Chapter 4

Ruby had barely finished speaking when the courtyard gate slammed open.

Frieda came storming in, hair in wild disarray. "Edwina! You cursed jinx!"

"You're the one who put a curse on our Paul!"

"If you hadn't passed your bad luck onto him, how would he ever have fallen and broken his leg!"

I shook the soap suds off my hands and said coldly, "That's a funny thing to say, sis."

"You forced him up the mountain to chop wood yourself. The path was slick, he slipped, and that's an act of God."

"How does any of that become my curse? What, do you think I can order the heavens to rain?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You got greedy and drove your own man into heavy labor, and now that something's gone wrong you want to pin it on your sister? What kind of logic is that?"

Frieda's face changed. "You shut up! Our family's business is none of an outsider's concern!"

She thrust out a hand toward me. "Edwina, Paul's lying in the hospital right now waiting on money to save his life."

"Hand over five hundred, and be quick about it!"

I let out a cold laugh. "Five hundred? You think I run a bank?"

"Don't play poor with me!"

Frieda spoke as if she were entirely in the right. "Caleb pulls in that big an allowance every month. There's no way you can't scrape together five hundred."

"Besides, if I hadn't handed this good match over to you, you think you'd be where you are today?"

"Consider it your way of paying me back!"

"I don't have the money. And even if I did, you wouldn't see a single cent of it."

"You—" Frieda's hand shot up to slap me.

"Hands off!"

Caleb crossed the yard in long strides, caught Frieda's wrist, and flung it aside with force.

She staggered back several steps and dropped to the ground.

"Caleb... you'd shove me for this woman?"

His eyes were ice cold. "Frieda, this is the Gilbert house, not some place for you to throw a fit."

"Paul got hurt. That's your own business. Who gave you the nerve to come to my home and shake us down for money?"

Frieda gave a cold laugh. "Fine! That's just fine!"

She jabbed a finger at Caleb and screamed, "Caleb, you think shielding her means the two of you will have some happy life?"

"Let me tell you, disaster's coming for you, and soon!"

"You won't finish this mission of yours! You'll break the rules, and you'll be discharged!"

"And when that happens, the two of you can go beg on the streets together!"

Caleb's face went dark. Even he had only just learned of this mission. How could Frieda know the details so clearly?

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

Mildred heard the commotion and hurried out of the house. "Get out of here! The Gilbert family doesn't welcome you!"

Frieda scrambled to her feet. "I'll go, I'll go."

"But I'll be watching. Once Caleb's stripped of that uniform, let's see how high and mighty you all are then!"

Mildred clutched her chest, gasping. "That... that woman's out of her mind!"

Caleb helped Mildred inside, his expression grave.

"I do have to leave on an emergency mission tomorrow."

"It's dangerous. No fixed date for coming back."

Something inside me jolted.

In my last life, Caleb had gone out on a mission at exactly this point in time.

And it was during that mission that Frieda's black-market dealing in supplies came to light.

To take the blame for her, Caleb had defied orders at the critical moment, the operation had failed, and in the end he was discharged.

But in this life, she hadn't married him, and she'd never lay a hand on those supplies.

"Caleb."

I looked into his eyes and said seriously, "No matter what happens out there, follow every rule."

"Mom and I will be waiting at home for you to come back safe."

Caleb held my gaze for a long moment. "All right."

But three days later, Caleb's flight squadron ran into extreme weather during their mission. The jet lost contact, and no one knew whether the crew was alive or dead.

When the news broke, Frieda made a point of dressing head to toe in red and coming to the Gilbert house.

"Edwina, have you heard?"

"Caleb's not coming back!"

"He's dead! You're about to be a widow!"

Her face was smug. "Told you, you're a jinx!"

"You crippled Paul's leg, and now you've cursed your own man to death!"

Mildred couldn't get her breath and fainted dead away.

"Mom!"

I carried her inside and used my massage technique to bring her around.

"My son... my boy..."

Mildred slowly came to, weeping so hard she couldn't speak.

"Mom, nothing's going to happen to Caleb."

At that, Frieda screamed, "The notice already went out. The plane went down in the sea. How could he not be dead?"

"Edwina, hand over every cent of the Gilberts' money right now."

And with that she moved to go inside and start digging through the house.

Just then, a jeep pulled up at the gate.

The soldier in it shouted toward the house, "Mrs. Gilbert! Caleb's alive, and he's been promoted ahead of schedule to captain by the higher-ups!"

"No... impossible..."

Frieda shook her head and backed away. "He was supposed to be discharged..."

"Why should you get to be the captain's wife!"

Her eyes went bloodshot as she pulled out a pair of scissors and lunged at me. "Die! Just die!"