Rebirth from Betrayal

He was finally my legally hitched husband. But on our wedding night, he abandoned me in our bridal suite, claiming a brotherinarms had died. Ten days later, he returned.

And he brought back a delicate little Gold Star widow. He poured every ounce of tenderness and care into that woman. A gentleness he had never once shown me.

He wanted me to just accept it? What a joke. I was the spitfire daughter of a Major General, the apple of my old man's eye.

I didn't do "accepting it." Chapter 1 Lying in bed, I swallowed hard as I took in the sight of the man's chiseled muscles. "Julian, it's late.

Let's go to sleep." He gave a low grunt. The moonlight caught the long line of his legs as he climbed onto the mattress. The bed dipped under his weight.

I couldn't suppress the flutter in my chest. What girl wouldn't want a tall, strapping military man? I shifted closer, a little nervous. My bare skin brushed against his rigid arm.

My intention couldn't have been clearer. We were legally hitched. It was our wedding night. He knew exactly what this was. Instead, his breathing slowly evened out.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was there something wrong with him? Or was I just that unappealing? I made a quick decision.

If he wasn't going to make the first move, I would. I had chased this man for three years. Now that we had the paperwork, I was going to seal the deal.

I pushed myself up and pressed my mouth directly against his in the dark. My sudden boldness seemed to flip a switch. Julian finally reacted.

His hands were clumsy as they grabbed at my nightgown. I was practically cheering inside. Yes, tear it. I loved seeing his usual stoic self lose control.

Triumph flared hot in my blood. I finally had the aloof officer right where I wanted him.

Just as things were heating up, the phone in the living room shattered the silence. "Don't go," I murmured. "Let's finish what we started." "It might be an emergency at the base." Julian rolled off the bed and was on his feet in a second.

I stared at his retreating back, caught between frustration and begrudging respect. Only the man I chose could snuff out that kind of fire so instantly. I didn't dare stop him.

If it was a real military emergency, every second counted. That was the downside of being a military spouse. Their time never belonged to you.

Two minutes later, he walked back into the room. "Samantha, I'm sorry. A brotherinarms died.

I have to go." Any lingering heat in my veins instantly turned to ice. "Okay," I said quietly. "Help out however you can." Just like that, Julian walked out on our wedding night.

I looked around at the bright red wedding decorations plastered to the walls. I swallowed down the sharp pang of disappointment and just hoped he would come back soon.

I figured he would be gone for two or three days tops. I waited ten days. Not a single word. On the very last day of his approved leave, I went back to my old man's place.

I asked him who had recently died in the unit. Chris gave me a baffled look. "Nobody.

We haven't had a casualty on base lately." My stomach plummeted. "Why do you ask?" my old man pressed. "Where is Julian?

Why didn't he come back with you?" "Julian said a brotherinarms died in the line of duty. He said he had to go check on the situation.

I assumed it was someone from our command." My old man brushed it off. "When did he say this happened?" Chapter 2 "The night of our wedding," I said. "It's been ten days, and he hasn't even called.

I'm worried. Check on it for me?" Chris crossed his arms, looking slightly put out. "Usually, it's the groom who forgets his family after the wedding.

But you got hitched and immediately forgot your old man. If you didn't need me to track him down, you wouldn't even visit." "Not true. You're always number one in my book.

No one else even comes close." I grinned. "Besides, you're the one who picked Julian out for me.

You can't be jealous of your own choice." That smoothed his ruffled feathers. "Alright, alright. I'll look into it." I hid a smile. I woke up in another body ten years ago.

It happened the exact same day the original Samantha and her mother were hit by a car. They both died on the spot. In my original life, I died in a car crash too.

When I opened my eyes, I was a tenyearold girl in the 1970s. For the longest time, I thought I was stuck in a coma dream. But the dream lasted ten years.

Eventually, I had to accept the truth. I had actually woken up in another body. Complete with a whole new life. The year was now 1977, and I was twenty years old.

In my past life, I was an unloved orphan. Nobody gave a damn about me. But here, Chris gave me everything.

He was a rough, hardened military man, but he poured all his gruff affection into raising me. I loved my old man from the bottom of my heart.

These past ten years hadn't been bad at all. Sure, the seventies lacked modern conveniences, but I made do. My old man was a Major General.

He was loyal, fierce, and wildly protective of his family. After his wife died, he never remarried. He spent his life raising his only daughter.

He played the role of both father and mother. Nobody dared mess with me in base housing. If a girl picked a fight, I hit right back.

If a boy was too big for me to handle, I went straight to my dad. Chris didn't care about the details. He would march right up to their parents' door.

Anyone who bullied me ended up with a sore backside. For ten years, the two of us were the ultimate terror to the boys on base.

Their biggest fear was seeing the Major General standing on their porch with me in tow. Because of that, the boys kept their distance. The other girls laughed at me for it.

I didn't care. I had the mind of a grown woman anyway. When I turned seventeen, Chris introduced me to Julian. He was over six feet tall, stern, and strikingly handsome.

