I hadn’t known he would be there.
He caught my eye, and his face changed from curiosity to astonishment.
“Captain?”
His voice traveled through the microphone left open on the table.
A few heads turned. Someone gave a nervous laugh, perhaps assuming he’d mistaken me for someone else.
Daniel stepped into the aisle. “Captain Hale? Is that you?”
I felt the room rearrange itself around that title.
“Hello, Daniel,” I said.
He came toward me slowly. When he reached me, he didn’t salute. We weren’t on duty, and he had left the service the previous year. He simply took my hand.
“I didn’t know you were coming. Nobody told me.”
“I could say the same.”
He looked at the borrowed jacket and the torn collar beneath it. Then at my face.
“What happened?”
“Family misunderstanding.”
He didn’t smile.
Helen approached. “Mr. Ruiz, you know this guest?”
Daniel glanced at the stage. “Yes. I served under Captain Sophia Hale. She commanded our ship when we had the fire.”
A photographer raised a camera. Daniel lifted a hand.
“Please don’t,” he said. The photographer lowered it.
He turned back to Helen. “I wasn’t told my photograph would be used tonight. The rehabilitation organization may have licensed it; I don’t know. But you should talk to them before saying they’re part of your fund.”
Helen nodded. “We will.”
My father came down from the stage, his face stiff. “Sophia, perhaps we can discuss this in a family room.”
“Not until the photograph question is handled.”
Daniel looked between us. He knew enough about my family to recognize trouble. During recovery, I’d once admitted that my relatives considered military service a strange hobby.
“Sir,” he said to my father, “I don’t think you understand who your daughter is.”
My father opened his mouth.
Daniel continued, but he kept his voice steady. “During that fire, Captain Hale stayed with the damage-control teams when several of us were trapped. I was one of the last people through that passage. She was badly hurt helping us. She didn’t leave until the crew was accounted for.”
I wanted to stop him. I also knew he had the right to describe what had happened to him.
“She wasn’t alone,” I said. “We had excellent teams. Everyone who got out owes their life to more people than me.”
“I know,” Daniel answered. “You keep telling me that.”
