Chapter 35 #2
She didn’t acquiesce to that quite so readily. ‘But I don’t want to stay down in the village. I want to be here with you. And with Alex. I like her. And I think… I think we need to look after her, Daddy. The house doesn’t like her half as much as we do. Daisy said…’
She trailed off and Nick realised that too many times when she tried to tell him something Margaret de Wilde had told her, he had changed the subject or told her not to tell tales.
This time he set her down on the bench in the hallway and looked into her face.
Bright eyes stared back at him. Sally’s eyes, blue as the summer sky.
‘What did Daisy say?’
Maeve chewed on her lower lip for a moment. ‘That the dark man wants her. That he’ll use you to get her. I told her no, that you wouldn’t let the dark man hurt anyone. And she said I was…’ she frowned, her mouth twisting around the unfamiliar word… ‘an im-be-cile. I told her that wasn’t nice.’
Nick took a careful breath in, let it out. Stay calm, he warned himself. This is Maeve. Not Daisy. Because if he ever did manage to get his hands on Daisy… ‘You’re right. It’s not nice. And not a word to use about anyone, okay?’
She nodded solemnly. ‘She said you kissed Alex.’
Oh. Shit.
It was like a punch to the solar plexus, driving all the air from his lungs. What did he say to that? How did he answer her?
‘Did that make you feel bad?’ he asked as carefully as he could.
Maeve looked away, squirming a little with obvious embarrassment. ‘Not… not bad. I like her. She’s nice. She talks to me like I’m not a baby. And if you like her… Granny says you’re lonely.’
Damn it, Patricia.
‘Did Granny say that to you?’
‘No, to Mr and Mrs O’Sullivan, and the cleaner, and Doreen in the surgery.’
Great. The whole village was now talking about how sad and lonely he was.
And probably about Alex as well. There was nothing a small community loved more than a bit of gossip and who better to provide it?
Just what they needed. Ghosts and the living, all speculating about the two of them and watching their every move. Perfect.
But right now, he needed to answer his daughter. And he needed to be honest. ‘I do like her. Very much. But I don’t know if she wants to stay here. And I don’t know if she likes me in the same way.’
Maeve frowned, shifted around a bit as if uncomfortable, and then seemed to reach a decision. ‘The dark man wants her. Like he wanted Mummy.’ A chill swept down his spine and the breath caught in his chest like it was snagged on a hook.
‘What dark man, love?’
She screwed up her face as she always did when she thought he was being stupid on purpose. ‘Rose and Daisy told me. The dark man. You know, the one outside Alex’s bedroom. In the picture?’
The picture. The one he’d promised Alex he’d take down. Damn it, he’d forgotten. Like something else had tugged the thought from his mind. Blaise Chambers.
And then the other words snagged on the thorns of his scattered mind. Like he wanted Mummy…
‘What does he have to do with Mummy?’
Maeve’s eyes suddenly brimmed with tears. ‘He took her away from us. And he’s… he gobbling her up, like the wolf in the “Three Little Pigs”. Soon there’ll be nothing left. That’s what Rose said.’
Bloody Rose—
‘That’s not true, love. Mummy’s—’ How did he explain any of this to her? ‘Mummy’s in heaven.’
Maeve looked at him like he was the child. She chewed on her nails and then shook her head rapidly. ‘No, she isn’t. She’s here. She can’t leave. You know that, Daddy. I know you do. You talk to her as well.’
The door behind them opened and Patricia came out, calmer now, quieter. She fixed Maeve with a stern look.
What timing. He needed to ask his daughter about what had happened to her, about Rose and Daisy, about Chambers, but he couldn’t say a word of that in front of Patricia. Not now.
‘Well, little rabbit, do you have something to say?’
Maeve’s face fell. ‘I’m sorry, Granny. But I just wanted—’ She looked helplessly at Nick, who reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. ‘I’m sorry I ran away.’
Patricia nodded solemnly. ‘Apology accepted. Go on out to the car. I’ll be out in a minute to take you home.’
Maeve’s face fell and her grip tightened on Nick’s hand. ‘But I wanted—’
‘It’s a school night, pet,’ he said. Besides, the house was active, and the ghosts she had always thought of as friends were hardly acting that way. More like snide little bullies. If there was a way to teach them a lesson he would find it. Or maybe Sally would.
Which was another question – where was Sally and how could she let this happen to her daughter? It made no sense. He had always believed the spirit of his wife protected Maeve when she was here.
Given all that had happened during the last few days, was that protection slipping? Because of him? Because of Alex?
Better that Maeve wasn’t here, he decided, and met Patricia’s questioning gaze with a solemn nod.
‘Back you go with Granny, love,’ he murmured. ‘But first you can go and find some of the biscuits I made earlier to take with you. They’re in the kitchen.’
She trailed off dejectedly, not even the promise of biscuits enough right now. Not really.
‘She’ll be fine, Nick. And I’ll keep a better eye on her, I promise.’
He smiled even if he didn’t feel like it. ‘I know you will. Thank you. For everything. I don’t say that enough.’
‘You don’t have to.’
She gave him a hug which took him completely by surprise. He closed his eyes, leaning into the maternal gesture. Patricia, for all her austerity, was always there for him.
She said a cordial goodbye to Alex and he walked her down to the kitchen. There was no sign of Maeve so they went out to the car. Still no sign.
A tingle of alarm went through him.
Patricia sighed, annoyance creeping back in. ‘Where’s she taken off to now? She really doesn’t want to go home, does she?’
Because it wasn’t her home, he thought. This was. It always had been. But he couldn’t say that to Patricia, who had opened her heart to his little girl. He hadn’t been able to cope after the loss of his wife and his friend, and Patricia had been the one to step in.
‘We’ll find her. She probably just got distracted and wandered off somewhere.’
‘Or those so-called friends of hers lured her off,’ Patricia muttered and he was inclined to agree with that tone.
Yes, he definitely had to find some way to deal with them.
This couldn’t go on. Alex would know a way, wouldn’t she?
Or those friends of hers would. Some kind of way to bind them or send them on their way, to make them leave his daughter alone for once and for all.
‘You check the gardens and I’ll check the house.’ But as he turned back to the door, it slammed in his face. He grabbed the handle, yanking hard, but it wasn’t budging, stuck fast.
Wildewood Hall had just shut him out.