The Wife Between Us

Richard is a handsome, successful businessman in New York. As a teenager, his parents died in car crash, leaving him to be raised by his older sister, Maureen. Richard was in the car when they died and was scarred physically, with a crescent-shaped mark above his eye, and emotionally, as seen in his aversion to blood. His intelligence and unrelenting work ethic earned him scholarships and allow him to live an extravagant lifestyle.

On the surface, Richard is “too good to be true” (7). He can be thoughtful and sweet—he brings home Vanessa’s father’s favorite ice cream on the anniversary of his death and writes love notes. He is also possessive, quick to anger, and violent. Above all, he is controlling and vindictive; every perceived indiscretion of Vanessa’s is met with subtle and then outright punishments. Often, these punishments are meant to frighten Vanessa or to destabilize her public image. Richard works carefully to hide his sinister traits; Vanessa notices early in their marriage that when he is angry, “he seemed to coil into himself until he regained control over his emotions” (108). Richard works tirelessly to control perceptions of himself, of his life, and of the people in his life. His parents’ unhappy marriage and his father’s abuse of his mother instilled within Richard the desperation for a happy marriage and the need for everything to be perfect. When things—and people—don’t meet his perfect standards, he punishes them until they do.

Richard desperately seeks a flawless life, especially in romantic relationships, because appearances mean more to him than anything else. Like the antique wedding topper he worships, Richard’s idea of perfection is entirely hollow.

Emma is the young, beautiful blonde whom Richard left Vanessa for. She was hired as his assistant, and the two quickly began an affair. Emma is initially presented as the subject of an ex-wife’s vicious jealousy, but she is soon revealed to be the victim of an elaborate plan. In order to make Richard leave her, Vanessa secretly arranged for the two of them to have an affair. Emma, though, was concealing her own plan. Her desire to punish Vanessa for the affair she had with Emma’s father in college reveals her to be more complicated than Vanessa or Richard expected.

Emma uses her sexuality as a weapon. She is cunning, with a powerful animus towards Vanessa. However, when she learns of Vanessa’s ignorance of her father’s marriage, she abandons her plan. She demonstrates nerve and selflessness when she refuses to let Vanessa sacrifice herself to Richard and offers instead to see him again to move forward with her own private plan.

With Emma, Hendricks and Pekkanen subvert the trope of “the other woman” twofold: first, in making her Vanessa’s unwitting sacrifice so she can escape her marriage, and secondly, in making her an agent of targeted vengeance. Emma is presented as a foil for Vanessa but is really her parallel. She is both predator and prey, but also neither. The authors complicate the portrayals of these roles to emphasize that appearances are never exactly what they seem. 

Sam is Vanessa’s best friend before she marries Richard. She works at the preschool and has a lively social life. She is a bit messy and scattered-brained, traits Vanessa finds both frustrating and endearing. Sam is also a voice of reason when it comes to Richard. She is distrustful towards him instantly, “rolling her eyes” at his flashy wealth and watching him with suspicion (50). When Vanessa begins to neglect her friendships to please Richard, Sam is both angry and concerned. Vanessa defends Richard’s aloofness against Sam’s rebuke, and Sam wears an “inscrutable expression”—the same one she wore when Vanessa told her Richard had bought a house and when she “came home wearing an engagement ring” (94). Sam’s misgivings about Richard are warranted: She recognizes the early toxicity in the relationship and knows it will only escalate.

Sam offers a stark contrast to Vanessa after Vanessa’s marriage transforms her. When they meet for dinner, Sam is the healthiest she has ever been and balancing a rewarding work life with an eventful social life. Vanessa is self-conscious about her body, absorbed by Richard, and isolated from the rest of the world. When Sam finally speaks her mind about Vanessa’s marriage, the confrontation becomes the worst fight they’ve ever had and ends their friendship.

When they see each other after Vanessa’s marriage has ended, Sam “stands up quickly [and] reaches out unhesitatingly” to hug Vanessa (384). Much has changed about Sam, but she still looks at her best friend brightly, her happy beads strung across her neck. 

Richard’s older sister, Maureen, is a successful academic. After the death of their parents, Maureen stepped in to take care of Richard. She practically raised him, ensured he got into college, and is the only family he has left. For that, the two are extremely close. Maureen is an enigma to Vanessa, who eagerly wants to establish a close relationship with her future sister-in-law when she and Richard are engaged. However, Maureen is like Richard in many ways: She is reserved, almost cold, and Vanessa feels left out every time the three of them are together.

After the climactic confrontation between Vanessa and Richard, Maureen swiftly goes to Richard. She never addresses the harm Richard caused Vanessa and even attempts to paint Richard as the victim. Richard’s sister is eerily satisfied by his breakdown, a reaction that suggests that she also enjoys being needed, feeling powerful when others are weak.

When leaving her for the last time, Vanessa has a startling realization about Maureen: She canceled Vanessa’s wedding photographer in an attempt to sabotage her wedding to Richard. This epiphany brings up other puzzling traits about Maureen: how she spent every holiday with Richard, how she spent every birthday “with her brother engaged in an activity she knew [Vanessa] didn’t enjoy, how she never married or had children,” and how she never mentioned a friend (378). Maureen appears absorbed by her brother’s life and exhibits an unnatural desperation to be the center of his world.