“He will try to divide you, because he cannot govern anyone who stands beside someone else.”

David walked over to the driver’s side fender and leaned back against the tire, keeping watch over the driveway.

“If you ever forget how much you belong to each other, remind them,” Clare read, her voice dipping on the last words.

“Stay close.

Don’t let him make you strangers.”

When Clare finished, she refolded the letter carefully along its original lines and slipped it into my navy clutch purse, right beside my silver Air Force rank star.

“She knew,” I said.