The Perfect Wife by Katherine Scholes

Author:Katherine Scholes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781743480588
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2014-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Kitty and Richard stood next to one another at the window of his spacious tent. From outside came the busy sounds of Head Office – vehicles coming and going, urgent voices calling instructions, the whistle-calls of askaris on parade. Neither of them spoke. They just gazed towards the mountains. Clouds still loitered there above the pointed peaks, looking heavy with rain, but keeping their distance from Kongara. Everyone seemed to have fallen under their spell. It was as if by constantly watching the sky, people believed that the clouds could be willed to move closer and unload their precious cargo. Kitty wasn’t sure if by keeping their eyes trained on the sky she and Richard were simply following the status quo, or if they were avoiding meeting one another’s eyes.

Kitty had prepared what she would say about Diana while she drove over from the hospital. She wanted to subtly remind Richard that she had some power in the situation: she knew her silence was important to him. At the same time, she planned to appeal to his sense of decency. She hoped other emotions would play their part as well – if it were true, as Diana had said, that Richard did love his wife after all.

Somewhere during the short journey a proposal had come to her. When she’d eventually persuaded the fierce secretary to admit her to the inner part of the tent where Richard was working at his desk, she’d explained she had something important to discuss. As soon as he’d sent all his staff outside, beyond earshot, she’d launched into her speech.

Now she was finished. Her last words still hung in the air, halting and awkward. She struggled to look calm and resolute, even though her stomach was knotted with tension.

‘So you think Diana will be cured,’ Richard said finally, ‘if she spends her time helping feed a gang of African prisoners?’

It sounded ridiculous, put like that. Kitty tried to think how she could convey the way she’d felt when she was at the Mission – the relief of having a focus that lifted her out of herself.

‘Does Theo know you’ve been going there?’ Richard asked.

‘I only went twice. And no. I didn’t tell him.’

Richard glanced sideways at Kitty. ‘So we’ve all got secrets. Small ones and big ones.’

Kitty stared at the clouds. Was he simply referring to her visits to the Mission behind Theo’s back? Or did he know something about her past life?

Richard cleared his throat. ‘Did Diana tell you about our child, Phillip?’

‘Yes, she did,’ Kitty said. ‘I’m so sorry.’ The words sounded trite and useless.

Richard covered his face with his hand. For a time, he was silent. ‘Did she tell you she saw him? She had some kind of vision?’

‘Yes.’ Kitty offered nothing more. She didn’t want to tell him she no longer believed in ghosts. Or angels, for that matter. She’d left her childhood superstitions behind long ago, adopting Yuri’s views instead. The end is the end. Death is final. He was

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