Close to the Cradle: A Thriller by Nova Lee Maier

Author:Nova Lee Maier [Maier, Nova Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542044363
Published: 2019-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Didi was sitting half upright in the bed in the living room. The visitors were gone. Oscar’s sister had finally come to see Indy, and a couple of old school friends she’d seen less of since marrying Oscar had dropped by. It was quiet now; she wasn’t expecting anyone else for the rest of the day. Outside, the wind was chasing the autumn leaves through the streets. Across the road, a family came out of their house. They were in high spirits, laughing and talking. A brown dog was frolicking around them. The father folded up a stroller and put it in the trunk of the car while his wife strapped their child into a car seat. Didi felt a slight pang of jealousy. One day, would she, Oscar, and Indy be a happy family just like them and go for walks in the woods on Sundays? In the future, when Indy was a bit bigger, and she could walk normally again—and Oscar started acting normally again?

His behavior was still distant and slightly strange. Last night, after returning from the tennis club, he’d taken a shower and avoided her, hardly saying a word. He’d changed and fed Indy, but to Didi it had all looked mechanical. As if he’d been on autopilot. And now he sat reading the newspaper while the maternity nurse hummed and ironed his shirts. He said nothing. He did nothing. He was present only in body, and barely even that.

The whole situation was starting to get to her.

“Tea?” asked Hennequin.

Didi looked up. “No, thanks. I can’t face any more tea.” She was dying for a glass of wine. Or preferably something stronger, and in large quantities. Shots of Stroh Rum. One after the other, bottoms up! She would love nothing more than to get drunk. Perhaps it would make her feel better, more carefree and less glum, and she could briefly forget that even though walking had been a little easier since this morning, it was still extremely painful, and she still wasn’t sure if she would ever fully recover.

She didn’t do it. She didn’t ask for a glass of wine.

She was due to pump again soon, and if any alcohol got into her milk, that wouldn’t be good for Indy.

She stared out the window. On second thought, perhaps expressing milk wasn’t such a good idea after all. She was the one who’d carried a baby for nine months and had to give up all sorts of treats—carpaccio, her favorite French raw milk cheeses, alcohol—and now, once again, it was she who had to deny herself everything. While Oscar could do as he pleased.

Tomorrow he would go back to work, every day, but only till three o’clock, so that he could take over from Hennequin in the afternoon. Didi would have preferred to apply for home care, but Hennequin had advised her to hold off for a while. She thought it was premature to submit the application right now, as she was sure that Didi would soon be able to manage on her own.

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