The Other Wife

by Juliet Bell

  About the Author

  JULIET BELL is the collaborative pen name of respected authors Janet Gover and Alison May.

  Juliet was born at a writers’ conference, with a chance remark about heroes who are far from heroic. She was raised on pizza and wine during many long working lunches, and finished her first novel over cloud storage and skype in 2017.

  Juliet shares Janet and Alison’s preoccupation with misunderstood classic fiction, and stories that explore the darker side of relationships.

  Alison also writes commercial women’s fiction and romantic comedies and can be found at www.alison-may.co.uk

  Janet writes contemporary romantic adventures mostly set in outback Australia and can be found at www.janetgover.com

  Outback Australia, 1981

  After a terrible childhood, Jane comes to Thornfield as nanny to the adorable Adele, watched over by the handsome and enigmatic Edward. Plain and inexperienced, Jane would never dream of being more than his hired help. But swept up in the dramatic beauty of the Outback, she finds herself drawn to Edward. And, to her surprise, he seems to return her feelings.

  But Jane is not the first woman Edward has pledged to make mistress of Thornfield.

  As a child, Betty was taken from her English home and sent for adoption in Australia. At first, no-one wanted her, deeming her hair too curly, and her skin too dark. Until the scheming Mr Mason sees a chance to use Betty to cement a relationship with the rich and powerful Rochester dynasty…

  When Jane discovers Betty’s fate, will she still want to be the next Mrs Rochester?

  Readers LOVE Juliet Bell:

  ‘I want to buy a copy for every book lover I know!’

  ‘A fantastically absorbing read’

  ‘It is gripping and dark and an absolute triumph!!’

  ‘Brilliantly done. Can’t wait for the next book!’

  ‘I would thoroughly recommend this book and have no hesitation in awarding it the richly deserved 5 stars.’

  ‘Edgy and compelling update of a classic’

  Also by Juliet Bell

  The Heights

  The Other Wife

  JULIET BELL

  HQ

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

  1 London Bridge Street

  London SE1 9GF

  First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

  Copyright © Juliet Bell 2018

  Juliet Bell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

  E-book Edition © November 2018 ISBN: 9780008284503

  Version: 2018-10-26

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  About the Author

  Outback Australia, 1981

  Readers Love Juliet Bell:

  Also by Juliet Bell

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  According to Legend…

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Part Two

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Part Three

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Acknowledgements

  Keep Reading …

  Dear Reader

  About the Publisher

  To Charlotte

  According to legend…

  The land was empty until the great snake came. He roamed over all the land and, when he slept, deep pools of water formed and flowed into the channels left by his passing. These became the river. As the snake moved from waterhole to waterhole, rainbows formed in the sky.

  The lightning man, who the first people would call Namarrgon, came after the serpent. When he was angry, he hurled his spears of light into the ground and woke the fire.

  Thousands of years ago, when the first people came to the land, they used the fire. In small groups they moved across the plains, hunting their food and gathering around fires at night to sing and dance, and tell stories of the Dreaming. Sometimes the fire escaped. The trees and the grass burned, and the animals burned. But always the land survived and the first people trusted that the Rainbow Serpent would bring the water back. The plants would grow again. The animals would return and the first men would follow them.

  Everything changed when the white men came.

  They had tamed the fire. They brought it in guns and trapped it inside the houses that they built, houses that got bigger and stronger as the years passed. They brought new animals too and claimed the land for them. The native animals were driven away by these strange big beasts, just as the first men were driven away by the white men.

  In the middle of this plain, a white man built a great stone house. Around that house, there were small buildings and yards for the animals, and, down by the river, the first men had their camp. Sometimes the first men talked of taking back the land that had been theirs. Until then, they worked that land for the white man and for his sons and their sons.

  Now the land is dotted with fire. At night, the light gleams from the windows of the white man’s big house and figures can be seen moving. There are lights in the other buildings where the white men work and eat and sleep. And small fires still burn where the first men sit by the river and tell their tales.

