The Perfect Husband
Read The Perfect Husband Online
Authors: Chris Taylor
Tags: #romantic suspense, #crime fiction, #contemporary romance, #medical thrillers, #romance series, #sydney harbour hospital series
Book One of the Sydney Harbour Hospital
Series
NOTICE
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2015 by Chris Taylor
(All Rights Reserved)
LCT Productions Pty Ltd
18364 Kamilaroi Highway, Narrabri NSW
2390
ISBN. 978-1-925119-23-7 (Ebook)
ISBN. 978-1-925119-
24-4
(Paperback)
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The Perfect Husband
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
brands, media and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely
coincidental.
Contents
The Sydney Harbo
ur Hospital Series
This book is dedicated to Pat Thomas and
Grace Anselmo, two extraordinary, courageous women who have risen
like phoenixes from the ashes. You are stronger than you could ever
imagine. And as always, to my beautiful husband, Linden.
The
Sydney Harbour Hospital Series
(in order)
THE PERFECT HUSBAND
(Book One)
THE BODY THIEF
(Book Two)
THE BABY SNATCHERS
(Book Three)
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Dear Diary,
It was everything I expected and more… The
fairy tale wedding, right down to the last, perfect detail. My best
friend, Jason, told me if my smile was any brighter, he’d be
blinded by it and that was after he joked about having to wear his
sunglasses to ward off the dazzling sparkle of my
one-and-a-half-carat diamond ring.
I am married to the most beautiful man in
the world. I’m the center of his universe and he is my everything.
He professed to love, honor and cherish me in vows so sweet and
tender they took my breath away and the depth of emotion in his
eyes left me trembling. He loves me so!
I can still hear the string quartet playing
on the terrace overlooking the beautiful, majestic lake and I
remember every detail of the old restored mansion-turned-hotel
restaurant where our guests laughed and danced under a glistening
canopy of stars.
I’m blissfully in love and oh-so optimistic.
I’m the luckiest girl in the world! This is what I dreamed of, what
I yearned for. Every second, every minute by his side is wonderful
beyond words…
His fist came from nowhere and smashed into
the side of her head. Pain exploded behind her eye, which had taken
the brunt of the force. She should have seen it coming, but the
truth was, she hadn’t. While their argument had been growing in
velocity and spite, she’d been distracted by three-year-old Sophie
who’d been trying to fork up peas. She hadn’t realized her husband
had been so close to losing control.
“Mommy’s head is bleeding.”
Isobel Donnelly snatched a fine linen napkin
from the table and dabbed it to her eye. “I’m fine, Ben. It’s just
a little cut,” she hurried to reassure her five-and a-half-year-old
son. “See, I’m fine.” She held the napkin away from her face and
forced a smile, secretly alarmed at the amount of blood that
stained it.
“You should have kept your goddamned mouth
shut like I told you,” her husband growled from his place at the
head of the table. “It’s your fault, Isobel. How many goddamned
times do I have to tell you? Don’t get smart with me. It won’t
work.”
Isobel clamped her mouth shut, now too
scared to correct him. His fist had done the trick. They’d been
discussing the pros and cons of traditional versus natural
medicine. He hadn’t taken kindly to her suggestion that natural
remedies had their place in a doctor’s arsenal. She’d forgotten
during the heat of the discussion that Nigel always had to be
right. The throbbing in her eye was a harsh reminder of her
mistake.
He turned to look at her, his lip curled up
in a sneer. “You’re going to have a shiner in the morning. I wonder
how you’re going to explain it.” He chuckled and shook his head and
returned his attention to his meal.
Isobel gritted her teeth and blinked away
sudden tears. She wouldn’t cry in front of the children, no matter
how much she wanted to. She couldn’t believe her life had turned
into the nightmare that it was. A never-ending rollercoaster of
marital highs and lows that left her feeling bewildered, tense and
exhausted.
She didn’t even know how it had happened.
One moment they were like any other young, happily married couple,
living out their dreams. The next, she was existing in a state of
constant fear, wondering when the next eruption of anger and
violence would come.
The worst thing was, she didn’t have a clue
what to do about it. She had no frame of reference for this kind of
treatment. And there was no one she could turn to, nowhere she
could run. Who would believe her if she did? For nine years now,
she’d kept the dark and humiliating truth a secret, too ashamed to
admit her perfect life was anything but. The cracks in her marriage
had become huge chasms and the longer the façade continued, the
harder it was to cover up what her life had become. She was more
and more convinced she’d eventually be swallowed up by the pain,
the hurt and the horror, and plummet into a deep, dark sinkhole,
never to be seen again.
