House of Secrets

by Lynda Stacey

  ‘Maddie, you are so out of order,’ he screamed. ‘You do know that, Maddie, don’t you?’

  Madeleine saw red. ‘Me, I’m out of order. How the hell can you say that?’ She looked around for something new to throw. A large soft suitcase came into view; it had been hidden under the bed frame and she pulled it out before throwing it at where he stood. ‘Pack that and get out.’ The case hit him square on the back of his head making him squeal.

  ‘Arrrgghhh. You’d better stop throwing things, Maddie. I’m warning you,’ he shouted as his football boots flew towards him.

  Madeleine glared. ‘Oh, you’re warning me, are you. Wow, Liam, does that make you feel like a big man, warning me? Well, I’m scared, can you see me shaking?’ She didn’t care how much she hurt him any more. She was leaving him anyway and could honestly say that she wouldn’t care if the whole house collapsed on top of him. She noticed a dint in the front door that had been made by one of the golf clubs and cringed. She’d painted that door, used masking tape to protect the glass and had lovingly finished it one day while Liam had been at work.

  ‘Darlin’, you’d better stop, right now. This house isn’t yours, it’s mine and it’s you that has to leave. It’s you that’ll lose it all.’ He looked smug and Madeleine turned to look at the cupboard, wondering whether or not she could possibly throw that down the stairs too. ‘You do know that you’d hurt Poppy, don’t you? You have no money, and it’s her that would suffer. Now, be sensible, you don’t want to make Poppy homeless now, do you? Besides, where would you go? It’s not like you have too many options there, Maddie, is it?’

  She watched as he fidgeted and stepped from one foot to another, a sure sign that he was panicking, trying to think quickly and looking for ways to make her change her mind. But Madeleine had become wise to his tricks, learned his mannerisms and knew when he’d become indecisive.

  ‘Don’t you dare bring my daughter into this. What do you care about Poppy? You’re horrible to her every chance that you get.’ Madeleine leaned against the banister. He was right. This was his house and it was true, Poppy would be homeless, but things had gone too far and his bringing another woman back to the house for sex was the final straw. There was no going back now and no matter what happened next, no matter what he said or how many times he apologised, she couldn’t forgive him.

  ‘I … I do care about Poppy. I bought her Buddy, didn’t I?’ Liam protested.

  ‘You are a lying, nasty piece of work, Liam O’Grady,’ Madeleine screamed. She turned around, her eyes darting around the room and she picked up his mother’s favourite ornate vase. It was ugly, she’d never liked it and without giving it another thought, she threw it over the banister, making him jump with fear as it shattered by his feet.

  ‘You just wait, Maddie. I’m gonna make you regret you did that.’ Liam jumped to his feet and launched himself towards the stairs, just as a pounding noise began on the door behind him.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ Jess screamed as she thrust open the door which had not shut properly after Angelina’s swift exit. She took one look at the carnage and immediately picked up one of the golf clubs and swung it viciously towards where Liam stood. ‘You’d better not have hurt her or so help me, I’ll kill you.’

  Madeleine began to hyperventilate at the thought of what had been about to happen and of what Liam might have done next. She sucked in her breath, her legs were shaky and she felt a sudden wave of nausea pass through her. She was okay. It was over. Jess was here and everything would be okay.

  ‘What, what are you doing here, Jess? I thought you’d gone home to bed?’ she shouted down the stairs to where her sister stood.

  Liam squared up to Jess. ‘Yeah, Jess. What are you doing here?’ He walked over to where she stood and with his nose almost touching her, he glared into her eyes.

  ‘Get away from me.’ Jess took a step back and once again waved the golf club menacingly at him.

  ‘And you’re big enough to use that, are you, little girl?’ His words were a challenge, but Jess didn’t falter. She stood her ground, stared deep into his eyes and held the club in the air.

  ‘You’d better believe it,’ Jess threatened, once again swinging the club in Liam’s direction. ‘Maddie, call nine nine nine, unless your man here is sensible enough to pack some stuff and get out?’

