The Wife Before Me(92)
Today, Yvonne has a hair appointment and Henry will collect his grandchildren. Sophie’s professional mask is dropping; Elena has noticed a softening in her voice when they speak together.
As the hour draws to a close, Elena asks her to watch the children while she uses the bathroom.
‘No problem.’ Sophie kneels down beside Joel, who pushes a toy helicopter across the floor.
As soon as she is outside the room, Elena hurries towards the entrance. Henry, punctual as always, stops abruptly when he sees her.
‘I have to talk to you.’ Elena steps in front of him. ‘It’s important.’
‘Then speak to me in front of Sophie. You’re well aware that any contact between us is strictly forbidden if she’s not present.’
‘I just want a moment of your time.’
‘You could be in serious trouble for accosting me.’ His tone has become hard, inflexible. ‘Stand aside and allow me to collect my grandchildren.’
‘Henry, please listen to me. I’m worried about Nicholas.’
‘Worried? You have a strange way of showing it.’
‘His violence is―’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, Elena. No more pathetic lies about my son.’
‘I didn’t fall on the steps outside Rosemary’s office. Something interrupted him while he was attacking me. Otherwise, he could have killed me.’
‘I presume you can name this “something” that prevented my son from killing you?’ His mockery is overdone, his eyes darting past her, seeking an escape. Unlike Nicholas, he’s incapable of hiding his feelings and she can see how nervous he is.
‘It doesn’t matter what interrupted him,’ she says. ‘A man is on life support in hospital. I’m convinced Nicholas attacked him―’
‘For Christ’s sake, Elena. Is there no end to your vindictiveness? Yvonne is right when she says you’re unhinged.’
‘Do you believe her?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘”If you have another truth, then go and find it.” Wasn’t that what you said to me, Henry?’
He steps closer and grabs her shoulders. ‘I was a fool not to report you for breaking into my house. You need to be locked up and I’m going to make sure that happens. Starting right now.’
‘The only way Nicholas can keep me from revealing the truth is to kill me,’ she says. ‘If that happens, I want you to remember this conversation.’
Without replying, he storms ahead of her into the other room, where Joel is lying on the floor, red-faced and drumming his heels. Grace, her hands clasped over her ears to drown his shrieks, is weeping quietly in Sophie’s arms.
‘They were afraid you’d left them without saying goodbye.’ She glances apologetically at Elena, who has lifted Joel and pressed him to her shoulder. Gradually, his shrieks quieten into hiccupping gulps. Her neck is wet with his tears. She waits for Henry to report her for accosting him. He bends and begins to pick up the toys. His face his hidden from her, his shoulders stooped.
‘Say goodbye to your mammy.’ He speaks softly to Grace and takes Joel, relaxed now, from Elena’s arms. He does not look at her or speak again.
He will ring the police as soon as he returns home. What else can he do? Elena is a stalker, intent on destroying his son with her insane accusations. This time there will be no mitigating circumstances. The post-partum depression argument is a spent force and will not soften a judge’s heart.
Fifty-Five
Henry is in an agony of indecision. He remembers that afternoon at the barbecue. How he shut me down when I appealed to him for help. He has blocked the words we exchanged, believing I had been driven by malice or, even, jealousy. Excuses can be found easily if you search for them as desperately as Henry does. He had seen the flint in his son’s eyes, witnessed his sudden outbursts if he was challenged or questioned. Not that it happens much these days. Unlike his childhood tantrums. They left Henry whey-faced and desperate for a professional opinion as to why their son could shatter his parents with his mood swings and then charm them back with a smile.
Yvonne refused to acknowledge his fears. Small boys were aggressive by nature, she said, and Nicholas was just going through a phase. One he would soon outgrow. Henry must stop being jealous of the attention she gave to their son. Stung by her attitude, afraid that, if they continued to argue, she would leave him and take Nicholas with her, he buried his misgivings. Today, Elena forced him to confront them again, as did Joel’s ear-piercing shrieks, the pitch of his distress sweeping Henry back in time. The only difference was that Elena had pacified her son. Nicholas could never be silenced by soothing arms, yet it seemed that Yvonne always knew best.
Henry had relaxed as his son grew in assurance and self-control. It was easy to dismiss the odd incident. Like the boy in hospital with the fractured arm and the Year Head’s belief that he had been bullied by Nicholas. A lie, as it turned out. What else could it be when the boy had insisted he fell off his bike on his way home from school? Yvonne threatened to bring the Year Head to court for slander and only stopped the proceedings when he resigned. Then there was the incident with the girl, doe-eyed and hungry for Nicholas. Her father had the nerve to accuse Nicholas of rape, which his daughter denied as soon as she realised that she would have to admit in court how she had stalked Nicholas and constantly demanded his attention. Nicholas was right to go abroad afterwards. He needed time to recover from her slanderous accusation. The wealth of experience he gained in China and Hong Kong was invaluable. Henry never admitted, even to himself, that the happiest time of his married life was when his son lived abroad. The knot in his chest – so familiar that he was hardly aware of it – only tightened again when Nicholas returned.