Five minutes after our divorce became final, my husband looked me in the eyes and said, “Take the girls, Lena. I have a son coming now.” He thought he was leaving behind an ordinary wife and two daughters he no longer needed—but by that afternoon, he would discover I was a U.S. Army colonel, and the “heir” his entire family was celebrating might not even be his. – usnews

I walked into the family room.

Madeline was reading.

Sophie was coloring.

I crouched in front of them.

“Girls.”

Madeline looked up immediately.

“Is something wrong?”

“Your dad is outside the facility.”

Sophie stopped coloring.

“He came here?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“He wants to say goodbye.”

Madeline’s face changed.

Not much.

But enough.

She was nine.

Old enough to understand far more than Preston realized.

“Did he know we were leaving?”

“He knew we might relocate.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I held her gaze.

“No. He didn’t realize it was today.”

“Because he didn’t read it?”

My heart dropped.

“How do you know about the agreement?”

“I heard him yelling at Uncle Marcus last week.”

Preston’s brother.

Madeline looked down.

“He said he didn’t care where we lived as long as Brielle’s baby could have the nursery.”

I felt something inside me go cold.