The Younger Wife, page 27
But it got her thinking about something Fiona Arthur had said to her, years ago, right after Stephen left her.
‘He’s not who you think he is.’
A strange comment, admittedly, but given the situation, Pam had written it off as sour grapes. And yet . . . what if it was more than that? What if Fiona also had unexplained falls? What if she’d also spent her marriage wondering if she was going crazy when something more sinister was at play?
Maybe Pam would reach out to Fiona? Now she had this money, she had options. Maybe it was finally time to face the truth.
Pam got out a notepad and a pen. These days, with her memory issues, if she didn’t write things down, they didn’t happen. She wrote down Fiona Arthur’s name. Then she wrote down Tully’s name. If she got the news she feared, she’d need to pack, find a new place to live. There’d be a lot of paperwork. Her daughter may have had her troubles but if there was one role Tully was born for, it was this.
Pam heard Stephen’s car pull into the driveway. She tore the page out of the notepad, folded it in half and stuffed it inside the hot-water bottle. It was as good a hiding place as anywhere.
‘Pam?’ Stephen called.
‘Coming!’ she said, shoving the hot-water bottle into the back of the closet. She’d come back to this later, when she remembered.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A couple of years ago I received a phone call from my beloved Great Aunty Gwen. She’d had a fall and been taken to the hospital, but that was, as far as she was concerned, unimportant. What was important, she told me, was that I drop everything and drive directly to her home to retrieve her hot-water bottle.
Odd request, I thought, but who was I to argue? The heart wants what it wants.
Alas, Gwen’s house was not on my route to the hospital, and in my eagerness to get to her, I offered to bring my own hot-water bottle instead. When my offer was swiftly declined, I offered to purchase her a new one. But none of my suggestions would do.
Finally, I agreed to collect the hot-water bottle. It could be located, Gwen said, behind the set of drawers in the sliding cupboard of the spare room, under a pile of old newspapers.
And just like that, the hot-water bottle became a lot more interesting.
As I drove to Gwen’s house, I theorised as to what could be in the bottle. Body parts were the most likely option, obviously. Bones, or organs – perhaps a human heart? It made sense. After all, Gwen is a strong, savvy 93-year-old single woman – surely there had been a scorned lover or two in her lifetime? And how wonderfully perverse it would be if she yearned to keep a piece of that lover close in what might have been her final moments!
Regrettably, it wasn’t body parts. Rather, it was tens of thousands of dollars, wrapped in plastic bands. Not as good as a human heart, but on balance, not completely uninteresting. Inside the hospital I accosted Gwen’s wheelie-bed as she cruised towards her X-ray scans.
‘What’s going on, Gwen?’ I demanded. ‘Have you robbed a bank? Stolen money from an ex-lover? Become a granny drug-dealer?’
The explanation was considerably less interesting. A pension payment and a healthy distrust of banks. By that point though, a book idea had started to form in my mind. It became The Younger Wife.
And this brings me to the thank yous.
I’ll start with my publisher. You’ll have to bear with me here, because it’s going to get weird.
St. Martin’s Press published my first book, The Secrets of Midwives, and they’ve published every book since. On our first phone call, Jen Enderlin told me that she was excited not just about that book, but about all my future books. A nice thing to say, but in a world where we’re constantly told that editors don’t take chances on new authors, or that they don’t give authors the time they need to find their stride, I didn’t know if I could trust it. Fast forward six books – and let’s be real, some of my books have been what we might generously call ‘a disappointment’ – Jen has remained excited about my future books, and backed it up by continuing to offer me contracts. Is she the exception to the rule? I don’t know. But Jen Enderlin is the reason I’ll never be cynical about publishing. As for the rest of the gang – Lisa Senz, Brant Janeway, Erica Martirano, Katie Bassel, Jessica Zimmerman – what an amazing, talented bunch of humans. I am obsessed with you all.