  Liam was furious and glared between Madeleine and her sister. He took deep breaths and thought about his options. He couldn’t win, not today, not after what had happened and knew that if he stayed he might well do something that he would regret forever. He had to leave, had to let Madeleine calm down and then win her over. He knew how to do that. He’d done it before and would do so again but for now he’d take Jess’s advice, pack a few bits and leave. But this wasn’t over. This was far from over and he was determined that he wouldn’t lose Madeleine, not after all he’d gone through to get her in the first place.

  ‘No need for the police,’ he said calmly to Jess, hands up and backing away from her. ‘I’ll go, but this is my house, Maddie. Remember what’s mine is mine, including you.’

  Chapter Four

  ‘Okay, Liam, calm down. I’m packing as fast as I can, but I have nowhere to go,’ Madeleine growled before pulling the phone away from her ear, as the constant and relentless torrent of insults and pleading flooded at her down the handset. She was almost sure that if she placed the handset on the sideboard and walked away for twenty minutes, not only would she still be able to hear his words, but he’d probably still be ranting on when she returned.

  ‘Have you thought about ringing that agent of yours? Surely she’d have some advice, some way of interfering, or isn’t she around any more?’

  ‘Yes, Liam, I know, I have tried to phone Bridget, many times. All I’ve been getting for the past week is her answerphone. Wait a minute, how do you know she isn’t around?’

  He didn’t answer her question but replied, ‘Why don’t you move in with Jess? She seemed to be the one who wanted to come in and save the day.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid. How the hell can I move in with Jess? You know she only has one bedroom. It’s hardly an ideal place for me, my daughter and a puppy to live, is it?’

  ‘Well, you don’t have to leave, do you? You could stop being so pig-headed and we could get back together. No one would have to live anywhere else. I could come home. We could sort things out. We could start again?’ Liam paused and Madeleine knew he was waiting for an answer that didn’t come. ‘How about it, Maddie, darlin’? You and me, what do you say? I love you.’

  Madeleine laughed.

  ‘Come on, Maddie, don’t laugh. It could be special. All of us, me and you, and Poppy, we could be a real family.’ He paused. ‘I know, let’s book a holiday, let’s go abroad, somewhere warm.’ Madeleine had heard everything now. He’d tried so hard to get her back. He’d promised so many times that things would be different. That he’d be nice to Poppy, that they’d all have a home, together. But Madeleine didn’t believe a word that he said, didn’t trust his promises and even if he got on his knees and begged, she’d never, ever allow him near Poppy again.

  ‘Oh, Liam. Only in your wildest dreams would that happen. What part of “I will never ever trust you again” don’t you understand? Besides, I would never take Poppy abroad. She’s far too young.’

  ‘Maddie, darlin’, come on. You have no money. You can’t get hold of Bridget. Think of it as a greater force telling you that we should be together.’

  Madeleine pondered his words and felt a sudden moment of panic. Moving the phone from one ear to the other, she stared at the chaos around her. There was an ever growing pile of packing boxes and bubble wrap which formed expanding mini mountains at the edges of the rear lounge. Right in the middle of the chaos sat the rather lively Buddy who looked up at her, eager for her to put the phone down and play. Picking up one of Poppy’s discarded socks, he shook it and then held it in his mouth, while his chocolate brown tail wafted from side to side in hope and ant
icipation that Madeleine might join in the game.

  Then, in direct contrast, at the opposite end of the room was a less than energetic Poppy, who seemed to have crawled into an empty box and promptly curled up with her teddy bear and blanket for an impromptu mid-afternoon sleep.

  Looking at the chaos that was her life, her temper boiled. ‘You’re a real nasty piece of work, Liam O’Grady. Do you know that? I can’t wait to get as far away from you as possible. Oh, and while we’re at it, don’t you dare call me darlin’. You lost your right to call me that when I caught you shagging your scrawny arsed boss in the hallway of what used to be our home.’

  She took in deep breaths in an attempt to control her temper.

  ‘You want to get away from me, do you? Fine, but you’ll come running. It’ll be you that begs me to take you back. You’ll see. You can’t even support yourself without me. What are you going to do, get movie rights on one of your books, write a best-seller, maybe? You keep saying you can, but we still need to see some proof, don’t we, Maddie, darlin’.’

