When this story began, my first impression was different at the middle of the story and the completion. Mesmerized by the storyline, the story was dope. The couple’s relationship side featured highly involved family dynamics, emotional pain, emotional dissonance, rediscovery, reconnection, and back to loving again. That’s what it felt like going through the gesticulations in this very involved love story. Malcolm and Whitney discovered they had come to an impasse in what was supposed to be a happy marriage. The two were married for ten years and together for twelve years. Malcolm’s military career kept him away from his wife and son for long periods.  In his absence, we later learned his wife had a completely unknown side.

From the start, I was worried that Whitney’s undefined activity involved a forbidden relationship.  The other concern was the hesitance I felt coming from Whitney when Malcolm arrived home from his recent deployment of several months. I was not feeling that vibe. The house full of people when he arrived home was odd. Malcolm’s need to be with his wife had me as frustrated as him. The answer would reveal itself in a few short weeks, and the response to the news nearly brought me to my knees. Malcolm and Whitney tried to maneuver past, through, and around the stalemate in their marriage. Having his family to support both helped and hindered with the dynamics changes they faced in negotiating the differences.

Malcolm was a military officer, a man used to his way with his wife without much push back from her. The new Whitney nearly destroyed their peace when a newfound standard crippled his resolve. I liked and fought the desire to be angry with the newer Whitney because I understood why she kept Malcolm grasping at straws. I completely and truly understood why Malcolm crumbled in the way the secret his wife harbored affected him, and the misery in his wife’s responses.

And furthermore, her refusal to acquiesce to his demands stung. The way Whitney turned the tables in the matter was interesting. The author’s point of view was evident in this tale about redemptive acts of love.  In the end, both Whitney and Malcolm received the best form of the other’s love on their way back to Us.  4.75 Stars