This brings me to my beloved Pan Macmillan Australia team, who have also continued to hang around since book one. There must have been times you wanted to jump ship. Thanks for staying aboard. I’d like to extend particular thanks to Alex Lloyd who, despite his youthful looks (and, it must be said, excellent hair) has two of the best editorial eyes in the business. Also to Cate Paterson for her continued (unfounded) belief in me, to Sammy Manson, the most innovative of marketing people, to Ali Lavau for her exceptional copyediting and to Christa Moffitt for the gorgeous covers. I am a lucky lady.
To Rob Weisbach, who has to wear so many hats in his role as my literary agent. Next I’m going to make you wear a beret. You will look fabulous in a beret. (Read: I can’t find the words for how great you are, so I’m talking about hats instead. You get that, right?)
To Andrew Bailey and Patrick Lyttleton, for always giving me legal advice for my characters. The fact that you never bat an eye when I ask how one would divorce someone with dementia or get away with murder speaks volumes about all of us.
To Mia Freedman and Kena Roach, my early readers and advice givers.
To Mum, for always gleefully pointing out when I’m (confidently) using a word incorrectly – there will never be enough time to absorb your English language pedantry, but our heated discussions about whether the proof is, in fact, in the pudding will always remain among my fondest memories of us.
Finally, to my favourite bunch of weirdos – Christian, Oscar, Eloise and Clementine. Life has its challenges, but there’s one thing I know for sure: weirdos will one day take their rightful place on the throne. Bide your time and when the opportunity presents, don’t hesitate. While you’re waiting, go read a book.
Author’s note
In this novel, you’ll meet a character by the name of Heather Wisher. Heather Wisher is, in fact, the name of a real person – specifically, the winner of my Instagram competition to have a book character named after yourself. I want to be clear that while I used Heather’s name, the character of Heather Wisher as created in The Younger Wife is entirely fictional and not representative of her real-life namesake. (Unless there are any flattering comparisons that Heather would like to draw, in which case, she definitely inspired those parts.)
About the Author
Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, most recently The Good Sister, which was an instant bestseller.
Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. They are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 20 languages.
Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, three children and one adorable dog.
Also by Sally Hepworth
The Secrets of Midwives
The Things We Keep
The Mother’s Promise
The Family Next Door
The Mother-in-Law
The Good Sister
MORE BESTSELLING TITLES FROM SALLY HEPWORTH
The Family Next Door
Do you ever really know your neighbours?
The safest suburbs often hold the deepest secrets. Such is the case for Essie, a mother of two. In a moment of maternal despair she once made a terrible mistake, one she will always regret. Essie has since recovered, but she fears what may still lurk inside her.
Her neighbours in Pleasant Court have their own issues. Driven and organised, Ange appears to have everything under control, except perhaps her husband. Practical, intellectual Fran can’t stop running. For exercise, or something else?
One day in February, during an unprecedented Melbourne heatwave, someone new arrives. Isabelle is single and childless, when everyone else is married with kids. She is renting, when everyone else owns. Her job is mysteriously vague. Strangest of all, Isabelle is very curious about her neighbours. Too curious, some might say.
It soon becomes clear that Isabelle’s choice of neighbourhood was no accident. And her presence might bring even more secrets to light . . .
The Mother-in-Law
Someone once told me that you have two families in your life – the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don’t choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.
From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm’s length. Diana was exquisitely polite, but Lucy knew, even after marrying Oliver, that they’d never have the closeness she’d been hoping for.
But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.
That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something . . .
The Good Sister
There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be . . . dangerous.
When Rose discovers that she cannot fall pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.
Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of unexpected love.
Pan Macmillan acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. We honour more than sixty thousand years of storytelling, art and culture.
First published 2021 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Sally Hepworth
The moral right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
EPUB format: 9781760987886
Typeset by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Cover design by Christa Moffitt, Christabella Designs
Cover images: Adobe Stock/Meral
The characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance
to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Sally Hepworth, The Younger Wife
