10. Iris #2
‘Oh. Um, no. Whatever you’re having?’
Eva passes me my coffee, and we sit down in the living room. The boys are playing with a Mario car track that I know Billy will beg me to buy him the moment we leave.
I take a steadying breath realising my next question could make or break this friendship before it even starts.
‘So, the reason I came by—’ I say, before Eva cuts me off.
‘Hey Arch, go and show Billy your room.’
The boys jump up and run down the hallway, giggling along the way. Once they’re out of earshot, I continue.
‘I mentioned before I was worried about you after last night. I thought your husband was maybe a bit, um, I don’t know, like rough with you.’
‘Oh no, he’s just competitive. Looked worse than it was.’
I nod, thinking of how many times you hear about women making excuses for their husbands. But I’m not close enough to Eva to press and I don’t have much to go on.
‘Okay, good. And hey, let me give you my number in case you ever need to call or to arrange a playdate without me arriving unannounced.’
I hand Eva my phone and she puts in her number. I hit dial so she has mine too.
We get up to go in search of the boys and find them in what looks like a study.
Not like any study I’ve seen before though.
A bookcase lines one office wall, filled with an expensive encyclopaedia set and hundreds of paperbacks.
There’s a bar cart on the other side of the room topped with a crystal whiskey decanter and crystal glasses.
In the centre of the room sits a large mahogany desk with a laptop computer, lamp and a stack of papers.
Fancy. And definitely not somewhere the kids should be playing.
Eva clearly agrees because she shrieks Archie’s name.
‘Get out! You know you’re not supposed to come in here.’
Both boys are red faced and wide eyed. Billy looks like he might burst into tears. We don’t yell much at our house so this is a shock and to be honest kind of unwarranted. They aren’t in immediate danger and they haven’t broken anything.
Archie runs from the room. I walk over to Billy who’s cowering behind the desk and he wraps his arms around me.
‘Sorry,’ Eva says. ‘Matteas is very strict about his office.’
She walks back down the hall in search of Archie.
Billy lets go of me and my eye catches something under the desk.
It’s a little piece of paper, which seems very out of place given the immaculate state of the rest of the room. I pick it up. It’s not paper. It’s a polaroid. A photo of a young girl. Maybe fifteen-sixteen years old. She has red hair, freckles and a frightened expression.
And I recognise her immediately.
I slip the photo in my pocket and hurry Billy out of the room.
I find Eva consoling a crying Archie in the kitchen. His face breaks into a wide grin when he sees Billy and whatever had been bothering him, presumably being yelled at, is forgotten and the boys run off to play.
My stomach is swirling with worry and anticipation. Why does Eva’s husband have a photo of a missing girl in his office?
I inhale slowly, my breath shaky. There’s one way to find out.
‘Hey, I found this on the floor of the study.’ I hold out the polaroid and try to gauge her reaction.
Her eyes widen and she snatches it from me. She says nothing.
‘Do you know who that is in the photo?’ I ask.
She looks at the photo then clears her throat. ‘Uh, no. Should I?’
Her face is giving nothing away but there is a waver in her voice.
‘The girl in that photo is a missing girl. She’s been all over the news. Her name’s Carly.’
Eva glances at the photo again and puts a hand to her mouth.
She swallows loudly and looks back at me, tears in her eyes. ‘That must be a mistake.’
I shrug. ‘What does your husband do for work?’
Eva’s hands are shaking now and I take a seat at the dining room table, hoping she’ll follow suit before she passes out or something.
She sits opposite me, still gripping the polaroid.
She shakes her head. ‘I-I don’t really know.’
My brow furrows. What kind of person doesn’t know what their spouse does for work? What do they talk about at the end of each day?
‘How is that possible?’ I ask, trying to keep my tone gentle despite my disbelief.
She hesitates before answering. ‘Um, well. Matteas is very private about that stuff.’
‘How long have you been together?’
