My father saw the marks across my neck and shoulder, stepped back, and whispered, “I won’t walk a damaged woman down the aisle.”

“Enough to sink a fleet.”

Across the chapel, Richard slowly understood the admiral had not come only for my wedding.

She had come for him.

Preview

PART 2
I kept my eyes on Daniel.

Not my father.

Not the stunned faces filling the pews.

Not even Admiral Cross.

If I looked anywhere else, I might remember the little girl who used to wait by the front window for Richard Vale to come home.

That little girl had believed her father hung the moon.