The inspiration for my contemporary romance novel, The Deception, began a few years ago when I happened upon a psychic’s blog. She was discussing the questions her clients asked the most often. One question was, “When will he leave his wife for me?” Needless to say, her post had a lot of comments, and I noticed a trend. Everyone believed the other woman knew he was married, and she was lying if she said she didn’t know.
Being single for most of my adult life, I’ve noticed there are actually two kinds of other women out there. One is the aforementioned mistress. The other is a good woman who’s been deceived.
Typically, this is a woman who’s looking for meaningful long-term relationship, or marriage. She happens to meet a seemingly nice man who appears to be single. He’s not wearing a wedding ring. He’s never mentioned a wife or girlfriend. He may have even told her upfront he was single. He asks her out. Believing he’s single and available, she accepts, and they begin dating.
Sooner or later, one way or another, she’ll find out he’s married. When it happens, she’ll feel shocked and betrayed. However, she gets a double whammy. Just like the psychic’s blog, everyone will condemn the deceived woman for being the other woman. If she says she didn’t know he was married, (and she honestly didn’t know), they’ll accuse her of lying. So where is the condemnation for the man? After all, he’s the one who lied to her. He’s also the one who duped her into thinking he was single. Why isn’t he being held to the same standard?
This can be extremely devastating for the deceived woman. She’s being accused of setting out to intentionally hurt the wife when she honestly didn’t know there was a wife. This can leave her with some serious trust issues.
The Deception is the story of Carrie, a good woman who, unknowingly, becomes involved with a married man. A mutual friend has introduced her to Scott and told her he was single. Scott also led her to believe he’s single. It doesn’t take long, however, for her to realize that thing aren’t adding up. She then ends the relationship, but by then the damage has been done. As a result, she’s left to deal with the unintended consequences.
While my story may be fiction, real-life versions of it happen everyday, so perhaps we shouldn’t judge others too harshly. After all, none of us are mind readers, and there really are people out there who lie and intentionally deceive others.
Marina Martindale
The Deception is available on Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, and with other online booksellers.
Marina Martindale writes and edits all of her blog posts herself. She does not use AI software or images of any kind. No part of this blog may be used or reproduced or transmitted in any form, or used in any matter by AI, without the express written consent Good Oak Press, LLC. Requests for permission must be addressed to Good Oak Press, LLC, P.O. Box 51244, Denton, TX 76206-1244