“You’re not seriously planning to wear that uniform to the wedding, are you?”
The question landed like a depth charge in the quiet of Aunt Meredith’s kitchen. Vice Admiral Louisa Carter stood holding her Navy dress whites—the uniform she’d earned through twenty-three years of service, through deployments to the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea, through command of destroyer squadrons and carrier strike groups, through decisions that had shaped naval policy and protected thousands of lives. The uniform represented everything she’d sacrificed, everything she’d become.
And her aunt was looking at it like it was a costume from a discount store. Meredith crossed her arms, her expression somewhere between concern and irritation. “Louisa, sweetheart, you know how important this day is for Mark.
We just don’t need you… overshadowing things.”
Overshadowing. The word hung in the air like smoke. Louisa felt something twist in her chest, that familiar sensation she’d learned to suppress during her years climbing the ranks in a male-dominated military structure.
She’d faced down hostile foreign naval commanders with more composure than she felt right now, standing in her aunt’s kitchen being told she was too much. “I’m not trying to overshadow anyone,” Louisa said carefully, keeping her voice neutral. “I’m just attending my cousin’s wedding.
In my dress uniform. Which is appropriate for formal military occasions.”
Her cousin Hannah appeared in the doorway, already dressed in her pale pink bridesmaid gown, her hair swept up in an elaborate updo that had probably taken hours. She gave Louisa that look—the one that said please don’t make this difficult, please just go along, please be reasonable.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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