The Husband's Secret

Tess takes Cecilia home and admires the tidy, homey look of her house. Everything is in its correct place—not, Tess thinks, in a sterile way, but as if it’s been staged as the “ideal family home” (232). With a boldness and confidence unusual for her, Tess gets Cecilia settled at the kitchen table and makes tea, even opening a package of expensive biscuits for the occasion.

The scene of Cecilia and Tess in the kitchen switches to Cecilia’s point of view. She wonders what Tess would say if she confessed what John-Paul told her the night before but doesn’t say anything about it. She previously thought that Tess was “mysterious” and “self-assured,” but Tess’s careful manner in her kitchen makes her think perhaps Tess is shy instead. Tess asks about one of Esther’s books on the Berlin Wall, and Cecilia begins to babble. She realizes she’s talking too much but can’t seem to stop. She starts to imagine how Rachel Crowley feels—with her anger and grief—and feels sick to her stomach again. Tess comments that Cecilia has gone white, which Cecilia laughs off, saying she’s got a virus “or something.