“I wanted the best for you,” he continued, stepping closer again. “The military seemed… unstable. We didn’t understand. If we had known you had reached this level of responsibility, things would have been different.”

“Yes,” I said. “You would have tried to use my position years ago.”

His face flushed red under his tan.

“That is unfair,” he said. “We are your family. We are proud of you.”

“You did not know my rank until three minutes ago,” I said.

“Evelyn, please,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “We can fix this. We can sit down with Caroline and Nathan tonight. I will make sure Nathan apologizes to you. Whatever he did, he will make it right.”

He reached out as if to touch my shoulder, then hesitated and pulled his hand back.

“You have the power to reinstate his command,” he said. “You can tell your superiors it was a misunderstanding. For the family name. Think of how this looks.”

“I am thinking of how it looks,” I said. “A Navy commander tried to blackmail a superior officer. He will be lucky to avoid a court-martial.”