Theo cradled his near-empty glass between his hands, staring into the amber liquid before meeting her gaze. “He’s used to getting what he wants. Do you think I should go . . . if he insists?”

“Come on, you know that’s not fair.”

“Sorry,” he said, draining the last of the Scotch then trying to attract the waiter so he could order another. “It’s just . . . maybe this is one of his traps. He might be testin’ me again, hopin’ I’ll fail.”

Theo had always suspected he wasn’t the match Walter had wished for Virginia: he didn’t come from money or the district she’d grown up in, and he hadn’t been educated alongside her. But when it came to intellect, Walter now surely knew he was an equal.

“No, Daddy knows we’re perfect for each other.” She moved closer, pressing her thigh against his and coiling her leg around his ankle under the smoked glass table. The two wall sconces behind her framed her in a warm light, making her look even more beautiful and even harder to think of leaving. Sometimes it scared him to reflect on what his life had become, so different to the one he’d imagined for himself. He had never expected to fall for Virginia or be part of all this, so removed from his upbringing, his old circle of friends, but he was unnerved by the idea that it could all come crashing down.

She glanced at him and made a sulky face, pushing out her bottom lip. “I really don’t know any more than what I’ve told you, so please don’t ask me anything else. I just couldn’t keep tight-lipped about it all night. I’m sorry.”

“How long would it be for?”

“I don’t know, darling. A few months.”

“But what about the wedding?”

“Christ, Theo, you’d be back by then. It would just be to help them out, it’s not forever!”

But this wasn’t just about the wedding, or the books for the troops; his father was in bad shape, and he didn’t want to leave him either. In fact, Theo didn’t see how his parents would cope without him, especially with his sister so far away too. Even after six months, Howie’s death still cast a dark shadow over their family. Theo played with the lighter, flicking the flame on and off, as he thought about what Howie would have said. He’d joined the marines straight out of college, one of the few who was trained and ready for war; as much as anyone could ever be. And he had done his duty. It had come at a price, so the least Theo could do was serve his country with the council.