My mother-in-law shaved my head while I slept on the very night the United States Army promoted me into one of the most important commands of my career.

He stopped.

I leaned closer. “Say it.”

He swallowed.

“Mom said you were going to abandon us.”

“Us?”

His eyes flicked up, desperate now. “Me. Her. The life we built.”

“The life I funded.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No,” I said. “Fair ended when I woke up with my head shaved.”

He flinched as though I had shouted.