The Husband's Secret

Tess attends the Easter hat parade with her mother. She thinks back to her sexual encounters with Connor the night before and berates herself for having been with someone else so quickly after her marriage breakup. She doesn’t truly feel badly, though—she feels a sense of vengeance. Tess’s mother asks if something happened between her and Connor the night before, and Tess lies, saying no, but her mother sees through her lie and congratulates her. 

Rachel watches the Easter hat parade with Samantha, a school mum and part-time school bookkeeper. Rachel watches Connor, dressed in his baby’s bonnet, goof around with some of the older boys. Samantha says that Connor is in a very good mood today and wonders if it means he’s “finally gotten himself a woman” (301), a comment she explains by revealing that her friend, Janet, briefly dated Connor. Janet described Connor as “like a depressed person pretending not to be depressed” (301).

Samantha also reveals that Connor’s mother was an alcoholic who neglected her children. Rachel vaguely remembers the Whitby family coming to church sometimes, the children dirty, the mother scolding them loudly during the service.