  The words ‘Maddie, darlin’’ grated and Liam’s crude Irish accent had turned into a loud and deep continuous buzz like the hum of a dentist drill whirring away somewhere in the background of her mind. Madeleine tried to close out the noise, make the whirring go away and preferably push the drill while it was still spinning as far down Liam’s throat as she possibly could. The merciless image in the back of her mind made her snort as a sadistic smile crossed her face.

  ‘Do you know what, Liam? I might just write a best-seller, with or without movie rights, and when I do, don’t you dare come looking for bloody handouts because there won’t be any.’ She paused and took a breath. ‘Did you get that you Irish asshole?’ Madeleine bellowed as she slammed the phone down, and then stamped over to where her daughter had peacefully slept through the entire onslaught.

  Madeleine closed her eyes, wondering what she’d ever done to deserve Liam. He was supposed to have been a new start in her life. He’d promised her a lovely new beginning. Not a nightmare.

  Had any of it been real? Had he cared about her at all? Had it been her fault that he’d needed to have sex with another woman?

  It had been just before last Christmas when she’d literally bumped into Liam outside her flat. She’d stepped out of the gate and had suddenly found herself colliding with him, both landing flat on their backs in the snow. They’d both fallen with the grace of baby orangutans, all arms and legs flying in every direction. His trousers were soaked and she’d invited him in. They’d spent the next two hours with him sitting in her dressing gown while his trousers hung over on an old wooden clothes horse in front of an equally old and dilapidated gas fire.

  The days that followed saw Liam visiting daily. He’d pop in for coffee, then coffee would turn into coffee and lunch and then within a very short space of time, he was there for most of the day making Madeleine question if he had a job. He’d been wonderful when her mother died, caring and comforting and helping her with the arrangements.

  He’d entered her life like a tornado that hadn’t seemed to leave.

  Tears of frustration rolled down her face. She’d been so determined that he wouldn’t upset her. But the situation was impossible: she had no money and needed somewhere to live and somehow she had to find a way to make that happen fast.

  ‘Poppy, come on, baby girl.’ Madeleine carefully lifted the child’s warm body from the floor where she was sleeping. ‘Let’s get you up to your little bed.’

  Poppy stirred. A soft gurgle followed by a snort and then nothing but soft, gentle, repetitive snores. Smiling down at her, Maddie carried her daughter through the hallway and up the stairs, to where the staircase split; she turned right and went up to where the first of the three bedrooms stood.

  She watched as Poppy snuggled into her pillow. Her soft blonde curls fell roughly around her face, her sweetheart lips pursed and her tiny fingers curled to unconsciously grab handfuls of Madeleine’s shoulder length hair, which Maddie carefully managed to release before kissing her daughter’s forehead and leaving her to sleep.

  Madeleine walked back down the stairs. Tutting, she picked up the tea towels that Buddy had amazingly pulled down from the kitchen worktop and had now decided to chew. She flicked them towards the fun filled puppy before throwing them at the laundry basket, where they now belonged.

  ‘Ohhhhhhh, Buddy, like I haven’t got enough to do.’ She wanted to chastise the puppy, but instead knelt down. ‘You’d play all day, wouldn’t you, little man?’ Buddy bounced around, his chocolate brown ears flapping up and down as his whole body sprang around in excitement.

  A knock at the front door made Madeleine jump backwards. She landed amongst the bubble wrap, which popped and cracked as she fell heavily onto her bottom, making Buddy even more excitable that he already was. He bounded up and down the hallway, wagging and yapping in anticipation of the unexpected visitor.

  The hallway sounded empty and hollow. It hadn’t helped taking the curtains she’d bought down from the doorway. She’d paid for them and she didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t take them with her. Liam’s old curtains were in a box somewhere and she was adamant that if he wanted them re-hanging, he could do it himself. Repeated knocking on the front door echoed like a cymbal as Madeleine anxiously tried to catch Buddy who still ran around at speed. She placed him in his day cage before making her way through the maze of boxes that now filled the hallway to the front door.

