Melissa whispered, “There’s more on the back.”
I turned it over.
A handwritten postscript.
Cole believes quiet means peace. He learned that in war. Please do not mistake his refusal to fight with you for an inability to fight for himself.
I sat alone after Melissa left.
Rain tapped the windows.
The refrigerator hummed.
The house felt enormous.
For years Claire had accused me of becoming boring.
Quiet.
Passive.
Dead.
&
nbsp;
Maybe part of her had been right.
After the military, I had
devoted myself to becoming harmless.
I thought harmlessness was goodness.
It isn’t.
A man can be gentle without surrendering himself.
A man can refuse violence without tolerating cruelty.
A man can love someone without volunteering to be destroyed by them.
Two months later, Claire pleaded guilty to financial fraud charges under a negotiated agreement.
