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“Why?” she said “Just answer that one question, okay? Why are you doing this?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do”

“You didn’t think so yesterday”

He smiled “Maybe I’m a slow learner”

“You mean it, don’t you?” she said, her voice filled with disbelief “You’re really going to convince him

to leave me alone until after my baby is born”

“Yes”

“But ould you do that?”

A muscle knotted in his ja could he have knoas real and as a lie and have refused to ad?

“Because I think you’ve been telling the truth all along,” he said quietly

Her eyes widened He reached out, started to cup her face, then dropped his hands to his sides The last ti—he’d been about to drop into the darkness of an endless plain in Afghanistan

It was, he knew, the way his mind and body prepared for whatever lay ahead

“The baby,” he said, “isn’t David’s”

Silence Then Sage drew a shaky breath “No”

Caleb nodded