“That’s me,” he whispered.
The words landed heavily between us.
Lily glanced from one man to the other.
Marcus sat back on his heels and pulled her into his lap.
“Sweetheart, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he told her. “You saw the picture and thought Julian was me.”
She looked at Julian.
“Then who is he?”
Marcus’ eyes filled again.
“He’s the reason I came home.”
Julian turned his face away.
Marcus gripped his shoulder.
“Don’t,” Julian muttered.
“She deserves to know.”
I looked between them, suddenly afraid of what Marcus was about to say.
He took a slow breath.
“During the mission, our unit was hit,” he began. “We couldn’t call home. We couldn’t explain anything because of where we were or what we were doing.”
His voice remained controlled, but his hand shook against Lily’s yellow dress.
“There was an explosion. I didn’t see it coming.”
