How quickly could the family we have created for ourselves unravel--and how far will we go to protect it?

David and Caroline Connolly are swimming successfully through their marriage's middle years--raising two children; overseeing care for David's ailing mother; leaning into their careers, both at David's university teaching job, where he's up for an important promotion, and at the ad agency where Caroline has recently returned to work after years away while the children were little. The recent stresses of home renovation and of a brief romantic betrayal (Caroline's) are...