Manage to turn up before husband for a long time (5)
I believe the answer is:
epoch
'long time' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'manage to turn up before husband' is the wordplay.
'manage' becomes 'cope' (manage can mean to cope or do well).
'to turn up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'husband' becomes 'h' (abbreviation).
'cope' reversed gives 'epoc'.
'epoc'+'h'='EPOCH'
'for a' is the link.
(Other definitions for epoch that I've seen before include "Historical era" , "significant time" , "Distinctive period of time" , "A particular period of history" , "Historical period" .)