Page 60 of My Husband's Wife
Madison calls back to the party. ‘Carry on. I’ll just be a moment.’ What she needs to do is get rid of Eva. Her life has felt like it’s unravelling since Eva came into it.
‘Theo isn’t who you think he is. He’s my husband, I mean my dead husband Hugo. Look.’ Eva enlarges a photo on her phone. It’s of her dead husband and her son, who Madison recognises from her Instagram account. Then she shows her the photo of the babies, one like the photos Madison found in Theo’s cabin. ‘See this, this is our son, Caiden, and our daughter, Emily, a short while after they were born.’
‘Where did you get that photo?’ Madison knows that’s a photo of Theo and his sister Emily. ‘You broke into our house. It was you the other night.’ Madison feels rage building up inside her. It’s radiating from her core and needs to escape, and the fact that Eva hasn’t denied breaking into the cabin makes it worse. Had she been at the cottage again the other night? Brownish roots, red hair? Had anyone been at the cottage? She can’t cope with her mind full of unanswered questions, and she needs everyone to shut up so she can think. Heart thudding, she rests her hand on the doorframe to stop herself toppling.
‘He’s not Theo. You have to believe me. I need to prove it to you and everyone. I’m not going mad. I’ve just been speaking to his mum, Cynthia.’
‘His mum is not called Cynthia. Seriously, Eva, get out now or I’m calling the police. In fact, I’m going to call them anyway, just not today because you’re already ruining my big day. It’s as if that bump into the fence the other week has fried your brain. You want to know why we cancelled to come here? Theo had a bad feeling about you and now I can see why.’
‘He’s going to kill me.’
She’s being melodramatic now and Madison can’t cope anymore. Theo may be a liar but a killer – seriously? She slams the door in Eva’s face – and instantly regrets it. She wishes the floor would swallow her up and take her to a quiet room away from the chaos.
There is a knock at the door, again. Madison’s cousin opens it and swears, getting rid of whoever it was. Madison assumes it was Eva again. Her older cousin puts another song on and turns the volume up even more.
‘We need to get your dress on.’ Camille feeds it over her head. One of the others has already placed her shoes in front of her to step into. Once again, she’s being carried along with no way back, down a one-way road to hell with no brakes.
Her thoughts swell as she’s taken down in the lift, her bridal party there waiting and cheering. Emily whimpers and Francesca sings a nursery rhyme to Eden. The noise filling her head needs a release. She’s hot and her breaths are coming short and sharp. Her stomach churns even worse now as she’s delivered to the back of the ceremony room. Ed Sheeran starts to play. She peers through the door at the back, and a bouquet is thrust into her hands. Of course she takes it. She’s become the person who has forgotten how to say no, the person who is doubting her own sanity. Is this what madness feels like? If it is, it’s the noise in the brain that feels like a humming colony of insects that are trying to find a way out. It’s the sight of a swaying room when you know there hasn’t been an earthquake and it’s the sickness in the pit of your stomach that is telling you to run as fast as you can and never come back.
‘I need a minute. I can’t breathe. Stay with Emily.’ She doesn’t want Camille to follow her. She needs to be all alone. After almost tripping over her own feet, she darts past reception and through the main doors where she drinks in a lungful of air and tunes into the singing birds and the gentle breeze. Everything flashes through her mind. The feeling of being watched. The ring. The raven toy. The photos. Her sanity. The move. Her business. Theo’s eyes. Theo’s lies. What Eva said!
She paces around the car park until she spots a weeping willow, then she sits under it and wipes her damp eyes.
‘Madison.’ It’s Camille calling.
‘I’m here.’ She stands up and staggers towards her sister, the champagne on an empty stomach taking full effect. As she passes a row of cars, she stops to pick up the blood-tinged hairpiece. It’s Eva’s. Why didn’t she leave the bridal suite and talk to Eva? Madison had been horrible to her. She should have at least listened but she’s not herself.
‘What’s that?’
‘The woman who came to the bridal suite, it’s her hairpiece.’
Camille takes it off her. ‘If you have a single doubt right now, don’t marry him, Madison. You and Emily can stay with us. We’ll work this out.’
She can’t fight the sobs, and the thought of having to explain everything to her mum and dad makes everything worse. ‘I don’t want to move away and I want to keep my salon. I’m losing my mind.’
‘You are not losing your mind. You’re the sanest person I know, Maddie. It’s him. I can’t put my finger on it but I’ve never trusted him, and him trying to isolate you from us was the last straw.’
Madison walks to the ceremony room, knowing what she has to do. As the music starts again, she leaves her bridesmaids behind and walks up the aisle. Her make-up has run down her face and there’s a grass stain on her white dress. Her mother gasps out loud. As soon as she reaches the front, she leans into Theo’s ear and whispers. ‘I’m on to you. I’m leaving you and I will never marry you. We’re over.’ Then she runs out of the room, the guests aghast. For the first time in months, she can hear herself think.
Camille is close behind with Emily in her arms. ‘Get in the car, sis. I am so proud of you. Let’s get you out of here.’
Fifty-One
Eva
As I rouse from a weird, feverish sleep, I reach for my bedside table but instead of my glass of water, I press my fingertips into wood, and then I remember: I’m trapped in a box and I can’t get out. I’m dopey and disorientated like I’ve been drugged but I don’t want to lose consciousness again. If I do, I might not wake up. This could be my punishment. I’m trying to wake up but I can’t stop thinking about what I did, how Hugo had covered for me back then and how I couldn’t bear for the truth to come out. I slip into unconsciousness again and I’m taken to a place I want to forget…
I’m back in that hot June day. I’m in the cupboard under the stairs where the cries of our twins fill my head. While sitting on the floor rocking back and forth, I’m screaming along with them. Hugo opens the cupboard door with Caiden in his arms, anger written across his face. I left my baby boy in our boiling hot car to die and I can’t even remember how I got in the cupboard…
Wake up… My body trembles. I nearly killed my son. I so deserve this. I’m cold – so cold, and my mouth is so dry my tongue needs prising from the roof of my mouth. My head pounds like I’ve been whacked, then I remember: my poor head was smashed into a rock. I reach up and touch the sticky mess on my forehead and flinch as a shot of pain goes through me.
‘Nicole,’ I yell, in the hope that she at least answers me. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a flash of her T-shirt. Once again, no one replies. I think of Caiden and all I want to do is be snuggled up with him, watching Despicable Me. ‘Why, Nicole?’ This time I scream and start to hit the sides of the box again. The wood is hard. My knuckles are sore and full of splinters where I’ve already tried to punch my way out. Where could Nicole have taken me? She lives with her dad and I can’t imagine her keeping me in his tiny house and no one being able to hear me screaming. Keep thinking.
She could have brought me to Theo’s cottage. It’s isolated. I remember when I came here, there was a small structure, a bit like a large shed, which was a short walk away from where I left my car that night. Panic rises up again and I can’t catch my breath. I’m trapped and I just want to get out. My heart feels as though it’s blocking my trachea.
Nicole doesn’t know Theo or Hugo. I hit the walls again. She wants me out of the way so she can have Zach all to herself. What’s happening here is not a delusion of any kind. I hurt all over and I can’t escape. It’s real. I’m trapped in a box.
‘Nicole, let me out.’
