The World Beyond You

Almost on a whim, Whitney Westbrook picked up her phone and searched for "Winona Sterling."

The latest headline jumped out at her.

"Wealthy Heiress Winona Sterling Announces Divorce, Ending Three-Year Marriage"

The article had been published today.

Her fingers went cold as she scrolled down.

Winona received a marriage proposal on the very same day Lennox Graham proposed to Whitney, just two hours apart.

On Winona's birthday, Whitney remembered Lennox coming home with a birthday cake in hand.

She asked whose birthday it was, and he casually replied that he'd just picked it up on a whim.

The night rumors spread that Winona had been abused by her husband, Lennox got dead drunk and smashed everything in the house.

Her heart pounded harder and harder against her ribs.

No. That couldn't be right.

Lennox loved her so much.

He remembered that she loved baked salmon, that her shoe size was a seven, and that she liked gardenia-scented perfume.

No matter how busy he was on a business trip, there was always a gift for her in his suitcase.

How could he possibly be lying to her?

Whitney took a deep breath, pulled a ten-dollar bill from her purse, and pressed it into the little girl's hand.

"Go buy yourself some candy."

Then she turned and walked away.

Behind her, Nola Graham called out through her tears.

"Mommy, I can only stay in your world for seven days! After that, I have to go back! Daddy is going to see Winona tonight. They're going to spend the whole night together at a hotel!"

Whitney didn't slow down.

With trembling hands, she pushed open the front door. The moment the aroma of home-cooked food hit her, the knot of anxiety in her chest loosened.

Lennox was busy in the kitchen, wearing an apron. Hearing the door open, he turned and smiled at her.

"You're home? Go wash your hands. Dinner's ready."

Whitney stood frozen, tears welling in her eyes.

See? Her husband was home. Everything Nola had said was a lie.

She walked over and wrapped her arms around him from behind, pressing her face against his warm back.

Lennox was so good, so gentle and considerate. How could he possibly have done those things?

He set three dishes and a soup on the table, all of them her favorites.

He pulled out a chair for her, but he didn't sit down.

"Something's come up at the office. I have to step out for a while."

Whitney's grip on her fork suddenly tightened.

"Could you..." She looked up at him and, for the first time, asked him for something. "Stay home with me tonight?"

Lennox leaned down and kissed her tenderly. "Be good. I'll be back soon."

Then he turned and walked away without looking back.

Whitney stared at the untouched dinner spread across the table, her heart sinking.

She got up and followed him out.

By the time she reached the hotel room door, her heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it might leap straight out of her throat.

She had followed Lennox all the way there, praying with every step that Nola had been wrong.

But the sounds coming from inside the room shattered her last hope.

A woman's sobs. A man's hushed voice.

Winona was demanding to know why he had married Whitney in the first place.

Lennox's voice drifted through the closed door in broken fragments.

"Why did you agree to the arranged marriage with the Fletcher family in the first place? I thought I could forget about you."

The sobbing stopped, replaced by another sound.

Whitney stood in the hallway, feeling the blood in her veins slowly turn cold.

She raised her hand to knock, but suddenly, a small hand reached out from beside her and tugged at her.

Whitney looked down.

It was Nola, the little girl who had bumped into her at the hospital.

"Mommy, don't."

Tears streamed down Nola's face as she shook her head.

"You can't go in there! This is exactly what you do in the future. You rush in, record everything, and expose them online. Winona gets dragged all over social media and starts trending. Daddy falls to his knees and begs you to forgive him. But because you're carrying me, you choose to endure it all in silence.

"But later, when you give birth to me, you suffer a massive hemorrhage, and he goes to be with Winona instead. You almost die on the delivery table. Your health is never the same after that, and in the end..."

Whitney slowly lowered her hand. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

Nola squeezed her hand, her gaze resolute.

"Get an abortion and leave him."

Whitney jerked her head up to look at her, instinctively covering her lower abdomen with her hand.

She remembered the overwhelming joy she'd felt just two hours earlier when she received her pregnancy test results. It felt like a lifetime ago.

The world continued turning as it always had, but at that moment, her own life had gone off the rails.

She looked down into Nola's eyes, identical to her own, and remained silent for a long time.

"Then give me one week. If I really can't change anything in that time..."

She rested her hand on her lower abdomen, her fingertips trembling slightly.

"Then I'll do what you say."