Imperial Love: We'll Meet Again: Richard and Alexander's story Book 6

Chapter Seventeen

It has been days since Richard had sent the letter to Alexander. He had been anticipating for the past few days trying to figure out what Alexander was going to say when he saw the letter. He wondered if whether or not he was going to write back, or if he was already dead and he didn't know it. It killed him not knowing where his whereabouts were. It killed him the thought of him waiting a long time for a letter. Especially when Alexander was in Normandy, which was worlds away from Richard. He sometimes would spend time with Jimmy to clear his head, but Jimmy often couldn't be there to check in on Richard. So when Jimmy wasn't available, Richard would go to Lester, who was easily understanding and had been in his situation before. The two of them would drink tea together and Lester would talk about Frank, while Richard would talk about Alexander. It was clear that both of those particular men had an effect on the military generals, in the best way possible. For them both to accept who they really were. Lester admitted to Richard while they were talking that sometimes he still struggles with coming to terms with who he really is, wondering what the other men had thought about him. Lester could remember when the other men would talk about him and Frank and he could remember people saying how scarily close the two of them were and Frank was not afraid to fight back and defend Lester from any rumors that were being spread about them. Lester thought about that every day. It also reminded Richard of all of the times that he would defend Alexander to the other military men.

"To me, it seems like you were always ready to protect Alexander." Lester said, "Just like Frank did for me."

"Of course, I will." Richard said, "I would honestly take a bullet for Alexander." 

Lester could really understand how much Richard loved Alexander. With the way he was talking about him, it was clear that Richard's feelings for him were more than noticeable and it certainly wasn't going away. Lester didn't know what gave away Richard's love for Alexander, he couldn't tell if it was the smiling or the constant blushing. But Richard was changing, into a different man, a man who was less stubborn than he was before. 

"You kind of remind me of myself also." Lester said, "I never wanted to admit to anyone that I was in love with a man because I knew that people would find it immoral." 

"What changed your mind?" Richard asked, "What made you accept that it was who you are?"

"I don't know... I just didn't know how I was going to imagine life without Frank, and I had life so far without him and it was the most painful thing I ever had to endure." 

"I'm so sorry." Richard said sympathetic, "I think that Frank would be proud to see how far you've come." 

"You think so."

"I know so."

Lester smiled and he then started to laugh, Richard then laughed along with Lester. But Richard was trying to figure out why he was laughing, this was no laughing matter, they were having a heartfelt conversation. Why was Lester laughing? 

He didn't know.

But then those laughs turned into crying for Lester. This was when Richard started to realize, how much Lester had really loved and missed Frank. Richard didn't really understand it at first. But he started to understand that there were more men like him as he continued to spend his conversations with Lester. He also started to realize how much Lester loved Frank, and he would have rather been alone than without Frank.

"Is there anything I can do?" Richard asked Lester trying to figure out how to help him, "What can I do?" 

"Don't give up on Alexander, wait for him to write to you again." Lester sobbed. He sobbed even louder than before, which had Richard feeling more empathetic towards Lester and how he was feeling. Richard could tell that Lester just wanted to be alone, so he stood up and looked at the crying Lester.