  But, tonight the fire has escaped and it has taken the big stone house in the middle of the plain. The first men and the white men will try to capture it again. But
when the fire is set free, it burns until there is nothing left at all.

  PART ONE

  Chapter 1

  Sydney, Australia. 1966

  Jane

  I was scared. This was my first time in Sydney. My first time in any big city. It was also my first time away from the place where my mother and I had lived since I was a baby. Even looking out of the window of the car was overwhelming – the size of the buildings, the number of cars, the rush and hurry all around me. I sank back into my seat until the car finally stopped and I couldn’t hide any longer.

  ‘Come on now, child.’ The woman sitting next to me poked me none too gently in the ribs. ‘Get out of the car.’

  My new home was a huge mountain of red brick. I strained my neck, trying to see how very high it really went. It seemed to reach up almost to the clouds. I desperately wanted to go home. To my friends. To my mother. To the way things were before the police came.

  I stared up at the building again. It was truly huge. I would get lost inside it, just as I was lost in this city. The buildings that towered over me seemed to lean in on each other, and there was nothing green. No trees, not even a blade of grass. I hoped I wouldn’t have to stay here long. Mum must be coming back soon to take me home to the place with the space and the grass and all the people I knew.

  The woman took my two small bags from the back of the car. I didn’t own many things. At home everything was shared, so I didn’t need my own things. The woman in the car had told me there were other children in this house. My cousins. Maybe I would share with them now.

  When we got to the big front door, I pushed it. It didn’t open. I tried to pull it, but that didn’t work either. The door stayed shut. Puzzled, I looked up at the woman. She rolled her eyes as she reached out to press a button in the wall.

  ‘Yes?’ The voice was loud and harsh.

  ‘Child Welfare.’

  For a long time there was no answer. ‘All right.’

  I jumped as a loud buzz and a thunk sounded from the door in front of me.

  ‘Well, don’t just stand there. Open the door.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Open it.’

  I pushed the door hard, and this time it moved.

  It was dark inside after the bright sunlight in the street. There was a big staircase made of wood that seemed to go forever.

  The woman carrying my bags went and stood in front of another door. There were more strange sounds, and that door slid open, revealing a very small room.

  ‘Come on, Jane.’ She was starting to sound impatient.

  I followed her into the box. I didn’t mind small places. That was why I almost always won when we played hide and seek. I was little and could fit into the tiniest places. The door slid shut all on its own. I almost screamed when I felt the little room start to move.

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ the woman said. ‘It’s only a lift. Your aunt is on the top storey. Far too many floors to use the stairs, especially in this heat.’

  Mum had told me to be brave, so I tried to pretend I wasn’t frightened as the lift went up and up and up.

  When the lift stopped moving, the doors opened again and I jumped out quickly, in case it fell back down to the ground. There was only one other door that I could see. The woman nodded and I tried to open it.

  She sighed, before rapping forcefully on the door with her knuckles.

  It was opened by a big woman. She had short brown hair and dark eyes. Her dress was grey, with no colours or pattern. Everything about her was so very different to my mum, with her long blonde hair and her pretty clothes and big light skirts that swayed as she walked and ran. The woman peered down at me for a second without smiling. Then she stepped back. ‘You’d better come in.’

  The room was so pretty that, for a minute, I almost forgot to be scared. There were bright swirling patterns on the walls and a deep carpet that made me want to take my shoes off and let my toes curl into the softness. Everything in the room was new and shiny and clean. There were lace curtains around a big window, and I could see the sky. I felt a bit better then. I had been afraid that in this big brick house, I wouldn’t be able to see the sky. There were coloured shiny things on a shelf. I stood on my tiptoes to reach them.

  ‘Jane. Don’t touch that. Come back here!’ The big woman’s voice was loud and screechy. Had I done something wrong?

  She looked me up and down. ‘I am your Aunt … I’m Mrs Reed. You’re going to be staying here with us, Jane.’

  I nodded, but I didn’t say anything.

  Mrs Reed stared at me, apparently expecting something more. She turned to the woman who had brought me here. ‘Is there something wrong with her?’

