Jason felt like he'd been struck by lightning. For a moment, he couldn't speak. "What? Are you saying—he could still be alive, that we buried—someone else?"

"That's what I though too. I had to be sure, so I went to Chicago. That's where everything was…handled before they shipped him to Odyssey. I was too much in a fog during that time…and you know that it was a closed-casket funeral. But they assured me that there was no doubt it was him. I'm sorry."

Jason's heart fell. "Oh. So it was just postmarked wrong or something?"

"Not quite. It's more likely the date on the postcard was correct, and the date they gave us for his death was the wrong one. You know how chaotic war can be. Anyway, we have another card from Jerry after what we thought was the last one."

"That's something, anyway. Like a last gift from him, after all these years."

"The most interesting part is what the letter says."

"What does it say?"

"It says that—he got married."

"What?"

"I'll give you the letter to read when you get back. But basically it says that he was captured by the Vietcong, and a young woman helped him escape. They fell in love and got married in secret. They were married only a few days before he died."

"Wow."

"Jerry also said that he wanted to take Ai back to America when he could. He was afraid the enemy would find out about their marriage and hurt her. If he didn't make it out, he wanted me to take care of her."

"So I could have a sister-in-law? In Vietnam?"

"If she survived. And you could have a niece or nephew too, who knows."

"I can hardly take this in."

"Me either. I've been trying to see if I can find her, but it won't be easy. It's likely she didn't want to be found."

"Well, if there's anything I can do to help..."

"Actually I was wondering if you could use some of your connections."

"Yes. Anything. We need to be able to find her. Take care of her like Jerry wanted."

"Meanwhile I'll find some of my contacts and maybe between us we can find her. At least find out what happened to her and if she had a child."

"If she wants to come back to America, we could bring her here."

"That would be wonderful. But I don't want you to get your hopes up too much about this either. It's been such a long time…"

"Some hope is good. It'll keep us searching."

"You're right. It's been an exhausting few days….How are you two doing?"

"Good. The party was amazing and…well, we've been having lots of fun. Reconnecting."

"So you two are—"

"Better than ever."

He looked at Connie. She nodded. Though she had a little furrow in her brow…probably wondering about the conversation. Jason should've put his father on speaker but he'd been so wrapped up in the stunning news.

"So when are you returning?"

"We were going to go back today, but we may stay around if it's okay with Connie. I'll look for some of my old contacts."

"Take as long as you need. I'll do what I can too. I'm not sure where this'll take me….but I'm not stopping until I know for sure."

"I'll go to Vietnam if I have to."

"It may not come to that. As long as we can find the right people in the right places."

"I'll start here. First I'll fill Connie in."

"I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Dad." He hung up, laid the phone on the bed.

Connie touched his arm. "So—your brother was married?"

Jason nodded. "That's what he said in his letter."

"Wow. You could have relatives from Vietnam!"

He told her the rest of what his father had told him. He was really looking forward to reading the letter himself, seeing the last thing his brother had written. Jerry had wanted to keep his wife safe, but it had been in vain, since the letter had gotten lost. Perhaps the fact that it was found meant that there was still hope…

Jason asked Connie if they could stay a few more days to search for contacts and she immediately agreed. He kissed her. Kept on kissing her as she got up to take a shower.

After she stepped in, he went back to sit on the bed, absorb what had happened. He tried to think of contacts but his mind was blank. This was just so incredible. His eye caught something on the nightstand. A business card. Was it from the hotel?

He picked it up, flipped it over.

Oh, he'd forgotten all about this. It said, "Muldavian Embassy, 12:00. Sierra." Come to think of it, that was the lunch the prince had invited him to. He hadn't put two and two together because of how entranced he'd been by Connie all night. It made sense Sierra would be there, though…

But what about this mission she wanted him to do? How could he possibly do it? On the other hand…he didn't want to leave that boy to human traffickers if he could help it.

What about Connie? He couldn't abandon her. He didn't have to feel obligated to Sierra; someone else could do the job, probably better. But he could at least go to the dinner. Sierra probably had contacts in Southeast Asia, and he could see if they could find out about Jerry's wife.

He looked at the clock. 10:00. Enough time to get ready to go.

Connie came out of the bathroom, a blue towel wrapped around her.

He stood, kissed her shoulder. "Hey," he said. "Want to go to a dinner?"

"Oh, I forgot! The one the prince invited us to. Sure!"

"Sierra invited us too." He showed her the card. "We didn't really talk about this yesterday."

"Well, we were a bit…distracted."

"Yeah." He smiled. Slid a strand of damp hair from her forehead. "You were all I could think about at the party, and then—" He kissed her temple. He could hardly resist her now. Maybe they could stay here after all….pretend nothing else existed…. He drew her to him and embraced her. "I don't ever want to leave you. I never want to be further than this."

"Me either," she said a little breathlessly. She looked up at him. "I want to give you everything you deserve."

"I don't deserve you."

A pained expression crossed her face. "You've given me so much—now it's my turn."

"This is all I need." He ran his hand down her arm, slid his fingers into hers, and brought their hands up between them.

"I want you to be happy."

"I am." He kissed her cheek, lingering in the scent of her hair.

"What I mean is, I saw how you looked when Sierra told you about the mission. You wanted to do it, didn't you?"

"I don't see how I can leave you, especially after all that's happened. All that we have together."

"I wouldn't want you to go into danger. I couldn't stand the thought of losing you after...the baby." She looked away, pain in her eyes.

"I don't want to leave you alone, either. And I don't really like the thought of being captured or killed. But then there's the boy who was captured….I don't want to leave him to the traffickers if there's something I can do to help. I wouldn't have to go into danger. A freelance operative can set his own limits."

"I could go with you."

"As long as it's not dangerous."

"Well, you're only going if it's not."

"I'll talk to Sierra first. And we'll have to pray and see if it's God's will."

"Whatever you decide, I'm cool with it."

"You sure? Isn't there anything that you want?"

"As long as I'm with you, Jason, that's all that matters. After being apart from you, that's enough."

He wrapped her in an embrace again, kissed her hair. She gave him a joyous smile. It made his heart ache to see her happy again. He wanted to do everything possible to keep her safe and happy. Any mission would never be at her expense. Being married meant that they were in this together. He looked forward to every day with her, getting to know her better, doing things with her and for her, their love always burning between them.

Slowly, she slid away from him. "I better get dressed. Can't go like this."

He laughed. "Yeah. Me either."

While she got dressed, he took a shower, and then they headed out the door to the Muldavian Embassy.