ld snap

e was nothing, a

Miller gasped, e

one in the small off-base house

ale, filtered throug

phone screamed a

ived. The day everythi

d sharp, clawe

on. D

back, a tidal wave

ROTC one he' d worked so hard for, the

ol

father, Sergeant Mark

renda Lewis, the woman Mark had secret

ame, Mark and Brenda painting

e, hollowed by betrayal, th

ullying from Kev

l silence from

no

de

ic

spirit had sh

e sun, falsely accused of disturbances, threa

, then a screech of tires, a bli

il

was

e 1

ond c

ate hope surg

, David w

, she wou

out of bed, he

would arrive today. Mark

this

to David. She h

her ribs, a drumbeat of fea

a dream. Th

in, the humiliation,

uele

roken, grieving woman

mother fighti

ture. For

sh wound, stinging as

d through his military career, sacrificing

another family, and thrown

tice of i

t, sensitive boy, des

uld g

d make s