As soon as I step off the plane, the first thing I notice is the sun. It’s bright and low in the sky, but so beautiful.

The second thing I notice is that riding in a private plane is the best thing ever. There’s no wait or lines or anything like that. As soon as we land, the crew helps us off the plane and we walk across the hot tarmac, our bags already in hand.

“What do you think?” Gavin asks me.

I nudge him with my shoulder. “It’s not bad.”

He grins at me. “Not bad?”

I shrug. “Yeah. Just okay.”

“Just okay?” His grin gets bigger. “Girl, this is Hawaii. It’s more than just okay.”

“Fine. It’s beautiful.”

“That’s better.”

And it’s true, it is beautiful. Even just the airport is gorgeous somehow. It’s hot but it’s not overwhelming as we head into the terminal. Gavin leads the way, since apparently he’s been here before for business, which seems like a good story to me. I’d love to be in a business that takes trips to Hawaii, but I guess I am now. I’m in the Gavin business.

As we get a cab and head out toward the resort, I can’t help but think about Joanie back home. This is our first trip away from her in just over a year. I know she’s safe with the nanny, who we’re paying handsomely to watch her for five days, but still. I wish we could have brought her with us, but we both needed a little vacation. Besides, Joanie loves the nanny, and we both trust her implicitly. Not to mention Gavin is paying her stupidly well, so she’d be crazy to mess that up.

Gavin must notice that I’m not paying attention to anything, because he squeezes my hand. “Hey. You okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine. Just thinking about Joanie.”

“Yeah,” he says. “It’s a little weird, being without her.”

“What do you think she’s doing right now?”

He glances at his watch. “Still asleep, I think,” he says. “Or if she’s not, we probably owe Magritte double.”

I can’t help but smile. “Good point.”

“Come on, relax with me. We deserve a honeymoon, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do,” I say.

“And we can’t have a proper honeymoon with a kid in tow.”

“I know. I know. I just miss her.”

Her gets serious for a second. “I miss her too,” he says, a little wistfully. “You know the way she squeezes my fingers and laughs when I flip her around? I keep thinking about that.”

“Yeah,” I say, smiling at him. “It’s really cute.”

“You’re really cute.” He grins and kisses me softly.

I never expected Gavin to take to fatherhood so effortlessly. But as soon as Joanie came into this world, he changed. All of his priorities are different now. He works a lot less, and even took a few moths off for paternity leave. He hired more people onto his personal staff to help manage his companies, and he’s present for everything important in Joanie’s life. He spends so much time with her that sometimes I get a little jealous.

But these next five days, Gavin is all mine. We didn’t get a honeymoon after we got married, since Joanie was just a tiny infant back then. The marriage ceremony was a small thing, just the two of us plus Chuck and Joanie, but it was perfect. I never wanted a huge wedding anyway, which would have been my destiny if I had remained a Tillman.

I have no regrets about that. I don’t speak to them and they don’t speak to me. We’re in a nice little truce, and I want to keep it that way.

We arrive at the resort fifteen minutes after leaving. “Resort” probably isn’t the word for this place, really. It’s more like a group of ultra expensive and exclusive cabanas loosely grouped around a private beach. There are no kids and each cabana costs a small fortune, so there are few people. The staff is friendly and courteous, and they take care of everything.

The cabana itself is gorgeous and incredibly modern. Everything is gleaming and clean, marble and curving wood. It looks rustic on the outside, but the inside lives up to the expense. I can’t help but flop down on the bed as Gavin looks over the room service menu.

“Hungry?” he asks me.

I shake my head. “I’m never hungry after flying. I don’t know why.”

He grins and sits down near my feet. “What do you want to do then?” he asks.

I shrug slowly. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

His grin turns into a knowing smirk. He grabs my ankle and pulls me down toward him. I laugh as he grabs my hips and slides my shorts down over my hips. He moves up along my body, kissing my lips softly.

“This is what you were thinking about, I bet,” he says.

“Maybe,” I admit, a thrill running through my body.

“We don’t have to be quiet here. We don’t have to worry about Joanie or anything. It’s just the two of us.”

“Yeah,” I say, my heart hammering. “It really is.”

He kisses me again before sliding down my body, kissing my chest and my stomach, stopping at my panties. He slides them over my legs and tosses them aside before spreading my legs wide.

He doesn’t waste any time, and I’m glad he doesn’t. He licks my pussy bottom to top before nibbling on my clit, licking and sucking it, driving me crazy. I love the way he just dives into this, not bothering to wait a single second. It’s like he can’t get enough of me and couldn’t wait any longer.

I run my fingers through his hair as he licks my clit faster, hungry for me. I love the way he touches me, the way he pushes me further and further, makes me feel so good. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have a man like him, someone who’s starving for my skin.

