Crossed paths

It was a quiet evening when Leo called Bruce to express his gratitude once again. After hanging up the phone, Leo turned to his butler Jared, who was straightening up the living room.

"Jared, I've been meaning to ask you - how did you first meet my father all those years ago?" Leo inquired.

Jared's eyes grew distant as he recalled his life's journey from humble beginnings. "It all started back in 1929 in Lynchburg, Virginia," he began in his soft Southern drawl. "I was just a young lad, roughhousing a bit too roughly with my little brother as uncontrollably boys are wont to do. But I took the horseplay too far that day and nearly killed him."

Jared's face grew sombre as he pictured the scene vividly - two mischievous boys wrestling and playing boisterously until one ill-advised motion caused his brother to crumple to the floor, unconscious and barely breathing. He could still hear his mother's anguished screams echoing in his mind.

"That event, coupled with being raised in the devout Seventh-day Adventist faith, really drove home the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' for me," Jared continued solemnly. He could vividly remember his parents' stern lectures and the weeks of punishment that followed as he was forced to contemplate how easily he could have taken his brother's life that day.

Flash forward a few years, and a teenage Jared found himself assisting an injured stranger to the hospital after happening upon a car accident. It was there in the emergency room that he first locked eyes with the lovely young nurse Abigail, whose kind eyes and warm smile captured Jared's heart immediately.

The two began courting, and Jared confided in Abigail his deep desire to pursue medical work himself to help save other lives. She was hugely supportive, admiring his selfless motivations and caring spirit.

But their blossoming romance was put on hold with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Jared, feeling a patriotic call to service, enlisted as a combat medic in the U.S. Army despite his father Tom's strenuous objections. Tom, a veteran of WWI still suffering the psychological shakes of PTSD, was deeply pained to see his gentle son being shipped off to the frontlines of war.

"Just before leaving for basic training, Abigail and I got engaged in secret," Jared said wistfully, picturing himself down on one knee presenting his sweetheart with a modest but beautiful ring. "I hoped and prayed with all my heart to God to make it back alive so I could marry her properly." He could still summon the feeling of her soft hand caressing his cheek in that tender moment.

Basic training proved immensely difficult for the young, diligent objector. Jared could see it clearly - the scorching desert sun beating down as he excelled at the grueling physical labors and combat medical courses, yet faced unrelenting harassment and isolation for refusing to bear arms or train on the Sabbath in observation of his faith.

His superiors in the 77th Infantry Division, led by the hard-nosed Sergeant Howell and Captain Glover, attempted to discharge him for psychological reasons. Again and again, Jared was hauled in for evaluation after evaluation as they sought any pretext to remove the "unconscientious objector" from their ranks.

But time after time, Jared's steadfast adherence to his sincere pacifist beliefs shone through, unshaken even under the most intensive questioning. The evaluation boards agreed he did not meet the criteria for mental illness.

"They couldn't get rid of me officially, so they tried to break me and drive me out instead," Jared stated grimly. He recalled in disturbing detail the seemingly endless weeks of merciless punishments, the unending menial labor details, the beatings from fellow soldiers who had quickly made him a pariah during one dark night in the barracks - all for refusing to renounce his moral convictions against violence.

Despite the vicious hazing, Jared refused to name or retaliate against his attackers. And when briefly jailed for insubordination after refusing yet again to bear arms, even impassioned pleas from his love Abigail and his commanding officers failed to sway him. Jared remained stubbornly defiant in standing up for his beliefs.

It was only after his PTSD-afflicted father Tom burst into his court-martial in a rage, brandishing a letter from his former commanding brigadier general affirming Jared's constitutional rights as a conscientious objector, that the charges against him were finally, reluctantly dropped. To Howell and Glover's deep frustration, Jared was able to marry his sweet Abigail in a small chapel ceremony just before being shipped overseas.

Deployed to the Pacific Theatre, Jared's unit soon found itself embroiled in one of the most horrifically bloody battles of World War II - the fight to take Okinawa and its treacherous Maeda Escarpment from deeply entrenched Japanese forces.

It was there that Jared's bravery and commitment to saving lives at any cost truly emerged as he repeatedly risked his own life carrying wounded American soldiers across the battlefield amid a hail of bullets and explosions Jared vividly recounted descending treacherous 90-meter cliffs hand-over-hand with the injured lashed to his back, as enemy grenades rained down all around them. Each time he dangled perilously over the abyss, he fervently prayed for the strength to pull them both up and get the wounded man to cover so he could go back for one more life to save.

His bravery and perseverance against all odds earned the respect and admiration of the entire company, even the longest-derided superior Sergeant Howell himself. And when an ambush of Japanese forces feigning surrender pinned down their company amid a fresh assault, it was Jared who selflessly flung himself onto an incoming grenade to smother the blast, sustaining shrapnel wounds himself but saving the lives of Howell, Glover and nearly a dozen others around him.

After the battle's conclusion, a battered but victorious Jared was at last pulled onto the beach by his comrades, still clutching his Bible from Abigail in his shredded hands. Despite his wounds, he was quickly awarded the Medal of Honour for his incomparable valour and perseverance in rescuing so many wounded.

"Years later, after the war's end and I'd finally reunited with my beloved wife, I was grabbing a late bite in the city after helping a new mother get settled back home from the hospital," Jared went on, his voice growing heavy. "I happened to quite literally run right into your father, Ramsey, as I rushed out of the diner."

Jared chuckled sadly. "There we were, sprawled in an ungracious heap on the sidewalk after colliding. But your father was so impressed by my care for that young woman and her baby, he gave me his business card then and there, telling me to look him up if I ever needed any help or work. I assured him I was quite alright for the time being."

His smile turned wistful. "But I certainly did need help before too long. Your father and I crossed paths again under much more dire circumstances after my dear Abigail was abducted and held for ransom by mobsters in Las Vegas. We made a great team working together to get her back home safely." A pained look crossed Jared's face. "But I'm afraid the strains of that crisis, coupled with my lingering war trauma from Okinawa that I could never quite overcome, ultimately drove an irreparable wedge between Abigail and I that we could never bridge again. We divorced not long after."

Tears welled up in Jared's eyes as he concluded in a halting voice, "With my world shattered and no family to return to, I agreed to become butler to your family, as your father's kind offer gave me purpose and a roof over my head. My children back in Italy, the result of a short-lived affair during the war's chaos, were all I had left at that point..." He trailed off, overcome with emotion as he remembered his lost loved ones.

Leo reached out and embraced the aging butler tightly, letting him finally release his anguished cries into the young man's shoulder. When Jared was cried out, Leo gently guided him to his bedroom and tucked him in, staying by his side until the elderly man's shuddering breaths calmed into restful sleep at last.