The Wife Between Us

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Prologue-Chapter 3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 1, Chapters 7-9

Part 1, Chapters 10-12

Part 1, Chapters 13-15

Part 1, Chapters 16-18

Part 2, Chapters 19-21

Part 2, Chapters 22-24

Part 2, Chapters 25-27

Part 2, Chapters 28-30

Part 3, Chapters 31-33

Part 3, Chapters 34-36

Part 3, Chapters 37-39

Part 3, Chapter 40-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Part 3, Chapters 37-39 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3, Chapter 37 Summary

The next day, Richard arrives at Emma’s apartment while Vanessa crouches in the closet. Emma refused Vanessa’s plan and offered her own: She’ll fake being sick and establish distance slowly. Vanessa, who insisted on remaining near for Emma’s safety, is shocked by Emma’s quick improvisation and convincing tone. Richard dotes on Emma. He offers to cancel their meeting with Maureen the next day, but Emma refuses, to Vanessa’s surprise. Then, Emma tells Richard that Vanessa called that day and is certain that Emma has double-crossed her. She prepares for them to open the closet door as Richard curses and violently kicks the wall, but she instead hears Emma’s reassuring voice say that his ex-wife only wants to apologize. Richard says that Vanessa must be lying, but Emma assures him that Vanessa has changed. Finally, Richard leaves, and Emma opens the closet to release Vanessa.

Vanessa is wary that Emma may have rewarmed to Richard, turning against her, but Emma’s expressions suggest that she is equally wary of Vanessa. As Emma rushes Vanessa out of her apartment, Vanessa thinks that Emma doesn’t understand; she knows Richard has done this before—to his dark-haired ex as well as Vanessa—and will do this again. Vanessa intends to protect all the possible future wives of Richard. To do so, Vanessa realizes that she must come up with her own plan, fearing that Emma will not protect herself.

Part 3, Chapter 38 Summary

Vanessa takes out a new life insurance policy that covers death and dismemberment from an accident. She places it alongside a letter she’s written to Charlotte, who is the sole beneficiary of that policy. She has cleaned her room and packed her belongings into her wardrobe. Earlier that day, she called Maggie’s parents and then Maggie’s brother, Jason. He didn’t remember her at first, but when he did, he thanked Vanessa for the donations in Maggie’s name. Vanessa learned that he’d attended her graduation for his then girlfriend and now wife, and the discovery shows her that “guilt and anxiety had concocted a lie” and always made her feel afraid (362). She regrets how fear has shaped her entire life. She wipes her computer clean, careful to erase her “recent investigations” and travel plans.

Before she leaves, she goes to Charlotte, dreading the encounter. She finds her aunt painting a self-portrait. When her aunt notices her nice white dress and careful makeup, Vanessa tells her she has a job interview. She tells her aunt to go to Italy this summer, which worries Charlotte. Vanessa covers by saying she’s worried she’ll get the job and won’t be able to take her. She blows a kiss to her aunt before leaving, knowing that if she holds her, she won’t be able to let go.

Part 3, Chapter 39 Summary

For the second time in her life, Vanessa stands across from Richard in a white dress, but this time she is standing between him and Emma’s door. Richard is surprised to see Vanessa but remains quiet and expressionless as she tells him that she will show Emma his Visa bill (which is fake) and tell her Richard is tracking her and what really happened to Duke (a bluff). When she tells Richard that she knows he lied about his sperm and that he didn’t deserve to have children, he begins to crack. Vanessa tells him that she always wanted to leave him and that Emma will too, and Richard attacks her. Vanessa thought she would have time to scream or summon Emma and Maureen, but Richard’s hands are around her neck too quickly. She begins to lose consciousness but feels something in Richard’s jacket pocket and grabs it. With the last of her strength, she hits him across the face, right where he already has a small scar.

When he releases her, his face is covered in blood, and he rigidly holds his hand to his head. Maureen and Emma emerge as Vanessa turns to notice the broken shards of the wedding topper on the ground. Emma goes to Vanessa and calls an ambulance. Maureen goes to Richard, who is in shock. When Maureen asks Vanessa what she’s done, Maureen denies that Richard would have hurt her, but her posture and face falls, and she is quiet. Maureen comforts Richard, but Vanessa notices something surprising in her tone: satisfaction.

Part 3, Chapters 37-39 Analysis

Chapter 37 alludes to the possibility of Emma’s falsity as Vanessa emphasizes the compelling performance Emma gives in front of Richard. Emma appears to be playing her own game, which Vanessa begins to realize as she interprets Emma’s convincing act and successful improvisation as her “wavering” or Richard “[l]uring her back to him” (357). The chapter also highlights the pull Vanessa still feels for Richard, despite her knowledge of who he really is. However, Vanessa now recognizes “the magnetic pull of his charisma” as part of the danger (356). This, along with the suspicion that Emma has abandoned their plan, strengthens Vanessa’s resolve to “save any woman who could become Richard’s future wife” (360).

In Chapter 38, Vanessa is transformed. The opening builds intensity, foreshadowing the peril Vanessa faces in confronting Richard, and establishes her martyrdom, both in her plan and in getting her affairs in order for Charlotte’s sake. Her transformation finalizes, however, after Vanessa speaks with Jason. The conversation frees her from her remaining guilt but also leaves her with the saddening realization that she had spent a lifetime fearing a threat that didn’t exist. Though she pities her younger self for allowing “fear to shape so many of her life choices,” Vanessa shows growth by accepting fear and no longer letting it control her (362).

The climactic struggle of Chapter 39 accomplishes Vanessa’s goal of exposing Richard. Richard, despite obsessively needing to control all aspects and people in his life, exhibits his utter lack of self-control. Vanessa extorts this trait perfectly, provoking his insecurities. Vanessa’s speech targets Richard’s weaknesses—his fears of being challenged, proven wrong, and unloved—demonstrating how well she knows her ex-husband and how easily he, too, can be manipulated. The chapter also shows more of Vanessa’s character development: As Richard begins to suffocate her, she thinks “save us” and finds the strength to fight back. In saying “us” for the first time, Vanessa explicitly includes herself as being worthy of rescuing. Additionally, this “us” represents all of the women Vanessa is saving from Richard with a single act of violence.

The object she uses to disable Richard is, significantly, the very cake topper that gave her pause years ago during their marriage. Symbolically, she is shattering the image of perfection that Richard values more than the women he loves. Despite Vanessa’s great achievement in surviving this encounter, the chapter ends with the ominous suggestion of Maureen’s relationship to Richard; though she has found out her brother is an abuser, Maureen focuses on helping him, promising to “take care of everything” with an eerie tone of satisfaction (370). Whether or not she had suspected Richard’s violence before, it is clear Maureen doesn’t care about the harm he’s caused. Rather, she exhibits her own toxic tendencies in stepping in to coddle Richard.