The Visitors by Miranda Rijks

Author:Miranda Rijks [Miranda Rijks]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2020-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

I walk into Daniel’s study. He has polished off the best part of a bottle of red wine and is holding a wine glass.

Daniel talks before I even open my mouth. ‘Don’t, Hannah.’

‘Don’t what?’

‘Have a go at me. He was lucky I didn’t slam his brains out.’

I gasp. I have seen Daniel lose his temper, but I’ve never thought he was capable of physical violence. He shouts, he swears, and a few years ago he broke a plate in anger, but he’s never hurt anyone.

‘It was all a show,’ he says.

‘Are you telling me that I imagined you pushing him over?’

‘The shove I gave him was insufficient to make him fall. He was playing to the crowd.’

‘It’s your son’s birthday!’ I exclaim. ‘You left before we could give him our presents together this morning, and you were late for his party.’

‘For God’s sake, Hannah. Leave me alone!’

And so I do. I turn around and storm out of his study.

After my parents have left, Daniel reappears and sits with Joel whilst he opens the rest of his presents. It isn’t until much later, when darkness is falling, that I have time to sit and think. I pour myself a glass of white wine and perch on the bench outside. Although he is in the house, I feel the most estranged from Daniel that I ever have, yet I don’t fully understand why. Of course, Mike and Nadia have caused tension, but it’s not as if all was rosy before they arrived. We have been spending less and less time together, just coasting along with our separate lives that converge from time to time, normally regarding decisions about, or activities with, the children. We need to talk. Really talk. But tonight isn’t the night. And then my thoughts are interrupted by deafening, thumping, heavy music coming from the barn.

‘Shit,’ I murmur to myself. Not only are they still here, but they’re doing everything they can to wind us up. A moment later, Daniel comes storming out.

‘The bastards!’ he says.

‘Hey.’ I try to grab his hand, but he pulls it away.

Daniel stands on the edge of the terrace and shouts, ‘Shut the fuck up!’ His voice carries, and I imagine it echoing across the hills and winding along the rivers until it dissipates above the sea one hundred miles away. ‘I’m going over there!’ he says, his chin pushed forwards and hands on his hips.

‘No, please don’t, Daniel. It’ll only make a terrible situation worse. Remember that they are threatening to sue us for his broken ankle, and now he’ll claim you pushed him. If you go over there and end up in a fight, you’ll be playing into their hands.’

‘You always twist things so that it’s my fault, Hannah. If you hadn’t invited them into our home, then we wouldn’t be in this untenable situation.’

‘I didn’t…’ But I let my words fade away. There is no point in getting into another argument with my husband. He has drunk well over a bottle of wine and is in no mood to be rational.

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