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CHAPTER9
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Valerie rang the doorbell and waited for the housekeeper to open and let her in. It was still early in the morning, just a little after eight, a time when Niall would usually be at work, but she’d guessed correctly that he would take the day off.
“Morning Nettie, how is he?” She smiled at the woman who looked a bit harried this morning.
“About what you’d expect I guess. The children have been a handful this morning and he and Bridgette are trying to get them settled.”
The older woman moved over to the side table to wipe a water spot left by the glass Mr. Niall had sat there the night before. It was more for something to do with her hands than anything else. Ever since the day before she’s been on pins and needles with worry.
The last time there’d been a murder in this town she’d been little more than a child so it hadn’t affected her as much, but this was too close to home. She hadn’t been overly fond of the woman she worked for, but still.
To die so young and in such a horrible way if the rumor mill was true, only a heartless person wouldn’t feel compassion for the poor soul. Valerie was still thinking about the news about the children, she’d comforted herself with the thought that they were too young to really understand and would not suffer as much.
“Oh no, I thought Junior might be old enough to understand but not Andrea and Abigail. Surely they’re too young aren’t they?”
“Well, they might not understand death but they know that their mother’s not here like she usually is. Poor little mites, they hardly slept a wink according to Bridgette.” Nettie sighed and turned to look at the other woman.
“You’ll find Mr. Niall upstairs with them!” Nettie turned and headed back towards the kitchen where she’d been busy cleaning up after breakfast and left Valerie to find her way upstairs to the nursery. She’d been here often enough to know her way there.
Valerie felt strange being in the home now that her friend was gone. Her eyes landed on the large portrait of Sonya that sat above the fireplace in the great room as she walked by. She didn’t stop to look as her heart raced in her chest and she begun to feel sick. It was finally hitting home that she was gone, that she wasn’t going to come bounding out of one of the rooms with that infectious grin on her face.
She made her way up the stairs where she could hear the slight din of voices and came to a stop in the doorway to the nursery. Niall was seated on the floor with little Abigail on his lap, a faraway look on his face.
His eyes were red as if he’d been crying all night and she felt helpless standing there with nothing to offer but empty words and meaningless platitudes. “Good morning Niall, hello children.” She walked into the room and he looked up with a ghost of a smile on his face.
He looked nothing like the always well- groomed dashing businessman she was accustomed to and it broke her heart just a little. Yesterday when they came here she’d let Riley do most of the talking because she was still in a state of shock, now she was on her own she found herself still at a loss for words.
He put the baby down and gestured to the nanny, what was her name again? Oh yes, Bridgette. Valerie barely spared the girl a glance as he came towards her in the door. “Let’s go have a cup of coffee on the back porch.” She nodded her acquiescence and they turned and left the room to the sound of the babysitter trying to entice the kids to play some game.
Out on the porch sitting at the little round table that they’d shared so often in the past, she wished there was something she could do to cheer him up. Some poignant words that would help lessen the burden of grief. He seemed so lost and alone, like he didn’t know what to do next. It was a side of him she was accustomed to seeing and wasn’t very comfortable with.
Of the four of them Niall was the oldest by quite a number of years. He was forty-three, eleven years older than his wife and her, and eight years older than her own husband. He was always the most stalwart member of their little group.
Not that he didn’t know how to have fun, but in the last couple of years, a little after Abigail was born to be exact, he’d become different; more withdrawn, cold, even distant she’d say. That cold reserve he was known for among his peers had turned to ice.
Some days it was almost like dealing with Jekyll and Hyde. Like the time she’d seen him in the next town over looking nothing like himself. It was the way he’d been dressed, even the way he’d walked had seemed different that day.
And when she’d called out to him he’d seemed a bit surprised, almost as if he didn’t recognize her. Then suddenly he’d shaken his head and seemed to come out of some fugue state, but had still seemed a bit confused now that she thought of it.
She’d entertained the thought for a moment, just one moment mind you, that he’d been having an affair. Only later she’d found out different. That it was her dear and trusted friend who was getting it on with someone else.
She didn’t approve and when Sonya had bragged to her about her new lover and all the things they’d been getting up to she’d told her friend as much. But the other woman had just laughed in her face. She wouldn’t say who this new man was, and Valerie had spent countless hours trying to figure it out.
There weren’t that many influential men in these parts, no one that fit the type of man her friend would go for and thinking about it had only made her more uncomfortable as time passed.
Now she was here sitting across from this man who was mourning her friend and she had such guilt. There’s no way she was going to tell him about that though. But it was like the proverbial elephant in the room.
“How’re you holding up Niall?” He took a sip from his cup and stared off into the distance before shrugging his shoulders listlessly. “I’m hanging in there as best I can I guess.” She crossed her legs and turned fully around in her chair.
“You’ve got to hold it together for the kids. I know it must be hard, me myself, I haven’t even allowed myself to think about it, so I can only imagine…Anyway, we’re here for you, Riley and I.”
“How’re you two getting along?”
“What, what do you mean?” She barely refrained from snapping out the question as she sat forward.
“Well, I’d noticed just lately that you two seemed to be having some sort of problem. I guess I was too selfish to care very much. Now…”