  ‘I’m sure she’s just nervous,’ the woman said. ‘I’m sure she’s a very bright child, really.’

  ‘We’ll see about that. Jane, take your bags to your room. It’s down that corridor. The last door on the right. You do know right from left, don’t you?’

  I nodded.

  The last door led to a little room, with a bed and some drawers. I put my bags on the bed. It was a pretty room. The bedclothes were pale pink, and felt soft under my fingers.

  ‘That’s my old stuff.’

  I turned around to see two big children standing in the doorway. The girl was a bit older than me and had dark hair and a little button nose. The boy was even older. These must be the cousins I’d been told about.

  ‘Thank you for sharing your things with me.’

  ‘I’m not sharing anything with you,’ the girl said. ‘Mum said you could have my old stuff, but don’t ever touch anything of mine. Ever.’

  ‘Or mine,’ her brother said quietly. ‘We didn’t ask you here. We don’t want you here. We hate you.’

  I wanted to cry. But I didn’t. I wanted Mum to be proud of me for being brave.

  ‘I didn’t want to come here either,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t you talk to me like that!’ His face went pink with anger.

  I took a deep breath. ‘Mum says everybody should share everything. It’s mean if you don’t.’

  He parroted my words back at me in silly sing-song voice. ‘Everybody should share everything.’

  His sister laughed.

  The boy continued. ‘You’re not on that hippy farm anymore. Things are different here. This is a proper family, not your druggie commune. You’ll have to behave yourself now.’

  I didn’t know what he meant, but I was suddenly very, very frightened. ‘But I’m going back there? Soon?’

  ‘Don’t be silly.’ Mrs Reed appeared in the doorway. ‘The police have shut the whole place down. Thank goodness. The things that were going on there. Drugs. Free love. God knows where my sister is by now. And with who. She’s not fit to look after a child.’ Her lips pursed. ‘She probably doesn’t even know who your father is.’

  ‘She wouldn’t go anywhere without me!’ Mum had always been there. Other people had come and gone but Mum had never left me. Never.

  The woman who had come with me in the car was standing behind Mrs Reed, her bag over her shoulder. ‘Jane, we explained this. Your mother isn’t allowed to look after you anymore. The police have closed the commune down. Some people have gone to jail.’

  I shook my head. Nobody had explained anything. ‘But…’

  The woman had already turned away. Mrs Reed followed her along the corridor and a second later I heard the door open and slam shut.

  Mrs Reed marched back into the room.

  I jumped up. I was desperate. Nobody had said anything about Mum going away. ‘Mum wouldn’t leave me. You have to find out what happened to her.’

  ‘Enough.’ Mrs Reed folded her arms. ‘You’re my niece, so I won’t have people saying I turned you away, however glad I might be to be rid of you, but in my house you live by my rules. And the first rule is this – you do not ever mention my slut of a sister again.’

  ‘But she’s going to come and get me…’

  ‘No. Understand this, Jane Eyre.
Your mother will never set foot in this house, and you will never see her again.’

  Chapter 2

  York, England. 1966

  Betty

  Betty ran out of Mrs Oakley’s house at a quarter past five like always, but it wasn’t Mummy standing waiting for her. Instead her father bent down to talk to her as she came towards him. ‘Hello, little firefly. I’m picking you up today because Mummy’s had to go away for a little while.’

  Betty frowned. Mummy always picked her up. She said it was easier that way because Daddy had to work and sometimes people got funny when he came out with them. The front door to Mrs Oakley’s neat little house was still open, while the childminder watched her charges go on their way. ‘Mr Earl?’

  He turned towards the voice. ‘Mrs O. What can I do for you?’

  ‘Is Pam not well?’

  ‘No. No. She had to go away for a bit.’ He lowered his voice. ‘For her nerves.’

  ‘Right.’ Mrs Oakley looked away somewhere over Betty’s father’s shoulder, not at his face. ‘Well, I’ll be happy to have the bairn back once her mum’s all better and can drop her round.’