I never told my sister-in-law that I was a Colonel in Army Intelligence!

I yanked them open.

Lily was curled up in the far corner of the stone patio, shivering in her thin cotton pajamas. Her cheeks were flushed and blotchy, her body shaking uncontrollably. Her hair stuck damply to her forehead.

I tried the lock. The bar held.

I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed the spare key from the kitchen drawer—the one Emily insisted we keep for emergencies—and slid the door open.

“Lily,” I said, kneeling beside her.

She looked up slowly, her eyes glassy. “Daddy,” she rasped. “Aunt Sarah said I have germs. She said I can’t come in.”

Her skin burned with fever. High fever. And she had been sitting in the cold too long—her little body was losing the battle.

I scooped her up, wrapped her in my jacket, and carried her inside.

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