I returned home from deployment three weeks ahead of schedule to surprise my husband and our four-year-old daughter

Patricia made her return separately.

As for Jenna, she declined to answer investigators’ questions unless she had legal representation.

I learned that Derek had been arrested when Detective Shaw called me.

At that moment, I was sitting beside Lily’s hospital bed.

“Major Nolan, your husband has been taken into custody.”

I looked toward my sleeping daughter.

“Did he say anything?”

Detective Shaw hesitated briefly.

“He asked whether you would speak to him.”

A strange emptiness settled over me.

“What did you tell him?”

“That it was your decision.”

I looked at Lily again.

A little color had finally begun returning to her cheeks.

Earlier that morning, she had eaten half a bowl of oatmeal without first asking whether she was permitted to eat it.

It seemed like such a small accomplishment.

Yet watching her do something so ordinary had almost shattered my heart.

“No,” I answered.

“I don’t want to speak to him.”