with? Olive is definitely angry with him over something. And from what I can gather, Olive was Vicky’s closest friend, so if anyone knows, she does.
‘I couldn’t put my finger on it,’ Maggie says, her words slower, her voice lower, ‘but I always knew there was something about that girl, something I didn’t trust.’
Helen nods in agreement.
‘I thought you liked her?’ I said, thinking of all the tears shed, the condolences offered; Maggie dabbing her eyes with her cotton handkerchief when the coffin passed her by.
Taking a deep breath, Maggie straightens herself in the chair and ponders before saying, ‘It’s not that I didn’t like her… I didn’t really know her that well, never spoke to her outside of the few times I was in the pub.’
Helen is still nodding when Conor arrives in the room, rattling his keys.
‘Is Shay alright?’ I say.
‘Fast asleep.’ Conor winks at me. ‘Okay ladies, time to hit the road.’
* * *
Shay is still asleep when I walk into the bedroom. The big cosy bed calls out from the centre of the room, with its duck-feather duvet and puffed up pillows all wrapped in soft silky satin. The idea of watching TV no longer appeals to me so I take my book from the bedside locker and lie on top of the duvet waiting for Conor to return from dropping his mam home.
A part of me feels smug. Maggie was drunk, she tried to start an argument with Conor. She slurred her words and almost tripped down the stone steps outside the front door. She will probably feel very uncomfortable the next time she sees me. But the truth is, now I like her more. She’s not perfect either.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘I didn’t notice anything.’
‘Well, it was pretty obvious.’
Conor is denying seeing Olive purposely avoid shaking Noel’s hand. I asked him as soon as he came up to the bedroom. I don’t want to come straight out and suggest that maybe Noel was the person Vicky was having the affair with. Conor can be very defensive when someone he cares about is being bad-mouthed. It’s something I really like about him; he’s loyal to the end. He even defends Pat anytime Maggie slags him off.
‘Do you know of any reason she might be angry with him?’ I ask.
‘No,’ Conor says.
With one arm against the wall, Conor leans over the crib, staring at his son. He just can’t seem to get enough of him. The room is getting darker so I switch on the bedside light. I want to get a clearer picture. Seeing how happy he is with Shay fills me with pride. It also makes me feel safe. We’re a real family now, solid… I hope.
‘They always got on well as far as I could tell,’ he says.
Olive is Conor’s right hand when it comes to the business. She’s been his personal assistant since he took over from his dad. It must have been very difficult for Olive when they split up, going into the office every day, facing the man of her dreams who had handed her dream to another woman. I doubt it was a picnic for Conor either, even though he was the one who broke up the relationship. When we first started dating, I didn’t know he already had a girlfriend. He kept that one quiet. Only coming clean when we started getting serious. The kind of serious you get when you find out you’re pregnant.
Moving away from the crib, Conor slides onto the bed beside me and kisses my cheek. His arm reaches behind my back, pulling me closer to him. The woody scent of his aftershave kills the smell of Sudocrem in the air. Conor puts his lips on mine, caresses my tongue, pulls me tighter. If he’s thinking what I think he’s thinking, he can think again.
‘Conor.’ I pull back slightly and look into his dark green eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’ I don’t want to disappoint him, I want to make love to him, to hold him, to be one again with him, but it’s too soon.
Conor smiles. ‘I just want to hold you, Laura. I love you.’ Snuggling into his embrace, I think about how lucky I am. The Caldwell family, all huddled together in the one room. How could I have doubted this man? He would never lie to me. But something shifts in my head. A fear determined to keep me on edge. Conor kept me a secret from Olive for a few weeks, lived one life