At the bottom he had written:
Buy something foolish for the baby. I spent eighty-six years being practical. One of us should have some fun.
So I did.
I bought Clara an absurdly expensive wooden rocking horse she would not be able to use for years.
Gloria called it ridiculous.
Rachel approved.
Grandpa would have pretended to hate it.
Part Ten — Six Months Later his
Six months after Clara was born, I stood in dress uniform at a formal command ceremony.
Clara sat in Gloria’s lap in the front row wearing tiny noise-canceling headphones.
General Rhodes stood beside me.
When the orders were read, I formally assumed command.
Colonel Rebecca Bennett.
For years, Daniel had made jokes about my job.
He called it paperwork.
He called it bureaucracy.
He once told a dinner table full of friends:
“Rebecca basically moves boxes for the Army.”
I never corrected him.
Not because I was hiding.
