It’s like someone else has taken over my body.

I thought I was fine, that I had myself under control. But when Justine practically throws herself into the arms of a strange man, something comes over me. I’m not even aware of making the decision, let alone moving. One moment I’m watching my wife throw her arms around some random guy, and the next he’s on the ground—and my fist is throbbing. I’ve punched him.

And Justine looks furious.

“What’s wrong with you?” she demands.

It’s the same thing she asked me when I attacked James Camden, only this time, she has a point. When I punched James, I knew who he was and how he’d treated her—he deserved it. But this man…

I take a closer look at the man on the ground. He’s propping himself up and rubbing his face. I recognize him—I think he introduced himself to me at the opening reception. I was a little distracted at the time, but I believe he said he was one of Justine’s friends from university.

Must have been a very good friend, for her to throw herself at him the way she did now. Anger still simmers in my chest. Justine may have only slept with James Camden, but there was an intimacy to the way she hugged this man. How many other men like this are in her past? Am I going to spend the rest of my life waiting for them to show up and try to claim her again? I’m going to go mad.

You’re already mad, if you’re attacking every man that interacts with her, a voice in my mind says. You’ve just made everything worse.

Justine is helping the man to his feet, but she’s glaring daggers at me.

“You’re insane,” she tells me. “Forget everything I said before. It’s clear you don’t have yourself under control after all.” She glances around, as if suddenly remembering we have an audience, then lowers her voice. “You had your chance, William. And you blew it.”

Shame washes through me. “Justine—”

“Enough.” She looks at the man beside her. “Are you all right? I should take you to the physician.”

“I’m fine,’ he says. “Just…stunned.” He glances over at me. “I take it this is your new husband?”

“He’s a madman,” Justine mutters. “Come on—I’m taking you to the physician right now.”

I start to follow. “Justine—”

“Leave us.”

I try to follow them through the crowd, but a hand grabs my arm. When I turn, I find my sister beside me.

“Don’t make this worse,” she says. “You’ve already caused a scene. You’re lucky it happened too fast for people to take videos or pictures, because otherwise it’d be all over the internet by dinner time. What did that guy do?”

Honestly, I don’t know how to answer that question—I don’t even know the fellow’s name. But I also know I don’t want him anywhere near my wife.

“Justine hasn’t exactly been the most…forthcoming about her past,” I say finally. “Which wouldn’t be an issue, except she apparently has no problem inviting those men back into her life. I’m doing everything to make this marriage work, and she keeps…” I sigh. “Even now, I couldn’t tell you if she’s committed to this or not.”

Sophia releases me and crosses her arms. “So this is all about jealousy? Are you serious?”

“It’s about more than jealousy,” I insist. “It’s about commitment, and trust, and—”

“And you punched that guy for giving her a hug.” Sophia rolls her eyes. “Forgive me, Brother, but I’m on her side in this one. You’re acting crazy.”

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect—”

“To expect her to never see any of these ‘men of her past’ ever again? Actually, that’s insanely unreasonable. Seriously, William—if you brought her to any major event in Montovia, there’d probably be one of your old flames there. What would you do if she attacked one of them on sight?”

In spite of everything, the image of that makes me smile. “Actually I might enjoy watching that…”

“Ugh, men.” Sophia rolls her eyes again. “Seriously, though—you have to calm down. Recognize what’s going on for what it is. You’re jealous and insecure.”

“I’m most certainly not insecure—”

“Uh, yes, you most certainly are. And maybe that’s natural. You guys didn’t really know each other before you got married. You made this commitment blindly. Maybe you expected her to be loyal, maybe you didn’t—it didn’t really matter as much then. But now that you’ve gotten to know her, now that you realize there could be something more here…things are different. You have something to lose.”

I pause, considering this. I never expected to be getting relationship advice from my little sister—hell, only a short time ago, I was the one giving relationship advice to my brother Andrew—but she may be right. I do have something to lose now.

“All men turn into idiots when they fall in love,” Sophia is muttering. “It’s so predictable it’s not even funny.”

“I should go find her,” I say. “I should—”

“No. What you need to do is give her some space. Show her you can be a normal, rational human being. You have to learn to trust her. You’re going to have a miserable time in this marriage if you don’t. Honestly, what has she done to betray that trust? Besides talk to men she may or may not have dated in her past? Do you honestly believe she’s going to start an affair with one of them? Or run away into the sunset with her ex-lover?”

I admit that I may have jumped to conclusions when I heard a woman in James Camden’s room. But now I find myself thinking about that acceptance letter to Yale I discovered on her desk. She might be trying to run away.

No. If I stop and think about it, I know, deep down, that Yale is about herself, not some man. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I realize it does seem absurdly unlikely that Justine will run off with someone else. She’s been hurt too badly to make such a reckless, life-altering decision for a man.

“She’s committed to this marriage, trust me,” Sophia says.

“And how would you know that?”

“I told you—I talked to her last night.”

“One conversation doesn’t make you an expert on Justine. Or on marriages.”

“No, but I’ve watched enough of my siblings make fools of themselves to learn a few things.” She smiles. “Just trust me on this one, okay? Justine’s not going anywhere. The moment she runs off with some guy from her past is the moment I check myself into a convent, because obviously everything I know about love is wrong.”

It’s the second time she’s mentioned love in this conversation, and the word sits with me, bringing forth a flood of emotions I’m not sure I have the energy to sift through. Instead, I widen my smile.

“And that’s why you’re my favorite sister,” I tell her.

She grins right back. “And you’re my favorite brother. Don’t tell the others.”

“You say that to all of us, don’t you?”

“Only when you’re not being ignorant, pigheaded idiots.”

I laugh, then glance around. “Speaking of brothers, where is Nicholas? Why don’t the three of us go get some lunch? There’s a delicious place around the corner from here—I went there three times last week when I was helping with the bridge.”

“Let’s go find him,” Sophia says, hooking her arm through mine. She smiles up at me. “Don’t worry, William. Things are going to turn out fine between you and Justine. I have a good feeling.”

I hope you’re right, I think, squeezing her hand. God, I don’t know what I’ll do if you aren’t.