Chapter 11

Introduced by friends, Rory had immediately liked Nina. Her wry sense of humour and that laugh. Such a joyous sound. From the start his aim was to hear it as often as possible. That wasn't straightforward, though. The object of his affection had an armour to penetrate before a real connection could be made.

Over a series of dates, Rory chipped away at Nina's hard outer shell. With each breakthrough, he liked her even more. The story of her childhood, prised out of her over many weeks, was telling. Nina protested that it was not a problem and that she was perfectly fine. He thought otherwise.

Nina's mother, Louise, was a glamorous, frivolous person. Her father had never been around. Nina had taken responsibility for her own, and her parent's, welfare from a young age. Louise would forget to shop for food, could barely cook, and, from the stories Rory heard, seemed to find having a child an inconvenience at times.

It was all about fun for Louise. A party, meeting up with friends, going for a meal, and then there were the numerous dates. A parade of men moved through the inner city flat where they lived. Luckily, they had all been fairly decent types and Nina had come to no harm. Their presence, however, took her mother's attention and that was bad.

Grudging and protective at first, Nina had gradually come to admit that Louise had not been a good mother. Clinging onto the times when they had dressed up, danced and had fun, the negative aspects had been ignored. There had been many tears after the realisation, as Nina accepted Louise's faults.

Rory had promised that, whilst he loved to be spontaneous and have fun, he could do the responsible bit, too. The load that she had borne alone would be shared. Money, decisions, and housework. As the weight was lifted, everything became easier and Nina could finally begin to unwind and live.

When Rory met Louise, he could see exactly what she was like. Nina had been kind describing her as fun loving and a bit irresponsible. In reality, she was selfish and vain. He didn't dislike her, but wouldn't have wanted her as a parent. Seeing how exasperated Nina became in her presence, he was relieved that she lived abroad.

Their wedding had been great. Louise had been the only irritation in a lovely day. Swishing about in a white outfit, drinking too much and then weeping uncontrollably. He and Nina had agreed beforehand that they would ignore any shenanigans. In the absence of attention Louise had gone home early.

Now they were on a new adventure. The move to his home town had not been favourably viewed by Nina. Convinced that it was right for them, Rory had persuaded and cajoled her until a grudging acceptance had been achieved. Already, her mood had improved as she found out that it was not so bad after all.

He should have told her about the house having once been owned by the Phillips family. Nina's reluctance about the move had meant that he didn't want to rock the boat when she found a house she liked. It shouldn't affect them in any way, apart from the weird incident with the photo. The return of the shoe box marked the last link between Abby and the house.

The thing with Abby, that had been embarrassing. They had dated for a year, and then, when he left for university, it had fizzled out. The whole episode with the picture was remarkable because it was so unexpected. They had never been in love, made promises about their future, or tried to keep things going when distance became a problem. Had it all been a bit of a performance, and, if so, why?

The next question was, should he do something about it. Make a phone call to Abby to see what it was all about. That would not be a good idea on several levels. What would he say, was the first? Would he tell Nina that he had phoned her? Would making contact, somehow, signal interest of some kind.

Best not to stir things up further. Abby was probably at home now regretting the emotional display. She had been bright at school. She could have done an academic degree, but the countryside was in her blood. Agricultural college was her only goal, as she planned a career working with animals. Having not interacted with her for so long, he couldn't begin to guess what was going on in her head.

Nina had commented on the drama, but had not been unduly worried about it. That was the main reason that it was best to leave it alone. If Abby thought that she had got under his wife's skin, it might provoke her to do more stunts in a similar vein. No, the best course of action, was inaction.

Ruminating on his teenage romance, Rory realised he had forgotten most of it. Not much of an impact on his life then. Had Abby seen it in a different way? At the time it all ended, Abby had been unfazed by it. Maybe she was looking back with rose tinted glasses. Who knew, and, as long as there were no more incidents, it wasn't a problem.