“What more could you have done?” Marshall set his spoon on the table and lifted his cup to take a sip.

“I don’t know what, but just . . . more. Something. Anything. I knew he was having issues. I knew he was in trouble and fighting to keep his sanity. I knew about the panic attacks, nightmares, and that he was an alcoholic. I just didn’t know he was so close to the edge.” He rubbed his eyes again. “How could I not know?”

“You did everything you could, my friend.”

“I should have stepped in and gotten him out earlier or delayed his release. Something.” He had no idea what would have been the right thing to do. “But I didn’t. And now look where we are.”

The waitress arrived with refills for their drinks and Marshall waited until she left to raise a brow in Denning’s direction. “So, that’s why you tanked Rochelle’s Army career.”

Again, his daughter’s enraged face flashed to the forefront of his mind. She wasn’t going to forgive him very easily or quickly. But she would. Eventually. Hopefully.

“I might not have wanted them to start with,” he said, “but I can’t lose another child, Marshall. I can’t.”

His friend eyed him, his gaze sad. “There’s more than one way to lose a child.”

Rays of sunlight filtering through Caden’s guest bedroom window woke Sarah, and she wished she’d told him to make sure they were shut after he’d taken her tray of food last night. Then it occurred to her. She’d actually slept without a nightmare interrupting her rest. Hope sprouted that she was well on the way to recovery—both mentally and physically. She grimaced. Probably more so physically than mentally. Just because she had a few hours of sleep nightmare-free didn’t mean they were gone forever.

But hopefully, her fever was. She’d had a slight relapse at the hospital—a fever spike and a couple more days in and out of awareness until Caden had finally been able to bring her home with him. She stayed in the bed for three days, except for the debrief that finally happened yesterday afternoon, short walks to the bathroom, and the occasional nap on Caden’s deck off the sunroom.

Yesterday, she noticed a big improvement in her energy level, and today, for the first time since getting her stitches out, she’d sat up without the piercing pain in her side.