Read 12 The Family Way for Free Online

that wrote it and sensing her fear. I certainly wasn’t just going to discard it or send it back to Ireland, that was for sure. Presumably I’d have to hand it over to Daniel and ask him to find another investigator to look into the disappearance of Maureen O’Byrne. Then my feisty nature resurfaced. The way Daniel had treated me, it would serve him right if I went behind his back and did the investigating myself.
    A glance at the kitchen clock on the wall told me that I should think about preparing my husband’s evening meal.
    “He can go to hell first,” I said out loud. I’d not prepare anything for him tonight. He could come home to a bare table and fare for himself. That might remind him what life without a wife was like and how lucky he was to have me. Then those words “go to hell” echoed around my head. Be careful of what you wish for. One of my mother’s other favorite sayings. Daniel lived close to hell every day. I never knew when he might be dealing with a ruthless gang or a violent criminal, or when I’d open the door to find a policeman standing on my doorstep with bad news. I felt tears stinging in my eyes. I should not have said such a terrible thing, even if I didn’t really mean it. After all he was just behaving like any other man, wasn’t he? Most women in the world were treated by their spouse like helpless, simple creatures who needed guiding and protecting—and chastising when they did something wrong. It was rather like being a pet dog.
    Grudgingly I washed lettuce and radishes and put out a pork chop ready to fry. The sun sank lower through my kitchen window until it disappeared behind the silhouettes of tall buildings to the west. I ate my own light supper. Night fell and still he didn’t come. I tried to read by the gaslight. Finally when the clock struck ten I went up and prepared for bed. But I couldn’t begin to sleep. My mind was racing with terrible thoughts. I had made him angry and because of this he wasn’t as vigilant as usual. I got up again and started to pace, going to the front window to peer down at Patchin Place, my ears straining for the sound of feet on the cobbles.
    When I saw a constable coming my heart nearly leaped from my throat, but it was only our usual constable on his nightly rounds and I heard his heavy boots die away into the rumble and roar of the distant city.
    I sat in bed hugging my knees. “Don’t let him die,” I prayed. Images of myself trying to raise a fatherless child hovered in my brain. I heard a distant clock striking midnight and the city sounds fell silent one by one until all I could hear through the open window was a baby crying and a pair of tomcats yowling at each other on a distant rooftop.
    Then suddenly I heard the sound of an automobile. A door slammed. Imperious feet came closer and the front door opened. I was out of bed in a shot.
    “There you are at last,” I said as I appeared at the top of the stairs.
    He looked up at me. “What are you doing awake? You didn’t wait up for me, I hope?”
    “I was worried sick.”
    “But you never know what time I’m coming in,” he said. “As it happened I finished working late and went for a bite with a friend.”
    The worry and anger exploded together. “A bite with a friend?” I stomped down the rest of the stairs until I was facing him. “While your wife worries about you and pictures you lying dead in a gutter? It’s quite clear that you don’t care about my feelings at all.”
    He stepped back, clearly not expecting this onslaught. “Steady on, Molly. You know I don’t keep regular hours. I didn’t leave my office until after ten and I didn’t think you’d be up that late to cook for me.”
    “I had your meal all ready and waiting,” I said, but even as I said it I decided that I sounded rather pitiful. “And you’re lucky I went to the trouble,” I said, “after the humiliating way you treated me this afternoon. I was absolutely furious, Daniel.”
    “I