Chapter 1

The night I found out Harrison Sullivan had been cheating on me, I climbed onto the river bridge.

I stared down at the black water, so deep there was no bottom to it, and I looked back at him like something in me had broken loose.

"I told you. If I ever found out you'd betrayed me, I'd make you regret it for the rest of your life."

At the last possible second, it was my best friend who pulled me back, and she was the one who lost her footing and went into the river.

Before the water swallowed her, her voice cut across the whole scene, a warning aimed at Harrison.

"If you ever wrong Fee again, I'll come back from the dead and make you pay!"

For the two years after that, over and over, I stood at the window wanting to throw myself down.

It was Harrison who held me when I lost control, crying as he spoke.

"I was wrong. I'll never do anything to hurt you again."

"If something happens to you, then Edwina died for nothing!"

After that, I fought to hold myself together. But he was the one who started vomiting constantly, and lost a lot of weight.

Whenever I asked, he'd just wave it off and say he was under stress.

Then, the day before Valentine's Day, while I was picking out a gift at the mall, a post scrolled past on my phone.

【When a man loves a woman deeply enough, he can experience sympathetic morning sickness while she's carrying his child.】

Nonsense, I thought. Then I turned my head and saw Harrison walking out of the movie theater, holding a woman's hand.

"This little guy is such a handful already."

"When he comes out, I'm definitely giving him a good spanking!"

And the woman on his arm, glowing with happiness, was the best friend who had fallen into the river two years ago trying to save me. Edwina Pruitt.

1

The gift slipped from my hand and hit the floor. I ignored the salesclerk calling after me and followed them.

Edwina listened to Harrison and answered, all bashful.

"Oh, come on, he's only three months along and you already want to spank him? What kind of father are you?"

"Besides, how do you even know it's a boy or a girl?"

Harrison held her hand, and his voice carried that tenderness and patience I knew so painfully well.

"If it's a girl, of course I'd be thrilled. But I hope it's a boy even more."

He paused, and a flicker of irritation crossed his eyes.

"Fiona Swanson's moods swing all over the place. I'm afraid I won't be able to keep this from her forever, and she might turn on you."

"If it's a boy, he can protect you along with me."

Edwina's whole face went soft with emotion. She rose onto her toes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips.

"Harrison, thank you for loving me."

His eyes reddened, and he ruffled the top of her head.

"Silly. I'm the one who let you suffer through all this."

"Come on. Let's go home and I'll make you something good."

I flagged down a taxi and followed. Twenty minutes later the car stopped outside a villa district in the suburbs.

The estate's patrolling steward spotted me and asked at once, on guard.

"Ma'am, who are you looking for?"

My throat was tight. I forced out a smile.

"I'm the cook Mr. Sullivan called for."

Understanding dawned on his face, and it filled at once with envy.

"Mrs. Sullivan really is a lucky woman. You're the fifth cook he's had come out this month."

"It's building fourteen, just up ahead."

I thanked him and walked over.

The moment I reached the door, I saw Harrison through the huge floor-to-ceiling window, cooking in an apron.

Every motion smooth and easy, his knife work fluid.

Edwina hugged him from behind, praising how good he was.

I watched it, my eyes stinging, and I remembered seven years ago.

Back then, we'd just graduated.

Harrison ignored his parents' objections and insisted on being with me.

To prove himself, he started a business from nothing.

We lived in a single room with terrible ventilation.

He couldn't cook, so it fell to me.

Over time, I came down with a bad case of bronchitis, my voice so raw I couldn't get the words out.

Harrison held me, aching for me, and promised.

"Fee, just hold on a little longer. Once I've made it, I'll never let you step into a kitchen again as long as you live."

I cupped his face and teased him.

"So you'll cook for me instead?"

He took my hands and said, gently.

"My cooking's terrible. When the time comes, we'll hire the best cook we can find."

But now, here he was, making a nourishing home-cooked meal for my best friend.

The surge of it jammed up in my throat, and I couldn't take any more. I turned and went to the home of Emmet James, the boy I'd grown up with.

I knocked, and when Emmet saw me, his face filled with worry.

"Fee, what are you doing here?"

"Did that bastard Harrison hurt you again?"

Our mothers had been close for decades. We'd known each other since before we were even born.

He'd always protected me like a little sister. Whenever I was in danger, he'd be there.

Looking at him, my nose stung and the tears just fell, my voice shaking.

"Edwina never died!"

"And she's having a baby with Harrison…"

"What am I supposed to do? Why would they do this to me?"

Any other time, hearing that, Emmet would have rolled up his sleeves and gone to teach Harrison a lesson.

But now something was off in his expression. He even sounded disappointed as he spoke.

"I told him this plan wouldn't work. I said you'd find out sooner or later."