Chapter 17 - The General's Final Envelope
A year after Dad's death, Henry called.
For one terrible second, hearing his voice took me back to that first morning.
Then he laughed.
“Relax. Nobody's trying to kill you.”
“That's a terrible greeting.”
“I found another envelope.”
I went to his office.
Daniel was already there.
“You knew?”
He shook his head.
Henry placed the envelope before me.
Dad's handwriting.
FOR CLAIRE—AFTER IT'S OVER.
I opened it.
Dad wrote about regret.
He regretted not telling me sooner.
He regretted letting his suspicion of Grant remain unspoken.
But he also wrote something I needed more than an apology.
Do not let what they did turn you into someone who spends her life checking every door twice.
I stopped reading.
Tears fell.
Trust carefully, Claire. But trust.
Love carefully. But love.
And when this is finished, do something your old father was never very good at.
Live without preparing for the next war.
I laughed through my tears.
At the bottom:
P.S. Reyes owes me fifty dollars. Make him pay you.
I stared at Daniel.
He groaned.
“He remembered that?”
“What was the bet?”
Daniel looked away.
Henry started laughing.
“What?”
Finally Daniel admitted, “He bet me you'd figure out the chessboard before I had to tell you.”
I held out my hand.
“Fifty dollars.”
“You inherited hundreds of millions.”
“Debt is debt, Colonel.”
May you like
Dad would have loved it.
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