The House on Primrose Pond Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE HOUSE ON PRIMROSE POND

  “An intricate story full of family mysteries, heart, and hope. Every time I closed this book I couldn’t wait to open it again.”

  —Amy Sue Nathan, author of The Good Neighbor and The Glass Wives

  “Prepare to be beguiled. The House on Primrose Pond proves that the past—warmest memories to darkest secrets—can be the key to unlock the lost treasures of the present. McDonough writes of the heart’s ability to love beyond betrayal, death, and all of history’s storytelling.”

  —Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Mapmaker’s Children

  “Filled with characters as beautifully drawn as their New England setting, The House on Primrose Pond offers a fascinating and tender journey of a recently widowed woman who returns to the landscape of her youth for comfort, only to face a family mystery that may turn her already topsy-turvy world upside down even further. Atmospheric and deeply romantic, McDonough’s latest is exactly the sort of novel I long to lose myself in.”

  —Erika Marks, author of The Guest House and It Comes in Waves

  Written by today’s freshest new talents and selected by New American Library, NAL Accent novels touch on subjects close to a woman’s heart, from friendship to family to finding our place in the world. The Conversation Guides included in each book are intended to enrich the individual reading experience, as well as encourage us to explore these topics together—because books, and life, are meant for sharing.

  Visit us online at penguin.com.

  “Pulls you into the charm of small-town New England where Susannah Gilbert is a single mom trying to start again while she handles it all. Filled with secrets, history, gossip, friendships, and sexy romance—pour yourself a cup of cocoa and get lost and found again on Primrose Pond!”

  —Marci Nault, author of The Lake House

  “How well do we really know our own histories or those of the people we love? In a blazingly original novel, McDonough uncovers the mysteries of marriage, connection—and possible murder—and the tug of the past on the present. A gorgeous, sweeping read with a gloriously beating heart.”

  —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

  “A beautifully written story about loss, the power of family ties, and finding love in places you’d least expect. Once caught in the emotional currents of her story, you’ll not be released until the last, satisfying page.”

  —Kellie Coates Gilbert, author of A Woman of Fortune

  “An unforgettable story of love and redemption, and finding your way back to what matters most, this perfect combination of mystery, history, and romance will keep you guessing until the very last page, and then regretting that you’ve reached the end.”

  —Roberta Gately, author of Lipstick in Afghanistan

  “Totally engaging . . . a well-crafted and compelling read.”

  —Daphne Kalotay, author of Russian Winter and Sight Reading

  “At times heartbreaking yet full of hope, The House on Primrose Pond is a deeply moving portrait of grief, healing, and how the past often carries the secrets that can make us feel whole again.”

  —Natalia Sylvester, author of Chasing the Sun

  PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF YONA ZELDIS MCDONOUGH

  “Absorbing and soul-stirring.”

  —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and Sweet Water

  “Intriguing, beautifully told, and keeps you guessing right to the last pages.”

  —Sue Margolis, author of Losing Me

  “Well-written characters and fascinating plot twists will appeal to book groups and fans of women’s fiction.”

  —Library Journal

  “Beautiful and heartfelt. If you’ve ever longed for a second—or third—chance, this book’s for you.”

  —Camille Noe Pagán, author of The Art of Forgetting

  “McDonough crafts a complex romantic tale of two families, skillfully developing multidimensional characters.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Every now and then I stumble upon a truly delightful piece of women’s fiction . . . a one-of-a-kind tale.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “A tender, clever story with emotional heft.”

  —Booklist

  “A wise and witty novel from an author at the top of her form.”

  —Megan McAndrew, author of Dreaming in French

  “Spirited, entertaining, and a delight to read.”

  —Lucy Jackson, author of Slicker

  ALSO BY YONA ZELDIS MCDONOUGH

  You Were Meant for Me

  Two of a Kind

  A Wedding in Great Neck

  NAL ACCENT

  Published by New American Library,

  an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  This book is an original publication of New American Library.

  Copyright © Yona Zeldis McDonough, 2016

  Conversation Guide copyright © Penguin Random House, 2016

  Cover photographs: house © Alberto Biscaro/Masterfile; windows © Øyvind Markussen/plainpicture/NTB scanpix; trees © Marco Maccarini/E+/Getty Images; couple © Maridav/Shutterstock Images; lake and sky © Andrew Mayovskyy/Shutterstock Images

  Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

  NAL Accent and the NAL Accent colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  For more information about Penguin Random House, visit penguin.com.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-19402-1

  Names: McDonough, Yona Zeldis.

  Title: The house on Primrose Pond/Yona Zeldis McDonough.

