Page 57 of My Husband's Wife
She reads the list again. It’s small compared to the original wedding they’d planned to have. In the end, she couldn’t convince Theo that they needed a big evening party with more guests. It will be a small soirée in a room that is far too big for their short guestlist so he doesn’t feel penned in, and only because the room has double doors that open to the garden. She suspects he’ll spend the whole evening with one foot out of the door.
She thinks of her parents who are due to arrive on Friday and are staying with Camille. Her mum has messaged photos of her fascinator and shoes. Her dad isn’t too impressed with his tie but Mum said it’s what he’s wearing because it matches her dress. She laughs as she thinks of her mum and dad, and how close they’ve always been. All she hoped for was a relationship like theirs. She takes in her reflection. The dress is still loose but much better. She knows her stress figure will be a shock for her parents, who are used to seeing her a little curvier than this. It seems like wishful thinking to hope that once the wedding is over, she’ll feel like a weight has been lifted and will be able to eat properly again.
Her minds flits to Eva. Despite trying to put the woman out of her mind, she can’t. She thinks of Eva’s husband coming to see Theo with the other woman. It’s no good. She feels it’s only right to say something even though she wonders if Eva is the one who broke into the cabin. That bit of green material looked like the colour of the jacket she’d been wearing at Deepak and Millie’s wedding. Her dead husband does look a lot like Theo, and Madison can see why Eva has been derailed by seeing him. She clicks on Eva’s Instagram page and begins to type out a message on her phone.
Eva,
* * *
I hope the rest of Millie and Deepak’s wedding went well. I had to leave early but I was hoping to be able to speak to you. I’m sorry, I looked on your Insta and saw that I recognised your husband, Zach. He came to see if Theo could do some work for him and his partner’s business. I thought they were a couple because they were holding hands, then I saw you and him, and I then knew he was your husband. I also saw that your deceased husband looks a lot like Theo and I know that must be weird for you but…
She takes a deep breath and feels stupid, so she deletes the message. She can’t send that. It might be upsetting if Eva gets a message that mentions her dead husband along with Madison accusing her current husband of being a cheat. It is none of Madison’s business. She has to stay out of it. In fact, she doesn’t know why she is stressing over Eva, her life or the fact that Theo looks like dead Hugo. Her stomach churns again and the thought of lunch makes her want to vomit, but she has to eat because Emily needs her to. She needs to be in a better headspace and to do that, she has to get Eva and all her other worries out of her mind. She wants to be happy Madison – the mother, the beautician, the hairdresser, the entrepreneur, but all she’s doing is making herself so small, she’s vanishing.
Next week, she’ll see her doctor. Maybe they could prescribe some antiemetics; they might help her to eat.
Someone rings the doorbell, and Buster begins barking at the door. She slips out of the dress and grabs her bathrobe before hurrying downstairs. On opening the door, she sees a tall woman with large brown eyes and wild grey-threaded dark hair who looks to be around sixty. ‘Hello. Can I help you?’
‘Is Theo in?’
‘He’s working. I can call him for you. Who shall I say is here?’
The woman bites her chapped bottom lip and puts her hands in the pocket of her loose trousers. ‘Erica.’
She quickly checks their diaries on her phone. Theo hasn’t booked anyone in this morning. She presses his number. ‘Theo, I have Erica for you. She’s at the front door. Shall I send her round?’
‘No. Just stay there. I’m on my way.’
‘He’s coming.’ Emily starts to whimper from inside the cottage.
‘Is that your baby?’
Madison nods.
‘They’re precious, aren’t they?’ The woman looks down at her feet, exposing her thinning crown and greasy roots. ‘Look after her, Madison.’
How did Erica know her name? She hadn’t introduced herself.
‘Take that little one as far away as possible and never come back.’
Dumbstruck, Madison goes to murmur but Theo has already run around the cottage and is standing at the gate. ‘Erica, follow me through to the cabin.’
Erica staggers backwards, her gaze remaining on Madison until she’s out of view.
Madison runs through the lounge and kitchen to catch them walking out from alongside of the house to the front of the kitchen window. They follow the path towards the cabin. She runs upstairs and takes Emily out of her cot before heading back downstairs to watch them again. As soon as they enter Theo’s office, he closes the blinds. She quietly leaves the house, trapping Buster in the kitchen. He barks at the door, and she hopes that Theo can’t hear.
As she walks, she’s undoing her maternity top and Emily happily takes her breast. She creeps around the back of the cabin, hoping that the back blind will be open – it is. She watches as Erica almost trips over the coffee table and falls onto the sofa. Madison can’t hear what Theo’s saying but she does hear what Erica says next.
‘I don’t know who you are anymore and I can’t sit here and say nothing. You’re trying to keep me from her and I deserve to be a part of her life. I will accept the’ – she clears her throat and emphasises the next word – ‘situation. I feel as though I don’t know you at all, Theo.’
Emily stops feeding, and Madison notices that there is nothing coming out. Her baby is hungry and her milk has dried up. She wants to cry at her failure. After offering up her other breast, the situation is the same. She is as dry as a desert. Emily lets out regular little shrieks and Madison knows the air will fill with Emily’s hungry cries at any moment.
She darts between the cliffside and the cabin in the hope that Theo didn’t hear, but she’s too late.
Theo opens the cabin door just as she runs around the side and reaches the path. Buster’s barks are frantic. She wrestles to button her nursing top back up.
‘Madison.’
She can’t stop the tears this time. It’s obvious to them that she was spying and Theo isn’t stupid. ‘I heard, Theo. Who is Erica? You need to tell me now or Emily and I are leaving you.’
