"Then stop acting like you're above this family."
PATRICIA BENNETT:
"Your brother is the one who stayed here. He was the one who helped when things became difficult. He was the one who kept this family together."
Caroline's eyes moved toward her mother.
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"Is that what you believe?"
PATRICIA BENNETT:
"I believe actions matter more than uniforms."
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"Then we agree on something."
For the first time, Patricia appeared uncertain about how to respond.
The answer had been too calm to attack easily.
Derek, however, had no intention of allowing the conversation to end.
He had spent years resenting the fact that Caroline could enter a room without asking anyone's permission. Her independence irritated him because he could not control it, and her composure made him feel as though he were losing an argument even when she said very little.
He had also spent years telling people that his sister had abandoned the family.
He never mentioned the letters she had sent to their father during his final illness.
He never mentioned the financial assistance she had offered when the family business struggled.
And he never explained why their father had stopped trusting him with certain responsibilities shortly before his death.
Those details were inconvenient.
Derek preferred a simpler story: he was the dependable son, and Caroline was the selfish daughter who had chosen a career over the people who loved her.
DEREK BENNETT:
"You know what Dad used to say about people like you?"
Caroline's expression changed slightly at the mention of their father.
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"Leave him out of this."
DEREK BENNETT:
"Why? Because you don't want to hear what he really thought?"
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"You know perfectly well that he isn't here to defend himself."
DEREK BENNETT:
"Neither is he here to defend you."
Patricia glanced toward the stage, where a foundation representative was preparing to introduce the evening's speakers.
PATRICIA BENNETT:
"Derek, perhaps we should leave this conversation."
But she did not move away.
Instead, she remained beside her son, watching Caroline with the same expression she had worn during countless arguments in their childhood home.
It was a small gesture, almost insignificant to anyone who did not know the family.
Caroline understood it immediately.
Their mother had chosen a side.
Again.
Derek noticed Caroline's silence and mistook it for defeat.
DEREK BENNETT:
"Go on. Tell everyone how important you are."
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"I haven't told anyone that."
DEREK BENNETT:
"You don't have to. You wear it on your shoulders."
His eyes moved toward the gold insignia on her uniform.
DEREK BENNETT:
"All those decorations. All that ceremony. What does any of it actually prove?"
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"It proves that I completed the duties assigned to me."
DEREK BENNETT:
"That's not an answer."
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"It's the only answer you're getting."
A flush rose across Derek's face.
For a moment, the surrounding room seemed to disappear from his attention. He no longer cared about the guests, the donors, or the military personnel seated at the nearby tables.
He cared only about the fact that Caroline had refused to become intimidated.
DEREK BENNETT:
"You really think you can stand there and make me look like an idiot?"
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"I'm not making you look like anything."
DEREK BENNETT:
"Stop talking to me like that."
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"Like what?"
Derek's hand moved before he had fully considered what he was doing.
The slap landed across Caroline's cheek.
The sound cut through the surrounding conversation with startling clarity.
Caroline's head turned slightly with the impact. One of her hands tightened at her side, but she did not strike back. She steadied herself, lifted her chin, and slowly returned her gaze to her brother.
For a fraction of a second, nobody moved.
A woman near the closest table covered her mouth.
A retired sailor pushed his chair backward.
Someone near the stage stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence.
Derek stood rigidly in front of Caroline, breathing hard. The anger in his face had not disappeared, but something uncertain had entered his eyes.
He had expected a reaction.
He had expected Caroline to shout, cry, or push him away.
He had expected to regain control of the situation by forcing her to respond on his terms.
Instead, she stood perfectly still.
Caroline's cheek had begun to redden. She touched it briefly, more out of instinct than pain, then lowered her hand.
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"Are you finished?"
Derek stared at her.
DEREK BENNETT:
"What did you just say?"
CAROLINE BENNETT:
"I asked whether you were finished."
Her voice was quiet, but it carried clearly enough for the people nearest them to hear.