I showed up at the hospital to surprise my husband during his shift. But the second one of his coworkers saw me, all the color left his face. Then his eyes filled with tears. “He hasn’t said a word to you, has he?” Ben and I had been married eleven years, and for every one of those years, I had shared him with the hospital. He was a remarkably gifted surgeon.

Walsh set his crystal glass on a stone pedestal with exaggerated care.

“You’ve just made a disastrous mistake in judgment, Mrs.

Carter.”

“My husband’s integrity isn’t for sale, Dr.

Walsh, and mine isn’t either.”

Walsh sneered and moved closer to the edge of the porch.

“By next spring you’ll be squeezed into a run-down two-bedroom rental, wondering how to explain your poverty to your daughter.”

“We may well end up in a tiny apartment, but when Emma asks what happened, we’ll be able to look her in the eye with a clear conscience.”