The Nightam Family

Chapter 17: William Nightam 5

It was already past ten a.m. when William found himself wide awake in his bed. He was alone. Not a long time ago, he’d have thought nothing of this. But since his wedding several months ago he had already grown used to the presence of another living being in his bed. He turned around to look at the alarm clock. 10:42, the red lights blinked at him. His wife would already be awake by now. Around two hours ago she would have woken up and made breakfast. He slowly got up. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he could feel the cold. The darkest time of winter had already passed, and William wondered when spring would come.

He took a quick shower and got dressed before going downstairs. His wife was still waiting for him, she was reading a book. On the counter in the kitchen were some pancakes. They had already gotten cold, William knew as soon as he picked up the plate. Still, he ate them all. His wife had not yet noticed his arrival downstairs, it seemed. He put the empty plate in the sink. It was his turn to do the dishes. He let the dishes soak for a while and moved to the living room instead.

As he sat down in his chair, he saw from his wife’s face that she wanted to say something.

‘What is it,’ he smiled, wondering how he could ever have considered divorcing her.

‘You’ve changed,’ she simply answered, before looking away.

‘I have not.’

Once, a long time ago, William would have worried when he’d found his wife gone as often as he did, but for some reason it all felt completely normal nowadays. Mortimer wouldn’t make a mistake. That was one thing that William had learned during the last family meeting. His grandfather didn’t make mistakes. And he had completely deserved the punishment he’d gotten. As had Josh. Josh should have known better. And he, as Josh’s uncle, should know better than drag other people down with him.

He got up from his chair. He wouldn’t make those mistakes again.

As William was doing the dishes, someone knocked on the front door. William wondered if it was one of his grandfather’s acquaintances; he had seen them walking around already, but they did not seem to have any interest in the family. His wife already went to open the door.

Some chatter came from behind William, and a while later the door shut again.

‘Grandfather wants to see us in fifteen minutes,’ she said in a way that made her seem embarrassed by simply saying it.

‘I see,’ William said. He quickly timed in his head. If he hurried, he would be able to get the dishes done before they would have to leave.

The cleaned dishes remained on the counter. There was no time to put them away. And William would rather die than let his grandfather wait.

Mortimer was already waiting for them in his room.

‘Sit down,’ he told William. William looked around and sat down on the nearest chair, opposite Mortimer. William didn’t speak. He had the feeling that Mortimer didn’t want him to say a word, so he stayed quiet. Mortimer reached out his hand and William’s wife took that hand. She sat down next to him.

Mortimer pulled William’s wife against him. She started blushing and whispered something in his ear. William couldn’t understand what she was saying from where he was sitting. Mortimer responded with a kiss. His hands went to her chest and started unbuttoning her shirt. William looked away, he didn’t want to see any of this.

How had he ever wished to know this?

‘Is something the matter?’ Mortimer said. From his voice alone, William could tell he was laughing.

‘Nothing, grandfather,’ he answered, ‘I shall leave now.’

‘Stay.’ Mortimer’s order almost made William’s body freeze in fear.

‘I want you to see this,’ Mortimer smiled.

Mortimer doesn’t make mistakes, that single fact kept repeating itself through William’s mind.