  Description: New York City: New American Library, [2016]

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015035957 | ISBN 9780451475381 (softcover)

  Subjects: LCSH: Women novelists—Fiction. | Family secrets—Fiction. |

  Domestic fiction. | BISAC: FICTION/Contemporary Women. | FICTION/Family Life.

  | FICTION/Psychological.

  Classification: LCC PS3613.C39 H68 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pVWoB6C881MgIe

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

  Designed by Kelly Lipovich.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  Contents

  Praise

  Also by Yona Zeldis McDonough

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  PROLOGUE

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVEr />
  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  EPILOGUE

  Acknowledgments

  Conversation Guide

  About the Author

  For Kenneth Silver, who taught me that history really is a narrative

  PROLOGUE

  It’s two p.m. on a freakishly warm afternoon in January. Susannah Gilmore reluctantly looks up from her laptop. Standing in the doorway of her home office is her husband, Charlie. “Have you seen what it’s doing outside?” he asks. She nods, attention drifting back to the screen. “It’s sixty-nine degrees.”

  “The January thaw, right?” She’s read about this someplace, though she can’t recall where.

  “Whatever. We should take advantage of it, though. Let’s go for a bike ride before the kids get home.”

  “I wish I could.” She turns to him. At six foot three, he’s lanky and lean. Ginger hair, great smile, and, under his shirt, a constellation of freckles dotting his shoulders and upper back. Forty-three, yet still so boyish. “But I’ve got a deadline.”

  “One afternoon is not going to make or break you. Not even an afternoon. An hour and a half, max. Carpe diem and all that.”

  She smiles at him. “I really can’t. But you go.”

  “It’ll be more fun with you.”

  “Next time,” she says. “I promise.”

  He sighs and Susannah turns back to her work. But Charlie remains standing in the doorway.

  “What?” she says, trying to conceal her impatience.

  “Are you sure?”

  She hesitates. But the chapter, the deadline, the meal she’ll need to prepare in a few hours—the perpetually revolving domestic wheel keeps her rooted to her chair.

  “All right.” He sounds a bit deflated but finally heads toward the stairs. Susannah barely registers his leaving. She wants to get back to the novel she’s writing, a novel in which a minor English noblewoman has become ensnared in a dangerous court intrigue. Tapping on her keypad, Susannah follows Lady Whitmore along vast, tapestry-lined corridors and up curving flights of steep stone steps. Now Lady Whitmore enters the bedchamber of the young and essentially powerless queen and closes the heavy oak door behind her. Will she be able to help the sovereign outsmart the cunning noblemen who want her out of the way, making room for an even more pliant pawn?

  Sometime after three o’clock, Susannah registers her son Jack’s arrival home, and a short time later, her daughter Cally’s. Leaving Lady Whitmore, Susannah switches off the computer and goes downstairs. Time to start dinner.

  As the sky darkens—despite the warmth, it is still winter, and dusk comes early—she moves around the narrow but cozy kitchen of her Park Slope brownstone, getting the meal together.

  Charlie built this room almost single-handedly when they moved in nearly twenty years ago. The wood for the countertops was reclaimed from the bar of an old Irish pub that was going out of business; the floor tile was a manufacturer’s overstock that he’d bought for next to nothing. That was so like Charlie—he could see possibilities in the most unlikely of places, and he was a consummate craftsman, able to turn his vision into a reality.

  Susannah checks the clock on the stove. Charlie said an hour and a half and it’s been more than three hours. He must have gotten sidetracked. She pictures him peddling up the hill on his green bicycle, exertion making his cheeks glow pink. He’ll be all excited about his outing, and eager to tell her where he’s been, what he’s seen. He really is a big kid. Four days a week, he teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan; on Fridays, he works at home. His current project is a picture book about intergalactic travel, and the preliminary drawings of the spacecraft—sleek and silvery blue—are pinned up around his studio.

  She likes having him home on a day when the children are not here; sometimes she fixes them a special lunch or sometimes they go upstairs for what Charlie loves best: daytime sex. “I’m an artist,” he always said. “And for an artist, there’s no light like daylight.”

  As Susannah bastes the chicken, she feels a small tug of guilt. Maybe she should have gone with him today. She’ll make it up to him, she decides. She’ll work extra hard this week and next Friday she’ll take the whole day off. She’ll bring him breakfast in bed and then climb back in with him. He’ll like that. So will she.

  “Where’s Dad?” Cally walks into the kitchen and begins setting the table.

  “He went for a bike ride; he should be home soon.” It’s almost six o’clock, the time they usually eat dinner. The roast chicken is ready and Susannah debates whether to keep it in the oven or take it out; does she want it dry or does she want it cold?

