Chapter 34
‘How was your evening?’ I ask as Oliver climbs into bed behind the pillow wall.
When I got home from work, I found a note he’d left saying he was going to bathe Alfie and read him a bedtime story. At the bottom, he’d underlined the words, I will be back for our bed-sharing, so don’t fall asleep. His note had given me a burst of much-needed happiness.
‘It was okay,’ he says, with an optimistic tone to his voice. ‘Rory was home. It was a little awkward, but after, I avoided going into town and went to play Xbox at Jamie’s flat.’ He laughs. ‘I took out all my frustration on the aliens in Jamie’s new game.’
‘How was Alfie?’
Oliver chuckles. ‘He always makes me laugh. It’s nice to be back doing baths and bedtime.’
That’s odd – why did he use the words ‘be back’?
I’m about to question him when he answers for me. ‘Molly banned me the other week from seeing Alfie. It was after I’d argued with Rory in a pub and he punched me on the nose.’
‘I see. Did Rory start the fight?’
He shakes his head. ‘Rory made a comment about how he picks up Alfie from nursery. It made me cross. I tried to punch him, but I missed. He tried to calm me down, so I went in for another punch. Rory blocked it and gave me a whack to the nose.’
‘Oh…’
‘Molly had every right to ban me from seeing Alfie. Fighting has never been one of my strengths, Nelly.’
‘Perhaps you should stick to things you are good at.’
He pauses. ‘Then, later in a club, I decided to go home with his sister.’
We both go silent. The thought of Oliver getting intimate with Rory’s sister makes me feel uncomfortable. I turn away from the pillow wall and face the opposite side.
‘I didn’t sleep with her. I stopped myself just in time. It was a stupid revenge tactic.’
His words send my stomach on a nauseating spin. I remind myself that just because Oliver and I share a bed, it doesn’t mean he can’t still sleep with other women.
‘It wouldn’t have been right to sleep with her just because I was angry at Rory and Molly for not letting me see Alfie.’
Another silence follows. I think about what he’s told me. At least he could see it was wrong and he stopped himself. In a lot of my visions, I rarely see such restraint when it comes to affairs of the heart.
‘Nelly? Are you asleep over there?’
‘No,’ I say in a quiet voice.
‘I didn’t fancy her. Rory’s sister.’
I rearrange my pillow and turn away from the wall.
‘I’ve apologised to her since then,’ he says, making me lift my head from my pillow and look over in the direction of the wall. ‘She has accepted my apology.’
He’s taken responsibility for the pain he’s caused. ‘That’s good, Oliver,’ I say softly.
We both go silent for ages. Just as I think he’s fallen asleep, he says, ‘Nelly, I’ve been thinking again about all the people who once lived in this house.’
‘I am warning you. It’s addictive.’
I hear him pat his pillow. ‘I am imagining a romance between a footman and a maid years ago.’
‘Are you switching genres?’
He chuckles. ‘This is an exclusive. Don’t tell my agent.’
‘Do you have names for your footman and maid characters?’
He pauses for a few moments. ‘John and Mary. John’s new to the house. He carries coal up three flights of stairs to see Mary, the maid who has caught his eye.’
I smile. ‘Naturally.’
‘This footman is not supposed to talk to her, so he invents reasons – polishing the same banister twice, lingering by the scullery door.’ His voice softens. ‘She’s quiet. She acts like she’s invisible, but he sees her.’
I can’t lie – he knows how to put together a good romance story. A silence descends on both of us. My heart is beating so loud, I’m surprised he can’t hear it.
‘And him?’ My voice is almost a whisper.
‘John’s been through a lot in his life. He’s always kept his distance from women and is focused on his work, but Mary is different.’
‘Why is she different?’
He pauses before saying, ‘Mary has a smile like the dawn breaking over a grey and tired world. It doesn’t just brighten his day. Her smile lifts the weight off his shoulders. Even the endless chores seem bearable after he’s witnessed it.’
I reach out and run my hand over the pillow wall. This man is doing things to me. He’s making my body light up like a row of twinkly lights.
‘One night, there’s a storm and a leaking roof. The great house becomes chaotic. She slips on the stairs, and he catches her.’
A warm, excited feeling is engulfing my body.
He continues. ‘Mary has soot on her cheek, which he tenderly wipes with his thumb. She always looks frightened in front of the other staff, but on the stairs with him, she stares with such intensity it’s as though she’s looking inside him.
In a moment of madness, he asks her to meet him at midnight in the garden. ’
I gasp. ‘Does she meet him?’
‘You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.’ He laughs, and I fling one of my pillows over the wall at him.
‘That’s not fair, Oliver.’
‘I thought you didn’t like romance stories, Nelly?’
I stare at the pillow wall as words jostle on the tip of my tongue.
He starts to clap. ‘I’m going to convert you to romantic fiction, Nelly.’
‘Careful,’ I say, which makes him laugh.