The Ten Minute Husband

From the back cover

Nate Everett demands absolute order in his marriage. Any disagreement lasting more than ten minutes is a dead end, and any seat left empty is forfeited. On their anniversary, his wife Eleanor arrives at the boarding gate three minutes late, and finds Sienna Reed sitting in her place on the plane. It is the fourth time her husband has left her behind for Sienna.

Alone in the terminal, Eleanor is struck by a tearing pain. Nate answers her call only to say he is tending to Sienna, who feels airsick, and tells Eleanor to call an ambulance herself. The paramedics find her bleeding on the floor. At the hospital she learns she has a threatened miscarriage and a subchorionic hemorrhage, and must stay on absolute bed rest.

Nate does not come. He sends his assistant Marcus with Sienna's shawl, asking Eleanor to have it cleaned by morning. When a prenatal record slips from the suitcase, Eleanor sees Sienna's name and an eight-week stamp, dated the same day Nate abandoned her at her own first check-up. When she asks who the father is, Nate refuses to answer.