Chapter 1 - THE COLD PORCH AND THE WARM FIREThe snow crunched softly under my combat boots as I walked up the driveway of my own home, a heavy duffel bag slung over my shoulder and a heart full of desperate anticipation. I had managed to secure a surprise seventy-two-hour pass from Fort Carson three days early, driving straight through the night without stopping to sleep, just so I could see the look on my three-year-old daughter Piper's face when she saw me standing in the doorway in uniform.
Instead, the warmth of the surprise died the moment my eyes landed on the front porch.
Piper was sitting on the wooden deck boards, the freezing December snow dusting her pink backpack and her tiny boots. She was hugging her old, worn-out brown teddy bear so tightly its velvet ears were folded flat under her chin. She wasn't wearing her winter coat—just a red holiday sweater with a reindeer stitched on the front, purple leggings, and hands completely blue with cold.
My breath caught in my throat. I dropped my heavy duffel bag, the nylon thud muffled by the snow, and rushed up the steps.
“Piper,” I whispered, dropping to my knees and pulling her shaking little body against my chest. “Baby, how long have you been out here?”
She looked up at me with tired, wide eyes, her lips trembling. “Daddy said to wait.”
I followed her gaze through the glowing living room window.
Colin, my husband of four years, was standing by our Christmas tree. He wasn't alone. A strange woman with long, dyed blonde hair stood on a step stool, holding the silver star Piper and I had painted together last Thanksgiving. Colin had one hand anchored around her waist, steadying the stool, and the other hand reaching up to touch her hair. He was laughing—a relaxed, carefree laugh I hadn't heard in months.
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Above the mantelpiece, my Christmas stocking was completely gone. In its place hung a glittering white stocking embroidered with a name I didn't recognize: Chloe.
They had replaced us. And they had thrown my three-year-old daughter out into the snow like trash to clear the stage for their domestic fantasy.
