He looked at me, his eyes searching my face for some sign of warmth.

“We were blind, Emily,” he said. “We wanted Andrew to be the golden boy. We wanted Claire to have the perfect life.”

“And you wanted me to stay in the background,” I said.

“Yes,” he admitted, his voice barely a whisper. “We did. And it was a terrible mistake.”

My mother reached out, her fingers brushing the sleeve of my green service uniform.

I did not pull away, but I did not lean into her touch either.

“We have been so unfair to you,” she sobbed. “For years. Every promotion, every transfer, we barely noticed.”

“You told me Fort Garrison was too big for me,” I reminded her.

“I was foolish,” she said. “I was trying to protect Claire’s pride. I didn’t want her to feel overshadowed by you.”

“So you diminished my work instead,” I said.

“We are so sorry, Emily,” my father said.

He wiped his face with a handkerchief he pulled from his trousers.

“Can you ever forgive us? We want to make this right. We want to be a family again.”