I know you were under considerable pressure in the days leading up to my name day, and that you truly believed that a marriage to Micah Bayar was the best way to keep me safe.

After reading it over, Raisa scratched through a marriage to Micah Bayar and substituted the marriage you had planned for me.

That way, if the letter fell into the wrong hands, it might have been from any daughter or son who had fled an unwanted marriage.

I beg you to consider that what seems safest may turn out to be most dangerous. It may be that the danger you saw coming was the marriage itself—a danger to me, and a danger to you as well.

I long to come home and present my case in person if we can find a way to do that safely. I will get this letter into my father’s hands somehow, and hope that he will get it to you. If that should happen, please keep it among us three. There has been one attempt on his life already.

If we begin a dialogue, perhaps we can work out a way for me to come home, which is what I want most in the world. Though it may be selfish, I can’t help but hope that you are missing me, as I am missing you. Please know that I love you, and while love may not be sufficient to heal the breach between us, it is a place to start.

Hallie and Talia came stomping down the stairs, and Raisa pushed the letter into her carry bag.

“You coming to dinner?” Hallie asked. “I hear it’s ham and cabbage.”

“I’ll wait for Corporal Byrne,” Raisa said. “And walk over with him.”

Hallie and Talia looked at each other. “I’m not sure he’s coming to dinner,” Hallie said, rubbing the side of her nose with her forefinger. “I think he has plans.”

Plans?

“Come with us,” Talia urged. “We’ll go out somewhere after. Don’t be a hermit.”

Some undercurrent in their speech set Raisa’s teeth on edge.

“I’ll be over in a few minutes,” she said lightly. “Save me some ham.”

They walked out the door with many backward looks, their faces set and anxious.

A few minutes later, Amon descended the stairs. He wore his dress blues, with creases in his trousers and his hair neatly combed off his forehead. He nearly stumbled when he saw Raisa, but kept his feet and continued to the bottom.

“Hello, Amon,” Raisa said. “You’re looking handsome.”

He looked down at himself, then tugged at the hem of his uniform jacket to straighten it. “Right. Well. Thank you.”

Raisa pushed up out of her chair and went and stood in front of him. “I hoped we could go to dinner together, maybe have a chance to talk. I never see you anymore.”