Read Online How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman - Free Book Online

over to a bench by the side of the road, and we sat down.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ he said. ‘Is everything all right?’
    As I caught my breath, I looked up at him, his brow furrowed. He put his hands out and touched my stretching stomach.
    ‘We shouldn’t have come out today,’ he said. ‘Shall I go and get help?’
    I shook my head. ‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I just felt a bit dizzy, but I’m OK now.’
    Hector looked at me sternly. ‘You should be more careful,’ he said. ‘If you feel ill, please tell me. It’s important.’
    I looked down at his hands, still on my stomach.
    His face changed then, a smile spreading. ‘I just want what’s best for the baby,’ he said.
    Just then, I felt Kylan moving in my stomach, shifting against Hector’s hands. ‘I love it when he does that,’ he said, ‘it’s as if he’s telling us that he’s here, waiting for us.’
    I put my hands over Hector’s, surprised to see a tear forming in his eye.
    ‘I’m so happy,’ he said. ‘We’re going to be a family. It’s what I’ve always wanted.’
    ‘I’m happy too,’ I said, touching my proud belly.
    ‘Mother was so worried I wouldn’t find a wife,’ he said. ‘She was always saying I’d left it too late, worrying about who would take care of me when she was gone. I heard her talking to my father once, wondering if there was something wrong with me. But then I found you. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s all worth it now.’
    He kissed me. As I waited for him to pull away, Kylan shifted again. Then we got up and walked back towards the house, our home, Hector supporting me with one arm.
    Back in the study, I can feel one of my headaches starting. I rub at my temples, but the pain is spreading already and there will soon be little I can do. I feel something, then, pressing against my back. It’s her, I can smell her breath, feel it on the back of my neck. I long to turn around, but I am afraid she will disappear again. I feel her thin body against mine, her breath warm, close to my ear now. She whispers something that I can barely make out.
    ‘Marta?’
    Hector is standing next to me, his hand on my arm, the fingernails long, the thick skin crisscrossed with lines. The sharp smell of fish is in the room, and I see the bag in his other hand, thick with something solid. The halibut. He has been to the market for me.
    ‘You got the fish,’ I say.
    His hand is still on my skin. As he stares at me, he begins to tighten his grip, slowly, almost as if he doesn’t realize he is doing it.
    ‘Hector,’ I say, ‘you’re hurting me.’
    He lets go. ‘What are you doing in here?’ he says.
    I look at the notice board, at the photo, then at the floor where the discarded postcard lies. ‘I was cleaning,’ I say.
    He follows my gaze, and bending down awkwardly to pick up the postcard, he slots it back into its place, covering up the photograph again.
    I reach out for the halibut and he passes it to me, still staring at the notice board. He shifts the postcard slightly so it lines up with the others. Then he looks at me, and something hangs in the air between us, something thick and dark like smoke. Standing here, I am finding it hard to breathe.
    ‘Hector?’ I say.
    He doesn’t answer.
    ‘Are you all right?’
    He nods. I wonder, then, if he has been seeing things too.
    ‘Hector,’ I say, ‘I want to talk to you about something. Have you noticed anything odd in the house? I’ve been hearing things.’
    ‘What kind of things?’ he asks.
    ‘I don’t know – noises. My doll was turned the other way yesterday.’
    Hector smiles. ‘Is your imagination playing tricks again?’ he says.
    ‘I don’t think I’m imagining it, Hector.’
    ‘I’d have thought you’d have grown out of this by now: making up stories.’
    ‘But I’m seeing things too,’ I say. ‘A blonde girl.’
    Hector’s eyebrows rise. ‘Have you been taking your pills?’
    I swallow. ‘You know I have, Hector.’
    He takes my