Part 1 (1/2)
An Inconvenient Wife.
Megan Chance.
For Maggie and Cleo.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
As always, I must thank Kristin Hannah for her invaluable insight, Jamie Raab and Frances Jalet-Miller for their care and dedication in pointing the way, Marcy Posner for her unwavering support, Elizabeth DeMatteo, Melinda McRae, Jena McPherson, Liz Osborne, and Sharon Thomas for fifteen years of Thursday nights, and of course, my husband, Kany, for his belief, love, and insight.
”Love” is an elastic concept that stretches from heaven to h.e.l.l and combines in itself good and evil, high and low.
- CARL GUSTAV JUNG.
Two Essays on a.n.a.lytical Psychology.
”The Anxious Young Woman and the Retired Businessman”
Survival of the fittest does not always mean survival of the best . . . it means only the survival of that which is best suited to the circ.u.mstances, good or bad, in which it is placed-the survival of a savage in a savage social medium, of a rogue among rogues, of a parasite where a parasite alone can live.
- HENRY MAUDSLEY.
Body and Will.
PROLOGUE.
New York City.
Autumn 1884.
An asylum!” William said. ”Is there nothing else we can try? Nothing at all?”
My husband balanced on the edge of his chair. The electric light shone on his high forehead, glinting in the gray threading through his dark hair. He was only thirty-five. The aging was due to his profession, he said. Brokering was a hard business. But I knew it was not that at all. I knew it was because of me.
”You don't want surgery.” Dr. Little adjusted his round spectacles. The myriad certificates that dotted the brown toile wallpaper framed him nicely, as if deliberately placed to give weight to his earnestness.
”But if you think it's best . . .” I said.
Dr. Little turned his mild, thoughtful gaze to me. ”An ovariotomy is not always successful. Your husband feels the risk is too great.”
”You could die, Lucy,” William said.
”But there's the chance it would work.”
Dr. Little nodded. ”Yes, of course. We've made great gains with surgery of this type, but I would not be so anxious to try it-not when there is another option. Beechwood Grove is an excellent inst.i.tution, Mrs. Carelton. We've had good results with hysterics and neurasthenics. A few months of enforced rest may be effective.”
”A few months,” William said in a low voice. ”You've said six months, at least. It would encompa.s.s the entire season. What would we tell people?”
Dr. Little shrugged. ”Perhaps you could suggest that Mrs. Carelton has taken an extended tour abroad.”
”Lucy has always hated Europe,” my husband said.
”Something else, then,” Dr. Little said impatiently.
William exhaled. ”I don't know. An asylum . . .”
”A private asylum,” Dr. Little corrected. ”You must believe me when I say this is nothing like the horror houses you've heard about, Mr. Carelton. At Beechwood Grove, all of our patients are from excellent families. We make it as homelike as possible. Mrs. Carelton would even be permitted to have many of her own things.”
I looked down, unable to meet the doctor's gaze. ”Perhaps it's best, William. . . .”
”No.” He said it so violently that I looked up in surprise. ”No. I refuse to believe this is the only way. An asylum, for G.o.d's sake. That's a place for the insane.”
”Mr. Carelton, you came to me for advice; you said you had lost hope. I'm saying there is hope to be found, but it requires a great sacrifice on your part-”
”What you're saying is that Lucy belongs with madmen and criminals,” William said coldly.
”There are no criminals in Beechwood Grove.”
”Only madmen.”
”Madwomen. We do not accept men there.”
”Madwomen, then. You would put my wife with them?”
Dr. Little looked at William, and I read the meaning in his glance. Your wife is a madwoman. It's time to acknowledge it. It's time to send her away. . . .
I could not bear to look. I felt the start of tears, and I dug my nails into my palm.
William got to his feet and pulled me to mine. ”I appreciate your time and your advice, Doctor, but the season is just starting-”
”You may regret this,” Dr. Little said. ”Mrs. Carelton has been unable to meet the demands of society before.”
”This year will be different. We still hope that there will be a child.”
Dr. Little pressed his hands together. ”A child. Mr. Carelton, I'm quite sure Mrs. Carelton could not care for a child. Not in her present state.”