Page 46 of My Husband's Wife
‘Even when they abandon their children?’
‘She didn’t do it on purpose. She wasn’t well. What matters is she’s a good person.’
Madison has no idea how she’d feel if her Emily died. She could understand how Theo’s mum fell apart. Madison breaks the silence. ‘She’s a good person. A good person who got dealt a shitty blow and couldn’t cope.’
‘You might be right, but I think I don’t want her to come. I need to take things slowly with her and maybe see her on my own a few times first.’
His phone rings and he cuts the call. It beeps with a message and then another. He angrily jabs at it until it’s silenced.
‘Who is it?’
He ignores her question, picks Emily up in her seat and calls Buster. ‘Come on, let’s go and order a takeaway.’
Madison follows. She isn’t comfortable by the way he walks away without explaining the calls. She feels sick that he’s already found them a house to view, and then there’s the packing, and the wedding ring in the bin. She takes one last glance at the photos of the babies and closes the door to the cabin.
Thirty-Eight
Madison stares through the window at the back garden, right into the rock face that Theo’s cabin is almost embedded into. What secrets is he keeping in that cabin? She wants to go into the lounge and ask him straight up, but she can’t. He needs time to process the fact that he’s back in touch with his mother. It’s obviously causing him some distress.
She picks up the wedding ring and tries it on her wedding finger. It’s loose on her. After slipping it off, she throws it in the junk drawer. It’s not right to bin it, like it’s nothing.
‘The food will be here in fifteen minutes,’ Theo calls. Emily coos as he plays with her in the other room.
She finishes emptying the dishwasher and leaves two plates out, ready to put their curries on, then she heads to the living room. She normally loves this room but not tonight, not with the pile of boxes stacked up at the far end.
‘I see you started packing.’
He nods as he sings ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ to Emily.
‘And I see you’ve been looking at houses.’
He blows a raspberry on Emily’s cute pudgy belly as he finishes his song. Theo is such a good dad and that’s making her feel unreasonable for bringing all this up when they’re tired, especially as Theo has had such an emotional evening.
‘Yes, I found one. The appointment’s in our joint diary.’
‘You should have spoken to me first.’
He lifts his head up from Emily, leaving their little one wriggling on the baby blanket that Camille knitted. ‘There’s no time. We need to get on with it, so that’s what I was doing.’
‘I have a business to deal with.’
He shrugs. ‘You’ve got a buyer. Sadie has wanted to buy it for years and she’s made a good offer. It’s as good as sold.’
‘But I want a say on where we live.’
‘And you will have a say. I haven’t put a deposit down or anything. It’s just a viewing. If you want to view other places, start looking and book some appointments for that week.’
‘I thought we could have a little holiday, a familymoon first.’
He rolls his eyes. ‘We can combine the two. It’ll be fine, won’t it, Pumpkin?’ He kisses Emily’s feet and she reaches for his finger, which he gives to her to play with. ‘Think of our new life up there. Clean air and lots of scenery.’
‘We have all that here.’
‘But you’ve never liked living here.’
‘Here,’ she says, pointing at the floor. ‘I don’t like living in this cottage. I like Devon. This place has never felt like mine. I can’t do anything to it. It’s dark and I feel like it’s eating me up some days. That drive is a nightmare and the ivy, it brings all the spiders into the house, and I never see you because you’re always in that cabin, and the woodland is slowly suffocating me. I want neighbours… civilisation… space to invite friends over.’ She didn’t realise she was raising her voice.
Theo takes his glasses off. ‘I didn’t know you felt like this. Why haven’t you said anything before?’
