"Damn right. I want to see for myself what kind of homewrecker could have that whole family wrapped around her finger."
I handed the baby to the maternity nurse, then climbed into the car with my parents.
In the backseat, my mom wouldn't stop:
"Brad Delgado, that ungrateful snake. Back when he wanted to marry you, he knelt outside our front door for three days and three nights. Knelt until his forehead was split open and bleeding before I finally agreed to let my daughter marry him. And now? His own wife is still recovering from giving birth, and he runs off to take care of his mistress and her illegitimate child?"
"And your mother-in-law! Always going on about how she treats her daughter-in-law like her own flesh and blood. And what does she do? Her own daughter-in-law is suffering, and she doesn't lift a finger. Instead she goes off to wait on some other woman's maternity recovery?"
"If I catch them red-handed doing my daughter wrong, I will make them pay. Every last one of them."
Mom was furious.
Back when Brad first came courting, she hadn't approved.
She thought his family's circumstances were too ordinary. That he wasn't good enough for me.
It was Brad kneeling outside our door for three days and nights, splitting his forehead open against the ground, that finally wore her down.
Dad drove in silence, not saying a word.
I caught his reflection in the rearview mirror. His brows were knotted tight, his expression unreadable.
We'd been driving for about twenty minutes when I suddenly spotted Brad's car parked outside a roadside villa.
"Stop the car! Dad, stop!"
Hearing the urgency in my voice, Dad quickly pulled over, then turned to look at me.
"What is it, Jill? Aren't we heading to the airport to find Brad?"
Mom was just as confused. "That's right. We need to get to the airport and catch them in the act!"
I pointed at Brad's car. "He hasn't left for the airport yet. He's probably here to pick up his little girlfriend."
I got out of the car before either of them could respond.
The Other Jilln headed straight for the villa.
What I didn't notice was that behind me, in the car, both my parents had gone pale the moment they looked at the building.
When Dad saw me walking toward the villa, he was out of the car in an instant, stepping in front of me to block my path.
"Jill, are you sure Brad came here to pick up that woman?"