Eva drops her face into her hands and her shoulders start shaking. A ripple of guilt rushes through me knowing I’m the one that’s stirred this up, but at the same time, this whole situation is odd. Matteas has a photo of a missing girl, and his wife has no idea what he does for work.
I slide my chair closer to hers and place a comforting hand on her back. Rubbing gentle circles I say, ‘It’s okay. You can talk to me.’
After a moment, Eva lifts her head. Mascara runs down her cheeks and I find her a clean tissue from my pocket. She dabs at her tears and blows her nose, and even messy like this, she is still beautiful.
She takes a long breath. ‘I was twenty-two and fresh out of nursing school when I met Matteas. My friend dragged me along to a pretentious, over-priced rooftop bar in Melbourne’s CBD and there he was.
He sat at the bar in an expensive suit, trimmed stubble around his chin, looking so handsome.
When he offered to buy me a drink, I was smitten.
’ She shakes her head. ‘This all sounds stupid now. He was thirty-four and had his shit together and to a broke student like me, that was irresistible. A year later we were married.’
‘None of it is stupid,’ I say, hoping to make her feel comfortable and encourage her to keep sharing. ‘So, you’re a nurse?’
Sadness washes over Eva’s face and she frowns. ‘No. I never ended up getting a job. Matteas told me I didn’t need one if I was with him. That had seemed like a dream at the time. Who doesn’t want to be a lady of leisure? A stay-at-home mum? But it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.’
I take her hand and squeeze it. ‘I understand. It’s hard to give that part of yourself up.’
I can totally relate. Not ending up in the job you dreamed of having is a different type of mourning. I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything but not a day goes by where I don’t think about what my life would’ve been like if I’d been braver, made different choices, and gone back on the road.
‘Have things been hard between you? It’s always the way when you have young kids.’
Eva sighs and glances behind her to the hallway, where the kids are quietly playing. ‘I lost a baby before Archie. Quite late in the pregnancy and Matteas didn’t take it very well. It was as if I’d failed at the one job I did have, and then things were different between us.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ I say. I desperately want to pull her in for a hug but I just keep holding her hand, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. I know the weight of a loss like that and to lose a baby late and not be supported must have been heartbreaking. ‘Did things change when you had Archie?’
Eva pulls her hand away and straightens up. For a moment she looks panicked and I worry I’ve said the wrong thing. But then her shoulders sag.
‘In some ways, yes.’
I wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn’t.
‘And all this time, you’ve never known what Matteas does?’
‘When I met him, he was in transport and logistics but never went into a lot of detail. He doesn’t really talk about his day. In fact, we don’t talk much at all. He’s hardly home.’
Poor Eva and Archie. From the outside, things probably seem perfect with their huge house, luxury cars and fancy clothes but what’s happening inside is awful.
‘Are you happy, Eva?’ I ask, placing a hand on her arm, hoping she knows she can trust me, that I’m here for her.
Tears fill her eyes again and she blinks them away.
‘I have Archie and everything I need. I’m fine.’
It doesn’t escape me that she doesn’t answer my question but I leave it.
I drop my voice lower. ‘Eva, are the bruises from your husband?’
She bites her lip and nods, a tiny movement. ‘But it was an accident. He didn’t mean it.’
My whole body ignites with anger at this admission. I can’t stand men who abuse their wives, preying on the vulnerable. I wish we could put them, along with the kidnappers and child traffickers, into a giant pit, and burn them all to hell.
‘Let me help you,’ I say, my eyes pleading with her. ‘I’ve got contacts. Did you want me to do a little digging into what Matteas is doing.’
Eva grabs my wrist, eyes wide. ‘Please don’t.’ Her voice is desperate. ‘Just forget this conversation.’
‘My husband could—’
‘Please stop,’ she says, her face pleading.
A loud thump comes from down the hallway and a small voice says, ‘Uh, oh.’
I take it as my cue to get Billy organised and leave.