Riley looked like me. The hair he had gotten from me, definitely. It wasn’t that Riley had my hair, more than that was the fact that he looked nothing like Russell.
Niall was a smart man, if he found out, who knew what his reaction would be? I imagined anger which was understandable, but what if he took it to the next level and decided the child, legally was his? I wouldn’t stand a chance against him in court. He would completely ruin me as well as take my son. The risk was far too high.
“No,” I said. His eyebrows went up.
“No?”
“No. I mean, I can't let you do that. It's not a good idea. My son has been ill lately, so I don't think it's a good idea to have you in the house.”
“Oh, poor thing. I hope he feels better.”
The boy was fine. If Niall did end up going into the house, Riley would be thrilled at the prospect of having a houseguest. He wouldn’t leave him alone, giving Niall plenty of time to deduce that there was no way he was Russell’s son. How would Niall react to me sending him back into the town and asking him to try and get a room at the little inn?
“How about this,” I said, thinking on my feet. “There's a little cottage on the property not far from here. It used to be the caretaker's cottage but we haven't had anyone there for a little while. It's heated and it's comfortable though, so you could spend the night there.” I watched his face, nervous for his reaction.
He nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, sure. No problem at all. Where is it?”
To get there, we had to go through the rain. I went over to the door of the shed and threw it open. The rain has gotten even harder if that was possible. We would be soaked by the time we got to the cottage. It wasn't far, a little less than fifty feet away, but in the rain, we would be wringing our clothes out by the time we got there.
“Are you sure you don't want to wait here and see if the rain lets up a little bit first?” Niall asked.
“What? Are you afraid to get a little wet?” I asked him.
He smirked at me. “Come on, let's go.”
We sprinted through the rain, doing our best not to fall over, slipping on the mud towards the cottage. We were both laughing by the time we got there.
“I asked to stay here so that I could stay out of the rain,” Niall said.
“Well,” I said rifling through the potted plant next to the door for the key to the cottage. “That's what you got for popping up unannounced.”
He laughed and nodded his head. “I suppose I deserve that.”
I got the door open and we walked inside. The air smelled stale and it was cold. Nobody has been inside for a long time. The last time it was lived in was several years ago since the maintenance of the grounds had been the first to go when finances got tight. There were white sheets thrown over the furniture to prevent too much dust from accumulating. It would have gotten sold along with all the other non-essential stuff I had already flogged but buyers weren’t interested since the pieces were so old. I tried the lights and thankfully they were still functional. I turned on the heat and the radiator rumbled into life.
“Here we go,” I said trying to sound bright. It was a small cottage, but it was definitely liveable. There was a sitting room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom. Plenty of room for one person, for one night, but Niall had definitely seen grander accommodations than this. He was probably just being polite about being okay with staying here. It was either this, or sleep in one of our spare rooms on the floor. “Sorry if the place is a little dusty.”
“That's alright,” Niall said. I was glad that he was sparing my ego, even though it was a little bit humiliating. I pulled the white sheets off of the furniture and bundled them up in my arms. The cloud of dust that I upset tickled the back of my throat. I fought back the urge to sneeze, sniffing.
“Why don't you get comfortable? I'll run up to the house and get you some sheets and some food.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked
“No. No just stay here,” I said. He looked a little puzzled by how short I was being with him, but I could not have him in the house. It was better this way, even though this way was far more tedious and a hundred times more wet.
“Are you sure you want to go back out in that downpour?”
“At this point, I don't even think I can get much wetter than this.”
I didn't even hurry on the way back to the house. I was not looking forward to making the trip back with the sheets and the food that I had promised. This was what I got for keeping the secrets of my finances and paternity of my son from him. This was not supposed to be happening. Niall was not supposed to be on my property. I had already told him that he could stay so it was no use brainstorming ways to get him to leave. Perfect. Now what? I let myself back into the house, dripping. Prue, thankfully was waiting
