My Stepmother's Secret

MY STEPMOTHER'S SECRET AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND HEARTBREAKING STORY ABOUT A FAMILY DILEMMA EMMA ROBINSON BOOKS BY EMMA ROBINSON My Stepmother's Secret To Be a Mother Only for My Daughter To Save My Child His First Wife's Secret My Husband’s Daughter The Forgotten Wife My Silent Daughter One Way Ticket to Paris Happily Never After The Undercover Mother AVAILABLE IN AUDIO Only for My Daughter (Available in the UK and the US) To Save My Child (Available in the UK and the US) His First Wife's Secret (Available in the UK and the US) My Husband’s Daughter (Available in the UK and the US) The Forgotten Wife (Available in the UK and the US) My Silent Daughter (Available in the UK and the US) The Undercover Mother (Available in the UK and the US) CONTENTS 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 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Epilogue My Husband’s Daughter Prologue 1. Rebecca 2. Cara 3. Rebecca Hear More from Emma Books by Emma Robinson A Letter from Emma To Be a Mother Only for My Daughter To Save My Child His First Wife’s Secret The Forgotten Wife My Silent Daughter One Way Ticket to Paris Happily Never After The Undercover Mother Acknowledgements * For Natalie For teaching me about boundaries ONE All roads lead to home. Despite the rain slapping against the windscreen, Gabbie could almost hear her father’s words. Every time he left to catch a plane, she – wrapped around his legs, her head barely reaching his waist – begged him not to go. He’d laugh, gently extricating her fingers, lifting her into her mother’s arms. ‘If I don’t go now, I won’t be able to come home again.’ Those were the days of picnics and playdates and trips to the park. When they were still les trois mousquetaires and life was simple and good. The days before she was the one who’d had to leave. Years of living in London – and of Liam’s preference for being in the driving seat – had left her out of practice for motorway driving. In her late teens, she’d had no issues negotiating the A12 late at night, thinking nothing of its lengthy unlit sections and frequent changes in speed limit. Now she jumped every time a juggernaut roared past her, sending a tsunami in its wake. It wasn’t as if she was even looking forward to arriving at the house. Because her father wouldn’t be there to greet her this time. Nor her mother. A glance in the rearview mirror at the back seat confirmed that Alice had fallen asleep, her blonde head bobbing from side to side, bright pink earphones framing her face. Olivia was still obstinately fighting fatigue, her frown illuminated by the glow from the mobile phone in front of her. It was a relief that she was quiet, at least. For the first stretch of the journey from London to Suffolk, she’d been a torrent of questions. Questions that Gabbie wasn’t ready to answer. As soon as the wipers shushed the windscreen clear, another sheet of rain took its place. Gabbie lifted the lever to maximum but it made little difference. Gripping the steering wheel hard, she leaned forward in her seat, trying to see a way through the deluge. Was it getting too dangerous to drive? Should she pull over? The hard shoulder would be even more dangerous, though, and where else could they go? Just focus on getting there. Keeping the girls safe. ‘How much longer? We’ve been driving for hours.’ Having been silent for the last half an hour, Olivia’s voice made Gabbie jump. She looked in the rearview mirror at her daughter’s scowl. ‘Not much longer. We’re nearly there.’ What she’d mistaken for Olivia’s acceptance had merely been her recharging for a second onslaught. ‘I can’t believe you’re making me come. I have the party on Tuesday and I’m going to miss all the planning. It’s the last one we’ll all have together before everyone goes off to different sixth forms. My friends are meeting up tomorrow and now I won’t be there. Why do I have to come?’ As if dealing with the weather outside the car wasn’t enough, now she had to manage another hurricane of emotion from her daughter. ‘Why’ had become Gabbie’s least favourite word in the English language. How naive was her younger self who’d thought the nappies and night-feeds stage was the difficult one? For a fleeting moment, she considered telling Olivia the truth as to why they were travelling in a torrential rainstorm to the last place on earth she wanted to go. But she dismissed the idea as soon as it came. Instead, trying to sound calm, she repeated what she’d already said twice in the last hour. ‘We’re going because I need to see Jill.’ ‘But you don’t even like her. We haven’t been here in years. Since before lockdown. Why do we have to come now?’ The vice of tension in Gabbie’s stomach ratcheted up another notch. She hadn’t been to the house since her father’s funeral over three years ago and for the girls it was even longer than that. How was it going to feel, being in that empty house without him there? Worse, with Jill as their host? Jaw tight, she tried to form the words she didn’t have, but her lack of response was barely noted by Olivia, who was more interested in getting her own argument heard. ‘And why do we have to come with you to Jill’s house? And why does Dad not