  ‘Okay, okay, one minute,’ she tried to shout. She had to be just loud enough so that the visitor would hear, but quiet enough not to wake Poppy whose room was at the front of the house.

  She wasn’t expecting visitors and was puzzled. Fluffing up her hair, Madeleine automatically stared at the empty cream wall where her gilt framed mirror used to hang, fully expecting to see her reflection looking back at her before turning the three different keys that Liam had fitted to the front door.

  ‘Jess, oh my goodness, what a surprise.’ Her voice hit a high-pitched squeal as she opened the door and pulled her sister into her hold.

  ‘Thought I’d drop by and give you a hand,’ Jess replied as she marched past Maddie, waving a bag in the air. ‘I brought Poppy’s favourite muffins. Where is she?’

  Madeleine closed the door. ‘You mean you brought your favourite muffins and Poppy is fast asleep, so shush.’

  Maddie turned and followed Jess who had already set off at a fast and determined pace towards the kitchen. ‘I hope the kettle hasn’t been packed, I need coffee,’ she announced as she navigated her way between the boxes.

  ‘No, the kettle is not packed. It belongs to Liam, like most things in this house.’

  The phone rang and Madeleine stopped to answer it.

  ‘Hello, yes, this is Madeleine Frost.’ She paused. ‘Of course not, ask away.’ Again she paused. ‘No, I haven’t seen her. I’ve been trying to call her for over a week.’ Her voice began to shake. ‘Yes, of course. Anything you need.’ Madeleine finished the call and looked up to see Jess’s worried face.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ She grabbed hold of Madeleine’s arm and ushered her towards the kitchen and a chair.

  ‘That … that was the police. It’s Bridget, my agent. She’s gone missing. Jess, I’ve been cursing her. I … I thought she’d gone on holiday without telling me. Do you think she’s okay?’

  Jess shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know, Maddie. Why were the police calling you?’

  ‘Well, they said she’d been reported missing and they’d got my number from her answerphone. I’ve been ringing her repeatedly.’

  Jess put her arm around her sister. ‘I’m sure she’s okay and they’ll find her. Now, we have to sort you out, but first, you look like you need coffee.’ Jess turned and switched on the kettle.

  ‘What am I going to do, Jess? I don’t want to stay, but simply can’t afford to leave.’

  ‘You must go and see your dad. If fact, that’s why I came. I’m going to stay here tonig
ht with Poppy and you, you are going to see your father. If he turns you away, then we’ll go back to plan A and you, Poppy and Buddy will just have to come and live with me. We’d manage somehow.’

  Madeleine shook her head. She knew she couldn’t go to Jess’s but her dad? Could she just turn up on his doorstep and ask him to put a roof over her head?

  With coffee and muffins, she and Jess spent the next hour trying to work out what Maddie would say to her father, where Bridget might have gone, and then finishing packing up all the things that actually belonged to Madeleine.

  Chapter Five

  Madeleine drove through the stone gated entrance, past the gatehouse and up the long and extensive driveway towards the huge gothic building that was Wrea Head Hall. She’d looked the property up on the Internet, but still the sight of it took her breath away as she rounded the corner. It was like an exquisite piece of Victorian history that had been left behind for the twenty-first century to appreciate and admire.

  Parking a little way down the lane, Madeleine walked up the final stretch of the drive and even though the trees had begun to shed their leaves, she used them as camouflage, wanting to take in the full beauty of the house for just a few private moments before walking through the doors.

  Tawny lamplight twinkled through the many panes of glass that created the huge Victorian windows. An arched stone church-like doorway stood in the centre of the windows, with its impressive solid oak door. She looked up to where turrets lined the roof and from where carved stone gargoyles could be spotted as they peered down to where she stood.

  Madeleine began to shake. The thought of meeting her father made her mouth dry and her apprehension began to build as a slight and irritating feeling of nausea took over. He was somewhere in that house. The man whose knee she had sat on as a child, played games with and cuddled up to. But then it occurred to her that he might not be home at all. What if he’d taken a holiday, a trip abroad or, even worse, what if he’d sold the hotel and moved on?