His fingers slide inside of me as he continues to suck and lick my clit. Pleasure rocks through me and I grab his hair tighter. I thought he was gong to fuck me, but I suddenly realize that he has other plans.

He spreads my legs wide, fingers hammering into my pussy, tongue lapping up my clit. At home, I’d have to hold back a little bit, try and be a little quiet so that I don’t wake up Joanie. But here, I let loose.

It feels so good to moan that way I want to moan. I really get vocal when something feels good, and it’s incredibly to finally get to be as loud as I want.

“That’s right Sadie girl,” Gavin says. “Say my fucking name.”

“Daddy,” I moan, low and deep. “Oh fuck Daddy. Are you trying to make me come?”

“That’s right,” he says, fingers still fucking me. “So come for me, you dirty girl.”

“Yes,” I gasp as he goes back to my clit, working me faster, sucking and licking. “Oh shit, Daddy.”

The orgasm blows through me, fast and intense. I didn’t expect it so happen so soon, but it feels so fucking good to finally let loose and be free. It’s totally liberating to be alone here with him, not worried about anything but feeling good.

He laps me up and finishes by kissing me gently on the lips. He leaves me there, panting and sweating slightly on the bed, while he disappears into the bathroom.

“Gavin?” I call out.

He comes out a second later in a bathing suit. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s go to the beach.”

I laugh and shake my head. “You’re too much.”

He comes over and kisses me again. “Nothing better after an orgasm than a day on the sand.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” I kiss him deeply before getting up to get changed.

* * *

A couple hours later, we’re both sitting on a beautiful white sand beach in little chairs, sipping on sweet cold drinks. Mine is a Piña Colada while Gavin sticks with the classic Rum Punch.

“This is the life,” he says, smiling at me.

I nod. “Can’t complain.”

“I have to admit, I’m surprised at how well you’re taking to this,” he says.

“Why’s that?” I ask.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d like just relaxing.”

“True,” I admit. “I like being busy. But a few days isn’t bad. Plus, you’re the one that works too hard.”

“Maybe,” he says, laughing. “But I’m good at turning off for vacation time.”

I smile before turning back to the ocean. The water is so blue and clear, it almost looks fake. The Pacific Ocean is so gorgeous, not at all like the brownish green sludge of the Atlantic that I’m used to. My family would go to the Hamptons all the time, but the Hamptons pale in comparison to Hawaii.

As we’re sitting there, I start to look around at the other people. There aren’t many of them, maybe twenty at the most. They’re all couples and they’re scattered around, spread out pretty far. Everyone has plenty of privacy though we’re not alone. It’s the ideal set up, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t feel isolated, but I also don’t feel crowded.

As I’m looking around, I notice someone glancing back at us. She’s a woman, probably my mother’s age, dressed in an expensive-looking cover-up with light brown hair. As soon as I look her way, she quickly turns back toward the ocean.

I stare at her for a second, and there’s a nagging sensation in the back of my mind. I can’t explain it exactly. I feel like I know that woman, but I can’t place her just from the back of her head. I take a deep breath and look back at the ocean, deciding to forget about her for the time being. I’m on vacation right now.

“I’m going into the water,” I say absently to Gavin.

“Enjoy,” he says.

I get up and stretch. I slip off my cover-up, make sure I have sunscreen on every inch of my pale skin, and then head down to the ocean.

I get into the water slowly. It’s warmer than I’m used to, but I’m not a great swimmer. I wade in up to my waist and enjoy the slow waves, not wanting to go any further. Nobody else is in the water, but that doesn’t matter to me.

I feel at peace out in the ocean despite my poor swimming ability. I can’t see anyone else, just the endless blue, the intense and impossibly endlessness of the ocean. It feels good to feel so small sometimes, and I dunk myself under the salty water, letting the water run down my face.

When I come up, I hear some splashing behind me. I half turn toward the shore and I realize that the woman that I noticed earlier is standing in the water up to her calves, staring at me.

It takes me half a second to realize that I know her, and that I know her pretty well.

“Sadie,” she says. “Hello.”

“Mrs. Vanderhoot,” I answer, completely shocked to see her. “Uh, hello. How are you?”

“Fine.” Her face is a tight line and she does not seem pleased to see me. “I wasn’t aware that you and your…. husband would be here.”

Patricia Vanderhoot is an old money woman from back in the city. I knew her daughter, Layla, back when we were in school together. We weren’t friends, but we were both in the chorus together, so I met her parents a few times. They’re classic conservative rich people, exactly the way my old family used to be.

And the way she’s staring at me suggests that everyone in the city knows about what happened with my family.

“It’s my honeymoon,” I say, a little awkwardly.

“Yes. Your honeymoon. So you really married that… man?” she asks, arching her eyebrows. A chill runs down my spine instantly, and I can feel her serious judgment rolling off her in waves.

“Yes, Gavin and I got married.”

