Wife Against The Other Woman

For a year, a wife has lived a thousand miles from her husband, counting the days until their reunion. Then a colleague at an upscale mall hands her a gold-edged invitation to a baby's first-month celebration, and beneath Father she reads the name David Lawrence, beneath Mother the unfamiliar name Jessica.

At the crowded ballroom, Jessica welcomes her as one of David's colleagues, cradling an infant with the unmistakable curve of David's brow. His aunts and cousins fill the room, people she has not seen since her own wedding seven years ago. Jessica speaks of a wedding six years past, of David's bonuses turned into gold for her, of in-laws he has gone to collect, though his parents told their daughter-in-law they had booked a two-week bus tour.

When Jessica presses the baby into her arms, she notices a gold charm bracelet, its centerpiece a carved phoenix, twin to one her mother once had blessed for the daughter she lost at birth.