constituents as a lethal game of chess.
Letty grabbed one envelope after another, hell bent upon reading them all, then using her bed for its intended purpose. It quickly became clear to Letty that Miles had poured all his hopes and dreams, fears and regrets into the letters he wrote to her. He knew she wouldn’t judge him, but there was still a self-conscious worry that Letty would have forgotten him by the time he was up for parole. Letty laughed at his points of humor or unbridled frustration, cried at his sadness and hopelessness, and got angry every time he thought she had abandoned him.
There was one letter left, and it had just arrived at her father’s house today. Letty’s heart raced as she stared at the postmark. Sliding her finger along the seam of the envelope, Letty tore it open, eager to read the final letter. As her eyes met Miles’s messy scrawl, Letty’s blood began to rush.
October 8, 2015
Miles Capadonno
Prisoner #27163972
Pennsylvania Corrections
Franklin Correctional Facility
1022 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Letty,
I haven’t gotten a response from you in seventeen years, so I’m not expecting a response to this. My mailing address will be changing. I don’t know how you’ll react to this news, I don’t even know what I’m coming home to, but, baby, I’m coming home. The parole board has approved my release and the date is set for this Friday. It’s been seventeen years since I’ve seen your face, but I’m determined to see it again. I’m going home first to see my father. There’s a conversation that needs to be had, then I’m coming straight to you.
I won’t go away without an explanation, Letty. You told me you loved me, and I believed you. Hope you don’t have a new man, because he’s gonna be pissed off when I camp out on your couch demanding everything you promised me. I’m gonna ask you to marry me. Not now. When the time is right. Just give me a chance to talk. To explain. I’ve written you weekly for the last seventeen years, the least you can do is give me a chance. I assume you still live at your father’s house. None of the mail was returned to me.
I have just two questions for you. Why did you ignore me for seventeen years? Do you still love me?
That’s it. Answer those questions and you’ll make me a very happy man.
I’ll see you Friday.
With love still,
Miles
Letty’s lips grew into a smile as laughter ripped from her mouth. She could just imagine the scene that Miles had just painted for her. What if she had married one of the random guys that had come and gone? In Letty’s heart, it wouldn’t have mattered. Her life was divided into halves: Before Miles and after. Folding up the letter, Letty began clearing off the bed, stuffing letters back into their envelopes for safe keeping. She felt like she had a much better understanding of the man Miles had become. He wasn’t so different from the boy she loved. The same heart still beat in his chest. The same eyes still sought out hers all these years later. Despite her silence for seventeen years, Miles still loved Letty. The thought took Letty’s breath away.