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Back The Model Wife Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Also by Tricia Stringer
  5. Title Page
  6. Dedication
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Author’s Note
  46. Acknowledgements
  47. Excerpt
  48. One

She sunk back to the bed, her body suddenly too heavy for her legs. She’d given him an ultimatum once before and now she thought how futile it had been. “It’s not about inviting him for dinner.” And it wasn’t just about Jack. She couldn’t explain to her husband how she felt when she didn’t know herself. It was as if she’d been swirled around in her mixmaster and flung out the other side into a world she didn’t recognise. This After Anomaly life that she didn’t quite fit. Resentment festered inside her. She’d always done her duty: to her parents, her husband, her girls, her in-laws, her work, her community. Everyone had a piece of Natalie and somehow she’d lost herself in the process. She’d never done anything outside anyone else’s expectations of her.

“Obviously we should talk this through,” Milt said. “Tailing was not the right time.”

There was that should again. Natalie pictured Faye’s steely stare then looked at the brochures she’d tossed on the bed beside her. Gabe’s card had slipped off. She picked it up, gripped it tightly. Escape beckoned. Was she brave enough to do it?

“Natalie, did you hear me? Come home so we can talk.”

“I’m leaving Broome tomorrow…but I’m not coming home,” she said. “I’m going somewhere more remote, a place up on the Dampier Peninsula. Not sure how reliable the phone signal will be but I’ll get a message to you when I can. Give my love to the girls. Goodnight, Milt.” She pressed end and then turned off her phone for good measure. Her heart thumped in her chest. She knew nothing about Gabe or the place he called home but she was damn well going to go with him.

Twenty-One

Twenty-One

Kate pulled her dressing-gown tighter around her and let herself out of the bedroom. Last night’s call from Sean had given her a reprieve. He had a Queensland job on and would be gone for two weeks. No sooner had he hung up than Kate rang her mother-in-law and organised to extend her leave. She’d bought herself some time but what she was going to do with it she had no idea. She couldn’t imagine feeling any different about this baby than she did now, and to add to her misery she felt so sick. Staying in her bedroom helped; there was no fire there. She found she felt better if she kept the room around her cool and herself rugged up. The heat of the kitchen and the den only made her nausea worse but she couldn’t stay in her room forever.