The Novel #2

(NaNoWriMo 2011 Project)

Faithfulness vs. Integrity. What's more important, to be true to your promises, or to yourself? Herko knew the answer--your promises are your self. But then he accepts a superstar job and moves from Holland to Curaçao in an attempt to rescue his marriage--and Maddie, the woman he's loved since he was twelve--from the grief of childlessness.

In the world of offshore finance, anything goes. Office romances abound, the CEO of the company that hired him has a wife and a mistress that seem to coexist peacefully, his coworkers flirt shamelessly with Dominican girls at the snek, and Herko begins to understand faithfulness isn't black or white, not to everyone, not like it is for him.

Then he meets Rebecca, a Brazilian account manager whose company star is on the rise, who--in spite of the fact she stays on the margin of the flirting craziness--is the sexiest woman he's ever met. And every belief he's ever held becomes gray mush.

What's infidelity? What's love? What's loyalty, and to whom is it owed? When your body and soul clamor for someone else, when you discover emotions no one--not novelists, not even Shakespeare, certainly not your wife--know exist, when promises fade into the background of years, of routine, of easy camaraderie... What's left? What's important?

Moot questions, of course. Herko won't leave Maddie; he can't. The years of fertility treatments and disappointments have taken their toll, and Herko is the only thing keeping Maddie sane. Alive. No, he can't leave her. She can never find out.

Until she does.

Maddie refuses to talk, packs a few belongings and boards a plane back to Holland. Herko, sidelined, observes in fascinated horror. The frail woman he's been protecting surprises him with a single-mindedness he'd forgotten she possessed. In her fury, her hurt, her disappointment, Herko senses the first signs of a backbone she'd forgotten she had. He watches her departure with a mix of heartbreak and admiration. She's strong again. She doesn't need him. When she's gone, he prepares to begin a new life.

Is that possible? A "new" life? What exactly has he gained, what has he given up? Because, God forgive him, betraying Maddie feels like he's betrayed himself.

This novel aims to explore the nature of fidelity, whether it's an external motivation--a promise made to someone else, a standard learned in the bosom of our homes--or internal, a part of our most intimate integrity, and what it means to breach it. Set in the multicultural background of the Caribbean, with a bit of international finance and corporate intrigue, it also touches on the import of paternity.


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