That tiny movement told Scarlett more than I could have.
“You knew?” she whispered.
Beatrice’s jaw tightened.
“My son was rebuilding his life.
Alex made everything difficult.”
“No,” I said.
“I made everything documented.”
General Bradley gave me a brief look that said he understood exactly why Garrett had named me.
Then he handed me the sealed envelope.
It was heavy enough to contain several pages.
Across the front, in Garrett’s handwriting, were four words.
FOR ALEX.
IF NECESSARY.
I did not open it immediately.
Beatrice stepped closer.
“That belongs to our family.”
I met her eyes.
“You told me seven years ago that I wasn’t family.”
Her face tightened.
“This is different.”
“Yes.”
I broke the seal.
The first paragraph was not an apology.
That surprised me.
Garrett had written like a man who finally understood that an apology could not erase consequences.
Alex,
If you are reading this, I did not make it home.
I don’t expect this letter to change what I did to you or the kids.
It shouldn’t.
I left when they were sick, when you were exhausted, and when being a husband and father required more from me than I wanted to give.
My eyes stopped.
Rain struck the paper, and Bradley quietly shifted his umbrella so it covered my hands.
I continued.
I told people you kept the children from me because it was easier than admitting I was ashamed to face them.
My mother believed me because she wanted to.
Scarlett believed me because I let her.
Scarlett made a broken sound behind me.
Beatrice lunged for the letter.
General Bradley stepped between us.
“Ma’am.”
She stopped.
“You cannot humiliate my son at his own funeral.”
I folded the letter halfway closed.
“No one is humiliating him.”
“You’re reading private accusations!”
“They’re his words.”
Beatrice’s voice dropped.
“He was confused.”
Bradley answered before I could.
“He wrote the statement before deployment, while medically and legally competent, and reaffirmed it in a recorded briefing.”
Scarlett looked at him.
“Recorded?”
“Yes.”
Beatrice went pale.
That was the first moment I realized Garrett’s letter was not the only thing she feared.
I returned to the page.
