Chapter 1: The Woman on Our Honeymoon
“Baby, who’s that?””
I asked the question with a smile still fixed on my face, even though my heart had just cracked in two.
My husband, Malcolm Brooks, stood in the middle of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport with his arm wrapped around another woman’s waist. Not just any woman. Tasha Reynolds, his so-called best friend, was wearing a white sundress, oversized sunglasses, and the smug expression of someone who had already won a game I hadn’t known we were playing.
Malcolm grinned as if he were introducing me to a coworker.
“This is my best friend, Tasha. She’s coming on our honeymoon!””
Tasha lifted her plane ticket and waved it in my face.
“Surprise, girl!””
For three seconds, the airport seemed to go silent.
Then I heard a child crying near the security checkpoint, the squeak of a suitcase rolling across the polished floor, and Malcolm chuckling as though his announcement had been the funniest thing in the world.
I stared at him.
“You’re taking another woman on OUR honeymoon?””
Malcolm’s grin disappeared.
“Danielle, don’t start acting crazy. Tasha’s my best friend. Be mature about it.””
“Be mature?”” I repeated.
“Yes. It’s a vacation, not a federal investigation.””
Tasha leaned into his side.
“Honestly, Danielle, I thought you’d be happy. Malcolm and I have been best friends forever. I don’t understand why everything has to be so serious with you.””
I looked at the woman who had sat in the front row at our wedding, cried during our vows, and toasted our marriage with a glass of champagne.
Three days ago, she had hugged me so tightly that her perfume lingered on my wedding dress.
Now she was standing beside my husband, holding a ticket to the Maldives.
The Maldives.
A trip I had spent eleven months planning.
A trip I had paid for.
“Malcolm,” I said slowly, “we agreed this honeymoon would be just us.””
He glanced at his watch.
“And plans change.””
“Did they change before or after you bought her ticket?””
His jaw tightened.
“Why are you interrogating me?””
“Because you just announced that another woman is joining our honeymoon as if you were telling me we’d ordered extra fries.””
Tasha laughed.
“Girl, you’re making this so awkward.””
I turned toward her.
“Then help me understand. Did you buy your own ticket?””
She hesitated for half a second.
Malcolm answered for her.
“I bought it. She’s my best friend. I wanted her there.””
Something about the way he said it made the truth settle heavily in my stomach.
He hadn't made a mistake.
He hadn't forgotten our agreement.
He had made a decision and expected me to swallow the humiliation with a smile.
I looked at the two boarding passes in his hand. Then I looked at the matching luggage beside them, including the pink suitcase I had bought for him as a wedding gift.
He had packed for three people.
He had coordinated this.
While I had been steaming his shirts and checking our hotel reservations, he had been planning how to turn our honeymoon into his private vacation with another woman.
“Did you even ask me?”” I whispered.
Malcolm rolled his eyes.
“Here we go.””
“No, answer me. Did you ask me?””
He leaned closer, lowering his voice.
“Danielle, I am not doing this with you in public. Get your bag, get on the plane, and stop embarrassing me.””
I almost laughed.
He was worried about being embarrassed.
Not about embarrassing me.
Not about the fact that we'd exchanged vows three days earlier, promising to put each other first.
He was worried about how strangers might perceive him.
Tasha tugged on his sleeve.
“Malcolm, they're boarding our flight.””
“Our flight,” I repeated.
She looked at me with a smile that had no warmth in it.
“Yes, sweetheart. OUR flight.””
Malcolm picked up his carry-on.
“Come on, Tash.””
Then he walked away with her.
He didn't turn around.
Not once.
I stood beside the check-in counter, watching my husband disappear into the crowd with his arm around another woman.
My phone vibrated.
It was a message from my mother.
*Mom: Have you two boarded yet? Send me a picture when you get there. I love you, baby.*
I stared at the screen until the words blurred.
Then I wiped my eyes.
No tears.
Not here.
Not for him.
I opened the airline app and pulled up our reservations. The flights had been booked through my account because Malcolm had claimed his credit card was temporarily locked after our wedding expenses.
I'd paid for the round-trip tickets, the oceanfront villa, the private transfers, and the excursions.
Every reservation was under my name.
I pressed the cancellation option.
A warning appeared, asking whether I was certain I wanted to cancel both passengers.
I looked toward the security checkpoint, where Malcolm and Tasha were laughing together.
Then I pressed YES.
Two minutes later, the airline confirmed the cancellations and issued the applicable refunds and credits under the fare rules.
My phone immediately rang.
Malcolm.
I let it ring twice before answering.
“What the hell did you do?”” he shouted.
I could hear airport announcements behind him.
I smiled for the first time that morning.
“Enjoy your little vacation, sweetheart.””
“Danielle, I'm serious! They just told us the tickets are canceled!””
“I know.””
“You can't do this!””
“Actually, I just did.””
“Rebook them right now!””
I picked up my suitcase.
“No.””
His voice dropped into something colder.
“You're going to regret humiliating me like this.””
I looked at my wedding ring, a delicate diamond band I had chosen because Malcolm said he wanted something simple that would last forever.
Funny how forever had lasted three days.
“Malcolm,” I said, “you walked away from your wife at the airport. I'm simply making sure you don't have to share your honeymoon with her.””
Then I hung up.
I thought that was the end of it.
I was wrong.
As I headed toward the parking garage, another notification appeared on my phone.
It was from an unknown number.
The message contained a photograph of Malcolm and Tasha sitting together in a restaurant two weeks before our wedding.
His hand rested on her stomach.
May you like
Beneath the picture were seven words.
*Danielle, you need to know what he promised her.*
