Ruth Ellen Mayer learned the address of Wendell Cole from Dewey, who had seen it on a pawn ticket. Carrying a locket connected to her long-lost love, Jimmy Cole, she drove to Wendell’s small house on Route 79. When Wendell opened the door and recognized her, he reacted with anger, accusing her of having the nerve to appear after what he believed she had done to his brother.

Ruth showed him a hospital wristband and explained that her mother had told her Jimmy left with another girl from Quincy. Wendell revealed a devastating truth: Jimmy had been struck by a drunk driver on July 14 while driving to Ruth’s house with an engagement ring in his pocket. He spent three weeks in a coma at St. Joseph’s, and when he awakened, he begged to see Ruth. Her mother visited him and falsely claimed Ruth had died in a car accident and had already been buried.

Ruth’s mother had despised Jimmy because he was poor and belonged to the Cole family. She deliberately told each of them a different lie, ensuring they would believe the other was gone forever. Wendell had witnessed Ruth throw the locket from the bluff while fishing and later found it in the mud. Believing Ruth had rejected Jimmy, he kept the locket and hospital wristband hidden rather than risk his brother suffering another heartbreak.

Wendell explained that Jimmy had never married and suffered several strokes in his fifties. The previous month, he had moved into Riverview Manor. While clearing out his house, Wendell pawned the locket, still resentful toward the woman he thought had abandoned his brother. When Ruth finally explained her mother’s deception, Wendell broke down crying, realizing that both families had been victims of the same cruel lie.

That very afternoon, Wendell drove Ruth to Riverview Manor to see Jimmy. Sitting beside the window in a cardigan, Jimmy looked older and thinner, with his left hand curled from the effects of his strokes. When Ruth spoke his name, he stared at her for a long moment before recognizing her and offering the same crooked smile she remembered from their Dairy Queen days.

Jimmy whispered, “Ruthie,” explaining that he had been told she was gone. Ruth now visits him every afternoon, and he holds the locket throughout their time together. Some days, he remembers their life in 1982 more clearly than the present, but Ruth no longer worries about the lost years. After decades of separation caused by lies and misunderstandings, they have finally found each other again, determined not to let go.