Her eyes stray to my stomach. “And the child?”

“Joanie is walking and talking,” I say with a slight smile. I want to get away from here so badly that it almost hurts.

“Very good,” Patricia says, but she doesn’t sound like she thinks anything about this is good. “Well.”

“Well,” I say, looking away. “Have a nice vacation.”

I go to turn back toward the water, but she doesn’t leave. She lingers for a moment before speaking up again.

“I need to say this to you, Sadie. You had a lovely family. Your parents are so disappointed in you, everyone is so disappointed. To get pregnant by that man, and then to leave your family like that… it’s s disgrace. You should feel embarrassed.”

I turn back toward her, completely shocked. I can’t believe she’d speak to me that way. I know she thinks all those things, but to have her actually come out and say it is another thing. I don’t know what gives her the confidence to be such an awful person so openly. Her face is set and she’s clearly angry, and she doesn’t even have the story right. I didn’t leave my family, they kicked me out.

“Thanks for your opinion,” I say, and start to leave the water. I don’t bother trying to change this woman’s mind.

“Your poor parents,” she says, warming up to the moment. “They’re devastated. So devastated. To run off like that? Cut yourself off from them? Shameful. Layla is so ashamed to have known you.” Patricia shakes her head but she’s clearly enjoying this.

I pause and for a second, I want to yell at her. I want to scream at her. I want to explain what my family made me go through, how they abandoned me at the first sign of trouble, how they tried to force me into a loveless marriage that I didn’t want. I wish I could explain how I’m so much better off and happier now with someone that cares about me in a way I never expected.

Instead, I turn away from her and walk away as fast as I can. I’m not going to give this shrew the satisfaction of seeing my get upset. That’s what she wants, of course. For some reason, she wants to punish me for something that has absolutely nothing to do with her, maybe because she can go home and brag about it to all her rich country club friends. Well, they can all go to hell.

I can feel her judging eyes on my back as I walk away. I don’t turn and I don’t get upset. I hurry back toward the chairs and Gavin looks up as I approach.

“Hey,” he says, noticing my expression. “Are you okay? Who was that in the water?”

“Nobody,” I say, grabbing my things. “I’ll be back at the room.”

“Wait, what happened?”

But I don’t bother answering. I grab my stuff and hurry away. I don’t want Patricia Vanderhoot to see me cry. I won’t give her that little victory.

I manage to hold back my tears until I get into the room. I shut the bathroom door, turn on the shower, and then cry my eyes out.

I haven’t felt sad about this since I left my family over a year ago. But suddenly it all comes rushing back. That bitch had no right to talk to me that way and doesn’t know a damn thing about my life, but I hate that she thinks she knows everything. People have been talking about me, saying horrible things about me, and I can’t help but feel upset. Even if they are all a bunch of misinformed, shallow assholes, I still hate that I’m seen as this stupid floozy that threw her life away.

I hear Gavin come back into the room a few minutes after I arrive, but he doesn’t bother me. I cry until I’m done crying, and then I wash my face. I slowly come out of the bathroom to find him reading a book in a chair in the corner. He stands when I emerge.

“Come here,” he says.

I walk over to him. He throws his big arms around me and pulls me close. He doesn’t say anything at first, just hugs me tight. I appreciate that a lot, and I let myself start to feel better in his embrace. I love this man so much it almost hurts. He seems to just know when I need space and when I need to be hugged.

“Okay,” he says finally. “What happened?”

I take a deep breath. “That woman was Patricia Vanderhoot. You know that name?”

He nods. “I’ve heard it before. Old money family.”

“That’s right. She said some things to me… about being ashamed. And how I embarrassed my family. Awful things.”

His face gets tight. “She did what?”

“I don’t want to make a thing of it, Gavin. She doesn’t know the real story.”

“But she said those things to you?” he asks. “The bitch said you should be ashamed?”

“Yes,” I say softly. “She’s an awful, awful woman, still stuck in her awful little world. I cried and now I want to let it go.”

His face is hard but he nods slowly. “Okay,” he says. “If that’s what you want.”

“Come on. Let’s sit out on the porch.”

“Fine. Sure.” He seems distant, but he follows me outside.

We spend the rest of the day sitting in the shade. He’s strange at first, clearly still thinking about the Vanderhoots, but slowly he comes around, and it’s a nice afternoon of talking and laughing, and by the time we head inside and he strips off my bathing suit to kiss every inch of my body, I’ve already forgotten all about that stupid moment on the beach.

But Gavin doesn’t forget.

* * *

The next night, after a day at the beach without the Vanderhoots mercifully, we go to dinner at the resort’s restaurant. It’s a beautiful restaurant, basically a five star place, and we dress up in nice clothes. All the other couples are there, and as we’re seated, I spot the Vanderhoots sitting on the other side of the room. They don’t spare us a glance.