  “He’s on Dad time,” Cally says. But she’s smiling. They all know Charlie is dreamy and easily distracted: by the sight of a splashy sunset that tinges the clouds with gold, by an old buddy who wants him to stop by for a beer, by a picture he just has to take with his iPhone. Jack, who has just walked in, goes over to the cutlery drawer and is now handing silverware to his sister; they are a good team. “Well, I hope he gets here soon. I’m starved.”

  “Me too.” Cally straightens a place mat.

  “He will,” says Susannah, though she is pricked by annoyance. She takes the chicken out of the oven. Cold is fixable. Dry is not. Both Cally and Jack have washed their hands and are sitting down, waiting. Everything is ready; everyone is here. Except her husband. She picks up her phone, and as she could have predicted, the call goes straight to voice mail; Charlie routinely turns off the ringer on his phone. But it is now four hours since he left. Couldn’t he have at least called to say he was going to be late? “Where the hell is he?” She does not actually mean to say this aloud.

  “Don’t curse at Daddy!” Cally scolds.

  “I’m not cursing at him.” Susannah is instantly contrite. “I’m just . . . cursing.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t!”

  “You’re right, sweet pea. He probably stopped to get something.” Charlie is apt to do that—tulips for the table, or an extravagant dessert. “Remember last week when he brought home that salted-caramel pie?”

  “Don’t even talk about pie!” says Jack.

  Then the bell rings. Oh, good—Charlie’s home. Obviously he forgot his keys—he does that a lot—and she hurries to let him in. But instead of Charlie, apologizing profusely, leaning down to kiss her, pressing his offering into her arms, she finds two police officers standing at the door. One has a blond crew cut showing from under his blue hat; the other is a dark-skinned woman. “Mrs. Miller?” She flashes her badge. “May we come in?” Susannah tenses but steps aside. “Your husband, Charles—”

  “My husband isn’t Charles. He’s Charlie.” Susannah seizes on their mistake; whatever they think their mission here is, they have gotten it all wrong. And she isn’t Mrs. Miller anyway. She kept Gilmore, her maiden name, the one her grandfather Isaac Goldblatt decided would help him move more easily through the world.

  “There’s been an accident. It was in Queens and—”

  “What kind of accident?” Susannah is aware that Cally and
Jack are standing close behind her.

  “Bicycle.” The word is delivered by the young blond officer. “Your husband was thrown off. He sustained a serious head injury.”

  “Queens? What would he be doing in Queens?” Charlie barely knows where Queens is; they joke about this occasionally. But the words “head injury” send her panicked glance over to the row of hooks by the door. Suspended from one of them is the expensive, glitter-flecked helmet she bought Charlie for his last birthday, the one he swears up and down that he’ll wear—and then almost never does.

  The two officers look at each other, and in that look Susannah knows everything. She will not let herself believe it; still, her gaze is pulled almost magnetically back to the helmet. Charlie thinks it is an encumbrance; he wears it only when she reminds him. But today she didn’t remind him. Today she’d been busy and wanted to get back to work.

  “I think maybe you should sit down,” says the female cop.

  There is a sickening numbness gathering around her, a horrible, this-can’t-be-real feeling that she desperately wants to swat away. But Susannah allows herself to be led to the table. Cally and Jack silently follow. “How bad is he?”

  The officer shakes her head. “I’m sorry. The injury was fatal. By the time the ambulance got there, he was already gone.” There is a pause before she adds, in a low voice, “We’ll need you to identify the body.”

  Jack starts sobbing. Cally emits a single, strangled sound. But Susannah cannot speak. Identify the body? Charlie’s body? It’s just not possible. He was standing there, in her office, mere hours ago. It’ll be more fun with you, he had said. Why hadn’t she gone with him? Why?

  Jack is crying noisily but Cally marches over to the row of hooks, takes down the helmet, and thrusts it in front of her mother. “He wasn’t wearing it.”

  “No,” says Susannah. “He wasn’t.” The helmet has a reinforced safety strap and an impervious, mocking gleam. She turns her head away so she doesn’t have to see it anymore.

  “You didn’t remind him.” There is recrimination in her words. Also, a cold, adult-sounding fury. “It’s your fault. You let Daddy get killed!” And with that, she bolts from the room. The officers stand with their heads bowed, and Jack continues to sob. Susannah cannot move, and the sounds of Jack’s continued weeping, the blond officer’s abashed cough, recede. All she can hear, in a relentless, repetitive loop, are her husband’s last words: Are you sure?