Chapter 3
The sky started to lighten.
Outside the Military Compound, the whistle for morning formation went off.
Charles' face changed, and he got Lauren and the rest of them out the window.
My mother pushed the bedroom door open.
She was carrying a bowl of the oatmeal she had just made.
"Emily, tomorrow's the big day. I made you something."
Then she stopped.
The bowl hit the floor and shattered.
Oatmeal went everywhere.
My mother covered her mouth and stared at my ruined face.
"Emily! What happened to your face?"
She rushed at me, shaking all over, staring at the red IDIOT in the middle of my forehead.
"What is this? Who did it? Who did this to you?"
Outside the window, I could hear Lauren trying not to laugh.
I took my mother's shaking hands.
"Mom, I'm fine," I said, trying to reassure her.
She was crying so hard she could not stop.
"The wedding is tomorrow. How are you going to face anybody like this? Every relative we have is watching this family."
I took a clean tissue and wiped the last of the blood off my face.
"Mom, I need you to go to the Capital District Command Headquarters for me.
"Put this letter into General William Storm's hands. Nobody else's."
I walked over to the desk, quickly wrote a single line, and slipped it into an envelope.
My mother took the letter, wiped her face, and went.
I went into the bathroom and rinsed the blood off with cold water.
The red stamp had gone down into the flesh.
*****
That afternoon, William's driver pulled up downstairs in a military SUV.
He handed me a black case with a combination lock.
Inside was a set of military-grade concealer and a couture wedding gown covered in small diamonds.
He passed along William's answer.
"The wedding goes ahead. Leave the rest to me."
Night fell.
The compound was quiet enough to hear insects.
The bedroom door opened from the outside.
Charles stood in the doorway with Lauren behind him.
No other special forces guys were with them.
When Charles saw the gown laid out on my bed, something like guilt went across his face.
Lauren came in first.
She reached up and pulled the zipper of her fatigues down in front of me.
The collar fell open.
Her neck and collarbone were covered in bruises.
They ran all the way down to the hollow of her chest.
"Emily, now we're even," Lauren said.
She raised an eyebrow.
I shot her a cold look.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Lauren ran a finger over the marks on her neck.
She said, "When I dumped out what was left of your milk, some of it got on the rim of the glass.
"I was thirsty. I drank out of it, and it hit me.
"Charles drank out of the same glass."
She just shrugged, acting like it was nothing.
She continued, "He wasn't himself, and I couldn't push him off.
"So you got a stamp, and I've lost my virginity. We're even."
Charles stood by the door, head down, not saying a word.
I looked at the marks on her and then at him.
Charles looked up and took a step forward.
He said, "Emily, I slept with Lauren. I'm not going to walk away from that.
"We'll push the wedding back."
Push it back?
He proposed when I was twenty, and I waited seven years.
And now he wanted it pushed back.
I clenched my fists.
"Why should I?" I shot back.
Charles' brow furrowed.
"What did you just say?" he snapped.
I stared him down.
"I said, why should I push back my own wedding?"
Charles' eyes went totally cold, like he was staring at some heartless monster.
"Do you even have any empathy at all? Lauren lost her innocence because of me, and you still dare to ask why?
"Emily, when did you get this selfish?"
Lauren waved a hand like it was nothing.
She said, "Charles, drop it. I don't need a title. We're teammates. Chalk it up to a bad night," she said.
Charles cut her off flat.
He said, "No. I'm not the kind of man who sleeps with a woman and pretends it never happened.
"When this dies down, I'll put in the paperwork and marry you properly."
Lauren made a show of being surprised.
"So what about Emily?" she asked.
Charles glanced at me.
"There's an order to it. Emily came first, so she stays. But she stays quiet, with no ceremony and no announcement. You're the one I'm actually married to."
Lauren nodded.
"Fine. I'm a soldier. I don't care about ceremonies," she said.
Listening to their totally shameless talk, I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief and anger.
"I'm not postponing the wedding," I said.
Charles' expression turned stormy.
"Emily, do you really have to act out like this?" he snapped.
I locked eyes with him, refusing to back down.
"Tomorrow morning, I will walk out that door in the dress, on time."
Charles stared at me for a solid minute.
He finally nodded, teeth grinding.
"Fine, since you don't care whether Lauren lives or dies, and you have to keep your grip on being a military wife," Charles said, and his voice was cold.
"Then don't you dare regret it tomorrow," he added.