The meal is nice, at least at first. Gavin seems like he’s in a really good mood, chatting and laughing. We order expensive wine and we’re enjoying ourselves.

At least until the first course. Gavin eats, but his mood slowly darkens. I can’t tell what’s going on with him. He was talkative and happy just a few minutes ago, but he gets quiet and withdrawn all of a sudden. I have a bad feeling in the center of my chest, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“What’s the matter?” I finally ask him once the first course is taken away.

“Nothing,” he says, but the glance he throws toward the Vanderhoots confirms my greatest fear.

“Gavin.” I stare at him, a little hard. “Tell me.”

He looks at me for a second and smiles softly. “I’m sorry about this,” he says, and then he stands.

“What are you doing?” I ask him, but of course I know.

“I’ll be right back.”

I watch with horror as he walks over toward the Vanderhoots.

I get up, my heart hammering in my chest. I don’t know what the hell he’s going to do, but I’m already mortified. Patricia Vanderhoot can see him coming, and as he approaches, her husband Linus turns toward Gavin. Linus is my father’s age, a fairly fat man with gray hair and a gray beard, with brown eyes and a wrinkled, jowly face. He grunts as Gavin approaches and I stare with horror as Gavin smiles at them.

“How are you doing tonight, folks?” he asks.

Linus speaks up. “We aren’t interested in whatever you have to say, Mr. Waller,” he says.

“You know me, good,” Gavin says, smiling. “So what I have to say won’t be a surprise.”

Linus Vanderhoot frowns at him. “What do you want? We’re trying to enjoy our meal.”

“Yesterday, your wife was a bitch to my wife. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Vanderhoot?” Gavin grins at her, and Patricia looks absolutely mortified. People are staring openly at Gavin, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Patricia Vanderhoot, however, clearly can feel the attention, and it’s destroying her.

I should stop this. I should step in and pull Gavin away. But the look on that shrew bitch’s face stops me.

“How dare you talk to her that way,” Linus says.

“Don’t bother trying to stand, you fat slob,” Gavin says as Linus struggles a bit to stand. “You’ll just embarrass yourself.”

Linus manages to get out of his chair and face Gavin.

“Gavin,” I say. “Please.” But I don’t move to stop anything. My heart is racing and I’m so excited.

He ignores me. “You people are all the same,” he says, loudly enough for the whole room to hear it. “You think you can say and do whatever you want when people don’t conform to your rules. Truth is, Sadie is a good person, and her family is slime and scum, much like you two. They turned their back on Sadie at the first sign of trouble. You should be embarrassed, Mrs. Vanderhoot. You’re disgraceful and rude, and if either of you ever speak to my wife or my family again, I will personally destroy you. My wife has more class in her pinky than you two do in your entire estate.” Gavin steps closer to Linus Vanderhoot. “Do you understand?” His grin is wicked and inviting.

Gavin stares down Linus, and for a second I think they might actually fight. But that’s absurd, because Linus is old and out of shape, and Gavin looks like a Greek god.

“Leave us alone,” Linus finally says.

“Gladly.” Gavin grins again. “Have a nice meal, you fucking scum.” He turns and walks away.

I stare, totally shocked and appalled. I hurry to follow him as he leaves the restaurant. My heart is racing so fast I feel like I might fall over, and I’ve never felt this excited before.

I didn’t know I wanted a man like Gavin. I didn’t think I wanted a man that would stand up like that for me in a room full of people. The old me would have been mortified, but the new me appreciates him standing up for me like that.

“Gavin!” I say.

He whirls on me, anger in his face. “Fuck those people,” he says.

“I agree,” I say softly. “But you just made a scene.”

“Fuck making a scene,” he says. “Fuck everyone in there.” He takes my hands and pulls me close. “You’re the only thing I care about. Do you get that? Nobody talks down to you Sadie. Absolutely nobody.”

I stare into his eyes and I realize that it doesn’t matter. Everything Patricia said yesterday in the ocean, all the dirty things people have said about me over this last year, it doesn’t matter.

I have the man I need. I have my family. I know what I’m worth and what’s important to me.

I suddenly feel a weight lift off my shoulders. I pull Gavin close and kiss him tight, feeling light and free.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get out of here.”

He smiles at me. “What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “We have three more days. Let’s just travel the islands and explore.”

“Okay,” he says. “Sounds good to me. Fuck this snooty place.”

“Fuck them all,” I agree, and he laughs.

We kiss again, slowly and deeply, before going back to the room, packing our bags, and leaving the resort.

As we travel the islands, just the two of us, being with real people and doing real things, I feel better than I ever have. I don’t need the approval of rich people anymore. I don’t need to live in their world.

For the first time since everything happened, I feel like I’ve truly left all of that before. There’s only Gavin and Joanie. My baggage is gone, and I can finally live my life.