For the sake of her children, she kept up
the pretense her marriage was made in heaven. Even her nursing
colleagues at the Sydney Harbour Hospital where she worked three
shifts a week were oblivious to the truth. Nigel had seen to that.
He hadn’t done it directly, of course. He was way too smart for
that.
It was the endless criticism, the snide
remarks, the downright offensive names he’d call her friends behind
their backs. She’d started off defending them. After all, they were
her friends. They didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. She owed
it to them to remain loyal.
But over the years, he’d worn her down until
it eventually became easier to accept his biased opinion and let
her friends drift quietly away. Even her best friend, Jason.
Openly gay, Jason was one of the sweetest,
gentlest men she’d ever met. Right from the outset Nigel had set
his mind against him. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d
argued with her husband on Jason’s behalf, but the spiteful words
continued to pour out of Nigel’s mouth. It got to the point where
it was easier to refuse Jason’s invitations and fail to return to
his calls, rather than listen to the increasingly vitriolic
diatribe that Nigel would give voice to at the mere mention of her
friend’s name.
It came as no surprise to Isobel that Jason
was hurt and confused by her actions, but no matter how many times
he pleaded with her to tell him what was wrong, she never found the
courage to tell him the truth. The shame of admitting both her
perfect husband and fairy tale marriage were so fatally flawed was
simply beyond her.
She touched the napkin gingerly to her eye
and winced at the pain. It was a good thing she mostly did the late
shifts. At that time of night, all but a few of the lights in the
hospital ward were turned down low. Along with the aid of some
makeup, the dim lighting would help her conceal this latest
assault.
“Are you okay, Mommy? You look sad,” Sophie
whispered from where she sat in her highchair, residual tension
still shadowing her tiny face.
Isobel’s chest went tight. Fresh tears
burned behind her eyes, but once again, she refused to let them
fall. “Of course, honey. Daddy and I were just having a little
argument. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“Why do you fight so much?” Ben asked, his
voice scratchy with fear.
“It’s your mother’s fault. She doesn’t know
when to keep her mouth shut. She can’t help herself. Why does she
always want to disagree? I’m the man of this house and what I say
goes. I won’t have it any other way.” Her husband turned his harsh
glare on their young son. “You got that, Ben?”
Ben’s lip wobbled, but he managed a nod
before dropping his gaze to his plate. Isobel’s heart broke in two.
She wanted to go to her young son and tell him not to grow up and
become like his father, and to offer him comfort—and she would,
just not while Nigel was still in such a volatile mood. It was
getting harder and harder to pretend to her children that their
mommy and daddy were normal, let alone happy. It angered her to
think she was teaching them that this was the way it should to be.
This wasn’t the way and it wasn’t right, but she was helpless to
change things. At least, that’s the way it felt. She longed for the
way things used to be.
They were high school sweethearts and had
married a fortnight after their graduation. Isobel’s parents had
expressed their concern that the two of them were rushing into it,
but she’d been head over heels in love with the hero of the
football team. With his legendary charm and good humor, Nigel
brushed away her parents’ fears saying he and Isobel knew best, not
them.
For the first three or four years of their
marriage, life was all sunshine and smiles. It had been everything
she’d imagined it could be. They were both busy with their college
studies and had been blissfully in love. He was her moon and her
stars. He brought her flowers every other day.
If they occasionally got into a
disagreement, it was quickly over and the make-up sex was sublime.
It wasn’t until much later that she realized their arguments only
ended when she conceded she was wrong. By then, it was too late to
reflect more deeply on their relationship or remove herself: Their
first baby had arrived.
Nigel hadn’t wanted kids. Looking back, she
realized it had been stupid not to discuss the question before they
were married. She’d just assumed it was a natural progression; that
at some time down the track, they’d start a family.
It had taken three years of begging and
pleading to finally wear him down. He’d given in and Ben had been
born, but her husband had made it clear he wanted nothing to do
with the day-to-day job of raising their son. By then, Nigel had
graduated from med school and was busier than ever meeting the
demands of his new job.
It had been left to Isobel to feed and bathe
and clean and do the laundry and sit with her son through the night
when he had a fever. On top of all that, working long shifts at the
hospital and then fighting with her husband was beyond her level of
endurance most of the time. It was all she could do to keep her
eyes open at the dinner table and listen and smile and nod when he
regaled her with tales of all his successes, accomplishments and
the stream of glowing accolades from others.