I fell for him at first sight. He was exactly my type. I chased him for three years. He never smiled much, but I just thought he was the strong, silent type.

He was always lukewarm toward me. I convinced myself it was just his personality. He never wanted to hold my hand or go on romantic walks.

I brushed it off as him being professional. I liked his icy demeanor. After three years of dating, he finally submitted the marriage paperwork.

We officially tied the knot just a few days ago. I had finally won over the aloof officer. We were legally hitched, and I was fully prepared to drag him into bed.

Then his brotherinarms supposedly died. Chapter 3 I swallowed down my impatience and waited.

But as the tenth day dragged on, the silence gnawed at me. "Alright, understood," my old man said, hanging up the receiver. "It was a brotherinarms from Alaska Command." "The Executive Officer confirmed he didn't extend his leave.

He's guaranteed to be back today. You can relax." Alaska? I stared at Chris. I never expected Julian to drive all the way up there by himself.

Washington D.C. to Alaska was a brutal trek. With the current road conditions, it would take two days and two nights of nonstop driving. Heartache and pride tangled together.

Heartache for the grueling drive.

Pride because the man I chose was deeply loyal. "I'm taking this fish back with me," I said, grabbing the fresh catch from the kitchen. "He must be dead on his feet after that drive.

I need to make him a good meal." Ignoring my old man's grumbling, I carried the fish out of his house and practically skipped home. I stayed up until midnight.

My eyelids grew heavy. Just as my forehead was about to hit the dining table, the front door rattled. I jerked awake. I ran to the entryway and yanked the door open.

Julian stood there. I immediately stepped forward to throw my arms around his neck. A heavy hand planted firmly on my shoulder and shoved me back. "We have company.

Have some decency," Julian snapped. I froze. Company? Since when was hugging my own husband indecent? A woman stepped out from behind his tall frame.

She looked up at me with wide, timid eyes. "You must be Samantha. I'm Allison. I'm so sorry to intrude." She had a soft, delicate face.

The kind that made people want to protect her. Seeing her stand so closely behind Julian made my stomach tighten. I wasn't the gentle type.

My looks were as bold and sharp as my personality.

I narrowed my eyes at my dustcovered husband. "Samantha, why are you blocking the door?" Julian demanded. "We've been exhausted for days.

Let us inside." A bitter taste coated my tongue. But I couldn't exactly kick a guest out into the cold at midnight. My old man was a Major General; we still cared about saving face.

I crossed my arms and watched Julian push open the door to the guest room with surprising care. "Allison, you'll stay in here." That room held all the bedding Julian used before we got married.

He knew that perfectly well. "Thank you, Julian," Allison said softly. "Get settled in," he replied. "There's hot water in the bathroom.

I'll boil some noodles for us to make do for tonight." I stared at the man I had been married to for exactly ten days.

He was meticulously arranging another woman's living situation right in front of me.

The air in the room grew thin. "I made fish," I said, leaning against the kitchen doorframe. "You don't need to make noodles." Julian didn't even look at me. "Allison doesn't like fish.

She prefers noodles." We dated for three years. We'd been married for ten days. In all that time, he had never cooked a single meal for me.

Now, the second he walked through the door, he was boiling water for another woman.

The tightness in my stomach twisted into a sharp knot. "Ah!" A sharp scream pierced the air from the bathroom. Julian dropped the spatula and bolted out of the kitchen.

His face lost all its color. "Allison, what's wrong?!" Chapter 4 Thankfully, he had enough restraint not to bust the door down. "I'm fine, Julian.

I just wanted to take a shower, but the water is freezing." I assumed she was just going to wash her face. Taking a full shower on your very first night in a stranger's house?

That meant one thing. She felt incredibly secure. But she was just a fallen brotherinarms' widow. They barely knew each other. Where did that security come from?

What exactly happened on that long drive down from Alaska Command to make her trust him so completely?

I stood there, listening to my husband patiently explain the hot water valve through the bathroom door. The truth hit me. He wasn't aloof. I chased him for three years.

He never once showed me that kind of meticulous patience. The illusion cracked. Looking at his broad back, he suddenly didn't seem so attractive anymore.

I spent years convincing myself he was the strong, silent type. Turns out, he was the gentle, attentive type all along. Just not to me. "Got it!" Allison laughed from inside.

Only then did Julian relax. He turned back toward the kitchen with the spatula, finally noticing me standing there. He stiffened, looking slightly guilty. "Don't mind her.

Allison has never used indoor plumbing. Up north, they only have well water." I didn't say a word. The silence stretched. He shifted awkwardly and ducked back into the kitchen.

A little while later, Allison emerged from the bathroom, fresh and scrubbed pink. Julian walked out carrying two steaming bowls of noodles. "Allison, time to eat." I blinked.

I watched them sit down at my dining table, ready to dig in. I finally broke the silence. "Julian, where's mine?" Julian paused, holding his fork. "You don't like noodles.

There's rice and fish in the kitchen